Sixty patients with disabling myoclonus excluding mainly spinal myoclonus were treated by piracetam as an open-labeled study, and myoclonus score, neurological symptoms, functional disability, and intensity of myoclonus were scored before and after…
When treating individual patients, physicians may face difficulties using the evidence from center-based randomized control trials (RCTs) due to limitations in these studies generalizability. Therefore, they often perform their own "informal" tests…
Patients' informed acceptance of chronic medical therapy hinges on communicating the potential benefits of drugs in quantitative terms. In a hypothetical scenario of treatment initiation, the authors assessed how three different formats of the same…
BACKGROUND: The use of oxycodone to treat chronic cancer pain has been hampered by its short elimination half-life, which necessitates administration every 4 hours. This study compared the clinical efficacy and safety of a novel oxycodone formulation…
The death of a loved one is a traumatic loss for children, but little attention has been paid to how children's responses vary according to who died--a parent or a sibling. This article reports the findings of a comparison between children's…
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a low-cost strategy for providing preventive health services to adolescents using computerized health assessments with individualized educational videos, trained health counselors, and nurses. DESIGN: Feasibility study, cost…
Conceptual models and the taxonomies associated with them are inherent tools of goal-directed activity. Conceptual models partition reality, discerning differences within a phenomenologic continuum; a process that is a fundamental requisite for…
The challenges of doing feminist nursing research include both personal and political elements. Some of these arise from the threefold influences of being nurses, women, and academics within a larger social context that may be antithetical to…
In epidermolysis bullosa (EB), chronic constipation, painful defecation, and fecal impaction frequently contribute to malnutrition and growth failure. Standard treatments for constipation, such as increased intake of conventional dietary fiber and…
OBJECTIVE: To identify the characteristics of the subset of children with malignancy in whom massive opioid infusions are needed during the terminal phase. DESIGN: Retrospective review of the records of the 199 patients who died of malignancy after…
This study examined the range, distinctiveness, and correlates of maladaptive behavior in 146 subjects with 5p- (cri du chat) syndrome using the Aberrant Behavior Checklist as a standardized measure. Hyperactivity was the most significant and…
In the past, children with many brain malformations were classified as having static encephalopathies (cerebral palsy), often attributed to perinatal or prenatal distress. Understanding of the frequency and clinical manifestations of brain…
BACKGROUND: Severe osteogenesis imperfecta is a disorder characterized by osteopenia, frequent fractures, progressive deformity, loss of mobility, and chronic bone pain. There is no effective therapy for the disorder. We assessed the effects of…
OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of selective nontreatment of extremely premature, critically ill, or malformed infants among all infant deaths in a level III intensive care nursery (ICN) and to determine the reasons documented by neonatologists…
BACKGROUND: Despite the growing availability of advance directives, most patients in the intensive care unit lack written directives, and, therefore, consultation with families about treatment decisions remains the rule. In the context of decision…
Lymphocytes can be activated to produce and release opioid peptides. We investigated the levels of immunoreactive beta-endorphin in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 11 patients with acute myocardial infarction. The concentrations of…
Assess pain regularly throughout the course of treatment. Follow the WHO Analgesic Ladder for selecting pain-relief drugs, that is, a stepwise approach to analgesic management, where a child's pain severity determines the level of analgesics. Use…
Developmental and behavioural characteristics were assessed in 27 children with cri du chat syndrome using the Society for the Study of Behavioural Phenotypes questionnaire, which gave information on prenatal and perinatal conditions, neurological…
The alleviation of suffering is crucial in all of medicine, especially in the care of the dying. Suffering cannot be treated unless it is recognized and diagnosed. Suffering involves some symptom or process that threatens the patient because of fear,…
OBJECTIVES: To compare pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) mortality risk using models from two distinct time periods; and to discuss the implications of changing mortality risk for severity systems and quality-of-care assessment. DATA SOURCES AND…
Direct conversion from oral morphine to transdermal fentanyl with a ratio of oral morphine/transdermal fentanyl (100:1 mg) daily was examined in patients with cancer pain. Patients with a 'stable and low level of cancer pain' receiving a constant…
STUDY OBJECTIVES: No large study has addressed whether parents want to be present when invasive procedures are performed on their children in the emergency department. We conducted a survey to address this question. METHODS: The study used a…
The objective of the study was to determine whether teams providing specialist palliative care improve the health outcomes of patients with advanced cancer and their families or carers when compared to conventional services. The study involved a…
The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy and the incidence of clinically significant adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in paediatric patients receiving continuous intravenous morphine infusions for acute postoperative pain. Definitions were…
Tricyclic antidepressants and carbamazepine have become the mainstay in the treatment of neuropathic pain. Within the last decade, controlled trials have shown that numerous other drugs relieve such pain. We identified all placebo-controlled trials…
Following gastrostomy tube placement some children develop gagging, retching, vomiting, pain, or irritability during feedings. Conventional medical management is not always successful. It is possible that intolerance of gastrostomy tube feedings…
Ninety-eight continuous postoperative epidurals were administered to 87 children. The patients were divided into two groups: group I included 63 cases in which a 0.0625-0.25% solution of bupivacaine was continuously administered; group II included 35…
OBJECTIVE: This study examined the equivalence reliability of two administration methods for the Functional Independence Measure for Children (WeeFIM). The two methods were direct observation of child performance and parental interview. METHOD:…
