Induced Granulation Tissue but not Artificial Dermis Enhances Early Host-Graft Interactions in Full-Thickness Burn Wounds.

Background: Cellular grafts used for skin repair require rapid integration with the host tissue to remain viable and especially to nourish the epidermal cells. Here, we evaluated the responses in the split-thickness skin grafts (STSGs) grafted on three differently treated wound beds: directly on excised wound bed (EX), on an artificial dermal template (DT) and on granulation tissue (GT) induced by cellulose sponge.

Methods: In ten burn patients, after excision, a test area was divided into three sections: One transplanted with STSG instantaneously and two sections had a pre-treatment for 2 weeks with either DT or a cellulose sponge inducing granulation tissue formation and thereafter grafted with STSGs.

Unexpectedly High Prevalence of Common Variable Immunodeficiency in Finland.

Background: Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most common primary immunodeficiency. Prevalence varies greatly between countries and studies. Most diagnostic criteria include hypogammaglobulinemia and impaired vaccine response.

Long-term clinical outcomes, health-related quality of life, and costs in different treatment modalities of stable coronary artery disease.

Aims: This study is a prospective, observational 8-year follow-up of 300 stable unselected coronary artery disease patients entering elective coronary angiography in 2002-03. Recorded were clinical outcomes, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and secondary care costs after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), or medical therapy (MT).

Methods And Results: HRQoL was measured by the 15D instrument at baseline, 6 months, and 8 years.

Why Does the Health-Related Quality of Life in Idiopathic Normal-Pressure Hydrocephalus Fail to Improve Despite the Favorable Clinical Outcome?

Objective: Occasionally, a favorable clinical disease-specific outcome does not reflect into improved generic health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) at 1 year after the installation of a cerebrospinal fluid shunt. Our aim was to identify factors causing this discrepancy.

Methods: The 1-year HRQoL outcomes of 141 patients with iNPH were evaluated with the generic 15D instrument, in which the minimum clinically important change/difference on the 0-1 scale has been estimated to be ±0.

Incidence and risk factors of exercise-related knee disorders in young adult men.

Background: Musculoskeletal disorders and injuries are common causes of morbidity and loss of active, physically demanding training days in military populations. We evaluated the incidence, diagnosis, and risk factors of knee disorders and injuries in male Finnish military conscripts.

Methods: The study population comprised 5 cohorts of 1000 men performing their military service, classified according to birth year (1969, 1974, 1979, 1984, and 1989).

An interaction map of circulating metabolites, immune gene networks, and their genetic regulation.

Background: Immunometabolism plays a central role in many cardiometabolic diseases. However, a robust map of immune-related gene networks in circulating human cells, their interactions with metabolites, and their genetic control is still lacking. Here, we integrate blood transcriptomic, metabolomic, and genomic profiles from two population-based cohorts (total N = 2168), including a subset of individuals with matched multi-omic data at 7-year follow-up.

Delayed return of spontaneous circulation (the Lazarus phenomenon) after cessation of out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Introduction: The delayed return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) after cessation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), also known as the Lazarus phenomenon, is a rare event described in several case reports. This study aims to determine the incidence and the time of occurrence of the Lazarus phenomenon after cessation of out-of-hospital CPR.

Methods: This prospective observational cohort study was conducted in the Helsinki Emergency Medical Service in Finland from 1 January 2011 through 31 December 2016.

Change in body mass index during transition to statutory retirement: an occupational cohort study.

Background: Retirement is a major life transition affecting health behaviors. The aim of this study was to examine within-individual changes in body mass index (BMI) during transition from full-time work to statutory retirement by sex and physical work characteristics.

Methods: A multiwave cohort study repeated every 4 years and data linkage to records from retirement registers.

National Rates of Uterine Rupture are not Associated with Rates of Previous Caesarean Delivery: Results from the Nordic Obstetric Surveillance Study.

Background: Previous caesarean delivery and intended mode of delivery after caesarean are well-known individual risk factors for uterine rupture. We examined if different national rates of uterine rupture are associated with differences in national rates of previous caesarean delivery and intended mode of delivery after a previous caesarean delivery.

Methods: This study is an ecological study based on data from a retrospective cohort in the Nordic countries.

Cluster analysis to estimate the risk of preeclampsia in the high-risk Prediction and Prevention of Preeclampsia and Intrauterine Growth Restriction (PREDO) study.

Objectives: Preeclampsia is divided into early-onset (delivery before 34 weeks of gestation) and late-onset (delivery at or after 34 weeks) subtypes, which may rise from different etiopathogenic backgrounds. Early-onset disease is associated with placental dysfunction. Late-onset disease develops predominantly due to metabolic disturbances, obesity, diabetes, lipid dysfunction, and inflammation, which affect endothelial function.

Internet-based learning programme to increase nurses' knowledge level about venous leg ulcer care in home health care.

Aims And Objectives: To test the effectiveness of an Internet-based education programme about venous leg ulcer nursing care on perceived and theoretical knowledge levels and attitudes among nurses working in home health care.

Background: Nurses have been shown to have knowledge gaps in venous leg ulcer nursing care. Internet-based learning could offer a means for flexible continuing education for home healthcare environment.

Motility of glioblastoma cells is driven by netrin-1 induced gain of stemness.

Background: Glioblastoma is an untreatable brain cancer. The tumors contain a population of stem-like cells which are highly invasive and resistant to therapies. These cells are the main reason for the lethality of glioblastoma.

FIN-TIERA: A Tool for Assessing Technology Induced Errors.

