Log-epsilon-skew normal: A generalization of the log-normal distribution.

The log-normal distribution is widely used to model non-negative data in many areas of applied research. In this paper, we introduce and study a family of distributions with non-negative reals as support and termed the log-epsilon-skew normal (LESN) which includes the log-normal distributions as a special case. It is related to the epsilon-skew normal developed in Mudholkar and Hutson (2000) the way the log-normal is related to the normal distribution.

Benefits and liabilities of hypermobility in the back pain disorders of industrial workers.

Objectives: Back pain disorders, sometimes called 'the nemesis of medicine and the albatross of industry', are ubiquitous, but have stubbornly defied diagnosis and treatment. Hypermobility syndrome, which is also very common, has been called 'an enigma of human physiology'. Both conditions have attracted wide attention and interest only recently.

Benefits and disadvantages of joint hypermobility among musicians.

Background: Joint hypermobility is considered to be both an advantage and a disadvantage. However, the degree of hypermobility in members of particular occupations requiring intense physical activity and the nature of the association between symptoms referable to specific joints and their hypermobility are unknown.

Methods: We interviewed 660 musicians (300 women and 360 men) about work-related symptoms such as joint pain and swelling and examined them for joint hypermobility according to a standard protocol.

Hypermobility: prevalence and features in a Swedish population.

In this investigation, parallel to an earlier study [1] of 660 musicians from the USA, 606 individuals from a factory in Ostersund, Sweden, were studied to determine the prevalence and nature of their hypermobility. They were examined using the same protocol and by the same examiner as in the earlier study for the presence of five well recognized features of hypermobility. In this mostly middle-aged population of workers, as in the earlier population of mostly young musicians, joint laxity was found to be far more common among females.

A controlled trial of propoxyphene and naltrexone in patients with Tourette's syndrome.

To investigate the effect of drugs acting on the endogenous opioid system, we studied 10 adults with Tourette's syndrome who received propoxyphene hydrochloride (260 mg/day), naltrexone hydrochloride (50 mg/day), and placebo in a double-blinded, randomized clinical trial. Using a self-report scale (Tourette's Syndrome Symptom List), subjects noted a significant (p less than 0.04) lessening of tics after treatment with naltrexone when compared with placebo.