Models for predicting type 1 diabetes in siblings of affected children.

Objective: To generate predictive models for the assessment of risk of type 1 diabetes and age at diagnosis in siblings of children with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: Cox regression analysis was used to assess the risk of progression to type 1 diabetes, and multiple regression analysis was used to estimate the age at disease presentation in 701 siblings of affected children. Sociodemographic, genetic, and immunological variables were included in the analyses.

Apolipoprotein E polymorphism is not a predictor for repeated coronary artery bypass surgery.

Objectives: Factors leading to the occlusion of coronary grafts are diverse and may at least partially be inherited. We aimed to study the possible genetic predisposition and especially the role of apoE epsilon4 allele as a risk factor for repeated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in a case-control setting.

Design: All patients (n=184) who underwent repeated CABG between 1990 and 1998 were identified in the computed registry of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in Tampere University Hospital.

The effect of home biofeedback training on stress incontinence.

Background: To compare the effectiveness of pelvic floor training (PFT) with the aid of a home biofeedback device to PFT alone for urodynamic stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in women after a 1-year follow-up.

Methods: A randomized study comparing two conservative interventions was conducted in an outpatient clinic of a university hospital. Thirty-five consecutive women were randomized to either the PFT with home biofeedback group or the PFT alone group.

Management of acute maxillary sinusitis in Finnish primary care. Results from the nationwide MIKSTRA study.

Objectives: To study the management of acute maxillary sinusitis (AMS) in Finnish primary care and to compare it both to recommendations in national guidelines and to the management of other upper respiratory tract infections (URTI).

Design: A cross-sectional multi-centre epidemiological survey.

Setting: Thirty primary care health centres in Finland.

Effect of macrolide consumption on erythromycin resistance in Streptococcus pyogenes in Finland in 1997-2001.

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between regional macrolide resistance in Streptococcus pyogenes and macrolide use in Finland. During 1997-2001, a total of 50,875 S. pyogenes isolates were tested for erythromycin susceptibility in clinical microbiology laboratories throughout Finland.

Is physical activity influenced by urinary incontinence?

Objective: To evaluate physical activity among urinary incontinent women seeking treatment and to assess the change of physical activity after treatment.

Design: Part of a prospective observational intervention study to examine the factors influencing the severity of urinary incontinence.

Setting: Tampere University Hospital-referral unit.

Do objective urodynamic or clinical findings determine impact of urinary incontinence or its treatment on quality of life?

Objectives: To correlate the clinical and urodynamic parameters with two measures of incontinence-specific quality of life (QOL), to describe the changes in those measures after treatment, and to explore the factors determining these changes.

Methods: A total of 82 incontinent women (mean age 52 years, range 28 to 80) underwent urodynamics testing and a 48-hour pad test. They also completed the frequency/volume chart, estimated the degree of bother from urinary incontinence using the visual analog scale (VAS), and completed a validated QOL instrument--the Urinary Incontinence Severity Score (UISS).

Transient loss of consciousness with and without injuries: where to treat these patients?

Objectives: Transient loss of consciousness (LOC) is a fairly common phenomenon and frequently carries a risk of injury. The aim was to study the occurrence of injuries and causes of emergency referrals versus later specialist consultation in association with LOC in the primary healthcare setting.

Methods: A four-month survey was carried out in the Primary Healthcare Emergency Department of the City of Tampere, Finland (198,000 inhabitants).

Oral prednisolone in the acute management of children age 6 to 35 months with viral respiratory infection-induced lower airway disease: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of oral prednisolone in virally induced respiratory distress. Study design Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 230 children age 6 to 35 months in the emergency department. Each patient received either oral prednisolone (2 mg/kg/d) or placebo for 3 days.

The impact of somatic health problems on insomnia in middle age.

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the impact on insomnia symptoms of somatic diseases, psychological factors, living habits and life events during the previous year.

Background: Although health problems are a significant cause of insomnia, psychosocial factors are considered to be even more important. The relative impact of these and other factors on insomnia calls for further evaluation.

A new table for work with a microscope, a solution to ergonomic problems.

Microscope workers are exposed to continuous static muscular work and an increased risk of musculoskeletal disorders in the neck, shoulder and upper extremities. In a Finnish research centre, microscope workers reported pain in the shoulder, neck, lower back and upper back. As a consequence, a programme to solve the ergonomic problems of microscope work was initiated and led to the construction of a new table for microscopes.

Change in the prevalence of coronary heart disease among Finnish elderly men and women in the 1990s.

Objective: To characterise the prevalence of, and changes in, coronary heart disease (CHD) among men and women aged between 64 and 71 years in the 1990s.

Design: A study of clinical epidemiology involving two cohorts of elderly persons in 1990-1991 and 1998-1999.

Setting: Primary health care in the municipality of Lieto in southwestern Finland.

Prospective analysis of accuracy of positron emission tomography, computed tomography, and endoscopic ultrasonography in staging of adenocarcinoma of the esophagus and the esophagogastric junction.

Background: Exact preoperative staging of esophageal cancer is essential for accurate prognosis and selection of appropriate treatment modalities.

Methods: Forty-two patients with adenocarcinoma of the esophagus or the esophagogastric junction suitable for radical esophageal resection were staged with positron emission tomography (PET), spiral computed tomography (CT), and endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS).

Results: Diagnostic sensitivity for the primary tumor was 83% for PET and 67% for CT; for local peritumoral lymph node metastasis, it was 37% for PET and 89% for EUS; and for distant metastasis, it was 47% for PET and 33% for CT.

Electroencephalographic burst suppression versus loss of reflexes anesthesia with propofol or thiopental: differences of variance in the catecholamine and cardiovascular response to tracheal intubation.

