Plos One
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can improve post concussion syndrome years after mild traumatic brain injury - randomized prospective trial.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in the US. Approximately 70-90% of the TBI cases are classified as mild, and up to 25% of them will not recover and suffer chronic neurocognitive impairments. The main pathology in these cases involves diffuse brain injuries, which are hard to detect by anatomical imaging yet noticeable in metabolic imaging. The current study tested the effectiveness of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) in improving brain function and quality of life in mTBI patients suffering chronic neurocognitive impairments. ⋯ HBOT can induce neuroplasticity leading to repair of chronically impaired brain functions and improved quality of life in mTBI patients with prolonged PCS at late chronic stage.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Is altered central pain processing related to disease stage in chronic pancreatitis patients with pain? An exploratory study.
The most dominant feature in chronic pancreatitis is intense abdominal pain. Changes in spinal and/or supraspinal central nervous system pain processing due to visceral nociceptive input play an important role in this pain. How altered pain processing is related to disease stage still needs study. ⋯ The present study confirms that chronic pancreatitis patients show signs of altered central processing of nociception compared to healthy controls. The study further suggests that these changes, i.e. central sensitization, may be influenced by disease stage. These findings underline the need to take altered central pain processing into account when managing the pain of chronic pancreatitis.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Skin autofluorescence is associated with the progression of chronic kidney disease: a prospective observational study.
Advanced glycation end product (AGE) accumulation is thought to be a measure of cumulative metabolic stress that has been reported to independently predict cardiovascular disease in diabetes and renal failure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between AGE accumulation, measured as skin autofluorescence, and the progression of renal disease in pre-dialysis patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). ⋯ Tissue accumulation of AGEs, measured as skin autofluorescence, is a strong and independent predictor of progression of CKD. Skin autofluorescence may be useful for risk stratification in this group of patients; further studies should clarify whether AGE accumulation could be one of the therapeutic targets to improve the prognosis of CKD.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Sarcoplasmic phospholamban protein is involved in the mechanisms of postresuscitation myocardial dysfunction and the cardioprotective effect of nitrite during resuscitation.
Sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca(2+)-handling proteins play an important role in myocardial dysfunction after acute ischemia/reperfusion injury. We hypothesized that nitrite would improve postresuscitation myocardial dysfunction by increasing nitric oxide (NO) generation and that the mechanism of this protection is related to the modulation of SR Ca(2+)-handling proteins. ⋯ postresuscitation myocardial dysfunction is associated with the impairment of PLB phosphorylation. Nitrite administered during resuscitation improves postresuscitation myocardial dysfunction by preserving phosphorylated PLB protein during resuscitation.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
"Best practice" skills lab training vs. a "see one, do one" approach in undergraduate medical education: an RCT on students' long-term ability to perform procedural clinical skills.
Benefits of skills lab training are widely accepted, but there is sparse research on its long-term effectiveness. We therefore conducted a prospective, randomised controlled-trial to investigate whether in a simulated setting students trained according to a "best practice" model (BPSL) perform two skills of different complexity (nasogastral tube insertion, NGT; intravenous cannulation, IVC) better than students trained with a traditional "see one, do one" teaching approach (TRAD), at follow-up of 3 or 6 months. ⋯ This study shows that within a simulated setting BPSL is significantly more effective than TRAD for skills of different complexity assessed immediately after training and at follow-up. The advantages of BPSL training are seen especially in long-term retention.