Irish journal of medical science
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COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020. With the sudden surge in demand for personal protective equipment (PPE), significant concerns regarding the ongoing availability emerged. One solution proposed is re-sterilisation of respirator masks and this has been commenced in some parts of the world. On review of the literature, very little is documented regarding the knowledge of masks and the attitudes of healthcare workers towards using re-sterilised masks. ⋯ Ensuring an adequate understanding of face masks is crucial among healthcare workers (HCWs) and this study highlights a need for further education. It also demonstrates a general acceptability among HCWs towards the use of re-sterilised face masks.
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Stimulant medications have been prescribed to effectively treat childhood Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) since the 1960's, with improved outcomes observed in the three core symptom domains. Over the course of these decades researchers and clinicians have debated the issue of negative outcomes with regard to later development of substance use disorders (SUD) for these children. ⋯ Consideration of the impact that variable treatment trajectories may have on the risk of later SUD development is recommended, with further research potentially leading to the development of different management pathways based on an individual's multivariate treatment profile.
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Studies on the association between urinary albumin to creatinine ratio (ACR) and bone mineral density (BMD) are still controversial. ⋯ ACR was negatively associated with femoral neck BMD in the general US population. Future studies are warranted to confirm our results.
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Antipsychotics (APs) increase weight, metabolic syndrome, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Guidelines recommend cardio-metabolic monitoring at initial assessment, at 3 months and then annually in people prescribed APs. ⋯ Targeted improvement strategies resulted in a significant improvement in a limited number of parameters in early and chronic psychotic disorders. Overall, monitoring remained suboptimal.