Effects of interrupting daily sedentary behavior on children's glucose metabolism: A 6-day randomized controlled trial.

Background: Metabolic disease risk in youth is influenced by sedentary behaviors. Acute in-lab studies show that, during a single day, interrupting a sedentary period with short bouts of physical activity improves glucometabolic outcomes.

Objective: To determine if acutely improved glucose metabolism persists after multi-day interruptions of sitting with walking brief bouts.

Treatment of organ confined prostate cancer with third generation cryosurgery: preliminary multicenter experience.

Purpose: Cryosurgical ablation of the prostate is 1 approach to the treatment of localized prostate cancer. Third generation cryosurgery uses gas driven probes that allow for a decrease in probe diameter to 17 gauge (1.5 mm).

Comparison of thermography and laser Doppler imaging in the assessment of Raynaud's phenomenon.

The main objective of the study was to compare the techniques of thermographic and laser Doppler imaging in the assessment of digital blood flow. Thermography measures surface temperature; laser Doppler measures microciculatory flow. Seventeen healthy control subjects and 40 patients with Raynaud's phenomenon (7 primary, 33 secondary to systemic sclerosis) underwent a 20-min acclimatization period at 23 degrees C.

Leonard Trask: the wonderful invalid: the first American description of ankylosing spondylitis.

This report describes the first published clinical account of a case of ankylosing spondylitis in the United States. The patient progressively developed very severe kyphosis with resultant severe disability. The condition apparently started after an accident, and the report has interesting medicolegal implications.

A clinical study of 22.5 mg. La-2550: A new subcutaneous depot delivery system for leuprolide acetate for the treatment of prostate cancer.

Purpose: The safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of a unique 3-month subcutaneous depot of leuprolide acetate were investigated in patients with prostate cancer.

Materials And Methods: This open label, noncomparative, 6-month multicenter study enrolled 117 patients diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the prostate. LA-2550 (22.

Digital vascular response to topical glyceryl trinitrate, as measured by laser Doppler imaging, in primary Raynaud's phenomenon and systemic sclerosis.

Objective: To investigate digital microvascular responses to topical glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) in patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon (PRP), limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (LCSSc) and healthy control subjects, using laser Doppler imaging.

Methods: Ten patients with PRP, 13 with LCSSc and 10 control subjects were studied. Baseline skin microvascular blood flow of the dorsum of the index, middle and ring fingers of the non-dominant hand was measured using scanning laser Doppler imaging.

Psychological correlates of pain behavior in patients with chronic low back pain.

Pain behaviors that are excessive for the degree of known physical disease are common in patients with chronic low back pain and are frequently assumed to arise from a comorbid depressive illness. Although some studies have confirmed an association between depression and excessive pain behavior, methodologic problems (such as the use of depression ratings that also recorded symptoms attributable to physical disease) make interpretation of this finding difficult. We recruited 54 consecutive patients with chronic (>6 months) low back pain from a hospital clinic.

Risk factors for neck pain: a longitudinal study in the general population.

The objective of the study was to examine the 1-year cumulative incidence of episodic neck pain and to explore its associations with individual risk factors, including a history of previous neck injury. A baseline cross-sectional survey of an adult general population sample made up of all 7669 adults aged 18-75 years, registered with two family practices in South Manchester, United Kingdom, identified the study population of adults with no current neck pain. This study population was surveyed again 12 months later to identify all those who had experienced neck pain during the follow-up period.

The grading of hallux valgus. The Manchester Scale.

This article describes a new, noninvasive method of assessing the severity of hallux valgus deformity by means of a set of standardized photographs. Six podiatrists were independently asked to grade the level of deformity of 13 subjects (26 feet) on a scale of 1 (no deformity) to 4 (severe deformity). The reliability of the four-point scale for the severity of hallux valgus was investigated by means of kappa-type statistics for more than two raters.

The relationship between pain and depression in a trial using paroxetine in sufferers of chronic low back pain.

Previous studies have shown a positive association between pain and depression, though evidence supporting a direct link between these two variables is less robust. Using a placebo-controlled trial, the authors examined the analgesic and antidepressant efficacy of paroxetine (20 mg) in chronic low back pain sufferers. The authors examined the associations among pain, depression, disability, and illness attitudes.

A double-blind placebo-controlled trial of antioxidant therapy in limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of a combination of micronutrient antioxidants (selenium, beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E and methionine) with allopurinol in patients with limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Methods: The study was designed as a placebo-controlled double-blind crossover study. A carryover effect was detected retrospectively for some of the prescribed antioxidants, and so the data were analysed as: (a) a between group comparison of the first 10 week treatment period; and (b) a within group comparison of the first and second 10-week periods in those who received placebo treatment first.

Quantitation of microcirculatory abnormalities in patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon and systemic sclerosis by video capillaroscopy.

Objective: : To assess nailfold capillary density and dimensions in patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon (PRP), limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (LSSc) and diffuse cutaneous SSc (DSSc), and healthy control subjects.

Methods: : Using the technique of nailfold video capillaroscopy, capillary density and dimensions were averaged from all visible capillaries in a 3 mm length of the nailfold from right and left ring fingers of each subject. Twenty healthy control subjects, 15 patients with PRP, 13 patients with DSSc and 21 patients with LSSc were examined.

