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Biomedical subjects

V Räsänen

Publications and source records attributed to V Räsänen.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

Indigenous healers' explanations of low back pain and its relief.

UNLABELLED: Significant number of Finns consults annually indigenous healers for their low back pain (LBP). Bone setting is the most vital traditional Finnish mobilization treatment of LBP. In the present study we have clarified healers' believes on the pathophysiology of back pain and observed them at work to clarify the effectiveness of treatment by medical check-up and by interviewing the patients who also compared the benefits of this method with their previous other treatments such as drugs, exercise and physiotherapy. STUDY DESIGN: Two of the oldest bone setters participated in the study. In the patient follow-up they treated 35 consecutive chronic LBP subjects. A medical check-up of the patients was done before and after their treatments. After 7 months mean follow-up time patients replied by using questionnaires and evaluated the effectiveness of the method. RESULTS: The indigenous bone setters told that they followed the hundreds of years old tradition. The healers explained that the back pain was due to difference in the leg lengths and this was reflected in the pelvic and spinal asymmetry as well as increased muscle tension. After the sessions the subjects reported relaxation and clear immediate pain alleviation. The patients reported in the follow-up questionnaires benefits from their LBP treatment in 28 cases out of 29 who replied after the treatment. According to physician's evaluation 27 patients (from 35 or 77%) got excellent or good result in their chronic LBP. There was no change in one case, and none got worse. Bone setting received in patients' reports better evaluation than drug treatment and physical therapy.

Journal Article↗

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and radioimmunoassay of serum pepsinogen A.

The determination of serum pepsinogen A (= pepsinogen I) levels is of clinical importance in the study of duodenal ulcer, atrophic gastritis and gastric cancer. In the present study two different quantitative immunological techniques for serum pepsinogen A were compared: a radioimmunoassay (RIA) (Helsinki) and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (Amsterdam). Serum samples of 177 subjects with various gastric diseases were tested in a double blind study. The correlation was excellent (r = 0.954 in the range 0-760 micrograms/l and r = 0.971 in the range 0-100 micrograms/l). The functional relationship between ELISA (x) and RIA (y), determined by weighted model II regression, was y = 1.12x-0.54. Initially the use of goat anti-PGA in the ELISA resulted in falsely high values in about 10% of the individuals. This was caused by circulating antibodies cross-reacting with goat IgG. This artefact was eliminated by pre-incubation of all samples with non-immune goat serum.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗

Serum group I pepsinogens after consecutive stimulations with insulin and pentagastrin in unoperated duodenal ulcer patients and in duodenal ulcer patients after proximal gastric vagotomy.

Ten unoperated duodenal ulcer (DU) patients and 11 DU patients 1 year after proximal gastric vagotomy (PGV) were examined for gastric acid secretion and for serum group I pepsinogens (PG I) during basal conditions and after consecutive stimulations with insulin and pentagastrin. In unoperated DU patients insulin stimulation caused a significant increase both in gastric acid secretion and in serum PG I. In these patients a consecutive pentagastrin stimulation elicited a significant increase in gastric acid secretion but not in serum PG I. In patients after PGV, insulin stimulation caused a slight but significant increase in gastric acid secretion but not in serum PG I. In these patients a consecutive pentagastrin stimulation caused a significant increase both in gastric acid secretion and in serum PG I. Two of the operated patients had negative and nine had positive responses to the postoperative insulin test. According to this study, in consecutive stimulation with insulin and pentagastrin the effect of pentagastrin on serum PG I is inhibited by preceding insulin stimulation in DU patients. By PGV the effect of insulin on serum PG I is eliminated. and then a subsequent pentagastrin stimulation elicits a significant rise in serum PG I. As a test of the completeness of PGV, the serum PG I response to insulin-induced hypoglycemia seems to be less sensitive than the gastric acid response.

Adult↗

Serum group I pepsinogens in unoperated duodenal ulcer patients and in duodenal ulcer patients after proximal gastric vagotomy.

Thirty-three duodenal ulcer patients (group A) were examined for gastric acid secretion capacity and serum group I pepsinogens (PG I) under basal conditions. Another group of 36 duodenal ulcer patients (group B), who had undergone proximal gastric vagotomy (PGV) 1 year previously, were similarly examined. Mean basal acid output, mean insulin-stimulated peak acid output, and mean pentagastrin-stimulated peak acid output in the conservatively treated group were 4.5 meq/h, 25.1 meq/h, and 34.4 meq/h, respectively. The corresponding values in the PGV group were 2.5 meq/h, 6.7 meq/h, and 18.5 meq/h. The mean serum PG I concentration in group A was 103.6 ng/ml and in group B 69.9 ng/ml, whereas the mean serum PG I concentration in 34 healthy control subjects was 47.9 ng/ml. The differences in serum PG I concentrations between all three groups were statistically significant (p less than 0.05). An elevated concentration of serum PG I is associated with clinical ulcer disease in unoperated patients, but the wide overlap in the PG I concentration area between duodenal ulcer patients and healthy persons limits the use of PG I determinations in disturbances of gastric acid secretion.

Adult↗

Serum pepsinogen I in rheumatic diseases. Reduced levels in Sjögren's syndrome.

Group I pepsinogens were measured by radioimmunoassay in the sera of 93 patients with rheumatic diseases and 99 controls. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus had levels of pepsinogen I similar to controls, whereas patients with Sjögren's syndrome had levels significantly lower than either controls (P less than 0.001) or patients with rheumatic diseases not associated with sicca syndrome (P less than 0.001). The concentrations of serum pepsinogen I were lower in patients with sicca syndrome alone than in those with sicca syndrome associated with some other connective tissue disease (P less than 0.05). In patients with Sjögren's syndrome, a negative correlation was found between serum concentrations of beta 2-microglobulin and pepsinogen I (r = -0.46, P less than 0.05).

Adult↗