Serum-free, xeno-free culture media maintain the proliferation rate and multipotentiality of adipose stem cells in vitro.

Background Aims: Human adipose stem cells (ASC) are an abundant, readily available population of multipotent progenitor cells that reside in adipose tissue. ASC have been shown to have therapeutic applicability in pre-clinical studies, but a standardized expansion method for clinical cell therapy has yet to be established. Isolated ASC are typically expanded in medium containing fetal bovine serum (FBS); however, sera and other culturing reagents of animal origin in clinical therapy pose numerous safety issues, including possible infections and severe immune reactions.

Mortality of Finnish acute psychiatric hospital patients.

Objective: The mortality of psychiatric patients is higher than that of the general population. Earlier studies have typically focused on specific diagnostic categories or causes of death. The aim of this study was to assess the overall mortality in acute psychiatric hospital patients covering all diagnostic groups, with special emphasis on substance abuse.

Botulinum toxin type A injections into the calf muscles for treatment of spastic equinus in cerebral palsy: a randomized trial comparing single and multiple injection sites.

Objective: To investigate the hypothesis that the multiple-site injection technique is associated with better outcomes than the single-point injection method in children with cerebral palsy and spastic equinus gait.

Design: A total of 17 children (nine boys, eight girls ages 1.8-9.

An association of serum vitamin D concentrations < 40 nmol/L with acute respiratory tract infection in young Finnish men.

Background: The effects of vitamin D in regulating bone mineralization are well documented. The action of vitamin D as a key link between Toll-like receptor activation and antibacterial responses in innate immunity has recently been shown. The data suggest that differences in the ability of human populations to produce vitamin D may contribute to susceptibility to microbial infection.

Psychometric properties of the 20-item toronto alexithymia scale and prevalence of alexithymia in a finnish adolescent population.

The authors assessed, in an adolescent population sample, the internal consistency, test-retest stability, and factor structure of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and established the frequency of alexithymia in this age-group. Pupils (N=882; age-groups: 14-, 15-, and 16-year-olds) from two secondary schools completed the TAS-20 questionnaire twice, with a 5-week interval, in a classroom survey setting. TAS total and subscale scores and proportion of subjects exceeding the cut-point for alexithymia are reported for boys and girls.

Bone stress injuries of the ankle and foot: an 86-month magnetic resonance imaging-based study of physically active young adults.

Background: No comprehensive studies of bone stress injuries in the ankle and foot based on magnetic resonance imaging findings have been published.

Purpose: Using magnetic resonance imaging findings to assess incidence, location, and type of bone stress injuries of the ankle and foot in military conscripts with ankle and/or foot pain.

Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4.

Association between serum 25(OH)D concentrations and bone stress fractures in Finnish young men.

Unlabelled: Low vitamin D level may predict rickets, osteomalacia, or osteoporosis. We examined serum 25(OH)D concentration as a predisposing factor for bone stress fracture in 756 military recruits. The average serum 25(OH)D concentration was significantly lower in the group with fracture, suggesting a relationship between vitamin D and fatigue bone stress fracture.

Efficacy of clinical supervision: influence on job satisfaction, burnout and quality of care.

Aim: This paper reports a study to determine how supervisees' backgrounds and surrounding infrastructure predict the efficacy of clinical supervision among Finnish nursing staff, their job satisfaction, levels of burnout and perceptions of the quality of care.

Background: Several studies have described the effects of clinical supervision, but few have focused on evaluating it. Until recently, no studies have examined how clinical supervision evaluations are related to supervisees' backgrounds, surrounding infrastructure or respondents' levels of burnout, job satisfaction and perceptions of the quality of care.

Bone stress injuries causing exercise-induced knee pain.

Background: No comprehensive studies of bone stress injuries in the knee based on magnetic resonance imaging findings have been published.

Purpose: Assess the incidence, location, nature, and patterns of bone stress injuries in the knee in military conscripts with exercise-induced knee pain.

Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4.

Botulinum toxin treatment of spastic equinus in cerebral palsy: a randomized trial comparing two injection sites.

Objective: To explore the clinical relevance of injection site by comparing two different injection techniques in children with cerebral palsy who have spastic equinus gait.

Design: A total of 19 children (13 boys, 6 girls; range, 1 yr 6 mos to 7 yrs; nine hemiplegics, eight diplegics, two quadriplegics; levels I to IV with the Gross Motor Function Classification System) participated in the study. The children were randomized into two groups: the proximal group received a botulinum toxin A injection into the proximal part of both heads of the gastrocnemius, and the distal group received a botulinum toxin A injection into the mid-belly of the muscle bulks.

One-year outcome of elderly inpatients with major depressive disorder treated with ECT and antidepressants.

We report the acute response and outcome in 1-year follow-up of 51 elderly depressive inpatients with major depressive disorder treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) (n = 30) and/or antidepressant therapy (n = 21). The patients were assessed at admission, at discharge, and after 1 year according to the Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Clinical Global Impression Scale. The acute response was good.