The influence of age on nailfold capillary dimensions in childhood.

Objective: To identify the influence of age on nailfold capillary dimensions in children between 6 and 15 years.

Methods: Capillary density (the number of capillaries in a 3 mm length of the distal row) and capillary dimensions were measured in 110 healthy children using the technique of nailfold video microscopy. The age groups studied were as follows: 6 to 7 years (17 children), 8 to 9 years (15 children), 10 to 11 years (34 children), 12 to 13 years (24 children), and 14 to 15 years (20 children).

Hospital referrals for low back pain: more coherence needed.

Low back pain is a common reason for hospital referral but little is known of the resulting workload in different specialties. All new outpatient attendances for conditions with low back pain were recorded over one month in a teaching hospital and a district general hospital. The patients were seen in at least ten specialties and two-fifths of them had been seen previously with the same symptom in another department.

Development and validation of a questionnaire to assess disabling foot pain.

This study outlines the design and validation of a new self-administered instrument for assessing foot pain and disability. The 19-item questionnaire was tested on 45 rheumatology patients, 33 patients who had attended their general practitioner with a foot-related problem and 1000 responders to a population survey of foot disorders. Levels of reported disability were found to be greatest for rheumatology patients and least for community subjects.

Endothelial expression of nitric oxide synthases and nitrotyrosine in systemic sclerosis skin.

Although a multisystem disease, systemic sclerosis (SSc) most commonly affects the skin. The skin lesion is characterized by progressive changes, chief amongst which are vascular abnormalities, including endothelial cell (EC) injury and death, and dermal fibrosis. The pathogenesis of the vascular changes, and their relationship to dermal fibrosis, is poorly understood.

The effects of dothiepin on subjects with rheumatoid arthritis and depression.

Background: The relative importance of direct analgesic and antidepressant effects of antidepressant drugs in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is not clear.

Method: Forty-eight female out-patients with RA, with depression and/or anxiety, were entered into a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of dothiepin in doses up to 150 mg daily to assess the effects on mood [Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale and Hamilton Rating Scale (HRS) for Depression], pain [visual analogue scale (VAS)] and disability [Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ)].

Results: Repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance revealed that treatment had a significant effect on pain (F(d.

A disease severity scale for systemic sclerosis: development and testing.

Objective: To develop and test a severity scale for individual organ involvements in systemic sclerosis (SSc, scleroderma).

Methods: An international study group completed the following tasks: (1) developed a glossary of terms including all pertinent variables for 9 potentially affected organ systems; (2) collected prospective data to determine the feasibility and practicality of each proposed variable; (3) revised the initial list of variables; (4) determined the association of each variable with mortality (a proxy for morbidity) using 579 patients in an existing comprehensive longitudinal scleroderma databank; (5) developed a severity grading scale for each organ system by discussion and consensus; and (6) externally validated the scale using an independent group of 680 patients from the same databank.

Results: Nine organ-specific severity scales were developed from 0 (no documented involvement) to 4 (endstage disease).

No significant effects of sodium aurothiomalate on haem metabolism and mixed function oxygenase activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: Animal studies suggest that gold compounds impair haem synthesis and increase haem degradation and, as a result, reduce activity of the hepatic haemoproteins cytochromes P-450. The aim of this study was to investigate whether intramuscular gold exerts similar effects in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Urinary porphyrin and precursor excretion, erythrocyte protoporphyrin, and antipyrine clearance, were measured in 6 patients with RA before and 10 weeks after commencement of intramuscular gold.

Predicting who develops chronic low back pain in primary care: a prospective study.

Objectives: To quantify the relative contribution of premorbid and episode specific factors in determining the long term persistence of disabling symptoms of low back pain.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Two general practices in the south Manchester area.

The "distal-dorsal difference" as a possible predictor of secondary Raynaud's phenomenon.

Objective: To investigate the possibility that a hand distal-dorsal difference in temperature of greater than 1 degree C (fingers colder than the dorsum) at a room temperature of 30 degrees C is a good predictor of secondary Raynaud's phenomenon (RP).

Methods: We imaged the hands of patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon (PRP) and systemic sclerosis (SSc) using a thermal camera at room temperatures of 23 and 30 degrees C. From these images we measured the distal-dorsal difference in temperature for all fingers excluding the thumbs.

Laser doppler imaging--a new technique for quantifying microcirculatory flow in patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon and systemic sclerosis.

This was a pilot study to investigate the new technique of laser Doppler imaging (scanning laser Doppler) as a tool to quantify microvascular blood flow in the digits of patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon (PRP) and systemic sclerosis (SSc), and to determine in the first instance whether the flux patterns obtained differ between patients with SSc, patients with PRP, and healthy control subjects. Laser Doppler images of the dorsum of the hand and fingers were acquired at 23 and 30 degrees C in 17 healthy control subjects, 7 patients with PRP, 9 patients with the diffuse cutaneous variant of SSc, and 24 patients with the limited cutaneous variant of SSc. Different flux parameters were compared between groups.