Plos One
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effective group training for patients with unexplained physical symptoms: a randomized controlled trial with a non-randomized one-year follow-up.
Although cognitive-behavioral therapy for Unexplained Physical Symptoms (UPS) is effective in secondary care, studies done in primary care produced implementation problems and conflicting results. We evaluated the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral group training tailored to primary care patients and provided by a secondary community mental-health service reaching out into primary care. ⋯ The cognitive-behavioral group training tailored for UPS in primary care and provided by an outreaching secondary mental-health service appears to be effective and to broaden the accessibility of treatment for UPS.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Early-onset ventilator-associated pneumonia in adults randomized clinical trial: comparison of 8 versus 15 days of antibiotic treatment.
The optimal treatment duration for ventilator-associated pneumonia is based on one study dealing with late-onset of the condition. Shortening the length of antibiotic treatment remains a major prevention factor for the emergence of multiresistant bacteria. ⋯ Our results suggest that an 8-day course of antibiotic therapy is safe for early-onset ventilator-associated pneumonia in intubated patients.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
A randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial of pioglitazone in combination with riluzole in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Pioglitazone, an oral anti-diabetic that stimulates the PPAR-gamma transcription factor, increased survival of mice with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). ⋯ Pioglitazone has no beneficial effects on the survival of ALS patients as add-on therapy to riluzole.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Meta Analysis
Reduced costs for Staphylococcus aureus carriers treated prophylactically with mupirocin and chlorhexidine in cardiothoracic and orthopaedic surgery.
A multi centre double-blind randomised-controlled trial (M-RCT), carried out in the Netherlands in 2005-2007, showed that hospitalised patients with S. aureus nasal carriage who were treated prophylactically with mupirocin nasal ointment and chlorhexidine gluconate medicated soap (MUP-CHX), had a significantly lower risk of health-care associated S. aureus infections than patients receiving placebo (3.4% vs. 7.7%, RR 0.42, 95% CI 0.23-0.75). The objective of the present study was to determine whether treatment of patients undergoing elective cardiothoracic or orthopaedic surgery with MUP-CHX (screen-and-treat strategy) affected the costs of patient care. ⋯ In conclusion, in patients undergoing cardiothoracic or orthopaedic surgery, screening for S. aureus nasal carriage and treating carriers with MUP-CHX results in a substantial reduction of hospital costs.
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The sense of body ownership can be easily disrupted during illusions and the most common illusion is the rubber hand illusion. An idea that is rapidly gaining popularity in clinical pain medicine is that body ownership illusions can be used to modify pathological pain sensations and induce analgesia. However, this idea has not been empirically evaluated. ⋯ Secondary analyses involved heat and cold detection thresholds and paradoxical heat sensations. Again, there was no main effect of condition on heat pain threshold (p = 0.17), nor on cold pain threshold (p = 0.65), nor on any of the secondary measures (p<0.56 for all). We conclude that the rubber hand illusion does not induce analgesia.