Summary Page Research Articles

Can surgeon familiarization with current evidence lead to a change in practice? A prospective study

Background Despite evidence against its utility, many surgeons continue to employ prophylactic nasogastric decompression in elective colonic resection. This study aimed to establish whether an easy and practical intervention, mailing out a summary of current evidence to surgeons, can change surgeons practice to bring it more in line with current evidence. Methods The use of prophylactic nasogastric (NG) decompression in elective colonic resections was documented for the 2 consecutive months of October and November, 2004 at the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH). A one page summary of recent evidence concerning this practice was then mailed to all general surgeons at that institution. A similar second review was carried out for the months of January and February, 2005. The two periods were compared with regards to prophylactic NG use. Results Twenty two patients underwent elective colonic resections during the months of October and November, 2004. Twenty one patients underwent such procedures in January and February, 2005. Seven out of the 22 cases in the first group (the pre-intervention block) received prophylactic NG decompression. Five out of the 21 cases in the second group (the post-intervention block) received prophylactic NG decompression. The difference in prophylactic NG use between the two groups was not statistically significant. Conclusions This study has shown that mailing out a summary of current evidence to surgeons concerning a certain issue is not sufficient to lead to a change in practice.

Meaningful web annotations for humans and machines using controlled natural language

Abstract: In this paper we present a novel approach that allows humans to create meaningful web annotations in controlled natural language. The controlled natural language serves as a high-level interface language which enables human annotators to summarize individual web pages of a website and to express domain-specific ontological knowledge about that website in an unambiguous subset of English. The annotation process is backed up by an intelligent text editor which supports the writing process of the controlled natural language with the help of predictive interface techniques. The text editor runs as a Java applet and is connected over the Internet to a controlled natural language processor and to a reasoning service (consisting of a theorem prover and a model builder). The controlled language processor translates the summaries of web pages and the ontological knowledge about a website into first-order predicate logic and the reasoning service combines this information into a set of micro-theories for consistency and informativity checking as well as for question-answering. Specification texts written in controlled natural language are both human-readable and machine-processable and can be easily exported and distributed as web feeds.

Changes in the Journal of Andrology in the Electronic Age

During the past year, significant changes have been made regarding the online publishing of the Journal of Andrology. These changes, which include online access to supplemental data, online-only sections, free and compiled sections, and open access to the authors' manuscript (PDF), will be highlighted and discussed here. Starting with this issue (volume 29, number 2), the Journal of Andrology will accept submission of supplemental data as outlined in the Instructions to Authors. The online supplemental data section was instituted primarily to allow presentation of the following categories of material: 1) large data lists that are not essential to understanding the results but are useful for others to use in data mining; 2) movies illustrating dynamic results, techniques, or 3-dimensional rotations; 3) images of negative or positive controls that are relatively routine and not necessary to include in the main text; 4) larger images showing the entire gel when only the band(s) of interest are shown in the main text; and 5) methodological details, such as DNA sequences used as primers or probes. Other categories of information that are suitable are welcomed. All supplemental data must be submitted with the manuscript and undergo the review process. Supplemental data will be freely accessible. Journal articles are now largely accessed online, there are new electronic-only journals without a print version, and many journals are planning to or are in the process of going online-only and eliminating their print versions. To save printing costs, the Journal of Andrology is experimenting with publishing several sections only in the online version of the Journal and not in the print version. These sections are the Meeting Synopses, Trainee Page, Book Reviews, and Androlog Summary. The titles of these articles will be listed in both the print and online tables of contents. The page numbers will be prefixed with the letter “e,” indicating that the article is only in the online version. All of these sections are open access, so that readers may download and print these articles from any computer with Internet access. We welcome feedback from subscribers as to whether these changes have caused readers difficulty in accessing these articles in a manner that is convenient for them to read, and we will use this information to decide whether to continue online-only publication of these sections and the possible future extension of an online-only publication. We have enhanced the number of compiled sections on the Journal home page to include Reviews and Minireviews, Androlog Summary, Meeting Synopses, Andrology Lab Corner, Trainee Page, Book Reviews, and Memorials to make it easier to access like articles. Of these, the Reviews and Minireviews, Androlog Summary, Meeting Synopses, Trainee Page, Book Reviews, and Memorials are fully open access from the time of publication. In addition, other sections, such as Errata and Supplemental Data, are open access. The online table of contents page and the associated links have been changed to make it easier for readers to access the free authors' manuscript (PDF). We believe that the information contained within Journal of Andrology articles should be freely accessible to the scientific and medical communities and the public. We will maintain the 1-year embargo on making the formatted full-text PDF version freely available since subscriptions and site licenses are needed to cover the extra costs of formatting, editing, and typesetting this version. Finally, the Publications and Communications Committee would like to thank Dr Peter Schlegel, retiring Editor-in-Chief, and express our condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Dr Matthew Hardy, the other past Editor-in-Chief who recently passed away, as well as thank Drs Craig Niederberger and Randall Meachem for contributing and editing Androlog Summary, which has been a popular section of the Journal for many years. We welcome Drs Arthur (Bud) Burnett, Sally Perreault (Darney), and Jay Sandlow as the new Editors-in-Chief, and Dr Robert Brannigan as Editor of Androlog Summary.

