A retrospective cohort study of a community-based primary care program's effects on pharmacotherapy quality in low-income Peruvians with type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

Little is known about the effects of the Chronic Care Model (CCM) and community health workers (CHWs) on pharmacotherapy of type 2 diabetes and hypertension in resource-poor settings. This retrospective cohort implementation study evaluated the effects of a community-based program consisting of CCM, CHWs, guidelines-based treatment protocols, and inexpensive freely accessible medications on type 2 diabetes and hypertension pharmacotherapy quality. A door-to-door household survey identified 856 adults 35 years of age and older living in a low-income Peruvian community, of whom 83% participated in screening for diabetes and hypertension.

Spinal infection: Assessing comorbidities and costs to inform patient management and resource use strategies.

Background: Spinal Infection (SI) is associated with various comorbidities. The interaction of these comorbidities and their impact on costs and complexity of care has not been fully assessed.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of SI patients in an urban hospital system to characterize comorbidities and outcomes in adult patients with SI.

Effect of Covalence and Degree of Cation Order on the Luminous Efficacy of Mn Luminescence in the Double Perovskites, BaTaO ( = Y, Lu, Sc).

The spectroscopic properties of the Mn ion are investigated in the series of isostructural double perovskite compounds, BaTaO ( = Y, Lu, Sc). A comparison of these properties highlights the influence of covalent bonding within the perovskite framework and the degree of order between the B-Ta cations on the energy and intensity of the MnE → A emission transition (R-line). These two parameters of the emission spectrum are of importance for practical application since they determine the phosphor luminous efficacy.

Paediatric voice disorder: who to refer and how to assess? A summary of recent literature.

Purpose Of Review: The purpose of this review is to update the reader with recent advances and current opinion on the assessment and management of paediatric voice disorders.

Recent Findings: Access to advanced multidisciplinary paediatric voice clinics has increased over the last decade. Often the assessment is combined between speech therapy/pathology and ENT surgery.

Taste and smell function in Wilson's disease.

Objective: Wilson's disease (WD) is a metabolic disorder associated with abnormal copper metabolism that results in hepatic, psychiatric, and neurologic symptoms. No investigation of taste function has been made in patients with WD, although olfactory dysfunction has been evaluated.

Methods: Quantitative taste and smell test scores of 29 WD patients were compared to those of 790 healthy controls.