RESUMO
In September 2005 a telemedicine service was started to assist multidisciplinary teams in Wales to improve cancer services. In October 2006 and October 2007 users of videoconferencing equipment at one site completed questionnaires. During October 2006 a total of 18,000 km of car travel were avoided, equivalent to 1696 kg of CO(2) emission. During October 2007 a total of 20,800 km of car travel were avoided, equivalent to 2590 kg of CO(2) emission. We estimate that 48 trees would take a year to absorb that quantity of CO(2). The results of the surveys show that exploiting telemedicine makes better use of staff time, reduces the time spent travelling and assists in reducing climate change by limiting the emissions of CO(2).
Assuntos
Dióxido de Carbono , Efeito Estufa , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde , Neoplasias , Viagem , Comunicação por Videoconferência , Análise Custo-Benefício , Feminino , Programas Governamentais/economia , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde/economia , Humanos , Masculino , Neoplasias/diagnóstico , Neoplasias/terapia , Saúde da População Rural , Inquéritos e Questionários , Fatores de Tempo , Meios de Transporte/economia , Meios de Transporte/estatística & dados numéricos , Comunicação por Videoconferência/economia , País de GalesRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) is the purine salvage enzyme that converts guanosine to guanine and inosine to hypoxanthine. METHODS: 279 samples from patients with differing cancers were collected during treatment at both pre- and post-dose stages for plasma PNP activity and compared with a normal population. RESULTS: Normal plasma PNP activity was found to be 3.2+/-1.4 U/l (n=55) as compared with the cancer patients (pre-dose 12.3+/-7.4 U/l [n=215] and post-dose 11.2+/-5.9 U/l [n=64]). Levels of plasma PNP did not differ greatly between the different cancer types but were on average four times greater than that found in the reference population.
