Perianal pruritus in dogs with skin disease.

Background: Perianal pruritus has been reported in dogs with anal sac disease but not in healthy dogs. Some authors describe it as typical of allergy, but there is little evidence in support of this.

Hypothesis/objectives: The aim was to investigate the association between perianal pruritus and canine atopic dermatitis (CAD), adverse food reaction (ARF) and other skin diseases in dogs.

Quality of life of dogs with skin diseases and their owners. Part 1: development and validation of a questionnaire.

The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a questionnaire on the quality of life (QoL) of dogs with skin diseases and their owners. Twenty-six qualitative interviews with owners of dogs affected with severe skin diseases were performed to identify which aspects of the life of dogs and owners were impaired. To assess the clarity of questions, a preliminary 19-item questionnaire (answer range, 0 = none to 3 = severe) was developed following current models from human dermatology and administered to a pilot sample of 20 owners.

[Organization analysis and health technology assessment: an experiment in San Giovanni Battista University Hospital-Turin].

Recent Italian laws emphasise Clinical Governance model as a priority for hospitals and Health Technology Assessment as one of the major tools in order to support local and hospital decisions as far as new health technologies are concerned. Our reported experience suggests managing solutions and appraises clinical issues in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and security of new and emerging technologies in order to plan and to create a system according to up to date Health Technology Assessment principles in San Giovanni Battista University Hospital-Turin. Mini-HTA reports have been realised on "Technology Intelligence" in prostate cancer treatment, percutaneous implantation of aortic valve prosthesis in high-risk patients with aortic valve disease and experimental Home Radiology project.

Costs in surgical techniques for radical prostatectomy: a review of the current state.

Introduction: We carried out a mini-review of the literature in order to obtain a snapshot of the present state of the art of surgical techniques costs available for radical prostatectomy.

Materials And Methods: We developed a MEDLINE search strategy and one economist assessed the included studies using the NHS EED guidelines for reviewers.

Results: When observing costs by the author, it is possible to trace up a trend line of increasing costs which starts off with RPP, passes through RRP and LRP and ends up with robot-assisted radical prostatectomy.

[Methodological aspects in valuing loss of production and informal care in cost-of-illness studies].

Estimating costs of illness in social terms requires the consideration of the loss of production costs due to absence from work. Costs related to informal care should also be counted. Costs due to the loss of production are valued through the human capital method and the frictional costs method.

A comparative costs analysis of brachytherapy and radical retropubic prostatectomy therapies for clinically localized prostate cancer.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to perform a comparative costs analysis of brachytherapy (BT) and radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) for clinically localized prostate cancer and to shed light on the difficulties of comparing their relative economic effectiveness.

Methods: A systematic literature review of costing studies available in the Medline, Embase, DARE, and INAHTA databases.

Results: There is a lack of homogeneity among published studies in this field.

[Evaluation of the quality of hospital medical records in a hospital in Turin (Italy)].

The San Giovanni Battista Hospital in Turin validated a tool for evaluating the quality of hospital patient records. The tool defines the essential contents of patient records, indicators and weights as well as the standard score that must be reached. A pilot study was performed in 2007 to evaluate whether this tool adequately evaluates the quality of hospital patient records in both medical and surgical wards, and whether it can do so in a standardized and repeatable manner.

The applicability of robotic prostatectomy.

Our comment points out an interesting public health issue about a revolutionary surgical technique: the common opinion of robot-assisted techniques is about a feasible, easy and safe procedure. We compared this technique with other radical prostatectomy techniques as far as costs and economics are concerned.

Efficacy and tolerability of once-daily cephalexin in canine superficial pyoderma: an open controlled study.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of oral cephalexin given at 30 mg/kg once daily in dogs with superficial pyoderma and to compare them with those of oral cephalexin given at 15 mg/kg twice daily.

Methods: Twenty dogs with superficial pyoderma were treated with cephalexin at 30 to 60 mg/kg orally once daily (group A) and compared with 20 dogs treated at a dose of 15 to 30 mg/kg orally twice daily (group B). Dogs were treated until 14 days after clinical remission.

[Managing waiting lists outpatients clinic. An experience in ASL 4--Turin].

Waiting lists issue is one of the main matters of every public health system. The aim of this study is to design a pathway in the Local public health authority 4 in Turin (Piedmont Region, Italy) as far as waiting lists management of outpatient service is concerned between 2004 and 2006. This study emphasizes a new approaching methodology based on: a) clearly defined criteria of clinic priorities to accessing public health facilities; b) working groups composed by a representing member of the District, one or more medical and general practitioners representing different equipe; c) monitoring priority criteria as objectives to both medical practitioners and equipe in order to assess them at the end of the year Results are encouraging because equipe correctly applied defined priority criteria so that they reached objectives improving their performance during considered period (66.

Performance and costs of a rapid syphilis test in an urban population at high risk for sexually transmitted infections.

Introduction: Rapid syphilis screening could facilitate case-identification in populations at high risk for sexually transmitted infections (STI). The aim of this study was to compare the performance and the cost-effectiveness of a rapid immunochromatography syphilis test with a traditional ELISA screening test in patients with suspected infectious syphilis or patients at high risk for STI/syphilis.

Methods: Consecutive patients attending a STI clinic cosensually underwent serological testing with two different tests.

Expected number of childhood cancers in Italy from 2001 to 2015.

The total number of children with incident cancer in Italy has never been specifically estimated. Specialized population-based Childhood Cancer Registries have only been operating in Piedmont (CCRP) and in the Marche region, while general population cancer registries cover about 20% of the Italian population. The number of expected cases of childhood cancer (0-14 years) in Italy in the period 2001-2015 has been estimated using CCRP incidence rates and annual percentage changes.

New insights into the pathogenesis of penile shortening after radical prostatectomy and the role of postoperative sexual function.

Purpose: We assessed penile changes after radical prostatectomy by performing serial penile measurements. The potential effect of nerve sparing surgery and the recovery of erectile function on the degree of penile shortening were also evaluated.

Materials And Methods: A total of 126 consecutive patients were enrolled.