An MRI-based index to measure the severity of Alzheimer's disease-like structural pattern in subjects with mild cognitive impairment.

Background: Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is sensitive to neurodegeneration and can be used to estimate the risk of converting to Alzheimer's disease (AD) in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Brain changes in AD and prodromal AD involve a pattern of widespread atrophy. The use of multivariate analysis algorithms could enable the development of diagnostic tools based on structural MRI data.

Ethical aspects in tissue research: thematic analysis of ethical statements to the research ethics committee.

Background: Many studies have been published about ethics committees and the clarifications requested about the submitted applications. In Finland, ethics committees require a separate statement on ethical aspects of the research in applications to the ethics committee. However, little is known about how researchers consider the ethical aspects of their own studies.

Dynamic MRI confirms support of the mid-urethra by TVT and TVT-O surgery for stress incontinence.

Objective: To study changes in mid-urethral function with dynamic MRI in stress urinary incontinent women undergoing either tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) or TVT-obturator sling operations.

Design: Prospective clinical study.

Setting: University hospital.

Cardiorespiratory fitness is related to the risk of sudden cardiac death: a population-based follow-up study.

Objectives: Our aim was to examine the relation of cardiorespiratory fitness with sudden cardiac death (SCD) in a population-based sample of men.

Background: Very limited information is available about the role of cardiorespiratory fitness in the prediction of SCD.

Methods: This population study was based on 2,368 men 42 to 60 years of age.

Vasopressor agents after experimental brain death: effects of dopamine and vasopressin on vitality of the small gut.

Background: Both congenital and acquired short bowel syndrome frequently leads to the necessity for long-term parenteral nutrition, which in turn may lead to any of several complications or death. Transplantation of the small bowel from brain-dead organ donors has been successfully performed over the last years. However, systemic blood pressure and blood perfusion to the splanchnic area decrease rapidly after brain death, which comprises the vitality of the small bowel.

Ten-year audit of Lichtenstein hernioplasty under local anaesthesia performed by surgical residents.

Background: To analyse in a prospective trial the long-term results of Lichtenstein hernioplasty performed by surgical trainees.

Methods: Training of tension-free Lichtenstein hernia operation was started in our ambulatory unit as an outpatient procedure under local anaesthesia in 1996. After performing 36 teaching operations together with residents and their supervising specialist, 281 patients were operated during 1996-2000 either by one senior consultant (n = 141) or by 12 surgical trainees (n = 140).

Ethical aspects of human placental perfusion: interview of the mothers donating placenta.

Within the EU project "NewGeneris" human placental perfusion has been used for assessing in utero fetal exposure to food carcinogens. Within the work package of ethical aspects of the research, we were interested in the way mothers who donated placentas for perfusion perceived their participation in the study. Thematic interviews were conducted with 25 mothers who had donated the placenta for placental perfusion studies.

Improvement in low back movement control, decreased pain and disability, resulting from specific exercise intervention.

Background: The study was conducted to assess whether patient-specific functional impairment and experienced daily disability improved after treatment to address active movement control of the low back.

Method: A prospective study was carried out in two outpatient physiotherapy practices in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. 38 patients (17 males and 21 females) suffering from non-specific low back pain (NSLBP) and movement control impairment were treated.

The prevalence and predictive value of individual criteria for metabolic syndrome in schizophrenia: a Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort Study.

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with elevated risk of diabetes and cardiovascular morbidity. However, little is known of the sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of individual criteria in patients with schizophrenia. We studied the prevalence of MetS using the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and adapted National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP-ATPIII) criteria in the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort population.

Does gestational diabetes affect women's health-related quality of life after delivery?

Objectives: Our objective in this study was to investigate the effects of gestational diabetes (GDM) on women's health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after delivery. This study investigates the differences between a GDM group and a control group.

Study Design: Using random sampling, 100 women who had had GDM were selected from a birth register.

Modelling the burden of stroke in Finland until 2030.

Background: It is well known that increasing age is the strongest risk factor of stroke. Therefore, it has been a common belief in many countries including Finland that the numbers of stroke patients will increase considerably during the next two decades because the population is rapidly ageing.

Methods: The FINMONICA and FINSTROKE registers operated in Finland in the Kuopio area and city of Turku from 1983 to 1997.

Chronic subdural haematoma after endoscopic treatment of a supracellar arachnoid cyst.

Neuroendoscopy is considered a safe treatment option for intracranial arachnoid cysts. However a variety of complications has been reported after such interventions. Here we present the first case of a chronic subdural hematoma two months after the combined treatment of a supracellar arachnoid cyst with endoscopic third ventriculostomy and cyst fenestration.

Helping adolescents who self-mutilate: parental descriptions.

