Reference values for venous and capillary S100B in children.

Background: The current management guidelines for pediatric mild head injury (MHI) liberally recommend computed tomography (CT) and frequent admission. Serum protein S100B, currently used in management of adult head injury, has recently shown potential for reducing unnecessary CT scans after pediatric mild head injury. Capillary sampling in children is commonly used when venous sampling fails or is inappropriate.

Sports camp with six months of support from a local sports club as a treatment for childhood obesity.

Aims: Although childhood obesity is becoming increasingly prevalent, treatment options are limited and the continued development of effective treatment strategies is necessary. It is equally important to explore involvement of other resources in society, such as sports associations. This study was designed to investigate the possibility of reducing the degree of obesity in obese children by focusing on physical activity as an intervention.

Interaction between renal function and microalbuminuria for cardiovascular risk in hypertension: the nordic diltiazem study.

We investigated whether renal function and microalbuminuria are independent predictors and whether any interaction exists between them, regarding future cardiovascular disease in hypertensive patients (n=10 881) followed for 4.5 years. The primary end points (PEs) were fatal and nonfatal myocardial infarction and stroke and other cardiovascular deaths.

Statistical assessment of changes in ADL dependence: three-graded versus dichotomised scaling.

The aim of this study was to investigate how dichotomising three-graded ADL Staircase data affects the possibility of detecting changes in ADL dependence between different assessment occasions. An authentic two-occasion data set was used as a basis for a simulation experiment. In all, we used four different data treatment principles, all utilising the matched pairing of the data.

Alternative data treatment principles for categorical ADL data.

Scaling methodology represents a problem in assessments of activities of daily living (ADL) and little is known about how the results of these assessments are affected by data treatment principles and statistical methods. The aims of this paper are to: (i) describe alternative ways of transforming a response pattern on ADL into a single number; and (ii) to present and compare different ways of analysing both changes in ADL capacity from one occasion to another and also differences in ADL between one group and another. Three datasets based on assessments with the ADL Staircase were used.

Cardiovascular events in elderly patients with isolated systolic hypertension. A subgroup analysis of treatment strategies in STOP-Hypertension-2.

Objective: To perform a subgroup analysis on those patients in STOP-Hypertension-2 who had isolated systolic hypertension.

Design And Methods: The STOP-Hypertension-2 study evaluated cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in elderly hypertensives comparing treatment with conventional drugs (diuretics, beta-blockers) with that of newer ones [angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, calcium antagonists]. In all, 6614 elderly patients with hypertension (mean age 76.

Development of diabetes is retarded by ACE inhibition in hypertensive patients--a subanalysis of the Captopril Prevention Project (CAPPP).

Objective: The Captopril Prevention Project (CAPPP) was designed as a prospective intervention trial comparing the effect of a treatment based on the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor captopril with that of a conventional diuretic and/or beta-blocker-based therapy, in 10,985 hypertensive patients. There was no difference in the primary cardiovascular morbidity and mortality endpoint. A lower incidence of diabetes mellitus during captopril treatment was observed in the whole CAPPP cohort that was non-diabetic at baseline (n = 10,413) as well as in such CAPPP patients that were previously untreated (n = 5033).

A 52-week, multicenter, randomized, parallel-group, double-blind, double-dummy study to assess the efficacy of atorvastatin and simvastatin in reaching low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride targets: the treat-to-target (3T) study.

Background: Guidelines for the prevention of coronary heart disease call for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) reduction as the primary target of treatment and reduction of triglycerides (TG) as an additional target.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of atorvastatin and simvastatin to reduce LDL-C and TG concentrations and to meet 3 target lipid levels: LDL-C View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The predictive value of microbiologic diagnostic tests if asymptomatic carriers are present.

If a proper gold standard is not available, then the predictive value of a test cannot be estimated. In this paper the concept of etiologic predictive value (EPV) is introduced. It is a quantity that will yield the predictive value of a test to predict presence of a specified disease in situations for which no proper gold standard is available.

Influence of age, sex and blood pressure on the principal endpoints of the Nordic Diltiazem (NORDIL) Study.

Background: The aim of the Nordic Diltiazem (NORDIL) Study was to compare patients with essential hypertension receiving calcium-antagonist-based treatment with diltiazem and similar patients receiving conventional diuretic/beta-blocker-based treatment, with respect to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

Objective: To assess the influence of age, sex, severity of hypertension and heart rate on treatment effects, in a sub-analysis.

Methods: The NORDIL study was prospective, randomized, open and endpoint-blinded.