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Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin... Oct 2020Medical history taking and the clinical examination are the traditional medical tools in making a diagnosis. Both the medical history taking and clinical examination... (Review)
Review
Medical history taking and the clinical examination are the traditional medical tools in making a diagnosis. Both the medical history taking and clinical examination have wrongly lost their practical value in modern emergency and intensive care medicine. When diagnosing an acutely or critically ill patient, the sequence, technique and focus of history taking and the clinical examination must be adapted to the individual situation and the condition of the patient. In this article the continuing central importance of both techniques in the diagnostics of emergency and intensive care patients is practically evaluated and discussed.
Topics: Critical Care; Critical Illness; Emergency Medicine; Emergency Service, Hospital; Humans; Medical History Taking; Physical Examination
PubMed: 32885280
DOI: 10.1007/s00063-020-00731-x -
American Family Physician May 2021Dyspareunia is recurrent or persistent pain with sexual intercourse that causes distress. It affects approximately 10% to 20% of U.S. women. Dyspareunia may be...
Dyspareunia is recurrent or persistent pain with sexual intercourse that causes distress. It affects approximately 10% to 20% of U.S. women. Dyspareunia may be superficial, causing pain with attempted vaginal insertion, or deep. Women with sexual pain are at increased risk of sexual dysfunction, relationship distress, diminished quality of life, anxiety, and depression. Because discussing sexual issues may be uncomfortable, clinicians should create a safe and welcoming environment when taking a sexual history, where patients describe the characteristics of the pain (e.g., location, intensity, duration). Physical examination of the external genitalia includes visual inspection and sequential pressure with a cotton swab, assessing for focal erythema or pain. A single-digit vaginal examination may identify tender pelvic floor muscles, and a bimanual examination can assess for uterine retroversion and pelvic masses. Common diagnoses include vulvodynia, inadequate lubrication, vaginal atrophy, postpartum causes, pelvic floor dysfunction, endometriosis, and vaginismus. Treatment is focused on the cause and may include lubricants, pelvic floor physical therapy, topical analgesics, vaginal estrogen, cognitive behavior therapy, vaginal dilators, modified vestibulectomy, or onabotulinumtoxinA injections.
Topics: Adult; Dyspareunia; Female; Genital Diseases, Female; Gynecological Examination; Humans; Medical History Taking; Pain Measurement; Patient Care Management; Quality of Life; Risk Assessment; Risk Factors; Stress, Psychological
PubMed: 33983001
DOI: No ID Found -
FASEB Journal : Official Publication of... Oct 2022
Topics: Genetics, Medical; Humans
PubMed: 36149010
DOI: 10.1096/fj.202201478 -
Ear, Nose, & Throat Journal May 2024
Topics: Humans; Otoscopes; History, 20th Century; Otolaryngology; Otoscopy; History, 21st Century; History, 19th Century
PubMed: 37596948
DOI: 10.1177/01455613231194029 -
Headache Jul 2019
Topics: Administrative Personnel; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Migraine Disorders; Retirement; Societies, Medical
PubMed: 31297804
DOI: 10.1111/head.13578 -
The Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon Jan 2021
Topics: Anniversaries and Special Events; Cardiac Surgical Procedures; Germany; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Societies, Medical; Thoracic Surgery; Thoracic Surgical Procedures; Vascular Surgical Procedures
PubMed: 33618373
DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1722767 -
Cureus Apr 2023Purpose At present, clinicians typically prescribe antidepressants based on the widely accepted "serotonin hypothesis." This study explores an alternative mechanism,...
Purpose At present, clinicians typically prescribe antidepressants based on the widely accepted "serotonin hypothesis." This study explores an alternative mechanism, the stress mechanism, for selecting antidepressants based on patients' medical history. Methods This study investigated clinicians' prescribing patterns for the 15 most common antidepressants, including amitriptyline, bupropion, citalopram, desvenlafaxine, doxepin, duloxetine, escitalopram, fluoxetine, mirtazapine, nortriptyline, paroxetine, ropinirole, sertraline, trazodone, and Venlafaxine. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) logistic regression was used to identify factors that affect the remission of depression symptoms after receiving an antidepressant. Results The study found that a wide range of factors influenced the propensity of clinicians to prescribe antidepressants, with the number of predictors ranging from 51 to 206 variables. The prevalence of prescribing an antidepressant ranged from 0.5% for doxepin to 24% for the combination of more than one antidepressant. The area under the receiver operating curves (AROC) ranged from 77.2% for venlafaxine to 90.5% for ropinirole, with an average AROC of 82% for predicting the propensity of medications. A variety of diagnoses and prior medications affected remission, in agreement that the central mechanism for the impact of medications on the brain is through stress reduction. For example, psychotherapy, whether done individually or in a group, whether done for a short or long time, and whether done with evaluation/assessment or not, had an impact on remission. Specifically, teenagers and octogenarians were less likely to benefit from bupropion, citalopram, escitalopram, fluoxetine, and sertraline compared to patients between 40 and 65 years old. The findings of this study suggest that considering a patient's medical history and individual characteristics is crucial for selecting the most effective antidepressant treatment. Conclusions Many studies have raised doubt about the serotonin hypothesis as the central mechanism for depression treatment. The identification of a wide range of predictors for prescribing antidepressants highlights the complexity of depression treatment and the need for individualized approaches that consider patients' comorbidities and previous treatments. The significant impact of comorbidities on the response to treatment makes it improbable that the mechanism of action of antidepressants is solely based on the serotonin hypothesis. It is hard to explain how comorbidities lead to the depletion of serotonin. These findings open up a variety of courses of action for the clinical treatment of depression, each addressing a different source of chronic stress in the brain. Overall, this study contributes to a better understanding of depression treatment and provides valuable insights for clinicians in selecting antidepressants based on patients' medical history.
PubMed: 37168173
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.37117 -
The Hastings Center Report Sep 2023How should the field of bioethics grapple with a history that includes ethicists who supported eugenics, scientific racism, and even Nazi medicine and also ethicists who...
How should the field of bioethics grapple with a history that includes ethicists who supported eugenics, scientific racism, and even Nazi medicine and also ethicists who created the salutary policy and practice responses to those heinous aspects of medical history? Learning humility from studying historical errors is one path to improvement; finding courage from studying historical strengths is another, but these can be in tension. This commentary lays out these paths and seeks to apply them both to a contemporary challenge facing the field: why hasn't bioethics been more at the forefront of efforts to address inequities in health and health care?
Topics: Humans; Bioethics; National Socialism; Ethicists; Eugenics; Racism
PubMed: 37963131
DOI: 10.1002/hast.1509 -
Medical History Oct 2019
Topics: Awards and Prizes; Historiography; History, 21st Century; United Kingdom
PubMed: 31571692
DOI: 10.1017/mdh.2019.61