PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Internet-based training could help in the fight against antibiotic resistance

2013-08-01
(Press-News.org) Antibiotic prescribing rates for acute respiratory tract infections could be significantly lowered using internet-based training for clinicians, new research has shown.

In a study, led by the University of Southampton and published in The Lancet today (Wednesday 31 July), an internet-based training programme has shown to reduce antibiotics prescribing rates by as much as 62 per cent.

Paul Little, Professor of Primary Care Research at the University of Southampton, comments: "The high volume of prescribing antibiotics in primary care is a major driver of antibiotic resistance, which is one of the great public health dangers of our time, and raises the real prospect of serious infections becoming untreatable.

"Training has been shown to have a positive effect on lowering prescription rates but the way training has been delivered and its reliance on highly trained staff around centres of excellence severely limits the impact in everyday practice. Novel techniques are therefore needed to lead changes at a national and international level. Internet training has the advantage that it can be disseminated widely at a low cost and does not need much resource."

Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI), such as chest infections like bronchitis, are one of the most common acute illnesses treated in primary care in developed countries. Although viruses are believed to cause most of these infections, there is still debate about whether or not antibiotics are beneficial for some patients in the treatment of LRTI, particularly in older patients. Meanwhile antibiotics are still being prescribed in high amounts, fuelling antibiotic resistance.

In the study, from the GRACE (Genomics to Combat Resistance against Antibiotics in Community-acquired LRTI in Europe) consortium and funded by the European Community's Sixth Framework Programme, 246 clinical practices from six countries were recruited. They were randomised to one of four trial arms: usual care, internet-based training to use a C-reactive protein (CRP) test (an indicator test for pneumonia), internet-based training in enhanced communication skills, and combined training in both CRP and enhanced communication.

The study, supported by the National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network in England, showed that clinicians who received training in using the CRP test or the enhanced communications skills training significantly reduced their antibiotic prescribing rates for LRTI, compared to usual care (47 per cent and 32 per cent respectively). Furthermore, clinicians who received training in a combination of both reduced prescribing antibiotics by 62 per cent.

Additionally prescribing rates also fell for upper respiratory tract infections (e.g. colds, influenza, and throat, ear and sinus infections). These infections were not targeted by the intervention, which suggests that further modifications could be made to the internet training to better address these conditions, which would maximise the impact of training.

Professor Little adds: "These interventions have shown that providing interactive training methods using the internet to modify antibiotic prescribing is remarkably effective. Moreover the internet-based training programmes are transferrable between very different primary care settings."

### END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Clean water and soap may help improve growth in young children

2013-08-01
Improving water quality and hygiene practices may improve the growth of children, according to a new report. The Cochrane review – authored by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and WaterAid – found evidence of small but significant improvements in growth of children under the age of five who have access to clean water and soap. Researchers identified 14 studies conducted in low and middle income countries (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Chile, Guatemala, Pakistan, Nepal, South Africa, Kenya and Cambodia) that provided data on the effect of water, sanitation ...

Cleveland Clinic study finds lowest risk treatment for severe carotid and coronary disease

2013-08-01
JULY 31, 2013, Cleveland: Of the three most common treatment approaches for patients with severe carotid and coronary artery disease, patients who underwent stenting of the carotid artery followed by open heart surgery had the best outcomes, according to a retrospective study from Cleveland Clinic published online today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The study compared carotid stenting followed by open heart surgery to both staged and combined carotid endarterectomy and open heart surgery. For patients with a severe blockage in the carotid artery ...

The flexible tail of the prion protein poisons brain cells

2013-08-01
VIDEO: Professor Adriano Aguzzi explains how the flexible tail of the prion protein poisons brain cells. Click here for more information. Prion proteins are the infectious pathogens that cause Mad Cow Disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. They occur when a normal prion protein becomes deformed and clumped. The naturally occurring prion protein is harmless and can be found in most organisms. In humans, it is found in our brain cell membrane. By contrast, the abnormally deformed ...

