The Predictive Validity of OMPQ on the Rehabilitation Outcomes for Patients with Acute and Subacute Non-Specific LBP in a Chinese Population

Introduction Early screening of physical and psychosocial risk factors has been advocated as a way to identify low back pain (LBP) patients who may develop chronic disability. This study evaluated the predictive validity of a Chinese version of the Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire (OMPQ) in identifying LBP patients at risk of developing poor return-to-work (RTW) outcomes. Methods Altogether 241 patients with acute or subacute non-specific LBP agreed to participate, and they were screened at baseline with OMPQ, and evaluated after discharge from physiotherapy (n = 173) with outcome measures including the Roland–Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), numerical pain score (0–10) and global recovery (0–10). At 1-year follow-up, information on RTW status as well as sick leave duration were obtained. Results At baseline the OMPQ had a mean score of 112.0 (SD = 26.5). The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves of OMPQ scores at 1-year follow-up recorded values of area under the curve of 0.693 for RTW and 0.714 for sick leave duration, which are comparable to those reported in European studies. OMPQ was the only factor that could significantly predict the RTW outcomes, compared to other variables such as the RMDQ scores. Conclusion The results confirmed the predictive validity of the Chinese version of OMPQ in screening LBP patients at risk of developing poor occupational outcomes, and appropriate interventions can be arranged for these high-risk individuals in the rehabilitation process.     

locStra: Fast analysis of regional/global stratification in whole‐genome sequencing studies

locStra is an ‐package for the analysis of regional and global population stratification in whole‐genome sequencing (WGS) studies, where regional stratification refers to the substructure defined by the loci in a particular region on the genome. Population substructure can be assessed based on the genetic covariance matrix, the genomic relationship matrix, and the unweighted/weighted genetic Jaccard similarity matrix. Using a sliding window approach, the regional similarity matrices are compared with the global ones, based on user‐defined window sizes and metrics, for example, the correlation between regional and global eigenvectors. An algorithm for the specification of the window size is provided. As the implementation fully exploits sparse matrix algebra and is written in C++, the analysis is highly efficient. Even on single cores, for realistic study sizes (several thousand subjects, several million rare variants per subject), the runtime for the genome‐wide computation of all regional similarity matrices does typically not exceed one hour, enabling an unprecedented investigation of regional stratification across the entire genome. The package is applied to three WGS studies, illustrating the varying patterns of regional substructure across the genome and its beneficial effects on association testing.     

Magnetic resonance imaging accurately tracks kidney pathology and heterogeneity in the transition from acute kidney injury to chronic kidney disease

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Ozone Sensitivity in Aging WI-38 Cells based on Acid Phosphatase Content

Young [1649 population doubling level (PDL)] and senescing (50–53 PDL) WI-38 cell populations were exposed to 1 ppm ozone for 2 hr and the resultant extracellular and intracellular acid phosphatase concentration was measured. Dose response curves were also determined for surviving populations of young and old cells after a 1 hr ozone exposure ranging in concentration from 0 to 1.00 ppm. Senescing cells released 8 times more acid phosphatase per million cells than the young cells. Both old and young cells showed a clear dose-response to the 1 hr ozone gradient exposure. However, the older cells demonstrated a consistent 17% average lower survival rate than the young cells. The higher acid hydrolase level in older WI–38 cells is probably related to the lower survival rate observed in the older cells in vitro.     

Recurrent peripheral embolism following nonunion of the clavicle

Vascular complications in closed clavicular fractures are uncommon, with an incidence of only 0.4%. Subclavian artery injury can present acutely or can have a delayed presentation with arm ischemia. We report the case of an undetected subclavian pseudoaneurysm in a patient with a nonunion fracture clavicle who was referred with persistent ischemia following attempted brachial embolectomy at another center, along with a review of literature to support the hypothesis that in addition to repair of the aneurysm, treatment of the psuedarthrosis by fixation of the clavicle is essential.     

Correlates of insight with symptomatology and executive function in patients with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorder: A longitudinal perspective

The present study aimed to examine the relationships of insight with symptomatology and executive function, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally in patients with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Ninety-two medication-naïve patients were recruited and 71 completed the assessments. Insight, symptoms and executive function were assessed at baseline, 6 months and 1 year. Insight was measured with the abridged version of Scale of Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD). Symptoms were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Executive function was measured with the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (MCST). The most significant improvement of insight and symptomatology was found over the first 6 months, whereas the perseverative errors of MCST were significantly improved between 6 and 12 months. Differential correlations of perseverative errors of the MCST and PANSS scores with SUMD were found at different time points. This suggests the involvement of different mechanisms in insight deficit at different stages of the illness. The baseline MCST perseverative errors were correlated significantly with the SUMD total score at 6 months and the change of SUMD scores over the first 6 months. Although the variance explained was small, it suggests better set-shifting capacity facilitates the improvement of insight at an early stage of the illness.