Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2013
ReviewFace to face interventions for informing or educating parents about early childhood vaccination.
Childhood vaccination (also described as immunisation) is an important and effective way to reduce childhood illness and death. However, there are many children who do not receive the recommended vaccines because their parents do not know why vaccination is important, do not understand how, where or when to get their children vaccinated, disagree with vaccination as a public health measure, or have concerns about vaccine safety.Face to face interventions to inform or educate parents about routine childhood vaccination may improve vaccination rates and parental knowledge or understanding of vaccination. Such interventions may describe or explain the practical and logistical factors associated with vaccination, and enable parents to understand the meaning and relevance of vaccination for their family or community. ⋯ The limited evidence available is low quality and suggests that face to face interventions to inform or educate parents about childhood vaccination have little to no impact on immunisation status, or knowledge or understanding of vaccination. There is insufficient evidence to comment on the cost of implementing the intervention, parent intention to vaccinate, parent experience of the intervention, or adverse effects. Given the apparently limited effect of such interventions, it may be feasible and appropriate to incorporate communication about vaccination into a healthcare encounter, rather than conduct it as a separate activity.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2013
Review Meta AnalysisPerioperative fluid volume optimization following proximal femoral fracture.
Proximal femoral fracture (PFF) is a common orthopaedic emergency, affecting mainly elderly people at high risk of complications. Advanced methods for managing fluid therapy during treatment for PFF are available, but their role in reducing risk is unclear. ⋯ Three studies considering a total of 200 participants reveal an absence of evidence that fluid optimization strategies improve outcomes for participants undergoing surgery for PFF. Length of hospital stay may be improved, but lack of good quality data leaves uncertainty. Further research powered to test some of these outcomes is ongoing.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2013
Review Meta AnalysisStrategies for managing sexual dysfunction induced by antidepressant medication.
Sexual dysfunction (including altered sexual desire, orgasmic and ejaculatory dysfunction, erectile and other problems) is a relatively common side effect of antidepressant medication. These sexual side effects may compromise a person's lifestyle and result in a lack of compliance with the prescribed antidepressant to the detriment of the person's mental health. A wide range of management strategies are possible to address this problem, including behavioural, psychological and pharmacological approaches. ⋯ The evidence currently available is rather limited. For men with antidepressant-induced erectile dysfunction, the addition of sildenafil or tadalafil appears to be an effective strategy. For women with antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction the addition of bupropion at higher doses appears to be the most promising approach studied so far.
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Epilepsy is a common neurological condition characterised by recurrent seizures. Most patients respond to conventional antiepileptic drugs, however, around 30% will continue to experience seizures despite multiple antiepileptic drugs. Sulthiame is a widely used antiepileptic drug in Europe and Israel. We present a summary of the evidence for the use of sulthiame as add-on therapy in epilepsy. ⋯ Sulthiame may lead to a cessation of seizures when used as an add-on therapy to pyridoxine in patients with West syndrome. The included study was small and had a significant risk of bias which limits the impact of the evidence. No conclusions can be drawn on the occurrence of adverse drug effects, change in quality of life or mean reduction in seizure frequency. No evidence exists for the use of sulthiame as an add-on therapy in patients with epilepsy outside West syndrome. Large, multi-centre randomised controlled trials are necessary to inform clinical practice if sulthiame is to be used as an add-on therapy for epilepsy.
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=Theoretically, autologous serum eye drops (AS) have a potential advantage over traditional therapies based on the assumption that ASserve not only as a lacrimal substitute to provide lubrication, but also contain other biochemical components mimicking natural tears more closely. The application of AS in dry eye treatment has gained popularity as a second-line therapy in the treatment of dry eye.Published studies on the subject indicate that autologous serum could be an effective treatment for dry eye. ⋯ Overall there was inconsistency in the possible benefits of AS in improving participant-reported symptoms and TBUT and lack of effect based on other objective clinical measures. Well-planned, large, high-quality RCTs are warranted, in different severities of dry eye and using standardized questionnaires to measure participant-reported outcomes and objective clinical tests as well as objective biomarkers to assess the benefit of AS therapy for dry eye.