The Effects of an Equine-Assisted Occupational Therapy Program on Adaptive Behaviors in Children and Youths

Date Presented 4/16/2015

Equine-assisted therapy utilizes unmounted activities with horses to remediate social participation and emotional regulation deficits. This pilot study measured outcomes of an equine-assisted occupational therapy program to support continued research and recognition of occupational therapists as providers.

A comparison of three search strategies to establish which approach was most effective in identifying trials for inclusion

Background:

The identification of randomised clinical trials for inclusion in systematic reviews has been challenging and laborious in the past. Many physiotherapy journals were not included in databases and resources such as PubMed and not all trials were registered. Multifaceted approaches, including searching multiple databases and hand searches of journals and conference proceedings, were often required. The recent updating of an earlier systematic review provided the opportunity to explore different approaches to search for trials. This report aims to compare three search strategies to identify which was most effective in identifying trials for inclusion in the review.

Methods:

Three search approaches were used to identify trials for a review evaluating physiotherapy exercise following discharge from hospital following hip arthroplasty. Date limitations were set from 2007 to November 2013. Approach 1: replicated the earlier multifaceted 2007 strategy 1, which searched databases using multiple search term combinations and hand searched journals and proceedings. Approach 2: was a librarian-led, online search of health databases. Approach 3: was a researcher-led, PubMed advanced search. The Cochrane library, BioMed Central (BMC), King's Fund, the Department of Health National Research Register and the ClinicalTRIALS.gov register were also searched. The search strategies were evaluated by search time and identification of trials that were included in the systematic review.

Results:

All three searches identified the articles included in the updated review, but 3 346 articles were screened using approach 1 395 in approach 2, and 1 450 in approach 3. Although the librarian-led strategy took longer to set up, the findings were more concise and the fewer articles took less time to screen. Trials registers identified ongoing studies but no new data for the review.

Conclusions:

Many physiotherapy journals are now included in PubMed. The librarian-led search was the most efficient and is recommended. If a librarian is unavailable, a PubMed advanced search is another effective, if more time consuming, option for anyone wanting to identify physiotherapy clinical trials.

Implications:

Physiotherapy trials from 2007 were identified using PubMed and online librarian-led searches meaning previously time-consuming, multifaceted search strategies may no longer be necessary to identify trials.

Scales for predicting risk following self-harm: an observational study in 32 hospitals in England

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the extent to which risk scales were used for the assessment of self-harm by emergency department clinicians and mental health staff, and to examine the association between the use of a risk scale and measures of service quality and repeat self-harm within 6 months.

DESIGN

Observational study.

SETTING

A stratified random sample of 32 hospitals in England.

PARTICIPANTS

6442 individuals presenting with self-harm to 32 hospital services during a 3-month period between 2010 and 2011.

OUTCOMES

21-item measure of service quality, repeat self-harm within 6 months.

RESULTS

A variety of different risk assessment tools were in use. Unvalidated locally developed proformas were the most commonly used instruments (reported in n=22 (68.8%) mental health services). Risk assessment scales were used in one-third of services, with the SAD PERSONS being the single most commonly used scale. There were no differences in service quality score between hospitals which did and did not use scales as a component of risk assessment (median service quality score (IQR): 14.5 (12.8, 16.4) vs 14.5 (11.4, 16.0), U=121.0, p=0.90), but hospitals which used scales had a lower median rate of repeat self-harm within 6 months (median repeat rate (IQR): 18.5% vs 22.7%, p=0.008, IRR (95% CI) 1.18 (1.00 to 1.37). When adjusted for differences in casemix, this association was attenuated (IRR=1.13, 95% CI (0.98 to 1.3)).

CONCLUSIONS

There is little consensus over the best instruments for risk assessment following self-harm. Further research to evaluate the impact of scales following an episode of self-harm is warranted using prospective designs. Until then, it is likely that the indiscriminant use of risk scales in clinical services will continue.

Abstract P1-08-14: HER2 extracellular domain (ECD): A predictive marker of lapatinib treatment benefit in advanced breast cancer

Pretreatment serum HER2 ECD may be associated with clinical outcome to lapatinib therapy and may also have treatment-independent prognostic value. We performed a meta-analysis to examine the prognostic and predictive role of baseline ECD (bECD) levels for lapatinib therapy. We also compared and contrasted its role with tumor HER2 status.

