Prevalence of Gastroduodenitis and Helicobacter pylori Infection in a General Population Sample

Some benign and malignant diseases develop on the background of chronic gastritis or duodenitis. The present study was performed in order to determine the magnitude of these background changes with relations to symptomatology and life style in the general population. Examinations were performed in 501 volunteers (age 35–85 years). Fifty percent had gastritis; this was associated with H. pylori in 87%. H. pylori-negative gastritis was associated with regular use of NSAIDs [odds ratio 3.8 (1.6–9.9)]. Duodenitis, observed in 32%, was associated with H. pylori infection [odds ratio 2.3 (1.3–4.6)], previous cholecystectomy [odds ratio 3.6 (1.1–16.1)], and regular use of NSAIDs [odds ratio 3.0 (1.4–7.1)]. Neither gastritis nor duodenitis was associated with smoking or alcohol consumption. The rate of digestive symptoms did not differ between subjects with and without uncomplicated gastritis or duodenitis. In conclusion, half of this adult population had gastritis strongly associated with H. pylori infection. Gastritis without H. pylori infection was frequently associated with regular NSAID intake. One third had duodenitis, which was associated with H. pylori infection as well as with regular use of NSAIDs and previous cholecystectomy. Digestive symptoms were not overrepresented in uncomplicated gastritis or duodenitis.     

WAITING TIMES AND SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS. EVIDENCE FROM NORWAY

We investigate whether socioeconomic status, measured by income and education, affects waiting time when controls for severity and hospital‐specific conditions are included. We also examine which aspects of the hospital supply (attachment to local hospital, traveling time, or choice of hospital) matter most for unequal treatment of different socioeconomic groups. The study uses administrative data from all elective inpatient and outpatient stays in somatic hospitals in Norway. The main results are that we find very little indication of discrimination with regard to income and education when both severity and aspects of hospital supply are controlled for. This result holds for both men and women. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analogical Mapping with Sparse Distributed Memory: A Simple Model that Learns to Generalize from Examples

We present a computational model for the analogical mapping of compositional structures that combines two existing ideas known as holistic mapping vectors and sparse distributed memory. The model enables integration of structural and semantic constraints when learning mappings of the type $x_i \rightarrow y_i$ and computing analogies $x_j \rightarrow y_j$ for novel inputs x _j . The model has a one-shot learning process, is randomly initialized, and has three exogenous parameters: the dimensionality $\mathcal{D}$ of representations, the memory size S, and the probability χ for activation of the memory. After learning three examples, the model generalizes correctly to novel examples. We find minima in the probability of generalization error for certain values of χ, S, and the number of different mapping examples learned. These results indicate that the optimal size of the memory scales with the number of different mapping examples learned and that the sparseness of the memory is important. The optimal dimensionality of binary representations is of the order 10⁴, which is consistent with a known analytical estimate and the synapse count for most cortical neurons. We demonstrate that the model can learn analogical mappings of generic two-place relationships, and we calculate the error probabilities for recall and generalization.     

Clinical signs in the jaw and neck region following whiplash trauma—A 2-year follow-up

Background

Pain in the orofacial region is often reported after whiplash trauma. However, prospective studies evaluating clinical signs related to orofacial pain and disability in whiplash populations are rare. The aim of the present study was to evaluate clinical signs related to pain and dysfunction in orofacial and neck regions after whiplash trauma, in a short- and long-term perspective.

Methods

In total, 84 cases (48 women) diagnosed with neck distortion after a car accident and 116 controls (68 women) were examined within 1 month, and 49 cases (27 women) and 71 controls (41 women) were re-examined 2 years later. Outcome measures were pain on palpation of jaw and neck muscles and maximal jaw opening. Analysis was performed using mixed-models.

Results

Cases and women were at higher risk for pain on palpation of jaw muscles (OR:7.7; p < 0.001 and OR:3.2; p = 0.010 respectively) and neck muscles (OR:12.7; p < 0.001 and OR:2.9; p = 0.020 respectively) but with no significant effect of time. Cases and women also had lower maximal jaw opening (−3.1; p = 0.001 and −3.3; p = 0.001 respectively). There was no significant time effect, but a significant interaction between cases and time (2.2; p = 0.004).

Conclusion

Individuals with a whiplash trauma present a higher risk for pain on palpation in jaw and neck muscles both in a short- and long-term perspective, but show normal jaw movements. No time effect suggests that cases do not spontaneously improve nor get worse. Investigating pain on palpation in the jaw and neck muscles after whiplash trauma can identify individuals at risk for developing long-term orofacial pain and dysfunction.

Significance

Orofacial pain is often reported after whiplash trauma but most previous studies concerning orofacial pain in whiplash populations have been questionnaire studies. Cases with a previous whiplash trauma and women, in general, had higher risk for pain on palpation in the jaw and neck region. Investigating pain on palpation after a whiplash trauma can help to identify individuals at risk of developing long-lasting pain in the orofacial region.