Inspiration, innovation and integration: highlights from the third ICPCN conference on children's palliative care, 30 May to 2 June 2018, Durban, South Africa.

The International Children's Palliative Care Network (ICPCN) held its third international conference on children's palliative care in Durban, South Africa, from May 30 2018 to 2 June 2018. The conference-inspiration, innovation and integration-brought together 250 participants from 41 countries and was held in conjunction with local partners-Umduduzi Hospice Care for Children, Palliative Treatment for Children South Africa (Patch SA) and the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of South Africa. It built on national and global developments in palliative care such as its inclusion in Universal health coverage (UHC), the Lancet Commission report on pain and palliative care and the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and aimed to raise the profile of children's palliative care in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and nationally. Seven pre-conference workshops were held prior to the conference on topics such as pain and symptom management, children's palliative care within a humanitarian crisis, perinatal palliative care, research, developing programmes, ethical issues and difficult conversations in children's palliative care. Delegates were welcomed in true Durban style at the welcome reception hosted by the City of Durban and uShaka Marine World. The opening plenary included entertainment from the Open Air School and Hillcrest Primary School, and inspirational talks from the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Health, a representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Chief Executive of ICPCN and the Noble Peace Prize Nominee Dr MR Rajagopal from Pallium India. Plenary sessions were interspersed throughout the conference with 56 oral concurrent presentations and workshops, six 'Meet the expert sessions' 100 poster presentations and the South African Premier of the film 'Hippocratic: 18 Experiments in gently shaking the world'. There was a great feeling of networking and learning throughout the conference, with the conference being well evaluated, and an increase in the level of presentations and research from previous conferences demonstrating the steps that are being taken in children's palliative care globally.

Radical prostatectomy with preservation of urinary continence: pathology and long-term results.

PURPOSE: A continence sparing radical retropubic prostatectomy is described and evaluated. Results are compared with those of patients who underwent a standard anatomical radical retropubic prostatectomy previously by the same surgeon. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 275 consecutive patients underwent a continence sparing radical prostatectomy by a single surgeon (DLG) between 1996 and 2003. The technique is described in detail. RESULTS: Total continence (no pad or device) was found immediately upon catheter removal in 36% of patients, within 14 days in 69% and within 7 weeks in 78%, compared to 1%, 6% and 41% of 80 patients who underwent the standard operation. Median time to total continence was 1 day for the new group versus 63 days for the standard surgery group. Positive margins were found in 6.9% of the new group versus 11% of the first 80 patients. Of the former patients 80% have a prostate specific antigen of less than 0.2 ng/ml at an average followup of 12.5 years. With the new procedure 90% of patients have a prostate specific antigen of less than 0.2 ng/ml with an average followup of 5.2 years. There was no operative mortality or unusual complication. The typical patient was discharged home 1 to 3 days postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: Preservation of the continence mechanism at the level of the bladder neck and proximal prostatic urethra results in earlier return of continence without adversely affecting cancer control. It is a relatively simple way to improve surgical results.

Assaultive behavior intervention in the Veterans Administration: psychodynamic group psychotherapy compared to cognitive behavior therapy.

PURPOSE: To compare the efficacy of a psychodynamic psychotherapy group (PPG) and a cognitive-behavior group (CBG) for male veterans with a history of assault. METHODS: Data collected included the Addiction Severity Index, the Overt Aggression Scale, and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory. Subjects (N = 27) were assigned randomly to a central group, PPG, or CBG. Analyses included an overall comparison of the groups as well as repeated-measures analyses and adjustments for covariates. FINDINGS: The PPG showed a trend toward improvement of overt aggression and significant improvement of trait aggression compared with CBG. There were no differences in state aggression or efforts to control aggression. CONCLUSIONS: Both the PPG and CBG are effective treatments for aggression.