Educating bodies for the nation: schools, masculinity and transnational knowledge in 19th century Brazil

Background The SF36 is a generic 36 items questionnaire which measures eight dimensions of health status, and permit to make direct comparisons with other disease states or with population norms. SF36 reflects a combination of physical and mental function, and well-being, the extent of social and role disability, and patients personal evaluation of health status. It has been used in several countries and its contents and construct validity, test retest reliability and responsiveness have also been reported. Objectives to evaluate the health related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients affected by rheumatoid arthritis (RA) through SF36, and to correlate the results with ACR core set activity index and with mHAQ disability index. Methods The study included 121 consecutive patients affected by RA attending the “Hospital de Clinicas”, mean age 50(18-84) years, mean disease duration 91(3-480) months, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)34.71(8-105) mm/h, and mean mHAQ 0.68(0-3). The HRQoL was evaluated through SF36(100-0) eight domains, physical function (PF), physical role (PR), bodily pain (BP), general health (GH), vitality (V), social function (SF), emotional role (ER), and mental health (MH). Disease activity was assessed using ACR core set, swollen joint count (SJcount 0-28), tender joint count (TJ count 0-28), pain by visual analogue scale (VAS 0-100), patient global assessment by VAS, physician global assessment by VAS, acute phase reactant erythrocyte sedimentation rate (Westergren, mm/h), and disability by mHAQ(0-3). Results The mHAQ showed good correlation with PF, BP(r > 0.61), SF(r > 0.55), and correlated with PR, V(r > 0.47). VAS pain correlated well with BP and V(r > 0.60), and correlated with PF, PR, and GH(r >o.41), patients global assessment correlated with BP, GH, V(r > 0.48). All correlations had p Conclusion SF36 showed to be a practical tool for use in RA patients and may facilitate to achieve burden of impact of disease and to compare with that of other chronic diseases. In this cohort mHAQ was significantly associated with physical and social function as well as bodily pain and vitality. VAS patients global assessment was associated with general health, vitality and bodily pain. No correlation were found with physical and mental role suggesting that different information is involved. Differences with others RA cohorts may be due to demographic characteristics and medical conditions in our group.

Background: Oral health is an integral component of general health. School age, especially younger ages, is a period of overall development. Although enjoying good oral health includes more than just having healthy teeth, many children have inadequate oral and general health because of improper oral hygiene, bad eating habits etc. Oral health affects the general health, well-being, education and development of children and diminishes their quality of life. Objectives were to assess the oral health status and oral hygiene of rural school children and to determine the factors associated with it.Methods: A Community based cross-sectional study was conducted in the rural field practice area of Rajahmahendravaram for a period of 3 months. All the children between 1st to 5th classes were screened to evaluate the oral health and hygiene status. Findings were documented in a pre-validated proforma and subsequently analyzed.Results: Total 620 students were screened in 4 rural schools. About 165 (26.6%) students were 10 years age and 54.3% were boys. Decayed tooth were present in 294 (47.4%). About 17% had only 1 decayed tooth, six teeth were seen decayed among 4 (0.6%) students. Dental morbidities are seen in 509 (82.1%). Pulp involvement was seen in 11 (1.8%) students, tooth fracture in 4 (0.8%), gingival involvement in 13 (2.1%), calculus in 52 (8.4%) and scaling in 80 (12.9%). Good oral hygiene was seen in 156 (25.2%).Conclusions: Oral health status and oral hygiene among rural school children is not satisfactory and needs attention.

The study was conducted in five cultural zones of Haryana state. For the rural sample 400 widow elderly women of age group 60-75 years were selected. Quality of life scale developed by World Health Organization (1997) was accessed to quality of life of widow elderly women. The questionnaire short form-36 health survey by Mchorney (1993) was used to assess the health status of widow elderly women. Clearly shows that relationship between aspects of perceived health status and quality of life among widow elderly women. Physical aspects of quality of life was positively significantly correlated with vitality (r =0.13**, p 0.01), body pain (r =0.39**, p 0.01), physical role functioning (r= 0.23**, p 0.01) , mental health ((r =0.10*, p 0.01) negatively significantly correlated with general health perception (r = -0.17**, p 0.01) and emotional role functioning (r = - 0.28**, p 0.01). Psychological aspects of quality of life was positively significantly correlated with physical functioning (r =0.13**, p 0.01) and body pain (r =0.10*, p 0.05). Another aspects social relationship of quality of life was negatively significantly correlated with physical functioning (r = -0.18**, p 0.01), body pain (r = -0.12**, p 0.01) and social role functioning (r = -0.11**, p 0.01), Physical role functioning, Emotional role function was negatively correlated with (r = 0.28**, p 0.01). Further aspects of environment was positively significantly correlated with vitality (r = 0.09*, p 0.05), Physical Functioning (r = 0.46**, p 0.01), body pain (r = 0.14**, p 0.01), General health perception (r = 0.30**, p 0.01) and physical role functioning (r = - 0.09*, p 0.05).

