International journal of clinical practice
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Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Sep 2020
Randomized Controlled TrialEffects of short-term xylitol chewing gum on pro-inflammatory cytokines and Streptococcus mutans: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.
Dental caries is an infectious disease with predominantly of cariogenic bacteria such as Streptococcus mutans (S mutans). Xylitol is considered as one of the effective agents that can limit this dental infection. In this randomised, placebo-controlled trial, we aimed to evaluate the potential reflection of short-term xylitol consumption on pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8) and S mutans counts by ELISA and qPCR (Quantitative real-time PCR), respectively. ⋯ Intriguingly, even short-term consumption of xylitol might play a favourable role in maintaining the oral health status, possibly as a result of decreasing the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the counts of S mutans. Nonetheless, this investigation warrants further endorsement.
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Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Sep 2020
COVID-19: Generate and apply local modelled Transmission and Morbidity effects to provide an estimate of the variation in overall Relative Healthcare Resource Impact at General Practice Granularity.
Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the name given to the 2019 novel coronavirus. COVID-19 is the name given to the disease associated with the virus. SARS-CoV-2 is a new strain of coronavirus not been previously identified in humans. ⋯ Covid-19 is impacting on the utilisation of health/social care resources across the world. This model provides a way of predicting relative local levels of disease burden based on defined criteria, thereby providing a method for targeting limited care resources to optimise national/regional/local responses to the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Sep 2020
Collaboration between cardiologist and clinical pharmacist on prescription quality: What is the potential clinical impact for cardiology patients?
The aim of this study was to determine the effect of pharmacists' interventions (PI) on the potential clinical impact of medication errors, including the lack of therapeutic optimisation of patients with cardiologic diseases, such as heart failure and acute coronary syndrome). ⋯ The collaboration between clinical pharmacists and cardiologists in the medical units seems to be beneficial to the quality of prescriptions, including the implementation of recommendations. The good rate of PI acceptance and the similar rating with the cardiologist show that there is a change in perspective of the pharmacist, being closer to the clinical reality.
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Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Sep 2020
An economic evaluation of an advanced video conferencing system for cardiac multidisciplinary team meetings.
Current UK and international guidelines advocate the need for multidisciplinary team (MDT) discussion of selected patients undergoing either percutaneous or surgical cardiac procedures to decide the optimal treatment strategy. To date, it is unknown if using videoconference facilities is cost-effective. Therefore, we performed a cost analysis of using a high-speed internet video conferencing system compared with conventional face-to-face MDT meetings. ⋯ Video conferencing systems provide a highly cost-effective method of facilitating MDT meetings between cardiologists and cardiac surgeons at remote centres.
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Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Sep 2020
Altered Sperm Parameters and Subclinical hypothyroidism; a cross sectional study in Karachi, Pakistan.
The purpose of this study is to compare the thyroid hormone (TH) profile in male infertile subjects with normal and altered sperm parameters and assess its relationship with spermogram and reproductive hormones. ⋯ A higher frequency of SCH, decreased levels of testosterone and SHBG was observed in the "Altered Sperm Parameters" group. The results establish relationship of disturbance in TH with alteration of sperm parameters and reproductive hormones thus contributing to male infertility.