"At least someone thinks I'm doing well": a real-world evaluation of the quit-smoking app StopCoach for lower socio-economic status smokers.

Background: Smoking is more prevalent and persistent among lower socio-economic status (SES) compared with higher-SES groups, and contributes greatly to SES-based health inequities. Few interventions exist that effectively help lower-SES smokers quit. This study evaluated "De StopCoach", a mobile phone delivered eHealth intervention targeted at lower-SES smokers based on the evidence-based StopAdvisor, in a real-world setting (five municipalities) in The Netherlands in 2019-2020.

Function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in patients with fibromyalgia and low back pain.

Objective: We suggested fibromyalgia (FM) is a disorder associated with an altered functioning of the stress-response system. This was concluded from hyperreactive pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) release in response to corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and to insulin induced hypoglycemia in patients with FM. In this study, we tested the validity and specificity of this observation compared to another painful condition, low back pain.

[Pieter van Foreest: physician on the threshold of a new era].

In a variety of ways attention is being drawn nowadays to the fact that Pieter van Foreest (1521-1597) died four hundred years ago. The question arises, however, whether such a comprehensive commemoration is justified by Van Foreest's contribution to the development of medical science. Medical history certainly does not attribute concrete substantial new findings to his name.

Interleukin-1 reversibly inhibits the synthesis of biglycan and decorin in intact articular cartilage in culture.

Objective: To study the effect of interleukin-1 (IL-1) on the synthesis of proteoglycans biglycan (DSPG-I) and decorin (DSPG-II) in intact bovine articular cartilage.

Methods: Cartilage bearing sesamoid bones from the metacarpophalangeal joint were cultured with 10 ng/ml IL-1 for 2 days and labelled with [35S] sulfate. One sesamoid bone from each animal had been labelled ex vivo.

Quality of life assessment: a comparison of four questionnaires: for measuring improvements after total hip replacement.

Three experimental questionnaires were compared with the Influence of Rheumatic Diseases on Health and Lifestyle (IRGL) questionnaire, a Dutch version of the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales. Sixty-two patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and 35 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), all of whom underwent hip arthroplasty, completed the study. Results showed that visual analogue scales for pain, stiffness, fatigue, and anxiety were strongly correlated with a number of the IRGL scales.