622 research outputs found

    Physical and mental health comorbidity is common in people with multiple sclerosis: nationally representative cross-sectional population database analysis

    Get PDF
    <b>Background</b> Comorbidity in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is associated with worse health and higher mortality. This study aims to describe clinician recorded comorbidities in people with MS. <p></p> <b>Methods</b> 39 comorbidities in 3826 people with MS aged ≥25 years were compared against 1,268,859 controls. Results were analysed by age, gender, and socioeconomic status, with unadjusted and adjusted Odds Ratios (ORs) calculated using logistic regression. <p></p> <b>Results</b> People with MS were more likely to have one (OR 2.44; 95% CI 2.26-2.64), two (OR 1.49; 95% CI 1.38-1.62), three (OR 1.86; 95% CI 1.69-2.04), four or more (OR 1.61; 95% CI 1.47-1.77) non-MS chronic conditions than controls, and greater mental health comorbidity (OR 2.94; 95% CI 2.75-3.14), which increased as the number of physical comorbidities rose. Cardiovascular conditions, including atrial fibrillation (OR 0.49; 95% CI 0.36-0.67), chronic kidney disease (OR 0.51; 95% CI 0.40-0.65), heart failure (OR 0.62; 95% CI 0.45-0.85), coronary heart disease (OR 0.64; 95% CI 0.52-0.71), and hypertension (OR 0.65; 95% CI 0.59-0.72) were significantly less common in people with MS. <p></p> <b>Conclusion</b> People with MS have excess multiple chronic conditions, with associated increased mental health comorbidity. The low recorded cardiovascular comorbidity warrants further investigation

    The 2013 clinical course descriptors for multiple sclerosis: A clarification

    Get PDF
    The clinical courses of multiple sclerosis were defined in 1996 and refined in 2013 to provide a time-based assessment of the current status of the individual. These definitions have been successfully used by clinicians, clinical trialists, and regulatory authorities. Recent regulatory decisions produced variations and discrepancies in the use of the clinical course descriptions. We provide here a clarification of the concepts underlying these descriptions and restate the principles used in their development. Importantly, we highlight the critical importance of time framing the disease course modifiers activity and progression and clarify the difference between the terms worsening and progressing

    Goat-associated Q fever: a new disease in Newfoundland.

    Get PDF
    In the spring of 1999 in rural Newfoundland, abortions in goats were associated with illness in goat workers. An epidemiologic investigation and a serologic survey were conducted in April 1999 to determine the number of infections, nature of illness, and risk factors for infection. Thirty-seven percent of the outbreak cohort had antibody titers to phase II Coxiella burnetii antigen >1:64, suggesting recent infection. The predominant clinical manifestation of Q fever was an acute febrile illness. Independent risk factors for infection included contact with goat placenta, smoking tobacco, and eating cheese made from pasteurized goat milk. This outbreak raises questions about management of such outbreaks, interprovincial sale and movement of domestic ungulates, and the need for discussion between public health practitioners and the dairy industry on control of this highly infectious organism

    Learning Style Preferences and their Relationship to Linguistic Competence

    Get PDF
    The immediate objective of this paper is to determine the relationship between learning styles, demographic profile of the respondents and their linguistic competence. Primarily, this research endeavor desires to find out how learning styles sway students’ learning absorption specifically of the English Subject. The learning theories and models that underpinned the study were the constructivists’ and cognitivists’ theory of learning. The Dunn and Dunn learning style model which has five key elements, namely, environmental emotional; physiological; psychological and sociological was used. Communicative Competence model created by Celce-Murcia, Dornyei and Thurrel (1995) focusing on Syntax, Morphology and Orthography also supported the study. To gather the data needed, the researchers made a personally-drafted learning styles inventory and applied the descriptive correlational method to analyze the results. An analysis of this study yields that the over-all pre-dominant learning style preference of the respondents is Sociological preference. The Demographic profile of the student respondents as to age, birth-order, monthly-income, gender, ethno linguistic origin, and parents’ educational attainment also showed significant relationship to the elements of learning style preferences. Lastly, it was found that Syntax has no significant relationship towards Environmental, Emotional, Sociological and Physiological Preference but has a huge correlation to Psychological Preference. Morphology, however, has no significant relationship to all the learning style elements. As with Syntax, Orthography showed no significant to all the learning style elements but Psychological Preference

    Measurement of complement receptor 1 on neutrophils in bacterial and viral pneumonia

    Get PDF
    BACKGROUND: A reliable prediction of the causative agent of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is not possible based on clinical features. Our aim was to test, whether the measurement of the expression of complement receptors or FcÎł receptors on neutrophils and monocytes would be a useful preliminary test to differentiate between bacterial and viral pneumonia. METHODS: Sixty-eight patients with CAP were studied prospectively. Thirteen patients had pneumococcal pneumonia; 13 patients, influenza A pneumonia; 5 patients, atypical pneumonia, and 37 patients, aetiologically undefined pneumonia. Leukocyte receptor expression was measured within 2 days of hospital admission. RESULTS: The mean expression of complement receptor 1 (CR1) on neutrophils was significantly higher in the patients with pneumococcal pneumonia than in those with influenza A pneumonia. The mean expression of CR1 was also significantly higher in aetiologically undefined pneumonia than in influenza A pneumonia, but there was no difference between pneumococcal and undefined pneumonia. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the expression of CR1 is higher in classical bacterial pneumonia than in viral pneumonia. Determination of the expression of CR1 may be of value as an additional rapid tool in the aetiological diagnosis, bacterial or viral infection, of CAP. These results are preliminary and more research is needed to assess the utility of this new method in the diagnostics of pneumonia
    • …
    corecore