new zealand

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death and its prevalence and incidence is also related to smoking behavior [1]. COPD is still a chronic inflammatory and progressive disease caused by multifactorial agents including environmental pollutants [2]. Besides that, it is emerging that endogenous epigenetic factors induced by lifestyle and environment [3] could play a role in the etiopathogenesis of the disease [4]. In the last years, several authors suggested that low vitamin D levels seem to be related with the increase of COPD manifestations [5]. Moreover, a multicentre, double-blind, randomised controlled trial documented that vitamin D supplementation protects against moderate or severe exacerbation of the disease, but not by upper respiratory infections [6]. However, low levels of vitamin D can be extended to many other diseases, including multiple sclerosis, diabetes, colon rectal cancer, headache or drug use [7-11]. Moreover, it is also important to remember that Vitamin D deficiency is common in high latitude regions, such as northern Europe, New Zealand, northern USA, and Canada where weaker ultraviolet B rays is not able to produce enough vitamin D. Finally, methodological factors (using low sensitivity methods) could contribute to misleading evaluation of circulating vitamin D levels. In any case, here we shall remind that vitamin D has a fundamental role in immunity [12]. In particular, it has been reported that vitamin D is able to shift the pro-inflammatory T-helper cell 1 to anti-inflammatory T-helper cell 2 [13]. Therefore, benefits of vitamin D supplementation in chronic diseases which directly or indirectly affect immune system are obvious. Today, the burden of COPD in never smokers is higher than previously believed. Therefore, more research is needed to unravel the characteristics of non-smokers COPD [1]. Notably, vitamin D levels are reported to be significantly lower in smoker’ssubjects than in non-smokers ones [14]. Therefore, low plasma vitamin D levels in COPD seems to be more a causality than a correlation.

Age estimations process is not standardized worldwide. However, there is a wide agreement about the most suitable methods currently available. Up until now, the procedure of creating expert reports and to implement quality assurance in age estimation are variable. Aim: The aim of this paper was to examine expert age estimation reports from around the world and identify the similarities and shortcomings present, which will help in providing recommendations to improve the reporting to reach standardization in expert age estimation reports. Methods and Material: A questionnaire was developed to explore whether there is a universal consensus in writing age estimation reports. Countries participated in the survey were: Afghanistan, Australia, France, Indonesia, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Areas investigated by the survey included: Information about the individual in question and the entity requesting the assessment, if age interval is given along with if statistics were described in the report, if population reference data are used and reported and finally if the format of the report is standardized within each country. Results: The results of this survey suggest that there is a high degree of individual variation in age estimation reports, sometimes even within the same country. While the majority of participants report the main findings, some important information is still missing. The statistical information remains extremely varied. Conclusion: Although a resolution is not obvious, it is hoped that this study will promote further research and discussion on reporting age estimation. International guidelines on quality assurance in age estimation reports are urgently needed. Information to be reported should be specified on an international level and the exact report format to be used could be left to the national societies.

Introduction: The use of local anesthesia (LA) prior to arterial blood gas sampling is recommended but is not widely used. We tested the hypothesis that intradermal administration of local anesthesia would be as effective as subcutaneous administration in reducing pain from arterial blood gas sampling.Aims: The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of intradermal and subcutaneous lignocaine on patient-perceived pain during arterial blood gas sampling. The secondary aims were to evaluate if different routes of LA administration had an impact on the difficulty and complications of ABG sampling.Methods: We undertook a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled trial in New Zealand. We enrolled patients attending a nurse-led outpatient oxygen clinic who were 18 to 90 years of age and who had an oxygen saturation of 93% or less at rest. Patients were randomly assigned to receive intradermal 1% lignocaine, subcutaneous 1% lignocaine, or subcutaneous normal saline. Patients and nurse assessors were blinded to the treatment allocation. The primary endpoint was a patient-assessed pain score using a graphic rating scale (0-10).Results: 135 patients were randomized (54 patients in the intradermal lignocaine group, 54 patients in the subcutaneous lignocaine group, and 27 in the subcutaneous saline group). The mean patient-assessed pain score for the intradermal lignocaine group was 1.8 (+/- 1.1), which was a relative reduction of 47% (95% C.I. 31%-59%, p < 0.0001) from the mean patient-assessed pain score of 3.4 (+/- 1.1) for the subcutaneous saline group. The mean patient-assessed pain score for the subcutaneous lignocaine group was 2.1 (+/- 1.1), which was also a significant relative reduction of 36% (95% C.I. 17%-51%, p = 0.0001) compared to the subcutaneous saline group. Intradermal lignocaine reduced pain more than subcutaneous lignocaine, with a relative pain reduction difference of 20% (95% CI -4%-49%, p = 0.05). Bruising was more frequent in the subcutaneous lignocaine group (9.3%) than in the intradermal (0%) and saline groups (0%). Conclusion: Intradermal lignocaine is at least as effective as subcutaneous lignocaine for reducing patient-perceived pain from arterial blood gas sampling and results in less bruising.