Optimum Positioning for Anteroposterior Pelvis Radiography: A Literature Review.

Aim: Pelvic radiography is used for the identification of hip joint changes, including pathologies such as osteoarthritis. Several studies have recommended that the position for this radiological procedure should be standing, not supine, to reflect the functional appearances of the hip joint. The aim of this review was to evaluate pelvis radiography positioning with respect to the image appearances and information provided for clinical decision-making.

Fracture of the tibial tubercle with a Stener-like lesion of the patellar tendon: a case report.

Fractures of the tibial tubercle account for less than 1% of paediatric orthopaedic injuries. We report a case of a 15-year-old boy presenting with a Stener-like lesion of the patellar tendon associated with a fracture of the tibial tubercle. There have been no previously reported cases of this type of injury in the literature.

Continuous low-dose antibiotic prophylaxis for adults with repeated urinary tract infections (AnTIC): a randomised, open-label trial.

Background: Repeated symptomatic urinary tract infections (UTIs) affect 25% of people who use clean intermittent self-catheterisation (CISC) to empty their bladder. We aimed to determine the benefits, harms, and cost-effectiveness of continuous low-dose antibiotic prophylaxis for prevention of recurrent UTIs in adult users of CISC.

Methods: In this randomised, open-label, superiority trial, we enrolled participants from 51 UK National Health Service organisations.

A UK survey exploring the assistant practitioner role across diagnostic imaging: current practice, relationships and challenges to progression.

Objective:: Skill mix has been established as one method of maintaining imaging service delivery, with vertical and horizontal substitution of roles and tasks. Assistant practitioners (APs) have been undertaking limited imaging practice for almost two decades, but there remains a paucity of evidence related to the impact of their roles.

Methods:: This article reports on an electronic survey of individual APs within the NHS in the UK to explore utilisation, role scope and aspirations.

Is a nurse consultant impact toolkit relevant and transferrable to the radiography profession? An evaluation project.

Introduction: Consultant posts were developed to strengthen strategic leadership whilst maintaining front line service responsibilities and clinical expertise. The nursing profession has attempted to develop tools to enable individuals to evaluate their own practice and consider relevant measurable outcomes. This study evaluated the feasibility of transferring such a nursing 'toolkit' to another health profession.

Assistant radiographer practitioners: Creating capacity or challenging professional boundaries?

Introduction: Over the last 2 decades the assistant radiographer practitioner (ARP) role has been introduced into NHS diagnostic imaging departments as a strategy to expand the workforce and create capacity. This skill mix initiative has not been implemented in a standardised way and there is limited knowledge of the current role scope within general radiography (X-Ray).

Method: An electronic survey of ARPs working within UK diagnostic imaging departments was conducted.

A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews of palliative care patients' views on corneal donation and the timing of its discussion.

Background: Corneal transplantation can lead to sight restoration, but globally there is a donor shortage. Many palliative care patients can donate their corneas but think they are ineligible due to comorbidities. Healthcare professionals are reluctant to broach the topic, but studies have shown that relatives would be upset if they were not offered this chance.

The Novel and Minimally Invasive Treatment Modalities for Female Pelvic Floor Muscle Dysfunction; Beyond the Traditional.

Pelvic floor dysfunction is a clinical entity that is prevalent among female patients. Determining the exact underlying cause of pelvic floor dysfunction is difficult, and surgical intervention for this clinical entity may be challenging. Pelvic floor dysfunction can affect the quality of life of the patient by causing stress urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, or both.

High molecular weight hyaluronic acid: a two-pronged protectant against infection of the urogenital tract?

Objectives: Recurrent urinary tract infections are associated with uropathogenic (UPEC) ascending and infecting the urinary tract. Antibiotics provide only symptomatic relief, not prevent recurrence. Clinical evidence suggests that intravesical glycosaminoglycan therapy, such as hyaluronic acid (HA), helps reduce UTI recurrence.

Feasibility of quantitative ultrasonography for the detection of metabolic bone disease in preterm infants - systematic review.

Metabolic bone disease of prematurity is characterised by disordered bone mineralisation and is therefore an increased fracture risk. Preterm infants are especially at risk due to incomplete in utero bone accretion during the last trimester. Currently, diagnosing metabolic bone disease mainly relies on biochemistry and radiographs.

Continuous low-dose antibiotic prophylaxis to prevent urinary tract infection in adults who perform clean intermittent self-catheterisation: the AnTIC RCT.

