UNLABELLED Introduction. Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) have poor physical performance and exercise capacity due to frequent dialysis treatments. Tai Chi exercises can be very useful in the area of rehabilitation of people with ESRD. OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to assess exercise capacity in ESRD patients participating in 6-month Tai Chi training. Patients and Methods. T...

The six-minute walk test is a submaximal exercise test that can be performed even by a patient with heart failure not tolerating maximal exercise testing. To elucidate the clinical significance and prognostic value of the six-minute walk test in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), we sought (1) to assess the relation between distance walked during the six-minute walk test and ex...

The functional work capacity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients is usually assessed with walk tests such as the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) or the shuttle test. Because these exercise modalities require a controlled environment which limits their use by pulmonologists and severely restricts their use among general practitioners, different modalities of a short (1 minute or l...

This study compared the mental and physical health related quality of life (HRQL) of 40 obese persons with BED with 20 age, gender and body mass index (BMI) matched obese persons without BED and 40 age and gender matched non-obese volunteers. Variables contributing to the variability in HRQL were identified. Participants were asked to fill in the MOS 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), th...

Objective. To investigate the feasibility and effects of additional preoperative high intensity strength training for patients awaiting total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Design. Clinical controlled trial. Patients. Twenty-two patients awaiting TKA. Methods. Patients were allocated to a standard training group or a group receiving standard training with additional progressive strength training for ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate gait in patients with post-polio syndrome, using the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) combined with three-dimensional kinematic analysis. DESIGN Descriptive study. SUBJECTS Eighteen patients and 11 healthy controls. METHODS Kinematic data were obtained during a 6MWT by a Vicon motion capture system. Distance, heart rate, leg tiredness, dyspnoea and exertion were also record...

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) lacks effective treatment. Pirfenidone has been used to treat IPF patients. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) exerts antioxidant and antifibrotic effects on IPF cases.This study is a double-blind, modified placebo-controlled, randomized phase II trial of pirfenidone in Chinese IPF patients. We randomly assigned the enrolled Chinese IPF patients with mild to moderate imp...

Exercise-induced hypoxia is an index of the severity of interstitial lung disease. We hypothesized that desaturation during a 6-minute walk test would predict mortality for patients with usual interstitial pneumonia (n = 83) and nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (n = 22). Consecutive patients with biopsy-proven disease performed a 6-minute walk test between January 1996 and December 2001. Desa...

OBJECTIVE To examine the reproducibility and responsiveness to change of a six minute walk test and a quality of life measure in elderly patients with heart failure. DESIGN Longitudinal within patient study. SUBJECTS 60 patients with heart failure (mean age 82 years) attending a geriatric outpatient clinic, 45 of whom underwent a repeat assessment three to eight weeks later. MAIN OUTCOME ...