Brit J Hosp Med
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Aims/Background Arterial spin labelling (ASL) is a non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method. ASL techniques can quantitatively measure cerebral perfusion by fitting a kinetic model to the difference between labelled images (tag images) and ones which are acquired without labelling (control images). ASL functional MRI (fMRI) provides quantitative perfusion maps by using arterial water as an endogenous tracer instead of depending on vascular blood oxygenation level. ⋯ Conclusion The 4-block pulsed functional ASL (fASL) presents accurate and reliable activation, with minimal time-on-task effect and little adverse impact of time, in participants engaging in visually guided saccade and fixation tasks. Despite having lower sensitivity than BOLD fMRI, ASL can determine accurate activation location. Although the time-on-task effects affect the observation for the sensitivity of ASL over task time, it is suggested that ASL fMRI may provide a powerful method for pinpointing the time-on-task effect over a long period of time.
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Aims/Background Peripheral nerve injury affects some people with multiple myeloma; this condition can be brought on by the disease itself or by the treatments they receive. Such a complication increases patients' financial burden, causes treatment to be interrupted or delayed, and reduces treatment efficacy. However, opinions regarding the risk factors for peripheral neuropathy are currently divided. ⋯ We discovered that PN was strongly correlated with age, haemoglobin, and levels of creatinine (p = 0.039, p = 0.045, and p = 0.030, respectively). Conclusion Age, haemoglobin and creatinine levels are associated with the occurrence of PN. Investigation of the incidence and risk factors of multiple myeloma-associated PN can provide a better theoretical basis for the selection of treatment options and the enhancement of patient well-being and satisfaction.
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Aims/Background Despite the exponential increase in the incidence rate of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), effective therapies for the disorder are still limited. According to vast clinical observations, the pathogeneses of ASD and Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) share a great deal of similarities. This serves as a prompt to investigate, in this study, whether patients with ADHD are at a higher risk for ASD, which is significant for disease prevention. ⋯ The Odds ratio (OR) for the random-effect Inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was 1.31 (95% Confidence interval [CI]: 1.14-1.52; p = 0.0001). A similar trend was observed for the Weighted median estimator (WME) method, with an OR of 1.37 (wider 95% CI: 1.15-1.64; p = 0.0005). Conclusion This study includes the pooled data on ADHD and ASD from the IEU GWAS public database, and there is sufficient evidence that patients with ADHD have a higher risk of ASD.
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Aims/Background Tinnitus is a very common condition, and is a side effect of many medications. The panorama of drug-induced tinnitus has widened in recent decades, and post-marketing data are needed to gain a better insight into adverse drug reactions related to tinnitus. However, there are currently few studies on drug-induced tinnitus. ⋯ Among all tinnitus-related indications, depression (n = 1172), rheumatoid arthritis (n = 947), and multiple sclerosis (n = 914) were the most relevant indications. Vertigo (n = 2443, ROR [95% CI] = 7.51 [7.21-7.82]), deafness (n = 1740, ROR [95% CI] = 13.50 [12.86-14.18]), and hypoacusis (n = 1550, ROR [95% CI] = 6.11 [5.81-6.43]) were the most common concomitant ototoxic AEs in patients reporting tinnitus. Conclusion Our study mined and analyzed the AEs signals of drug-induced tinnitus and provided a reference for the safe clinical application of the drugs.
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Locally Employed Doctors (LEDs) are defined as any doctor below consultant grade, appointed within a UK National Health Service (NHS) Trust, who are not working within a national training scheme. They are a cohort significantly increasing in numbers. International Medical Graduates (IMGs) are overseas-qualified doctors who contribute to more than 30% of the workforce-related deficit in the number of UK-qualified doctors required to meet NHS requirements. ⋯ The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) recently produced new guidance stating the basic principle that all doctors should be considered as being in training. LEDs are junior doctors with educational needs, yet they do not receive the same opportunities as their training-grade equivalents. Moving forward, we would advocate a UK-wide process which will help the NHS develop a strong and cohesive workforce, whether they are locally or nationally employed.