Centralising acute stroke care and moving care to the community in a Danish health region: Challenges in implementing a stroke care reform.

In May 2012, one of Denmark's five health care regions mandated a reform of stroke care. The purpose of the reform was to save costs, while at the same time improving quality of care. It included (1) centralisation of acute stroke treatment at specialised hospitals, (2) a reduced length of hospital stay, and (3) a shift from inpatient rehabilitation programmes to community-based rehabilitation programmes.

The ethical introduction of genome-based information and technologies into public health.

With the human genome project running from 1989 until its completion in 2003, and the incredible advances in sequencing technology and in bioinformatics during the last decade, there has been a shift towards an increase focus on studying common complex disorders which develop due to the interplay of many different genes as well as environmental factors. Although some susceptibility genes have been identified in some populations for disorders such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, the integration of this information into the health care system has proven to be much more problematic than for single gene disorders. Furthermore, with the 1000$ genome supposedly just around the corner, and whole genome sequencing gradually being integrated into research protocols as well as in the clinical context, there is a strong push for the uptake of additional genomic testing.

Patient-reported outcome of hip resurfacing arthroplasty and standard total hip replacement after short-term follow-up.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate patient-reported outcome in terms of satisfaction in two study groups that had undergone hip resurfacing arthro-plasty (HRA) or total hip replacement (THR). The procedure consists of placing a hollow, mushroom-shaped metal cap over the femoral head while a matching metal cup is placed in the acetabulum (pelvis socket).

Material And Methods: The two study groups included a total of 84 patients with an average age of 57 years who had idiopathic hip osteoarthritis or secondary arthritis based on mild dysplasia with arthritis.