Assessment of smoking care by stroke specialists in patients with recent TIA and minor stroke: an international prospective registry-based cohort study.

Objectives: The objectives are to assess smoking abstinence and its effects on vascular risk and to report tobacco-cessation counselling and pharmacotherapy use in patients who had a recent minor stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA).

Design And Setting: The TIA registry.org project is a prospective, observational registry of patients with TIA and minor stroke that occurred in the previous 7 days with a 5-year follow-up, involving 61 sites with stroke specialists in 21 countries (Europe, Asia, Latin America and Middle East).

Underlying Causes of TIA and Minor Ischemic Stroke and Risk of Major Vascular Events.

Importance: The coexistence of underlying causes in patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) or minor ischemic stroke as well as their associated 5-year risks are not well known.

Objective: To apply the ASCOD (atherosclerosis, small vessel disease, cardiac pathology, other cause, or dissection) grading system to assess coexistence of underlying causes of TIA and minor ischemic stroke and the 5-year risk for major vascular events.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This international registry cohort (TIAregistry.

Effect of atherosclerosis on 5-year risk of major vascular events in patients with transient ischaemic attack or minor ischaemic stroke: an international prospective cohort study.

Background: The prevalence of atherosclerosis and the long-term risk of major vascular events in people who have had a transient ischaemic attack or minor ischaemic stroke, regardless of the causal relationship between the index event and atherosclerosis, are not well known. In this analysis, we applied the ASCOD (atherosclerosis, small vessel disease, cardiac pathology, other causes, and dissection) grading system to estimate the 5-year risk of major vascular events according to whether there was a causal relationship between atherosclerosis and the index event (ASCOD grade A1 and A2), no causal relationship (A3), and with or without a causal relationship (A1, A2, and A3). We also aimed to estimate the prevalence of different grades of atherosclerosis and identify associated risk factors.

Recurrent cystitis: patients' needs, expectations and contribution to developing an information leaflet - a qualitative study.

Objectives: Recurring cystitis (RC) is a common complaint among women. It has a significant impact on patients' quality of life. The physical discomfort and psychological distress related to RC are rarely addressed and women's needs in terms of information and advice have not been sufficiently explored, particularly in France in spite of their frequent episodes of RC.

Developing a Tool for Auditing the Quality of Antibiotic Dispensing in Community Pharmacies: A Pilot Study.

Background: The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control describes the community pharmacist as the gatekeeper to the quality of antibiotic use. The pharmacist has the responsibility to guard safe and effective antibiotic use; however, little is known about how this is implemented in practice.

Aims: To assess the feasibility of a method to audit the quality of antibiotic dispensing in community pharmacy practice and to explore antibiotic dispensing practices in Greece, Lithuania, Poland, and Spain.