A comparison of the direct medical costs for individuals with or without basal or squamous cell skin cancer: A study from Australia.

Objectives: The composition of the medical costs incurred by people treated for basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas (hereafter keratinocyte cancers) is not adequately understood. We sought to compare the medical costs of individuals with or without keratinocyte cancers.

Methods: We used national health insurance data to analyze the direct medical costs of 2000 cases and 2000 controls nested within the QSkin prospective cohort study (n = 43,794) conducted in Australia.

Computational simulation of bone fracture healing under inverse dynamisation.

Adaptive finite element models have allowed researchers to test hypothetical relationships between the local mechanical environment and the healing of bone fractures. However, their predictive power has not yet been demonstrated by testing hypotheses ahead of experimental testing. In this study, an established mechano-biological scheme was used in an iterative finite element simulation of sheep tibial osteotomy healing under a hypothetical fixation regime, "inverse dynamisation".

Evidence-Based Management Guidelines on Peyronie's Disease.

Introduction: Despite recent advances in our knowledge and treatment strategies in Peyronie's Disease (PD), much remained unknown about this disease.

Aim: To provide a clinical framework and key guideline statements to assist clinicians in an evidence-based management of PD.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted to identify published literature relevant to PD.

Focused cardiac ultrasound screening for rheumatic heart disease by briefly trained health workers: a study of diagnostic accuracy.

Background: Echocardiographic screening for rheumatic heart disease (RHD) can identify individuals with subclinical disease who could benefit from antibiotic prophylaxis. However, most settings have inadequate resources to implement conventional echocardiography and require a feasible, accurate screening method. We aimed to investigate the accuracy of screening by non-expert operators using focused cardiac ultrasound (FoCUS).

Progestin-based contraceptive on the same day as medical abortion.

Objective: To determine the success rate of medical abortion when a progestin-based contraceptive-either an etonogestrel implant or depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) injection-is given on the same day as mifepristone for medical abortion.

Methods: In a retrospective chart review, data were assessed for women aged 15-49years who underwent medical abortion (≤63days of pregnancy) at two hospitals in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, between August 2013 and July 2014. The women were given oral mifepristone (200mg) and buccal misoprostol (800μg), and received an etonogestrel implant or DMPA injection on the same day as mifepristone.

Screening for rheumatic heart disease: quality and agreement of focused cardiac ultrasound by briefly trained health workers.

Background: Echocardiographic screening for rheumatic heart disease (RHD) has the potential to detect subclinical cases for secondary prevention, but is constrained by inadequate human resources in most settings. Training non-expert health workers to perform focused cardiac ultrasound (FoCUS) may enable screening at a population-level. We aimed to evaluate the quality and agreement of FoCUS for valvular regurgitation by briefly trained health workers.

No long-term evidence of hyporesponsiveness after use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in children previously immunized with pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine.

Background: A randomized controlled trial in Fiji examined the immunogenicity and effect on nasopharyngeal carriage after 0, 1, 2, or 3 doses of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7; Prevnar) in infancy followed by 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (23vPPV; Pneumovax) at 12 months of age. At 18 months of age, children given 23vPPV exhibited immune hyporesponsiveness to a micro-23vPPV (20%) challenge dose in terms of serotype-specific IgG and opsonophagocytosis, while 23vPPV had no effect on vaccine-type carriage.

Objective: This follow-up study examined the long-term effect of the 12-month 23vPPV dose by evaluating the immune response to 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) administration 4 to 5 years later.

A pilot study of women's experiences after being offered late termination of pregnancy for severe fetal anomaly.

Objective: We investigated the attitudes and experiences of women pregnant with an anomalous fetus after being offered late termination of pregnancy (LTOP) before and after delivery or TOP.

Methods: This was a pre- and post-intervention structured interview questionnaire-based study. Pregnant women with severe fetal abnormalities (lethal and nonlethal) diagnosed after 24 weeks gestation were recruited.

Acute respiratory infection and bacteraemia as causes of non-malarial febrile illness in African children: a narrative review.

The replacement of "presumptive treatment for malaria" by "test before treat" strategies for the management of febrile illness is raising awareness of the importance of knowing more about the causes of illness in children who are suspected to have malaria but return a negative parasitological test. The most common cause of non-malarial febrile illness (NMFI) in African children is respiratory tract infection. Whilst the bacterial causes of NMFI are well known, the increasing use of sensitive techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests is revealing large numbers of viruses that are potential respiratory pathogens.

Peyronie's disease and low intensity shock wave therapy: Clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction rate in an open-label single arm prospective study in Australian men.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy, safety and patient satisfaction outcomes following low intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy (LiESWT) in men with Peyronie's disease (PD) using a standardised protocol.

Materials And Methods: In this open-label single arm prospective study, patients with PD were enrolled following informed consent. Patient demographics, change in penile curvature and plaque hardness, International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF)-5 score, and overall satisfaction score (on a 5-point scale) were recorded.

Metabolic Syndrome and Prostate Cancer: a Review of Complex Interplay Amongst Various Endocrine Factors in the Pathophysiology and Progression of Prostate Cancer.

The human prostate gland is an endocrine organ where dysregulation of various hormonal factors may play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer. There is emerging epidemiological data to support the role of components of metabolic syndrome, namely, obesity, hypercholesterolaemia, diabetes and hyperinsulinaemia on the development and/or the progression of prostate cancer. Although the exact mechanisms behind the relationship between metabolic syndrome and prostate cancer remain largely unknown, various in vitro and animal experiments of metabolic syndrome models have been shown to promote survival, mitogenesis, metastasis and treatment resistance pathways, through various adaptive responses such as intracellular steroidogenesis and lipogenesis.

Stroke rehabilitation in Fiji: are patients receiving services?

