Preliminary validation of the insomnia severity index in Danish outpatients with a medical condition.

Purpose: Insomnia is a frequent sleeping disorder in the general and clinical population. With an increasing proportion of health care services being provided as outpatient care, a short, valid and reliable tool is needed to identify insomnia in medical patients under outpatient care in Denmark. The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) could be the needed tool if found valid and reliable.

The impact of a patient decision aid on shared decision-making behaviour in oncology care and pulmonary medicine-A field study based on real-life observations.

Objective: A patient decision aid (PtDA) is often developed and evaluated to support shared decision making (SDM) and a patient-centred approach. In this study, a PtDA template was developed to support two different preference sensitive decisions: adjuvant therapy for breast cancer and diagnostic workup for lung cancer. The aim of the study was to explore whether a PtDA improved SDM and supported a patient-centred approach from an observational point of view.

How participatory action research changed our view of the challenges of shared decision-making training.

Objective: This paper aims to demonstrate how the use of participatory action research (PAR) helped us identify ways to respond to communication challenges associated with shared decision-making (SDM) training.

Methods: Patients, relatives, researchers, and health professionals were involved in a PAR process that included: (1) two theatre workshops, (2) a pilot study of an SDM training module involving questionnaires and evaluation meetings, and (3) three reflection workshops.

Results: The PAR process revealed that health professionals often struggled with addressing existential issues such as concerns about life, relationships, meaning, and ability to lead responsive dialogue.

Human rhinovirus in experimental infection after peroral Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG consumption, a pilot study.

Background: Data has emerged on possible beneficial effects of probiotics in respiratory tract viral infections, but it is unclear if the promising positive effects evidenced are due to a reduced viral load during infections. The aims of this work were to investigate the effect of peroral probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (American Type Culture Collection [ATCC], Accession No. 53103) consumption on human rhinovirus (HRV) load in nasopharyngeal lavage samples in experimental HRV infection, and to correlate viral load to clinical symptoms.

Efficacy and safety of iota-carrageenan nasal spray versus placebo in early treatment of the common cold in adults: the ICICC trial.

Unlabelled: Iota-carrageenan (I-C) is active against respiratory viruses in vitro and was effective as nasal spray in three previous clinical trials. The current trial served to further investigate I-C in patients with early common cold symptoms.

Methods: This randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind phase IV trial was conducted in 200 adult patients with self-diagnosed colds of <48 h' duration that were confirmed by baseline cold symptom scores.