We analyzed bECD and tumor HER2 data in 1902 of 2264 patients (84%) with advanced breast cancer who were randomly assigned to receive lapatinib-containing therapy or control treatment in three clinical trials: EGF30001 (lapatinib and paclitaxel vs paclitaxel), EGF30008 (lapatinib and letrozole vs letrozole), and EGF100151 (lapatinib and capecitabine vs capecitabine). bECD was centrally measured by enzyme linked immunoassay and tumor HER2 was centrally determined by immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization. bECD and tumor HER2 status were examined for associations with objective tumor response (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in the treatment groups.

Of the patients with both bECD and tumor HER2 data, 31% had HER2 bECD≥15 ng/mL and 28% had HER2+ cancer. The effectiveness of lapatinib-containing therapy was significantly associated with bECD level (treatment-bECD interaction P<0.001 [ORR], P<0.001 [PFS]). In patients with bECD≥15 ng/mL, lapatinib-containing therapy, compared to control, significantly improved ORR (odds ratio [OR] for complete and partial response, 1.88; P = 0.001) and PFS (hazards ratio [HR] for progression or death, 0.69; P<0.001). Among patients with bECD<15 ng/mL, there was no significant difference between treatment groups for ORR (OR, 1.17; P = 0.19) or PFS (HR, 0.93; P = 0.30). The effectiveness of lapatinib-containing therapy was also significantly associated with HER2 tumor status for ORR (OR [HER2+] 2.39, P<0.001; OR [HER2-] 1.10, P = 0.43; treatment-HER2 interaction P = 0.001) and PFS (HR [HER2+] 0.63, P<0.001; HR [HER2-] 0.95, P = 0.46; treatment-HER2 interaction P<0.001). When bECD and HER2 tumor status were examined together, the effectiveness of lapatinib-containing therapy was significantly associated with both bECD and HER2 tumor status for PFS (treatment-biomarker interaction P = 0.02[HER2], P = 0.001[bECD]) but only for bECD for ORR (treatment-biomarker interaction P = 0.07 [HER2], P = 0.003 [bECD]). The effectiveness of lapatinib-containing therapy was not significantly associated with OS for both biomarkers (treatment-biomarker interaction P = 0.30 [bECD] and P = 0.80 [HER2]). In the control groups, bECD≥15 ng/mL (HR 1.35, P = 0.003) and HER2+ (HR 1.67, P<0.001) were associated with shorter PFS after adjusting for other baseline characteristics. bECD≥15 ng/mL (HR 1.89, P<0.001) but not HER2+ (HR 0.97, P = 0.81) was associated with shorter OS after adjusting for other baseline characteristics.

Lapatinib therapy was associated with higher ORR and longer PFS in patients with elevated ECD levels. Elevated ECD was also associated with shorter PFS and OS in patients treated with non-lapatinib therapy. ECD provided additional predictive and prognostic information, in addition to tumor HER2 status, that if validated, could aid in treatment decisions. The predictive role of ECD in other anti-HER2 therapies requires further research.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2013;73(24 Suppl): Abstract nr P1-08-14.

Evaluation of Erytra® fully automated analyser for Routine Use in Transfusion Laboratory

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate efficiency and performance of Erytra® analyser in comparison to the reference platform of the NBT immunohaematology laboratory (Bio-Rad ID-System).

BACKGROUND

Moving to automation or semi-automation is a major focus of transfusion centres. The Erytra® (Grifols) is a new fully automated walk-away analyser with high volume processing capacity for pre-transfusion testing, designed to be used with the unique 8-column DG Gel® cards.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

A total of 2201 immunohaematological tests (1041 ABO/D grouping, 1041 antibody screening, 51 antibody identification, 45 newborns (ABO/D and DAT) and 23 crossmatches were performed on 1160 donor/patient whole blood samples. Erytra®'s performance was assessed by means of a stress test replicating the routine work of a hospital laboratory.

RESULTS

Concordant results between the Erytra® and the reference method were obtained in 2195 (99·73 %) of the tests. There were only three discrepancies out of 6246 reactions (0·05%) in ABO/D grouping, all in the reverse group which did not mislead to group identification. Of the 1041 samples screened for antibody presence, Erytra® detected all the relevant antibodies [9 not detected weak prophylactic anti-D were determined to be clinically nonsignificant (<0·1 IU mL(-1) )] while Bio-Rad ID-System missed one anti-e and one anti-Jk(a) . Concordance for D grouping, crossmatching and newborns was 100%. Results of the simulated stress test exercise highlighted the capacity of Erytra® for absorbing into 4 h workloads equivalent to 24 h of routine.

