BACKGROUND- Increased compliance with performance measures could reflect better care or better data documentation. We examined trends in the documentation of eligibility criteria, treatment contraindications, and missing data in the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program to quantify their contribution to increased performance measure compliance. METHODS AND RESULTS- Data on 569 883 ischemic str...

BACKGROUND Nuclear replacement is an emerging surgical treatment for degenerative disc disease (DDD) and low back pain (LBP). While clinical experience is most extensive with the prosthetic disc nucleus PDN (Raymedica, Minneapolis, Minnesota), strict indications apply for the implantation of this device. The purpose of this study was to ascertain what percentage of patients treated surgically f...

Since early 1990's, when it was inaugurally introduced, laparoscopic splenectomy has been performed with excellent results in terms of intraoperative and postoperative complications. Nowadays laparoscopic splenectomy is the approach of choice for both benign and malignant diseases of the spleen. However some contraindications still apply. The evolution of the technology has allowed though, case...

26 1. Method and Search Strategy 28 2. Chloroquine 29 2.1 Mild and Moderate Adverse Effects 29 2.2 Severe Adverse Effects 30 2.3 Overdose Toxicity 30 2.4 Use in Pregnant Women 31 2.5 Use in Breast-Feeding Women 31 2.6 Contraindications and Cautions 31 3. Suifadoxine/Pyrimethamine 31 3.1 Miid and Moderate Adverse Effects 32 3.2 Severe Adverse Effects 32 3.2.1 Cutaneous Toxicity 32 3.2.2 Hepatic ...

Over-the-counter medications are primarily for self-medication, where the seller, such as a pharmacist, provides the necessary information and the consumer uses the medication at his or her own discretion based on the information provided. A Web survey was conducted from February 8 to 13, 2006, involving 500 men and women, ranging in age from 50 to 69 years, who had purchased over-the-counter m...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE It is essential to diagnose ischaemic stroke as soon as possible after symptom onset, so that thrombolytic treatment can be initiated as quickly as possible. This might be greatly facilitated if cerebral CT could be carried out in a pre-hospital setting. The aim of this study was to evaluate if anaesthesiologists, who in Norway provide pre-hospital medical care, could be ...

Metformin is unanimously considered a first-line glucose-lowering agent. Theoretically, however, it cannot be prescribed in a large proportion of patients with type 2 diabetes because of numerous contraindications that could lead to an increased risk of lactic acidosis. Various observational data from real-life have shown that many diabetic patients considered to be at risk still receive metfor...

BACKGROUND Low-dose aspirin reduces cardiovascular risk; however, monitoring over-the-counter medication use relies on the time-consuming and costly manual review of medical records. Our objective is to validate natural language processing (NLP) of the electronic medical record (EMR) for extracting medication exposure and contraindication information. METHODS The text of EMRs for 499 patients...

Background. Engagement in physical exercise in pregnancy is hamstrung by safety concerns, skepticism about usefulness, and limited individualized prescription guidelines. This study assessed knowledge and attitude of pregnant women towards antenatal exercises (ANEx). Methods. The cross-sectional study recruited 189 pregnant women from six selected antenatal clinics in Ile-Ife, South-West, Niger...