Background And Aims: Power of Attorney as a form of surrogate decision making was introduced within the Adults with Incapacity, Scotland Act (2000) to help individuals who lack mental capacity due to illnesses like dementia. Even after a decade, little was known if it has been useful. We sought to find out how useful the power of attorney document has been so far in supporting people when they lose their capacity and identify any barriers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report a cystic fibrosis patient infected with influenza 2009H1N1 who had persistent viral shedding and clinical deterioration despite prolonged treatment with oseltamivir and zanamivir. The patient was diagnosed with H275Y neuraminidase inhibitor resistant influenza during treatment, thus was treated for 10 days with DAS181, an investigational host-directed inhaled sialidase fusion protein. Viral clearance occurred after 5 days of therapy and the patient became eligible for lung transplantation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParainfluenza infection is a cause of significant morbidity and mortality in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) patients. DAS181 is a novel antiviral agent with activity against influenza and parainfluenza. We report the first 2 cases, to our knowledge, of successful DAS181 use in ventilated HSCT patients with severe parainfluenza lung disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe sub-segmental analysis of dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans from scoliotic vertebrae has established that there are differences in bone mass between the concave and convex sides of the vertebrae. Furthermore, these differences persisted in patients with low bone mass and were related to the geometry and applied loads, suggesting that this is a good model of bone adaptation in response to external stimuli. The goal of this study was to characterize the response of the human scoliotic spine to anti-resorptive treatments and estrogen withdrawal on the concave and convex sides of the spine.
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