Public Access: Getting Medical Information to Patients

Helping patients learn more about medical conditions and potential treatments is a driving force behind efforts to broaden access to the research literature. While there remains a lengthy gap between basic research and clinical application of findings, research articles and books can serve as valuable tools to improve communication between physicians and patients. A good example can be found around the 31 minute mark in the video below, from Ken Burns’ documentary series, Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies.
Source: The Scholarlykitchen
URL: Full text

Research courses’ characteristics in Peruvian medical schools

Aim: To evaluate the research courses’ characteristics and the scientific output of its teachers within Peruvian medical schools. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed, using data from the medical schools existing in Peru in 2011. The research courses’ syllabi and its teachers were evaluated. The number of courses, its teachers and the scientific output of them were assessed. Results: Schools had a median of 5.5 [range 2 to 18] credits of research courses, and 1.75% [0.6 to 6.3] was the median of percentages of total credits. In 18/32 (56%) schools existed at least one course requiring the student to present a final inform, and only one school entailed the students to publish the courses’ products in scientific journals. Furthermore, only five (16%) schools employed at least one instructor that had ever published at least one original article as the corresponding author in a Scopus-indexed journal. Conclusion: Peruvian medical schools’ research courses do not include the publication process as a targeted skill and its teachers have a poor scientific output
Source: Archivos de Medicina
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10757/555579

Explore the impact of your books!

Bookmetrix.com is a new and unique platform that Springer developed in partnership with 
Altmetric. It offers you a comprehensive overview of the reach, usage and readership of your book or chapter by providing various book-level and chapter-level metrics all in one place.
Source: Springer
URL: Full text

Reducing salt in bread: a quasi-experimental feasibility study in a bakery in Lima, Peru

Objectives: To explore salt content in bread and to evaluate the feasibility of reducing salt contained in ‘pan francés’ bread. Design: The study had two phases. Phase 1, an exploratory phase, involved the estimation of salt contained in bread as well as a triangle taste test to establish the amount of salt to be reduced in ‘pan francés’ bread without detection by consumers. In Phase 2, a quasi-experimental, pre–post intervention study assessed the effects of the introduction of low-salt bread on bakery sales. Setting: A municipal bakery in Miraflores, Lima, Peru. Subjects: Sixty-five clients of the bakery in Phase 1 of the study; sales to usual costumers in Phase 2. Results: On average, there was 1·25 g of salt per 100 g of bread. Sixty-five consumers were enrolled in the triangle taste test: fifty-four (83·1 %) females, mean age 58·9 (SD 13·7) years. Based on taste, bread samples prepared with salt reductions of 10 % (P = 0·82) and 20 % (P =0·37) were not discernible from regular bread. The introduction of bread with 20 % of salt reduction, which contained 1 g of salt per 100 g of bread, did not change sales of ‘pan francés’ (P=0·70) or other types of bread (P =0·36). Results were consistent when using different statistical techniques. Conclusions: The introduction of bread with a 20 % reduction in salt is feasible without affecting taste or bakery sales. Results suggest that these interventions are easily implementable, with the potential to contribute to larger sodium reduction strategies impacting the population’s cardiovascular health.
Source: Public Health Nutrition
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10757/555477

Atypical presentation of Gorham-Stout syndrome. Case report

Gorham-Stout syndrome is an extremely rare pathology, of unknown etiology. It is characterized by proliferation of vascular channels that causes destruction and reabsorption of the bone matrix. We present a nine year-old male patient with an acute episode characterized by fever, chest pain, respiratory distress and dyspnea. The patient was submitted to computed tomography scan and a biopsy. The findings in the biopsy were multiple lytic lesions, osteolysis, and a mediastinal lymphangioma (lymphangiomatosis). The diagnosis was Gorham-Stout syndrome with atypical presentation.
Source: Archivos argentinos de pediatría 
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10757/555429