BMJ open
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Radical prostatectomy is the mainstay of treatment for prostate cancer. The vesicourethral anastomosis is a critical step, which most likely impacts urinary continence and urethral stenosis. To date, it still remains unclear whether interrupted and continuous suturing for the anastomosis have different outcomes. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to compare different suture techniques for vesicourethral anastomosis in terms of surgical and functional parameters. ⋯ In order to meet the highest ethical and methodological standards. we followed the PRISMA Protocol 2015 checklist. Each item was answered appropriately. For systematic reviews the ethical issues are strictly methodological as only data that were published earlier will be used. The full manuscript will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. Furthermore, the results will be presented on national and international congresses.
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Observational Study
Impact of US smoke-free air laws on restaurants and bars by employer size: a panel study.
Thirty states have smoke-free air laws that ban smoking in restaurants and bars, covering nearly two-thirds of the US population. It is well established that these laws generally have a null or positive economic impact on restaurants and bars. However, all establishments in a geographic area are usually treated as a homogeneous group without considering the potential for differential effects by establishment characteristics. This study uses variation in smoke-free air laws over time to estimate their impact on employment in restaurants and bars with a focus on potential differences by employer size (number of employees). A two-pronged approach with a national-level and state-level analysis is used to take advantage of more granular data availability for a single state (North Carolina). ⋯ The lack of a redistributive effect is an important finding for policy-makers considering implementation or expansion of a smoke-free air law to protect employees and patrons from the dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Midwife or doctor local opinion leader to implement a national guideline in babies on postnatal wards (DesIGN): protocol of a cluster-randomised, blinded, controlled trial.
Neonatal hypoglycaemia is a common condition that can cause developmental delay. Treatment of neonatal hypoglycaemia with oral dextrose gel has been shown to reverse hypoglycaemia and reduce admissions to neonatal intensive care for hypoglycaemia. An evidence-based clinical practice guideline was written to guide the use of dextrose gel to treat neonatal hypoglycaemia in New Zealand. However, it is unclear what clinical discipline might most effectively lead the implementation of the guideline recommendations. ⋯ Approved by Health and Disability Ethics Committee: 15/NTA/31. Findings will be disseminated to peer-reviewed journals, guideline developers and the public.
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Observational Study
Use of a primary care online consultation system, by whom, when and why: evaluation of a pilot observational study in 36 general practices in South West England.
Evaluation of a pilot study of an online consultation system in primary care. We describe who used the system, when and why, and the National Health Service costs associated with its use. ⋯ Use of e-consultations is very low, particularly at weekends. Unless this can be improved, any impact on staff workload and patient waiting times is likely to be negligible. It is possible that use of e-consultations increases primary care workload and costs. Online consultation systems could be developed to improve efficiency both for staff and patients. These findings have implications for software developers as well as primary care services and policy-makers who are considering investing in online consultation systems.
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The incidence of anal squamous cell carcinoma (ASCC) has increased threefold in the last 30 years. Initial treatment is chemoradiotherapy, associated with short-term and long-term side effects. Future therapy innovations aim to reduce morbidity in treatment of early tumours while maintaining treatment efficacy, and to escalate treatment intensity in locally advanced tumours with acceptable quality of life (QoL). However, all phase III randomised controlled trials to-date have utilised different primary outcomes, which hinders evidence synthesis and presents challenges to the selection of optimal outcomes in future trials. No trial comprehensively assessed long-term side effects and QoL, suggesting outcomes reflecting issues important to patients are under-represented. This project aims to determine the priority outcomes for all stakeholders and reach agreement on a standardised core set of outcomes to be measured and reported on in all future ASCC trials. ⋯ The final COS will feed directly into the PersonaLising Anal cancer radioTherapy dOse (PLATO) national anal cancer trials and the Association of coloproctologists of Great Britain and Ireland (ACPGBI) supported national anal cancer database. Utilisation of the COS will increase the relevance of research output to all stakeholders and increase the capacity for data synthesis between trials. This study has ethical approval and is registered with the Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) initiative.