Reducing work disability in Ankylosing Spondylitis – development of a work instability scale for AS

Background  

The Work Instability Scale for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA-WIS) is established and is used by physicians to identify patients at risk of job loss for rapid intervention. The study objective was to explore the concept of Work Instability (a mismatch between an individual's abilities and job demands) in Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) and develop a Work Instability Scale specific to this population.     

The role of the microfracturetechnique in the treatment of full-thickness chondral injuries

Microfracture is indicated for both traumatic and degenerative full-thickness chondral defects. The technique isuseful for both unipolar and “kissing” (bipolar) lesions in both the primary treatment and revision settings. There are no contraindications to the technique based on the size or location of the lesion, although smaller (<400 mm²), acute (<12 weeks from injury) femoral and trochlear lesions have the most predictable results. Relative contraindications to microfracture include chondral defects greater than 5 to 10 mm deep and the presence of a malaligned limb. Clinical studies have shown significant (P < .05) improvement in all functional parameters studied following the use of microfracture for the treatment of full-thickness, traumatic chondral defects. Of note, improvement in symptoms of pain and swelling continue to be seen until 2 years after surgery following microfracture. The microfacture technique is a cost-effective, technically feasible, highly efficacious procedure available to all surgeons who perform arthroscopy of the knee. It is a reasonable first approach to the treatment of chondral defects, because it does not burn any bridges with regard to future procedures such as a mosaic-plasty or autologous chondrocyte transplantation if the microfracture should fail.     

Emmetropisation in normal and strabismic children and the associated changes of anisometropia

The purpose of this study was to measure whether emmetropisation failed in children who had strabismus irrespective of their refraction in infancy, and to record simultaneous changes in anisometropia. We also report how often hypermetropia increased before these children presented with esotropia. A total of 2920 infants had a cycloplegic retinoscopy at age 5-7 months and again at 42 months or when defective vision was identified. Changes of refraction in 210 children with strabismus are compared with the remaining 2710 who did not. When the spherical equivalent of the fixing eyes was &gt; +2.75 D in infancy, hypermetropia decreased less in both eyes of those who had microtropia (p &lt;. 001) and heterotropia (p &lt;. 001) than in normal children. When it was &lt; +2.75 D, the spherical and/or cylindrical refraction more often remained outside the ‘normal’ range in both eyes of those who had microtropia and heterotropia (p &lt;. 05). Emmetropisation was deficient in both eyes of at least 80% of these strabismic children irrespective of their refraction in infancy. Furthermore, in the strabismic children, the mean change of refraction was less (p &lt;. 05) in their fellow eyes than in their fixing eyes, the difference between the two eyes being on average three times greater than that in those who had normal vision. Thus, anisometropia increased in 53% of those who had strabismus but remained within normal limits (&lt; ca. 0.75 D spherical equivalent) in 94 % of those who did not.‘Abormal’ anisometropia in infancy did not, per se, permanently affect vision because 72% of all those who had it did not have strabismus. Finally, the spherical hypermetropia of fixing eyes increased in only 35% of the children with esotropia – similar to the incidence in those who had a microtropia (p =. 36). This does not obviously support the concept that increasing hypermetropia causes accommodation to increase before convergence.     

ENTERING THE WORLD OF PSYCHOTHERAPY: GENERAL PSYCHIATRIC TRAINEES TAKE THEIR FIRST STEPS

ABSTRACT Publication of the Royal College of Psychiatrists'guidelines for provision of psychotherapy training for general psychiatric trainees led to the implementation of the pilot scheme described in this paper. The scheme offered an experience of individual psychodynamic therapy, with group supervision, for the beginning therapist. The authors describe the induction programme, the group experience, the experience of being supervised, working with the patient and ending. A personal view is offered, aiming to provide an understanding of the nature and quality of this experience, highlighting its benefits and difficulties. Conclusions are drawn as to the usefulness of the scheme in personal and professional spheres and in relation to the Royal College guidelines.     

Cognitive Correlates of Single Neuron Activity in Task-Performing Animals: Application to Ethanol Research

The deleterious effects of ethanol on cognitive processes result from an interaction between ethanol and the neural structures that are critical for executing those cognitive functions. Results from studies that employ contemporary behavioral neuroscience techniques are beginning to elucidate the neural circuits that underlie specific cognitive processes, and the stage is set for rigorous investigations into the neural basis for ethanol-induced cognitive impairments. In this article, the application of single neuron recording techniques to the study of the memory and attentional deficits produced by acute exposure to low levels of ethanol are described, with an emphasis on the advantages of combining physiological techniques with operant behavioral procedures in rats. After reviewing background information on the basic neurophysiological and behavioral techniques, empirical results from this laboratory will be used to illustrate how single-unit analysis can be applied to the study of ethanol-induced cognitive impairments.     

Medial collateral ligament healing in macrophage metalloelastase (MMP-12)-deficient mice.

Medial collateral ligament (MCL) injuries heal by a wound repair scar response controlled by a complex cellular and cytokine environment. Many enzymes participate in wound repair, particularly the matrix metalloproteinases. We hypothesize macrophage metalloelastase (MME/MMP-12) deficiency results in impaired healing of MCL injury. One hundred fifty MME-deficient and 150 WT (MME+/+) mice underwent knee MCL transection with the opposite knee as a sham operated control. Mice were sacrificed at 3, 7, 28, 42, and 56 days. At each of the five time points, 15 mice were utilized for biological and 15 were utilized for biomechanical testing. Outcome measures were the presence of macrophages to represent the inflammatory phase of wound healing, collagen synthesis to assay for matrix repair, and biomechanical testing for repair strength. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated significantly fewer macrophages in cut MCLs from MME-deficient mice versus wild-type (WT) mice at 3, 7, 28, and 42 days (all p相似文献