Use of drugs with more than a twenty-four-hour duration of action

AIM: To assess compliance with a drug regimen of two doses a day compared with one a day. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective crossover study was set up in a general practice environment to compare compliance on a drug regimen of once a day versus twice a day. Data were collected by electronic monitoring in 113 patients with hypertension or angina pectoris. All patients were prescribed slow-release nifedipine twice a day during the first month and then crossed to a single daily dose of amlodipine for another month. RESULTS: Compliance, defined as the proportion of days on which the correct dose was taken, improved in 30% of patients (95% confidence interval 19-41%; P < 0.001) when the patients were switched from twice a day to once a day, but at the same time there was a 15% increase (95% confidence interval 5-25%; P < 0.02) in the number of patients with one or more no-dose days. Approximately 8% of patients displayed low compliance, irrespective of the dose regimen. Actual dose intervals were used to estimate the extent and timing of periods with unsatisfactory drug activity for various hypothetical drug durations of action. CONCLUSIONS: The apparent advantage of a single daily dose in terms of compliance appears to be clinically meaningful only when the duration of activity extends beyond the dose interval in all patients.

Training effects with the observer-rated cognitive errors and the coping action patterns scales

The use of observer-rated scales requires that raters be trained until they have become reliable in using the scales. However, few studies properly report how training in using a given rating scale is conducted or indeed how it should be conducted. This study examined progress in interrater reliability over 6 months of training with two observer-rated scales, the Cognitive Errors Rating Scale and the Coping Action Patterns Rating Scale. The evolution of the intraclass correlation coefficients was modeled using hierarchical linear modeling. Results showed an overall training effect as well as effects of the basic training phase and of the rater calibration phase, the latter being smaller than the former. The results are discussed in terms of implications for rater training in psychotherapy research.

Iowa Department of Human Right - Community Action, Agency Performance Plan

Annual Report, Agency Performance Plan

Iowa Civil Rights Commission, Agency Performance Plan and Action Plan

Annual Report, Agency Performance plan

Lottery Action, July 8-21, 2002, Vol. 9 no. 13

Iowa Lottery Authority Retailer Information Newsletter

Lottery Action, July 22-August 4, 2002, Vol. 9 no. 14

Iowa Lottery Authority Retailer Information Newsletter

Lottery Action, August 5-18 2002, Vol.9, no.15,

Newsletter for Iowa Lottrey

Lottery Action, August 19-September 8, 2002 Vol. 9, no. 16

Iowa Lottery Authority Retailer Information Newsletter

Lottery Action, September 9-22, 2002 Vol. 9, no. 17

Iowa Lottery Authority Retailer Information Newsletter

Lottery Action, September 23-October 6, 2002, Vol. 9, no. 18

Newsletter for Iowa Lottery

Lottery Action, October 7-20, 2002 Vol. 9 no. 19

Newsletter for Iowa Lottery

Lottery Action, October 21-November 3, 2002, Vol. 9, no. 20

Newsletter for Iowa Lottery