Chiropractic Care and Quality of Life Among Office Workers With Nonspecific Pain: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life by a self-administered World Health Organization Quality of Life short version survey (WHOQoL-BREF) among office workers with nonspecific pain receiving chiropractic care in Istanbul, Turkey. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 77 office workers (age interval, 18-65) with nonspecific neck, thoracic, back and/or extremity pain who underwent chiropractic care. Two weeks later, the quality of life was evaluated by a self-administered WHOQoL-BREF. The Numeric Pain Scale to evaluate the perceived pain was administered to all of the participants in the beginning and at the end of the study. Group-level changes on WHOQoL-BREF total score and subdimensions were compared according to descriptive data of office workers. The significance level was set at P ≤ .05. Results: WHOQoL-BREF scale scores after chiropractic care (mean ± standard deviation) were 71.21% ± 7.91% (total score), 81.49% ± 14.43% (general health), 80.38% ± 10.49% (physical health), 73.16% ± 11.68% (psychological), 70.41% ± 12.43% (social), and 65.58% ± 10.91% (environment). Numeric Pain Scale scores decreased in a statistically significant way when compared with baseline (P ≤ .05). The descriptive statistical analysis of WHOQoL-BREF dimensions revealed that women had significantly higher scores than men, the 18-to-35 age group had higher scores compared with the 50-to-65 age group, and those married had significantly higher scores than those who were not married (P ≤ .05). Conclusion: The findings of our study suggest that chiropractic care had positive effects on the quality of life of office workers.

Chiropractic Nimmo Receptor-Tonus Technique and McKenzie Self-Therapy Program in the Management of Adjacent Segment Disease: A Case Report.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study objective was to describe adjacent segment disease (ASD) from a chiropractic management prospective and subsequently to stimulate further research into the chiropractic therapeutic effects on such cases and to contribute to chiropractic literature. CLINICAL FEATURES: A 44-year-old woman had a history of lumbar stabilization revision operation by pedicle screw fixation for spondylolisthesis. Her intractable back pain episodes, which were diagnosed as ASD, began shortly after this surgery. At presentation, she was taking pregabalin 75 mg 2 times a day for postoperative neuropathic pain without any pain relief. Clinical testing revealed myofascial tender points reproducing the pain. INTERVENTION AND OUTCOME: After taking the case history and performing a physical examination, the patient was managed with chiropractic Nimmo receptor-tonus technique in combination with McKenzie exercises. Nimmo was applied by manually pressing on clinically relevant points for 5 to 15 seconds in 11 visits over 3 weeks. The patient by herself did McKenzie exercises 5 to 10 times a day for 10 to 12 repetitions over 2 months. After 3 weeks of therapy, visual analog scale and Oswestry Disability Index scores were improved. Furthermore, because of the amelioration of the patient's symptoms, her neurosurgeon successfully discontinued pregabalin 75 mg 2 times a day without negative consequences to care. CONCLUSION: As far as the authors are aware, there is currently no published case of ASD care in chiropractic literature. Our rehabilitative management received a favorable response. It can be hypothesized that it offers a perspective that informs improved patient care.

Time-dependent changes in distribution of basic fibroblast growth factor immunoreactive cells in hippocampus after kainic acid injection in rat pups.

Five-day-old Wistar albino rats were injected with kainic acid (KA) or saline i.p. to investigate time-dependent alterations in morphology and number of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) immunoreactive (-ir) astrocytes and neurons in hippocampus at 15, 30, and 90 days after the injections. Sections were stained with cresyl violet for morphological evaluation and bFGF immunohistochemistry was used for quantitative evaluation of bFGF-ir cell density. Fifteen days after KA injection, there was gliosis but no neuronal loss although disorganization in CA1, CA3, CA4 pyramidal layers and neuronal loss were evident 30 and 90 days after the injection. KA injected rats demonstrated significantly increased number of bFGF-ir astrocytes throughout the hippocampus and pyramidal neurons in CA2 after 15 days and decreased number of bFGF-ir cells after 30 and 90 days. The decrease in the number of bFGF-ir astroglia and neurons in long term after KA injection may indicate a decrease in the production of bFGF and/or number of bFGF-ir cells suggesting that protective effects of bFGF may be altered during epileptogenesis in hippocampus.

Simple and reliable detection of slime production of Candida spp. directly from blood culture bottles: comparison of visual tube method and transmission electron microscopy.

Early detection of slime production may be useful for clinical decision because of its suggestive property for potential pathogenic capacity of a Candida strain especially in patients with a prosthetic device. In this study we aimed to compare the visual tube method (VTM) with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in order to confirm the reliability of the former method. In order to demonstrate the reproducibility of the tube method and to determine the correct timing for the test, Candida isolates directly obtained from blood culture (DBC) bottles and their two subsequent subcultures were used. The results of this study showed that VTM is a simple and reliable method which can be used in every clinical mycology laboratory, provided that the test is applied on DBC isolates; as the ability of slime production is decreased or lost even after the first subculturing. We suggest that this simple method can be used and may have some contributions to the ongoing studies on the controversial issue concerning removal of biomaterials in candidemic patients.