Measuring Adherence in Clinic-Based Physiotherapy:A Study of the Inter-Rater Reliability of A Dutch Measurement

Introduction: The assessment of adherence forms an important part of positive treatment outcomes, and there is need to adapting them to the Dutch population.Objective: To evaluate the inter-rater reliability of the Dutch version of the Rehabilitation Adherence Measure for Athletic Training (RAdMAT-NL) in patients who are undertaking physiotherapeutic rehabilitation in a primary physiotherapy practice.Design and procedure: Two groups participated in a cross-sectional study conducted between 1 November and 1 December 2017. Two matched physiotherapists independently assessed the adherence of a patient at the end of a treatment using the Dutch version of the 16-item RAdMAT. The inter-rater reliability was evaluated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) (2,1). The ICC was calculated for all the participants together, after which it was calculated again for patients with musculoskeletal injuries and patients with chronic diseases separately.Participants: 36 patients-18 with musculoskeletal injuries and 18 with chronic diseases (MS, COPD, dystrophy, Parkinson’s disease and partial paraplegia).Results: The inter-rater reliability of the RAdMAT-NL is excellent: ICC = 0.98 for all the participants. The inter-rater reliability is also excellent for patients with musculoskeletal injuries (ICC = 0.98) and patients with chronic diseases (ICC = 0.99).Conclusion: The inter-rater reliability of the RAdMAT-NL is excellent in patients who are undertaking physiotherapeutic rehabilitation in a primary physiotherapy practice

Flash chronopotentiometric sensing of the polyions protamine and heparin at ion-selective membranes

We report here on a highly sensitive and rapid detection technique, multipulse flash chronopotentiometry, for the anticoagulant polyion heparin and its antidote protamine. The technique is based on a localized titration of the polyions at the surface of an appropriately formulated polymeric ion-selective membrane devoid of ion exchange properties to prohibit spontaneous extraction processes. A defined ion flux from the sample side to the membrane is induced electrochemically by applying a current pulse of appropriate amplitude and sign. The resulting depletion of the measured ions at the membrane surface gives rise to a characteristic limiting current or transition time and is observed as an inflection point in the resulting chronopotentiogram. The limiting current and the square root of the transition time are linear functions of the concentration of the polyion and yield sensitive and rapid analytical information attractive for clinical diagnostics applications. The polyion protamine is detected in 10-fold diluted blood samples in a matter of seconds via a cathodic current pulse. The utility of the technique for monitoring heparin/protamine titrations in physiological saline solutions is demonstrated

CHanalysis 2022 - Back to the Future of Analytical Excellence: Conference Report

ISSN:0009-429

Adherence to Pulmonary Rehabilitation During A 12-Month Period in Dutch and Flemish Patients with Prolonged COPD Treatment; A Prospective Cohort Study

Background: Chronic diseases lead to both financial and organisational burdens on the health system. One of the possible solutions to keep health care affordable is self-management. However, non-adherence is a recognised problem with regard to self-management, especially in long-term treatment. Once it is clear who is or is not adherent, care can potentially be tailored accordingly. To predict adherence over time, it may be useful to understand how this variable might change over time: It is unclear whether adherence is a constant, or rather increases or decreases or fluctuates. The aim of this study is to determine the course of exercise adherence over a 12-month period in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) receiving prolonged rehabilitation.Methods: In this prospective cohort study participated 196 patients with COPD, who were undertaking pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), for at least one month, in 53 primary physiotherapy practices in The Netherlands and Belgium between January 2021 and August 2022. Outcomes were measured at baseline, and at 3, 6 and 12 months. The primary outcome was exercise adherence, and secondary outcomes were exercise capacity and health related quality of life. Multilevel regression analysis with adherence at the first level and patients at the second level were used for analyses of the data.Results: There was no significant change in exercise adherence over time (p = 0.89). Also, exercise capacity (p = 0.59) and health related quality of life (p = 0.24) remained stable.Conclusions: Adherence is constant over a period of 12 months in patients with COPD receiving prolonged pulmonary rehabilitation in a primary physiotherapy practice in The Netherlands and Belgium. Also, measured health outcomes remained constant in this same period. Possibly, this will allow for better tailored care over 12 months and lower health care costs

Time resolved spectroscopy of the post-AGB star HD56126

We have investigated the report of Tamura and Takeuti that the Halpha line of the F-type post-AGB star HD56126 is variable on time scales of minutes. To this end, HD56126 was observed on two occasions with the William Herschel Telescope. Seventeen, respectively thirty spectra were taken within time span of 1.5 hours in order to detect any short term variations. We find that the Halpha line profile changed strongly over the two month interval, but no evidence is found for short term variability. The variability Tamura and Takeuti claim to find is probably due to the low signal-to-noise in their spectra.Comment: 6 pages plain latex includes 4 encapsulated poscript files, uses psfig.sty and mn.sty; 1994, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 271, 61