Integrating medical biostatistics into postgraduate medical curriculum.

Background: Knowledge of biostatistics is important for a health professional to understand research methods, analyse new information presented in scientific journals and to assess its relevance for their clinical practice.

Methods: We discuss the implementation of biostatistics in medical curricula, give perspectives on medical education in India, and narrate our own experience of integration of biostatistics into the medical curriculum.

Results: Biostatistics is still not a part of all postgraduate curricula in spite of its growing importance for all medical practitioners in the 21st century.

The role of kinesitherapy and electrotherapeutic procedures in non-operative management of patients with intermittent claudications.

Purpose: To examine the effects of physical therapy (kinesitherapy and electrotherapeutic procedures) on the course of peripheral arterial occlusive disease by monitoring the changes in values of claudication distance and ankle-brachial indexes.

Methods: Prospective randomized study included 47 patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease manifested by intermittent claudications associated with ankle-brachial indexes values ranging from 0.5 to 0.

The assessment of acid-base analysis: comparison of the "traditional" and the "modern" approaches.

Three distinct approaches are currently used in assessing acid-base disorders: the traditional - physiological or bicarbonate-centered approach, the base-excess approach, and the "modern" physicochemical approach proposed by Peter Stewart, which uses the strong ion difference (particularly the sodium chloride difference) and the concentration of nonvolatile weak acids (particularly albumin) and partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO(2)) as independent variables in the assessment of acid-base status. The traditional approach developed from the pioneering work of Henderson and Hasselbalch and the base-excess are still most widely used in clinical practice, even though there are a number of problems identified with this approach. The approach works well clinically and is recommended for use whenever serum total protein, albumin and phosphate concentrations are normal.

[The selection of best anesthesiological technique for hip fracture surgery in older high-risk patients].

Introduction: Hip fracture is a pathological condition, more common in older age, i.e. in people over 65 years.

[Possible factors for ankle fractures].

Background/aim: Classification of ankle fractures is commonly used for selecting an appropriate treatment and prognosing an outcome of definite management. One of the most used classifications is the Danis-Weber classification. To the best of our knowledge, in the available literature, there are no parameters affecting specific types of ankle fractures according to the Danis-Weber classification.

[Assessment of health-related quality of life of patients with chronic arthritis].

The assessment of the quality of life as a subjective measure of therapeutic intervention outcome appears to be increasingly adopted by different fields of medicine. In contrast to conventional indicators of condition, which are recognized as objective outcomes, the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) focuses on the patient himself. HRQoL has been determined as the perception of the individual of his or her situation in the current culture and value system; it includes wishes, expectations and emotional responses of the individual related to his or her health.

Assessment of functional disability and quality of life in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

Introduction: Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic progressive autoimmune inflammatory disorder involving mainly the axial skeleton and larger peripheral joints that progressively limits spinal mobility and may lead to irreversible structural changes and consequently to impaired physical function and reduced quality of life.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess functional disability and quality of life of patients with ankylosing spondylitis and determine the correlation between functional disability and quality of life.

Methods: The study enrolled 74 patients with ankylosing spondylitis (16 females and 58 males).

Relationship between spinal mobility measures and quality of life in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

The aim of this study was to assess spinal mobility status and Quality of life (QoL) of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and determine the relationship between spinal mobility and measures of clinical condition including QoL. A total of 74 patients with AS were included in this study. Disease specific instruments Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index (BASMI), Bath Ankylosing Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) and Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) were applied, and mobility testing: occiput-wall distance and chest expansion.