Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialEffect of hospital-based telephone coaching on glycaemic control and adherence to management guidelines in type 2 diabetes, a randomised controlled trial.
Failure to achieve treatment targets is common among people with type 2 diabetes. Cost-effective treatments are required to delay the onset and slow the progression of diabetes-related complications. ⋯ Telephone coaching improved glycaemic control and adherence to complication screening in people with type 2 diabetes, for the duration of its delivery, but these effects were not maintained on withdrawal of the intervention. Strategies that assist patients to sustain these benefits are required.
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2014
Dilemmas in the compassionate supply of investigational cancer drugs.
In Australia, patients who want to access medicines that are not yet approved have only two options: to enroll in a clinical trial if they are eligible, or obtain their medicine through 'compassionate supply', which is provided at the discretion of the manufacturer. In this article, we explore ethical issues associated with the provision of oncology medicines that are still in development, either prior to regulatory approval or government reimbursement.
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2014
Introduction of an interdisciplinary heart team-based transcatheter aortic valve implantation programme: short and mid-term outcomes.
Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has been developed to treat symptomatic aortic stenosis in patients deemed too high risk for open-heart surgery. To address this complex population, an interdisciplinary heart team approach was proposed. ⋯ Excellent results can be achieved with TAVI in very high-risk patients at an Australian institution. A comprehensive evaluation based on a heart team can overcome most of the difficulties imposed by this challenging population.
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2014
ReviewThiamine in the treatment of Wernicke encephalopathy in patients with alcohol use disorders.
Wernicke encephalopathy is an acute, reversible neuropsychiatric emergency due to thiamine deficiency. Urgent and adequate thiamine replacement is necessary to avoid death or progression to Korsakoff syndrome with largely irreversible brain damage. ⋯ Currently, different dose recommendations are being made. We present recommendations for the assessment and treatment of Wernicke encephalopathy based on literature review and our clinical experience.