Background: People carrying out clean intermittent self-catheterisation (CISC) to empty their bladder often suffer repeated urinary tract infections (UTIs). Continuous once-daily, low-dose antibiotic treatment (antibiotic prophylaxis) is commonly advised but knowledge of its effectiveness is lacking.

Objective: To assess the benefit, harms and cost-effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis to prevent UTIs in people who perform CISC.

Psychosocial variables and presence, severity and prognosis of plantar heel pain: A systematic review of cross-sectional and prognostic associations.

Objective: Plantar heel pain (PHP) is often disabling, and persistent symptoms are common. Psychosocial variables are known to affect pain and disability but the association of these factors with PHP has yet to be established. The purpose of the present systematic review was to determine if psychosocial variables are associated with the presence, severity and prognosis of PHP.

Can we successfully teach novice junior doctors basic interventional ultrasound in a single focused training session?

Background: Ultrasonography is recognised as an invaluable imaging modality for assessing critically unwell patients and obtaining vascular access. Senior emergency medicine and anaesthetic clinicians will regularly use ultrasound-guided imaging to establish vascular access for unwell patients; however, junior doctors, who are routinely the first clinicians to review deteriorating patients, are not encouraged or required to develop basic ultrasound interventional skills and are therefore ill equipped to use ultrasonography.

Aim: To demonstrate that teaching basic interventional ultrasound skills to novice junior doctors in a single focused session is an achievable outcome.

Using a modified Delphi methodology to gain consensus on the use of dressings in chronic wounds management.

Objective: Managing chronic wounds is associated with a burden to patients, caregivers, health services and society and there is a lack of clarity regarding the role of dressings in improving outcomes. This study aimed to provide understanding on a range of topics, including: the definition of chronicity in wounds, the burden of illness, clinical outcomes of reducing healing time and the impact of early interventions on clinical and economic outcomes and the role of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in wound healing.

Method: A systematic review of the literature was carried out on the role of dressings in diabetic foot ulcer (DFU), and venous leg ulcer (VLU) management strategies, their effectiveness, associated resource use/cost, and quality of life (QoL) impact on patients.

The development of a pragmatic, clinically driven ultrasound curriculum in a UK medical school.

Whether ultrasound (US) should be incorporated into a medical undergraduate curriculum remains a matter of debate within the medical education arena. There are clear potential benefits to its early introduction particularly with respect to the study of living anatomy and physiology in addition to the learning of clinical skills and procedures required for the graduate clinical practice. However, this needs to be balanced against what is perceived as an added value in addition to financial and time constraints which may potentially lead to the sacrifice of other aspects of the curriculum.

Evaluating the Effect of a Web-Based E-Learning Tool for Health Professional Education on Clinical Vancomycin Use: Comparative Study.

Background: Internet-based learning for health professional education is increasing. It offers advantages over traditional learning approaches, as it enables learning to be completed at a time convenient to the user and improves access where facilities are geographically disparate. We developed and implemented the Vancomycin Interactive (VI) e-learning tool to improve knowledge on the clinical use of the antibiotic vancomycin, which is commonly used for treatment of infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Patient Derived Xenografts (PDX) for personalized treatment of pancreatic cancer: emerging allies in the war on a devastating cancer?

Unlabelled: The prognosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the eighth most lethal cancer for men and ninth for women worldwide, remains dismal. The increasing rates of deaths by PDAC indicate that the overall management of the disease in 21st century is still insufficient. Thus it is obvious that there is an unmet need to improve management of PDAC by finding new biomarkers to screen high risk patients, confirm diagnosis, and predict response to treatment as well more efficacious and safer treatments.

Characterizing Disease Burden and Progression of Geographic Atrophy Secondary to Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Purpose: To understand levels of disease burden and progression in a real-world setting among patients from the United Kingdom with bilateral geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Design: Retrospective cohort analysis of a multicenter electronic medical record (EMR) database.

Participants: Patients who were aged ≥50 years with bilateral GA and no history of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and who attended 1 of 10 clinical sites using the EMR.

Predictive factors of thromboembolic complications in patients with esophagogatric adenocarcinoma undergoing preoperative chemotherapy.

Background: Thromboembolic events (TEEs) represent a significant treatment and disease complication for cancer patients. In the present study we assessed the incidence of TEEs in patients receiving preoperative chemotherapy for esophagogastric adenocarcinoma. The risk factors for TEE development and their impact on prognosis were further analyzed.