British medical bulletin
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British medical bulletin · Jan 2013
ReviewHealth of China's rural-urban migrants and their families: a review of literature from 2000 to 2012.
Socioeconomic transformation in China at the beginning of the twenty-first century has led to rapid urbanization and accelerated rural-urban migration. As a result, the concerns about public health problems triggered by increasing internal population mobility have been more widely studied in recent years. ⋯ Social, economic, emotional, environmental and behavioural risk factors that impact on health of migrants and their families call for more attention from health policy-makers and researchers in contemporary China.
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British medical bulletin · Jan 2013
ReviewUpdate on the long-term complications of renal transplantation.
Powerful immunosuppressive regimens have reduced rejection risk, leading to an expanding cohort of long-term kidney transplant recipients who are likely to encounter practitioners in other specialties. ⋯ Markers to guide individualized optimal immunosuppression and predict the development of complications would allow for targeted early intervention.
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British medical bulletin · Jan 2013
New strategies for the restoration of hearing loss: challenges and opportunities.
For most types of hearing impairments, a definitive therapy would rest on the ability to restore hair cells and the spiral ganglion neurons. The only established technique to treat deafness is based on the functional replacement of hair cells with a cochlear implant, but this still has important limitations. ⋯ In this chapter, I discuss the latest advances in the field and how they are being translated into a clinical application.
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British medical bulletin · Jan 2013
ReviewUnderstanding the genetic aetiology in patients with XY DSD.
Disorders of sex development (DSD) consist of a wide range of disorders and are commoner in those with an XY karyotype. In over half of these cases who have a 46,XY karyotype and who are raised as boys, the underlying aetiology remains unclear. ⋯ There is a need to understand and improve the clinical utility of genetic analysis in the clinical setting of the patient with a suspected DSD. This will be even more important when parallel gene sequencing identifies variations in multiple genes.
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British medical bulletin · Jan 2013
ReviewThe neuroinflammatory response of postoperative cognitive decline.
Aseptic surgical trauma provokes a homeostatic neuroinflammatory response to promote healing and protect the organism from further injury. When this response is dysregulated, harmful consequences can follow, including postoperative cognitive decline. ⋯ The mechanisms that lead to exaggerated and persistent neuroinflammation and the best way to counteract it are still unknown. AREAS FOR DEVELOPING RESEARCH: It is imperative that we identify the underlying processes that increase the risk of cognitive decline in elderly surgical patients. In this review we explore non-resolution of inflammation as an underlying cause of developing exaggerated and persistent POCD. If interventions can be developed to promote resolution of neuroinflammation, the patient's postoperative recovery will be enhanced and long-term consequences can be prevented.