Wiener klinische Wochenschrift
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Oct 2021
Psoriasis and IgE-mediated allergy: correlation or mutual inhibition? : A prospective cohort study in patients with mild or moderate to severe psoriasis.
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease caused by overactivation of TH1 (Type 1 helper cells) and TH17 (T helper 17) cells. Overactivation of TH1 cells inhibits the activity of TH2 cells involved in type 1 allergies, therefore, psoriasis patients might be less affected by type 1 allergies. This study tested if allergies were less frequent in patients with moderate to severe than with mild psoriasis. ⋯ Allergy prevalence was not reduced in patients with moderate/severe psoriasis, and generally close to the prevalence in the general Austrian population (24%). The inhibiting effect of psoriasis on type 1 allergies was not confirmed.
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Olfactory dysfunction (OD) is common in the general population, affects the quality of life (QoL), and is suspected to cause depression. Long-term outcome data are lacking and there is a need to improve patient counselling regarding prognosis. We aimed to assess subjective long-term recovery rates, the QoL, and mood disturbance in a group of 65 patients, who were affected with OD. ⋯ Despite negative effects of OD on certain activities in daily life, such as cooking, detecting spoiled food, or personal hygiene, it seems that the patients included in this study adapted to the OD in the long-term. The current findings should aid clinicians in patient counselling.
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Oct 2021
Individual cognitive changes in subjective cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease using the reliable change index methodology.
The development of Alzheimer's disease (AD) can be assessed using the neuropsychological test battery Vienna (NTBV). The objective of this study was to investigate whether the NTBV test scores of a diagnostic group have changed significantly over time and whether this change is due to disease progression. ⋯ The results reflect the cognitive deterioration of patients during the disease progression. Nevertheless, improvements in diagnostic groups could be detected. The significantly positive changes might be due to practice effects, also a lack of motivation or attention in the first test could have yielded "improvement" in the retest.
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Oct 2021
I smoke to cope with pain: patients' perspectives on the link between cigarette smoking and pain.
For people with chronic pain, cigarette smoking is associated with greater pain intensity and impairment. Researchers have hypothesized a reciprocal relationship in which pain and smoking exacerbate each other, resulting in greater pain and increased smoking. This study aimed to qualitatively examine patient perspectives on this association. ⋯ Many patients with chronic pain who smoke readily identified pain as a motivator of their smoking behavior and are reluctant to quit for this reason. Integrated interventions for smokers with pain should address these perceptions and expectancies and promote uptake of more adaptive self-management strategies for pain.
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Oct 2021
Observational StudyLow dose intravenous immunoglobulin in addition to cyclophosphamide in systemic sclerosis : Single centre experience.
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare chronic disease characterized by pathologic collagen deposits in the skin and internal organs. Although it is considered to be an autoimmune disease, immunosuppressants have a limited effect on severe SSc. Intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) have shown favorable effects in patients with SSc by suppressing the action of profibrotic cytokines, so they could have additional effect on standard treatment such as cyclophosphamide (CYC). This article presents the immunomodulatory effect of low-dose IVIG in addition to CYC in the treatment of severe SSc in this center during the last 9 years. ⋯ The results of the study suggest that IVIG may be an additional treatment option together with CYC for patients for whom other therapies have failed, but further studies on the exact role of IVIG in the treatment of severe SSc are required.