Presenting clinical characteristics of open globe injuries in ocular trauma: baseline analysis of cases in the ASCOT national clinical trial.

Background/objectives: The Adjunctive Steroid Combination in Ocular Trauma (ASCOT) trial is a unique pragmatic, multi-centre, patient and assessor masked, randomised controlled trial. We evaluate the clinical characteristics and pathology of this large trial cohort of patients with open globe injuries undergoing vitreoretinal surgery, including the associations between patient characteristics and their baseline vision.

Subjects/methods: We (i) summarise demographics, injury history and ocular history of the 280 participants recruited into the ASCOT trial using descriptive statistics; (ii) analyse the national and seasonal variation across England and Scotland in these participant characteristics; and (iii) explore the associations between participant demographic, trauma history, ocular history and presenting baseline visual acuity (measured using the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study, ETDRS) using multivariable regression analyses.

Effect of 3, 2-Drug Combinations of Antihypertensive Therapies on Blood Pressure Variability in Black African Patients: Secondary Analyses of the CREOLE Trial.

Background: The effect of 3 commonly recommended combinations of anti-hypertensive agents-amlodipine plus hydrochlorothiazide (calcium channel blocker [CCB]+thiazide), amlodipine plus perindopril (CCB+ACE [angiotensin-converting enzyme]-inhibitor), and perindopril plus hydrochlorothiazide (ACE-inhibitor+thiazide) on blood pressure variability (V) are unknown.

Methods: We calculated the blood pressure variability (BPV) in 405 patients (130, 146, and 129 randomized to ACE-inhibitor+thiazide, CCB+thiazide, and CCB+ACE-inhibitor, respectively) who underwent ambulatory blood pressure monitoring after 6 months of treatment in the Comparisons of Three Combinations Therapies in Lowering Blood Pressure in Black Africans trial (CREOLE) of Black African patients. BPV was calculated using the SD of 30-minute interval values for 24-hour ambulatory BPs and for confirmation using the coefficient of variation.

Design and analysis features used in small population and rare disease trials: A targeted review.

Objectives: Frequentist trials in Rare disease/small population trials often require unfeasibly large sample size to detect minimum clinically important differences. A targeted review was performed investigating what design and analysis methods these trials use when facing restricted recruitment.

Study Design And Setting: Targeted Review searching EMBASE and MEDLINE for Phase II-IV RCTs reporting 'rare' disease or 'small population' within title or abstract, since 2009.

May Measurement Month 2019: an analysis of blood pressure screening results from Taiwan.

To bolster the awareness of high blood pressure (BP) and to monitor the trend of hypertension control rate. Similar to May Measurement Month (MMM) 2017 and 2018 campaigns, we conducted the MMM 2019 campaign in 643 community pharmacies across Taiwan, and recruited adults aged 20 years or over in May and June of 2019. After filling in an anonymous questionnaire regarding medical history and lifestyle habits and having 10-min sitting rest, pharmacists took triplicate upper-arm BP readings on participants using an automated oscillometric sphygmomanometer.

May Measurement Month 2019: blood pressure screening results in Georgia, Europe.

May Measurement Month is a global campaign aimed at raising public awareness of hypertension and to improve the management of hypertension-the main risk factor for cardiovascular diseases in the population. Screening was carried out at 400 sites on a national scale. More than 500 volunteers, including physicians (80%) and students of medical universities (20%) participated in the screening.