Unlabelled: The electroencephalographic burst suppression pattern (BSP) might indicate the brain's effect-site concentration of anesthetics more precisely than clinical signs and thus eliminate bias from studies on the reaction to tracheal intubation after different induction drugs. To test this hypothesis, we compared the catecholamine and cardiovascular responses and their variances to tracheal intubation when either BSP was induced by infusion of propofol (30 mg x kg(-1) x h(-1); n = 14) or thiopental (75 mg x kg(-1) x h(-1); n = 14) or anesthesia by repeated bolus doses until loss of reflexes (LR), initially of propofol 2.5 mg/kg (n = 15) or thiopental 5 mg/kg (n = 15).

Severe depression determines quality of life in urinary incontinent women.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to assess depression and anxiety in urinary incontinent women and to investigate factors influencing their self-perception of urinary incontinence severity.

Methods: In this prospective study, 82 incontinent women estimated the severity of urinary incontinence using a visual analogue scale and completed a validated quality of life instrument: urinary incontinence severity score. Psychiatrists evaluated depression and anxiety using a structured interview of Hamilton Depression and Hamilton Anxiety Scales.

Effectiveness of dynamic muscle training, relaxation training, or ordinary activity for chronic neck pain: randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of dynamic muscle training and relaxation training for chronic neck pain.

Design: Randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Five occupational healthcare centres, Tampere, Finland.

Respiratory health of cobalt production workers.

Background: Cobalt production workers are exposed to metallic cobalt and nickel and their compounds and to different irritant gases. The aim of our study was to determine whether long-term exposure is associated with an increased occurrence of respiratory symptoms and findings or diseases, other than asthma, which is a known hazard, among cobalt processing workers.

Methods: The study population was comprised of 110 current and former cobalt workers who had worked more than 10 years in a cobalt plant.

Frontal sinus and skull bone defect obliteration with three synthetic bioactive materials. A comparative study.

Three synthetic bioactive materials were studied in an experimental model to compare their usability in a frontal sinus and a skull bone defect obliteration. Bioactive glass number 9 (BAG(1)), bioactive glass number 13 (BAG(2)), and hydroxyapatite (HA) granules were investigated. BAG(1) and HA granules have been previously tested clinically.

Hallux valgus: immediate operation versus 1 year of waiting with or without orthoses: a randomized controlled trial of 209 patients.

Hallux valgus operations can not always be done immediately because of long waiting lists. In this study, 209 consecutive patients (mean age 48 years, 93% female) with a painful hallux valgus were randomized into 3 groups: immediate operation or 1 year waiting with or without foot orthoses. The follow-up period was 2 years.

Adolescent subjective well-being and family dynamics.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between adolescent subjective well-being (SWB) and family dynamics perceived by adolescents and their parents. A sample of 239 pupils (51% female) from seventh and ninth grades completed the Berne questionnaire of SWB (youth form), two subscales from an original Finnish SWB scale and the Family Dynamics Measure II, and one of their parents (n = 239) filled in the Family Dynamics Measure II. Results indicated that parents assessed family dynamics better than did their adolescent child.

Evaluation of a new cellulose sponge-tipped swab for microbiological sampling: a laboratory and clinical investigation.

A new type of swab (Cellswab; Cellomeda, Turku, Finland), utilizing a highly absorbent cellulose viscose sponge material, was compared to some traditional swabs. The survival of 14 aerobic and 10 anaerobic and microaerophilic bacterial species in the Cellswab, two commercial swab transport systems (Copan, Brescia, Italy, and Orion Diagnostica, Espoo, Finland), and one Dacron swab (Technical Service Consultants Ltd. [TSC], Heywood, United Kingdom) was evaluated.

Transient loss of consciousness as reason for admission to primary health care emergency room.

Objective: To study the occurrence and main causes of transient loss of consciousness in primary health care.

Design: A 4-month prospective survey.

Setting: Primary health care emergency room of the City of Tampere, Finland.

Oxidized LDL autoantibodies are related to apolipoprotein E phenotype, independently of postprandial change in plasma triglycerides and LDL size, among patients with angiographically verified coronary artery disease and healthy controls.

Objective: Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) autoantibodies (oxLDLab), apolipoprotein E (apoE) phenotype, postprandial triglyceride changes and LDL size are suggested to be risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD). Our aim was to study the interaction between these new risk factors among patients with CAD and healthy controls.

Methods: oxLDLab from 31 men with angiographically verified CAD and 31 healthy men were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Apolipoprotein E gene polymorphism, hypercholesterolemia and glomerular filtration rate in type 2 diabetic subjects: a 9-year follow-up study.

Objective: To study the association between apolipoprotein E (apoE) genotype and the rate of decline in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in type 2 diabetic patients in a 9-year prospective study.

Methods: GFR was determined in 84 type 2 diabetic patients by plasma clearance of (51)Cr-EDTA at baseline and after 9 years of follow-up. ApoE genotypes were determined by polymerase chain reaction and restriction enzyme HHAI digestion and designated as epsilon4 allele group (apoE4/2, 4/3 and 4/4 genotypes; n = 20) and non-epsilon4 allele group (apoE3/3 and E3/2 genotypes; n = 64).

Absence of association between an intercellular adhesion molecule 1 gene E469K polymorphism and Alzheimer's disease in Finnish patients.

Increased expression of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM1), a protein known to contribute to inflammatory responses, has been detected in the brain tissue of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and animals modelled to mimic AD or Parkinson's disease (PD). ICAM1 may, thus, be implicated in the pathogenesis of these disorders. Our purpose was to investigate whether genetic variants of the ICAM1 gene have a role in causing susceptibility to AD and/or PD.