BACKGROUND There is debate about whether the initial treatment for patients with Parkinson's disease should be levodopa or a dopamine agonist. METHODS In this prospective, randomized, double-blind study, we compared the safety and efficacy of the dopamine D2-receptor agonist ropinirole with that of levodopa over a period of five years in 268 patients with early Parkinson's disease. If symptom...

BACKGROUND Lowering the blood cholesterol level may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. This double-blind study was designed to determine whether the administration of pravastatin to men with hypercholesterolemia and no history of myocardial infarction reduced the combined incidence of nonfatal myocardial infarction and death from coronary heart disease. METHODS We randomly assigned 65...

Of 656 asthmatic patients referred specifically for allergy assessments, 544 (84 percent) gave positive immediate skin prick tests to at least one of 22 common allergens used routinely. Comparison of these skin test positive patients with the 102 (16 percent) who were skin test negative showed a number of significant differences. The majority of the skin test positive patients (52 percent) were...

Results Forty-five patients were included (n = 45) and received the following diagnosis: ischemic stroke/TIA 55.6% (n = 25), hemorrhagic stroke 6.7% (n = 3), other 37.8% (n = 17). Ninety-one percent (n = 41) were admitted for further examination. Eighty percent (n = 20) of patients with validated stroke were aged 61-90 years. In 91% of cases with suspected stroke, the tentative diagnosis was su...

Acid phosphatase levels in pure lymphocytes from normal individuals were determined cytochemically on intact cells and spectrophotometrically on cell extracts. Good correlation was demonstrated between the results obtained with both methods. Biochemical assay showed that a normal range of 7.2 +/- 0.9 and 7.1 +/- 1.0 mMoles per 10(6) lymphocytes was obtained without and with tartrate inhibition,...

This article presents data about expenses and sources of payment for nursing homes for 1987 and 1996. A central finding is that the role of Medicare in financing nursing home care has greatly expanded. Medicare payments represent 2 and 19 percent of the total for 1987 and 1996, respectively. As Medicare's role increased, there was an accompanying decline in the proportion of expenses paid out o...

The core objective of this research is to identify the carbon footprint of rubber based products in relevance to different phases of the manufacturing process to identify greenhouse gas emission effect correlated at different stages to establish mitigation strategies. In order to carry out research objectives; ten unstructured interviews were conducted with the relevant professionals to identif...

Quality care for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias starts with an early, documented diagnosis, including disclosure of the diagnosis. However, most people who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia are not aware of their diagnosis. Evidence indicates that only about half of those with Alzheimer’s dementia have been diagnosed. 1 Among those seniors who have been diagnose...

Endometriosis is a common gynecologic condition in which endometrial tissue grows in ectopic locations. It is estimated that 5 million women of reproductive age, or 10 percent of women, in the United States, are affected by this disease.1 Approximately 20 percent of women with chronic pelvic pain and 30–45 percent of women with infertility have endometriosis.2 Endometrial tissue outside the ute...