Effectiveness and safety of dietary interventions for rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

This systematic review assesses the effectiveness and safety of dietary interventions for rheumatoid arthritis. Randomized controlled trials comparing any dietary manipulation with an ordinary diet were included. Eight randomized controlled trials with a total of 366 patients were included.

Effectiveness of exercise on work disability in patients with non-acute non-specific low back pain: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Objectives: To determine whether exercise is more effective than usual care to reduce work disability in patients with non-acute non-specific low back pain, and if so, to explore which type of exercise is most effective.

Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials investigating the effectiveness of exercise in non-acute non-specific low back pain, and reporting on work disability.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, PEDro, Cochrane Library databases, NIOSHTIC-2, and PsycINFO until August 2008.

An O-glycosyltransferase promotes cell adhesion during development by influencing secretion of an extracellular matrix integrin ligand.

Protein secretion and localization are crucial during eukaryotic development, establishing local cell environments as well as mediating cell interactions, signaling, and adhesion. In this study, we demonstrate that the glycosyltransferase, pgant3, specifically modulates integrin-mediated cell adhesion by influencing the secretion and localization of the integrin ligand, Tiggrin. We demonstrate that Tiggrin is normally O-glycosylated and localized to the basal matrix where the dorsal and ventral cell layers adhere in wild type Drosophila wings.

The impact of body mass index on the prevalence of low back pain: the HUNT study.

Study Design: A cross-sectional population-based study.

Objective: To examine the association between body mass index and chronic low back pain, with adjustment for potential confounders.

Summary Of Background Data: Although many studies have investigated this association, it is still unclear whether there is a general relationship between body mass index and low back pain which applies to all populations.

Associations between sleep disturbance and primary headaches: the third Nord-Trøndelag Health Study.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between sleep disturbance and headache type and frequency, in a random sample of participants in the third Nord-Trøndelag Health Survey. The headache diagnoses were set by neurologists using the ICHD-2 criteria performing a semi structured face-to-face interview. Sleep problems were measured by the two validated instruments Karolinska Sleep Questionnaire (KSQ) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS).

Serum B12 levels predict response to treatment with interferon and ribavirin in patients with chronic HCV infection.

Vitamin B12 is stored in hepatocytes and inhibits hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA translation. The implication of B12 in the setting of antiviral treatment is unknown. This study aims to retrospectively evaluate the discriminative efficacy of pretreatment B12 serum levels (s-B12) on end-of-treatment response (ETR) in patients with chronic HCV.

Translation, data quality, reliability, validity and responsiveness of the Norwegian version of the Effective Musculoskeletal Consumer Scale (EC-17).

Background: The Effective Musculoskeletal Consumer Scale (EC-17) is a self-administered questionnaire for evaluating self-management interventions that empower and educate people with rheumatic conditions. The aim of the study was to translate and evaluate the Norwegian version of EC-17 against the necessary criteria for a patient-reported outcome measure, including responsiveness to change.

Methods: Data quality, reliability, validity and responsiveness were assessed in two groups.

How to develop patient-centered research: some perspectives based on surveys among people with rheumatic diseases in Scandinavia.

Patient-centered research addresses the research agenda of patients and captures aspects of health and functioning that they consider important. Yet, those who live with a disease or condition have limited influence when it comes to setting the research agenda, and we know little about how they experience being participants in research studies. Furthermore, knowledge is limited concerning factors enhancing or hindering patients' participation in trials and the format that people with rheumatic diseases and their families prefer for dissemination of the results from clinical research.

Surgical interventions for the rheumatoid shoulder.

Background: Involvment of the shoulder joint in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) leads to severe destruction of the glenohumeral joint. When conservative treatment does not result in sufficient improvement, surgical procedures may be considered as the only beneficial treatment option.

Objectives: To assess beneficial and harmful effects of all forms of surgical treatment in the management of the shoulder in people with rheumatoid arthritis.

Mapping the protistan 'rare biosphere'.

The use of cultivation-independent approaches to map microbial diversity, including recent work published in BMC Biology, has now shown that protists, like bacteria/archaea, are much more diverse than had been realized. Uncovering eukaryotic diversity may now be limited not by access to samples or cost but rather by the availability of full-length reference sequence data.

Sequence analysis of plasmid pIR52-1 from Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 and investigation of its origin of replication.

Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 is a bacterium used in commercial probiotic preparations. R0052 contains a small, cryptic plasmid comprised of eight open reading frames, four of which encode proteins of unknown function. Based on the sequence of the replication initiation protein RepA, pIR52-1 is a member of the recently described RepA_N family of Gram-positive theta-replicating plasmids.

What's in team rehabilitation care after arthroplasty for osteoarthritis? Results from a multicenter, longitudinal study assessing structure, process, and outcome.

Background: Clinical course and outcome connected to rehabilitation after hip or knee arthroplasty have been studied extensively, but few studies have assessed the content of team rehabilitation care for these patients.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to provide a thorough description of the structure, process, and outcome of team rehabilitation care for patients with hip or knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis.

