Written Informed Consent-Translating into Plain Language. A Pilot Study.

Background: Informed consent is important in clinical practice, as a person's written consent is required prior to many medical interventions. Many informed consent forms fail to communicate simply and clearly. The aim of our study was to create an easy-to-understand form.

Drug-safety reporting in Polish nursing practice-Cross sectional surveys.

Introduction: Nurses play a significant role in ensuring the safety and quality of drugs. Our aim was to assess significant factors in nurses' participation in ensuring pharmacotherapy safety by reporting adverse drug reactions (ADR) and detecting substandard drugs (SD).

Materials And Methods: The study was a cross-sectional, comparative survey, using original questionnaires.

Current Regulation of Mobile Mental Health Applications.

In recent years, the availability of software that is targeted toward the general public and designed to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness or to promote general mental health has expanded greatly. Regulation of more traditional health care providers and health care-associated devices is well established by statute, regulatory guidelines, and common law precedents. Applications (apps), in contrast, pose a novel regulatory challenge.

St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire has longitudinal construct validity in lymphangioleiomyomatosis.

Background: Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is an uncommon, progressive, cystic lung disease that causes shortness of breath, hypoxemia, and impaired health-related quality of life (HRQL). Whether St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), a respiratory-specific HRQL instrument, captures longitudinal changes in HRQL in patients with LAM is unknown.

Factors associated with the sexual assault of students: an exploratory study of victims treated at hospital-based sexual assault treatment centers.

Research suggests that students experience high levels of sexual assault, but studies addressing how they differ in their experiences from other sexual assault victims are virtually nonexistent. To address this gap, information was collected from consecutive individuals, aged 16 years or older, presenting to one of 7 hospital-based sexual assault treatment centers in Ontario from 2005 to 2007. Of the 882 victims seen during the study period, 32% were students.

Efficacy and safety of sirolimus in lymphangioleiomyomatosis.

Background: Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a progressive, cystic lung disease in women; it is associated with inappropriate activation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling, which regulates cellular growth and lymphangiogenesis. Sirolimus (also called rapamycin) inhibits mTOR and has shown promise in phase 1-2 trials involving patients with LAM.

Methods: We conducted a two-stage trial of sirolimus involving 89 patients with LAM who had moderate lung impairment--a 12-month randomized, double-blind comparison of sirolimus with placebo, followed by a 12-month observation period.

Drug-facilitated sexual assault in Ontario, Canada: toxicological and DNA findings.

The purpose of this study was to determine which persons reporting sexual assault to a hospital-based treatment centre may have been covertly drugged and to provide information about whether a sexual assault may have occurred. Each consecutive adolescent and adult presenting at a sexual assault treatment centre was screened for drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA). Urine was collected and tested for central nervous system active drugs.

Factors associated with child witnessing of intimate partner violence in Canada.

Knowing the characteristics associated with child exposure to spousal abuse could aid in early identification of at-risk children. The purpose of our study is to determine possible factors associated with child witnessing of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Canada using data from the 1999 General Social Survey, a representative telephone survey of Canadians aged 15 years and older. Respondents reporting IPV in the five years prior to the survey were asked whether a child had witnessed the incident.

Rates of depression and anxiety in urban and rural Canada.

Background: Studies of urban-rural differences in rates of non-psychotic psychiatric disorders have produced contradictory results, with some finding higher urban rates and others no difference.

Aims: This study aimed to compare geographic variability of rates of depression and three anxiety disorders in a large, random community sample of Canadian residents.

Method: Data from the 2002 Canadian Community Health Survey 1.

Help-seeking behavior for intimate partner violence among racial minority women in Canada.

Introduction: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is experienced by women of all ethnoracial backgrounds. Despite the serious adverse impacts of IPV on women's lives, many abused women do not seek help. The main objective of this paper was to determine whether a woman's racial minority status was a significant predictor of help-seeking for IPV after controlling for other factors associated with help-seeking.

Factors associated with suspected drug-facilitated sexual assault.

Background: There has been little systematic investigation of widespread reports of drugging and sexual assault. We sought to determine the prevalence of and factors associated with suspected drug-facilitated sexual assault.

