Plos One
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Widening consumer access to medicines through switching medicines to non-prescription: a six country comparison.
Switching or reclassifying medicines with established safety profiles from prescription to non-prescription aims to increase timely consumer access to medicines, reduce under-treatment and enhance self-management. However, risks include suboptimal therapy and adverse effects. With a long-standing government policy supporting switching or reclassifying medicines from prescription to non-prescription, the United Kingdom is believed to lead the world in switch, but evidence for this is inconclusive. Interest in switching medicines for certain long-term conditions has arisen in the United Kingdom, United States, and Europe, but such switches have been contentious. The objective of this study was then to provide a comprehensive comparison of progress in switch for medicines across six developed countries: the United States; the United Kingdom; Australia; Japan; the Netherlands; and New Zealand. ⋯ Proactivity in medicines switching, most notably in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, questions missed opportunities to enhance consumers' self-management in countries such as the United States.
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The aim of this study was to test the null hypothesis of no difference in the implant failure rates, postoperative infection, and marginal bone loss for patients being rehabilitated by dental implants being inserted by a flapless surgical procedure versus the open flap technique, against the alternative hypothesis of a difference. An electronic search without time or language restrictions was undertaken in March 2014. Eligibility criteria included clinical human studies, either randomized or not. ⋯ However, a sensitivity analysis revealed differences when studies of high and low risk of bias were pooled separately. Thus, the results must be interpreted carefully. No apparent significant effects of flapless technique on the occurrence of postoperative infection (P = 0.96; RR 0.96, 95% CI 0.23-4.03) or on the marginal bone loss (P = 0.16; MD -0.07 mm, 95% CI -0.16-0.03) were observed.
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To compare important outcomes between early tracheostomy (ET) and late tracheostomy (LT) or prolonged intubation (PI) for critically ill patients receiving long-term ventilation during their treatment. ⋯ Among the patients requiring prolonged MV, ET showed no significant difference in clinical outcomes compared to that of the LT/PI group. But more rigorously designed and adequately powered RCTs are required to confirm it in future.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Red blood cell distribution width during the first week is associated with severity and mortality in septic patients.
Higher values of red blood cell distribution width (RDW) have been found in non-surviving than in surviving septic patients. However, it is unknown whether RDW during the first week of sepsis evolution is associated with sepsis severity and early mortality, oxidative stress and inflammation states, and these were the aims of the study. ⋯ The major findings of our study were that non-surviving septic patients showed persistently higher RDW during the first week of ICU stay than survivors, that RDW during the first week was associated with sepsis severity and mortality, that RDW during the first week could be used as biomarker of outcome in septic patients, and that there was an association between RDW, serum MDA levels, and serum TNF-α levels during the first week.
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Meta Analysis
Relationship between interleukin-10 -1082A/G polymorphism and risk of ischemic stroke: a meta-analysis.
To analyze the association between -1082A/G polymorphism in interleukin-10 (IL-10) gene and ischemic stroke (IS) risk by meta-analysis. ⋯ This meta-analysis indicates that IL10 -1082 A/G polymorphism is associated with IS susceptibility in Asians and the -1082 A allele may increase risk of IS in Asians. Considering the sample size is small and between-study heterogeneity is remarkable, more studies with subtle design are warranted in future.