Disability and satisfaction after Rotator Cuff decompression or repair: a sex and gender analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Rotator-cuff pathology is the most common cause of pain and disability in the shoulder. Examining the combined effect of biological and societal factors on disability would potentially identify existing differences between men and women with rotator cuff pathology which would help to provide suggestions for better models of care. Purpose of this study was to determine the overall differences in disability between men and women and to examine the relationship between factors that represent sex (biological factors) and gender (non-biological factors) with disability and satisfaction with surgical outcome 6 months after rotator cuff surgery.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Patients with impingement syndrome and/or rotator cuff tear who underwent rotator cuff surgery completed the Western Ontario Rotator Cuff (WORC) index, the American Shoulder & Elbow Surgeons (ASES) assessment form, and the Quick Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (QuickDASH) outcome measures prior to surgery and 6 months post-operatively. They also rated their satisfaction with surgery at their follow-up appointment.</p> <p>Results and Discussion</p> <p>One hundred and seventy patients entered into the study (85 men and 85 women). One hundred and sixty patients (94%) completed the 6-month assessment. Women reported more disability both prior to and after surgery. Disability at 6 months was associated with pain-limited range of motion, participation limitation, age and strength. Satisfaction with surgery was associated with level of reported disability, expectations for improved pain, pain-limited range of motion and strength.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of this study indicate that women with rotator cuff pathology suffer from higher levels of pre- and post-operative disability and sex and gender qualities contribute to these differences. Gender-sensitive approach will help to identify existing differences between men and women which will help to promote more effective and tailored care by health professionals.</p

Recovery from mild traumatic brain injury: a focus on fatigue.

Contains fulltext : 50465.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)BACKGROUND: Fatigue is one of the most frequently reported symptoms after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI). To date, systematic and comparative studies on fatigue after MTBI are scarce, and knowledge on causal mechanisms is lacking. OBJECTIVES: To determine the severity of fatigue six months after MTBI and its relation to outcome. Furthermore, to test whether injury indices, such as Glasgow Coma Scale scores, are related to higher levels of fatigue. METHODS: Postal questionnaires were sent to a consecutive group of patients with an MTBI and a minor-injury control group, aged 18-60, six months after injury. Fatigue severity was measured with the Checklist Individual Strength. Postconcussional symptoms and limitations in daily functioning were assessed using the Rivermead Post Concussion Questionnaire and the SF-36. RESULTS: A total of 299 out of 618 eligible (response rate 52%) MTBI patients and 287 out of 482 eligible (response rate 60%) minor-injury patients returned the questionnaire. Ninety-five MTBI patients (32%) and 35 control patients (12%) were severely fatigued. Severe fatigue was highly associated with the experience of other symptoms, limitations in physical and social functioning, and fatigue related problems like reduced activity. Of various trauma severity indices, nausea and headache experienced on the ED were significantly related to higher levels of fatigue at six months. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, one third of a large sample of MTBI patients experiences severe fatigue six months after injury, and this experience is associated with limitations in daily functioning. Our finding that acute symptoms and mechanism of injury rather than injury severity indices appear to be related to higher levels of fatigue warrants further investigation

Performance of the ATLAS Detector using First Collision Data

More than half a million minimum-bias events of LHC collision data were collected by the ATLAS experiment in December 2009 at centre-of-mass energies of 0.9 TeV and 2.36 TeV. This paper reports on studies of the initial performance of the ATLAS detector from these data. Comparisons between data and Monte Carlo predictions are shown for distributions of several track- and calorimeter-based quantities. The good performance of the ATLAS detector in these first data gives confidence for successful running at higher energies