BackgroundSickle cell disease (SCD) is a chronic disease associated with high degrees of morbidity and increased mortality. Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among adults with sickle cell disease has not been widely reported.MethodsWe administered the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form to 308 patients in the Pain in Sickle Cell Epidemiology Study (PiSCES) to assess HRQOL. Scales included physical function, physical and emotional role function, bodily pain, vitality, social function, mental health, and general health. We compared scores with national norms using t-tests, and with three chronic disease cohorts: asthma, cystic fibrosis and hemodialysis patients using analysis of variance and Dunnett's test for comparison with a control. We also assessed whether SCD specific variables (genotype, pain, crisis and utilization) were independently predictive of SF-36 subscales, controlling for socio-demographic variables using regression.ResultsPatients with SCD scored significantly worse than national norms on all subscales except mental health. Patients with SCD had lower HRQOL than cystic fibrosis patients except for mental health. Scores were similar for physical function, role function and mental health as compared to asthma patients, but worse for bodily pain, vitality, social function and general health subscales. Compared to dialysis patients, sickle cell disease patients scored similarly on physical role and emotional role function, social functioning and mental health, worse on bodily pain, general health and vitality and better on physical functioning. Surprisingly, genotype did not influence HRQOL except for vitality. However, scores significantly decreased as pain levels increased.ConclusionSCD patients experience health related quality of life worse than the general population, and in general, their scores were most similar to patients undergoing hemodialysis. Practitioners should regard their HRQOL as severely compromised. Interventions in SCD should consider improvements in health related quality of life as important outcomes.

Measuring stroke patients’ health status in the early post-stroke phase using the SF36

A Nonrandomised Controlled Trial of Endovenous Laser Therapy and Surgery in the Treatment of Varicose Veins

Introduction: This study aims to analyze the effect of two dance-focused and choreographic fitness classes on Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in sedentary worker women. Methods: 65 sedentary middle-aged worker women (38 ± 7.3 years old) completed a 16-week intervention randomly assigned to: (1) dance fitness group based on Zumba Fitness classes (DF group, n = 25)], (2) dance fitness + functional strength training group (DFFT group, n = 20), and (3) control group (n = 20). HRQoL was assessed by the 36-Item Short-Form Health-Survey (SF-36), which evaluates 8 dimensions of health [General Health (GH), Physical Functioning (PF), Social Functioning (SF), Physical Role (PR), Emotional Role (ER), Bodily Pain (BP), Vitality (V), and Mental Health (MH)] scored from 0 (worst) to 100 (best health status). Results: The control group statistically differed from both exercise groups in PF and PR, and from the DF group in SF and MH showing a lower score. No statistical differences were observed between exercise groups post-intervention, except in V. DF group showed increases in GH, PF, SF, V, PR, and MH post-intervention. Conclusions: A 16-week dance fitness intervention based on Zumba Fitness classes generates notable improvements in a wide range of HRQoL dimensions in sedentary middle-aged worker women, especially in V, PR and MH dimensions.

Introduction Obesity is a complex, chronic health problem that is associated with increased mortality, morbidity, and health care costs, as well as decreased life quality (1–6). “The pathway to obesity is a complex journey,” involving biologic and genetic, emotional, social, and cultural factors (7). Changes in the U.S. health care delivery system, including managed care or disease management approaches, necessitate the development of systems that can be used to assess quality of care and demonstrate accountability in the health care of obese populations. Inherent in this is the identification of outcome, intermediate, and process measures (8,9). Disease management outcome measures must meet identified standards for scientific validity, relevance, and feasibility as outlined in the charge to the Team on Developing Obesity Outcomes and Learning Standards (TOOLS) Task Force of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) (10). The purpose of this paper is to recommend obesity disease management outcome measures to assess symptom status and functional status of populations in outcomes research evaluating the effectiveness of the management of obesity (grades I to III).

Background: There may be an impairment of oral self-care post-stroke which may compromise oral hygiene and health. However, there is paucity of information on oral hygiene and oral health status of stroke patients in Nigeria. Objective: To assess the oral hygiene and health status of stroke outpatients. Method: A cross-sectional study of stroke patients attending the neurology outpatient clinic of a tertiary hospital in North Central Nigeria was conducted. Data on sociodemographic variables and oral health behaviour was obtained. Each patient was examined to determine the oral hygiene status using the Simplified Oral Hygiene index, DMFT index for the status of caries, Modified gingival index for the presence or absence of gingival disease and Modified Rankin score for functional impairment Results: There were 120 participants with a mean age of 60.30±13.21 years. Poor oral hygiene status was found in 29.7% while 28.8% had good oral hygiene status. The mean DMFT was 1.37±2.672. Dental caries was seen in 48/120 (40%) while 28 (23.3%) had gingival diseases. A modified Rankin score of 3-5 was independently associated with poor oral hygiene status (OR 1.367; 95% CI 1.020-1.832; p=0.036). Conclusion: Poor oral hygiene status is common in patients with stroke and the risk of this is higher in those with poor functional status. Oral health status should be considered in the holistic rehabilitation of stroke patients.