Aim: The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore parental views on how to help adolescents who self-mutilate.

Background: Self-harm, including self-mutilation, is common among adolescents. However, parental conceptions of helping adolescents who self-mutilate have rarely been investigated in nursing science.

Role of quantitative cholescintigraphy for planning laparoscopic cholecystectomy in patients with gallbladder dyskinesia and chronic abdominal pain.

Our aim was to examine the diagnostic role and therapeutic guide of quantitative cholescintigraphy in 122 patients with a biliary-type chronic abdominal pain and normal abdominal ultrasound. The patients with severe symptoms and an impaired ejection fraction (EF35%, n=38) EF.

The prevalence of self-cutting and other self-harm among 13- to 18-year-old Finnish adolescents.

Background: Deliberate self-harm has become more prevalent among adolescents.

Aims: To investigate the prevalence and the associated background factors of self-cutting and other self-harming behaviour.

Methods: The study sample included 4,205 adolescents aged 13-18 years.

No difference in insulin resistance and lipid levels between controls and adolescent subjects who later develop psychosis.

Type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemias co-occur frequently with psychoses, but it is not known how common they are in adolescents who later develop psychosis. We investigated waist circumference, blood glucose, lipid and insulin levels and insulin resistance in the Northern Finland 1986 Birth Cohort at the age of 15/16 (N=5410). The Social Insurance Institute register and the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register were used to find the participants who developed psychosis (N=21), and they were compared with other participants.

Polymorphism of the interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (IL1Ra) gene and placental abruption.

Candidate genes with a possible involvement in placental abruption are mainly those related to thrombophilia and preeclampsia. Some reports have shown by placental histologic investigation that increased risk of placental abruption is associated with prolonged inflammation. The polymorphic allele A2 in the gene coding for interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (IL1Ra) has been associated in various diseases of autoimmune or inflammatory nature.

Parental conceptions of self-mutilation among Finnish adolescents.

The purpose of this paper is to describe self-mutilation from the viewpoint of parents of self-mutilating Finnish adolescents. Four parents of self-mutilating adolescents were interviewed in depth. Qualitative content analysis was applied.

Descriptions of self-mutilation among Finnish adolescents: a qualitative descriptive inquiry.

The purpose of this study was to describe self-mutilation from the perspectives of self-mutilating adolescents. A qualitative descriptive design was adopted. Self-mutilating adolescents were asked to write descriptions of their self-mutilation.

Cardiac dysfunction in children with mulibrey nanism.

Mulibrey nanism is an autosomal recessive disease with severe growth failure and multiple organ involvement. Heart manifestations include constrictive pericarditis and restrictive cardiomyopathy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate left ventricular (LV) diastolic and systolic function in children with mulibrey nanism utilizing two- and three- dimensional (2-D and 3-D) echocardiography and measurement of serum levels of natriuretic peptides.

Hemodynamic improvement is faster after percutaneous ASD closure than after surgery.

Objectives: Hemodynamic effects of surgical and percutaneous closure of atrial septal defect (ASD) were evaluated.

Background: ASD causes volume overload of right ventricle (RV) and is associated with distortion and dysfunction of left ventricle (LV). The amount and timing of hemodynamic changes after ASD closure are not well known.

Optimizing treatment of epilepsy during pregnancy.

Freedom from seizures is the ultimate goal in treatment of patients with epilepsy. At the same time, the side effects of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) should not outweigh the benefits of treatment. This is particularly important in women with epilepsy who wish to become pregnant.

Increased number of febrile seizures in children born very preterm: relation of neonatal, febrile and epileptic seizures and neurological dysfunction to seizure outcome at 16 years of age.

Purpose: In prematurely born population, a cascade of events from initial injury in the developing brain to morbidity may be followed. The aim of our study was to assess seizures in prematurely born children from birth up to 16 years and to evaluate the contribution of different seizures, and of neurological dysfunction to the seizure outcome.

Methods: Pre- and neonatal data and data from neurodevelopmental examination at 5 years of 60 prospectively followed children born at or before 32 weeks of gestation, and of 60 matched term controls from the 2 year birth cohort were available from earlier phases of the study.

Efficacy and costs of 3 anesthetic regimens in the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting.

Study Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the antiemetic efficacy and costs associated with 3 different anesthesia regimens used in gynecologic laparoscopy.

Design: This was a randomized, controlled study.

Setting: The study was conducted at a university hospital.

Cervical spine surgery in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: longterm mortality and its determinants.

Objective: Atlantoaxial subluxation (AAS) is a frequent manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The instability of the craniocervical junction caused by AAS is a potentially fatal condition and may require surgical treatment. Systemic manifestations associated with RA may increase the risk of perioperative complications.