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Group Subjects (group + subject)
Kinds of Group Subjects Selected AbstractsDental arch morphological and dimensional characteristics in Jordanian children and young adults with ,-thalassaemia majorINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRIC DENTISTRY, Issue 2 2005A. AL-WAHADNI Summary. Objective. , The aim of this study was to examine the arch dimensions of Jordanian patients with ,-thalassaemia major in comparison with an unaffected control group. Methods. , The sample consisted of 24 patients who suffered from ,-thalassaemia major (mean age = 13·9 ± 3·1 years) and an unaffected control group (mean age = 13·5 ± 2·9 years) matched for dental age, sex, and incisor and molar relationships. The unaffected control group was randomly selected from four public schools in the Governate of Irbid-Jordan. Alginate impressions were taken of the maxillary and mandibular dental arches of all participants. All measurements of the arch dimensions were made on the casts using an electronic digital sliding calliper. Results. , In the mandibular arch, when compared with the patients with thalassaemia, the unaffected control group subjects showed a (statistically) significantly larger incisor width, larger arch depth, and larger left and right anterior arch lengths (1·18, 2·58, and 1·85 and 1·12 mm, respectively). In the maxillary arch, there was a statistically significant difference in the mean incisor width (± 2·16 mm), arch depth (± 3·14 mm), inter-molar width (± 1·21 mm) and in the left anterior arch length (± 1·97 mm). The canine widths, premolar widths, left and right posterior arch length, and curve of Spee of both arches showed no statistically significant differences between the two groups. Conclusion. , When compared to unaffected subjects, patients with ,-thalassaemia major exhibited: a narrower maxilla; a shorter maxilla and mandible; and smaller incisor widths for the maxillary and mandibular arches. [source] A Randomized, Controlled Trial of an Intensive Community Nurse,Supported Discharge Program in Preventing Hospital Readmissions of Older Patients with Chronic Lung DiseaseJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 8 2004Timothy Kwok FRCP Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of an intensive community nurse (CN)-supported discharge program in preventing hospital readmissions of older patients with chronic lung disease (CLD). Design: Randomized, controlled trial. Setting: Two acute hospitals in the same health region in Hong Kong. Participants: One hundred fifty-seven hospitalized patients aged 60 and older with a primary diagnosis of CLD and at least one hospital admission in the previous 6 months. Intervention: CNs made home visits within 7 days of discharge, then weekly for 4 weeks and monthly until 6 months. CNs coordinated closely with a geriatric or respiratory specialist in hospital. Subjects had telephone access to CNs during normal working hours from Monday to Saturday. Measurements: The primary outcome was the rate of unplanned readmission within 6 months. The secondary outcomes were the rate of unplanned readmission within 28 days, number of unplanned readmissions, hospital bed days, accident and emergency room attendance, functional and psychosocial status, and caregiver burden. Results: One hundred forty hospitalized patients completed the trial. Intervention group subjects had a higher rate of unplanned readmission within 6 months than control group subjects (76% vs 62%, P=.080, ,2 test). There was no significant group difference in any of the secondary outcomes except that intervention group subjects did better on social handicap scores. Conclusion: There was no evidence that an intensive CN-supported discharge program can prevent hospital readmissions in older patients with CLD. [source] Mechanical implications of estrogen supplementation in early postmenopausal womenJOURNAL OF BONE AND MINERAL RESEARCH, Issue 6 2010Felix W Wehrli Abstract Whereas the structural implications of drug intervention are well established, there are few data on the possible mechanical consequences of treatment. In this work we examined the changes in elastic and shear moduli (EM and SM) in a region of trabecular bone in the distal radius and distal tibia of early postmenopausal women on the basis of MRI-based micro-finite-element (µFE) analysis. Whole-section axial stiffness (AS) encompassing both trabecular and cortical compartments was evaluated as well. The study was conducted on previously acquired high-resolution images at the two anatomic sites. Images were processed to yield a 3D voxel array of bone-volume fraction (BVF), which was converted to a µFE model of hexahedral elements in which tissue modulus was set proportional to voxel BVF. The study comprised 65 early postmenopausal women (age range 45 to 55 years), of whom 32 had chosen estrogen supplementation (estradiol group); the remainder had not (control group). Subjects had been scanned at baseline and 12 and 24 months thereafter. At the distal tibia, EM and SM were reduced by 2.9% to 5.5% in the control group (p,<,.05 to <.005), but there was no change in the estradiol subjects. AS decreased 3.9% (4.0%) in controls (p,<,.005) and increased by 5.8% (6.2%) in estradiol group subjects (p,<,.05) at 12 (24) months. At the distal radius, EM and SM changes from baseline were not significant, but at both time points AS was increased in estradiol group subjects and decreased in controls (p,<,.005 to <.05), albeit by a smaller margin than at the tibia. EM and SM were strongly correlated with BV/TV (r2,=,0.44 to 0.92) as well as with topologic parameters expressing the ratio of plates to rods (r2,=,0.45 to 0.82), jointly explaining up to 96% of the variation in the mechanical parameters. Finally, baseline AS was strongly correlated between the two anatomic sites (r2,=,0.58), suggesting that intersubject variations in the bone's mechanical competence follows similar mechanisms. In conclusion, the results demonstrate that micro-MRI-based µFE models are suited for the study of the mechanical implications of antiresorptive treatment. The data further highlight the anabolic effect of short-term estrogen supplementation. © 2010 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research [source] A randomized controlled trial of a community nurse-supported hospital discharge programme in older patients with chronic heart failureJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 1 2008Timothy Kwok MD Aims and objectives., To evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a community nurse-supported hospital discharge programme in