Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2005
Comparative StudyEffects of opioids and sedatives on survival in an Australian inpatient palliative care population.
To assess whether opioid and sedative medication use affects survival (from hospice admission to death) of patients in an Australian inpatient palliative care unit. ⋯ There was no association between the doses of opioids and sedatives on the last day of life and survival (from hospice admission to death) in this population of palliative care patients.
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2005
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyEpiglottitis in Sydney before and after the introduction of vaccination against Haemophilus influenzae type b disease.
Acute epiglottitis due to infection with Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is much less common in children following the introduction of Hib vaccination; however, adult epiglottitis cases have not decreased. In addition, epiglottitis hospitalizations are consistently more numerous than notifications and the reason for this is not clear. ⋯ Acute epiglottitis hospitalizations in the current Hib vaccine era are predominantly in adults, and rarely are Hib or other causative organisms identified, although microbiological data are often incomplete. The discrepancy between hospitalization and notification data appears to be due to misclassification of hospitalization records.
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2005
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative StudyGlargine is superior to neutral protamine Hagedorn for improving glycated haemoglobin and fasting blood glucose levels during intensive insulin therapy.
To compare glycaemic control and symptomatic hypoglycaemia rates with glargine versus neutral protamine Hagedorn (NPH) in poorly controlled type 1 diabetes patients. ⋯ Glargine is superior to NPH for improving HbA(1c) and FBG levels during intensive insulin therapy in patients with type 1 diabetes, and is associated with less severe nocturnal hypoglycaemia.
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2005
Randomized Controlled TrialRandomized double-blind trial of sotalol versus lignocaine in out-of-hospital refractory cardiac arrest due to ventricular tachyarrhythmia.
We aimed to compare the efficacy of sotalol versus lignocaine for the treatment of patients with out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation refractory to > or = 4 defibrillatory shocks. ⋯ Sotalol is not superior to lignocaine for treatment of ventricular fibrillation refractory to multiple shocks. The overall outcome of this group of patients is poor regardless of the pharmacological intervention (lignocaine or sotalol).
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2005
Comparative StudyUse of a quantitative point-of-care test for the detection of serum cardiac troponin T in patients with suspected acute coronary syndromes.
We compared a third generation quantitative cardiac troponin T (cTnT) point-of-care testing (POCT) from Roche Diagnostics with the laboratory assay (Roche Elecsys 2010 immunoassay analyser). Heparin-treated blood and serum were collected simultaneously in 133 unselected patients (mean age 62 +/- 14 years, 38% females) presenting to our hospital with possible cardiac chest pain. Results of the POCT were measured against the laboratory-based assay considered as the gold standard. ⋯ There was good correlation between the values of POCT and the laboratory assay: Y = 1.195X + 0.002, r2 = 0.94 (P < 0.0001). Whereas cTnT levels > 0.1 mg/mL were reliably detected with this current generation of POCT, cTnT levels between 0.03 and 0.10 ng/mL were not. Future generations of devices will need to improve sensitivity to reliably risk stratify patients with suspected acute coronary syndromes.