3-D look at prion may help find cure to brain diseases, University of Alberta work shows

2013-08-01
The work of University of Alberta researchers and their teams has contributed to an important next step in finding a cure for deadly prion-folding diseases in humans and animals. Professor Michael James of the University of Alberta Department of Biochemistry, Professor Nat Kav of the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science and their labs collaborated to produce mini-antibodies and antibody fragments used by the Institute of Neuropathology in Zurich to study interactions between the antibodies and the prion protein and how it results in cell death. The ...

Rubber slat mats could improve animal well-being

2013-08-01
New research shows that rubber slat mats could improve swine health. In a new study in the Journal of Animal Science, researchers in Europe studied how different types of flooring affects claw and limb lesions, locomotion and flooring cleanliness. According to the researchers, flooring is one of the main factors in production systems that cause locomotory problems in swine. Locomotory problems can be caused by joint injuries or by circulatory problems in the legs and feet. Julia Calderón-Díaz, a PhD candidate at University of College Dublin, said pregnant sows placed ...

Ancient whale coprolites, fault slickensides, shergottites, Ediacara, and Cascadia

2013-08-01
Boulder, Colo., USA - Two new Geology articles this month are open access: "Steady rotation of the Cascade arc" and "Silica gel formation during fault slip: Evidence from the rock record." Other new articles cover everything from the discovery of fossilized whale "intestinal products" in central Italy to flooding as a result of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption to new findings via the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) to using microfossils to reconstruct massive earthquakes in Cascadia. Highlights are provided below. Geology articles ...

New 3-D colonoscopy eases detection of precancerous lesions

2013-08-01
Cambridge-- MIT researchers have developed a new endoscopy technology that could make it easier for doctors to detect precancerous lesions in the colon. Early detection of such lesions has been shown to reduce death rates from colorectal cancer, which kills about 50,000 people per year in the United States. The new technique, known as photometric stereo endoscopy, can capture topographical images of the colon surface along with traditional two-dimensional images. Such images make it easier to see precancerous growths, including flatter lesions that traditional endoscopy ...

FASD impacts brain development throughout childhood and adolescence not just at birth

2013-08-01
Medical researchers at the University of Alberta recently published findings showing that brain development is delayed throughout childhood and adolescence for people born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Christian Beaulieu and Carmen Rasmussen, the two primary investigators in the research study, recently published the results of their work in the peer-reviewed journal, The Journal of Neuroscience. Their team scanned 17 people with FASD, and 27 people without the disorder, who were between 5 and 15 years old. Each participant underwent two to three scans, ...

BMJ editorial: India's research participant protection policy

2013-08-01
In an editorial published online today in BMJ, Johns Hopkins bioethicist Jeremy Sugarman and other experts warn that action is urgently needed to deal with possible unintended consequences of India's new policy protecting research participants. Passed earlier this year, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act (First Amendment) Rules, was meant to mitigate ethical concerns with potential serious consequences for public health, as well as India's viability as a continued global leader in clinical research. However, Sugarman and his co-authors highlight specific concerns that could ...

Figuring out flow dynamics

2013-08-01
Turbulence is all around us—in the patterns that natural gas makes as it swirls through a transcontinental pipeline or in the drag that occurs as a plane soars through the sky. Reducing such turbulence on say, an airplane wing, would cut down on the amount of power the plane has to put out just to get through the air, thereby saving fuel. But in order to reduce turbulence—a very complicated phenomenon—you need to understand it, a task that has proven to be quite a challenge. Since 2006, Beverley McKeon, professor of aeronautics and associate director of the Graduate ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Corpse flowers are threatened by spotty recordkeeping

Riding the AI wave toward rapid, precise ocean simulations

Are lifetimes of big appliances really shrinking?

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

Pinning down the process of West Nile virus transmission

[Press-News.org] Internet-based training could help in the fight against antibiotic resistance