preventing hospital re-admissions, improving functional status and handicap of older patients with chronic heart failure. Design., Randomized controlled trial; 105 hospitalized patients aged 60 years or over with chronic heart failure and history of hospital admission(s) in previous year were randomly assigned into intervention group (n = 49) and control group (n = 56) for six months. Intervention group subjects received community nurse visits before discharge, within seven days of discharge, weekly for four weeks, then monthly. Community nurse liaised closely with a designated specialist in hospital and were accessible to subjects during normal working hours. Control and intervention group subjects were followed up in the same specialist medical clinics. Primary outcome was the rate of unplanned re-admission at six months. Secondary outcomes were number of unplanned re-admissions, six-minute walking distance, London Handicap Scale and public health care and personal care costs. Results., At sixth months, the re-admission rates were not significantly different (46 vs. 57% in control subjects, p = 0·233, Chi-square test). But the median number of re-admissions tended to lower in the intervention group (0 vs. 1 in control group, p = 0·057, Mann Whitney test). Intervention group subjects had less handicap in independence (median change 0 vs. 0·5 in control subjects, p = 0·002, Mann Whitney test), but there was no difference in six-minute walking distance. There was no significant group difference in median total public health care and personal care costs. Conclusion., Community nurse-supported post-discharge programme was effective in preserving independence and was probably effective in reducing the number of unplanned re-admissions. The cost benefits to public health care were not significant. Relevance to clinical practice., Older chronic heart failure patients are likely to benefit from post-discharge community nurse intervention programmes. More comprehensive health economic evaluation needs to be undertaken. [source] Comparison of TCA and ICA techniques in fMRI data processingJOURNAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING, Issue 4 2004Xia Zhao MS Abstract Purpose To make a quantitative comparison of temporal cluster analysis (TCA) and independent component analysis (ICA) techniques in detecting brain activation by using simulated data and in vivo event-related functional MRI (fMRI) experiments. Materials and Methods A single-slice MRI image was replicated 150 times to simulate an fMRI time series. An event-related brain activation pattern with five different levels of intensity and Gaussian noise was superimposed on these images. Maximum contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the signal change ranged from 1.0 to 2.0 by 0.25 increments. In vivo visual stimulation fMRI experiments were performed on a 1.9 T magnet. Six human volunteers participated in this study. All imaging data were analyzed using both TCA and ICA methods. Results Both simulated and in vivo data have shown that no statistically significant difference exists in the activation areas detected by both ICA and TCA techniques when CNR of fMRI signal is larger than 1.75. Conclusion TCA and ICA techniques are comparable in generating functional brain maps in event-related fMRI experiments. Although ICA has richer features in exploring the spatial and temporal information of the functional images, the TCA method has advantages in its computational efficiency, repeatability, and readiness to average data from group subjects. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:397,402. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Lactobacillus strains stabilize intestinal microbiota in Japanese cedar pollinosis patientsMICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Akira Kubota ABSTRACT A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to ascertain the intestinal microbiota-altering properties of LGG and L. gasseri TMC0356 (TMC0356) in Japanese cedar Cryptomeria japonica pollinosis patients. Fecal bacteria communities were examined before and after fermented milk administration using culture, FISH and T-RFLP methods. Test group subjects showed the presence of LGG and TMC0356 along with a significant increase in fecal lactobacilli (P < 0.001) after giving LGG and TMC0356 fermented milk. Culture and FISH analysis revealed no significant changes in other intestinal bacterial groups. Each subject exhibited a characteristic T-RFLP profile pattern that varied quantitatively and qualitatively with JCP shedding. Profile changes were observed in 53% of placebo group subjects and in 21% of test group subject's post-administration, indicating that LGG and TMC0356 suppressed intestinal microbiota changes in JCPsis patients. The results suggest that intestinal microbiota might be more sensitive to exposure to environmental allergens than expected from the results of general culture method studies. Stabilization of intestinal microbiota by selected probiotic strains such as LGG and TMC0356 could be beneficial to homeostasis of the intestinal microbiota and useful in the management of JCPsis. [source] Memory with emotional content, brain amygdala and Alzheimer's diseaseACTA NEUROLOGICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 2 2009R. R. Schultz Objectives,,, A highly adaptive aspect of human memory is the enhancement of explicit, consciously accessible memory by emotional stimuli. We studied the performance of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and elderly controls using a memory battery with emotional content, and we correlated these results with the amygdala and hippocampus volume. Methods,,, Twenty controls and 20 early AD patients were subjected to the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) and to magnetic resonance imaging-based volumetric measurements of the medial temporal lobe structures. Results,,, The results show that excluding control group subjects with 5 or more years of schooling, both groups showed improvement with pleasant or unpleasant figures for the IAPS in an immediate free recall test. Likewise, in a delayed free recall test, both the controls and the AD group showed improvement for pleasant pictures, when education factor was not controlled. The AD group showed improvement in the immediate and delayed free recall test proportional to the medial temporal lobe structures, with no significant clinical correlation between affective valence and amygdala volume. Conclusion,,, AD patients can correctly identify emotions, at least at this early stage, but this does not improve their memory performance. [source] | ||||||||||