Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Treatment Population (treatment + population)
Selected AbstractsFeasibility and validity of low-budget telephonic follow-up interviews in routine outcome monitoring of substance abuse treatmentADDICTION, Issue 7 2009Suzan C.C. Oudejans ABSTRACT Aims Routine outcome monitoring (ROM) is receiving growing attention. However, follow-up interviews are time-consuming and costly. This study examines the feasibility and validity of low-budget telephonic follow-up interviews for ROM in a substance abuse treatment centre (SATC). Design Observational study using data collected for routine outcome monitoring. Setting The study was performed in a SATC in an urban area in the Netherlands. Participants Feasibility and validity were assessed on data of 2325 patients. Measurements Data on pre-treatment socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were collected using electronic patient records (EPRs) and the European version of the Addiction Severity Index (EuropASI). Data on intensity of treatment were also collected through the EPRs. Telephonic follow-up interviews were conducted between 9 and 10 months after intake. Findings A 53% follow-up rate was achieved; 35% of the patients could not be contacted, 3% explicitly refused and in 8% other reasons accounted for non-participation. About 50% of the interviews took place in the intended time-frame. Costs were ,40 ($57) per completed interview. There were indications of selection bias, because patients with cocaine as their primary problem and patients with polysubstance abuse were under-represented in the follow-up sample; the presence of these disorders is associated with negative treatment outcome. Conclusions Implementing telephonic low-budget follow-up interviews for ROM is feasible, but selection bias threatens internal validity of data, limiting generalization to the total treatment population. Increased efforts to track patients for follow-up may improve generalization. [source] Quantitative assessment of chondrocyte viability after laser mediated reshaping: A novel application of flow cytometryLASERS IN SURGERY AND MEDICINE, Issue 1 2003Alexandre Rasouli BS Abstract Background and Objectives Lasers can be used to reshape cartilage by accelerating mechanical stress relaxation. In this study, fluorescent differential cell viability staining and flow cytometry were used to determine chondrocyte viability following laser heating. Study Design/Materials and Methods Porcine septal cartilages were irradiated with an Nd:YAG laser (,,= 1.32 ,m, 25 W/cm2) while surface temperature, stress relaxation, and diffuse reflectance were recorded. Each slab received one, two, or three laser exposures (respective exposure times of 6.7, 7.2, 10 seconds). Irradiated samples were then divided into two groups analyzed immediately and at 5 days following laser exposure. Chondrocytes were isolated following serial enzymatic digestion, and stained using SYTO®/DEAD RedÔ (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR). A flow cytometer was then used to detect differential cell fluorescence; size; granularity; and the number of live cells, dead cells, and post-irradiation debris in each treatment population. Results Nearly 60% of chondrocytes from reshaped cartilage samples isolated shortly after one irradiation, were viable while non-irradiated controls were 100% viable. Specimens irradiated two or three times demonstrated increasing amounts of cellular debris along with a reduction in chondrocyte viability: 31 and 16% after two and three exposures, respectively. In those samples maintained in culture medium and assayed 5 days after irradiation, viability was reduced by 28,88%, with the least amount of deterioration in untreated and singly irradiated samples. Conclusions Functional fluorescent dyes combined with flow cytometric analysis successfully determines the effect of laser irradiation on the viability of reshaped cartilage. Lasers Surg. Med. 32:3,9,2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Results from the 4th National Clients of Treatment Service Agencies census: changes in clients' substance use and other characteristicsAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 4 2002Fiona Shand Objective: The 2001 Clients of Treatment Service Agencies (COTSA) census, the fourth since 1990, was conducted to enable a comparison of the drug and alcohol-related problems being treated over an 11-year period. Method The 24-hour census was conducted on Wednesday 2 May 2001 in all Australian States and Territories. All agencies providing treatment for drug and alcohol problems in Australia were asked to provide demographic, treatment and substance use information about all clients treated on census day. The data were analysed with frequencies and basic descriptive statistics. Results: Of the agencies surveyed, 90.3% responded. The census suggests that, among the treatment population, the mean age of substance users has decreased and the proportion of clients who are women has increased. Treatment for opiate, cannabis and amphetamine problems increased; treatment for alcohol problems decreased. Substance use patterns differed according to sex, age, size of the population centre, and Indigenous status. Conclusions and implications: Changes among the treatment population reflect changes in demographics and substance use among the broader drug-using community, with the exception of the presentation of alcohol problems for treatment. The reasons for the apparent decline in treatment for alcohol problems are not clear, although a number of factors, such as changes in treatment strategies and facilities and relative increases in other substance use problems, are considered. Any decrease in treatment for a significant health problem such as alcohol use disorder will have considerable public health implications. [source] Species-specific limitation of vole population growth by least weasel predation: facilitation of coexistence?OIKOS, Issue 1 2008Elina Koivisto Interspecific competition is usually understood as different species competing directly with each other for limited resources. However, predators can alter such competitive interactions substantially. Predation can promote the coexistence of species in a situation where it would otherwise be impossible, for example if a tradeoff between the competitive abilities and predation resistance of the prey species exists. The field vole Microtus agrestis and the sibling vole M. rossiaemeridionalis are sympatric grassland species, which compete for the same resources. At the population level sibling voles are suggested to be superior competitors to field voles, yet more vulnerable to predation. We tested the effects of predation on the two species in 0.5 ha outdoor enclosures by exposing vole populations to radio-collared freely-hunting least weasels Mustela nivalis nivalis for three weeks. Lethal and non-lethal impacts of predation limited population densities of both species during and after the experimental period, but the effect was more pronounced in sibling voles in which population densities decreased markedly during the treatment period and even after that. Field vole population densities remained stable under weasel predation, while densities increased in controls. Survival in both species was lower in treatment populations compared to controls, but the effect tended to be more pronounced in sibling voles and in females of both species. The average mass of adults in both species declined in the treatment populations. These results suggest that predation by least weasels can limit vole populations locally, even during favourable summer conditions, and have extended negative effects on the dynamics of vole populations. In addition, predation alleviated interspecific competition between the vole species and is, therefore, a potential factor enabling the coexistence of them. [source] | ||||||||||