Chronic mild stress exacerbates severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in association with altered non-coding RNA and metabolic biomarkers.

The causal factors determining the onset and severity of multiple sclerosis (MS) are not well understood. Here, we investigated the influence of chronic stress on clinical symptoms, metabolic and epigenetic manifestations of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a common animal model of MS. Lewis rats were immunized for monophasic EAE with MBP and were exposed to chronic stress for 37days starting 7days prior to immunization.

Internet-accessible emergency department workload information reduces ambulance diversion.

Objective: To determine the effect of pre-emptive ambulance distribution based on the implementation of a real-time, Internet-accessible emergency department (ED) workload schematic and prehospital Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) allocations on ambulance diversion in Western Australia.

Methods: Comparison of July-December 2002 and July-December 2003 metropolitan Perth ED cubicle occupancy, ambulance diversion, ambulance distribution, and ambulance unloading delays at four inner and four outer metropolitan EDs.

Results: Ambulance diversion fell from 1,788 hours in 2002 to 1,138 hours in 2003 (p < 0.

Physical disability and the experience of chronic pain.

Objectives: To obtain an insider's view about disability-related pain to help rehabilitation clinicians understand the experience and to show how people with disability manage daily living and encounters with other people.

Design: Qualitative methods by using open-ended interviews and thematic analysis.

Setting: Rehabilitation research program.