Resting heart rate and mortality in the very old.

The number of very old individuals in the population is rapidly increasing. Previous studies have indicated that many factors known to be strongly associated with survival among middle-aged and elderly show no association among the oldest old. Resting heart rate (RHR) is associated with increased risk of death in the general population as well as in patients with various types of heart disease.

Increasing population height and risk of incident atrial fibrillation: the Copenhagen City Heart Study.

Aims: The incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF) has increased significantly over the last decades. Population height is changing in many countries. Height is an important risk factor for AF.

Resting Heart Rate Is Not Associated with Cognitive Function.

Aims: In order to examine the hypothesis that elevated resting heart rate (RHR) is associated with impaired cognitive score, we investigated the relationship between RHR and cognitive score in middle-aged, elderly and old Danish subjects from the general population.

Methods: Composite cognitive scores derived from the result of 5 age-sensitive cognitive tests for a total of 7,002 individuals (Middle-aged Danish twin: n = 4,132, elderly Danish twins: n = 2,104 and Danish nonagenarian: n = 766) divided according to RHR and compared using linear regression models adjusted for sex, age, previous heart conditions and hypertension. RHR was assessed by palpating radial pulse.

Heritability of resting heart rate and association with mortality in middle-aged and elderly twins.

Objective: Resting heart rate (RHR) possibly has a hereditary component and is associated with longevity. We used the classical biometric twin study design to investigate the heritability of RHR in a population of middle-aged and elderly twins and, furthermore, studied the association between RHR and mortality.

Methods: In total, 4282 twins without cardiovascular disease were included from the Danish Twin Registry, hereof 1233 twin pairs and 1816 'single twins' (twins with a non-participating co-twin); mean age 61.

Investigation of the mechanisms of action behind Electromotive Drug Administration (EMDA).

Objective: Bladder cancer is a cause of considerable morbidity worldwide. Electromotive Drug Administration is a method that combines intravesical chemotherapy with local electric field application. Electroporation has been suggested among other mechanisms as having a possible role in the therapy, so the goal of the present study was to investigate the electric fields present in the bladder wall during the treatment to determine which mechanisms might be involved.

Navicular bone position determined by positional MRI: a reproducibility study.

Objective: To examine intraobserver, interobserver and between-day reproducibility of positional MRI for evaluation of navicular bone height (NVH) and medial navicular position (MNP).

Materials And Methods: Positional MRI (pMRI) of the foot was performed on ten healthy participants (0.25 T G-scanner).

Which factors influence radiographic progression during treatment with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors in clinical practice? Results from 930 patients with rheumatoid arthritis in the nationwide Danish DANBIO registry.

Objective: To investigate baseline characteristics associated with radiographic progression and the effect of disease activity, drug, switching, and withdrawal on radiographic progression in tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor-naive patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) followed for about 2 years after anti-TNF initiation in clinical practice.

Methods: DANBIO-registered patients with RA who had available radiographs (anti-TNF initiation and ∼2 yrs followup) were included. Radiographs were scored, blinded to chronology with the Sharp/van der Heijde method and linked with DANBIO data.

Immediate efficacy of neuromuscular exercise in patients with severe osteoarthritis of the hip or knee: a secondary analysis from a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Knowledge about the effects of exercise in severe and endstage osteoarthritis (OA) is limited. The aim was to evaluate the efficacy of a neuromuscular exercise program in patients with clinically severe hip or knee OA.

Methods: This was a randomized controlled assessor-blinded trial.

Carotid intima-media thickness is reduced 12 months after gastric bypass surgery in obese patients with type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance.

Aim: To investigate whether Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery (RYGB) - an in vivo model for normalisation of hyperglycaemia - improves carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D)/impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and normal glucose tolerance (NGT).

Methods: Observational prospective study, 34 obese patients (T2D (n = 14)/IGT (n = 4), and NGT (n = 16)) were investigated before and six and 12months after RYGB.

Results: Mean carotid IMT was significantly reduced 12months after RYGB in patients with T2D/IGT (-0.

Preferences of patients and health professionals for route and frequency of administration of biologic agents in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: To examine the preferences of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and health professionals (HPs) for the route and frequency of administration of biologic drugs.

Methods: One hundred and seven RA patients treated with biological agents for intravenous or subcutaneous use, 35 biologic-naïve RA patients treated with a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug and 30 rheumatology HPs (physicians and nurses) were recruited from two outpatient clinics in Copenhagen, Denmark. All subjects filled out a questionnaire interrogating their choice of preferred route and frequency of administration of a biologic corresponding to current available options, given that effects, adverse effects, and financial costs were identical for the different choices.

