Implementing Essence of Care in a clinical research facility.

Since Essence of Care was introduced there have been a number of documents published on benchmarking in clinical areas. However, there is a lack of information on implementing the benchmarks in a research setting. This article describes how the Essence of Care framework has been translated for use at the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility, detailing the implementation cycle, difficulties, achievements and future plans.

Comparison of the allergenicity of Actinidia deliciosa (kiwi fruit) and Actinidia chinensis (gold kiwi).

Actinidia chinensis (gold kiwi) is a newly available fruit which has been shown to have in vitro immunoglobulin E (IgE) cross-reactivity with green kiwi. This is the first study to investigate clinical reactivity of gold kiwi. Five patients clinically allergic to green kiwi were investigated by skin test and double-blind placebo controlled food challenge (DBPCFC) with gold kiwi fruit.