BMJ open
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
A prospective surveillance of paediatric head injuries in Singapore: a dual-centre study.
To study the causes of head injuries among the paediatric population in Singapore, and the association between causes and mortality, as well as the need for airway or neurosurgical intervention. ⋯ Motor vehicle crashes and non-accidental trauma causes are particularly associated with poor outcomes among children with paediatric head injury. Continued vigilance and compliance with injury prevention initiatives and legislature are vital.
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To identify the 6-year trajectories of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and psychological distress symptoms, and examine for associations with timing of trauma exposure, ongoing adversity and with the sense of injustice in conflict-affected Timor-Leste. ⋯ Our findings suggest that the timing of both TE exposure and the focus of a sense of injustice may differentiate those with persisting and new-onset mental health morbidity in settings of recurrent conflict.
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Suspected seizures are a common reason for emergency calls to ambulance services. Prehospital management of these patients is an important element of good quality care. The aim of this study, conducted in a regional ambulance service in the UK, was to quantify the number of emergency telephone calls for suspected seizures in adults, the associated costs, and to describe the patients' characteristics, their prehospital management and their immediate outcomes. ⋯ Many patients with suspected seizures could potentially be treated more effectively and at lower cost by modifying ambulance call handling protocols. The development of innovative care pathways could give call handlers and paramedics alternatives to hospital transportation. Increased adoption of care plans could reduce 999 calls and could increase the rates of successful home or community treatment.
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Authors may choose to work with professional medical writers when writing up their research for publication. We examined the relationship between medical writing support and the quality and timeliness of reporting of the results of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). ⋯ In this sample of open-access journals, declared professional medical writing support was associated with more complete reporting of clinical trial results and higher quality of written English. Medical writing support may play an important role in raising the quality of clinical trial reporting.
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Comparative Study
Rates of self-harm presenting to general hospitals: a comparison of data from the Multicentre Study of Self-Harm in England and Hospital Episode Statistics.
Rates of hospital presentation for self-harm in England were compared using different national and local data sources. ⋯ There was a consistent underestimation of presentations for self-harm recorded by HES emergency department data, and fluctuations in year-on-year figures. HES admission data appeared more reliable but missed non-admitted episodes. Routinely collected data may miss important trends in self-harm and cannot be used in isolation as the basis for a robust national indicator of self-harm.