Occurrence of Cryptosporidium parvum and bacterial pathogens in faecal material in the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) population.
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Biomedical subjects
A O'Loughlin
Publications and source records attributed to A O'Loughlin.
Comparison and validation of three measures of quality of life in patients with pulmonary hypertension.
BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension, when advanced, markedly limits exercise capacity, activities of daily living and quality of life (QoL). No measure of QoL has yet been validated for the assessment of pulmonary hypertension. The aim of the study was to compare the validity of the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure (MLwHF) questionnaire, the Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire and the Australian Quality of Life (AQoL) measure for assessing pulmonary hypertension treatment. METHODS: Eighty-three patients were enrolled in three studies of pulmonary hypertension treatment (treprostinil, bosentan and sildenafil). They were assessed at baseline and 3 months with the MLwHF questionnaire. Treprostinil and bosentan groups also had 6 and 12 months' data. Twenty-one patients in the sildenafil trial completed concurrently, the SF-36 and AQoL measures at baseline and 3 months. QoL scores were correlated with the 6-min walk test distance, New York Heart Association functional class and right heart catheter-derived haemodynamic parameters of the disease for all matching time points and for changes in scores and clinical measurements over time. RESULTS: The MLwHF and SF-36 scores correlated well with the 6-min walk test distance and New York Heart Association functional class, but did not correlate with haemodynamic measurements. MLwHF and SF-36 scores also correlated with the rate of change of the 6-min walk test distance and New York Heart Association functional class over time. CONCLUSION: The MLwHF questionnaire and SF-36 are useful tools for the assessment of QoL in pulmonary hypertension and may be useful in the ongoing evaluation of QoL in the treatment and study of pulmonary hypertension.
Activities of Daily Living↗
Implementation of anticoagulation guidelines in general practice: a practice report.
There is evidence that patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) are not being anticoagulated according to the published guidelines. Difficulty in identifying such patients may partly explain this. In this study, we examined the yield of different methods for detecting people with AF in a single general practice: hospital discharge letters, referrals to cardiology, staff recall of cases, records of relevant prescriptions from the local pharmacist and similar records from the GMS Payments Board. A review of all files of patients over 45 was undertaken as the definitive method of case identification. Recommended anticoagulation guidelines were applied using structured patient interviews. The practice population was 5,473. Sixty-eight patients with AF were identified giving a practice prevalence of 1.2%. The GMS Payment Board records for the prescribing of all specified medications was the most sensitive method (58.8%) with a positive predictive value of 21.6%. Of nine patients without cognitive impairment at consultation, four (44.4%) opted to change to the recommended treatment. Reluctance of patients to adopt current treatment guidelines points to the need for further work in this area.
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