A scale for consumer confidence in the safety of food

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a scale to measure general consumer confidence in the safety of food. Results from exploratory and confirmatory analyses indicate that general consumer confidence in the safety of food consists of two distinct dimensions, optimism and pessimism, which can co-exist. Since optimism and pessimism may not be activated by the same events, or at the same time, these dimensions should be assessed and evaluated separately, in order to increase understanding of consumer confidence in the safety of food, and to develop effective food risk communicatio

One-year follow-up of a randomised controlled trial on added splinting to eccentric exercises in chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy

OBJECTIVE: The study examined whether the addition of a night splint to eccentric exercises is beneficial for functional outcome in chronic mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy. DESIGN: One-year follow-up of a randomised controlled single blinded clinical trial. SETTING: Sports medicine department in a general hospital. PATIENTS: 58 patients (70 tendons) were included. INTERVENTIONS: All patients completed a 12-week heavy load eccentric training programme. One group received a night splint in addition to eccentric exercises. Main outcome measurements: Outcome scores were: Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment - Achilles (VISA-A) score, subjective patient satisfaction and neovascularisation score measured with Power Doppler Ultrasonography. RESULTS: For both groups the VISA-A score increased significantly (from 50 to 76 (P < 0.01) in the eccentric group and from 49 to 78 (P < 0.01) in the night splint group). No significant differences in VISA-A score were found between the groups from baseline to one year (P = 0.32). Presence of neovessels at baseline did not predict change in VISA-A score after one year in the whole group (P = 0.71). CONCLUSION: Eccentric exercises with or without a night splint improved functional outcome at one-year follow-up. At follow-up there

Ultrasonographic tissue characterisation of human Achilles tendons: quantification of tendon structure through a novel non-invasive approach

OBJECTIVE: To asses if three-dimensional imaging of the Achilles tendon by Ultrasonographic Tissue Characterisation (UTC) can differentiate between symptomatic and asymptomatic tendons. DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Sports medical department of The Hague medical centre. PATIENTS: Twenty-six tendons from patients with chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy were included. The "matched" control group consisted of 26 asymptomatic tendons. INTERVENTIONS: Symptomatic and asymptomatic tendons were scanned using the UTC-procedure. One researcher performed the ultrasonographic data-collection. These blinded data were randomised and outcome measures were determined by two independent observers. Main outcome measurements: The raw ultrasonographic images were analysed with a custom-designed algorithm that quantifies the three-dimensional stability of echopatterns, qua intensity and distribution over contiguous transverse images. This three-dimensional stability was related to tendon structure in previous studies. UTC categorizes four different echo-types that represent: I) highly stable; II) medium stable; III) highly variable and IV) constantly low intensity and variable distribution. The percentages of echo-types were calculated and the maximum tendon-thickness was measured. Finally, the inter-observer reliability of UTC was determined. RESULTS: Symptomatic tendons showed less pixels in echo-types I and II than asymptomatic tendons (51.5% versus 76.6%, p<0.001), thus less three-dimensional stability of the echopattern. The mean maximum tendon thickness was 9.2 mm in the symptomatic group and 6.8 mm in the asymptomatic group (p<0.001). The Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) for the inter-observer reliability of determining the echo-types I+II was 0.95. The ICC for tendon thickness was 0.84. CONCLUSION: UTC can quantitatively evaluate tendon structure and thereby discriminate symptomatic and asymptomatic tendons. As such UTC might be useful to monitor treatment protocols

From registration to publication: A study on Dutch academic randomized controlled trials

Introduction: Registration of clinical trials has been initiated in order to assess adherence of the reported results to the original trial protocol. This study aimed to investigate the publication rates, timely dissemination of results, and the prevalence of consistency in hypothesis, sample size, and primary endpoint of Dutch investigator-initiated randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs). Methods: All Dutch investigator-initiated RCTs with a completion date between December 31, 2010, and January 1, 2012, and registered in the Trial Register of The Netherlands database were included. PubMed was searched for the publication of these RCT results until September 2016, and the time to the publication date was calculated. Consistency in hypothesis, sample size, and primary endpoint compared with the registry data were assessed. Results: The search resulted in a total of 168 Dutch investigator-initiated RCTs. In September 2016, the results of 129 (77%) trials had been published, of which 50 (39%) within 2 years after completion of accrual. Consistency in hypothesis with the original protocol was observed in 108 (84%) RCTs; in 71 trials (55%), the planned sample size was reached; and 103 trials (80%) presented the original primary endpoint. Consistency in all three parameters was observe

Incidence of midportion Achilles tendinopathy in the general population

Background Achilles tendon disorders, like Achilles tendinopathy, are very common among athletes. In the general population, however, knowledge about the incidence of Achilles tendinopathy is lacking. Desi