Effectiveness of home exercise in pregnant women with carpal tunnel syndrome: Randomized Control Trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of a home exercise programme in pregnant patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. METHODS: The randomised, single-blind, controlled clinical study was conducted at Vakif University School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey, From December 2017 to June 2018 and comprised pregnant women with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) . Clinical evaluation of each patient was performed by a blind researcher and (EMG) Electromyography measurements were performed by another blind researcher. Patients were divided into two groups with normal and (mild or moderate) CTS based on EMG results and clinical examination. Patients with symptoms, clinical signs and CTS in EMG were included in group 1, while patients whose symptoms and clinical evaluation (such as Tinel, Phalen, Reverse Phalen and Durkan's test) were positive but not CTS in EMG were included in group 2. Exercise forms were given to both groups and they were asked to perform the exercises stated in the form in 3 sets each day and 10 repetitions in each set. The Sick Boston Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Questionnaire was administered face-to-face to collect data which was analysed using SPSS 22. RESULTS: Of the 33 subjects, 19(57.6%) were in patient group 1 and 14(42.4%) in control group 2. The overall mean age of the sample was 28.84±3.62 years. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of symptoms and clinical tests (p>0.05). The symptom severity scale between the groups was significantly high in group 1 (p<0.05). Patients receiving treatment showed a decrease in symptom severity and functional capacity, but only the former showed a significant decrease in group 2 (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Nerve and tendon slip exercises for patients with mild to moderate carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms were found to be simple and reliable methods that could be applied to patients to increase their functionality and to reduce the severity of the disease.

Optimization of selenium determination in chicken's meat and eggs by the hydride-generation atomic absorption spectrometry method.

Effect of selenium-enriched feed on the selenium content of chicken meat and eggs was investigated. Selenium was determined by hydride-generation atomic absorption spectrometry (HG-AAS). The effect of digestion procedures on the determination was also studied. Optimum values of the variables applied for the HG-AAS method, such as HCl and NaBH(4) concentration, and the flow rate of carrier gas were determined experimentally. Analytical parameters such as the selectivity, accuracy, precision, sensitivity, limit of detection and limit of quantification were also determined. The limit of detection and the limit of quantification were 0.78 microg/l and 2.35 microg/l, respectively. The effect of interfering elements that are possibly present in the samples analyzed on the recovery of selenium was also investigated. The measurements were validated using diverse types of certified reference materials (IRMM IMEP 19, LGC 7160 and GBW 08572) and by a method of yield measurement of calibration solution addition in mineralized samples. The accuracy and precision of the method are satisfactory and the relative standard deviation is less than 4%, and the relative error is less than 10% for a 500 microl sample containing 10 microg/l selenium. It was observed that the selenium content of chicken meat and eggs obtained from the chickens nourished with fortified feed was higher than those without fortified feed.

On-line speciation and determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in drinking and waste water samples by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography coupled with atomic absorption spectrometry.

A simple, rapid, and selective on-line method for the speciation and determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in aqueous solutions by ion-pairing HPLC coupled with flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) is described. The composition of the mobile phase has been optimized for better separation. The effects of column temperature, volume of injection loop, fuel flow rate of FAAS, and nebulizer suction rate of FAAS have also been investigated. Separation is accomplished in almost 2.5 min on a 25 cm length C18 column at 40 degrees C. The selectivity of the method has been established by investigating the effect of interfering elements on chromium determination. The detection limit (3sigma) achieved by the method was calculated as 3.7 ng/mL for Cr(III) and 2.0 ng/mL for Cr(VI). The proposed method has been validated by analyzing certified reference material (BCR 544) and successfully applied to the analysis of drinking water and wastewater samples with a relative error below 6%.