Prevention of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis in immunobullous diseases with alendronate: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of oral alendronate sodium therapy once daily in preventing glucocorticoid-induced bone loss in patients with immunobullous skin diseases treated with long-term glucocorticoid therapy.

Design: A 12-month randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Setting: A tertiary referral dermatology center in Singapore.

Computed tomography fluoroscopic-guided percutaneous spinal interventions in the management of spinal pain.

Local back pain and radiculopathy can be debilitating for sufferers of these conditions. There are a multitude of treatment modalities, ranging from conservative approaches such as bed rest, physical therapy and chiropractic manipulation, to more invasive options such as percutaneous spinal intervention (PSI) and surgery. We present here the techniques employed in the use of minimally invasive, image-guided percutaneous techniques under computed tomography fluoroscopy in our institutions.

Knee and ankle ligaments: magnetic resonance imaging findings of normal anatomy and at injury.

Ligamentous injuries of the lower limb are a common entity sustained during sports activities and military training. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the knee and ankle is playing an increasingly important role in the detection, diagnosis and prognosis of these injuries and their associated complications. MR imaging with its exquisite soft tissue contrast resolution and multiplanar capability is increasingly seen as the modality of choice for evaluating ligamentous injuries of the knee and ankle.

Effects of a 12-week exercise training programme on aerobic fitness, body composition, blood lipids and C-reactive protein in adolescents with obesity.

Introduction: Developing effective exercise programmes for the paediatric population is a strategy for decreasing obesity and is expected to help in eventually limiting obesity-associated long-term health and societal impact. In this study, the effects of a 12-week twice weekly additional exercise training, which comprised a combination of circuit-based resistance training and aerobic exercises, in additional to typical physical education sessions, on aerobic fitness, body composition and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and lipids were analysed in 13- to 14-year-old obese boys contrasted with a control group.

Materials And Methods: Both the exercise group (EG, n = 12) and control group (CG, n = 12) participated in the typical 2 sessions of 40-minute physical education (PE) per week in schools, but only EG participated in additional 2 sessions per week of 45 to 60 minutes per session of exercise training, which comprised a combination of circuit-based resistance training and aerobic exercises maintained at 65% to 85% maximum heart rate (HRmax = 220 - age).

Radiographic features of SARS in paediatric patients: a review of cases in Singapore.

Introduction: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a newly emerged atypical pneumonia caused by the SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Chest radiographic appearances have been reported as non-specific, ranging from normal to peribronchial thickening and ill-defined airspace shadowing. This study is a retrospective review of chest radiographic findings in children with suspected and probable SARS during the 2003 outbreak in Singapore.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS): chest radiographic features in children.

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a recently recognized condition of viral origin associated with substantial morbidity and mortality rates in adults. Little information is available on its radiologic manifestations in children.

Objective: The goal of this study was to characterize the radiographic presentation of children with SARS.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in a paediatric cluster in Singapore.

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a major infectious disease pandemic that occurred in early 2003, and one of the diagnostic criteria is the presence of chest radiographic findings.

Objective: To describe the radiographic features of SARS in a cluster of affected children.

Materials And Methods: The chest radiographs of four related children ranging in age from 18 months to 9 years diagnosed as having SARS were reviewed for the presence of air-space shadowing, air bronchograms, peribronchial thickening, interstitial disease, pleural effusion, pneumothorax, hilar lymphadenopathy and mediastinal widening.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS): imaging findings during the acute and recovery phases of disease.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a new form of atypical pneumonia, which has become a major health crisis in East Asia and Canada, with the potential for becoming the next worldwide epidemic. Until the validation of diagnostic kits is completed, clinical findings, contact history, and radiologic findings are the key to diagnosis of this disease. The imaging findings on conventional radiographs and computed tomography (CT) in the acute phase as well as during recovery are presented.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome: management and reconfiguration of a radiology department in an infectious disease situation.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, is a new infectious disease pandemic with important public health concerns. The high infectivity rate by means of droplet transmission places health care workers at substantial risk of contracting the disease. Radiology departments are particularly affected, since imaging plays a vital role in both diagnosis and follow-up of this disease.