OBJECTIVES THE PRESENT STUDY WAS CONDUCTED IN A VOCATIONAL INTEGRATION SERVICE OF A NORTHERN ITALIAN TOWN WITH TWO MAJOR AIMS: to assess vocational integration programs undertaken from 1(st) January 2004 to 1(st) January 2007; and to identify job tenure-associated predictors. METHODS This is a retrospective study; we collected data such as gender, age, duration, type and outcome of the vocati...

BACKGROUND Hypertension is a health problem in Iran. Given the importance of this subject, we reviewed the factors affecting the blood pressure in this survey. METHODS This retrospective cohort study was performed on 3961 male workers employed at Isfahan Polyacryl Corporation (Iran) in health and safety executive between 1996 until 2008. In this study, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (S...

BACKGROUND A complete, correct and timely discharge letter can communicate important information from the hospital to the general practitioner. The adequacy of the letter may vary with the patient and admission characteristics of the patient. Insight in the association between these characteristics and the presence and quality of the discharge letter will give rise to improvement activities for...

BACKGROUND Intervention of diabetes care education with regular laboratory check-up in outpatient visits showed long-term benefits to reduce the risk of macrovascular complications among people with type 2 diabetes. However, research on the level of a priori health knowledge to the prevention of diabetic complications in community settings has been scarce. We therefore aimed to investigate the ...

As people’s values, behaviours and even cognitive processes differ in different cultures, facilitating cultural sensitivity in design has become a critical issue. Cultural differences have been taken into account in design in various ways, such as focusing on preferences in colour or form of products, using cultural dimensions as criteria for website design (Marcus & Gould, 2000), considering h...

in many jurisdictions, psychiatric problems are intended for commutation. therefore, a forensic psychiatrist has an important role in detection of malingering. while several studies evaluate diagnostic tests, it is less known what symptoms are more likely to be imitated by malingerers.in a prospective study 45 malingerers, who were diagnosed according to interviews by two forensic psychiatrists...

In this series we present the results of a retrospective analysis of 66 vasovasostomy procedures performed between 1983 and 1991. Obstructive intervals and serum antisperm antibodies were correlated with pregnancy and patency rates. With obstructive intervals of less than 5 years a patency rate of 100% (31/31) was obtained. Even more than 10 years after reversal, pregnancy occurred in 25% (2/8)...

BACKGROUND Omalizumab is approved in the UK as add-on treatment for chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) in patients with inadequate response to H1-antihistamines. Ciclosporin is an established but unlicensed 3rd line option for CSU. Two parallel retrospective observational studies were conducted to describe outcomes of treatment and adverse events with omalizumab or ciclosporin for CSU treatmen...