Objective: To validate the use of the 36-item short-form questionnaire (SF-36) for measuring health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Design: Observational data at a single point in time. Setting: A specialized outpatient respiratory clinic. Participants: Thirty-four patients (mean 6 SE age, 58.29 6 1.87 years) with IPF and no significant comor...

Background: Under the ARIA guidelines, allergic rhinitis (AR) is classified as intermittent (IAR) or persistent (PER) disease depending on the duration of symptoms. In addition, AR may co-exist with or exacerbate allergic co-morbidities. As part of a prospective study of desloratadine (DL) in the treatment of IAR, we studied the epidemiology of concomitant allergic diseases and allergen sensiti...

Functional memory disorder (FMD) is characterized by mnestic and attentional deficits without symptoms of mild cognitive impairment or dementia. FMD usually develops in subjects with high psychosocial stress level and is classified to the somatoform disorders. We assessed memory performance (procedural mirror tracing task, declarative visual and verbal memory task) and other cognitive functions...

Introduction: Recent studies have shown a relationship between H. pylori and chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (CITP). Objective: The present study was performed to evaluate this relationship in Iranian patients. Methods:  The antibody (IgG) against H. pylori was studied in sixty-two patients with CITP, comprising 25 males and  37 females (mean age: 30.38±12.23 yrs ) The patients posi...

The purpose of this study was to compare unilateral squat strength of the dominant and non-dominant leg in young adult men and women. Seventeen apparently healthy men (mean mass 90.5 ± 20.9 kg and age 21.7 ± 1.8 yrs) and 25 women (mean mass 62.2 ± 14.5 kg and age 21.9 ± 1.3 yrs) completed the study. To determine unilateral strength, the subjects completed a one repetition maximum (1RM) modified...

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the mechanomyographic (MMG) and electromyographic (EMG) amplitude and mean power frequency (MPF) patterns during fatiguing isokinetic muscle actions of the biceps brachii. Ten adults [three women (mean +/- SD age = 20 +/- 2 yrs) and seven men (mean +/- SD age = 23 +/- 3 yrs) ] volunteered to perform 50 consecutive maximal, concentric isokinetic m...

Background Major depression and bipolar disorders aggregates in families and are linked with a wide range of neurobiological abnormalities including cortical gray matter (GM) alterations. Prospective studies of individuals at familial risk may expose the neural mechanisms underlying risk transmission. Methods We used voxel based morphometry to investigate changes in regional GM brain volume, ...

Limited and controversial data exist on the natural evolution of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) in untreated individuals. This study examines the evolution of SDB over a 3-yr period in a community-based sample of elderly subjects. From the initial cohort of 854 healthy subjects aged mean ± SD 68.4 ± 0.8 yrs, 519 untreated subjects accepted clinical and instrumental follow-up 3.6 ± 1.6 yrs lat...

PURPOSE This prospective study aimed to evaluate unilateral versus bilateral mandibular nerve block anesthesia with regard to post-operative soft tissue trauma and other complications in a pediatric population. METHODS A total of 320 patients age 2 to 18 years were appointed for routine operative treatment. There were no age, gender, behavior, or general health exclusions. Oral and written po...

OBJECTIVE To compare SMAD3 gene expression between human osteoarthritic and healthy cartilage and to examine whether expression is regulated by the promoter DNA methylation of the gene. METHODS Human cartilage samples were collected from patients undergoing total hip/knee joint replacement surgery due to primary osteoarthritis (OA), and from patients with hip fractures as controls. DNA/RNA wa...