Exploring the utility of ultrasound to assess disuse atrophy in different muscles of the lower leg.

Background: Skeletal muscle is a highly plastic tissue crucial for many functions associated with whole-body health across the life course. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the current gold standard for measuring skeletal muscle size. However, MRI is expensive, and access to facilities is often limited.

Post-operative electrical muscle stimulation attenuates loss of muscle mass and function following major abdominal surgery in older adults: a split body randomised control trial.

Introduction: Significant losses of muscle mass and function occur after major abdominal surgery. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has been shown to reduce muscle atrophy in some patient groups, but evidence in post-operative patients is limited. This study assesses the efficacy of NMES for attenuating muscle atrophy and functional declines following major abdominal surgery in older adults.

The time course of disuse muscle atrophy of the lower limb in health and disease.

Short, intermittent episodes of disuse muscle atrophy (DMA) may have negative impact on age related muscle loss. There is evidence of variability in rate of DMA between muscles and over the duration of immobilization. As yet, this is poorly characterized.

Dressings and topical agents for the management of open wounds after surgical treatment for sacrococcygeal pilonidal sinus.

Background: Sacrococcygeal pilonidal sinus disease is a common debilitating condition that predominantly affects young adults, with a profound impact on their activities of daily living. The condition is treated surgically, and in some cases the wound in the natal cleft is left open to heal by itself. Many dressings and topical agents are available to aid healing of these wounds.

Atrophy Resistant vs. Atrophy Susceptible Skeletal Muscles: "aRaS" as a Novel Experimental Paradigm to Study the Mechanisms of Human Disuse Atrophy.

Objective: Disuse atrophy (DA) describes inactivity-induced skeletal muscle loss, through incompletely defined mechanisms. An intriguing observation is that individual muscles exhibit differing degrees of atrophy, despite exhibiting similar anatomical function/locations. We aimed to develop an innovative experimental paradigm to investigate Atrophy Resistant (TA) and Atrophy Susceptible (MG) muscles (aRaS) with a future view of uncovering central mechanisms.

Impact of age and treatment institution type on outcomes of patients treated for chronic lymphocytic leukemia in British Columbia, Canada.

Unlabelled: Older age has been shown to adversely impact overall survival (OS) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) however, prior population-based studies did not analyze the impact of cytogenetic abnormalities or were prior to the availability of ibrutinib.

Objectives: i) We sought to compare outcomes of patients based on their age at treatment to examine if older age has an impact on OS in patients who were treated during the period when fludarabine-rituximab was the standard upfront therapy and when ibrutinib was first introduced and ii) compare outcomes based on whether the patient received primary treatment at an academic or community-based centre.

Methods: The BC Provincial CLL Database, a population-based databasewas used to include patients who have received treatment in British Columbia (BC), Canada between 2004 and 2016.

The impact of acute beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) ingestion on glucose and insulin kinetics in young and older men.

Insulin resistance (IR) is a key feature in the development of numerous metabolic diseases. The cornerstone for treatment for IR remains diet and exercise, however these have poor rates of adherence. Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) is a nutraceutical with contentious effects on IR in animal models.

Comparison of real-world treatment patterns in chronic lymphocytic leukemia management before and after availability of ibrutinib in the province of British Columbia, Canada.

Unlabelled: We performed a retrospective study comparing treatment patterns and overall survival (OS) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients with the advent of ibrutinib to provide current real-world data.

Methods: Using a provincial population-based database, we analyzed CLL patients who received upfront treatment in British Columbia before ibrutinib availability (1984-2014), during ibrutinib access for: relapse only (2014-2015) and for upfront treatment of patients (with 17p deletion or unfit for chemotherapy) (2015-2016). Analysis included up to third-line treatment.

Surgical interventions for the treatment of sacrococcygeal pilonidal sinus disease in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Pilonidal sinus disease (PNS) is not uncommon in children. Controversy remains over the best treatment and there is limited evidence. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to establish which techniques have the best outcomes in children.