Anti-COX-2 autoantibody is a novel biomarker of immune aplastic anemia.

In immune aplastic anemia (IAA), severe pancytopenia results from the immune-mediated destruction of hematopoietic stem cells. Several autoantibodies have been reported, but no clinically applicable autoantibody tests are available for IAA. We screened autoantibodies using a microarray containing >9000 proteins and validated the findings in a large international cohort of IAA patients (n = 405) and controls (n = 815).

Return to work after subacromial decompression, diagnostic arthroscopy, or exercise therapy for shoulder impingement: a randomised, placebo-surgery controlled FIMPACT clinical trial with five-year follow-up.

Background: Arthroscopic subacromial decompression is one of the most commonly performed shoulder surgeries in the world. It is performed to treat patients with suspected shoulder impingement syndrome, i.e.

Exploring safety culture in the Finnish ambulance service with Emergency Medical Services Safety Attitudes Questionnaire.

Background: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is, by its nature, a challenging context that may create risks for both patients and employees. It is also known that an organisation's safety culture has an influence on both patient and employee safety. Finnish EMS organisations lack knowledge of how their safety culture is perceived by their employees.

Use of thiopurines is not a risk factor for post-ERC pancreatitis in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis.

Introduction: Risk of post-ERC pancreatitis (PEP) in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is 1-7.8%. PSC is often associated with inflammatory bowel disease and autoimmune hepatitis, which are usually treated with thiopurines.

Accuracy of 1-Hour Plasma Glucose During the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test in Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes in Adults: A Meta-analysis.

Objective: One-hour plasma glucose (1-h PG) during the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is an accurate predictor of type 2 diabetes. We performed a meta-analysis to determine the optimum cutoff of 1-h PG for detection of type 2 diabetes using 2-h PG as the gold standard.

Research Design And Methods: We included 15 studies with 35,551 participants from multiple ethnic groups (53.

Minimal important difference and patient acceptable symptom state for pain, Constant-Murley score and Simple Shoulder Test in patients with subacromial pain syndrome.

Background: The results of clinical trials should be assessed for both statistical significance and importance of observed effects to patients. Minimal important difference (MID) is a threshold denoting a difference that is important to patients. Patient acceptable symptom state (PASS) is a threshold above which patients feel well.

Oncolytic Adenovirus Type 3 Coding for CD40L Facilitates Dendritic Cell Therapy of Prostate Cancer in Humanized Mice and Patient Samples.

Dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccines have shown some degree of success for the treatment of prostate cancer (PC). However, the highly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment leads to DC dysfunction, which has limited the effectiveness of these vaccines. We hypothesized that use of a fully serotype 3 oncolytic adenovirus (Ad3-hTERT-CMV-hCD40L; TILT-234) could stimulate DCs in the prostate tumor microenvironment by expressing CD40L.

Ad5/3 is able to avoid neutralization by binding to erythrocytes and lymphocytes.

Oncolytic adenoviruses are promising cancer therapeutic agents. Clinical data have shown adenoviruses' ability to transduce tumors after systemic delivery in human cancer patients, despite antibodies. In the present work, we have focused on the interaction of a chimeric adenovirus Ad5/3 with human lymphocytes and human erythrocytes.

Perioperative Dexamethasone Is Associated With Higher Short-Term Mortality in Reconstructive Head and Neck Cancer Surgery.

Purpose: Studies of the effects of perioperative dexamethasone (DEX) during oncologic surgery are scarce. The first aim of the present study was to clarify whether perioperative DEX affects the short-term mortality in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). The second aim was to analyze the causes of death and predictors affecting long-term mortality.

Finnish Trial on Practices of Anterior Cervical Decompression and Fusion (FACADE): a protocol for a prospective randomised non-inferiority trial comparing outpatient versus inpatient care.

Introduction: Although a great majority of patients with cervical radiculopathy syndrome can successfully be treated non-operatively, a considerable proportion experience persistent symptoms, severe enough to require neurosurgical intervention. During the past decade, cervical spine procedures have increasingly been performed on an outpatient basis and retrospective database analyses have shown this to be feasible and safe. However, there are no randomised controlled studies comparing outpatient care with inpatient care, particularly with emphasis on the patients' perception of symptom relief and their ability to return to normal daily activities and work.

Treatment of gynecological malignancies: long-term follow-up of health-related quality of life and healthcare costs.

To assess long-term health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and treatment-related costs in gynecological cancer patients, and to compare HRQoL between cancer types and to age-standardized general female population. A prospective 8-10-year follow-up of 218 patients treated in Helsinki University Hospital in 2002-2004. The most common malignancies were uterine, ovarian and cervical cancers.

Cost-effectiveness of biologic compared with conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a Register study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the cost-effectiveness of biological DMARDs (bDMARDs) compared with conventional synthetic DMARDs (csDMARDs) for RA using real-world data from Finnish registers.

