Dynamic Change and Influence of Osteoporotic Back Pain With Vertebral Fracture on Related Activities and Social Participation: Evaluating Reliability and Validity of a Newly Developed Outcome Measure.

Dynamic change and influence of osteoporotic back pain with vertebral fracture on related activities and social participation: evaluating reliability and validity of a newly developed outcome measure.

J Bone Miner Metab. 2013 May 21;
Doi T, Akai M, Endo N, Fujino K, Iwaya T

The objective of this study was to record the clinical course of osteoporosis over time in Japanese women. We hypothesized that successful control of acute pain associated with osteoporosis will allow better treatment for health-related problems. To confirm this working hypothesis, we developed the Japan Questionnaire for Osteoporotic Pain (JQ22) to measure health status associated with osteoporosis. We examined the validity and reliability of the JQ22 compared with the current gold standard scale for back pain, the Roland Morris questionnaire (RDQ). A total of 125 women who were more than 65 years old, had an acute back pain episode, and had a fragile vertebral fracture confirmed by X-ray and clinical signs, participated in this study. The psychometric analyses for validity and reliability were tested for the JQ22 and the RDQ. The time course up to 6 weeks was observed by investigating both changes in pain characteristics and its influence on related activities and social participation. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.979 and 0.919 for the JQ22 and RDQ, respectively. The Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) indicated that the JQ22 items were separated into four domains, which were sequentially arranged at the baseline and subsequently changed. This structure reflected osteoporotic back characteristics covering a range from pain to social activities. The JQ22 was shown to be a valid and reliable scale for patient-based measurement of osteoporotic back pain. It also revealed both changes in pain characteristics and the influence of pain on related activities and participation. HubMed – rehab

Quality of Life in Elderly Diabetic: Comparison between Home and Nursing Home.

Acta Med Iran. 2013; 51(4): 254-259
Ghassemzadeh R, Nasseh H, Arastoo AA, Kamali M, Rahimi Foroushani A, Arzaghi M

Research and planning to improve the quality of life for elderly seems to be essential, as the population of this age group has shown an increasing trend. Any chronic disease including diabetes has an impact on lifestyle of the patient. The objective of this study was to compare the quality of life between two groups of elderly diabetic patients who were residence of home as well as nursing home. A descriptive-analytical random study was conducted during 2010-2011 on two groups of 93 elderly diabetic patients, who were living in Kahrizak nursing home of Tehran (Iran), and home residents as well by interview for their demographical information and one standard questionnaire provided by world health organization. SPSS 16 was employed for data analysis. Significant differences were found in physical, psychological and social domains between two groups (P<0.05). In physical and social domains the elderly diabetic patients of nursing home had a higher mean score but in psychological domain the result was in contrast. Regarding the difference between scores in two studied groups it is necessary to study the weak points of each group individually and try to resolve the problems. HubMed – rehab

Early Fetal Gender Determination Using Real-Time PCR Analysis of Cell-free Fetal DNA During 6th-10th Weeks of Gestation.

Acta Med Iran. 2013; 51(4): 209-214
Khorram Khorshid HR, Zargari M, Sadeghi MR, Edallatkhah H, Shahhosseiny MH, Kamali K

Nowadays, new advances in the use of cell free fetal DNA (cffDNA) in maternal plasma of pregnant women has provided the possibility of applying cffDNA in prenatal diagnosis as a non-invasive method. In contrary to the risks of invasive methods that affect both mother and fetus, applying cffDNA is proven to be highly effective with lower risk. One of the applications of prenatal diagnosis is fetal gender determination, which is important in fetuses at risk of sex-linked genetic diseases. In such cases by obtaining the basic information of the gender, necessary time management can be taken in therapeutic to significantly reduce the necessity of applying the invasive methods. Therefore in this study, the probability of detecting sequences on the human Y-chromosome in pregnant women has been evaluated to identify the gender of fetuses. Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 80 pregnant women with gestational age between 6th to 10th weeks and the fetal DNA was extracted from the plasma. Identification of SRY, DYS14 & DAZ sequences, which are not presentin the maternal genome, was performed using Real-Time PCR. All the obtained results were compared with the actual gender of the newborns to calculate the test accuracy. Considerable 97.3% sensitivity and 97.3% specificity were obtained in fetal gender determination which is significant in the first trimester of pregnancy. Only in one case, false positive result was obtained. Using non-invasive method of cffDNAs in the shortest time possible, as well as avoiding invasive tests for early determination of fetal gender, provides the opportunity of deciding and employing early treatment for fetuses at risk of genetic diseases. HubMed – rehab

Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Activity and Connectivity and Cognitive Outcome in Traumatic Brain Injury.

JAMA Neurol. 2013 May 20; 1-7
Palacios EM, Sala-Llonch R, Junque C, Roig T, Tormos JM, Bargallo N, Vendrell P

IMPORTANCE The study of brain activity and connectivity at rest provides a unique opportunity for the investigation of the brain substrates of cognitive outcome after traumatic axonal injury. This knowledge may contribute to improve clinical management and rehabilitation programs. OBJECTIVE To study functional magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities in signal amplitude and brain connectivity at rest and their relationship to cognitive outcome in patients with chronic and severe traumatic axonal injury. DESIGN Observational study. SETTING University of Barcelona and Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona, and Institut Guttmann-Neurorehabilitation Hospital, Badalona, Spain. PARTICIPANTS Twenty patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were studied, along with 17 matched healthy volunteers. INTERVENTIONS Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging data were acquired. After exploring group differences in amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), we studied functional connectivity within the default mode network (DMN) by means of independent component analysis, followed by a dual regression approach and seed-based connectivity analyses. Finally, we performed probabilistic tractography between the frontal and posterior nodes of the DMN. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Signal amplitude and functional connectivity during the resting state, tractography related to DMN, and the association between signal amplitudes and cognitive outcome. RESULTS Patients had greater ALFF in frontal regions, which was correlated with cognitive performance. Within the DMN, patients showed increased connectivity in the frontal lobes. Seed-based connectivity analyses revealed augmented connectivity within surrounding areas of the frontal and left parietal nodes of the DMN. Fractional anisotropy of the cingulate tract was correlated with increased connectivity of the frontal node of the DMN in patients with TBI. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Increased ALFF is related to better cognitive performance in chronic TBI. The loss of structural connectivity produced by damage to the cingulum tract explained the compensatory increases in functional connectivity within the frontal node of the DMN. HubMed – rehab