Immediate effect of foam roller on pain and ankle range of motion in patients with plantar fasciitis: A randomized controlled trial

Background:Stretching has been proven to be effective on pain and range of motion (ROM) in patients with plantar fasciitis. Despite recent gain in popularity and the proposed theories of effectiveness of foam roller, there is a lack of literature on the effect of foam rolling on plantar fasciitis.Objective:The objective of this study was to compare the effects of foam rolling and stretching on pain and ankle ROM in patients with plantar fasciitis.Methods:A total of 50 participants were included and randomly allocated to the stretching and foam roller groups. Visual analog scale (VAS), pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) for gastrocnemius, soleus and plantar fascia and weight-bearing lunge test (WBLT) measurements were recorded at baseline and immediately after treatment.Results:Within-group analysis has shown there is a statistically significant difference (p<0.001) in all the outcome measures in both foam roller and self-stretching groups. The between-groups analysis showed no statistical significance difference in VAS, plantar fascia PPT and WBLT parameters (with p-values of 0.171, 0.372 and 0.861, respectively); however, significant differences were found in gastrocnemius PPT (p=0.029) and soleus PPT (p=0.013).Conclusion:It was seen that both stretching and foam rolling techniques helped in reducing pain and increasing the ROM. However, the effectiveness of foam roller was superior to stretching in terms of increase in PPTs at gastrocnemius and soleus.Clinical Trial Registration No:CTRI/2018/01/011398.Name of registry:The Clinical Trials Registry — India (CTRI); https://ctri.nic.in.     

The preferred treatment for stage I seminoma: a survey of Canadian radiation oncologists

AimsTo evaluate the preferences of radiation oncologists for managing stage I seminoma.Materials and methodsAn electronic survey evaluating the management of stage I seminoma patients was sent to Canadian radiation oncologists to determine their treatment recommendations and preferences.ResultsThe survey completion rate was 74% among eligible respondents (78/105). Most (56%) felt that surveillance was the preferred treatment for patients, whereas 31% thought that adjuvant radiotherapy was best, 1% chose adjuvant chemotherapy as being the preferred option and 12% were unsure. Most would choose the same treatment for themselves if they were diagnosed with stage I seminoma. A previously published survey found that most respondents considered radiotherapy as the best option.ConclusionsMost Canadian radiation oncologists now favour surveillance for most stage I seminoma patients.     

Leptospirosis in Kolenchery, Kerala, India: Epidemiology, prevalent local serogroups and servoars and a new serovar

Leptospirosis is the most widespread zoonosis in the world. It is mostly an occupational disease especially in rural areas. Kolenchery is in the midlands of Kerala. The landscape consists of marshy land and dry land interspersed by rivulets and ponds. Irrigation of dry lands for cultivation during the summer months started in mid 1980s after the irrigation projects were commissioned. Cases of leptospirosis were rarely diagnosed in Kolenchery before 1987. Since then a yearly increase in incidence is observed. No major study on either epidemiology or clinical picture has been done on human leptospirosis in Kerala so far. The aim of this study was to define the major clinical presentations, epidemiology of the infection and demonstrate the predominant serogroups and serovars causing the illness in this limited geographical area. The study involves 976 cases of leptospirosis confirmed by culture and/or serological tests. Serogroups Autumnalis, Australis and Icterohaemorrhagiae were the commonest. Mortality rate was 5.32%. The increase in incidence is probably due to the geographical characteristics, continuous moisture of the soil due to irrigation in summer and year-round cultivation making food and cover available to host rodents. Close interaction of humans, animals, soil and water in this region make the spread of leptospirosis to humans easy. Confirmation of cases has been done by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and/or microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and/or by culture. Serovar identification has been done in 21 cultures isolated from patients. One new serovar belonging to serogroup Australis has been identified from a patient and named serovar Australis bharathy.     

Small-molecule inhibitors of PDE-IV and -VII in the treatment of respiratory diseases and chronic inflammation

Targeting phosphodiesterase IV (PDE-IV) with small-molecule inhibitors as a therapeutic for chronic inflammatory disorders has been an active area of research interest for many years. The major drawback, however, has been to develop pharmacophores that would differentiate between targeting isoforms of PDE-IV associated with inflammation, as opposed to those that cause emesis, a major side effect associated with PDE-IV inhibition. Several different approaches have been employed, including designing subtype selective PDE-IV inhibitors. A recent approach has been to develop chemotypes that target PDE-VII, a cAMP-specific PDE, expressed widely in immune and pro-inflammatory cells. It is hypothesized that dual inhibitors, which function to inhibit both PDE-IV and VII, may achieve a higher therapeutic index and thereby exhibit a lower propensity to cause adverse side effects that are characteristic when targeting PDE-IV alone. This review focuses on the major classes of compounds that are presently being studied for their potential to inhibit PDE-VII and discusses the available data in the development of dual PDE-IV and -VII inhibitors, their biologic activity and their scope as a therapeutic choice in chronic inflammatory diseases.     

Phase II study of lonidamine plus radiotherapy in the treatment of brain metastases

Twenty-nine patients received the cytotoxic radiosensitizing agent lonidamine before, during, and after cranial irradiation for brain metastases. One patient was ineligible (meningioma). In 28 eligible patients, median survival was 29 weeks (range, 2 to > 220 weeks). Nine patients (32%) survived > 1 year and 3 (11%) survived > 2 years. The major toxic effects of lonidamine were myalgias, nausea and vomiting, somnolence, and ototoxicity. There was no evidence that radiation skin toxicity or cerebral toxicity was increased by the addition of lonidamine. None of the patients experienced shrinkage of their extracerebral disease on lonidamine. Median survival duration in this study was at the upper limit of that reported in the literature for radiation alone, and the proportion of 2 year survivors was also higher than usual for radiation alone. Hence, further studies may be warranted.     

Phytoremediation of 137cesium and 90strontium from solutions and low-level nuclear waste by Vetiveria zizanoides

Vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanoides) L. Nash plantlets when tested for their potential to remove (90)Sr and (137)Cs (5 x 10(3) k Bq l(-1)) from solutions spiked with individual radionuclide showed that 94% of (90)Sr and 61% of (137)Cs could be removed from solutions after 168 h. When both (90)Sr and (137)Cs were supplemented together to the solution, 91% of (90)Sr and 59% of (137)Cs were removed at the end of 168 h. In case of (137)Cs, accumulation occurred more in roots than shoots, while (90)Sr accumulated more in shoots than roots. When experiments were performed to study the effect of analogous elements, K(+) ions reduced the uptake of (137)Cs, while (90)Sr accumulation was found to decrease in the presence of Ca(2+) ions. Plants of V. zizanoides could also effectively remove radioactive elements from low-level nuclear waste and the level of radioactivity was reduced below detection limit at the end of 15 days of exposure. The results of the present study indicate that V. zizanoides may be a potential candidate plant for phytoremediation of (90)Sr and (137)Cs.