Short-term improvements

Success of therapy for thyroid disorders must be based not only on short-term improvement of the patient s clinical status and abnormal laboratory values but also on achievement of a long-term euthyroid state. Maintaining the TSH level in the normal range improves symptoms and reduces the risk of long-term complications. 

Application of new and especially for the short-term improved existing technologies... 

Early background retinopathy may reverse with improved glycemic control. More advanced disease will not regress with improved control and may actually worsen with short-term improvements in glycemia. 

While the treatment of infections can be of beneflt in COPD patients a Cochrane systematic review concludes that bronchodilators produce only modest short-term improvement in clinical scores in patients with bronchitis. This small beneflt must be weighed against the costs of these agents. 

The only clinically available cholinergic therapy to date is an anticholinesterase (tacrine). Studies have shown short-term improvement in some aspects of memory and a delay in decline in some patients. It has been generally assumed that these effects are solely the result of enhancement of muscarinic mechanisms however, this assumption may be unwarranted. Direct muscarinic augmentation produces little measurable cognitive improvement and does not generally reproduce the memory-enhancing effects of anticholinesterases (Bruno et al. 1986 Tariot et al. 1988). 

NO itself can be used therapeutically. Inhalation of NO results in reduced pulmonary artery pressure and improved perfusion of ventilated areas of the lung. Inhaled NO is used for pulmonary hypertension, acute hypoxemia, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and there is evidence of short-term improvements in pulmonary function. 

A recent survey demonstrated that one third of men choosing nonsurgical therapy for benign prostatic hyperplasia were using herbal preparations alone or in combination with prescription medications. There is emerging evidence that several plant extracts are well tolerated and provide at least short-term improvement in urologic symptoms and flow. 

Abciximab in Ischemic Stroke Investigators (2000) Abciximab in acute ischemic stroke a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation study. Stroke 31 601-609 Albers GW, Clark WM (1999) For the ATLANTIS Study Investigators. The ATLANTIS rt-PA (Alteplase) acute stroke trial final results. Cerebrovasc Dis 9 126 Alexandrov AV, Burgin WS, Demchuk AM, El-Mitwalli A, Grotta JC (2001) Speed of intracranial clot lysis with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator therapy sonographic classification and short-term improvement. Circulation 103 2897-2902... 

The next important question is whether the short-term improvement produced by neuroleptics is better than that obtained with other sorts of drugs. Table 6.1 shows that studies have found that a variety of drugs have comparable effects to neuroleptics in the treatment of psychosis or schizophrenia. Two early randomised trials concluded that barbiturates were inferior to neuroleptics, but these may have been influenced by negative expectations of barbiturates, which were part of the old generation of disregarded drugs and are referred to in the studies as the control medication (Casey et al. 1960, p. 98). 

Once these conditions are met, further testing is needed to determine the long-term effects of the treatment. Short-term improvements are not acceptable at the cost of accelerated degradation later. Thus, any material that satisfies the initial criteria must receive more stringent evaluation before it can be recommended for use in the conservation laboratory. 

A double-blind study of propranolol showed short-term improvement, and two of four subjects responded to longterm propranolol (322) unfortunately this study has not been replicated. 

Antidepressants. In the depressed patient, improvement in mood is almost always accompanied by improvement in subjective sleep and therefore choice of antidepressant should not usually involve additional consideration of sleep effects. Nevertheless, some patients are more likely to continue with medication if there is a short-term improvement, in which case mirtazapine or nefazodone provide an effective antidepressant together with sleep-promoting effects. 

The initial successes in MS therapy involved the nse of corticosteroid treatments to indnce short-term improvements in neurological function, and symptomatic therapies for some of the complications of MS. More recently, with improved understanding of the immnnological events occnrring dnring progression of the disease, therapies that modify the natural history of the disease have become available. Interferon beta-lb (Betaseron) is the hrst new treatment for MS to be licensed by the U.S. FDA in the last 30 years. 

The effect of ammonium citrate treatment alone was examined and is presented in Figure 4. The use of citric acid provides short term improvement in durability for the Versamid cured system. There is a decay in strength to the level of the controls after prolonged soaking at 57 C. 

Environmental management systems t5q)ically ensure the continuous improvement of the environmental performance of the installation. The poorer the starting point is, the more significant short-term improvements can be expected. If the installation already has a good overall environmental performance, the system helps the operator to maintain the high performance level. 

Short-Term Improvement Partnership implementation Forging of partnerships with trading partners who will assist in implementing process changes... 

Starting on the path to the proactive system offers many opportunities for short-term improvement. There may be ways to integrate, permanently or temporarily, the widget fulfillment process without automation. For example, in the case above, we combined the functions of inventory management and purchasing into the role of the planner buyer. 

Unresolved Safety Issue (USI) A-40 in NUREG-0933 (Reference 1) addresses providing short-term improvements in seismic design criteria. 

Other studies, conversely, cast doubt on the ultimate viability of carbon-UHMWPE composite usage in hip and knee joint replacement, especially after clinical exposure. After longer-duration pin-on-disc studies using 25% graphite powder-filled UHMWPE, Rostoker and Galante reported that the short-term improvement in wear resistance appeared to be lost [17]. Sclippa and Piekarski... 

---