Predictors of health-related quality of life in Parkinson’s disease: the impact of overlap between health-related quality of life and clinical measures

Quality of Life Research - This study aimed to determine predictors of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Parkinson's disease (PD) and to explore their predictive value before and after...     

Fraction of Exhaled Nitric Oxide and Asthma Predictive Index in Infants Less Than Two Years-Old

IntroductionThe fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FE_NO) is considered an indirect marker of eosinophilic inflammation of the airway. In cooperative children, the usual method is a single breath. The impossibility of performing this in uncooperative children has led to the development of the online and offline tidal breathing technique. The objective of the study has been to analyse the relationship between the multiplebreath online FE_NO and the asthma predictive index (API) in children under the age of two.Material and methodsAn observational and cross-sectional study on a consecutive sample of boys and girls between 2 months and 2 years of age, over a period of 4 months. The post-prandial multiple breaths online FE_NO and flow spirometry between 40 and 60 ml/s, using a stationary chemiluminescence analyser (CLD 88 sp). The quantitative variables were: age, weight, IgE, eosinophilia, FE_NO, flow spirometry. The qualitative variables were: gender, atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, food and medical allergies, family history of asthma and atopy, diagnosis and treatment. The relationship between API and FE_NO was analysed using the exact Fisher and Student t tests and the level of agreement between API and FE_NO using Cohen's Kappa. The relationship between eosinophilia, IgE, atopic dermatitis and FE_NO was also studied (exact Fisher and Student t tests).ResultsThe cohort consisted of 38 patients. The determinations were successfully carried out on 32 (84.21) of the cases. The mean age was 10.9 ± 5.06 months. The cases with a positive API had significantly higher FE_NO values than those with a negative API, with a level of agreement between API and FE_NO of 0.71.ConclusionsThere is a significant relationship and a good level of agreement between the online tidal breathing FE_NO and the API.     

Determination and validity of critical swimming velocity in elite physically disabled swimmers

Article Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if the critical swimming velocity (CSV), defined as the theoretical maximal swimming velocity that could be maintained for a long period of time without exhaustion, corresponds to the exercise intensity at onset blood lactate accumulation (OBLA), and if it could be utilized as a practical index for assessing endurance performance in elite physically disabled swimmers. Eight elite physically disabled swimmers swam four different distances (50, 100, 200 and 400 m) at maximal effort. The swimming time was taken during each trial. The CSV was expressed as the slope of a regression line between the covered swimming distance and the corresponding times of all possible combinations of 2 or 4 time trials. Results indicate that all the CSVs calculated were similar independently of the distances utilized for their calculation. Afterwards, a CSV confirmation test consisting of 3×10-min trials at 95, 100, 105% of the CSV was carried out. The lactate concentration at the end of each trial was 3.32, 4.03 and 5.73 mmol·l^?1, respectively. Lactate concentration at 100% CSV approached the value of 4 mmol·l^?1, which is considered the exercise intensity at OBLA. We conclude that the CSV corresponds with the OBLA intensity and could be a valuable index to plan a training schedule for physically disabled swimmers.     

Reliability and validity of the Spanish version of the TAPQOL: a health-related quality of life (HRQOL) instrument for 1- to 5-year-old children

Objectives

To evaluate the reliability, and construct validity of the Spanish version of the TNO-AZL preschool children quality of life (TAPQOL).

Methods

A consecutive sample of children (3 months to 5 years old) was recruited from primary care centers and two teaching hospitals in Spain. The TAPQOL and a set of questions related to their child's health status were administered to parents. Clinical diagnoses were collected from clinical records. Principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was used to analyze the instrument's structure. Effect size (ES) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze differences between subgroups known to be in poor health compared to the healthy subgroup.

Results

A total of 228 children participated in the study (response rate = 95%). Ten of the 12 scales showed more than 30% ceiling effect. All dimensions except one had Cronbach's alpha coefficients greater than 0.7. PCA explained 75% of the variance. Healthy children in general had better scores than the other subgroups. Children at risk of poor health outcomes and those with respiratory problems scored lower in several scales than the healthy subgroup.

Conclusions

Although the Spanish TAPQOL shows a non-negligible ceiling effect, it seems to be a reliable and valid instrument for Spanish infants and toddlers, and with similar psychometric characteristics to the original version. Future studies should try to improve questionnaire's structure and assess its sensitivity to change.     

Correction to: Multimodal visual system analysis as a biomarker of visual hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease

Journal of Neurology -