Investigating the causal effect of vitamin D on serum adiponectin using a Mendelian randomization approach.

Background/objectives: The aim was to examine the causal effect of vitamin D on serum adiponectin using a multiple instrument Mendelian randomization approach.

Subjects/methods: Serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) and serum total or high molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin were measured in two Danish population-based studies: the Inter99 study (6405 adults, 30-60 years) conducted in 1999-2001, and the MONICA10 study (2656 adults, 41-71 years) conducted in 1993-1994.

Results: In the Inter99 study, serum 25(OH)D was positively associated with total adiponectin (the effect estimate in % per doubling of 25(OH)D was 4.

How to perform a systematic search.

All medical practice and research must be evidence-based, as far as this is possible. With medical knowledge constantly growing, it has become necessary to possess a high level of information literacy to stay competent and professional. Furthermore, as patients can now search information on the Internet, clinicians must be able to respond to this type of information in a professional way, when needed.

Experimental knee joint pain during strength training and muscle strength gain in healthy subjects: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Knee joint pain and reduced quadriceps strength are cardinal symptoms in many knee pathologies. In people with painful knee pathologies, quadriceps exercise reduces pain, improves physical function, and increases muscle strength. A general assumption is that pain compromises muscle function and thus may prevent effective rehabilitation.

Adaptations in the gait pattern with experimental hamstring pain.

Pain changes movement but most studies have focused on basic physiological adaptations during non-functional movement tasks. The existing studies on how pain affects lower extremity gross movement biomechanics have primarily involved movements in which the quadriceps is the primary muscle and little attention has been given to how pain in other muscles affects functional movement. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in the gait patterns of healthy subjects that occur during experimental muscle pain in the biceps femoris.

Effects of an intensive weight loss program on knee joint loading in obese adults with knee osteoarthritis.

Objective: To determine the effect of an intensive weight loss program on knee joint loads during walking in obese patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: Participants included 157 obese knee OA patients that underwent a 16-week dietary intervention. Three-dimensional gait analyses were performed before and after the intervention at the participants' freely chosen walking speed.

Osteoarthritis - a role for weight management in rheumatology practice: an update.

Osteoarthritis (OA) and obesity are related diseases, which occur in a large proportion of the population. Epidemiological evidence show that weight is of great importance for the development of OA in the knee, and to some extent also in hip and finger joints. Once acquired, the OA contributes to further weight problems by decreasing the daily activity level.

Diagnostic and prognostic evaluation of left ventricular systolic heart failure by plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide concentrations in a large sample of the general population.

Objective: To evaluate N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for systolic heart failure in the general population.

Design: Study participants, randomly selected to be representative of the background population, filled in a heart failure questionnaire and underwent pulse and blood pressure measurements, electrocardiography, echocardiography, and blood sampling and were followed up for a median (range) period of 805 (60-1171) days.

Setting: Participants were recruited from four randomly selected general practitioners and were examined in a Copenhagen university hospital.

The influence of age, sex and other variables on the plasma level of N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide in a large sample of the general population.

Objective: To identify potentially confounding variables for the interpretation of plasma N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP).

Design: Randomly selected subjects filled in a heart failure questionnaire and underwent pulse and blood pressure measurements, ECG, echocardiography, and blood sampling.

Setting: Subjects were recruited from four Copenhagen general practices located in the same urban area and were examined in a Copenhagen University Hospital.

Neurohumoral prediction of left-ventricular morphologic response to beta-blockade with metoprolol in chronic left-ventricular systolic heart failure.

Background: In order to tailor therapy in heart failure, a solution might be to develop sensitive and reliable markers that can predict response in individual patients or monitor effectiveness of therapy.

Aims: To evaluate neurohumoral factors as markers for left-ventricular (LV) antiremodelling from metoprolol treatment in patients with chronic LV systolic heart failure.

Methods: Forty-one subjects randomised to placebo or metoprolol were studied with magnetic resonance imaging and blood samples to measure LV dimensions and ejection fraction, epinephrine, norepinephrine, plasma renin activity, aldosterone, atrial (ANP) and brain natriuretic peptides, arginine-vasopressin and endothelin-1 at baseline, 5 weeks and 6 months after randomisation.

Detection of left ventricular enlargement and impaired systolic function with plasma N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide concentrations.

Background: Brain- and N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) have been identified as promising markers for heart failure. However, previous studies have revealed that they may hold insufficient diagnostic power for implementation into clinical practice because of a significant overlap in the range of plasma levels between healthy subjects and subjects with heart failure. We hypothesized that imprecision of the reference method (ie, the echocardiographic evaluation of left ventricular [LV] function) may have affected results from those earlier studies.