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Global usage of educational Emergency Medicine (EM) podcasts is popular and ever-increasing. This study aims to explore the desired content, format and delivery characteristics of a potential educational, context-specific Southern African EM podcast, by investigating current podcast usages, trends and preferences among Southern African EM registrars of varying seniority. We developed an electronic survey - using a combination of existing literature, context-specific specialist-training guidance, and input from local experts – exploring preferred podcast characteristics among EM registrars from four Southern African universities. The study's response rate was 75%, with 24 of the 39 respondents being junior registrars. Ninety-four percent (94%) of respondents used EM podcasts as an educational medium: 64% predominantly using podcasts to supplement a personal EM study program. The primary mode of accessing podcasts was via personal mobile devices (84%). Additionally, respondents preferred a shorter podcast duration (5–15 min), favoured multimedia podcasts (56%) and showed an apparent aversion toward recorded faculty lectures (5%). Eighty-two percent (82%) of respondents preferred context-specific podcast content, with popular topics including toxicology (95%), cardiovascular emergencies (79%) and medico-legal matters (74%). Just-in-Time learning proved an unpopular learning strategy in our study population, despite its substantial educational value. Podcast-usage proved to be near-ubiquitous among the studied Southern African EM registrars. Quintessentially, future context-specific podcast design should cater for mobile device-use, shorter duration podcasts, more video content, context-specific topics, and content optimised for both Just-in-Time learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For some years now our research group deals with self-building, which is a subject that is particularly topical today. Its benefits are now known to everybody: the economy of expenditure, the response to the specific needs of users but also ethical reasons concerning ecology, respect for nature and the attention to the recycling and reuse of materials. Working in this field we have been able to establish what the most common limits of the process are: the inadequacy of the legislation (especially in Italy) of the rules and regulations; the unpreparedness of the productive sector; the guarantee of acceptable levels of quality of what is built (training for auto-builders, process control, and security). Just this last point is dealt with in this study. It aims to identify what the most effective information systems are for the self-builders in order to assure the quality of the product (the building) and the process. The current means of spreading turned to self-builder often give only general information. This work aims to offer an analysis and evaluation of the effectiveness of different forms of communication in this sector (training courses, videos, textual printouts, graphic printouts, etc..) through which an easy, immediate and complete understanding of the setting of the project and the way in which it must be realized (use of materials, application techniques, phases of the work) can be guaranteed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: In chronic hepatitis B, long-term use of alpha interferon is hampered by side effects, and long-term treatment with nucleos(t)ide analogues is burdened by drug-resistant mutants. We hypothesized that alternate rounds of lamivudine and alpha interferon might circumvent previous shortcomings. Aim: To evaluate efficacy of sequential lamivudine or IFN-α2b monotherapies in preventing occurrence of tyrosine-methionine-aspartate-aspartate (YMDD) mutants and achieving virological and biochemical response. Methods: Fifteen patients with hepatitis B surface antigen, anti-HBe-positive chronic hepatitis received four consecutive rounds of monotherapy with lamivudine (100mg/day), IFN-α2b (5MU/tiw), lamivudine, IFN-α2b. Serum HBV-DNA levels were evaluated during and off treatment, HBV polymerase and pre-core/core regions sequenced. Results: End-of-treatment response was achieved in 10 patients (67%). One patient did not respond, a second developed genotypic resistance at week 24. A rebound in viremia occurred in three patients at week 48. Six patients (40%) remained sustained responders. Triple promoter mutations at nucleotides 1762-1764-1896 prevailed in non-responders (60%) as compared to responders (20%). L180M/M204V mutations were identified during virological breakthrough. Conclusion: Sequential approach of alternate rounds of lamivudine or interferon may help patients to tolerate a prolonged schedule of therapy and protect them from emergence of viral strains. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

PURPOSE: The HLA region has been implicated in determining the disease susceptibility or the clinical phenotype of inflammatory bowel disease. The aim of this study was to assess the relation between HLA-DRB1 alleles with the clinical features of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis and the presence of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic and anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies. METHODS: Blood samples were obtained from 102 Crohn's disease pa- tients, 114 ulcerative colitis patients, and 264 unrelated healthy controls. Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmics were detected by a standard immunofluorescence method, and anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiaes were examined by an enzyme-linked imtnunosorbent assay immunoglobulin G/im- munoglobulin A commercial assay. HLA-DRB1 typing of 26 alleles was performed by polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific primes. Patients were phenotyped according to gender, disease location, extent, and behavior, surgical resection, need of steroid, and anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic/anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae status. RESULTS: As a whole, after applying Bonferroni's correction for multiple comparisons, no significant association of HLA- DRB1 alleles with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis was found. After stratifying HLA-DRB1 alleles by clinical phenotypes of patients with ulcerative colitis, an excess of DRB1∗1309∗1325∗1329∗1329 allele (DR13) was found in conjunction with pancolitis (P < 0.0001), surgical re- section (P < 0.0003), and extraintestinal manifestations (P < 0.0001). In Crohn's disease patients, an excess of DRB1∗0304∗0305∗0307∗0309 allele (DR3) was found in those with colonic disease (P < 0.0001) and patients with extraintestinal manifestations (P = 0.0003). This statistical association, however, emerged in only 3 of 114 patients with ulcerative colitis and in 3 of 102 patients with Crohn's disease. We found no association with the presence of anti- Saccharomyces cerevisiae or anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic. CONCLUSIONS: Some clinical features of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis may be influenced by specific HLA-DR alleles; in particular, in ulcerative colitis some alleles appear to segregate with more aggressive disease, whereas in Crohn's disease different alleles cosegregate in patients with colonic disease and extraintestinal manifestations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]