Correction to: Treatment patterns in patients with osteoporosis at high risk of fracture in Japan: retrospective chart review.

In this article it was mistakenly stated that Akimitsu Miyauchi is affiliated with both Miyauchi Medical Center, Osaka and Amgen Astellas BioPharma K.K., Tokyo.

Treatment patterns in patients with osteoporosis at high risk of fracture in Japan: retrospective chart review.

Unlabelled: Osteoporosis (OP) causes reduced bone strength and increases risk of fractures. Medical records from specialist clinics in Japan of postmenopausal women with OP and high risk of fracture were analysed. Majority of patients were treated for OP as recommended and were prescribed OP medications soon after high-risk OP diagnosis.

Lifestyle-Related Metabolic Disorders, Osteoporosis, and Fracture Risk in Asia: A Systematic Review.

Background: The prevalence of both lifestyle-related metabolic disorders and osteoporosis is increasing in Asia.

Objectives: To conduct a systematic review of the published literature to identify studies examining disorders of glucose and lipid metabolism (type 2 diabetes, hyperglycemia, hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipidemia, dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome [MetS], and atherosclerosis) as risk factors for osteoporosis and fracture in Asian populations. Studies examining the relationship between metabolic disorders and bone mineral density (BMD) were also included.

Rapid evidence assessment: increasing the transparency of an emerging methodology.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: Within the field of evidence-based practice, policy makers, health care professionals and consumers require timely reviews to inform decisions on efficacious health care and treatments. Rapid evidence assessment (REA), also known as rapid review, has emerged in recent years as a literature review methodology that fulfils this need. It highlights what is known in a clinical area to the target audience in a relatively short time frame.

Disease status, patient quality of life and healthcare resource use for ulcerative colitis in the UK: an observational study.

Background: Ulcerative colitis is a lifelong, chronic, relapsing-remitting disease.

Objective: To assess the relationship between ulcerative colitis disease status and patient quality of life, and to determine the impact of ulcerative colitis on healthcare costs and work productivity, in the UK.

Methods: Clinicians assessed 173 adult patients' current disease status at a single study visit using the partial Mayo (pMayo) instrument.

Lifetime cost effectiveness of a through-school nutrition and physical programme: Project Energize.

Project Energize, a multicomponent through-school physical activity and nutrition programme, is delivered to all primary school children in the Waikato region. The programme aim is to improve the overall health and reduce the rate of weight gain of all Waikato primary school children. An existing economic model was used to extrapolate the programme effects, initial costs, lifetime health treatment cost structures, quality-adjusted-life-years gained and increased life expectancy to the general and Māori child population of New Zealand.

Relationship between disease severity and quality of life and assessment of health care utilization and cost for ulcerative colitis in Australia: a cross-sectional, observational study.

Background & Aims: The burden of ulcerative colitis (UC) in relation to disease severity is not well documented. This study quantitatively evaluated the relationship between disease activity and quality of life (QoL), as well as health care utilization, cost, and work-related impairment associated with UC in an Australian population.

Methods: A cross-sectional, noninterventional, observational study was performed in patients with a wide range of disease severity recruited during routine specialist consultations.

Histology as a treatment effect modifier in advanced non-small cell lung cancer: a systematic review of the evidence.

Background And Objective: We conducted a systematic review of prospective, randomized, controlled trials (RCT) to examine whether histology had a treatment modifying effect (TME) on the efficacy outcomes of chemotherapeutic agents in patients with advanced (stage IIIB-IV) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: Potentially pertinent publications were reviewed in full to determine if there was any TME by histology for overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) or treatment response rate (TRR).

Results: Data from three pemetrexed RCT, comparing (i) pemetrexed versus docetaxel, (ii) pemetrexed and cisplatin versus gemcitabine and cisplatin, and (iii) pemetrexed versus placebo, showed a statistically significant TME by histology for OS and PFS.

A systematic review of the clinical effectiveness of 64-slice or higher computed tomography angiography as an alternative to invasive coronary angiography in the investigation of suspected coronary artery disease.

Background: This systematic review summarized recent evidence pertaining to the clinical effectiveness of 64-slice or higher computed tomography angiography (CTA) in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). If CTA proves to be a successful diagnostic performance measure, it could prevent the use of invasive diagnostic procedures in some patients. This would provide multiple health and cost benefits, particularly for under resourced areas where invasive coronary angiography is not always available.

FORM: an Australian method for formulating and grading recommendations in evidence-based clinical guidelines.

Background: Clinical practice guidelines are an important element of evidence-based practice. Considering an often complicated body of evidence can be problematic for guideline developers, who in the past may have resorted to using levels of evidence of individual studies as a quasi-indicator for the strength of a recommendation. This paper reports on the production and trial of a methodology and associated processes to assist Australian guideline developers in considering a body of evidence and grading the resulting guideline recommendations.