‘Species’ of peptidases

A good system for the naming and classification of peptidases can contribute much to the study of these enzymes. Having already described the building of families and clans in the MEROPS system, we here focus on the lowest level in the hierarchy, in which the huge number of individual peptidase proteins are assigned to a lesser number of what we term 'species' of peptidases. Just over 2000 peptidase species are recognised today, but we estimate that 25 000 will one day be known. Each species is built around a peptidase protein that has been adequately characterised. The cluster of peptidase proteins that represent the single species is then assembled primarily by analysis of a sequence 'tree' for the family. Each peptidase species is given a systematic identifier and a summary page of data regarding it is assembled. Because the characterisation of new peptidases lags far behind the sequencing, the majority of peptidase proteins are so far known only as amino acid sequences and cannot yet be assigned to species. We suggest that new forms of analysis of the sequences of the unassigned peptidases may give early indications of how they will cluster into the new species of the future.

Pain Management and Palliative Care Systematic Reviews in Issue Two for 2007 of The Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews is published quarterly. It now contains 3094 complete reviews, 1707 protocols for reviews in production and 6817 one page summaries of systematic reviews published in the general medical literature. In addition there are citations of 495,000 randomized controlled trials, and 9458 cited papers in the Cochrane methodology register. The health technology assessment database contains 6817 citations. This edition of the Library contains 97 new reviews of which 9 have potential relevance for practitioners in pain and palliative medicine.

Evidence-Based Pain Management and Palliative Care in Issue One for 2007 of The Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews is published quarterly. It now contains 3009 complete reviews, 1668 protocols of reviews and 5931 one page summaries of systematic reviews published in the general medical literature. In addition there are citations of 489,167 randomized controlled trials, 22 methodology reviews and 9048 cited papers in the Cochrane methodology register. The health technology assessment database contains 6358 citations. This edition of the Library contains 104 new reviews of which 6 have potential relevance for practitioners in pain and palliative medicine.

66. Innovation in the academic half-day CanMEDS medical expert competency for residency educations

Over the past decade we have attempted various iterations of the academic half-day, but recurring trainee complaints of only didactic sessions, a parallel resident-directed “Nelsons” rounds, and low attendance necessitated a reconsideration of the approach.
 After discussion with the postgraduate trainees we divided the academic year into two blocks. An initial 8 week “summer program” with 24 student contact hours, focuses on the introduction to and review of common, critical care and emergency pediatric issues. The following 40 weeks has 120 student contact hours. Two thirds of the time is directed at the CanMEDS Medical Expert Core Competency. The postgraduate trainees have developed a three year core knowledge curriculum. The 200 “core” topics are mapped onto four international curricula; the RCPSC’s Objectives of Training and Specialty Training Requirements in Pediatrics using the Systems-Based Educational Objectives in the Core Program in Pediatrics, the American Board of Pediatrics – General Pediatrics Outline, and the Royal College of Pediatrics & Child Health (RCPCH) Framework of Competencies for Basic Specialist Training, and Core Higher Specialist Training in Paediatrics.
 The two hour Medical Expert session is divided equally into a postgraduate trainee didactic presentation, and a collaborator case-based learning session. Six weeks prior to the scheduled session the trainee and the assigned faculty collaborator receive the core Medical Expert topic mapped to the four international curricula. The pediatric trainee develops a didactic presentation along with a two page summary. The collaborator, a resource for the trainee’s didactic presentation, develops three clinical cases that emphasize core knowledge, and attends as a Medical Expert resource person.
 We are currently surveying the postgraduate trainees and faculty about this international-based core medical expert program of study.

