Implementation of Advance Care Planning in Norway.

Advance Care Planning has a relatively short history in the Norwegian health care services. This article gives an overview of advance care planning research and its implementation in the health care services in Norway. Advance care planning has received increased attention from policymakers and the health care services.

Hospital care for the dying patient with cancer: does an advance care planning invitation influence bereaved relatives' experiences? A two country survey.

Objectives: Advance care planning (ACP) is not systematically performed in Argentina or Norway. We used the post-bereavement survey of the ERANet-LAC International Care Of the Dying Evaluation (CODE) project (2017-2020) to examine the proportion of relatives who were offered an ACP conversation, the proportion of those not offered it who would have wanted it and whether the outcomes differed between those offered a conversation and those not.

Methods: Relatives after cancer deaths in hospitals answered the CODE questionnaire 6-8 weeks post bereavement, by post (Norway) or interview (Argentina).

Feasibility and acceptability of introducing advance care planning on a thoracic medicine inpatient ward: an exploratory mixed method study.

Background And Aims: Advance care planning (ACP) is communication about wishes and preferences for end-of-life care. ACP is not routinely used in any Norwegian hospitals. We performed a pilot study (2014-2017) introducing ACP on a thoracic medicine ward in Norway.

Advance care planning in life-threatening pulmonary disease: a focus group study.

Advance care planning (ACP) is a communication process for mapping a patient's wishes and priorities for end-of-life care. In preparation for the introduction of ACP in Norway, we wanted to explore the views of Norwegian pulmonary patients on ACP. We conducted four focus group interviews in a Norwegian teaching hospital, with a sample of 13 patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer or lung fibrosis.

Aerobic high-intensity intervals improve VO2max more than moderate training.

Purpose: The present study compared the effects of aerobic endurance training at different intensities and with different methods matched for total work and frequency. Responses in maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), stroke volume of the heart (SV), blood volume, lactate threshold (LT), and running economy (CR) were examined.

Methods: Forty healthy, nonsmoking, moderately trained male subjects were randomly assigned to one of four groups:1) long slow distance (70% maximal heart rate; HRmax); 2)lactate threshold (85% HRmax); 3) 15/15 interval running (15 s of running at 90-95% HRmax followed by 15 s of active resting at 70% HRmax); and 4) 4 x 4 min of interval running (4 min of running at 90-95% HRmax followed by 3 min of active resting at 70%HRmax).

Epilation of upper lip hirsutism with a eutectic mixture of lidocaine and prilocaine used as a topical anesthetic.

Twenty-one patients were included in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study with a eutectic mixture of lidocaine and prilocaine (EMLA). EMLA or placebo was placed on the upper lip for 1 hour; diathermy was then performed for 10 minutes. The pain caused by diathermy was evaluated by the patients and the cosmetologist on a four-point scale.

Treatment of lichen planus with acitretin. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study in 65 patients.

Sixty-five patients with lichen planus were included in a multicenter trial of acitretin. At the end of an 8-week placebo-controlled, double-blind phase, a significantly higher number of patients treated with 30 mg/day acitretin (64%) showed remission or marked improvement compared with placebo (13%). Furthermore, during the subsequent 8-week open phase, 83% of previously placebo-treated patients responded favorably to acitretin therapy.

The development of the patch testing procedure and working for consistency.

Patch testing is a necessary tool to investigate contact dermatitis, which has developed alongside the increased knowledge of contact sensitivity in the past 100 years. The history of patch testing, the current state of the art with its problems, and future prospects are discussed.

A double-blind comparison of acitretin and etretinate in the treatment of severe psoriasis. Results of a Nordic multicentre study.

Acitretin, the free acid of etretinate, is less lipophilic and has a much shorter terminal half-life than the parent compound. The present double-blind, randomized study compared the therapeutic effectiveness and the tolerability of acitretin (n = 127) and etretinate (n = 41) in psoriasis. Patients were treated with 40 mg daily for the first 4 weeks and with an individually adjusted dose for the subsequent 8 weeks.

Terfenadine in the treatment of chronic idiopathic urticaria and atopic dermatitis.

The use of the nonsedating antihistamine terfenadine (60 mg twice daily) in the treatment of chronic idiopathic urticaria and contact urticaria associated with atopic dermatitis was assessed. In patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria, terfenadine was found to be as effective as the traditional antihistamine clemastine in reducing the number of wheals and the severity of itch, without causing drowsiness. A separate study showed terfenadine to be of value in some patients with atopic dermatitis and a history of contact urticaria.

Kathon CG reactivity in 1396 consecutively patch tested patients in the Copenhagen area.

In 1396 consecutively patch tested patients 18 (1.3%) reacted to Kathon CG. Relevance was established in 4 of the 18 patients.

Routine patch testing with paraben esters.

Paraben esters are the most widely used preservatives in cosmetics and topical medicaments. Their sensitization potential is low, based on both experimental and human experience. A paraben mixture is included in the ICDRG standard series, and in patch test studies, approximately 1% of eczema patients react to it.

Recurrent genital herpes on the buttocks: "herpes disciformis".

We report a clinical variety of recurrent genital herpes on the buttocks of seven women ranging in age from thirty-four to eighty-one years. The lesions had recurred for one to nine years and had produced a characteristic cicatricial rounded area within the S2 to S3 dermatomes on one buttock. Herpes disciformis is believed to be an anatomical variant of the common genital herpes infection.

Domoprednate, a new nonhalogenated topical steroid: comparison to hydrocortisone butyrate.

Thirty-nine patients with mainly psoriasis vulgaris and atopic dermatitis were treated for 4 weeks with 0.1% domoprednate and hydrocortisone butyrate ointment according to a right-left, randomized design. Various assessments of efficacy only revealed marginal, but statistically insignificant differences.

Is it possible to work with pao ferro (Machaerium scleroxylum, Tul.)?

Pao ferro (Machaerium scleroxylum), used as a rosewood substitute, is a strong sensitizer capable of causing acute outbreaks of allergic and irritant dermatitis in workers not previously exposed to it. This, however, has not prevented furniture factories from using the product. Apparently, most workers develop tolerance to the wood.

Topical metronidazole in the treatment of rosacea.

One percent metronidazole in an emollient cream base was compared with 250 mg oral tetracycline taken twice daily for the treatment of seventy-five patients with rosacea. After eight weeks of treatment there was no statistically significant difference between the results of the two treatments. Tetracycline did have a more rapid onset of effect on papules and pustules.

Terfenadine in chronic urticaria: a comparison with clemastine and placebo.

Terfenadine, a new specific and peripherally acting antihistamine, was compared with clemastine and placebo in a prospective, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, crossover study of the treatment of chronic urticaria. Sixty patients with chronic urticaria participated in this multicenter trial. The treatment time was two weeks per drug treatment, totalling six weeks.

Rehabilitation in hand eczema.

The difference between medical and social prognosis in hand eczema is stressed. Rehabilitation may be a fashionable word, but a change of job may result in a lower social standing and the eczema may persist. Job change should never be considered unless extensive patch testing has been performed.

Patch test sensitivity to Kathon CG.

Among 1511 consecutive patients patch tested with Kathon CG at 100 ppm active ingredient, 13 (0.8%) gave a positive reaction. Use test with a lotion containing Kathon CG (8.

Anthralin stick (Anthraderm) in the treatment of mosaic warts.

Thirty patients having mosaic warts of the soles for 2 years (range 3 months-6 years) were treated daily with a wax-based anthralin stick supplemented by weekly paring. Six patients dropped out, because they failed to appear for follow-up. Of the remaining patients 17/24 cleared, whereas the warts persisted in 7/24.