The aim of the study was to investigate health status in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 2 (DM2) and determine its relationship to pain and fatigue. Data on health status (SF-36), pain (MPQ) and fatigue (CIS-fatigue) were collected for the Dutch DM2 population (n = 32). Results were compared with those of sex- and age-matched adult-onset myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) patients. In addition, we compared the obtained scores on health status of the DM2 group with normative data of the Dutch general population (n = 1742). Compared to DM1, the SF-36 score for bodily pain was significantly (p = 0.04) lower in DM2, indicating more body pain in DM2. DM2 did not differ from DM1 on any other SF-36 scales. In comparison to the Dutch population, DM2 patients reported lower scores (indicating worse clinical condition) on the physical functioning, role functioning-physical, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, and role functioning-emotional scales (p < 0.01 on all scales). The difference was most profound for the physical functioning scale. In the DM2 group the severity of pain was significantly correlated with SF-36 scores for bodily pain (p = 0.003). Fatigue was significantly correlated with the SF-36 scores for role functioning-physical (p = 0.001), general health (p = 0.02), and vitality (p = 0.02). The impact of DM2 on a patients’ physical, psychological and social functioning is significant and as high as in adult-onset DM1 patients. From the perspective of health-related quality of life, DM2 should not be considered a benign disease. Management of DM2 patients should include screening for pain and fatigue. Symptomatic treatment of pain and fatigue may decrease disease impact and help improve health status in DM2, even if the disease itself cannot be treated.

The main objective of the study was to examine the self reported health status in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) compared with the general population and the secondary objective (in the AS group) was to study the association between health status, demographic parameters, and specific disease instruments in AS. A cross sectional study of 100 AS patients recruited between 2006 and 2009 at the Department of Rheumatology. Health status was assessed by using the SF-36 health questionnaire in patients with AS. Demographic characteristics and disease-specific instruments were also examined by the questionnaire. A sample of 112 healthy individuals was also surveyed using the SF-36 health questionnaire. This study showed a great impairment in the quality of life of patients with AS involving all scales. All male patients with AS reported significantly impaired health-related quality of life on all items of the SF-36 compared with the general population whereas female patients reported poorer health on three items only, namely physical functioning, general health and bodily pain. Mental health was mostly affected than physical role. The physical role was significantly higher in patients with high education level than in patients with low education level (p=0.01). Physical functioning was better in employed patients. All scales of SF-36 were correlated with BASFI, BASDAI and BAS-G. Only physical functioning and general health were correlated with BASMI. Impairment in the quality of life can be significant when suffering from AS, affecting mental health more than physical health. Among disease parameters, functional impairment, disease activity, mobility limitation, and spinal pain were the most associated factors resulting to the deterioration of quality of life.

The Integrated European Project "GEHA - GEnetics of Healthy Aging": recruitment, health status assessment and survival of the Italian 90+ sibpairs

COVID-19 crisis has hit many QSRs hard. There are numerous problems which are faced by these restaurants due to the high competition in the market. Nowadays, there is an even major problem to be faced in the food industry, which is Coronavirus pandemic. It has a disastrous effect on the food industry. There have been dramatic declines in sales for many Quick Service Restaurants. Some of them have permanently closed their doors. The aim of this research is to examine the hygiene and health conditions in quick service restaurants (QSRs) from customers perspective during Covid-19 Pandemic with a specific focus on international chains in Egypt. Moreover, examining QSR’ customers information about COVID-19. In order to achieve this aim, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to a convenience sample of QSR’s customers in order to illustrate to what extent QSR chains are maintain the proper hygienic and health conditions during pandemic. The results interestingly showed that QSRsgoers are moderately satisfied with the hygienic procedures that maintained in these chains. In this regard, it is recommended that QSR chains should struggle to increase the level of their customers satisfaction regarding this subject e.g., provision of disinfection materials, wearing and providing protective face masks, gloves, and disposable cutlery and paper cups.

Grants and Outcomes

Purpose To identify the characteristics of the physical and mental health status of patients with pituitary adenomas, explore the postoperative reversibility of impaired health status, and assess the impact of clinical characteristics, hormone levels, anxiety, depression, and disease stigma on health status. Methods We prospectively enrolled 147 and 138 patients with nonfunctioning and secretory pituitary adenomas, respectively. Health status was evaluated in 8 domains using the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey before and 3 months after transsphenoidal surgery. The Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, the Self-Rating Depression Scale, and the Stigma Scale for Chronic Illness were used to assess the psychological status. Results Compared with the healthy population reference values, general physical and mental health, social functioning, and role limitations due to physical and psychological health problems were all found to be significantly impaired in the adenoma patients. Health status was worse in patients with adrenocorticotropic hormone- (ACTH-) secreting and growth hormone- (GH-) secreting adenomas than in patients with nonfunctioning adenomas. Among the patients, 11.6% had anxiety and 30.9% had depression. Higher scores for anxiety, depression, and disease stigma; older age; higher body mass index; and tumor recurrence were independent risk factors for health status impairment in at least one domain. Physical function impairment and role limitations caused by physical health problems became worse after surgery, whereas the mental component of health status remained the same. Conclusion Health status was impaired in patients with pituitary adenomas, especially secretory adenomas. Physical function and role limitations were worse 3 months after surgery than before surgery. Mental problems, old age, obesity, and tumor recurrence reduced health status.