Annals of agricultural and environmental medicine : AAEM
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Ann Agric Environ Med · Jan 2013
Clinical approach to visceral pain in irritable bowel syndrome - pathophysiology, symptoms, and treatment.
Visceral pain has been defined as a pain resulting from activation of pain receptors localized in mucous membrane, serous membrane, and smooth muscles of hollow organs. The great majority of these organs are innervated by parasympathetic and sympathetic outflows. Afferent nerve fibres are involved in conduction of both acute and persistent pain and hyperalgesia. ⋯ For example, the complex therapy of pain and other manifestations associated with irritable bowel syndrome include psychotherapy/behavioural therapy, bulk-forming agents, probiotics, laxatives, antidiarrheals, antibacterial agents, antispasmodics, and antidepressants. The current knowledge about the pathogenesis of visceral pain gives a rationale for the development of new, more efficacious drugs with a positive benefit/risk ratio. Unfortunately, experience gained so far with the use of some agents affecting serotoninergic transmission in the gastrointestinal tract have shown a serious danger associated with their administration for patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
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Ann Agric Environ Med · Jan 2013
ReviewThe role of neurostimulation in the treatment of neuropathic pain.
The treatment of chronic pain syndromes may include pharmacological, physiotherapeutic, and invasive methods. Considerable number of patients do not achieve sufficient pain relief with pharmacotherapy, in these patients with neuropathic pain, electrical neurostimulation may be applied. ⋯ Neurostimulation therapy is also used in addition to the current medical treatment in different neurological disorders, including Parkinson's disease, dystonia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, refractory pain, epilepsy and migraine. The article provides the physicians the knowledge on different neurostimulation techniques for treatment of chronic neuropathic pain and their effectiveness.
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Ann Agric Environ Med · Jan 2013
Case ReportsAcute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) complicating influenza A/H1N1v infection--a clinical approach.
ARDS is defined as an acute inflammatory syndrome characterized with bilateral parenchymal lung infiltrates on chest radiograph and PaO2/FiO2 ratio<200 resulting from causes other than acute left ventricular dysfunction. Inflammatory lung lesions may be induced by different disorders, with sepsis being the leading cause of ARDS. ⋯ Influenza A/H1N1 infection seems to be responsible for the development of extremely severe type of ARDS with poor response to routine treatment. Despite great progress in the management of ARDS with novel agents and sophisticated techniques, including antimicrobial drugs, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, prostaglandins, nitric oxide, prostacyclin, exogenous surfactant administration and activated protein C, supportive treatment based mostly on advanced mechanical ventilation in the intensive care units seems to be the most important for the prognosis.
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Ann Agric Environ Med · Jan 2013
Altered tissue electrical properties in women with breast cancer--preliminary observations.
In the United States, breast cancer (BC) is the most common non-skin cancer. In Poland, it is estimated that the number of new breast cancer cases affects about 13,500 women each year. There are many methods for nutritional status assessment. One of them is bioimpedance analysis (BIA). Direct bioimpedance measures (resistance, reactance, phase angle (PA)) determined by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) detectf changes in tissue electrical properties. The study was conducted to investigate whether there are any tissue electrical differences in patients with breast cancer. ⋯ Pre-surgical patients diagnosed with BC have altered tissue electrical properties. Further observations of a larger patient group would be valuable to calculate survival, validate the prognostic significance of PA, and monitor nutritional and therapeutic interventions in this patient population.
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Ann Agric Environ Med · Jan 2013
Selected aspects of a professional doctor-patient communication--education and practice.
In the work of a physician, not only knowledge, and professional skills (technical/hard) are important, but also psychosocial skills (relational/soft). ⋯ The education of students of medicine should cover selected classes within the scope of professional communication competences. These classes should be based on the systemically designed training of skills. The patterning by students of the relations attitudes observed in practising physicians is insufficient. It is necessary to apply a methodical evaluation of communication competences, diagnosing educational needs of occupationally active physicians in this respect. This allows the preparation of courses in accordance with the needs in the area of professional communication competences.