Anomalies in the review process and interpretation of the evidence in the NICE guideline for chronic fatigue syndrome and myalgic encephalomyelitis.

Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a disabling long-term condition of unknown cause. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a guideline in 2021 that highlighted the seriousness of the condition, but also recommended that graded exercise therapy (GET) should not be used and cognitive-behavioural therapy should only be used to manage symptoms and reduce distress, not to aid recovery. This U-turn in recommendations from the previous 2007 guideline is controversial.

Can high-functioning amputees with state-of-the-art prosthetics walk normally? A kinematic and dynamic study of 40 individuals.

Background: Previous work has highlighted the highly functional post-rehabilitation level of military individuals who sustained traumatic amputation. Understanding how these individuals walk with their prosthesis could be key to setting a precedent for what is realistically possible in the rehabilitation of individuals with amputations.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to answer how "normal" should the gait of an individual with an amputation(s) be and can we aspire to mimic able-bodied gait with the most advanced prosthetics in highly functioning individuals?

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study comparing the gait of severely injured and highly functional UK trans-tibial (n=10), trans-femoral (n=10) and bilateral trans-femoral (n=10) military amputees after completion of their rehabilitation programme to that of able-bodied controls (n=10).

Influence of Immediate and Delayed Lower-Limb Amputation Compared with Lower-Limb Salvage on Functional and Mental Health Outcomes Post-Rehabilitation in the U.K. Military.

Background: Medical practitioners face difficult decisions over whether to amputate or to salvage a lower limb that has undergone trauma. To our knowledge, there has been little evidence reporting the impact of different surgical decisions on functional and mental health outcomes following intensive rehabilitation that might inform decision-making.

Methods: This study is a retrospective, independent-group comparison of rehabilitation outcomes from a U.

Temporal Spatial and Metabolic Measures of Walking in Highly Functional Individuals With Lower Limb Amputations.

Objective: To record the temporal spatial parameters and metabolic energy expenditure during walking of individuals with amputation, walking with advanced prostheses, and after completion of comprehensive rehabilitation compared with able-bodied persons.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Multidisciplinary comprehensive rehabilitation center.

The Mayo Portland Adaptability Inventory-4 outcome measure is superior to UK FIM+FAM in a British military population.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the most appropriate rehabilitation outcome measure for use in a young adult population with acquired brain injury.

Methods: A 2-year prospective study of patients admitted to a UK military neuro-rehabilitation unit with acquired brain injury to compare the appropriateness of the Functional Independence Measure/Functional Assessment Measure (FIM+FAM) vs the Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory Version 4 (MPAI-4) in assessing outcomes. Patients were assessed at admission, discharge and at 4-month follow-up using FIM+FAM and MPAI-4.

Successful outcomes following neurorehabilitation in military traumatic brain injury patients in the United Kingdom.

Background: The Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Headley Court is the UK military rehabilitation unit. A pilot study identified the Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory-4 (MPAI-4) as the most appropriate rehabilitation outcome measure in young military patients with acquired brain injury.

Methods: MPAI-4 scores were prospectively recorded for patients on admission and discharge.

Functional and Mental Health Status of United Kingdom Military Amputees Postrehabilitation.

Objectives: To evaluate the functional and mental health status of severely injured traumatic amputees from the United Kingdom military at the completion of their rehabilitation pathway and to compare these data with the published normative data.

Design: Retrospective independent group comparison of descriptive rehabilitation data recorded postrehabilitation.

Setting: A military complex trauma rehabilitation center.

Predicting low back pain outcome following rehabilitation for low back pain.

Background: Psychosocial factors are known to play a key role in determining the progress of back pain patients. However, it is not known whether these factors are applicable to military personnel, who tend to be fitter than the general population.

Objective: The aim was to identify physical and psychological predictors in a prospective study of the outcome of back pain rehabilitation over 6 months and a longer follow-up time of between 15 and 32 months.

The outcome of British combat amputees in relation to military service.

Background: The study aim was to determine the outcome, in relation to military service in UK military combat amputees.

Patients And Methods: Casualties were assessed at mean 2.4 years after injury and graded by a Functional Activity Assessment (FAA) ranging from 1 (fully fit) to 5 (unfit all duties) to score vocational functional outcome.

A new functional outcome assessment tool for military musculoskeletal rehabilitation: a pilot validation study.

Objective: To examine the construct and concurrent validity of a new occupational military outcome measure (the Functional Activity Assessment [FAA]).

Design: A validation study.

Setting: British Defence rehabilitation facilities.

The effects of exercise for the prevention of overuse anterior knee pain: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Anterior knee pain (AKP) is the most common activity-related injury of the knee. The authors investigated the effect of an exercise intervention on the incidence of AKP in UK army recruits undergoing a 14-week physically arduous training program.

Hypothesis: Modifying military training to include targeted preventative exercises may reduce the incidence of AKP in a young recruit population.

Comparison of development of heterotopic ossification in injured US and UK Armed Services personnel with combat-related amputations: preliminary findings and hypotheses regarding causality.

Background: Recent reports have documented the rate of heterotopic ossification (HO) formation in the residual limbs of combat-related amputees from the US Armed Forces injured in Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. Final amputation level within the zone of injury and blast as the mechanism of injury were identified as possible risk factors for the occurrence and grade of HO. There has been no previous description of HO in combat-related amputees from the UK service personnel.

The effect of soil water potential on seed germination of some British plants.

'Seeds' of 15 species collected from a range of habitats contrasting in soil water status were germinated in soils of known matric potentials ranging from near field capacity to the permanent wilting potential (- 0.05, -0.5, -1.