A systematic review of the interobserver variability for histology in the differentiation between squamous and nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer.

Introduction: The importance of identifying non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) histologic subtype has increased recently because of the development of target-specific chemotherapeutic agents. This systematic review was undertaken to examine the interobserver variability for histology in differentiating between subtypes of NSCLC, specifically the ability to differentiate squamous from nonsquamous histology.

Methods: A systematic literature search was undertaken to identify studies that evaluated the reproducibility of histologic diagnosis by pathologists in their reporting of NSCLC subtypes.

Cost-effectiveness of using recombinant human thyroid-stimulating hormone before radioiodine ablation for thyroid cancer: the Canadian perspective.

Objectives: Radioiodine ablation for the treatment of thyroid cancer is traditionally performed after preparing patients by inducing hypothyroidism. Exogenous stimulation of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) using recombinant human TSH (rhTSH) avoids hypothyroidism and hastens the clearance of radioiodine from the patient. These advantages are achieved without jeopardizing the success rate of remnant ablation.

Extending an evidence hierarchy to include topics other than treatment: revising the Australian 'levels of evidence'.

Background: In 1999 a four-level hierarchy of evidence was promoted by the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia. The primary purpose of this hierarchy was to assist with clinical practice guideline development, although it was co-opted for use in systematic literature reviews and health technology assessments. In this hierarchy interventional study designs were ranked according to the likelihood that bias had been eliminated and thus it was not ideal to assess studies that addressed other types of clinical questions.

Relationship between disease severity, quality of life and health-care resource use in a cross-section of Australian patients with Crohn's disease.

Background And Aim: New treatments for Crohn's disease are expensive and place economic strain upon health-care systems, and 'value-for-money' needs to be confirmed. This study aimed to correlate disease severity with health-related quality of life and with health-care resource use, to allow evaluation of the cost effectiveness of these treatments.

Methods: A cross-sectional, non-interventional, pharmacoeconomics study was performed with patients completing questionnaires comprising demographic, disease and health-care utilization questions, together with the disease-specific Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ) and the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) multi-attribute utility instrument.

Diagnosis of appendicitis in adults by ultrasonography or computed tomography: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: The use of ultrasonography and computed tomography (CT) in the diagnosis of appendicitis in adult patients was compared.

Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis of current evidence in two clinical situations: unselected nonpregnant, adult patients with symptoms of appendicitis, and more selective use in only those patients who still have an equivocal diagnosis subsequent to routine clinical investigations.

Results: Meta-analysis of eligible studies shows CT to have better sensitivity and specificity than ultrasound in both clinical situations.

Using recombinant human thyroid-stimulating hormone for the diagnosis of recurrent thyroid cancer.

Background: Recombinant human thyroid-stimulating hormone (rhTSH) has been suggested as a diagnostic agent in the diagnosis of recurrent thyroid cancer, instead of the current practice of thyroid hormone (THT) withdrawal.

Methods: An evidenced-based literature review was used as the basis for a cost-utility, decision-analytic model. Outcome measures were safety, efficacy (diagnostic performance and quality of life) and cost effectiveness of rhTSH.

Discrete choice experiment to derive willingness to pay for methyl aminolevulinate photodynamic therapy versus simple excision surgery in basal cell carcinoma.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine willingness to pay (WTP) and preference for methyl aminolevulinate (MAL) photodynamic therapy compared with simple surgical excision for basal cell carcinoma (BCC). The relative preferences for individual features of the therapy were also determined.

Design: A discrete-choice experiment was conducted to ascertain WTP and relative preferences for treatment of BCC among the general population.

Patient preference and willingness-to-pay for Humalog Mix25 relative to Humulin 30/70: a multicountry application of a discrete choice experiment.

Objectives: To assess preference and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the insulin mixture Humalog Mix25 relative to Humulin 30/70, from the patients' perspective, the relative importance of individual treatment attributes was also determined. Differences among five European countries were investigated.

Methods: Two hundred and ninety patients with type 2 diabetes were recruited from five European countries.

Community-acquired pneumonia mortality: a potential link to antibiotic prescribing trends in general practice.

Background: Community prescribing of antibiotics has decreased substantially in the UK in recent years. We examine the association between pneumonia mortality and recent changes in community-based antibiotic prescribing for lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI).

Methods: Retrospective analysis of aggregated data for pneumonia mortality, influenza incidence, and antibiotic prescribing for LRTI in England and Wales during 12-week winter periods between 1993/94 and 1999/2000.

Effect of load during electrical stimulation training in spinal cord injury.

Electrical stimulation training is known to alter skeletal muscle characteristics after a spinal cord injury, but the effect of load on optimizing the training protocol has not been fully investigated. This study investigated two electrical-stimulation training regimes with different loads on intramuscular parameters of the paralyzed lower limbs. Six paraplegic individuals with a spinal cord injury underwent electrical stimulation training (45 min daily for 3 days per week for 10 weeks).