Supporting family carers in general practice: a scoping review of clinical guidelines and recommendations.

Background: Increasing numbers of family carers are providing informal care in community settings. This creates a number of challenges because family carers are at risk of poor physical and psychological health outcomes, with consequences both for themselves and those for whom they provide care. General Practitioners (GPs), who play a central role in community-based care, are ideally positioned to identify, assess, and signpost carers to supports.

Supporting family carers in Ireland: the role of the general practitioner.

Background: Ireland has over half a million family carers who provide care to a family member or loved one. Internationally, it is recognised that general practitioners (GPs) have a critical role to play in the identification and support of family carers, but, to date, no guidelines exist in Ireland to support GPs in this role.

Aims: The aim of this study was to examine how carers are currently supported (or not) by healthcare professionals in Ireland, with a particular focus on the role of the GP.

Involving young people in cyberbullying research: The implementation and evaluation of a rights-based approach.

Background: Cyberbullying is an international Public Health concern. Efforts to understand and address it can be enhanced by involving young people. This paper describes a rights-based collaboration with young people in a qualitative exploration of cyberbullying.

Alcohol consumption among university students: a typology of consumption to aid the tailoring of effective public health policy.

Objective: Elevated levels of alcohol consumption among university students are well documented. Policymakers have attempted to combat this issue at a university, national and international level. Tailoring public health policy to effectively tackle alcohol use is crucial.

Pauci-Immune Crescentic Glomerulonephritis in Connective Tissue Disease.

Pauci-immune crescentic glomerulonephritis is commonly seen in ANCA-associated vasculitis but it is rarely seen during the course of other connective tissue diseases like lupus or Sjogren's syndrome or MCTD. We report 3 cases of pauci-immune crescentic glomerulonephritis in patients with connective tissue disease other than vasculitis. We reviewed literature and made summary of previously reported cases of this rare entity.

The true financial impact of hospital readmissions.

Hospital executives working to reduce the cost of readmissions should note that: The penalty imposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for excess readmissions can be disproportionately high The true cost of readmissions goes beyond the CMS penalty Even small reductions in readmissions can substantially reduce penalties Changes to healthcare reimbursement, such as bundled payments, will also incentivize hospitals to reduce readmissions.

Diagnosis and treatment of the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies.

The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) are rare disorders with the unifying feature of proximal muscle weakness. These diseases include polymyositis(PM), dermatomyositis (DM) and inclusion body myositis (IBM) as the most common. The diagnosis is based on the finding of weakness on exam, elevated muscles enzymes, characteristic histopathology of muscle biopsies, electromyography abnormalities and rash in DM.

Intra- and postoperative very low dose intravenous ketamine infusion does not increase pain relief after major spine surgery in patients with preoperative narcotic analgesic intake.

Objective: This study aims to demonstrate the analgesic efficacy and opioid-sparing effect of low dose ketamine in patients with preoperative narcotic intake undergoing major spine surgery.

Design: The study used a prospective, randomized, double-blinded, and placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Settings And Patients: We evaluated the analgesic efficacy and safety of low dose IV ketamine infusion after major spine surgery in patients with preoperative narcotic analgesic intake.

A qualitative study of trends in patient preferences for the management of the partially dentate state.

Objective: To identify factors influencing attitudes of partially dentate adults towards dental treatment in Ireland.

Background: People are retaining more teeth later in life than ever before. Management of partially dentate older adults will be a major requirement for the future and it is important to determine factors which may influence patients' attitudes to care.

Combined oral contraceptives in women with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Background: Oral contraceptives are rarely prescribed for women with systemic lupus erythematosus, because of concern about potential negative side effects. In this double-blind, randomized, noninferiority trial, we prospectively evaluated the effect of oral contraceptives on lupus activity in premenopausal women with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Methods: A total of 183 women with inactive (76 percent) or stable active (24 percent) systemic lupus erythematosus at 15 U.

The effect of combined estrogen and progesterone hormone replacement therapy on disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus: a randomized trial.

Background: There is concern that exogenous female hormones may worsen disease activity in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Objective: To evaluate the effect of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on disease activity in postmenopausal women with SLE.

Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled noninferiority trial conducted from March 1996 to June 2002.

Measles outbreak in Dublin, 2000.

Background: An outbreak of measles occurred in Ireland between December 1999 and July 2000. The majority of cases were in north Dublin, the catchment area of The Children's University Hospital (TCUH).

Methods: Details of all of the 111 children attending the hospital with a diagnosis of measles between December 1999 and July 2000 were prospectively entered into a database.

Self-monitoring and at-risk middle school students. Academic performance improves, maintains, and generalizes.

Using a multiple baseline design across six academic settings, we found that teaching 4 at-risk middle school students to self-monitor markedly improved their academic performance as measured by their grades and related academic behaviors. Furthermore, these improvements generalized to settings where self-monitoring was never introduced, and they maintained the following school year. In this charter middle school setting, self-monitoring proved to be an extremely effective intervention.