Search results for "Measure"

Efficacy of Caplacizumab in Patients with aTTP in the HERCULES Study According to Baseline Disease Severity

2019

Background: Acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (aTTP) is a rare, life-threatening autoimmune thrombotic microangiopathy that involves abnormal processing of von-Willebrand factor (vWF) and results in multiple organ dysfunction. Although aTTP remains a very unpredictable disease, risk factors for death include older age, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels >10x the upper limit of normal (ULN), and cerebral involvement (i.e., the French severity score) (Benhamou et al. Haematologica 2012;97:1181-1186). In addition, raised cardiac troponin-I (cTnI) levels of >2.5 µg/L have also been linked with a higher risk of mortality or refractoriness (Benhamou et al. J Thromb Haemost 2015;1…

The Development of a Multidisciplinary Spine Center: A New Shared Approach for Pain Care

2017

Directly measured and self-reported physical activity in a sample of Finnish secondary school students

2012

Previous studies based on self-reports show that a majority of children and adolescents in Western countries fail to achieve the recommendation of 60 minutes moderate to vigorous physical activity (PA) on a daily basis. The specific aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between directly measured and self-reported PA in a cross-sectional sample of Finnish secondary school students. Moreover, how large proportion of adolescents accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous PA on a daily basis using self-reports and direct measure scores. Methods: Participants were recruited from a secondary school located in Northeast Finland. The sample comprised 96 students (58 girls, 38…

Available Instruments to Assess Pain in Infants

2021

Pain assessment in newborns and infants is challenging for clinicians. Although behavioral and behavioral-physiological scales are validated pain assessment instruments, their use in this age group has significant limitations. In this review, we summarize the methods currently available for assessing pain in neonates and infants. It is possible that these pain detection methods are also useful for assessing the quality of anesthesia and analgosedation in these populations. Further research should be aimed at confirming the usefulness of these tools in infants and identifying additional pain assessment options for clinical practice.

Effects of a Vibro-Tactile P300 Based Brain-Computer Interface on the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised in Patients With Disorders of Consciousness

2020

Persons diagnosed with disorders of consciousness (DOC) typically suffer from motor and cognitive disabilities. Recent research has shown that non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) technology could help assess these patients’ cognitive functions and command following abilities. 20 DOC patients participated in the study and performed 10 vibro-tactile P300 BCI sessions over 10 days with 8–12 runs each day. Vibrotactile tactors were placed on the each patient’s left and right wrists and one foot. Patients were instructed, via earbuds, to concentrate and silently count vibrotactile pulses on either their left or right wrist that presented a target stimulus and to ignore …

Color-discrimination threshold determination using pseudoisochromatic test plates

2014

We produced a set of pseudoisochromatic plates for determining individual color-difference thresholds to assess test performance and test properties, and analyzed the results. We report a high test validity and classification ability for the deficiency type and severity level [comparable to that of the fourth edition of the Hardy–Rand–Rittler (HRR) test]. We discuss changes of the acceptable chromatic shifts from the protan and deutan confusion lines along the CIE xy diagram, and the high correlation of individual color-difference thresholds and the red–green discrimination index. Color vision was tested using an Oculus HMC anomaloscope, a Farnsworth D15, and an HRR test on 273 schoolchildr…

Anterior chamber depth measurement in teenagers. Comparison of two techniques

2013

Purpose: The aim of this study is to determine the anterior chamber depth (ACD) in teenagers using two different devices: partial coherence interferometry IOLMaster (Carl Zeiss Meditec) and anterior segment optical coherence tomography (Visante TM OCT, Carl Zeiss Meditec) and to evaluate the degree of agreement between ACD measurements carried out by both instruments. Methods: In this prospective study 68 eyes of 34 emmetropic Caucasic patients (18 girls and 16 boys) were analysed. ACD was measured from the anterior corneal surface to anterior surface of the crystalline lens. For each age the ACD size was calculated and the difference between IOLMaster and Visante-OCT measurements was analy…

Fibromyalgia and arthritides

2012

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain syndrome that affects at least 2% of the adult population. It is characterised by widespread pain, fatigue, sleep alterations and distress, and emerging evidence suggests a central nervous system (CNS) malfunction that increases pain transmission and perception. FM is often associated with other diseases that act as confounding and aggravating factors, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), spondyloarthritides (SpA), osteoarthritis (OA) and thyroid disease. Mechanism-based FM management should consider both peripheral and central pain, including effects due to cerebral input and that come from the descending inhibitory pathways. Rheumatologists should be able…

Long-Term Effects of Mind-Body Exercises on the Physical Fitness and Quality of Life of Individuals With Substance Use Disorder—A Randomized Trial

2020

Background: Mind-body exercises (MBE) are sequences of low to medium-intensity activities that benefit healthy performers physically and mentally. In contrast to the unmodified application of traditional tai chi, qi gong, or yoga in the healthy population, MBEs are typically tailored for individuals with substance abuse disorder (SUD). Despite numerous applications in practice, the detailed effects of tailor-made MBEs for SUD are unclear.Objectives: This study aimed to analyze and compare changes in the physical fitness and quality of life of individuals with SUD that underwent conventional or tailor-made MBEs.Methods: A total of 100 subjects obtained from the Shanghai Mandatory Detoxificat…

The association between quality of care and technical efficiency in long-term care

2005

To analyse the association between quality of care and technical (productive) efficiency in institutional long-term care wards for the elderly.One hundred and fourteen public health centre hospitals and residential homes in Finland.Wards were divided into two categories according to their rank in the quality distribution, considering 41 quality variables separately. The technical efficiency scores of the good- and poor-quality groups were compared using cross-sectional data.Data envelopment analysis was used for calculating technical efficiency. The Mann-Whitney test and correlation coefficients were used to explore the association between quality and efficiency.The wards where quality indi…