The flexion withdrawal reflex reveals an increasing threshold during the first year of life and is influenced by the infant's state of consciousness.

BACKGROUND: The idea that preterm and term infants are capable of experiencing pain is now widely accepted. However, there is still insufficient knowledge how pain perception develops throughout infancy. A promising approach to quantify the level of spinal excitability in infants is to measure cutaneous sensitivity by the flexion withdrawal reflex (WR). In our study we wanted to test how the threshold of the WR develops in healthy infants during the first year of life. Furthermore, we aimed to analyse the impact of the state of consciousness on the reflex threshold. PATIENTS AND METHOD: In 44 healthy infants we tested the threshold of the WR with calibrated von-Frey-Filaments at the age of 3 days as well as with 4, 12, 26 and 52 weeks. To analyse the influence of the state of consciousness on the reflex threshold, we documented at 12, 26 and 52 weeks whether the infants were quietly awake or lightly asleep during testing. RESULTS: The median threshold of the WR increased during the first year of life from 1.2 g up to 4.6 g at the age of 1 year. At 12, 26 and 52 weeks we found significantly lower thresholds in sleeping infants compared to infants being awake (p=0.004, p<0.001 and p=0.086, respectively). CONCLUSION: The threshold of the flexion withdrawal reflex increases during infancy, probably reflecting neuronal maturation processes in the first year of life. Besides postnatal age, the threshold of the WR also depends on the state of consciousness. Therefore, future studies about the WR should consider postnatal age as well as the state of consciousness.

[Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) in epicondylitis humeri radialis. Short-term and intermediate-term results]. / Extrakorporale Stosswellentherapie (ESWT) bei Epicondylitis humeri radialis. Kurz- und mittelfristige Ergebnisse.

Eighty-five patients with a chronic therapy-resistant lateral epicondylitis (LE) were treated with extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT). All patients had been previously treated with physical therapy, local injections, and other conservative procedures for at least 6 months. Three weekly sessions of ESWT were performed under local anesthesia with a Dornier Epos Ultra (energy flux density 0.05-0.18 mJ/mm2). Complications such as small hematomas were only found in four patients. After a mean follow-up of 30.7 months, 78 patients could be evaluated with the Roles and Maudsley score. Of these 30.8% had an excellent and 42.3% a good result, while 11.5% had a fair and 15.4% a distinctly poor outcome. Pain perception under stress conditions was assessed by the visual analog scale, which decreased significantly from 6.5 before ESWT to 2.0 after ESWT (p < 0.0001). A graduated local pressure pain on lateral epicondyle remained in 71.8% of the patients as a residual symptom. Sixty-two patients declared their satisfaction with the ESWT and would agree to have the therapy repeated.

Prognostic value of soluble tumor necrosis factor receptors 1 and 2 in multiple sclerosis patients treated with interferon beta-1b.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of interferon (IFN) beta-1b on the serum levels of soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (sTNF-R1) and sTNF-R2 in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in correlation with clinical and magnetic resonance image (MRI) activity. Serum samples were obtained every 3 months from 24 patients treated with 8 x 10(6) U of IFN beta-1b every other day (treatment group) and from 21 patients without any immunomodulatory therapy (control group) over a 15-month observation period. The cytokine receptor levels were assessed by ELISA. Cranial MRI was performed every 6 months to determine the burden of disease. In the treatment group, the MRI responders had significantly larger mean values for the area under the concentration-time curve of sTNF-R1 (p = 0.04) and sTNF-R2 (p = 0.01) when compared to the MRI nonresponders during the 15-month observation period. With regard to an increase in sTNF-R1 and -2 of more than 20% during the first 3 months of treatment, we observed a sensitivity of 33 and 58%, respectively, a specificity of 90 and 60%, respectively, and a positive predictive value of 80 and 64%, respectively, for MRI response during the 15-month observation period. A decrease in sTNF-R1 and -2 of more than 20% during the first 3 months of treatment had a sensitivity of 40 and 20%, respectively, a specificity of 100 and 100%, respectively, and a positive predictive value of 100 and 100%, respectively, for further MRI nonresponse (during the 15-month observation period). The present data suggest that assessment of sTNF-Rs may contribute to the identification of subgroups of patients who are likely to respond better than others to treatment with IFN beta-1b. This could help to establish a cost-effective prescription pattern for this expensive treatment, which is of importance for the future management of patients with MS.

[Results of ultrasonic, computer tomography and clinical findings for the detection of abdominal involvement in Hodgkin's disease in childhood--a retrospective statistical analysis of 145 patients in the therapeutic study DAL-HD-82]. / Bedeutung sonographischer, computertomographischer und klinischer Befunde für die Erkennung eines Abdominalbefalls beim Morbus Hodgkin im Kindesalter--Eine retrospektive statistische Analyse bei 145 Patienten der Therapiestudie DAL-HD-82.

It was the aim of the study to develop a method that would fairly reliably predict abdominal involvement in patients with Hodgkin's disease. Using sonography (SG), computerized tomography (CT) and clinical findings we wanted to restrict laparotomy to patients with a high probability of abdominal involvement. 145 patients of the therapy study HD-82, who had preoperative abdominal SG or CT, were analyzed. All had a laparotomy, 61 had a splenectomy and 9 a partial splenectomy. The incidence of abdominal involvement was 36%. Using 2 X 2 contingency tables as well as the X2-test 7 out of 13 parameters tested had a highly significant correlation to abdominal involvement. These 7 parameters were analyzed with the linear-logistic regression model of COX. The three most valuable individual parameters "abdomen in SG and/or CT abnormal", "B-symptomatology" and "involvement of the hilar lymphnodes of the lung" contain almost all the information concerning abdominal involvement. All the other parameters are no longer significant when used in combination with these three and thus can be disregarded. For practical purposes one can omit the "B-symptomatology" as well, because the combination of the other two parameters has the smallest number of false positive results, while the number of false negative results is only slightly increased. Using these data we developed a decisional model for selective laparotomy, which allows a 50% reduction of laparotomies. This method can only be used in combination with a therapy concept that contains chemotherapy for all patients.