Pre-operative prediction of 'dry taps'.

Objectives: The treatment of children with 'glue ear' often presents surgeons with the question of whether or not to insert a grommet when myringotomy reveals no fluid in the middle ear. We present a study designed to assess which factors contribute to the presence of a 'dry tap'.

Design: We prospectively gathered data from a cohort of 280 children (504 myringotomies).

Providing feedback to users on unacceptable practice in the delivery of a hospital transfusion service--a pilot study.

The Serious Hazards of Transfusion Scheme's (SHOT) annual report continues to emphasize the importance of investigating serious transfusion errors. It is now recognized that lessons can also be learnt from near-miss events as these occur more frequently than serious errors in transfusion. One of the key features in developing a culture that can promote safety in relation to transfusion is providing feedback to staff on what is acceptable and unacceptable practice.

Is clinical practice variability the major reason for differences in pathology requesting patterns in general practice?

Aims: To examine whether variations in pathology test requesting between different general practices can be accounted for by sociodemographic or other descriptive indicators of the practice.

Method: This was a comparative analysis of requesting patterns across a range of pathology tests representing 95% of those requested in general practice, in 22 general practices in a single district, serving a population of 165 000. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated and both the top and bottom fifths of activity were displayed graphically to detect trends at the extremes of the ranges.

Ursodeoxycholic acid therapy for primary biliary cirrhosis. A 10-year British single-centre population-based audit of efficacy and survival.

The effect of ursodeoxycholic acid treatment on survival in primary biliary cirrhosis was studied in 40 patients with symptomatic disease. Two patients developed early exacerbation of symptoms and stopped therapy in days; they are both alive 4 and 4 1/2 years later. The other 38 patients have continued on treatment for up to 10 years.