Setting: The national hospital and stroke rehabilitation services of the Fiji Ministry of Health.

Objectives: To describe patients admitted with stroke to the Fiji Colonial War Memorial Hospital (CWMH) from January 2010 to December 2012, and to report on rehabilitation services accessed during and after admission.

Design: Retrospective descriptive study using patient records.

Deep brain stimulation for depression: Scientific issues and future directions.

Objective: Deep brain stimulation is an experimental intervention for treatment-resistant depression. Open trials have shown a sustained response to chronic stimulation in many subjects. However, two recent randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials failed to replicate these results.

Stem-cell-based therapy in the field of urology: a review of stem cell basic science, clinical applications and future directions in the treatment of various sexual and urinary conditions.

Introduction: Stem cell (SC) research plays a key role in the increasingly promising area of regenerative medicine, with the potential to treat, prevent and cure disease. The following article provides an overview of the basic science and brief summary of major preclinical animal studies and clinical studies pertaining to SC-based research in the field of urology.

Areas Covered: A literature review was conducted based on MEDLINE/PubMed searches for English articles using a combination of the following keywords: SC, SC-based therapy (SCT), urology, erectile dysfunction, Peyronie's disease (PD), bladder dysfunction, urinary incontinence, regeneration technology, tissue engineering, prostate disease and urinary bladder.

Mental health literacy among secondary school students in North and Central Uganda: a qualitative study.

Objectives: There has been limited effort to explore young people's perceptions about mental illness in Uganda. For mental health programs targeting young people to succeed, it is important to incorporate their understanding of mental illness, their perceptions about causes of mental illness and their attitudes about mentally ill people. The objective of this study was to explore the mental health of young people in secondary schools in Northern and Central Uganda.

Effectiveness of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine against presumed bacterial pneumonia hospitalisation in HIV-uninfected South African children: a case-control study.

Introduction: We evaluated pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) effectiveness against hospitalisation for presumed bacterial pneumonia (PBP) in HIV-uninfected South African children. 7-valent PCV was introduced in April 2009 using a 2+1 schedule (doses at age 6, 14 and 39 weeks), superseded with 13-valent PCV in May 2011.

Methods: A matched case-control study was conducted at three public hospitals (Soweto, Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal) between April 2009 and August 2012.

Teaching focused echocardiography for rheumatic heart disease screening.

Screening for rheumatic heart disease (RHD) requires workers skilled in echocardiography, which typically involves prolonged, specialized training. Task shifting echocardiographic screening to nonexpert health workers may be a solution in settings with limited human resources. An 8-week training program was designed to train health workers without any prior experience in focused echocardiography for RHD screening.

Research on Emissions, Air quality, Climate, and Cooking Technologies in Northern Ghana (REACCTING): study rationale and protocol.

Background: Cooking over open fires using solid fuels is both common practice throughout much of the world and widely recognized to contribute to human health, environmental, and social problems. The public health burden of household air pollution includes an estimated four million premature deaths each year. To be effective and generate useful insight into potential solutions, cookstove intervention studies must select cooking technologies that are appropriate for local socioeconomic conditions and cooking culture, and include interdisciplinary measurement strategies along a continuum of outcomes.

Comparison of azithromycin plus chloroquine versus artemether-lumefantrine for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in children in Africa: a randomized, open-label study.

Background: This randomized, open-label study was conducted to establish the non-inferiority of a combination of azithromycin (AZ) and chloroquine (CQ) to artemether-lumefantrine (AL) for treatment of uncomplicated malaria in children from six sites in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods: Children with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria between six and 59 months of age were randomized 1:1 to either AZCQ (30 mg/kg AZ + 10 mg/kg CQ base) or AL per prescribing information for three days (Days 0, 1, 2). Each site could enrol in the study population once the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in five children five to 12 years of age was deemed to be effective and well tolerated.

Conducting an audit to improve the facilitation of emergency maternal and newborn referral in northern Ghana.

Ghana Health Service conducted an audit to strengthen the referral system for pregnant or recently pregnant women and newborns in northern Ghana. The audit took place in 16 facilities with two 3-month cycles of data collection in 2011. Midwife-led teams tracked 446 referred women until they received definitive treatment.

Evaluation of clinical efficacy, safety and patient satisfaction rate after low-intensity extracorporeal shockwave therapy for the treatment of male erectile dysfunction: an Australian first open-label single-arm prospective clinical trial.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy, safety and patient satisfaction rate with low-intensity extracorporeal shockwave therapy (LiESWT) in Australian men with erectile dysfunction (ED), as LiESWT induces neovascularisation and potentially enhances penile perfusion and improves erectile function.

Patients And Methods: Open-label single-arm prospective study of patients with ED with five-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) scores of >12 at baseline were enrolled after informed consent. Patient demographics, change in IIEF-5 and Erectile Dysfunction Inventory of Treatment Satisfaction (EDITS) scores, and overall satisfaction score (on a 5-point scale) were recorded.

Radiation risk reduction in cardiac electrophysiology through use of a gridless imaging technique.

Aims: It has been previously demonstrated that use of appropriate frame rates coupled with minimal use of high-dose digital acquisition can limit radiation risk to patients undergoing diagnostic and therapeutic electrophysiology (EP). Imaging without the anti-scatter grid has been proposed as a means of achieving further radiation reduction. We evaluate application of a gridless imaging technique to deliver further reductions in radiation risk to both patients and personnel.

The psychiatric and neuropsychiatric symptoms after subthalamic stimulation for Parkinson's disease.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is an established treatment for the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Nonmotor features of PD, however, may not improve with STN DBS, and a specific constellation of neuropsychiatric symptoms may emerge in the postoperative period. Mania, impulsivity, depression, and apathy may curtail the potential gains from surgery.