Recently added articles from Bandolier:
On limitations.
Jul 01, 2007 ... The thing about looking at evidence of any sort is that there are likely to be limitations to it. Trials may not be properly conducted, measure outcomes that are not useful, be conducted on patients not like ours, or present results in ways that we can easily comprehend; trials may have ...
Surfactant for acute respiratory failure in children.
Jul 01, 2007 ... The use of exogenous pulmonary surfactant in the respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn is known to reduce mortality by almost half, as well as having other benefits. The use of surfactant in that setting is well understood, and forms part of several guidelines. The ...
Coenzyme Q10 and migraine.
Jul 01, 2007 ... Coenzyme Q10 has been like an old but embarrassing friend to Bandolier. Over the years, many readers have asked for an appreciation of the evidence relating to all the wonderful health-giving properties it supposedly has. Ever obedient, Bandolier scurries off to look for this evidence, but ...
Coenzyme Q10 and statin myopathy.
Jul 01, 2007 ... For some time there has been a view that the muscle pains associated with statins may be reversed by taking coenzyme Q10. The argument is that statins inhibit the biosynthesis of both cholesterol and ubiquinone (fancy name for coenzyme Q10), with resultant lowering of cholesterol and ...
Coenzyme Q10 in hypertension.
Jul 01, 2007 ... Coenzyme Q10 is one of those universal food supplements that is recommended for just about every ailment, without much, if anything, in the way of evidence. For hypertension, though, there is a small amount of evidence, and a systematic review [1] pulls the results together. ...
Gout and drinking.
Jul 01, 2007 ... People with gout, and their carers, tend to the obsessive when it comes to food, and especially drinking; alcohol and coffee are often banned completely. All of which makes for a bland existence, which is why a frequently asked question is what gout sufferers can drink without exacerbating ...
On supporting belief.
Jun 01, 2007 ... Bandolier is occasionally allowed out to attend the odd meeting or two. And some are very odd indeed, especially when it comes to the use of evidence. There is the wrong way. This is characterised by finding some piece of evidence that backs up whatever opinion is already held ....
Gastrooesophageal reflux and BMI.
Jun 01, 2007 ... There is a general understanding of a relationship between weight and increased prevalence of heartburn, or symptoms of gastrointestinal reflux. Indeed, there is a meta-analysis [1] indicating significant increase for those with a BMI of 25 kg/sq m or more compared with those with lower ...
Fracture and quality of life in older women.
Jun 01, 2007 ... Fractures in older people, especially older women, can be problematical. The impact of hip fracture can be devastating. Much treasure is spent on trying to prevent fracture through treatment of osteoporosis, and by trying to reduce loss of bone, especially in postmenopausal women. If we ...
Statins, sepsis, and chronic kidney disease.
Jun 01, 2007 ... Bandolier once came a cross a paper that claimed that at least half of all indications for drug use arose from observations made by perceptive clinicians, rather than from the original intentions for their use by pharmaceutical companies. It is interesting, therefore, to perhaps see one ...
Waiting for cataracts.
Jun 01, 2007 ... Cataracts are common in older people. There are more older people, with a huge expansion in the over-65 population predicted in western countries over the next 20-50 years. Something like eight out of 10 people over the age of 75 years will develop cataracts within a 10 year period. For ...
Christopher Newdick. Who Should We Treat? Rights, Rationing, and Resources in the NHS.(Book review)
Jun 01, 2007 ... Christopher Newdick. Who should we treat? Rights, Rationing, and Resources in the NHS. Oxford University Press 2005. ISBN 0-19926418-X. 270 pp. 29.95[pounds sterling]. Faced with a bleak Bank Holiday weekend, there's nothing that bestirs the blood better than to settle down to ...
H-index.
May 01, 2007 ... Bibliometrics is all about methods used to study texts and information. Much of it, though not all, is about citations, especially as it applies to citation analysis, which we use when looking at journal impact factors (Bandolier 118). Some aspects of bibliometrics have become important ...
Epidurals and risk: it all depends.
May 01, 2007 ... Risk: it all depends, doesn't it? It's one of those irregular verb things, is risk; I am a perfectly safe driver, you are a bit dodgy, he is an accident waiting to happen. But if I drive a modern car with seat belts and airbags, at moderate speed, on quiet roads, during the day, while you ...
Value of vision.(Viewpoint essay)
May 01, 2007 ... These days it's all about cost. That's what many people think about modern medicine. Others, and most health economists and purchasers would say, au contraire, it's all about value. The most expensive medicine, they would say, is the one that doesn't work. Yet others, perhaps those giving ...
Lucentis vs Avastin: needs must or devil drives?
May 01, 2007 ... Every so often an issue pops up its head that we are glad not to have to deal with. One such involves a new treatment for age-related macular degeneration. New monoclonal antibodies against vascular endothelial growth factor (VGEF) have been shown to reduce choroidal ...
Race, anaemia, and mortality.
May 01, 2007 ... Anaemia and mortality has been looked at before by Bandolier (138, 146). We know that anaemia is more common in older people, and perhaps more in women than men, and there have been indications of some racial differences as well. A new study [1] not only confirms some of the racial ...
Moderate activity reduces diabetes risk.
May 01, 2007 ... Hands up everyone who knows what a MET is? Answer is a Metabolic Equivalent Task, which is the amount of energy expended in performing various activities compared with sitting down doing nothing. It is commonly used in medicine to express metabolic rates measured during a treadmill test ....
Persistence with bisphosphonates.
May 01, 2007 ... Bandolier looks for good information on persistence (compliance, concordance, adherence, whatever) because medicines work better in the patient than in the blister pack. For so many long-term therapies persistence is awful. With bisphosphonates one reason is the boring way bisphosphonates ...
NSAIDS, coxibs, aspirin, and GI bleeds.
Apr 01, 2007 ... Guidance from various sources has suggested that any protective effect that coxibs have over non-selective NSAIDs is lost in the presence of low dose aspirin. This was based mainly on a meta-analysis of endoscopy studies with few events. A later meta-analysis showed that coxibs plus low ...