Articles: chronic.
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Accelerated aging has been proposed as a pathologic mechanism of various chronic diseases, including COPD. This concept has almost exclusively been approached by analyses of individual markers. We investigated whether COPD is associated with accelerated aging using a panel of markers representing various interconnected aspects of the aging process. ⋯ Markers of the aging mechanism represent distinct molecular aspects of aging. Among them, different markers were altered in COPD, but only telomere length was consistently associated with lung function, and seems a useful marker for expressing accelerated aging in COPD.
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Introduction. Psychosocial and somatosensory factors are involved in the pathophysiology of chronic migraine (CM) and chronic temporomandibular disorders (TMD). Objective. ⋯ Conclusion. No differences were observed in pain catastrophizing and kinesiophobia between women with CM and with chronic TMD. Women with CM or chronic TMD showed higher levels of pain catastrophizing than asymptomatic subjects.
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The scope of this literature review was to assess the safety and the efficacy of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for the treatment of chronic pain syndromes originating from refractory angina pectoris and peripheral vascular disease compared with conservative management. ⋯ SCS is a minimally invasive and reversible pain intervention. On the basis of the current literature, SCS may be an alternative treatment strategy in refractory angina pectoris and peripheral vascular disease patients, presenting a low surgical risk profile. However, further clinical trials with larger sample sizes and extended follow-up are required to confirm this finding.
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Approximately 20% of patients suffering from stroke with pure or predominant sensory symptoms (referred to as sensory stroke patients) develop central poststroke pain (CPSP). It is largely unknown what distinguishes these patients from those who remain pain free. Using quantitative sensory testing (QST), we analyzed the somatosensory profiles of 50 patients with chronic sensory stroke, of which 25 suffered from CPSP. ⋯ In summary, our analysis reveals that CPSP is associated with impaired temperature perception and positive sensory signs, but differences between patients with CPSP and NPSS are subtle. Both patients with CPSP and NPSS show considerable QST changes on the ipsilesional body side. These results are in part paralleled by recent findings of bilaterally spread cortical atrophy in CPSP and might reflect chronic maladaptive cortical plasticity, particularly in patients with CPSP.
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There are conflicting data regarding the magnitude and determinants of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) risk in farmers. In a cross-sectional study of 917 nonfarming working controls and 3787 farmers aged 40-75 years, we assessed respiratory symptoms, tobacco exposure, job history (without direct exposure measurement) and lung function. COPD was defined by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criterion (post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) <0.70) and by the Quanjer reference equation (post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC