Biomedical subjects

L Frølund

Publications and source records attributed to L Frølund.

76 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Multidisciplinary intensive treatment for chronic low back pain: a randomized, prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Americans with low back pain have been helped to return to work by multidisciplinary intensive treatment programs. Whether this treatment method will succeed in countries with a more generous social welfare system, where the incentive to return to work might be less, is not proven. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate a Danish program of functional restoration combined with behavioral support. METHODS: Patients who had experienced at least 6 months of disabling low back pain were randomly assigned to either a 3-week intensive treatment program (n = 55) or an untreated control group (n = 51). RESULTS: Of the 106 patients randomized, 94 (89%) returned for a 4-month follow-up visit. At that time, 29 (64%) of the 45 treated patients were able to work, compared with 14 of 49 (29%) in the control group. The treated patients had used fewer days of sick leave (P < .02), had contacted health care. professionals fewer times (P < .001), and had lower pain and disability scores. CONCLUSIONS: Although such programs are expensive, they can reduce pension expenditures, sick leave days, health care contacts, and pain.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Bronchial challenge: a small reservoir for the Wright jet nebulizer.

A small reservoir for the Wright jet nebulizer was constructed and tested with regard to output and particle size characteristics. The Wright nebulizer has found widespread use for bronchial challenge testing. The new small reservoir delivers an aerosol with a size distribution comparable to that delivered from the standard reservoir. Comparable results were obtained when bronchial challenge with either the small or the standard reservoir was performed in 11 patients. The cost for bronchoconstrictor can be reduced by 50-80% by reducing the volume necessary for challenge. It is documented that calibration of the actual set-up is necessary to control the output from a nebulizer, since the output is, not linearly correlated to the flow.

Bronchial Provocation Tests↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Bronchial challenge: ventilation during 'tidal volume breathing' inhalation is not constant.

Standardization of bronchial challenge (BC) in order to improve repeatability of both non-specific and specific challenges is desirable. In the tidal volume breathing BC (tBC), the patient inhales bronchoconstrictor during the entire inspiratory phase of the tidal volume breathing. We determined 2 min ventilation (VE) at each histamine concentration during 187 BCs. Thirty-four patients were challenged twice. We used a standard technique (Cockcroft), except for our patient operated Pari nebulizer. Between-subject (SD = 37%) as well as within-subject (SD = 21%) (p less than 0.01) variations in VE were observed. Furthermore, VE during inhalation of threshold dose (VE-threshold) was smaller than VE during inhalation of the previous dose (VE-threshold-1) (p less than 0.001). For paired differences in VE during two challenges, the within subject SD was 21%. The between subject SD for VE was 32%. VE-threshold was lower in first challenge (p less than 0.001). VE threshold in both challenges was significantly lower than VE-threshold-1. These observations indicate that the respiratory pattern during tBC needs further standardization and that respiratory frequency and inspiratory time during tBC would be worth investigating.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A double-blind, randomized study investigating the efficacy and specificity of immunotherapy with Artemisia vulgaris or Phleum pratense/betula verrucosa.

This study investigated the specificity and efficacy of immunotherapy with Artemisia vulgaris (Artemisia) extract. We studied 25 patients with a more than two year lasting history of seasonal rhinoconjunctivitis and who had only two clinically important allergies, either to Artemisia and Betula verrucosa (Betula) or to Artemisia and Phleum pratense (Phleum). Patient selection was randomized and evaluation of results was conducted in double blind fashion. Twenty patients completed two years of specific immunotherapy. Nine patients were treated with extracts of Artemisia and 11 with extracts of either Betula (n = 3) or Phleum (n = 8). Treatment with Artemisia was followed by a significant decrease in skin sensitivity (p < 0.05) and eye sensitivity (p < 0.01) to Artemisia but not to Betula/phleum. No significant decrease was observed in medicine consumption or symptom scores. Patients treated with Betula or Phleum experienced a significant decrease in skin sensitivity to Betula or Phleum (p < 0.001), and eye sensitivity to Betula or Phleum (p < 0.05), but not to Artemisia and had significant decreases in medicine and symptom scores (p < 0.05) in Betula/phleum seasons but not in the Artemisia season. The treatment was both effective and specific with the one unexplained exception that both patient groups (Artemisia and Betula/Phleum) decreased their skin sensitivity to Artemisia.

Adolescent↗