Plos One
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Ultrasound-Guided Pulsed Radiofrequency for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Single-Blinded Randomized Controlled Study.
We assessed the therapeutic efficiency of ultrasound-guided pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) treatment of the median nerve in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). ⋯ Our study shows that ultrasound-guided PRF serves as a better approach for pain relief in patients with CTS.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of High-Fidelity Simulation on Medical Students' Knowledge about Advanced Life Support: A Randomized Study.
High-fidelity simulation (HFS) is a learning method which has proven effective in medical education for technical and non-technical skills. However, its effectiveness for knowledge acquisition is less validated. We performed a randomized study with the primary aim of investigating whether HFS, in association with frontal lessons, would improve knowledge about advanced life support (ALS), in comparison to frontal lessons only among medical students. ⋯ Students in group S showed a significantly higher score in the post-test subjective section (p = 0.0074). A lower proportion of students in group S confirmed their perception of knowledge compared to group C (p = 0.0079). HFS showed a beneficial effect on knowledge of ALS among medical students, especially for notions of algorithms and team working/early warning scores/communication.
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Observational Study
Unscheduled-return-visits after an emergency department (ED) attendance and clinical link between both visits in patients aged 75 years and over: a prospective observational study.
Predictors of unscheduled return visits (URV), best time-frame to evaluate URV rate and clinical relationship between both visits have not yet been determined for the elderly following an ED visit. ⋯ Our study shows that a decision of non-admission in emergency departments is linked with an accrued risk of URV, and that some diagnostic categories are also related for non-admitted and hospitalized subjects alike. Our study also demonstrates that the best time frame to evaluate the URV rate after an ED visit is 30 days, because this is the time period during which most URVs and cases with close clinical relationships between two visits are concentrated. Our results suggest that URV can be used as an indicator or quality.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Inducing Expectations for Health: Effects of Verbal Suggestion and Imagery on Pain, Itch, and Fatigue as Indicators of Physical Sensitivity.
Research into placebo effects has convincingly shown that inducing positive outcome expectations can reduce pain and other physical sensations. However, the comparative effects of different expectation inductions, such as verbal suggestion or mental imagery, and their generic effects on physical sensitivity, to different sensations such as pain, itch, and fatigue, are still largely unknown. In the current study, we assessed the individual and combined effects of verbal suggestion and imagery on pain, itch, and fatigue as indicators of physical sensitivity in a randomized study design. Healthy participants (n = 116) were given an inert (placebo) capsule that was said to be effective for reducing physical sensitivity in either the majority (positive verbal suggestion) or the minority (control verbal suggestion) of users. Subsequently, they imagined either their best possible health (positive imagery) or a typical day (control imagery). Sensitivity to pain, itch, and fatigue was tested using a cold pressor test, histamine iontophoresis, and a bicycle test, respectively. Heart rate and skin conductance were recorded continuously. Results showed that positive verbal suggestion and imagery successfully induced positive expectations, but they did not affect physical sensitivity, as indicated by sensitivity to pain, itch, or fatigue, or concurrent physiological responses. These results could indicate that the specificity and concreteness of expectation inductions might be important for their applicability in the treatment of physical symptoms.
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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and as such have been implicated in a variety of diseases, including cancer. MiRNAs regulate mRNAs through binding of the miRNA 5' seed sequence (~7-8 nucleotides) to the mRNA 3' UTRs; polymorphisms in these regions have the potential to alter miRNA-mRNA target associations. SNPs in miRNA genes as well as miRNA-target genes have been proposed to influence cancer risk through altered miRNA expression levels. ⋯ Of the 327 SNPs identified in the literature as being important because of their potential regulation of miRNA expression levels, 12.5% had statistically significantly associations with miRNA expression. However, only two of these SNPs were significantly associated with colon cancer.