Strengthening and stretching for rheumatoid arthritis of the hand (SARAH). A randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation

Study registration: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN 89936343.Background - The effectiveness of exercise for improving hand and wrist function in people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is uncertain. Objectives - The study aims were (1) to estimate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of adding an optimised exercise programme for hands and upper limbs to standard care for patients with RA; and (2) to qualitatively describe the experience of participants in the trial with a particular emphasis on acceptability of the intervention, exercise behaviours and reasons for adherence/non-adherence.This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 19, No. 19. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information. This report has been developed in association with the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care Oxford and the NIHR Biomedical Research Unit Funding Scheme. This project benefited from facilities funded through Birmingham Science City Translational Medicine Clinical Research and Infrastructure Trials Platform, with support from Advantage West Midlands

The Future of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Hand Surgery - Combining Evolutionary Pharmacology and Surgical Technique

Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic autoimmune disease of uncertain aetiology, which is characterized primarily by synovial inflammation with secondary skeletal destructions

Measuring health related quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis--reliability, validity, and responsiveness of a Swedish version of RAQoL.

OBJECTIVE: To adapt the Rheumatoid Arthritis Quality of Life (RAQoL) questionnaire for Swedish patients and evaluate psychometric properties in a prospective study. METHODS: Reliability was assessed in 61 patients filling in RAQoL two times with one week's interval. 114 patients completed RAQoL and Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) on 2-3 occasions 6 months apart. Validity was evaluated comparing RAQoL-scores to disease-related variables and NHP subscales. Standardized response mean was applied to calculate responsiveness with the RA-related variables as external indicators of change. RESULTS: Test-retest reliability was high and internal consistency sufficient. RAQoL correlated as expected to NHP section scores. In a multivariate model the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire disability index (HAQ) and general health could explain 40% and disease activity measures 13% of the variance of RAQoL. Correlations between change scores of clinical variables and RAQoL and NHP were weak but positive. Standardized response means regarding change of disease activity, HAQ, and general health were small but in the same range for both RAQoL and NHP. CONCLUSION: The Swedish RAQoL had similar measurement properties as the original version. However, responsiveness regarding condition specific measures was not better than for the generic instrument NHP

Study of bubbling and slugging fluidized beds by simulation and ECT

Fluidization conditions in a circulating-fluidized bed (CFB) can vary dramatically, from bubbling to circulating regimes. The granular Eurlerian models have been used to simulate the bubbling and slugging behavior of gas and solids in CFB. Considering the dielectric properties and rapid movement of solids in CFB, electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is particularly suitable for measuring the concentration and distribution of solids in CFB to verify the simulation results. The simulation results by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and experimental results obtained by ECT are reported, and compares the simulation and experimental results first time, including the solids concentration profile, temporal variation of average-solids concentration, autocorrelation coefficient and frequency spectrum. © 2006 American Institute of Chemical Engineers

Fallbesprechung im Öffentlichen Recht: Anwerbemethoden der Scientology Kirche Basel

An evidenced based synthesis and review of orthotics for the arthritic han