Compliance with external hip protectors in nursing homes in Norway

Objectives: To investigate compliance with hip protector use. Design: Observational prospective study. Setting: 19 nursing homes (1040 beds). Subjects: All residents during an 18 month period were included in this study. Intervention: Hip protectors were introduced as a regular part of health care service for all residents. Residents at high...

Breast cancer risk among first-generation migrants in the Netherlands

We investigated breast cancer incidence in migrants in the Netherlands in 1988-1998. The standardised incidence ratio for breast cancer in Northwest-Netherlands was statistically significantly reduced for women born in Surinam (0.56), Turkey (0.29) and Morocco (0.22). The proportion of women with advanced stages (III and IV) did not differ...

MMP profile in paired serum and synovial fluid samples of patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Objective: To analyse matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitor-1 of MMPs (TIMP-1) levels in the systemic circulation and synovial fluid (SF) of patients with RA and to compare these levels with inflammatory and collagen degradation markers. Methods: ProMMP-1, -2, -3, -8, -9, TIMP-1, levels of MMP/ α2-macroglobulin complexes, and...

Assessment of the effects of age and joint disease on hydroxyproline and glycosaminoplycan concentrations in synovial fluid from the metacarpophalangeal joint of horses

Objective - To assess the effects of age and joint disease on hydroxyproline and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) concentrations in synovial fluid from the metacarpophalangeal joint of horses and evaluate the association of those concentrations with severity of osteoarthritis and general matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity. Sample Population -...

How accurate and safe is the diagnosis of hazelnut allergy by means of commercial skin prick test reagents?

Background: Allergy to tree nuts, like hazelnuts, ranks among the most frequently observed food allergies. These allergies can start at early childhood and are, in contrast to other food allergies, not always outgrown by the patient. Tree nut allergy is frequently associated with severe reactions. Diagnosis partially relies on in vivo testing by...

A patient-centred, workplace-based counselling programme may increase workers' physical activity

Chemicals/CAS: cholesterol, 57-88-5

Determinants of skin sensitivity to solar irradiation

Background: Acute effects of UV irradiation include UV-induced erythema. Sunlight plays an important role in the development of skin cancer. Several predictive factors of UV-induced erythema could also be predictive for skin cancer. Objective: Our objective was to quantitatively assess phenotypical and nutritional determinants of sensitivity to...

Are there differences in oral health and oral health behavior between individuals with high and low dental fear?

Epidemiological studies of the relationship between dental fear, use of dental services, and oral health in different age groups in a common population are scarce. Dental fear and its relationships are usually described in individuals with high dental fear only. The purposes of this study were to describe the prevalence of dental fear in the...

Generic and disease-specific health related quality of life in non-cirrhotic, cirrhotic and transplanted liver patients: A cross-sectional study

Background: Studies on Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) of chronic liver patients were performed in clinical populations. These studies included various disease stages but small variations in aetiology and no transplanted patients. We performed a large HRQoL study in non-cirrhotic, cirrhotic and transplanted liver patients with sufficient...

Association of polymorphisms of the tumour necrosis factor receptors I and II and rheumatoid arthritis

Objective. To assess the role of polymorphisms of the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) receptors, TNF-RI (p55) and TNF-RII (p75) in the susceptibility to and severity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Dutch patients. Methods. A total of 319 consecutive RA patients, and a cohort of 90 female RA patients with detailed 12-yr follow-up were genotyped for...

A novel rationale for inhibition of gelatinase B in multiple sclerosis: MMP-9 destroys αB-crystallin and generates a promiscuous T cell epitope

The small heat shock protein αB-crystallin is considered as a candidate autoantigen in multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions. Gelatinase B or matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 is a proteinase establishing various disease-promoting feedback loops in autoimmune diseases. Human αB-crystallin was digested with natural gelatinase B and all cleavage sites...

Duration of computer use and mouse use in relation to musculoskeletal disorders of neck or upper limb

The objectives of this study were to examine the association between work-related upper limb disorders (WRULDs) and duration of computer and mouse use, to investigate differences in these associations between men and women, and to examine whether a possible relationship between duration of computer use and WRULDs was explained by physical or...

High physical and psychological load at work and sickness absence due to neck pain

Objectives This study investigates the relationship between physical and psychosocial load at work and sickness absence due to neck pain. Methods A prospective cohort study with a follow-up period of 3 years (1994-1998) was performed among a working population. At the beginning of the study, physical load at work was quantified by means of video...