Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jul 2012
Review Meta AnalysisAllopurinol for preventing mortality and morbidity in newborn infants with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy.
Delayed neuronal death following a perinatal hypoxic insult is due partly to xanthine oxidase-mediated production of cytotoxic free radicals. Evidence exists that allopurinol, a xanthine-oxidase inhibitor, reduces delayed cell death in experimental models of perinatal asphyxia and in people with organ reperfusion injury. ⋯ The available data are not sufficient to determine whether allopurinol has clinically important benefits for newborn infants with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy. Much larger trials are needed. Such trials could assess allopurinol as an adjunct to therapeutic hypothermia in infants with moderate and severe encephalopathy and should be designed to exclude important effects on mortality and adverse long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jul 2012
Review Meta AnalysisAntiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for preventing HIV in high-risk individuals.
More than 30 years into the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, infection rates remain alarmingly high, with over 2.7 million people becoming infected every year. There is a need for HIV prevention strategies that are more effective. Oral antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in high-risk individuals may be a reliable tool in preventing the transmission of HIV. ⋯ Finding from this review suggests that pre-exposure prophylaxis with TDF alone or TDF-FTC reduces the risk of acquiring HIV in high-risk individuals including people in serodiscordant relationships, men who have sex with men and other high risk men and women.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jul 2012
ReviewElectric fans for reducing adverse health impacts in heatwaves.
Heatwaves are hot weather events, which breach regional or national thresholds, that last for several days. They are likely to occur with increasing frequency in some parts of the world. The potential consequences were illustrated in Europe in August 2003 when there were an estimated 30,000 excess deaths due to a heatwave. Electric fans might be used with the intention of reducing the adverse health effects of a heatwave. Fans do not cool the ambient air but can be used to draw in cooler air from outside when placed at an open window. The aim of the fans would be to increase heat loss by increasing the efficiency of all normal methods of heat loss, but particularly by evaporation and convection methods. However, it should be noted that increased sweating can lead to dehydration and electrolyte imbalances if these fluids and electrolytes are not replaced quickly enough. Research has also identified important gaps in knowledge about the use of fans, which might lead to their inappropriate use. ⋯ The evidence we identified does not resolve uncertainties about the health effects of electric fans during heatwaves. Therefore, this review does not support or refute the use of electric fans during a heatwave. People making decisions about electric fans should consider the current state of the evidence base, and they might also wish to make themselves aware of local policy or guidelines when making a choice about whether or not to use or supply electric fans. The main implication of this review is that high quality research is needed to resolve the long standing and ongoing uncertainty about the benefits and harms of using electric fans during a heatwave, for example randomised trials comparing the health effects in people with electric fans to those in people without them.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jun 2012
Review Meta AnalysisAdjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy for early stage cervical cancer.
This is an updated version of the original Cochrane review published in The Cochrane Library 2009, Issue 3. Most women with early cervical cancer (stages I to IIA) are cured with surgery or radiotherapy, or both. We performed this review originally because it was unclear whether cisplatin-based chemotherapy after surgery, radiotherapy or both, in women with early stage disease with risk factors for recurrence, was associated with additional survival benefits or risks. ⋯ The addition of platinum-based chemotherapy to adjuvant radiotherapy (chemoradiation) may improve survival in women with early stage cervical cancer (IA2-IIA) and risk factors for recurrence. Adjuvant chemoradiation is associated with an increased risk of severe acute toxicity, although it is not clear whether this toxicity is significant in the long-term due to a lack of long-term data. This evidence is limited by the small numbers and poor methodological quality of included studies. We await the results of three ongoing trials, that are likely to have an important impact on our confidence in this evidence.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jun 2012
ReviewCrisis interventions for people with borderline personality disorder.
People with borderline personality disorder (BPD) frequently present to health services in crisis, often involving suicidal thoughts or actions. Despite this, little is known about what constitutes effective management of acute crises in this population. ⋯ A comprehensive search of the literature showed that currently there is no RCT-based evidence for the management of acute crises in people with BPD and therefore we could not reach any conclusions about the effectiveness of any single crisis intervention. High-quality, large-scale, adequately powered RCTs in this area are urgently needed.