Issue 2, 2009 of The Cochrane Library

Issue 2, 2009 of The Cochrane Library is now available. Among the new and updated Cochrane Reviews you will find :

• Homeopathic medicines for adverse effects of cancer treatments
• Music for stress and anxiety reduction in coronary heart disease patients
• Interventions for preventing falls in older people living in the community
• Extraction of primary (baby) teeth for unerupted palatally displaced permanent canine teeth in children
• Psychological therapies for the management of chronic pain
• Topical treatments for chronic plaque psoriasis
• Alcohol and drug screening of occupational drivers for preventing injury
• And many more … www.thecochranelibrary.com

Some of these reviews have been highlighted in Evidence Podcasts and are free to access.

Please see the Release Notes for a summary of the updates in this issue. Users can also access our Highlights PDF to learn more about the findings of new and updated Cochrane Reviews.
The Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions is now available in print format. It is published by John Wiley for The Cochrane Collaboration.

Editors: Julian P. T. Higgins MRC Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge, UK Sally Green Australasian Cochrane Centre, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

There is a 25% discount for Cochrane Review authors and an information page for the book where authors can also order, with a prompt to enter their discount code.

Wiley authors are entitled to a 25% discount not only on their own titles, but on all Wiley books, when ordering either via the site, by phoning customer services or filling in any printed order forms.


Images and my source: John-Wiley mail-list

Working with the mind in dementia, not against it

The following (edited) item was posted to the NURSE PHILOSOPHY list by Phil Benjamin;
plus Sandwell Third Age Art's DVD: ‘Fountain's Jolly Inn’ (no longer available?).

You may be interested in a novel and sophisticated model for aged care in Tasmania. This model is based on a sophisticated psychological interventions based on an understanding of the intact affective life and needs of patients, even with the most severe cognitive disabilities - useful links below:

Dementia can produce challenging and erratic behaviours. The disease itself is one cause, but so is the world outside. Which psychosocial interventions really make a difference? And, a tour through an orthodox nursing home for the most extreme cases -- there's a bus stop with no bus, a car that won't go -- and it really works.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2008/2390391.htm

This film was about the making of a pub themed area inside a residential home for older people with mental health needs.
It was made by Paul Nocher.
The DVD shows how a little imagination can go a long way in creating an interesting and stimulating environment in a residential home and how the transformation of a space can enrich the lives of the people who live in it.

GP launches YouTube health films

Bob Pyke posted the following today:
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I wrote about this about a year ago and they recently updated it, but it is still pretty cool.
http://www.builthsurgery.co.uk/

A GPs' surgery in mid Wales has launched a series of health education films on YouTube, better known as a website featuring home videos.

Advice about flu vaccination and cervical screening are two of the topics covered by Builth and Llanwrtyd Medical Practice in Powys.

Doctors said they wanted to help educate their 7,700 patients and a wider global audience.

Last year, the surgery launched a series of podcasts to advise patients.

YouTube allows users to upload their home videos and other clips online.

Dr Richard Walters, who helped to develop the practice's project, said surgeries normally printed leaflets to advise patients, but added that things were changing.

He told the Western Mail newspaper: "There are a lot of things that we do in a GP practice that have to be conveyed to patients, some of which are not easy to demonstrate within the surgery.

"Sometimes getting patients to watch a quick video on the computer screen is a lot easier."

He added: "We are a practice in rural mid Wales, shops in Hereford and Aberystwyth are an hour away, Cardiff an hour-and-a-half, so although broadband access is not ideal, people tend to use the internet for all sorts of things."

The practice, which covers more than 500 square miles (1,295 sq kms), hopes its advice online will avoid unnecessary travelling to a see a doctor. The videos include tips about asthma inhalers, smear testing, blood sugar testing and the winter flu vaccine, and are made by two practice nurses.

New topics are planned to be added every month. As well as being available on YouTube, the videos are posted on the practice's own website and can be downloaded onto an MP3 player. The surgery is no stranger to using modern technology to get across its health messages to patients. Last year, it launched podcasts demonstrating, among other topics, how to use an asthma inhaler properly.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/6234141.stm

Podcast 2 - Must start work and THE comet!

I've just drafted 650 words that I hope can be used in a newsletter. With that done - bar some final edits - maybe I can start to think about podcast #2 (not that podcast #1 is top of the charts)?

This time I must make use of the software and not do it in 'one take'!

If you are South of the Equator I hope you've managed to catch sight of Comet McNaught? On this page of photos there (was) a 3D orbit java applet. This shows why it was difficult to catch in the Northern hemisphere - must be an amazing sight. With the weather locally - no chance!

Podcast part 1: available at last....!

I've an audio file that I feel passes for muster. I've tried to inject some animation and enthusiasm, which is not easy at 0000 hours. Anyway - thanks to ccPublisher and the Internet Archive you can now download it if you wish.

In the podcast I mention that it will run for just under 30 minutes. In the end it's actually 31:33.4 - not too far out. There are no bells and whistles (thank goodness), no fancy opening music.

There are three files provided (a learning package?):

1. The podcast itself in mp3 at 30MB 128bit.
2. The podcast notes including my responses to the two questions posed.
3. A powerpoint summary of 10 slides.

At 30MB it is a large file, but it will I trust reward your patience. As I'm writing this I've just noticed that ccPublisher has also created a 64bit version 15MB, plus Ogg Vorbis 22.2MB (Open Source).

I've checked the files (except for the XML & OV) and they download fine.

If you find the podcast of help please let me know, especially if it proves useful within education. Wherever you are working, if Hodges model appears to offer something to you get in touch.

Part 2 will follow in due course, after I complete that other project...