Evidence-Based Pain Management and Palliative Care in Issue Three for 2006 of The Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews is published quarterly. It now contains 2785 complete reviews, 1625 protocols of reviews and 5574 one page summaries of systematic reviews published in the general medical literature. In addition there are citations of 477,942 randomized controlled trials, 23 methodology reviews and 8408 cited papers in the Cochrane methodology register. The health technology assessment database contains 6011 citations. This edition of the Library contains 111 new reviews of which 9 have potential relevance for practitioners in pain and palliative medicine.

Enabling efficient small and midcap Sarbanes–Oxley §404 compliance — Check the (Sar)Box

The US Securities and Exchange Commission established the Advisory Committee for Smaller Public Companies to assess the impact of Sarbanes–Oxley on smaller public companies, and based on their findings, develop recommendations to assist small public companies. The result was a 241 page summary of their findings. To no-one's surprise, Sarbanes–Oxley costs are excessive for smaller companies. With smaller budgets and lower profits, many small organisations have de-listed from US exchanges, become public entities outside of the US, or remained private entities. All of these results are seen as ‘unintended consequences’ of the legislation. In the hopes of minimising costs, the committee suggests that smaller companies be allowed to reduce or eliminate their compliance testing based on their size. To facilitate such a plan, a great deal of energy was focused on defining a small company (micro-cap versus small-cap versus mid-cap). This suggestion is not without critics, who fear an unacceptable amount of risk (to investors) will accompany such a plan. While thousands of hours were spent trying to appropriately apply the current rules to smaller organisations, very little energy was focused on refining the rules or the potential of creating leveragable infrastructures to support these smaller organisations. This paper suggests how this might be done using accepted best practices to develop an infrastructure that supports these smaller organisations, while maintaining the transparency requirements of the legislation.

Evidence-Based Pain Management and Palliative Care in Issue Four for 2006 of The Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews is published quarterly. It now contains 2,893 complete reviews, 1,646 protocols for reviews in production and 5,758 one page summaries of systematic reviews published in the general medical literature. In addition there are citations of 479,462 randomized controlled trials, 22 methodology reviews and 8,790 cited papers in the Cochrane methodology register. The health technology assessment database contains 6,175 citations. This edition of the Library contains 109 new reviews of which eight have potential relevance for practitioners in pain and palliative medicine.

Book and media review

Proclaimed by its title and inferred from its introductory statement, “rather than simply preparing you for success on an exam, this resource will also help guide you in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of many of the problems seen by emergency physicians,” First Aid for the Emergency Medicine Clerkship, 2nd edition, is geared towards medical students. However, its cover sets loftier goals by advertising to emergency medicine residents: “high-yield topics help you ace the in-service.” First Aid succeeds in reviewing the basics of emergency medicine disease processes and treatments and preparing medical students for clerkship examinations by providing less than one page summaries of the most common disease processes seen in the emergency medicine field, thus allowing the student to familiarize himself with the definition, etiology or pathophysiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of each illness.

Evidence-Based Pain Management and Palliative Care in Issue Three for 2006 of The Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews is published quarterly. It now contains 2785 complete reviews, 1625 protocols of reviews and 5574 one page summaries of systematic reviews published in the general medical literature. In addition there are citations of 477,942 randomized controlled trials, 23 methodology reviews and 8408 cited papers in the Cochrane methodology register. The health technology assessment database contains 6011 citations. This edition of the Library contains 111 new reviews of which 9 have potential relevance for practitioners in pain and palliative medicine

Pain Management and Palliative Care Systematic Reviews in Issue Two for 2007 of The Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews is published quarterly. It now contains 3094 complete reviews, 1707 protocols for reviews in production and 6817 one page summaries of systematic reviews published in the general medical literature. In addition there are citations of 495,000 randomized controlled trials, and 9458 cited papers in the Cochrane methodology register. The health technology assessment database contains 6817 citations. This edition of the Library contains 97 new reviews of which 9 have potential relevance for practitioners in pain and palliative medicine.

