OBJECTIVE In obese women, 1) to assess whether lower gestational weight gain (GWG) during pregnancy in the lifestyle intervention group of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) resulted in differences in offspring anthropometrics and body composition, and 2) to compare offspring outcomes to a reference group of children born to women with a normal Body Mass Index (BMI). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METH...

RATIONALE Psychological stress is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. However, the connecting mechanisms of the stress-inducing activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis with atherosclerosis are not well-understood. OBJECTIVE To study the effect of acute psychological stress on reverse cholesterol transport (RCT), which transfers peripheral cholesterol to...

BACKGROUND Balloon kyphoplasty (BKP) is a widely adopted minimally invasive treatment for vertebral compression fractures (VCFs), but leakage of cement is a main complication of BKP. A novel vertebral augmentation technique radiofrequency kyphoplasty (RFK) with high viscosity cement was developed in 2009. Here, we aim to evaluate whether RFK can relieve symptoms efficiently and reduce cement le...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between the rotator cuff tear (RCT) and the muscle strength in hemiplegic side, and the effects of paralysis on the affected shoulders in hemiplegic patients. METHODS A cross-sectional observational study performed in a university hospital was presented. The study enrolled 55 participants with hemiplegia of diverse degree of motor paresis, excluding t...

BACKGROUND Cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) transfers cholesteryl esters from high-density lipoproteins to apolipoprotein (apo) B-containing lipoproteins and in humans plays an important role in lipoprotein metabolism. However, the role that CETP plays in mediation of reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) remains unclear. We used a validated in vivo assay of macrophage RCT to test the ef...

How much a randomized controlled trial (RCT) sample is representative/differs from its declared source population is a challenging question, with major implications with regard to generalizibility of results. The question is crucial for freely available web-based interventions tested in RCTs. We compared participants in a primary/secondary prevention web-based alcohol brief intervention RCT to ...

BACKGROUND Patients' treatment preferences are often cited as barriers to recruitment in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). We investigated how RCT recruiters reacted to patients' treatment preferences and identified key strategies to improve informed decision-making and trial recruitment. METHODS Audio-recordings of 103 RCT recruitment appointments with 96 participants in three UK multicen...

OBJECTIVES Studies in Canada, the USA and Australia suggested low confidence among general practitioners (GPs) in diagnosing and managing shoulder pain, with frequent use of investigations. There are no comparable studies in the UK; our objective was to describe the diagnosis and management of shoulder pain by GPs in the UK. METHODS A national survey of a random sample of 5000 UK GPs collecte...

Among schools of thought in comparative research, Rational Choice Theory (RCT) is both the most systematic and the most contested. RCT lacks a “classical” foundation but offfers a clear internal theory structure. The rationality assumption contains an unquestioned heuristic aspect, although the determinants of choice (especially preferences) lack a universally accepted solution. The choice aspe...