Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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There is increasing evidence that capillary occlusion plays an important part in the development of diabetic retinopathy. Disaggregants, such as pentoxyfilline may influence the outcome and progression of diabetic retinopathy, but no systematic review of the literature on its efficacy and safety has been published to examine this hypothesis. ⋯ No sound research to date has examined the treatment of diabetic retinopathy with pentoxyfilline in such a way as to indicate whether this form of intervention has a significant impact on the natural history of this clinical condition. The potential role of this substance in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy remains open to debate, and it is suggested that future research focusing on patient-relevant outcomes takes the opportunity of addressing this important issue directly.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Apr 2008
ReviewPersonal assistance for adults (19-64) with both physical and intellectual impairments.
There is a high incidence of impairments among working age adults, and their prevalence is increasing in the West. Many countries offer personal assistance in the form of individualised support for people living in the community by a paid assistant other than a healthcare professional for at least 20 hours per week. ⋯ Research in this field is limited. Personal assistance is expensive and difficult to organise, especially in places that do not already have services in place, but its total cost relative to other services is unknown. When implementing new programmes, recipients could be randomly assigned to different forms of assistance (e.g. organised by individual users versus organised through a cooperative). While advocates may support personal assistance for myriad reasons, this review demonstrates that further studies are required to determine which models of assistance are most effective and efficient for particular people.