Hand Performance Assessed by Functional Dexterity Test Correlates With Clinical Disease Activity but Remains Altered in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Achieving Treatment Goals: A Cross-Sectional Cohort Study.

Objectives: Direct hand function is not commonly evaluated in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The Functional Dexterity Test (FDT) assesses a patient's ability to use the hand for daily tasks and is an accepted quantitative assessment tool in occupational medicine. This pilot study aimed to examine the correlations of FDT-measured hand performance with disease activity status in a cohort of RA patients.

A self-help intervention for reducing time to diagnosis in Indonesian women with breast cancer symptoms.

Objective: We investigated the effectiveness of a self-help intervention named PERANTARA, which aims to improve adherence to diagnostic procedures among women with breast cancer (BC) symptoms to reduce the time to a definitive diagnosis.

Methods: With a cluster randomized crossover design across four hospitals, PERANTARA and treatment as usual (TAU) or TAU only was provided at successive periods in a randomly determined order. The main outcome was the time between the first medical consultation and the definitive diagnosis.

Using the virtual action planning-supermarket for evaluating executive functions in people with stroke.

Background: Our objectives are (1) to establish construct validity by comparing task performance with the Virtual Action Planning-Supermarket (VAP-S) by patients with stroke to healthy matched control subjects, (2) to establish concurrent validity by exploring relationships between VAP-S performance and Executive Functions (EFs) and ecological validity by exploring relationships between VAP-S performance and the Observed Tasks of Daily Living-Revised (OTDL-R), a measure of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), and (3) to determine which measures predict IADL performance in patients with stroke.

Methods: The research group included 24 men and women, aged 44-65 years, poststroke and the control group included 24 matched healthy people. The VAP-S and the Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS) were administered to evaluate EF.

Application of visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (Vis/NIRS) to determine carotenoid contents in banana (Musa spp.) fruit pulp.

The analysis of carotenoids is complicated by the tendency of these compounds to react with radical species, leading to oxidative breakdown and isomerization during extraction. Therefore, protocols should be rapid and avoid unnecessary exposure to heat, acids, and so forth. Here, we evaluate the use of visible and near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (Vis/NIRS) to measure carotenoid contents in fruit from 28 Musa (banana and plantain) varieties.

Students' and teachers' cognitions about good teachers.

Background: Good teachers have been studied ever since Plato described how Socrates taught by asking questions of his audience. Recent findings shed light on two characteristics of good teachers: their personality and their ability. However, more attention has been paid to teachers' practices and opinions than to students' views.

Localization of interictal delta and epileptiform EEG activity associated with focal epileptogenic brain lesions.

The present study was aimed at investigating the accuracy of electric source reconstruction in the presurgical evaluation of epilepsy patients. Spontaneous EEG activity of 14 patients with focal intracerebral epileptogenic lesions was analyzed by source reconstruction based on high-resolution EEG (64-channel system) and a boundary element method head model accounting for the individual head anatomy. Equivalent dipole modeling was applied to focal delta and interictal epileptiform activity.

Evaluation of a computer-aided system providing pictorial task instructions and prompts to people with severe intellectual disability.

The present study extended the evaluation of a computer-aided system providing pictorial instructions and prompts to promote task performance in people with severe intellectual disability. Four people were presented with two sets of tasks. The participants used the computer-aided system for one set and a card (control) system for the other.

Kartagener syndrome: an uncommon cause of neonatal respiratory distress?

We report a newborn with respiratory distress and situs inversus totalis. The diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia was confirmed by both ultrastructural and functional investigations. The immotile cilia syndrome was suspected because of respiratory distress, situs inversus, abnormal nasal discharge and hyperinflated chest X-ray.

Tracheostomy in children.

We reviewed the records of 108 patients who had a tracheostomy performed over a 10-year period from July 1979 to April 1989. Median age at tracheostomy was 6 months (1 week-15 years). Indications for surgery were acquired subglottic stenosis (31.

Management of petrous bone fractures in children: analysis of 127 cases.

Petrous bone fractures (PBF) in children are relatively frequent. They are mostly diagnosed after collisions and falls. The complications typically associated with PBF were different types of hearing disorders in 69.

Squamous-cell carcinoma arising in a non-irradiated child with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis.

We describe a patient with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) associated with human papilloma virus (HPV), who developed a fatal squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. At the age of 1 year he presented with hoarseness, dyspnoea and inspiratory stridor but the diagnosis of RRP was made only 1 year later. At the age of 4 years he was tracheostomized because of upper airway obstruction.

Familial congenital laryngeal abductor paralysis: different expression in a family with one male and three females affected.

A brother and two sisters of remotely consanguineous parents had congenital laryngeal abductor paralysis and moderate mental retardation. In the two older sibs, mental deficiency could have resulted from birth asphyxia, but the youngest girl was already microcephalic at birth and had no apparent asphyxia. The mother, who was healthy and of normal intelligence, was found on laryngoscopy to have unilateral laryngeal abductor paralysis.

Hereditary distal muscular atrophy with vocal cord paralysis and sensorineural hearing loss: a dominant form of spinal muscular atrophy?

In 1980 Young and Harper described a family with an unusual form of distal spinal muscular atrophy associated with vocal cord paralysis. We report a family with three similarly affected subjects. Progressive sensorineural hearing loss was an additional feature in our patients.

Deleterious consequences of gastroesophageal reflux in cleft larynx surgery.

Our series of 17 children with laryngotracheal clefts is reported. In three of four cases with a complicated postoperative course, gastroesophageal reflux (GER) has been found. Three breakdowns of the surgical repair opposed to be due to GER.

Surgical correction of laryngotracheal stenoses in children.

A modified surgical technique according to Rhéti is described: the cricoid and the uppermost tracheal rings are longitudinally dissected ventrally and dorsally. The enlargement of the lumen is stabilized by interposition of a notched piece of costal cartilage into the dissected posterior wall of the cricoid. A total of 63 children with laryngotracheal stenosis have been operated on by this method in Zurich since 1973 and in Munich since 1982.

Hearing impairment following therapy of Haemophilus influenzae meningitis.

From 97 children with bacteriologically confirmed Haemophilus influenzae meningitis, 39 were treated with chloramphenicol (before 1970) and 58 with ampicillin (since 1970). In 1977 all patients were followed up with history, clinical examination, and audiometry. Sensorineural hearing defect was found in 5 chloramphenicol patients and in 10 ampicillin patients.

[Laryngotracheal stenosis: results of surgery (author's transl)].

Between 1973 and 1977 seven adults and five children with severe larynx stenosis were operated upon successfully with a modification of Rhéti's technique. The main features of this new technique are: 1. The cricoid and the upper tracheal rings are split longitudinally in their anterior and posterior portion.

[Meningitis and labyrinthitis in childhood].

The Haemophilus influenzae meningitis is the most common cause of deafness following meningitis. Five of 22 children (23%) had this complication in spite of antibiotic treatment (ampicillin). The question must be raised whether a different antibiotic treatment could avoid the inner-ear problems occurring in Haemophilus influenzae meningitis.