Background: Due to the complexity of healthcare processes, the potential for Health Information Systems (HIS) to cause technology-induced errors is a growing concern. Health Information Technology (HIT) errors nearly always threaten good patient care and can lead to patient harm. Instruments to allow hospitals to proactively identify areas of Electronic Health Records (EHR) safety, to set priorities and to intervene before incidents occur are currently underdeveloped.

Re-treatment with varenicline is a cost-effective aid for smoking cessation.

Objective: One quit attempt with varenicline has been found to be a cost-effective smoking cessation intervention. The purpose of this study was to analyze varenicline's cost-effectiveness in patients who relapse during or after the first treatment. A comparison was made between re-treatment schema with varenicline and re-treatment schema with bupropion, NRT and unaided cessation, and treatment once with varenicline in a Finnish context.

Population-based study of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Background: The incidence of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) and their rupture has been reported to be decreasing. The aim was to evaluate trends in ruptured AAA (rAAA) incidence in the hospital district of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS) in southern Finland. This was a population-based retrospective review of all patients with rAAA in this well defined geographical area during 2003-2013.

Variation at 2q35 (PNKD and TMBIM1) influences colorectal cancer risk and identifies a pleiotropic effect with inflammatory bowel disease.

To identify new risk loci for colorectal cancer (CRC), we conducted a meta-analysis of seven genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with independent replication, totalling 13 656 CRC cases and 21 667 controls of European ancestry. The combined analysis identified a new risk association for CRC at 2q35 marked by rs992157 (P = 3.15 × 10, odds ratio = 1.

Human leucocyte antigens B*08, DRB1*03 and DRB1*13 are significantly associated with autoimmune liver and biliary diseases in Finnish children.

Aim: The human leucocyte antigen (HLA) allele and haplotype frequencies of the Finnish population are unique because of the restricted and homogenous gene population. There are no published data on HLA genotype associations in paediatric autoimmune liver diseases in Scandinavia. This study characterised the HLA genotypes of children with autoimmune liver or biliary disease in Finland.

Evidence for spared attention to faces in 7-month-old infants after prenatal exposure to antiepileptic drugs.

Introduction: Prenatal antiepileptic drug (AED) exposure is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment and autism spectrum disorders detected mainly at the age of two to six years. We examined whether the developmental aberrations associated with prenatal AED exposure could be detected already in infancy and whether effects on visual attention can be observed at this early age.

Material And Methods: We compared a prospective cohort of infants with in utero exposure to AED (n=56) with infants without drug exposures (n=62).

Mobility and muscle strength in male former elite endurance and power athletes aged 66-91 years.

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to compare mobility and muscle strength in male former elite endurance and power athletes aged 66-91 years (n = 150; 50 men in both former elite athlete groups and in their control group). Agility, dynamic balance, walking speed, chair stand, self-rated balance confidence (ABC-scale), jumping height, and handgrip strength were assessed. Former elite power athletes had better agility performance time than the controls (age- and body mass index, BMI-adjusted mean difference -3.

Health-related quality-of-life outcome in patients with idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus - a 1-year follow-up study.

Background And Purpose: This prospective study explored the factors affecting the health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) outcome in patients with idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) 1 year after the installation of the cerebrospinal fluid shunt.

Methods: The HRQoL outcome was evaluated using a 15D instrument, in which the minimum clinically significant change/difference has been estimated to be ±0.015.

Collaborative participation in aphasic conversation before and after intensive language-action therapy.

This study applies conversation analysis to compare everyday conversation samples between a person with aphasia (PWA) and a familiar communication partner (CP) before and after intensive language-action therapy (ILAT). Our analysis concentrated on collaborative repair sequences with the assumption that impairment-focused therapy would translate into a change in the nature of trouble sources, which engender collaborative repair action typical of aphasic conversation. The most frequent repair initiation technique used by the CP was candidate understandings.

Increase of prostate biopsy-related bacteremic complications in southern Finland, 2005-2013: a population-based analysis.

Background: The most severe manifestations of prostate biopsy complications are bacteremic infections. These complications are increasing alarmingly.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of 17 183 transrectal prostate biopsies performed at the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district in southern Finland during 2005-2013.

Comparing the Performance of Popular MEG/EEG Artifact Correction Methods in an Evoked-Response Study.

We here compared results achieved by applying popular methods for reducing artifacts in magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) recordings of the auditory evoked Mismatch Negativity (MMN) responses in healthy adult subjects. We compared the Signal Space Separation (SSS) and temporal SSS (tSSS) methods for reducing noise from external and nearby sources. Our results showed that tSSS reduces the interference level more reliably than plain SSS, particularly for MEG gradiometers, also for healthy subjects not wearing strongly interfering magnetic material.

Chronic low back pain in relation to Modic changes, bony endplate lesions, and disc degeneration in a prospective MRI study.

Purpose: To clarify the significance of Modic changes, bony endplate lesions, and disc degeneration as predictors of chronic low back pain (LBP) during 1-year follow-up.

Methods: 49 patients with severe, non-specific, chronic LBP, and Modic 1 lesion (M1) were prospectively studied with MRI and questionnaire. Changes in grade of disc degeneration, severity of Modic changes, Schmorl lesions, and bony endplate irregularities were evaluated and changes assessed in LBP intensity on numeric rating scale 0-10 and severity with Oswestry disability index 0-100 (ODI).

Psychometric properties of the Symptom Checklist-90 in adolescent psychiatric inpatients and age- and gender-matched community youth.

Background: The Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) is a questionnaire that is widely used to measure subjective psychopathology. In this study we investigated the psychometric properties of the SCL-90 among adolescent inpatients and community youth matched on age and gender.

Methods: The final SCL-90 respondents comprised three subsets: 201 inpatients at admission, of whom 152 also completed the instrument at discharge, and 197 controls.