Design: This was a multicenter, longitudinal observational study.

[Diagnostics and treatment of pruritus ani].

Pruritus ani is defined as an intense itching sensation affecting the perianal skin. The condition affects up to 5% of the population, and occurs four times more commonly in men than in women. Pruritus ani occurs in a primary form caused by overt but insufficient cleansing of the perianal skin, and in a secondary form caused by underlying pathology, often of proctological or dermatological/infectious origin.

The validity of questionnaire-based diagnoses: the third Nord-Trøndelag Health Study 2006-2008.

The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT 3) performed in 2006-2008 is a replication of the cross-sectional survey from 1995 to 1997 (HUNT 2). The aim of the present study was to assess the sensitivity and specificity of questionnaire-based headache diagnoses using a personal interview by a neurologist as a gold standard. For the questionnaire-based status as headache sufferer, a sensitivity of 88%, a specificity of 86%, and a kappa statistic of 0.

There is inadequate evidence to determine the effectiveness of nonpharmacological and nonsurgical interventions for hand osteoarthritis: an overview of high-quality systematic reviews.

Background: Patients with hand osteoarthritis are commonly treated by health care professionals (allied to medicine). Practice should be informed by updated evidence from systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials.

Purpose: The purpose of this overview is to summarize the evidence from systematic reviews of the effectiveness of nonpharmacological and nonsurgical interventions for patients with hand osteoarthritis.

Developmental and functional studies of the SLC12 gene family members from Drosophila melanogaster.

The electroneutral cation-chloride cotransporter gene family, SLC12, contains nine members in vertebrates. These include seven sodium and/or potassium-coupled chloride transporters and two membrane proteins of unknown function. Although SLC12 family members have been identified in a number of lower species, the functional properties of these proteins are unknown.

Assistive technology for rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: Provision of assistive technology is a widely used intervention for people with rheumatoid arthritis. Assistive technology is any item used to increase or maintain functional ability in individuals with disabilities. It includes a wide range of products, from low-technology devices to technologically complex equipment.

Detection of an infectious retrovirus, XMRV, in blood cells of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating disease of unknown etiology that is estimated to affect 17 million people worldwide. Studying peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from CFS patients, we identified DNA from a human gammaretrovirus, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV), in 68 of 101 patients (67%) as compared to 8 of 218 (3.7%) healthy controls.

New drugs for migraine.

After the triptans, a calcitonin gene-related peptide blocker (telcagepant) is the first acute medicine that has been developed primarily for treatment of acute migraine. Otherwise, the new drugs have been developed first for other purposes, like anticonvulsants, antihypertensives and antidepressants used for migraine prophylaxis. For acute attacks, a new way to administer a traditional drug like dihydroergotamine is under way, and documentation of efficacy in migraine has been gained for some commonly used painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs, and for some herbal extracts.

Emotion regulation in patients with rheumatic diseases: validity and responsiveness of the Emotional Approach Coping Scale (EAC).

Background: Chronic rheumatic diseases are painful conditions which are not entirely controllable and can place high emotional demands on individuals. Increasing evidence has shown that emotion regulation in terms of actively processing and expressing disease-related emotions are likely to promote positive adjustment in patients with chronic diseases. The Emotional Approach Coping Scale (EAC) measures active attempts to acknowledge, understand, and express emotions.

Does the weather really matter? A cohort study of influences of weather and solar conditions on daily variations of joint pain in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To explore how reported joint pain in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) relates to weather and solar variables.

Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted in Norway on 36 patients with stable RA. Daily reports of pain in the morning on a visual analog scale for 84 consecutive days were correlated (using time-series methodology) with records of atmospheric and solar variables for the same days.

The evidence for non-pharmacological therapy of hand and hip OA.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading cause of pain and disability worldwide. Evidence-based guidelines and recommendations for the treatment of OA consider non-pharmacological modalities as the cornerstone of modern OA management. Nonetheless, research evidence from clinical trials on non-pharmacological interventions for the treatment of hand and hip OA is scarce and considerably less than that for knee OA.

Interictal quantitative EEG in migraine: a blinded controlled study.

Abnormal electroencephalography (EEG) in migraineurs has been reported in several studies. However, few have evaluated EEG findings in migraineurs during a time period when neither the last attack nor the next attack may interact with the results. We, therefore, compared interictal EEG in migraineurs and headache-free subjects with a design controlled for interference by pre-ictal changes.

Platinum(II) compounds with chelating ligands based on pyridine and pyrimidine: DNA and protein binding studies.

Four Pt(II) compounds (C1-C4) have been studied in their DNA and protein binding. The compounds contain chelating diimine ligands bis(pyridine-2-yl)amine, abbreviated dpa, and bis(pyrimidine-2-yl)amine, abbreviated dipm. The anions for the compounds C1 and C3 are chloride (coordinated) and nitrate (non-coordinated) for C2 and C4.