"We must dare to think about "unthinkable things" because when things become "unthinkable" thinking stops and action becomes mindless."
J. William Fullbright

The journal BoneKey reports has between January and March 2014 published a series of articles on Vitamin D and bone.  These articles have now been brought together in a special issue which has been made freely available.

The COPD-X plan : Australian and New Zealand guidelines for the management of COPD have been updated and reflect the evidence available until June 2013.

The COPD-X guidelines are the outcome of a joint project of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand and Lung Foundation Australia.  The guidelines aim to effect changes in clinical practice based on sound evidence; and shift the emphasis from a predominant reliance on pharmacological treatment of COPD to a range of interventions which include patient education, self-management of exacerbations and pulmonary rehabilitation.

This project by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (UK) reviews theories from 272 wide-ranging papers on how income affects health.  The results are now published and are available for free download.  Provides for some interesting reading and food for thought. 

The study identifies four broad 'pathways' - routes through which income influences health:
- material: money buys goods and services that improve health; the more money families have, the more/better goods they can buy;
- psychosocial: managing on low income is stressful; comparing oneself to others and feeling at the bottom of the social ladder can be distressing. Such stress can lead to biochemical changes in the body, damaging its systems and eventually causing ill health;
- behavioural: for various reasons, people on low incomes are more likely to adopt unhealthy behaviours (smoking and drinking, for example) while those on higher incomes are more able to afford healthier lifestyles;
- reverse causation (poor health leads to low income): health may affect income by preventing people from taking paid employment. More indirectly, childhood health may affect educational outcomes, in turn affecting employment opportunities and earnings potential.

Is the incidence of dementia declining?  / Perminder S. Sachdev.  Alzheimer's Australia, 2014.  (Alzheimer's Australia paper ; 39)
This report tells us that there is emerging evidence that the rate of new cases of dementia in older people may be on its way down due to life-style changes such as eating more healthily and doing more exercise.

The use of restraints and psychotropic medications in people with dementia / Carmelle Peisah and Ellen Skladzien.  Alzheimer's Australia, 2014.  (Alzheimer's Australia paper ; 38)
The objective of this paper is to provide accessible information about the evidence on the current practice of physical restraints and the use of psychotropic medications. It looks at the physical and psychological consequences, the legal implications and the alternative approaches.

The new National Aged Care Data Clearinghouse, at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, is an independent and centralised repository of national aged care data.  The Data Clearinghouse was developed to provide aged care data to a range of stakeholders including policy makers, researchers, service providers and consumers.

These are just some of the recently added reviews (links below provide access to full text).

• Computed tomography (CT) angiography for confirmation of the clinical diagnosis of brain death
• Endometriosis : an overview of Cochrane reviews
• Methods to decrease blood loss during liver re-section : a network meta-analysis
• Re-positioning for pressure ulcer prevention in adults

Link here to see a list of all newly added reviews.

Alexander's care of the patient in surgery / edited by Jane C. Rothrock and Donna McEwen.  15th ed.  Elsevier, 2015.

Clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics : concepts and applications / Malcolm rowland and Thomas N. Tozer.  4th ed.  Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2011.

Mental health nursing : dimensions of praxis / edited by Karen-leigh Edward, Ian Munro, Anthony Welch and Alan Robins.  2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2014.

MMPI-2 : assessing personality and psychopathology / John R. Graham.  Oxford University Press, 2012.

Obstetrics & gynaecology : an evidence-based guide / Jason Abbott, Lucy Bowyer and Martha Finn.  2nd ed. Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, 2014.

New books on display may be reserved - call 9496 5393.

Note:  the links below provide access to the tables of contents, not necessarily the full text.  Full text may be retrieved from the A-Z Journal list (outside of Austin Health you will need your Library barcode no. and PIN)

Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica.  Vol. 93, no. 4, April 2014

Annals of internal medicine.  Vol. 160, no. 7, 1 April 2014

Australian & New Zealand journal of psychiatry.  Vol. 48, no. 4, April 2014

BMJ.  Vol. 348, no. 7950, 22 March 2014

Breast.  Vol. 23, no. 2, April 2014

Disease-a-month.  Vol. 60, no. 3, March 2014 (Emerging drugs of abuse)

Gastroenterology. Vol. 146, no. 3, March 2014

Internal medicine journal.  Vol. 44, no. 3, March 2014

Journal of allergy and clinical immunology.  Vol. 133, no. 3, March 2014

Journal of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation and prevention.  Vol. 34, no. 2, March/April 2014

Journal of clinical psychiatry.  Vol. 75, no. 2, February 2014

Journal of diabetes and its complications.  Vol. 28, no. 2, March-April 2014

Journal of reproductive medicine.  Vol. 59, no. 3-4, March-April 2014

Lancet.  Vol. 383, no. 9923, 29 March 2014

Nature.  Vol. 507, no. 7493, 27 March 2014

New England journal of medicine.  Vol. 370, no. 14, 3 April 2014

Nursing times.  Vol. 110, no. 13, 26 March 2014