Recovered? Association between self-perceived recovery and the SF-36 after minor musculoskeletal injuries

Objective Recovery after minor musculoskeletal injuries is often disproportionately protracted. Our aim was to relate Short Form-36 (SF-36), to self-perceived recovery assessed with the question” Do you feel recovered”. We hypothesized that restitution of physical factors would be reported at least as often as improvement of symptoms or impairments and that social and mental factors would dominate over physical as determinants for recovery. We followed 318 patients with minor traffic-related injuries for up to 6 months. Results For all SF-36 subscores more than 60% of the recovered patients had returned to their pre-injury levels. The subscores with the highest proportions (> 80%) were all mainly reflecting disability. For no subscore, however, was the proportion 100%. Normalizations in the SF-36 subscores for “Bodily Pain” (BP) (Odds Ratio, OR = 7.2), “Role limitations due to physical function” (OR = 5.3) were associated with self-perceived recovery. Conclusion Abolition of pain appears to be paramount for the self-perceived recovery, but it is neither a sufficient nor a necessary prerequisite. Contrary to our expectation, physical aspects of functional health status were more strongly associated with recovery than were emotional or social aspects.     

Theory of Mind in Non-Retarded Children with Autism and Asperger's Syndrome. A Research Note

In the present study, 20 non-retarded children with autism and 20 non-retarded children with Asperger's syndrome, individually matched to the group of children with autism, participated. No statistically significant differences between the groups were found in the theory of mind tasks. In fact, the two groups performed almost as well as a group of normal children. These findings suggest that the theory of mind model has its limitations in explaining autism and that children with Asperger's syndrome are not more competent in theory of mind tasks than children with autism within the normal range of intelligence.     

Changes in Serotonin Metabolism during Treatment with the Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Inhibitors Disulfiram and Cyanamide

Abstract: The effect of the aldehyde dehydrogenase inhibitors disulfiram (Antabuse^®) and cyanamide (calcium carbimide, Dipsan^®) on the metabolism of serotonin measured as relative amounts of the metabolites 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid and 5-hydroxytryptophol in urine were studied in alcoholic patients. Sixteen out of 23 patients receiving drug therapy showed elevated excretion of 5-hydroxytryptophol. However, there was a marked, 15-fold, variability in 5-hydroxytryptophol excretion rate between patients. A high degree of variability was also seen in another group of patients studied before and after introduction of drug therapy. When patients were followed during the dose interval, a time-dependent response after each single dose could be observed. The disulfiram response lasted over the course of several days whereas the response to cyanamide lasted for less than 12 hr. It is concluded that treatment with disulfiram and cyanamide affects serotonin metabolism leading to increased production of 5-hydroxytryptophol, but there is a marked inter-individual variability in degree of response.     

Current concepts in the role of intravesical instillations in the therapy and prophylaxis of superficial transitional-cell cancer of the bladder

Summary A survey on superficial, local urinary bladder cancer, its prognostic factors, and instillation treatments is presented on the basis of experience with approximately 1,000 patients over a period of 20 years, experimental investigations, and the literature. Personal opinions and practical recommendations are presented in 11 conclusive theses.     

The retrograde intramedullary supracondylar nail: an alternative in the treatment of distal femoral fractures in the elderly?

To find out whether retrograde nailing of distal femoral fractures is beneficial for the aged patient, we performed a prospective study of consecutive patients 65 years or older with distal femoral fracture treated with a retrograde femoral nail between 1 March 1993 and 30 April 1996 in our department. In total, 26 patients with unilateral distal femoral fractures had been treated in our department, and 24 patients had been followed up for more than 12 months. All fractures had healed. Six patients did not walk before the injury. According to the Neerscore we counted 10/18 excellent results (≥ 85 points), 6/18 good results (≥ 70 points), 2/18 fair results (≥ 55 points) and no failures (< 55 points). Retrograde intramedullary nailing makes a biological osteosynthesis of distal femoral fractures possible. Even in our aged patients good functional results could be obtained. Poor hold of the distal interlocking screws and difficult proximal locking are the two major technical problems encountered with this implant. Early weight-bearing is not advisable. Received: 24 Juni 1997     

Analysis of 18F-labelled synthesis products on TLC plates: comparison of radioactivity scanning, film autoradiography, and a phosphoimaging technique.

We compared radioactivity scanning, film autoradiography, and digital photostimulated luminescence (PSL) autoradiography (phosphoimaging technique) in detection of radioactivity on thin-layer chromatography (TLC) plates. TLC combined with radioactivity detection is rapid, simple, and relatively flexible. Here, (18)F-labelled synthesis products were analyzed by TLC and the radioactivity distribution on the plates determined using the three techniques. Radioactivity scanning is appropriate only with good chromatographic resolution and previously validated scanning parameters. Film autoradiography exhibits poor linearity if radioactivity varies greatly. PSL provides high sensitivity and resolution and superior linearity compared with the other methods.     

Into the twilight zone: the complexities of mesopic vision and luminous efficiency

Of all the functions that define visual performance, the mesopic luminous efficiency function is probably the most complex and hardest to standardise or model. Complexities arise because of the substantial and often rapid visual changes that accompany the transition from scotopic to photopic vision. These are caused not only by the switch from rod to cone photoreceptors, but also by switches between different post-receptoral pathways through which the rod and cone signals are transmitted. In this review, we list several of the complexities of mesopic vision, such as rod-cone interactions, rod saturation, mixed photoreceptor spectral sensitivities, different rod and cone retinal distributions, and the changes in the spatial properties of the visual system as it changes from rod- to cone-mediated. Our main focus, however, is the enormous and often neglected temporal changes that occur in the mesopic range and their effect on luminous efficiency. Even before the transition from rod to cone vision is complete, a transition occurs within the rod system itself from a sluggish, sensitive post-receptoral pathway to a faster, less sensitive pathway. As a consequence of these complexities, any measure of mesopic performance will depend not only on the illumination level, but also on the spectral content of the stimuli used to probe performance, their retinal location, their spatial frequency content, and their temporal frequency content. All these should be considered when attempting to derive (or to apply) a luminous efficiency function for mesopic vision.