Validation of the BODY-Q Chest module in Finnish trans men undergoing chest wall masculinization.

Background And Objective: The aim of gender affirmation surgery is to ease gender dysphoria. In transgender men, chest wall masculinization is the most common gender affirmation surgery. The BODY-Q Chest module is currently the only instrument developed to measure health-related quality of life (HRQL) in men undergoing chest wall surgery.

Less is more - The Finnish Prehospital Stroke Scale prospective validation.

Objectives: The current bifurcation of the acute stroke care pathway requires prehospital separation of strokes caused by large vessel occlusion. The first four binary items of the Finnish Prehospital Stroke Scale (FPSS) identify stroke in general, while the fifth binary item alone identifies stroke due to large vessel occlusion. The straightforward design is both easy for paramedics and statistically beneficial.

Cardiometabolic Health Among Adult Offspring of Hypertensive Pregnancies: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Background: Cardiometabolic health among adult offspring of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) is relatively unknown. We hypothesized that offspring of HDP would have abnormalities in the retinal microvasculature and cardiac structure by midadulthood.

Methods And Results: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study included randomly selected children from 5 Finnish university cities.

The impact of preoperative bacteriuria on the risk of periprosthetic joint infection after primary knee or hip replacement: a retrospective study with a 1-year follow up.

Objectives: Patients who undergo elective joint replacement are traditionally screened and treated for preoperative bacteriuria to prevent periprosthetic joint infection (PJI). More recently, this practice has been questioned. The purpose of this study was to determine whether preoperative bacteriuria is associated with an increased risk of PJI.

Variations in reporting of outcomes in randomized trials on diet and physical activity in pregnancy: A systematic review.

Aim: Trials on diet and physical activity in pregnancy report on various outcomes. We aimed to assess the variations in outcomes reported and their quality in trials on lifestyle interventions in pregnancy.

Methods: We searched major databases without language restrictions for randomized controlled trials on diet and physical activity-based interventions in pregnancy up to March 2015.

Analysis of the machinery and intermediates of the 5hmC-mediated DNA demethylation pathway in aging on samples from the MARK-AGE Study.

Gradual changes in the DNA methylation landscape occur throughout aging virtually in all human tissues. A widespread reduction of 5-methylcytosine (5mC), associated with highly reproducible site-specific hypermethylation, characterizes the genome in aging. Therefore, an equilibrium seems to exist between general and directional deregulating events concerning DNA methylation controllers, which may underpin the age-related epigenetic changes.

Age-dependent expression of DNMT1 and DNMT3B in PBMCs from a large European population enrolled in the MARK-AGE study.

Aging is associated with alterations in the content and patterns of DNA methylation virtually throughout the entire human lifespan. Reasons for these variations are not well understood. However, several lines of evidence suggest that the epigenetic instability in aging may be traced back to the alteration of the expression of DNA methyltransferases.

Eustachian Tube Mucosal Inflammation Scale Validation Based on Digital Video Images.

Background: The most common cause for Eustachian tube dilatory dysfunction is mucosal inflammation. The aim of this study was to validate a scale for Eustachian tube mucosal inflammation, based on digital video clips obtained during diagnostic rigid endoscopy.

Methods: A previously described four-step scale for grading the degree of inflammation of the mucosa of the Eustachian tube lumen was used for this validation study.

Perceived Age Discrimination at Work and Subsequent Long-Term Sickness Absence Among Finnish Employees.

Objective: To investigate the association of perceived age discrimination at work with subsequent long-term sickness absence among Finnish employees.

Methods: A representative sample of Finnish employees (n = 6322) was merged with register-based follow-up data. A negative binomial model was used in the analysis of subsequent sickness absence days.

Unilateral common cavity deformity: Recurrent meningitis due to insufficient newborn hearing screening.

Insufficient newborn hearing screening may leave the other ear with undetected hearing loss. Subsequently, the missed pathology behind the impairment may have potential risk for severe infections. We describe a case of recurrent Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis in an infant with unilateral common cavity deformity.

Sequential bilateral cochlear implantation improves working performance, quality of life, and quality of hearing.

Conclusions: This prospective study shows that working performance, quality of life (QoL), and quality of hearing (QoH) are better with two compared with a single cochlear implant (CI). The impact of the second CI on the patient's QoL is as significant as the impact of the first CI.

Objectives: To evaluate the benefits of sequential bilateral cochlear implantation in working, QoL, and QoH.

Tamoxifen for prevention of breast cancer: extended long-term follow-up of the IBIS-I breast cancer prevention trial.

Background: Four previously published randomised clinical trials have shown that tamoxifen can reduce the risk of breast cancer in healthy women at increased risk of breast cancer in the first 10 years of follow-up. We report the long-term follow-up of the IBIS-I trial, in which the participants and investigators remain largely masked to treatment allocation.

