Irish journal of medical science
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This study was to investigate the value of 10 serum inflammatory cytokines for predicting clinical response to celecoxib in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients. ⋯ Serum IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-17A serve as indicators for predicting clinical response to celecoxib in AS patients, which may assist with the optimization of personalized treatment.
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Caregiving demands contribute to both psychological and physical health of caregivers. Physical workload (PW) can be an important cause of musculoskeletal disorders in caregivers of children with cerebral palsy (CP). ⋯ Caregivers of a child having an ID and walking disability had higher PW. These caregivers had more problems related to musculoskeletal disorders, higher depressive symptoms, and lower HRQOL. Higher PW was associated with lower level of gross motor function of child and older age, higher body mass index, higher level of lower extremity disfunction and low back pain disability, and lower HRQOL of caregivers.
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Historically, high negative appendicectomy rates (NAR) were acceptable to offset the risks of perforation, previously exceeding 20%. With improved imaging and clinical scoring algorithms, there is growing demand for lower negative appendicectomy rates. The objectives were to (1) establish the NAR in our institution and (2) correlate clinical parameters and imaging modalities with histological findings. ⋯ There is no consensus on defining a negative appendicectomy or for imaging modality utilisation. CT imaging is the most sensitive and should be used in cases of diagnostic uncertainty. A standardised algorithm regarding the workup of patients with RIF pain along with a consensus on the use of imaging will further reduce negative appendicectomy rates.
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Measurement of late night salivary cortisol (LNSF) is useful in the identification of cyclical Cushing's syndrome (CS); the usefulness of its metabolite cortisone (late night salivary cortisone, LNSE) is less well described. ⋯ LNSF appears more sensitive than LNSE and UFC in the diagnosis of CS, combining LNSF and LNSE results leads to superior sensitivity. Half of our cohort had evidence of cyclical or variable hormonogenesis. Fluctuations in LNSF did not always correlate with changes in UFC concentration, emphasising the importance of performing more than one screening test, particularly if pretest clinical suspicion is high.