Health related quality of life in Malaysian children with thalassaemia

BACKGROUND: Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) studies on children with chronic illness such as thalassaemia are limited. We conducted the first study to investigate if children with thalassaemia have a lower quality of life in the four dimensions as measured using the PedsQL 4.0 generic Scale Score: physical, emotional, social and role (school) functioning compared to the healthy controls allowing for age, gender, ethnicity and household income. METHODS: The PedsQL 4.0 was administered to children receiving blood transfusions and treatments at Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia using PedsQL 4.0 generic Scale Score. Accordingly, the questionnaire was also administered to a control group of healthy school children. Socio-demographic data were also collected from patients and controls using an interview schedule designed for the study. RESULTS: Of the 96 thalassaemia patients approached, 78 gave consent to be interviewed giving a response rate of 81.3%. Out of 235 healthy controls approached, all agreed to participate giving a response rate of 100%. The mean age for the patients and schoolchildren is 11.9 and 13.2 years respectively. The age range for the patients and the schoolchildren is between 5 to 18 years and 7 to 18 years respectively. After controlling for age and demographic background, the thalassaemia patients reported having significantly lower quality of life than the healthy controls. CONCLUSION: Thalassaemia has a negative impact on perceived physical, emotional, social and school functioning in thalassaemia patients which was also found to be worse than the children's healthy counterparts. Continuing support of free desferal from the Ministry of Health should be given to these patients. More understanding and support especially from health authorities, school authorities and the society is essential to enhance their quality of life

Superior effect of forceful compared with standard traction mobilizations in hip disability?

The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two compiled physiotherapy programs: one including forceful traction mobilizations, the other including traction with unknown force, in patients with hip disability according to ICF (the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, 2001; WHO), using a block randomized, controlled trial with two parallel treatment groups in a regular private outpatient physiotherapy practice. In the experimental group (E; n = 10) and control group (C; n = 9), the mean (±SD) age for all participants was 59 ± 12 years. They were recruited from outpatient physiotherapy clinics, had persistent pain located at the hip joint for >8 weeks and hip hypomobility. Both groups received exercise, information and manual traction mobilization. In E, the traction force was progressed to 800 N, whereas in C it was unknown. Major outcome measure was the median total change score ≥20 points or ≥50% of the disease- and joint-specific Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS), compiled of Pain, Stiffness, Function and Hip-related quality of life (ranging 0–100). The mean (range) treatments received were 13 (7–16) over 5–12 weeks and 20 (18–24) over 12 weeks for E and C, respectively. The experimental group showed superior clinical post-treatment effect on HOOS (≥20 points), in six of 10 participants compared with none of nine in the control group (p = 0.011). The effect size was 1.1. The results suggest that a compiled physiotherapy program including forceful traction mobilizations are short-term effective in reducing self-rated hip disability in primary healthcare. The long-term effect is to be documented

The emergence of endothermy in the black-footed and Laysan albatrosses

Eggs with pip-holes of the black-footed ( Diomedea nigripes ) and Laysan ( Diomedea immutabilis ) albatrosses were exposed to various air temperatures in the range 20–35°C in order to detect signs of incipient endothermy in late embryos. No evidence of endothermy was found. In contrast, the O 2 consumption of most hatchlings increased in response to cooling, the O 2 consumption at an air temperature of 25° C exceeding that between 34 and 35°C by 40%. In a minority of hatchlings this response was not seen. It was suggested that endothermy may develop at some time during the 24 h after hatching.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47131/1/360_2004_Article_BF00346445.pd

