Articles: function.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Sep 2016
ReviewExhaled nitric oxide levels to guide treatment for adults with asthma.
Asthma guidelines aim to guide health practitioners to optimise treatment for patients so as to minimise symptoms, improve or maintain good lung function, and prevent acute exacerbations or flare-ups. The principle of asthma guidelines is based on a step-up or step-down regimen of asthma medications to maximise good health outcomes using minimum medications. Asthma maintenance therapies reduce airway inflammation that is usually eosinophilic. Tailoring asthma medications in accordance with airway eosinophilic levels may improve asthma outcomes such as indices of control or reduce exacerbations or both. Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is a marker of eosinophilic inflammation, and as it is easy to measure, has an advantage over other measurements of eosinophilic inflammation (for example sputum eosinophils). ⋯ With new studies included since the last version of this review, which included adults and children, this updated meta-analysis in adults with asthma showed that tailoring asthma medications based on FeNO levels (compared with primarily on clinical symptoms) decreased the frequency of asthma exacerbations but did not impact on day-to-day clinical symptoms, end-of-study FeNO levels, or inhaled corticosteroid dose. Thus, the universal use of FeNO to help guide therapy in adults with asthma cannot be advocated. As the main benefit shown in the studies in this review was a reduction in asthma exacerbations, the intervention may be most useful in adults who have frequent exacerbations. Further RCTs encompassing different asthma severity, ethnic groups in less affluent settings, and taking into account different FeNO cutoffs are required.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial Observational Study
Functional outcomes of pre-hospital thrombolysis in a mobile stroke treatment unit compared with conventional care: an observational registry study.
Specialised CT-equipped mobile stroke treatment units shorten time to intravenous thrombolysis in acute ischaemic stroke by starting treatment before hospital admission; however, direct effects of pre-hospital thrombolysis on clinical outcomes have not been shown. We aimed to compare 3-month functional outcomes after intravenous thrombolysis in patients with acute ischaemic who had received emergency mobile care or and conventional care. ⋯ Zukunftsfonds Berlin, the Technology Foundation Berlin with EU co-financing by the European Regional Development Fund via Investitionsbank Berlin, and the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research via the Center for Stroke Research Berlin.
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Observational Study
Electronically Mediated Time-out Initiative to Reduce the Incidence of Wrong Surgery: An Interventional Observational Study.
"Wrong surgery" is defined as wrong site, wrong operation, or wrong patient, with estimated incidence up to 1 per 5,000 cases. Responding to national attention on wrong surgery, our objective was to create a care redesign intervention to minimize the rate of wrong surgery. ⋯ Implementation of a forced-completion electronically mediated time-out process before incision is feasible, but it is unclear whether true performance improvements occur.
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Cystic lung disease (CLD) in Sjögren syndrome (SS) is a condition with unclear prognostic implications. Our objectives in this study are to determine its frequency, progression over time, and associated risk factors and complications. ⋯ CLD is a relatively common condition in SS that does not progress on serial radiologic and lung function follow-up. CLD, without other radiographic findings, may represent a direct manifestation of SS.