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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Nov 2011
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyThe progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is heterogeneous: the experience of the BODE cohort.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is thought to result in rapid and progressive loss of lung function usually expressed as mean values for whole cohorts. ⋯ The progression of COPD is very heterogeneous. Most patients show no statistically significant decline of FEV(1) or increase in BODE. The multidimensional evaluation of COPD should offer insight into response to COPD management.
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As a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and worldwide, obesity is a disease that is frequently encountered in clinical practice today and requires a range of medical interventions. While obesity affects both men and women across all ages, multiple issues are particularly germane to women's health, particularly as obesity is more prevalent among women than men in the United States and obesity among women of reproductive health relates to the growing issue of childhood obesity. Discussed herein are the epidemiology and pathophysiology of obesity along with the impact of perinatal obesity on fetal programming. ⋯ With modest weight loss, women with obesity can achieve notable improvements in chronic medical conditions, fertility, pregnancy outcomes, and symptoms of pelvic floor disorders. Moreover, as children born to women after bariatric surgery-induced weight loss show improved metabolic outcomes, this demonstrates a role for maternal weight loss in reducing risk of development of metabolic disturbances in children. In light of the immense cost burden and mortality from obesity, it is important to emphasize the role of lifestyle intervention, pharmacologic management, and bariatric surgery for weight loss in clinical practice to mitigate the impact of obesity on women's health.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Glucose control and vascular complications in veterans with type 2 diabetes.
The effects of intensive glucose control on cardiovascular events in patients with long-standing type 2 diabetes mellitus remain uncertain. ⋯ Intensive glucose control in patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes had no significant effect on the rates of major cardiovascular events, death, or microvascular complications with the exception of progression of albuminuria (P = 0.01) [added]. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00032487.)
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Current drug targets · Feb 2013
ReviewCan we delay the accelerated lung aging in COPD? Anti-aging molecules and interventions.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been recently characterized as a disease of accelerated lung aging. The prevalence of COPD is age-dependent suggesting an intimate relationship between the pathogenesis of COPD and aging. Lung function decline, the hallmark feature of COPD evolution, is more prominent with increasing age and this decline is greater in smoking individuals. ⋯ The above mechanisms have been associated with the accelerated lung aging in COPD patients. Numerous therapeutic interventions have been studied in an attempt to reverse accelerated lung aging, and some of them have already been tested in clinical trials. The aim of the present review is to summarize the mechanisms associated with the accelerated lung aging in COPD and to provide information about the possible therapeutic implications targeting those mechanisms.
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J Bone Joint Surg Am · Oct 2011
Comparative StudyComparison of patient-reported and clinician-assessed outcomes following total knee arthroplasty.
Although the necessity of long-term follow-up after total knee arthroplasty is unquestioned, this task may become burdensome as greater numbers of total knee arthroplasties are performed. We sought to use comparisons with clinician-assessed values to determine whether patients could reliably assess their own outcome with use of a combination of American Knee Society Score and Oxford Knee Score questionnaires and self-reported knee motion. We hypothesized that patients would self-report worse pain and function and a similar range of knee motion than clinicians would. ⋯ Patients' self-reported American Knee Society pain and function subscores were worse than the corresponding clinician assessments, but the two Oxford Knee Scores were similar. Range of knee motion may reasonably be self-assessed by comparison with photographs. Long-term follow-up of patients after total knee arthroplasty may be possible with use of patient-reported measures, alleviating the burden of clinic visits yet maintaining contact, but further studies involving other validated instruments is warranted.