Diversity in auxology: between theory and practice. Proceedings of the 18th Aschauer Soiree, 13th November 2010.

Auxology has developed from mere describing child and adolescent growth into a vivid and interdisciplinary research area encompassing human biologists, physicians, social scientists, economists and biostatisticians. The meeting illustrated the diversity in auxology, with the various social, medical, biological and biostatistical aspects in studies on child growth and development.

Are national quality standards for traditional Chinese herbal medicine sufficient? Current governmental regulations for traditional Chinese herbal medicine in certain Western countries and China as the Eastern origin country.

Traditional Chinese herbal Medicine (TCHM) has been gaining interest and acceptance world wide. TCHM provides on the one side promising perspective of scientific interest and on the other side possible health risks if TCHM drugs are not controlled with respect to quality standards or if practitioners for TCHM are not well trained. This paper outlines an introduction to the scientific aspects and potential risks of TCHM therapy followed by a brief, exploratory overview of the current status of TCHM regulations in certain Western countries like the USA, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and in China as the Eastern origin country of TCHM. Legal foundations to establish quality and safety standards for TCHM crude drugs and ready-made formulas exist in some countries on a local basis but in practice are poorly enforced, where this products have no drug status. In addition practitioners treating patients with TCHM should be well versed in the pharmacology, side effects, and interactions of these substances with Western medicines and should be certified on a regular basis.

Development of a functional measure for persons with Alzheimer's disease: the disability assessment for dementia.

OBJECTIVES: This article describes the development of an assessment of functional disability for use with proxy-respondents of community-dwelling persons who have Alzheimer's disease as well as a study testing its reliability. METHOD: Panels composed of health care professionals and caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease were used to develop the Disability Assessment for Dementia (DAD). Fifty-nine caregivers participated in the refinement of the content and the testing of reliability. RESULTS: The DAD includes 40 items: 17 related to basic self-care and 23 to instrumental activities of daily living. It demonstrated a high degree of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .96) and excellent interrater (N = 31, ICC = .95) and test-retest (N = 45, ICC = .96) reliability. In addition, it was found not to have gender bias. CONCLUSION: This instrument may help clinicians and caregivers of the population with Alzheimer's disease make decisions regarding the choice of suitable interventions.

Prospective study of quantitative aspects of audit in a large general histopathology laboratory.

A non-computerised method of accurate prospective analysis of the quantitative aspects of the work of a general histopathology laboratory was devised. The method entails monitoring the progress of all biopsy and cytology specimens through the laboratory during selected monthly periods of study. The data collected include details of specimen type, block/section/stain details for each specimen, and information about the timed progress through technical, medical, and secretarial stages of specimen/report handling. The results give a detailed breakdown of the biopsy and cytology workload of this department. They give information about the rate of passage of specimens through the system and identify reasons for delay in the reporting of some cases. The method is easy to operate and will allow for the analysis of specific effects--for example, staff changes--on the efficiency of the department. The data will also provide some of the information required for the costing of histopathology laboratory services, and the type of information obtained will probably become a necessary requirement for laboratory accreditation.

Surveillance of an at risk population: assessment of postal urine cytology.

The urine postal cytology kit Urotel was assessed against our standard cytological method; 184 patients attending for routine surveillance cystourethroscopy provided free flow urine specimens. The urine cytology was reported blind. Comparison of the 2 tests showed similar specificity but significantly higher sensitivity with the Urotel kit. These kits may have a place in the surveillance of patients at high risk of recurrent tumour or those with carcinoma in situ, reducing the frequency of hospital attendance.