A survey of 4th year chiropractic students’ experiences learning and using an electronic health record system

Learning to use electronic health records (EHR) can be difficult and stressful, and requires investments in time and training resources. In the context of what is known about EHR implementation and preferences among users, it may be helpful to investigate how chiropractic college interns learn to use the EHR in our outpatient clinic and how they feel about its ease of use and features

Chiropractic clinical reasoning in a patient with migraine headaches

This poster presents the successful evidence-based diagnosis and management of a patient with migraine headaches in a chiropractic setting. Migraine headaches are 19th worldwide among diseases causing disability. Prevalence of migraine is estimated at 15% in women and 6% in men, peaking at 40 years of age

Chiropractic clinical reasoning in a patient with cervical radiculopathy

This poster presents the successful evidence-based diagnosis and treatment of a patient with cervical radiculopathy (CR) in a chiropractic setting

An Investigation into Potential Differences in Measurements of Neck Proprioception between Asymptomatic Subjects and Those with Cervical Pain

A poster on the study of joint perception comparing people with and without cervical pain

Dry needling for spine related disorders: A scoping review

The depth and breadth of research on dry needling (DN) has not previously been evaluated for symptomatic spine related disorders (SRD) from myofascial trigger points (TrP), disc, nerve and articular structures that are not due to serious pathologies. Current literature appears to generally support DN for treatment of TrP. The authors performed a scoping review on DN conducted following Levac et al.’s [1] five part framework to determine the current state of the literature regarding DN for patients with SRD. This poster identifies the research on DN treatment for SRD, and describes treatment sites, frequency of treatment and outcomes studied

Evaluation of hyaluronan content in areas of densification compared to adjacent areas of fascia

Connective tissues between fascia layers are rich in hyaluronan (HA), allowing normal gliding of fascial layers. Fascial densifications contain increased concentration of HA molecules, leading to aggregation of HA chains and altered HA consistency. Restricted fascial gliding, dysfunction and pain may follow. Centers of coordination (CC) are specific points where forces of muscle contraction converge in epimysial fascia to coordinate joint movement. This study compared HA content at a densified CC to adjacent non-densified areas and looked for visible differences between CC and non-CC sites through histological staining techniques

Chiropractic Management of a Patient With Tinnitus

This poster describes the experience and diagnosis of tinnitus, and the possible management with chiropractic treatment

Augmentation Therapy for Severe Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Improves Survival and Is Decoupled from Spirometric Decline—A Multinational Registry Analysis

Rationale: Intravenous plasma-purified alpha-1 antitrypsin (IV-AAT) has been used as therapy for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) since 1987. Previous trials (RAPID and RAPID-OLE) demonstrated efficacy in preserving computed tomography of lung density but no effect on FEV1. This observational study evaluated 615 people with severe AATD from three countries with socialized health care (Ireland, Switzerland, and Austria), where access to standard medical care was equal but access to IV-AAT was not. Objectives: To assess the real-world longitudinal effects of IV-AAT. Methods: Pulmonary function and mortality data were utilized to perform longitudinal analyses on registry participants with severe AATD. Measurements and Main Results: IV-AAT confers a survival benefit in severe AATD (P < 0.001). We uncovered two distinct AATD phenotypes based on an initial respiratory diagnosis: lung index and non-lung index. Lung indexes demonstrated a more rapid FEV1 decline between the ages of 20 and 50 and subsequently entered a plateau phase of minimal decline from 50 onward. Consequentially, IV-AAT had no effect on FEV1 decline, except in patients with a Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stage 2 lung index. Conclusions: This real-world study demonstrates a survival advantage from IV-AAT. This improved survival is largely decoupled from FEV1 decline. The observation that patients with severe AATD fall into two major phenotypes has implications for clinical trial design where FEV1 is a primary endpoint. Recruits into trials are typically older lung indexes entering the plateau phase and, therefore, unlikely to show spirometric benefits. IV-AAT attenuates spirometric decline in lung indexes in GOLD stage 2, a spirometric group commonly outside current IV-AAT commencement recommendations

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) promotes wound re-epithelialisation in frog and human skin

There remains a critical need for new therapeutics that promote wound healing in patients suffering from chronic skin wounds. This is, in part, due to a shortage of simple, physiologically and clinically relevant test systems for investigating candidate agents. The skin of amphibians possesses a remarkable regenerative capacity, which remains insufficiently explored for clinical purposes. Combining comparative biology with a translational medicine approach, we report the development and application of a simple ex vivo frog (Xenopus tropicalis) skin organ culture system that permits exploration of the effects of amphibian skin-derived agents on re-epithelialisation in both frog and human skin. Using this amphibian model, we identify thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) as a novel stimulant of epidermal regeneration. Moving to a complementary human ex vivo wounded skin assay, we demonstrate that the effects of TRH are conserved across the amphibian-mammalian divide: TRH stimulates wound closure and formation of neo-epidermis in organ-cultured human skin, accompanied by increased keratinocyte proliferation and wound healing-associated differentiation (cytokeratin 6 expression). Thus, TRH represents a novel, clinically relevant neuroendocrine wound repair promoter that deserves further exploration. These complementary frog and human skin ex vivo assays encourage a comparative biology approach in future wound healing research so as to facilitate the rapid identification and preclinical testing of novel, evolutionarily conserved, and clinically relevant wound healing promoters