BMJ open
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Milk and resistance exercise intervention to improve muscle function in community-dwelling older adults at risk of sarcopenia (MIlkMAN): protocol for a pilot study.
Sarcopenia is a progressive muscle disorder characterised by decline in skeletal muscle mass, strength and function leading to adverse health outcomes, including falls, frailty, poor quality of life and death. It occurs more commonly in older people and can be accelerated by poor diet and low physical activity. Intervention studies incorporating higher dietary protein intakes or protein supplementation combined with resistance exercise (RE) have been shown to limit muscle function decline. However, less is known about the role of whole foods in reducing the risk of sarcopenia. Milk is a source of high-quality nutrients, which may be beneficial for skeletal muscle. This pilot study examines the feasibility and acceptability of milk consumption with RE to improve muscle function in community-dwelling older adults at risk of sarcopenia. ⋯ Outputs include pilot data to support funding applications; public involvement events; presentation at conferences and peer-reviewed publication.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Study protocol for a single-blind randomised controlled trial to evaluate the clinical effects of an Integrated Qigong exercise intervention on freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease.
Qigong exercise offers a potentially safe, low-cost and effective mind-body rehabilitative intervention for mitigating the problem of gait interruption among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) who have frequent freezing of gait (FOG) episodes. However, its clinical effects have not been established. This paper describes the trial protocol of evaluating the clinical efficacy of a newly developed Integrated Qigong in improving gait among patients with PD who have FOG. ⋯ This study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of Shanghai University of Sport and registered at China Clinical Trial Registry. Participants will sign informed consent prior to the participation of the trial. The findings of the study will be published in peer-reviewed academic journals and disseminated to PD support groups, medical community and media.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Can clinical case discussions foster clinical reasoning skills in undergraduate medical education? A randomised controlled trial.
Fostering clinical reasoning is a mainstay of medical education. Based on the clinicopathological conferences, we propose a case-based peer teaching approach called clinical case discussions (CCDs) to promote the respective skills in medical students. This study compares the effectiveness of different CCD formats with varying degrees of social interaction in fostering clinical reasoning. ⋯ This study demonstrates that the CCD approach is an effective and sustainable clinical reasoning teaching resource for medical students. Subjective learning outcomes underline the importance of learner (inter)activity in the acquisition of clinical reasoning skills in the context of case-based learning. Higher efficacy of more interactive formats can be attributed to positive effects of collaborative learning. Future research should investigate how the Live-CCD format can further be improved and how video-based CCDs can be enhanced through instructional support.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
'Optimising PharmacoTherapy In the multimorbid elderly in primary CAre' (OPTICA) to improve medication appropriateness: study protocol of a cluster randomised controlled trial.
Multimorbidity and polypharmacy are major risk factors for potentially inappropriate prescribing (eg, overprescribing and underprescribing), and systematic medication reviews are complex and time consuming. In this trial, the investigators aim to determine if a systematic software-based medication review improves medication appropriateness more than standard care in older, multimorbid patients with polypharmacy. ⋯ Swiss National Science Foundation, National Research Programme (NRP 74) 'Smarter Healthcare'.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Reliability of a wearable wireless patch for continuous remote monitoring of vital signs in patients recovering from major surgery: a clinical validation study from the TRaCINg trial.
To validate whether a wearable remote vital signs monitor could accurately measure heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR) and temperature in a postsurgical patient population at high risk of complications. ⋯ The continuous monitoring system did not reliably provide HR consistent with nurse measurements. The accuracy of RR and temperature was outside of acceptable limits. Limitations of the system could potentially be overcome through better signal processing. While acknowledging the time pressures placed on nursing staff, inaccuracies in the manually recorded data present an opportunity to increase awareness about the importance of manual observations, particularly with regard to methods of manual HR and RR measurements.