Methods: In the IBIS-I randomised controlled trial, premenopausal and postmenopausal women 35-70 years of age deemed to be at an increased risk of developing breast cancer were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive oral tamoxifen 20 mg daily or matching placebo for 5 years.

Histopathology of balloon-dilation Eustachian tuboplasty.

Objectives/hypothesis: Surgical intervention of the Eustachian tube (ET) has become increasingly common in the past decade, and balloon dilation has shown promising results in recent studies. It is unclear how balloon dilation enhances ET function. Our aim was to evaluate histological changes in the ET's mucosal lumen comparing before balloon dilation, immediately after, and postoperatively.

Peripheral hypoxia in restless legs syndrome (Willis-Ekbom disease).

Objective: A case-control study to measure oxygen and carbon dioxide partial pressures in the legs in order to assess the involvement of peripheral hypoxia or hypercapnia in the pathogenesis of restless legs syndrome (RLS).

Methods: RLS severity was assessed with a standard questionnaire. Suggested immobilization tests were performed twice in 15 patients with RLS and 14 healthy controls.

Upstream Transcription Factor 1 (USF1) allelic variants regulate lipoprotein metabolism in women and USF1 expression in atherosclerotic plaque.

Upstream transcription factor 1 (USF1) allelic variants significantly influence future risk of cardiovascular disease and overall mortality in females. We investigated sex-specific effects of USF1 gene allelic variants on serum indices of lipoprotein metabolism, early markers of asymptomatic atherosclerosis and their changes during six years of follow-up. In addition, we investigated the cis-regulatory role of these USF1 variants in artery wall tissues in Caucasians.

Balloon Dilation of the Cartilaginous Portion of the Eustachian Tube.

Objective: Studies of balloon Eustachian tuboplasty (BET) have shown encouraging results in small series with short follow-ups. Our pilot study suggested that patients with protracted otitis media with effusion (OME) or atelectasis of the tympanic membrane (TM) could benefit from BET.

Study Design: A prospective study where subjects act as their own controls.

Comparison of stapedotomy minus prosthesis, circumferential stapes mobilization, and small fenestra stapedotomy for stapes fixation.

Objective: To compare the outcomes of 3 surgical techniques for primary stapes fixation: stapedotomy minus prosthesis (STAMP), circumferential stapes mobilization (CSM), and small fenestra stapedotomy (SFS).

Study Design: Retrospective review of 277 primary cases operated for stapes fixation from 1997 to 2007.

Setting: Tertiary academic center.

Allelic variant of NOS1AP effects on cardiac alternans of repolarization during exercise testing.

Introduction: A repolarization abnormality manifested as T-wave alternans (TWA) in electrocardiogram (ECG) predicts cardiovascular mortality. A common variant in the NOS1AP gene is associated with mortality and QT interval duration, possibly in a gender-specific manner, but data is lacking on potential association with TWA. This study tested association between rs10494366 in NOS1AP and both TWA and 4-year mortality.

miR-21, miR-210, miR-34a, and miR-146a/b are up-regulated in human atherosclerotic plaques in the Tampere Vascular Study.

Objective: MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that inversely regulate their target gene expression. The whole miRNA profile of human atherosclerotic plaques has not been studied previously. The aim of this study was to investigate the miRNA expression profile in human atherosclerotic plaques as compared to non-atherosclerotic left internal thoracic arteries (LITA), and to connect this expression to the processes in atherosclerosis.

The effect of hospital volume on the outcome of breast cancer surgery.

Background: This study was conducted to investigate whether annual surgical unit caseload affects extent of breast cancer surgery, breast cancer recurrence or breast cancer-specific survival.

Methods: In a population-based cohort study, 12,604 women diagnosed with breast cancer in Finland during the years 1998-2001 were followed up until the end of year 2008. Surgical units were divided into subgroups: >200, 100-200, 50-99 or <50 breast cancer operations per year.

Polymorphism in the IL10 promoter region and early markers of atherosclerosis: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Objective: Inflammatory factors modify the risk of coronary heart disease. Pleiotropic cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10) has been suggested as modifying risk for atherosclerosis. Promoter region genetic polymorphism of IL-10 gene (IL10) is known to be associated with the variation of IL-10 production.

Interleukin-6 promoter polymorphism and cardiovascular risk factors: the Health 2000 Survey.

Objective: Inflammatory factors modify the risk of cardiovascular diseases and atherosclerosis. The single base genetic polymorphism in the promoter region of inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL6 -174 G>C, rs1800795) is associated with the variation of IL-6 production. The aim of this study was to investigate whether IL6 -174 G>C is associated with the risk factors and early markers of atherosclerosis.