Patients' perceptions of written consent: questionnaire study.

Objective: To examine patients' understanding of the status, function, and remit of written consent to surgery.

Design: Prospective questionnaire study. Questionnaires were sent to patients within one month of surgery.

Caesarean section on request: a comparison of obstetricians' attitudes in eight European countries.

Objective: To explore the attitudes of obstetricians to perform a caesarean section on maternal request in the absence of medical indication.

Design: Cluster sampling cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) associated maternity units in eight European countries.

Why do women consent to surgery, even when they do not want to? An interactionist and Bourdieusian analysis.

The 'informed consent' process has been placed at the centre of bioethical and policy discourses about how the autonomy and rights of patients can best be protected. Although there has been critical analysis of how the process functions in relation to participation in research and particular ethical 'dilemmas', there has been little examination of the routine business of consenting to medical procedures. Evidence is now beginning to emerge that people may consent to surgery even when reluctant to do so.

Kidney involvement in a nongenetic rat model of type 2 diabetes.

Background: Rats fed a high fat diet and given a low dose of streptozotocin (STZ) (35 mg/kg) develop type 2 diabetes with insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, moderate hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and salt-sensitive hypertension. We postulated that rats with noninsulinopenic (type 2) diabetes develop lesions of diabetic nephropathy significantly more prominent than those seen in classic insulinopenic (type 1) diabetic rats.

Methods: Rats were fed regular chow or high fat diet (60% calories from fat and 70% animal fat).

Acute idiopathic pulmonary haemorrhage in infancy: case report and review of the literature.

This report presents the case of a 4-month-old male infant with recurrent bouts of haemoptysis for which no cause could be detected after extensive investigation. Literature reports of this condition from other geographic locations around the world are reviewed, together with epidemiologic studies attempting to provide a link with certain environmental exposures, toxic and infectious. A diagnostic entity of acute idiopathic pulmonary haemorrhage in infancy has recently been proposed.

Factors affecting the outcome of endometrial ablation using Cavaterm plus.

Objective: To study treatment outcome using the modified technique: Cavaterm plus.

Study Design: Retrospective postal questionnaire, in a large teaching hospital. One hundred and twenty-eight women with menorrhagia were treated between February 2001 and April 2003.

Women's accounts of consenting to surgery: is consent a quality problem?

Background: Consent has been placed at the centre of doctor-patient relationships. Attempts to improve the consent process in medicine have drawn on bioethical and legal traditions. Current approaches to consent emphasise the provision of information and have, in the UK, resulted in a single standardised format and process for both elective and emergency situations.

Informed consent for elective and emergency surgery: questionnaire study.

Objectives: To evaluate women's experience of giving consent to obstetric and gynaecological surgery and to examine differences between those undergoing elective and emergency procedures.

Design: A prospective questionnaire study.

Setting: A large teaching hospital.

Body temperature regulation during hemodialysis in long-term patients: is it time to change dialysate temperature prescription?

During hemodialysis procedures, changes in the dialysate temperature can raise or lower body temperature because the blood is returned to the patient in thermal equilibrium with the dialysate. Even a dialysate temperature equal to the patient's body temperature as measured from the tympanic membrane, oral cavity, or axilla can result in an increase in the patient's body temperature, leading to cutaneous vasodilation and the potential for cardiovascular instability and hypotension. This deleterious cycle of events can be prevented by suitably adjusting the dialysate temperature.

Randomised comparison of distension media for outpatient hysteroscopy.

Objective: To compare saline with and without added lignocaine and carbon dioxide distension for out patient hysteroscopy with regards to patient discomfort and hysteroscopic view.

Design: Single blind prospective randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Specialist out patient clinics in a large teaching hospital.

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome among hypertensive patients attending a primary care clinic in Kuwait.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among hypertensive patients using the criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III in a primary care health center in Kuwait.

Subjects And Methods: A population of 250 Kuwaiti hypertensive patients (129 males and 121 females) over the age of 40 were screened for metabolic syndrome by determining body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, levels of fasting plasma glucose and fasting plasma lipids (serum triglycerides, total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol). The study was carried out in the Mishref Family Practice Health Center, Kuwait, from January to July 2001.

The long-term effectiveness of endometrial laser ablation: a survival analysis.

Objectives: To assess the long-term effectiveness of endometrial laser ablation and factors that predict long-term outcome.

Setting: A university teaching hospital.

Study Design: Postal questionnaires were sent to all women who underwent endometrial laser ablation between 1992 and 1998.

Patient initiated home blood pressure recordings are accurate in hypertensive pregnant women.

Objective: We undertook this study to determine the accuracy and reliability of patient initiated blood pressure measurement and recording.

Methods: We recruited 72 women from the antenatal hypertension clinic in a university teaching hospital. All were at high risk for preeclampsia and were asked to measure and record their blood pressure three times per day at home using a validated blood pressure device with an internal memory.

The inter-role confidentiality conflict in recruitment for clinical research.

Recruiting patients into clinical research is essential for the advancement of medical knowledge. However, when the physician undertaking the care of the patient is also responsible for recruitment into clinical research, a situation arises of an inter-role breach of confidentiality which is distinguishable from other conflicts of interest. Such discord arises as the physician utilizes confidential information obtained within the therapeutic relationship beyond its primary objective, and safeguards ought to be observed in order to avert this important, and generally overlooked, problem.

Effect of soaking, germination, cooking and fermentation on antinutritional factors in cowpeas.

The present work deals with the study of efficacy of some treatments, namely soaking (in water and bicarbonate solution), ordinary and pressure cooking, germination and fermentation in reducing or removal of antinutritional factors usually present in cowpeas (protease inhibitors, tannins, phytic acid and flatus-producing oligosaccharides (raffinose and stachyose). The results showed that long-time soaking (16 h) in bicarbonate solution caused remarkable reduction in the antinutritional factors. Pressure cooking was more effective than ordinary.

Home monitoring of blood pressure in pregnancy at high risk of pre-eclampsia.

The early detection of pre-eclampsia is a major challenge in obstetric care. We report a case where pre-eclampsia was detected by home blood pressure monitoring between routine antenatal visits. This novel management approach allows early diagnosis and optimises antenatal care in fulminating disease.

Quantitative and qualitative assessment of women's experience of a one-stop menstrual clinic in comparison with traditional gynaecology clinics.

Objective: A quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the views of patients attending two types of clinics for menstrual disorders.

Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interview and quantitative questionnaire.

Setting: Five traditional general gynaecology clinics and a one-stop menstrual clinic, where investigations are performed and results given to patients on the same day.

Expression, activity and distribution of Na,K-ATPase subunits during in vitro neuronal induction.

The expression pattern of the alpha and beta isoforms and the gamma subunit of the Na,K-ATPase was investigated during in vitro induction of pluripotent murine embryonic stem (ES) cells into neuronal cells. alpha1 protein was expressed in undifferentiated ES (UES) cells and throughout all stages studied. In contrast, alpha3 protein was prominent only when neuronal cells have reached full differentiation.

Examining consent within the patient-doctor relationship.

The notion of consent which rose to the forefront in biomedical ethics as an attempt to safeguard patients' autonomy, is relatively new. The notion itself requires qualification, for it precludes neither duress nor ignorance. More seriously, I argue here that consent is redundant except in situations where paternalism prevails.