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Causal symptom attributions in somatoform disorder and chronic pain.
2009
Abstract Objective Somatoform disorders (SFD) are defined by symptoms that lack medical explanation. This study examined the type and pattern of patients' causal attributions using a new semistructured interview technique Methods The Causal Attributions Interview allows to assess and weigh 15 common explanations of physical symptoms. Attributions given by 79 patients with SFD were compared with those obtained from 187 chronic pain patients. Results The test–retest reliabilities of the interview-elicited attributions were satisfactory to good. SFD patients attributed most of their symptoms to mental/emotional problems (46.9%) and somatic disease (41.1%), while the pain sample preferred physi…
Clinical performance of a new medullary humeral nail: antegrade versus retrograde insertion.
2001
Objective A new intramedullary nail system for humeral shaft fractures is evaluated to determine whether retrograde nailing is as reliable as antegrade nailing. Study design Prospective multicenter nonrandomized clinical study. Patients Eighty-four patients with acute humeral shaft fractures were nailed with the new unreamed humeral nail (UHN) system. Fifty-seven nails were introduced retrogradely, and twenty-seven antegradely. Bone healing and functional outcome were the follow-up parameters. Results The ratio of perioperative complications was equivalent for both groups, but one shaft fracture and three fractures or fissures at the entry point occurred in the group with retrograde nail in…
Impaired anatomical connectivity and related executive functions: differentiating vulnerability and disease marker in bipolar disorder.
2012
Background Bipolar 1 disorder (BD1) has been associated with impaired set shifting, increased risk taking, and impaired integrity of frontolimbic white matter. However, it remains unknown to what extent these findings are related to each other and whether these abnormalities represent risk factors or consequences of the illness. Methods We addressed the first question by comparing 19 patients with BD1 and 19 healthy control subjects (sample 1) with diffusion tensor imaging, the Intra-Extra Dimensional Set Shift Task, and the Cambridge Gambling Task. The second question we approached by applying the same protocol to 22 healthy first-degree relatives of patients with BD1 and 22 persons withou…
Towards an international language for incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD): design and evaluation of psychometric properties of the Ghent Global …
2018
Background Incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD) is a specific type of irritant contact dermatitis with different levels of severity. An internationally accepted instrument to assess the severity of IAD in adults with established diagnostic accuracy, agreement, and reliability is needed to support clinical practice and research.Objectives To design and psychometrically evaluate the Ghent Global IAD Categorisation Tool (GLOBIAD).Methods The design was based on expert consultation using a three-round Delphi procedure with 34 experts from 13 countries. The instrument was tested using IAD photographs reflecting different severity levels in a sample of 823 health professionals in 30 countries…
Although unseen, chronic pain is real–A phenomenological study
2013
Abstract Background Research has emphasised the essential role of psychosocial risk factors in chronic pain. In practice, pain is usually verified by identifying its physical cause. In patients without any distinct pathology, pain is easily defined as imaginary pain. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the invisibility of chronic pain, from the patients’ perspective. Methods Thirty-four participants with chronic pain were interviewed. The mean age of the participants was 48 years, and 19 of them were women. For 21 of the participants, the duration of pain was more than five years, and most of the participants had degenerative spinal pain. The transcribed interviews were analyse…
Double-blind cross-over study with oral alpha-ketoacids in patients with chronic renal failure.
1980
In 15 ambulatory patients with renal insufficiency (creatinine clearance, 9.9 +/- 3.0 ml/min) the effect of oral supplementation with alpha-ketoacids has been compared with that of placebo. The protein intake amounted to 0.55 g protein per kilogram body weight of high biological value, as estimated by dietary recordings. After a control period of 3 months the patients received, in a double-blind study, 1.05 g alpha-ketoacids/10 kg body weight per day or a placebo for 6 weeks with a subsequent cross-over. Fasting blood samples were analyzed at 3-week intervals for routine laboratory parameters and 17 proteins. Anthropometric and clinical data have been recorded every 3 weeks. While therapy w…
Italian version of the Chicago multiscale depression inventory: translation, adaptation and testing in people with multiple sclerosis.
2004
Depression is the commonest psychiatric disturbance in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), with prevalence higher than in the general population and other chronic diseases. However, accurate assessment of depressive symptoms can be biased by somatic symptoms which are part of both MS and depression. We translated and adapted into Italian the Chicago multiscale depression inventory (CMDI) and assessed its acceptability, internal consistency and test-retest reliability in 213 MS outpatients and 213 individually matched healthy controls. The questionnaire was also tested in 32 people with major depression. Acceptability, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability were good overall. We …
Correlation between fatigue and brain atrophy and lesion load in multiple sclerosis patients independent of disability.
2007
Abstract Background Fatigue is a major problem in multiple sclerosis (MS), and its association with MRI features is debated. Objective To study the correlation between fatigue and lesion load, white matter (WM), and grey matter (GM), in MS patients independent of disability. Methods We studied 222 relapsing remitting MS patients with low disability (scores ≤ 2 at the Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale). Lesion load, WM and GM were measured by fully automated, operator-independent, multi-parametric segmentation method. T1 and T2 lesion volume were also measured by a semi-automated method. Fatigue was assessed by the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), and patients divided in high-fatigue (FS…
"Baseline physical functioning status of metastatic colorectal cancer patients predicts the overall survival but not the activity of a front-line oxa…
2010
BACKGROUND: No differences in response rate (RR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and quality of life (QoL) were seen in patients randomly treated with biweekly oxaliplatin plus either fluorouracil/folinic acid or capecitabine. METHODS: We investigated the independent effect of baseline clinical characteristics and physical functioning (PF) domain on RR, PFS, and OS in 310 patients who completed the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire. Multivariate analyses stratified by treatment were performed. An exploratory analysis was done by grouping patients with a PF score superior or equal to the highest quartile (n = 111), included between the highest and the lowest quartiles (n = …
Natalizumab: a country-based surveillance program
2008
Natalizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody with a selective adhesion-molecule inhibitor effect, and a demonstrated efficacy in decreasing the frequency of relapses and progression of disability in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RR MS). After the approval of FDA and EMEA in MS cases unresponsive to immunomodulating therapy or in severe MS patients also not previously treated with interferons, and considering the concern on the possible side effects, an accurate program of surveillance was organized in our country by a combined effort of AIFA, Cineca, Department of Pharmacology of University of Bologna, and a group of neurologists appointed by the National Society of Neurology (S…