The Italian version of the Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale: cross-cultural adaptation, reliability and validity in patients with chronic low back pain.

Background And Aim: Growing attention is being given to physical functioning measures to assess interventions for low back pain (LBP). The Quebec Back Pain Disability Questionnaire (QBPDS) has never been validated in Italian patients, and the aim of the study was culturally adapting and validating the Italian version of the QBPDS (QBPDS-I), to allow its use with Italian-speaking patients with chronic LBP.

Methods: The QBPDS-I was developed by means of forward-backward translation, a final review by an expert committee and a test of the prefinal version to evaluate its comprehensibility.

Skin Allergy to Azole Antifungal Agents for Systemic Use: A Review of the Literature.

Background: Antifungal azoles are the first-line agents used to treat topical and, above all, systemic mycosis. The latter could be life-threating infections in immunocompromised patients. Chemotherapeutic antibiotics, including antifungal azoles, may induce hypersensitivity reactions; however, such immunologic adverse reactions have not been defined and carefully investigated.

Early body weight-supported overground walking training in patients with stroke in subacute phase compared to conventional physiotherapy: a randomized controlled pilot study.

Among the new rehabilitation strategies aimed at improving independent walking after stroke, the body weight-support training allows an early and controlled ambulatory training. To date, most available studies are based on treadmill body weight-support (BWS) training and involve patients with chronic stroke sequelae. In contrast, the effects of a BWS training performed on the ground in patients with subacute hemiparesis (stroke within 4 weeks), with significant gait deficiencies, is unknown.

The epidemic of methylisothiazolinone contact allergy in Europe: follow-up on changing exposures.

Background: Methylisothiazolinone (MI) has caused an unprecedented epidemic of contact allergy in Europe and elsewhere. Subsequently, regulatory action has been taken, at least in Europe, aiming at reducing risk of MI sensitization.

Objective: To follow-up on the prevalence of contact allergy to MI in consecutively patch tested patients and assess the spectrum of products containing MI or methylchloroisothiazolinone (MCI)/MI in patients positive to MI which elicited current allergic contact dermatitis.

Inter-rater reliability and variability of ultrasound measurements of abdominal muscles and fasciae thickness.

Ultrasound (US) imaging is being increasingly used by Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM) specialists to measure the thickness of abdominal muscles. The current study set out to assess the inter-rater reliability of US measurements of the thickness of the abdominal muscles/fasciae. Three raters (1 = orthopedic specialist, expert on fasciae; 2 = PRM resident; 3 = PRM specialist) with different levels of US training examined the abdominal muscles and fasciae of a healthy volunteer under supine resting and dynamic conditions following a standard US protocol.

Interaction between As(III) and Simple Thioacids in Water: An Experimental and ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Investigation.

Albeit arsenic compounds are ubiquitous in aqueous solutions, the speciation of such a pollutant in natural water mainly depends on its binding capabilities with specific molecules. The features of most of the interactions of arsenic complexes can be established in solution, but the data related to the stability of the formed species, essentially depending on the concentration of the ligands, are elusive. For this reason, here, we report on a series of investigations where diverse approaches are combined together in order to characterize the behavior of As(III) species in aqueous solutions where simple chelating agents, such as thiolactic and thiomalic acids, are solvated.

Evaluation of quality of life and static balance in postmenopausal osteoporosis women after Tai Chi Chuan practice: an observational randomized case control study.

Post-menopausal osteoporosis women are at increased risk for skeletal fractures with higher mortality and lower quality of life. Some studies have reported fall risk reduction in the elderly after Tai chi practice. Tai chi is a weight bearing mind-body exercise that has been reported to positively influence bone mineral density and improve postural control in different pathologies.

The Role of the Environmental Risk Factors in the Pathogenesis and Clinical Outcome of Atopic Dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) prevalence is rising worldwide. Literature data suggest the incidence of AD in developing countries is gradually getting close to that of developed ones, in which AD affects 20% of the paediatric population. Such an increment, associated with significant variations in prevalence among the various countries, underlines the importance of environmental factors in the disease onset.

Omalizumab for the Treatment of Persistent Drug Induced Urticaria Elicited by Thienopyridines: A Case Report.

The anti-IgE Omalizumab may be helpful to treat clopidogrel hypersensitivity without stopping thienopyridine administration in patients requirining continuous antiplatellet therapy after coronary stent placement.

Dermatome and fasciatome.

Increased knowledge of the rich innervation of the deep fascia and its anatomical organization indicates the need to reevaluate maps of the dermatome according to the new findings. The authors present a distinction between dermatome and fasciatome, basing their approach to the literature on nerve root stimulation and comparing dermatomeric and myomeric maps. The former represents the portion of tissue composed of skin, hypodermis, and superficial fascia supplied by all the cutaneous branches of an individual spinal nerve; the latter includes the portion of deep fascia supplied by the same nerve root and organized according to force lines to emphasize the main directions of movement.

Contact dermatitis due to transdermal therapeutic systems: a clinical update.

Transdermal therapeutic systems (TTS) have become a popular method of drug delivery because they allow drugs to be delivered in a rate-controlled manner, avoiding first-pass metabolism and the fluctuating plasma concentrations encountered with oral medications. Unfortunately, TTS may provoke adverse skin reactions as irritating contact dermatitis and allergic contact dermatitis: TTS seem to be ideally suited to produce sensitization because they cause occlusion, irritation, due to the repeated placement of the allergen in the same skin location. Since TTS consist of an adhesive, an active pharmaceutical drug and enhancing agents, sensitization may develop owing to one of these three agents.

Efficacy of intradermal administration of diclofenac for the treatment of nonspecific chronic low back pain: results from a retrospective observational study.

Background: Intradermal administration of analgesic drugs with mesotherapy is effective for the local treatment of musculoskeletal pain. Few studies analyzed the effects of different drugs administrated with this technique.

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of diclofenac versus lysine acetylsalicylate-based mesotherapy in relieving pain (primary outcome), and disability (secondary outcome) in patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain.

Contact Allergy in Children with Atopic Dermatitis: A Retrospective Study.

Background: The relationship between atopic dermatitis and allergic contact dermatitis is frequently debated, particularly in children. The impaired skin barrier of atopic subjects can facilitate the penetration of exogenous agents and its mutations in the filaggrin gene might be implicated in an increased risk to develop contact dermatitis. Moreover, atopic children are protractedly exposed to chemical substances contained in skin care products from an early age.

One-year follow-up showing effects of single intra-articular injection of hyaluronic acid (1,500-2,000 kDa) in symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.

Clinical evidence on knee osteoarthritis suggests that intra-articular administration of hyaluronic acid may be useful in the management of patients with persistent pain. This study assesses the duration of effectiveness of a single intra-articular hyaluronic acid injection in a large population of patients with knee osteoarthritis. This retrospective post-marketing cohort study collected data from the ANTIAGE Registry (http://www.