Methods: RA patients starting their first bDMARD and comparator patients using csDMARDs during 2007-11 were obtained from the National register of biologic treatments in Finland and the Jyväskylä Central Hospital patient records. Propensity score matching was applied to adjust for differences between bDMARD and csDMARD users.

Rates of serious infections and malignancies among patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving either tumor necrosis factor inhibitor or rituximab therapy.

Objective: Because of the role of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in host defense, it was hypothesized that its inhibition might lead to an increased risk of malignancies and infections. The objective of our study was to assess the incidence of serious infections leading to hospitalization and malignancies among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving either TNF inhibitor or rituximab (RTX) therapy.

Methods: The study population was identified from the National Register for Biologic Treatment in Finland and the hospital records of Central Finland Central Hospital for conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (cDMARD) users.

Validation of an automated ELISA system for detection of antibodies to Aleutian mink disease virus using blood samples collected in filter paper strips.

Background: Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV) is the cause of a chronic immune complex disease, Aleutian disease (AD), which is common in mink-producing countries. In 2005, implementation of an AMDV eradication programme in Finland created a need for an automated high-throughput assay. The aim of this study was to validate an AMDV-VP2 -recombinant antigen ELISA, which we developed earlier, in an automated assay format for the detection of anti-AMDV antibodies in mink blood and to determine the accuracy of this test compared with the reference standard (counter-current immunoelectrophoresis, CIEP).

Health-related quality of life after kidney transplantation: who benefits the most?

The influence of dialysis modalities on HRQoL before and after kidney transplantation (KT) and the role of adherence to medication on HRQoL have not been fully studied. Sixty four dialysis patients who answered the 15D HRQoL survey during dialysis were surveyed again after KT. Adherence and employment were also investigated.

The effectiveness of urinary incontinence treatments measured using the 15D Health-Related Quality of Life instrument.

Introduction And Hypothesis: The health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is significantly impaired among urinary incontinent women and the effectiveness of urinary incontinence (UI) treatment should be measured using an HRQoL instrument.

Methods: A prospective, observational study evaluating the HRQoL of 178 non-selected UI patients referred for routine treatment at the Helsinki University Central Hospital between the years 2004 and 2010. HRQoL was assessed using the generic 15D questionnaire on four occasions: before treatment, 6 and 18 months after treatment, and after a median follow-up of 5 years.

Economic evaluation of multidisciplinary rehabilitation after primary total knee arthroplasty based on a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To conduct an economic evaluation of a multidisciplinary, biopsychosocial outpatient rehabilitation program implemented 2-4 months after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), compared with conventional orthopedic care.

Methods: After surgery, 86 patients were randomized to a multidisciplinary rehabilitation group (n = 44) or a conventional orthopedic care group (n = 42). Alongside the randomized controlled trial, we estimated the costs of rehabilitation, health care resource use, and community support.

Cost-effectiveness of an experimental caries-control regimen in a 3.4-yr randomized clinical trial among 11-12-yr-old Finnish schoolchildren.

The aim of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of an experimental caries-control regimen in a randomized clinical trial (RCT) conducted in Pori, Finland, in 2001-2005. Children (n = 497) who were 11-12 yr of age and had at least one active initial caries lesion at baseline were studied. The children in the experimental group (n = 250) were offered an individually designed patient-centered regimen for caries control.

Effectiveness of a targeted occupational health intervention in workers with high risk of sickness absence: baseline characteristics and adherence as effect modifying factors in a randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: In a recently published randomized controlled trial (RCT), a targeted occupational health (OH) intervention was found effective in an intention-to-treat analysis in controlling sickness absence among workers with high risk of sickness absence, compared to usual care. We performed an exploratory subgroup analysis in order to detect possible effect modifiers and mediators.

Methods: Age, gender, working status, severity of physical impairment, depression score, self-rated working ability, co-morbidity, and sickness absence characteristics in the previous 12 months were identified as potential effect modifiers (n = 382).

Does arthroscopic acromioplasty provide any additional value in the treatment of shoulder impingement syndrome?: a two-year randomised controlled trial.

We report a randomised controlled trial to examine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of arthroscopic acromioplasty in the treatment of stage II shoulder impingement syndrome. A total of 140 patients were randomly divided into two treatment groups: supervised exercise programme (n = 70, exercise group) and arthroscopic acromioplasty followed by a similar exercise programme (n = 70, combined treatment group). The main outcome measure was self-reported pain on a visual analogue scale of 0 to 10 at 24 months, measured on the 134 patients (66 in the exercise group and 68 in the combined treatment group) for whom endpoint data were available.

Development and evaluation of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay based on recombinant VP2 capsids for the detection of antibodies to Aleutian mink disease virus.

Aleutian disease (AD), a common infectious disease in farmed minks worldwide, is caused by Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV). Serodiagnosis of AD in minks has been based on detection of AMDV antibodies by counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE) since the 1980s. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on recombinant virus-like particles (VLPs) for identifying AMDV antibodies from mink sera.