Self-Administered Acupressure for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial.

Objective Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is associated with fatigue, pain, poor sleep, and disability. Acupressure is a low-risk treatment option used to manage symptoms in other groups, but its efficacy, particularly on fatigue and sleep, is unknown in CLBP. This study examined preliminary effects of two types of self-administered acupressure (relaxing and stimulating) on fatigue, pain, sleep, and reported disability.

Academic institution pilot study shows far fewer diagnoses of sinusitis than reported nationally.

Objective: To compare the prevalence of acute sinusitis (AS) and chronic sinusitis (CS) diagnosed by primary care and emergency medicine physicians in our academic institution to national data.

Study Design: Cross-sectional pilot study of institutional census data and a population-based national sample. The setting was primary care and emergency departments at an academic healthcare institution and community healthcare practices nationally.

Quality of consumer-targeted internet guidance on home firearm and ammunition storage.

Background And Objectives: Four storage practices protect against unintentional and/or self-inflicted firearm injury among children and adolescents: keeping guns locked (1) and unloaded (2) and keeping ammunition locked up (3) and in a separate location from the guns (4). Our aim was to mimic common Google search strategies on firearm/ammunition storage and assess whether the resulting web pages provided recommendations consistent with those supported by the literature.

Methods: We identified 87 web pages by Google search of the 10 most commonly used search terms in the USA related to firearm/ammunition storage.

A diagnostic dilemma: chronic sinusitis diagnosed by non-otolaryngologists.

Background: Ambulatory care visits for chronic sinusitis outnumber visits for acute sinusitis. The majority of these visits are with non-otolaryngologists. In order to better understand patients diagnosed with chronic sinusitis by non-otolaryngologists, we sought to determine if incident cases of chronic sinusitis diagnosed by primary care (PC) or emergency medicine (EM) providers meet diagnostic criteria.

Diagnosis and treatment of acute sinusitis in the primary care setting: A retrospective cohort.

Objectives And Hypothesis: Our objectives were to characterize the quality of acute sinusitis care and to identify nonclinical factors associated with antibiotic use for acute sinusitis. We hypothesized that we would identify provider-level factors associated with antibiotic use.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort at a single academic institution.

Ultrasound shear wave elastography helps discriminate low-grade from high-grade bowel wall fibrosis in ex vivo human intestinal specimens.

Objectives: To determine whether bowel wall fibrosis can be detected in freshly resected human intestinal specimens based on ultrasound-derived shear wave speed.

Methods: Seventeen intact (>3-cm) bowel segments (15 small and 2 large intestine) from 12 patients with known or suspected inflammatory bowel disease were procured immediately after surgical resection. Ultrasound shear wave elastography of the bowel wall was performed by two methods (Virtual Touch Quantification [VTQ] and Virtual Touch-IQ [VT-IQ]; Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc, Mountain View, CA).

Adrenal Incidentaloma triage with single-source (fast-kilovoltage switch) dual-energy CT.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to evaluate single-source dual-energy CT (DECT) for distinguishing benign and indeterminate adrenal nodules, with attention to the effects of phase of IV contrast enhancement.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective review revealed 273 contrast-enhanced abdominal DECT examinations from November 2009 through March 2012. Fifty adrenal nodules 0.

Is venous foot pump effective in prevention of thromboembolic disease after joint arthroplasty: a meta-analysis.

The goal of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy of venous foot pumps in prevention of venous thromboembolism following joint arthroplasty. Using different databases, we found 13 prospective clinical trials published meeting our inclusion criteria. In total, 1514 patients were included in the final analysis.

Revision total hip arthroplasty in octogenarians. A case-control study.

Background: Revision total hip arthroplasty in the very elderly is believed to be associated with a high complication rate. We evaluated the early outcomes and prevalence of complications following revision total hip arthroplasty in patients older than eighty years of age and compared them with those in a younger patient population.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the results of 170 revision total hip arthroplasties that had been performed in 159 octogenarians in our institute between 1992 and 1999.