AIMS To analyse the clinical significance and related factors of thirst and xerostomia and to find methods to alleviate thirst and xerostomia in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients. METHODS Forty-two MHD patients were included for observational study and eleven patients were enrolled for crossover trial. Thirst was assessed by 100-mm visual analog scales (VAS) and dialysis thirst inventor...

Vitamin A supplements may interact with diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine causing increased female mortality. In a randomised trial of neonatal vitamin A supplementation (VAS), we examined growth during the first year of life in 808 children, pursuing the hypothesis that a negative interaction between VAS and DTP in girls would be reflected in growth. Length and weight were measured at...

OBJECTIVE To compare 2 clinical wound scales and to determine a minimal clinically important difference (MCID) on the visual analog cosmesis scale. METHODS Using data from 2 previously published clinical trials, 91 lacerations and 43 surgical incisions were assessed on the 2 scales; a 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS) (0 = worst possible scar, 100 = best possible scar) and a wound evaluation s...

OBJECTIVES  Contrasting accounts exist on whether people with stroke are able to self-report on outcomes using visual analogue scales (VASs). We explored correlations between multi-item scale-rated health-related quality of life (HRQL) and VAS-rated HRQL after stroke, and compared those with versus without aphasia. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. SETTING Community dwelling stroke patients li...

PURPOSE To evaluate the correlation of kyphosis and wedge angles with pain relief and functional outcome after percutaneous vertebroplasty (PV). METHODS 15 men and 19 women aged 41 to 85 (mean, 62) years who presented with osteoporotic wedge compression fractures of the dorsolumbar spine below T5 and had failed conservative treatment were included. Patients were assessed before and one year a...

Vitamin A treatment reduces mortality during acute measles infection, and vitamin A supplementation (VAS) to children above 6 months of age may reduce the incidence of measles infection. The effect of VAS at birth on measles incidence is unknown. In a randomised placebo-controlled trial in Guinea-Bissau, normal-birth-weight newborns were randomised to 50 000 IU (15 mg) VAS or placebo. During th...

BACKGROUND Insufficient vas length for performing a tension-free vasovasostomy is a problem occasionally encountered by microsurgeons. Herein we evaluated utilization of a non-vascularized vas deferens autograft in a rat model. METHODS Segments of isolated vas deferens, 2.5 cm in length, were used as bilateral autografts in 15 rats. Each autograft was implanted between the two transected ends...

OBJECTIVES To make a retrospective analysis and evaluate a clinical response to the control of disc degeneration related pain of 396 patients submitted to percutaneous lumbar nucleoplasty; and to make a record of visual analogical scale (VAS) up to a three-year follow-up after the surgical procedure. METHODS Analysis of VAS score in 396 patients with lumbar disc degeneration related pain, acc...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effects of a government insurance programme covering tertiary care for the poor in Karnataka, India--Vajpayee Arogyashree Scheme (VAS)--on treatment seeking and postoperative outcomes. DESIGN Geographic regression discontinuity. SETTING 572 villages in Karnataka, India. PARTICIPANTS 3478 households in 300 villages where VAS was implemented and 3486 households in...

An injury to the vas deferens during inguinal herniorrhaphy from possible tethering of the vas has not, to our knowledge, previously been described in the surgical literature. We report a case of iatrogenic injury of the vas deferens that occurred during elective hernia repair in a 28-year-old man who had previously sustained blunt trauma to the abdomen and pelvis.