In a multicentre, double-blind trial 150 elderly patients (mean age 77 years) with newly diagnosed epilepsy were randomised in a 2:1 ratio to treatment with lamotrigine (LTG) or carbamazepine (CBZ). Following a short titration period, the dosage was individualised for each patient while maintaining the blind over the next 24 weeks. The main difference between the groups was the rate of drop-out...

OBJECTIVE To compare the proportion of synovitis detected by ultrasonographic study (USS) of the hands, in subjects with no rheumatologic known disease according to self-reported level of overexertion performed the day before. METHODS 407 consecutive volunteers were enrolled in a twelve-month period and underwent an ultrasound assessment of the hand. All studies were performed on Monday or Fr...

Grip force was measured along two orthogonal axes and vector summed. Sixty-one participants recruited from a manufacturing facility (29 men and 32 women) grasped instrumented cylinders (2.54, 3.81, 5.08, 6.35, and 7.62 cm diameter) using a maximal voluntary power grip. Two orthogonal force measurements relative to the third metacarpal were resolved into a magnitude and corresponding angle. On a...