Methods: Between June 2005 and March 2007, a total of 977 consecutive sexual assault victims underwent screening for suspected drugging at 7 hospital-based sexual assault treatment centres.

The association between role overload and women's mental health.

Objective: To determine the importance of role overload (the extent to which a person feels overwhelmed by her total responsibilities) relative to other known social determinants of women's mental health.

Methods: A Canadian national, random sample, cross-sectional telephone survey in 2003 assessed the association among role overload, types and quality of roles (parent, employee, spouse), sociodemographics, and mental health (using the SF-12) using linear regression. Analysis included 716 women aged 25-54 who indicated that their youngest child living in the household was aged < or =17 years.

Pregnancy experiences among women with lymphangioleiomyomatosis.

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare lung disease affecting women. Following case reports that pregnancy exacerbates LAM, patients are frequently advised to avoid pregnancy. Our objective was to determine pregnancy and health outcomes in LAM to provide better evidence with which to council patients contemplating pregnancy.

Gender and psychotropic medication use: the role of intimate partner violence.

Objective: Women are known to use more psychotropic medications than men which may be linked to women's greater exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV).

Method: The use of medications for sleep, depression and anxiety in adults in the 1999 Canadian General Social Survey was assessed. Rates of medication use by adults exposed to IPV (physical, sexual, emotional and financial) were compared to rates of those reporting no IPV.

Unexplained and underpowered: the relationship between psychosomatic disorders and interpersonal abuse -- a critical review.

Although it is commonly accepted that interpersonal violence (IntPV) leads to adverse health consequences, the available data are far from decisive. To test the hypothesized link, the authors devised an evidence-based strategy to determine the data quality in studies purporting to link IntPV and some medically unexplained disorders in women (irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pelvic pain, fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue, and other chronic pain syndromes). English language studies with control groups of unaffected women were assessed for the quality of their methodologies.

Gender differences in the symptoms of major depressive disorder.

Data from the Canadian Community Health Survey 1.2 were used for a gender analysis of individual symptoms and overall rates of depression in the preceding 12 months. Major depressive disorder was assessed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview in this national, cross-sectional survey.

Who is most at risk for intimate partner violence? A Canadian population-based study.

Whole population studies on intimate partner violence (IPV) have given contradictory information about prevalence and risk factors, especially concerning gender. The authors examined the 1999 Canadian General Social Survey data for gender patterns of physical, sexual, emotional, or financial IPV from a current or ex-partner. More women (8.

Air travel in women with lymphangioleiomyomatosis.

Background And Objective: The safety of air travel in patients with pneumothorax-prone pulmonary diseases, such as lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), has not been studied to any great extent. A questionnaire-based evaluation of air travel in patients with LAM was conducted to determine experiences aboard commercial aircraft.

Methods: A survey was sent to women listed in the US LAM Foundation registry (n = 389) and the UK LAM Action registry (n = 59) to assess air travel, including problems occurring during flight.

Help-seeking rates for intimate partner violence (IPV) among Canadian immigrant women.

We examined rates of help seeking for intimate partner violence (IPV) among recent (0-9 years in Canada) and non-recent (10+ years in Canada) immigrant women. Data from a national, cross-sectional, telephone survey were used. Help-seeking variables included disclosure of IPV, reporting IPV to police, use of social services subsequent to IPV, and barriers to social service use.

Adding insult to injury: intimate partner violence among women and men reporting activity limitations.

Purpose: Women with activity limitations (ALs) are at risk for Intimate partner violence (IPV). This study examined IPV in men versus women with ALs.

Methods: Data from the Canadian 1999 General Social Survey compared physical, sexual, emotional, and financial IPV from a current/expartner in 5 years for men and women with ALs compared with those without ALs.

The association between length of stay in Canada and intimate partner violence among immigrant women.

Objective: We examined the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) among recent (0-9 years) and nonrecent (>/= 10 years) immigrant women in Canada to determine whether differences in IPV were associated with length of stay in Canada.

Methods: We analyzed data from the 1999 General Social Survey, a national cross-sectional telephone survey. We used weighted logistic regression analysis to examine the effect of length of stay in Canada on IPV and controlled for socio-cultural and other factors associated with IPV.