Treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica: British Society for Rheumatology guideline scope.

The last British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) guideline on PMR was published in 2009. The guideline needs to be updated to provide a summary of the current evidence for pharmacological and non-pharmacological management of adults with PMR. This guideline is aimed at healthcare professionals in the UK who directly care for people with PMR, including general practitioners, rheumatologists, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, psychologists and other health professionals. It will also be relevant to people living with PMR and organisations that support them in the public and third sector, including charities and informal patient support groups. This guideline will be developed using the methods and processes outlined in the BSR Guidelines Protocol. Here we provide a brief summary of the scope of the guideline update in development.

Are patients in heart failure trials representative of primary care populations? A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Guidelines recommend drug treatment for patients with heart failure with a reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), however the evidence for benefit in patients with mild disease, such as most in primary care, is uncertain. Importantly, drugs commonly used in heart failure account for one in seven of emergency admissions for adverse drug reactions. AIM: To determine to what extent patients included in studies of heart failure treatment with beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, and aldosterone antagonists were representative of a typical primary care population with HFrEF in England. DESIGN & SETTING: Systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of drug treatment in patients with HFrEF. METHOD: MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-Process, EMBASE, and CENTRAL were searched from inception to March 2015. The characteristics of the patient's New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification were compared with a primary care reference population with HFrEF. RESULTS: Of the 30 studies included, two had incomplete data. None had a close match (defined as ≤10% deviation from reference study) for NYHA class I disease; 5/28 were a close match for NYHA class II; 5/28 for NYHA class III; and 18/28 for NYHA class IV. In general, pre-existing cardiovascular conditions, risk factors, and comorbidities were representative of the reference population. CONCLUSION: Patients recruited to studies typically had more severe heart failure than the reference primary care population. When evidence from sicker patients is generalised to less sick people, there is increased uncertainty about benefit and also a risk of harm from overtreatment. More evidence is needed on the effectiveness of treatment of heart failure in asymptomatic patients with NYHA class I.

Cold forced open-water swimming: a natural intervention to improve postoperative pain and mobilisation outcomes?

Postoperative neuropathic pain exacerbated by movement is poorly understood and difficult to treat but a relatively common complication of surgical procedures such as endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy. Here, we describe a case of unexpected, immediate, complete and sustained remission of postoperative intercostal neuralgia after the patient engaged in an open-water swim in markedly cold conditions. Though an incidental chance association is possible, the clear temporal proximity linking the swim with pain remission makes a causal relationship possible. We discuss plausible mechanisms that may underlie the relationship and discuss the potential implications for postoperative pain management and patient-centred mobilisation. We recommend further evaluation of cold forced open-water swimming as a mobility-pain provocation challenge to see if the observed unexpectedly positive outcome can be replicated. With the poor response to traditional management, there is a need for novel, curative interventions for postoperative neuropathic pain and associated impaired mobility.

The MindfulBreather: Motion Guided Mindfulness.

For millennia, humans have focused their attention on the breath to develop mindfulness, but finding a scientific way to harness mindful breathing has proven elusive. Existing attempts to objectively measure and feedback on mindfulness have relied on specialist external hardware including electroencephalograms or respirometers that have been impractical for the majority of people learning to meditate. Consequently, training in the key skill of breath-awareness has lacked practical objective measures and guidance to enhance training. Here, we provide a brief technology report on an invention, The MindfulBreather® that addresses these issues. The technology is available to download embedded in a smartphone app that targets, measures and feedbacks on mindfulness of breathing in realtime to enhance training. The current article outlines only the technological concept with future studies quantifying efficacy, validity and reliability to be reported elsewhere. The MindfulBreather works by generating Motion Guided Mindfulness through interacting gyroscopic and touchscreen sensors in a three phase process: Mindfulness Induction (Phase I) gives standardized instruction to users to place their smartphone on their abdomen, breathe mindfully and to tap only at the peak of their inhalation. The smartphone's gyroscope detects periodic tilts during breathing to generate sinusoidal waveforms. Waveform-tap patterns are analyzed to determine whether the user is mindfully tapping only at the correct phase of the breathing cycle, indicating psychobiological synchronization. Mindfulness Maintenance (Phase II) provides reinforcing pleasant feedback sounds each time a breath is mindfully tapped at the right time, and the App records a mindful breath. Lastly, data-driven Insights are fed back to the user (Phase III), including the number of mindful breaths tapped and breathing rate reductions associated with parasympathetic engagement during meditation. The new MGM technology is then evaluated and contrasted with traditional mindfulness approaches and a novel Psychobiological Synchronization Model is proposed. In summary, unlike existing technology, the MindfulBreather requires no external hardware and repurposes regular smartphones to deliver app-embedded Motion-Guided Mindfulness. Technological applications include reducing mindwandering and down-regulation of the brain's default mode through enhanced mindful awareness. By objectively harnessing breath awareness, The MindfulBreather aims to realize the ancient human endeavor of mindfulness for the 21st century.

