Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Clinical practice guidelines aim to reduce inappropriate variations in practice and to promote the delivery of evidence-based health care. ⋯ There is some evidence that guideline-driven care is effective in changing the process and outcome of care provided by professions allied to medicine. However, caution is needed in generalising findings to other professions and settings.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2000
ReviewOil-soluble versus water-soluble media for assessing tubal patency with hysterosalpingography or laparoscopy in subfertile women.
There has been debate in the literature for more than 40 years as to whether flushing of the Fallopian tubes enhances fertility and whether this presumed therapeutic effect is greater with oil-soluble media than with water-soluble media. A meta-analysis of the therapeutic role of oil-soluble contrast media at hysterosalpingography was published in March 1994 (Watson 1994). This Cochrane Review is an expansion and update of that overview. ⋯ Flushing of the tubes with oil-soluble media increases subsequent pregnancy rates in infertility patients. The hypothesis that tubal "plugs" are a cause of proximal tubal occlusion and that oil-soluble media may flush them out, is supported by new techniques such as falloposcopy. Clinicians should consider flushing the tubes with OSCM before contemplating more invasive therapies.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2000
ReviewCorticosteroids for acute severe asthma in hospitalised patients.
Corticosteroids are currently used routinely in the management of acute severe asthma. The optimal dose and route of administration continues to be debated. Some investigators have reported a greater benefit of higher doses of corticosteroids in the management of severe asthma, while others have not. ⋯ No differences were identified among the different doses of corticosteroids in acute asthma requiring hospital admission. Low dose corticosteroids (< or = 80 mg/day of methylprednisolone or < or = 400 mg/day of hydrocortisone) appear to be adequate in the initial management of these adult patients. Higher doses do not appear to offer a therapeutic advantage.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2000
ReviewMaternal antigen avoidance during lactation for preventing atopic disease in infants of women at high risk.
To assess the effects of prescribing an antigen avoidance diet during lactation on the nutritional status of the mother and newborn and on the development of atopic disease in the child. The main focus is on women whose infants are at high risk for developing an atopic condition, based on a history of atopic disease in the mother, father, or a previous child. ⋯ Prescription of an antigen avoidance diet to a high-risk woman during lactation may substantially reduce her child's risk of developing atopic eczema, but better trials are needed.
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Multiple physical medicine modalities are commonly included as part of therapeutic interventions for mechanical neck disorders (neck pain). The objective of this review was to assess the effects of physical medicine modalities for pain in adults with mechanical neck disorders. ⋯ There is little information available from trials to support the use of physical medicine modalities for mechanical neck pain. There is some support for the use of electromagnetic therapy and against the use of laser therapy with respect to pain reduction.