Experiences of patients with rheumatoid arthritis during and after COVID-19-induced quarantine in terms of physical activity and health status: A qualitative study

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore experiences of people with rheumatoid arthritis during and after COVID-19-induced quarantine in terms of physical activity and health status. Background: Rheumatoid arthritis affects multiple facets of the person, both physically and psychologically. Physical activity is considered a safe and effective intervention to improve symptoms and systemic manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis. In the context of the COVID-19, countries like Spain were forced to impose restrictions on mobility, prohibiting outings even to perform physical activity. Methods: Structured interviews were conducted and developed using the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia-11 questionnaire. Data were analysed using a six-step thematic analysis. Results: The results make it clear that even though the patients declared that physical activity is essential for them to deal with their disease, most of the participants affirmed that they significatively reduced their levels of physical activity during the pandemic. Conclusions: Physical activity should be promoted in people, even in difficult times, to improve disease outcomes, well-being and mental health. Implications for Nursing Management: Knowing the experiences of these patients enables nursing managers to develop interventions that ensure the delivery of comprehensive nursing care regarding physical activity and health status, in future situations like this pandemic

Relationship between Kinesiophobia, Foot Pain and Foot Function, and Disease Activity in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Cross-Sectional Study

The main objective of the present study was to determine the relationship between kinesiophobia and pain (general and foot pain), foot function, and disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A total of 124 interviews were carried out with participants with RA. Participants were recruited from the Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves de Granada in Spain. Interviews took place in January 2021. Participants completed the following questionnaires during an appointment with their rheumatologist: Foot Function Index (FFI), Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK-11), and the Visual Analogue Scale Pain foot (VAS Pain). Furthermore, the Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI) was used to measure disease activity. Of the 124 participants, 73% were women, and their mean age was 59.44 years (SD 11.26 years). In the statistical analysis, positive linear correlations (p < 0.001) were obtained between the variables TSK-11 and VAS (related to general pain or foot pain) and FFI (in its three subscales). Additionally, a negative correlation between the TSK-11 and the educational background was shown. This study provided information about the relationship between foot function and pain with different levels of kinesiophobia in patients with RA. Additionally, the educational background of the patient was considered a predictor of whether or not a patient suffered from kinesiophobia.Partial funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málag

Follow-up of health-related quality of life and pain in a cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis before and after COVID-19

The foot is one of the anatomical structures of the body most affected in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), associated with the disability of patients, even more during COVID-19. The aim of this study was to analyse whether the period of physical inactivity during COVID-19 is an influential factor on health-related quality of life and foot pain in patients with RA. Methods: 162 patients with foot pain and RA, recruited from the Hospital Virgen de las Nieves, Granada (Spain) were included. Data was collected during two different periods: January - December 2018 in person and June - September 2021 by phone. Patients were asked to complete the Spanish adapted version of the 12-Item Short Form Survey (SF-12) and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Results: The results from the SF-12 questionnaires were divided between its two subscales (i.e., mental, and physical component). The physical component shows an improvement between 2018 and 2021, from 32.05in 2018–35.18 in 2021 (p < 0.05). The opposite happened with the mental component, showing a dete- rioration, from 39.69 in 2018–34.48 in 2021 (p < 0.05). Regarding pain, VAS shows higher levels of pain with statistically significant differences, both in general pain (from 6 in 2018–7 in 2012) and in foot pain (from 5 to 7), (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Mental quality of life and pain, both general and foot pain, are influenced by the period of physical inactivity during COVID-19.Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBU

Diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis and host RNA expression in Africa

Improved diagnostic tests for tuberculosis in children are needed. We hypothesized that transcriptional signatures of host blood could be used to distinguish tuberculosis from other diseases in African children who either were or were not infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV

Naturally Occurring Food Toxins

Although many foods contain toxins as a naturally-occurring constituent or, are formed as the result of handling or processing, the incidence of adverse reactions to food is relatively low. The low incidence of adverse effects is the result of some pragmatic solutions by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory agencies through the creative use of specifications, action levels, tolerances, warning labels and prohibitions. Manufacturers have also played a role by setting limits on certain substances and developing mitigation procedures for process-induced toxins. Regardless of measures taken by regulators and food producers to protect consumers from natural food toxins, consumption of small levels of these materials is unavoidable. Although the risk for toxicity due to consumption of food toxins is fairly low, there is always the possibility of toxicity due to contamination, overconsumption, allergy or an unpredictable idiosyncratic response. The purpose of this review is to provide a toxicological and regulatory overview of some of the toxins present in some commonly consumed foods, and where possible, discuss the steps that have been taken to reduce consumer exposure, many of which are possible because of the unique process of food regulation in the United States

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Experiences of patients with rheumatoid arthritis during and after COVID-19-induced quarantine in terms of physical activity and health status: A qualitative study.

The aim of this study was to explore experiences of people with rheumatoid arthritis during and after COVID-19-induced quarantine in terms of physical activity and health status. Rheumatoid arthritis affects multiple facets of the person, both physically and psychologically. Physical activity is considered a safe and effective intervention to improve symptoms and systemic manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis. In the context of the COVID-19, countries like Spain were forced to impose restrictions on mobility, prohibiting outings even to perform physical activity. Structured interviews were conducted and developed using the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia-11 questionnaire. Data were analysed using a six-step thematic analysis. The results make it clear that even though the patients declared that physical activity is essential for them to deal with their disease, most of the participants affirmed that they significatively reduced their levels of physical activity during the pandemic. Physical activity should be promoted in people, even in difficult times, to improve disease outcomes, well-being and mental health. Knowing the experiences of these patients enables nursing managers to develop interventions that ensure the delivery of comprehensive nursing care regarding physical activity and health status, in future situations like this pandemic

Relationship between Kinesiophobia, Foot Pain and Foot Function, and Disease Activity in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Cross-Sectional Study

The main objective of the present study was to determine the relationship between kinesiophobia and pain (general and foot pain), foot function, and disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A total of 124 interviews were carried out with participants with RA. Participants were recruited from the Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves de Granada in Spain. Interviews took place in January 2021. Participants completed the following questionnaires during an appointment with their rheumatologist: Foot Function Index (FFI), Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK-11), and the Visual Analogue Scale Pain foot (VAS Pain). Furthermore, the Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI) was used to measure disease activity. Of the 124 participants, 73% were women, and their mean age was 59.44 years (SD 11.26 years). In the statistical analysis, positive linear correlations (p < 0.001) were obtained between the variables TSK-11 and VAS (related to general pain or foot pain) and FFI (in its three subscales). Additionally, a negative correlation between the TSK-11 and the educational background was shown. This study provided information about the relationship between foot function and pain with different levels of kinesiophobia in patients with RA. Additionally, the educational background of the patient was considered a predictor of whether or not a patient suffered from kinesiophobia