Acute non-traumatic gastrothorax: presentation of a case with chest pain and atypical radiologic findings.

A previously well 71-year-old woman presented to the Emergency Department with acute-onset left-sided chest pain. She was haemodynamically stable with unremarkable systemic examination. Her electrocardiogram and troponin were within normal limits and her chest radiograph showed a raised left hemi-diaphragm. Two hours after admission, this woman became acutely breathless, and suffered a pulseless electrical activity cardiac arrest. After cardiopulmonary resuscitation, there was a return of spontaneous circulation and regained consciousness. A repeat clinical assessment revealed a new left-sided dullness to percussion with contralateral percussive resonance on respiratory examination. CXR revealed a left pan-hemi-thoracic opacity whilst better definition using CT-pulmonary angiography (CTPA) indicated an acute tension gastrothorax secondary to a large left-sided diaphragmatic hernia. Nasogastric (NG) tube insertion was used to decompress the stomach and the patient underwent uncomplicated emergency laparoscopic hernia reduction. She remained well at 1-year follow-up.

Una señora, previamente sana, de 71 años de edad acudió al departamento de emergencia con dolor agudo en el lado izquierdo del pecho. El examen físico no reveló hallazgos importantes y estaba hemodinámicamente estable. El electrocardiograma y la troponina estaban dentro de los límites normales, la radiografía de tórax mostró un diafragma elevado en el lado izquierdo. Dos horas después de ser admitida, esta señora empezó a respirar con dificultad y sufrió un paro cardíaco con actividad eléctrica sin pulso. Después de la reanimación cardiopulmonar, se evidenció el retorno de la circulación espontánea y la paciente recuperó la conciencia. Una segunda evaluación clínica del sistema respiratorio reveló a la percusión, disminución de la resonancia del lado izquierdo del tórax con hiperresonancia contralateral. La radiografía de tórax reveló una opacidad completa en el lado izquierdo del tórax y se obtuvo una mayor definición utilizando la angiografía pulmonar por tomografía computarizada, revelando un gastrotórax a tensión agudo causado por una hernia diafragmática. Se utilizó una sonda nasogástrica para descomprimir el estómago. La paciente se sometió a cirugía laparoscópica de emergencia para reducir la hernia sin complicaciones. Ella permaneció saludable durante un año de seguimiento.

Limits of 'patient-centredness': valuing contextually specific communication patterns.

CONTEXT: Globally, doctor-patient communication is becoming synonymous with high-quality health care in the 21st century. However, what is meant by 'good communication' and whether there is consensus internationally remain unclear. OBJECTIVES: Here, we characterise understandings of 'good communication' in future doctors from medical schools in three contextually contrasting continents. Given locally specific socio-cultural influences, we hypothesised that there would be a lack of global consensus on what constitutes 'good communication'. METHODS: A standardised two-phase methodology was applied in turn to each of three medical schools in the UK, Egypt and India (n = 107 subjects), respectively, in which students were asked: 'What is good communication?' Phase I involved exploratory focus groups to define preliminary themes (mean number of participants per site: 17). Phase II involved thematic confirmation and expansion in one-to-one semi-structured interviews (mean number of participants per site: 18; mean hours of dialogue captured per site: 55). Findings were triangulated and analysed using grounded theory. RESULTS: The overarching theme that emerged from medical students was that 'good communication' requires adherence to certain 'rules of communication'. A shared rule that doctors must communicate effectively despite perceived disempowerment emerged across all sites. However, contradictory culturally specific rules about communication were identified in relation to three major domains: family; gender, and emotional expression. Egyptian students perceived emotional aspects of Western doctors' communication strikingly negatively, viewing these doctors as problematically cold and unresponsive. CONCLUSIONS: Contradictory perceptions of 'good communication' in future doctors are found cross-continentally and may contribute to prevalent cultural misunderstandings in medicine. The lack of global consensus on what defines good communication challenges prescriptively taught Western 'patient-centredness' and questions assumptions about international transferability. Health care professionals must be educated openly about flexible, context-specific communication patterns so that they can avoid cultural incompetence and tailor behaviours in ways that optimise therapeutic outcomes wherever they work around the globe.