Migraine headaches in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS): Comparison of two prospective cross-sectional studies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Headaches are more frequent in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) than healthy control (HC) subjects. The 2004 International Headache Society (IHS) criteria were used to define CFS headache phenotypes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Subjects in Cohort 1 (HC = 368; CFS = 203) completed questionnaires about many diverse symptoms by giving nominal (yes/no) answers. Cohort 2 (HC = 21; CFS = 67) had more focused evaluations. They scored symptom severities on 0 to 4 anchored ordinal scales, and had structured headache evaluations. All subjects had history and physical examinations; assessments for exclusion criteria; questionnaires about CFS related symptoms (0 to 4 scale), Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) and Medical Outcome Survey Short Form 36 (MOS SF-36).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Demographics, trends for the number of diffuse "functional" symptoms present, and severity of CFS case designation criteria symptoms were equivalent between CFS subjects in Cohorts 1 and 2. HC had significantly fewer symptoms, lower MFI and higher SF-36 domain scores than CFS in both cohorts. Migraine headaches were found in 84%, and tension-type headaches in 81% of Cohort 2 CFS. This compared to 5% and 45%, respectively, in HC. The CFS group had migraine without aura (60%; MO; CFS+MO), with aura (24%; CFS+MA), tension headaches only (12%), or no headaches (4%). Co-morbid tension and migraine headaches were found in 67% of CFS. CFS+MA had higher severity scores than CFS+MO for the sum of scores for poor memory, dizziness, balance, and numbness ("Neuro-construct", p = 0.002) and perceived heart rhythm disturbances, palpitations and noncardiac chest pain ("Cardio-construct"; p = 0.045, t-tests after Bonferroni corrections). CFS+MO subjects had lower pressure-induced pain thresholds (2.36 kg [1.95-2.78; 95% C.I.] n = 40) and a higher prevalence of fibromyalgia (47%; 1990 criteria) compared to HC (5.23 kg [3.95-6.52] n = 20; and 0%, respectively). Sumatriptan was beneficial for 13 out of 14 newly diagnosed CFS migraine subjects.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CFS subjects had higher prevalences of MO and MA than HC, suggesting that mechanisms of migraine pathogenesis such as central sensitization may contribute to CFS pathophysiology.</p> <p>Clinical Trial Registration</p> <p>Georgetown University IRB # 2006-481</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00810329">NCT00810329</a></p

A new interdisciplinary treatment strategy versus usual medical care for the treatment of subacromial impingement syndrome: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Subacromial impingement syndrome (SIS) is the most frequently recorded shoulder disorder. When conservative treatment of SIS fails, a subacromial decompression is warranted. However, the best moment of referral for surgery is not well defined. Both early and late referrals have disadvantages – unnecessary operations and smaller improvements in shoulder function, respectively. This paper describes the design of a new interdisciplinary treatment strategy for SIS (TRANSIT), which comprises rules to treat SIS in primary care and a well-defined moment of referral for surgery. METHODS/DESIGN: The effectiveness of an arthroscopic subacromial decompression versus usual medical care will be evaluated in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Patients are eligible for inclusion when experiencing a recurrence of SIS within one year after a first episode of SIS which was successfully treated with a subacromial corticosteroid injection. After inclusion they will receive injection treatment again by their general practitioner. When, after this treatment, there is a second recurrence within a year post-injection, the participants will be randomized to either an arthroscopic subacromial decompression (intervention group) or continuation of usual medical care (control group). The latter will be performed by a general practitioner according to the Dutch National Guidelines for Shoulder Problems. At inclusion, at randomization and three, six and 12 months post-randomization an outcome assessment will take place. The primary outcome measure is the patient-reported Shoulder Disability Questionnaire. The secondary outcome measures include both disease-specific and generic measures, and an economic evaluation. Treatment effects will be compared for all measurement points by using a GLM repeated measures analyses. DISCUSSION: The rationale and design of an RCT comparing arthroscopic subacromial decompression with usual medical care for subacromial impingement syndrome are presented. The results of this study will improve insight into the best moment of referral for surgery for SIS

A chronic fatigue syndrome – related proteome in human cerebrospinal fluid

BACKGROUND: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Persian Gulf War Illness (PGI), and fibromyalgia are overlapping symptom complexes without objective markers or known pathophysiology. Neurological dysfunction is common. We assessed cerebrospinal fluid to find proteins that were differentially expressed in this CFS-spectrum of illnesses compared to control subjects. METHODS: Cerebrospinal fluid specimens from 10 CFS, 10 PGI, and 10 control subjects (50 μl/subject) were pooled into one sample per group (cohort 1). Cohort 2 of 12 control and 9 CFS subjects had their fluids (200 μl/subject) assessed individually. After trypsin digestion, peptides were analyzed by capillary chromatography, quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry, peptide sequencing, bioinformatic protein identification, and statistical analysis. RESULTS: Pooled CFS and PGI samples shared 20 proteins that were not detectable in the pooled control sample (cohort 1 CFS-related proteome). Multilogistic regression analysis (GLM) of cohort 2 detected 10 proteins that were shared by CFS individuals and the cohort 1 CFS-related proteome, but were not detected in control samples. Detection of ≥1 of a select set of 5 CFS-related proteins predicted CFS status with 80% concordance (logistic model). The proteins were α-1-macroglobulin, amyloid precursor-like protein 1, keratin 16, orosomucoid 2 and pigment epithelium-derived factor. Overall, 62 of 115 proteins were newly described. CONCLUSION: This pilot study detected an identical set of central nervous system, innate immune and amyloidogenic proteins in cerebrospinal fluids from two independent cohorts of subjects with overlapping CFS, PGI and fibromyalgia. Although syndrome names and definitions were different, the proteome and presumed pathological mechanism(s) may be shared