Mayo Clinic proceedings
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Mayo Clinic proceedings · Oct 2010
Comparative StudyAutoimmune dementia: clinical course and predictors of immunotherapy response.
To define the diagnostic characteristics and predictors of treatment response in patients with suspected autoimmune dementia. ⋯ Identification of clinical and serologic clues to an autoimmune dementia allows early initiation of immunotherapy, and maintenance if needed, thus favoring an optimal outcome.
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Mayo Clinic proceedings · Oct 2010
ReviewEthical decision making with end-of-life care: palliative sedation and withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatments.
Palliative sedation (PS) is the use of medications to induce decreased or absent awareness in order to relieve otherwise intractable suffering at the end of life. Although uncommon, some patients undergoing aggressive symptom control measures still have severe suffering from underlying disease or therapy-related adverse effects. ⋯ Although the goal is to provide relief in an ethically acceptable way to the patient, family, and health care team, health care professionals often voice concerns whether such treatment is necessary or whether such treatment equates to physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia. In this review, we frame clinical scenarios in which PS may be considered, summarize the ethical underpinnings of the practice, and further differentiate PS from other forms of end-of-life care, including withholding and/or withdrawing life-sustaining therapy and physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.
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Mayo Clinic proceedings · Oct 2010
Comparative StudyA population-based study of trends in the use of total hip and total knee arthroplasty, 1969-2008.
To study the rates of use of total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) during the past 4 decades. ⋯ In this community, TKA and THA use rates have increased steadily since the introduction of the procedures and continue to increase for all age groups. On the basis of these population-based data, the probable need for TKA and THA exceeds current federal agency projections.
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Mayo Clinic proceedings · Oct 2010
Comparative StudyEffects of author contribution disclosures and numeric limitations on authorship trends.
To determine whether editorial policies designed to eliminate gratuitous authorship (globally referred to as authorship limitation policies), including author contribution disclosures and/or numeric restrictions, have significantly affected authorship trends during a 20-year period. ⋯ Implementation of authorship limitation policies does not slow the trend of increasing numbers of authors per article over time.