1,720,962 research outputs found
[The challenge of improving evidence-based therapy adherence in the secondary prevention of coronary artery disease: the next frontier of cardiac rehabilitation]
No full textNon-adherence to prescribed drug regimens is an increasing medical problem affecting physicians and patients and contribute to negative outcomes, such as the increased risk of subsequent cardiovascular events. Analysis of various patient populations shows that the choice of drug, its tolerability and the duration of treatment influence the non-adherence. Intervention is required toward patients and health-care providers to improve medication adherence. This review deals about the prevalence of non-adherence to therapy after medical and surgical cardiac event, the risk factors affecting non-adherence and the strategies to implement it. Interventions that may successfully improve adherence should include improved physician compliance with guidelines, patient education and patient reminders, frequent visits or telephone calls from staff, simplification of the patient's drug regimen by reducing the number of pills and daily doses. Since single interventions do not appear efficaceous, it is necessary to establish multiple interventions simultaneously addressing a number of barriers to adherence
[Nurse involvement in primary care: it is the key to improve the outcomes in primary and secondary prevention?]
No full textDifficulties in management of risk factors, lifestyle and medications adherence to achieve secondary prevention of ischemic heart disease were described. Many studies indicate that the benefit of cardiac rehabilitation therapy after acute coronary events is only partially maintained during the following year. Thereafter, new strategies of medical care are needed to improve the long-term outcomes in coronary patients. Nurse co-ordinated, multidisciplinary cardiac rehabilitative programme could help patients to improve their lifestyle, to control their risk factors and to achieve their therapeutic goals for secondary prevention of ischemic heart disease
[Lower is better: ENHANCE affair]
No full textEzetimibe lowers the intestinal absorption of cholesterol, being complementary to the effects of statin. To check its efficacy in lowering the carotid intima-media thickness, in 2002 a multicenter international trial called ENHANCE was started, in order to assess by ultrasound the regression of atherosclerotic plaques. The protocol tested the use of simvastatin 80 mg + placebo versus simvastatin 80 mg + ezetimibe 10 mg in 720 randomized patients. Both drugs were well tolerated. Combination therapy was associated with a larger reduction in LDL cholesterol, but there were no differences in the intima-media thickness measured at three sites in the carotid arteries, nor differences in cardiovascular events between the two groups in the trial. These results provoked disappointment of sponsors (Merck, Schering Plough) who, although the results of the trial were available since march 2007, delayed official communication of about 18 months. This led to speculations and rumors among media, American Government, cardiologic scientific associations, and consequences in the Ezetimibe market and at Wall Street. In particular, the American College of Cardiology didn't accept the communication of ENHANCE results to the Late Breaking Trial Session of the Chicago congress, diverting it to another secondary forum. In conclusion, the experience of the ENHANCE trial suggests to pharmaceutical companies, researchers, clinicians, scientific companies and media a deep meditation in order to avoid in the future similar problems in the management of results of medical research
[Disease management system in patients with chronic heart failure]
No full textHealthcare managers are more and more interested in the role of general practitioners (GP) in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Continuing adjustments of the health organization are the old/new challenge in improving patient care. The European Society of Cardiology guidelines recommend a disease-management program for heart failure (HF); moreover, observational studies and randomized controlled trials have reported better patient outcomes if patients are in charge of cardiologists rather than GPs or other physicians. Patients with chronic HF are often very old and affected by multiple comorbid conditions, by themselves associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, too many patients receive neither a correct diagnosis nor treatment until advanced disease occurs. New treatment approaches, some of them requiring the expertise of well-trained cardiologists, are ongoing to improve the clinical outcomes. The optimal management of patients with HF needs teamwork, i.e. GPs, cardiologists, nurses and caregivers, since a multidisciplinary program, only, can embody the best answer for outpatients with chronic HF. Currently, the Cardiovascular Center in Trieste is performing an experimental trial, so far never attempted before, in treating patients with chronic HF using a thorough approach with the full involvement of local cardiologists, GPs and nurses. Such approach is, at the same time, as well a challenge as an opportunity: a challenge because conventional clinical habits must be changed; an opportunity because patients can benefit from a proper whole care-group, aimed at prolonging life and reducing morbidity and symptoms
Continuità assistenziale ospedale-territorio per il paziente con scompenso cardiaco cronico: Una rivoluzione e una sfida nella cura ambulatoriale
No full textHealthcare managers are more and more interested in the role of general practitioners (GP) in the
treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Continuing adjustments of the health organization are the
old/new challenge in improving patient care. The European Society of Cardiology guidelines recommend
a disease-management program for heart failure (HF); moreover, observational studies and
randomized controlled trials have reported better patient outcomes if patients are in charge of cardiologists
rather than GPs or other physicians.
Patients with chronic HF are often very old and affected by multiple comorbid conditions, by
themselves associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, too many patients receive
neither a correct diagnosis nor treatment until advanced disease occurs. New treatment approaches,
some of them requiring the expertise of well-trained cardiologists, are ongoing to improve
the clinical outcomes.
The optimal management of patients with HF needs teamwork, i.e. GPs, cardiologists, nurses and
caregivers, since a multidisciplinary program, only, can embody the best answer for outpatients with
chronic HF.
Currently, the Cardiovascular Center in Trieste is performing an experimental trial, so far never
attempted before, in treating patients with chronic HF using a thorough approach with the full involvement
of local cardiologists, GPs and nurses. Such approach is, at the same time, as well a challenge
as an opportunity: a challenge because conventional clinical habits must be changed; an opportunity
because patients can benefit from a proper whole care-group, aimed at prolonging life and
reducing morbidity and symptoms
Control of anticoagulant therapy with portable prothrombin time device in patients with mechanical heart valve prostheses: two-year follow-up
No full textLa rivascolarizzazione percutanea dell'arteriopatia periferica degli arti inferiori nel distretto femoro-popliteo: PTA e PTA più stent Risultati dopo sei anni di follow-up
No full text
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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