CONCLUSIONS

Grifols' Erytra® analyser showed reliable high sensitivity, velocity and capacity to cope with high workload in the immunohaematology laboratory routine.

Phosphorylase re-expression, increase in the force of contraction and decreased fatigue following notexin-induced muscle damage and regeneration in the ovine model of McArdle disease

McArdle disease is caused by a deficiency of myophosphorylase and currently a satisfactory treatment is not available. The injection of notexin into, or the layering of notexin onto, the muscles of affected sheep resulted in necrosis followed by regeneration of muscle fibres with the expression of both non-muscle isoforms of phosphorylase within the fibres and a reduction of the amount of glycogen in the muscle with an increase in the strength of contraction and a decrease in fatiguability in the muscle fibres. The sustained re-expression of both the brain and liver isoforms of phosphorylase within the muscle fibres provides further emphasis that strategies to enhance the re-expression of these isoforms should be investigated as a possible treatment for McArdle disease.

Not so different after all? Comparing patients attending general practice-based locally enhanced services for sexual health with patients attending genitourinary medicine

We did a cross-sectional survey of patients attending genitourinary (GU) medicine clinics (n = 933) and general practice-based Locally Enhanced Services for Sexual Health (GP-LESSH, n = 111) in Cornwall, England, in 2009/2010, to compare patients' characteristics and experiences. Patients completed a pen-and-paper questionnaire that was then linked to an extract of their clinical data. GP-LESSH patients took longer both to seek and to receive care: medians of nine and seven days, respectively, versus GU medicine patients: medians of seven and one day, respectively. GP-LESSH patients were less likely than GU medicine patients to report symptoms (19.6% versus 30.6%) and sexual risk behaviours (33.3% versus 44.7% reported new partners) since recognizing needing to seek care; 5.0% versus 10.2% were men who have sex with men). However, they were equally likely to have sexually transmitted infections (STIs) diagnosed (23.3% versus 24.8%). As GP-LESSH may operate infrequently, local services must work collaboratively to ensure that those seeking care for suspected STIs receive it promptly. Failing to do so facilitates avoidable STI transmission.

Developmental delay of infants and young children with and without fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa

OBJECTIVE

To describe the extent and nature of developmental delay at different stages in childhood in a community in South Africa, with a known high rate of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

METHOD

cohort of infants, clinically examined for FASD at two time periods, 7-12 months (N= 392; 45 FASD) and 17-21 months of age (N = 83, 35 FASD) were assessed using the Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales (GMDS).

RESULTS

Infants and children with FASD perform worse than their Non-FASD counterparts over all scales and total developmental quotients. Mean quotients for both groups decline between assessments across subscales with a particularly marked decline in the hearing and language scale at Time 2 (scores dropping from 110.6 to 83.1 in the Non-FASD group and 106.3 to 72.7 in the FASD group; P = 0.004). By early childhood the developmental gap between the groups widens with low maternal education, maternal depression, high parity and previous loss of sibling/s influencing development during early childhood.

CONCLUSION

The FASD group show more evidence of developmental delay over both time points compared to their Non-FASD counterparts. Demographic and socio-economic factors further impact early childhood. These findings are important in setting up primary level psycho-educational and national prevention programmes especially in periurban communities with a focus on early childhood development and FASD.

Adverse incidents resulting in exposure to body fluids at a UK dental teaching hospital over a 6-year period

Background:

The safety and protection of patients and health care workers is of paramount importance in dentistry, and this includes students in training who provide clinical care. Given the nature of dental care, adverse incidents can and do occur, exposing health care workers to body fluids and putting them at risk of infection, including contracting a blood-borne virus. The aim of this research was to analyze trends in the volume, rate, nature, management, and outcome of adverse incidents reported at one dental teaching hospital from 2005 to 2010.

Methods:

Descriptive analysis of trends in the volume, rate, nature, management, and outcome of adverse incidents reported at one dental teaching hospital over a six-year period was undertaken in relation to the level of outpatient and day surgery activity.

Results:

In total, 287 incidents were reported over a six-year period, which amounted to 0.039% of outpatient or day surgery appointments. Nearly three quarters of all the incidents (n = 208, 72%) took place during treatment or whilst clearing away after the appointment. The most frequent incidents were associated with administration of local anesthetic (n = 63, 22%), followed by burs used in dental hand pieces (n = 51, 18%).

Conclusion:

This research confirms that adverse incidents are a feature of dental hospitals and reports the common sources. The importance of accurate and consistent reporting of data to ensure that these issues are monitored to inform action and reduce risks to staff, students, and patients are highlighted.