Trending Articles
-
AJR Am J Roentgenol · Jun 2005
The status of appendiceal CT in an urban medical center 5 years after its introduction: experience with 753 patients.
Appendiceal CT was introduced at our hospital in 1996 and now is used in most patients. The use of appendiceal CT has generated controversy and mixed results in various investigations. Our purpose was to determine the percentage of patients for whom CT was performed, incidence of appendicitis, accuracy of CT, percentage of equivocal interpretations, and negative appendectomy rates for those patients who did and did not undergo CT. ⋯ Five years ago, the negative appendectomy rate dropped from 20% to 7%, and it is now 3.0%. The incidence of appendicitis in patients who are examined on CT is stable compared with similar cohorts from prior investigations. Patients who do not undergo CT also have a low negative appendectomy rate, but this relatively small group is selected on the basis of a convincing clinical presentation. Female pediatric patients likely would have a lower negative appendectomy rate with greater use of CT.
-
Many physicians and professional leaders agree that community participation is an important professional role for physicians. Volunteerism has also received increasing attention in the national agenda for social change. Yet little is known about physicians' community volunteer activities. ⋯ Despite highly favorable physician attitudes toward volunteerism in prior surveys, less than half of US physicians have volunteered with community organizations in the past year. Renewed attention to understanding and increasing physician engagement in community volunteer work is needed.
-
Postgraduate medicine · Jan 2013
Inattention symptoms predict level of depression in early childhood.
To investigate the potential bidirectional relationships between severity of inattention and depression across early childhood. ⋯ Child inattention is a risk factor for increased levels of child depression. Pediatricians and clinicians who assess children's inattention symptoms also need to investigate symptoms of depression. This study makes a case for treating children's inattention symptoms at preschool and early childhood, before emotional problems become more severe.
-
General practitioners' (GPs) negative beliefs about smoking cessation services may act as barriers to them recommending such services to smokers motivated to stop smoking. ⋯ GPs vary in their perceptions of the effectiveness of smoking cessation services and their intentions to recommend these services vary in line with these beliefs. Interventions aimed at increasing the likelihood with which GPs recommend these services may therefore be more effective if they addressed these beliefs.
-
Insulin is an important regulator of glucose, lipid, and protein metabolism. It suppresses hepatic glucose and triglyceride production, inhibits adipose tissue lipolysis and whole-body and muscle proteolysis, and stimulates glucose uptake in muscle. ⋯ Potential differences exist in the regulation of plasma triglyceride concentration and protein metabolism by insulin and in changes in insulin action in response to stimuli (e.g., weight loss and exercise) that are known to alter insulin sensitivity. However, these areas have not been studied comprehensively enough to draw firm conclusions.