Evidence-Based Pain Management and Palliative Care in Issue One for 2007 of The Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews is published quarterly. It now contains 3009 complete reviews, 1668 protocols of reviews and 5931 one page summaries of systematic reviews published in the general medical literature. In addition there are citations of 489,167 randomized controlled trials, 22 methodology reviews and 9048 cited papers in the Cochrane methodology register. The health technology assessment database contains 6358 citations. This edition of the Library contains 104 new reviews of which 6 have potential relevance for practitioners in pain and palliative medicine.

PROPHECY--a yeast phenome database, update 2006

Connecting genotype to phenotype is fundamental in biomedical research and in our understanding of disease. Phenomics—the large-scale quantitative phenotypic analysis of genotypes on a genome-wide scale—connects automated data generation with the development of novel tools for phenotype data integration, mining and visualization. Our yeast phenomics database PROPHECY is available at . Via phenotyping of 984 heterozygous diploids for all essential genes the genotypes analysed and presented in PROPHECY have been extended and now include all genes in the yeast genome. Further, phenotypic data from gene overexpression of 574 membrane spanning proteins has recently been included. To facilitate the interpretation of quantitative phenotypic data we have developed a new phenotype display option, the Comparative Growth Curve Display, where growth curve differences for a large number of mutants compared with the wild type are easily revealed. In addition, PROPHECY now offers a more informative and intuitive first-sight display of its phenotypic data via its new summary page. We have also extended the arsenal of data analysis tools to include dynamic visualization of phenotypes along individual chromosomes. PROPHECY is an initiative to enhance the growing field of phenome bioinformatics.

Evidence-Based Pain Management and Palliative Care in Issue Two for 2006 of The Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews is published quarterly. It now contains 2674 complete reviews, 1686 protocols for reviews in production and 6019 one page summaries of systematic reviews published in the general medical literature. In addition there are citations of 473,442 randomized controlled trials, 22 methodology reviews and 8255 cited papers in the Cochrane methodology register. The health technology assessment database contains 5648 citations. This edition of the Library contains 66 new reviews of which 4 have potential relevance for practitioners in pain and palliative medicine.

Evidence-Based Pain Management and Palliative Care in Issue One for 2006 of The Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews is published quarterly. It now contains 2608 complete reviews, 1592 protocols of reviews and 5859 one page summaries of systematic reviews published in the general medical literature. In addition there are citations of over 470,000 randomised controlled trials, 20 methodology reviews and 7615 cited papers in the Cochrane methodology register. The health technology assessment database contains 5378 citations. This edition of the Library contains 83 new reviews of which the three have potential relevance for practitioners in pain and palliative medicine. These address opioids for the management of breakthrough (episodic) pain in cancer patients, perioperative ketamine for acute postoperative pain, and superficial heat or cold for low back pain.

Evidence-Based Pain Management and Palliative Care in Issue Four for 2005 of The Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews is published quarterly. It now contains 2524 complete reviews, 1589 protocols of reviews and 5585 one page summaries of systematic reviews published in the general medical literature. In addition there are citations of 463,763 randomized controlled trials, 20 methodology reviews and 7484 cited papers in the Cochrane methodology register. The health technology assessment database contains 4733 citations. This edition of the Library contains 89 new reviews of which 6 have potential relevance for practitioners in pain and palliative medicine.

Evidence-Based Pain Management and Palliative Care in Issue Three for 2005 of the Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews is published quarterly. It now contains 2435 complete reviews, 1606 protocols of reviews and 5340 one page summaries of systematic reviews published in the general medical literature. In addition there are citations of 454,449 randomized controlled trials, 20 methodology reviews and 7059 cited papers in the Cochrane methodology register. The health technology assessment database contains 4620 citations. This edition of the Library contains 79 new reviews of which 6 have potential relevance for practitioners in pain and palliative medicine.

Report review: Not for service: experiences of injustice and despair in mental health care in Australia

IT IS ONLY BY EXAMINING the impact of public policies on the lives of people that we can begin to assess the success or failure of those policies. With this as a starting point, Not for service presents an extensive (just over 1000 pages) and balanced picture of the impact of policies on the lives of people with mental illness and their families and friends. The authors take care to state that their research is not a rigorous examination of the extent to which the National Standards for Mental Health Services have been implemented, but do observe that the ?volume and consistency of the information demonstrate the gaps and difficulties governments have had in meeting these standards? (p 14). The report is lengthy, but is well laid out and ?easy? to read, although the content will leave any reader feeling uneasy about the current state of our mental health system. There is also a shorter (96 page) summary report available.