Acute paraesophageal hernia repair: short-term outcome comparisons with elective repair.

Background: In the literature, there is a wide range of reported morbidity and mortality rates after acute paraesophageal hernia (PH) repair.

Materials And Methods: Data were collected from all patients undergoing PH repair between December 2001 and October 2011. Outcome data were compared between the acute and elective groups.

Fructose-sorbitol ingestion provokes gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with eating disorders.

Aim: To evaluate gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and breath hydrogen responses to oral fructose-sorbitol (F-S) and glucose challenges in eating disorder (ED) patients.

Methods: GI symptoms and hydrogen breath concentration were monitored in 26 female ED inpatients for 3 h, following ingestion of 50 g glucose on one day, and 25 g fructose/5 g sorbitol on the next day, after an overnight fast on each occasion. Responses to F-S were compared to those of 20 asymptomatic healthy females.

Recurrent and injurious falls in the year following hip fracture: a prospective study of incidence and risk factors from the Sarcopenia and Hip Fracture study.

Background: The incidence and etiology of falls in patients following hip fracture remains poorly understood.

Methods: We prospectively investigated the incidence of, and risk factors for, recurrent and injurious falls in community-dwelling persons admitted for surgical repair of minimal-trauma hip fracture. Fall surveillance methods included phone calls, medical records, and fall calendars.

Methodology and baseline characteristics for the Sarcopenia and Hip Fracture study: a 5-year prospective study.

Background: Age-related hip fractures are associated with poor functional outcomes, resulting in substantial personal and societal burden. There is a need to better identify reversible etiologic predictors of suboptimal functional recovery in this group.

Methods: The Sarcopenia and Hip Fracture (SHIP) study was a 5-year prospective cohort study following community-dwelling older persons admitted to three Sydney hospitals for hip fracture.

Estimation of thigh muscle cross-sectional area by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in frail elderly patients.

Background: Thigh muscle mass and cross-sectional area (CSA) are useful indexes of sarcopenia and the response to treatment in older patients. Current criterion methods are computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging.

Objective: The objective was to compare thigh muscle mass estimated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), a less expensive and more accessible method, with thigh muscle CSA determined by CT in a group of elderly patients recovering from hip fracture.

Progressive resistance training and stretching following surgery for breast cancer: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Currently 1 in 11 women over the age of 60 in Australia are diagnosed with breast cancer. Following treatment, most breast cancer patients are left with shoulder and arm impairments which can impact significantly on quality of life and interfere substantially with activities of daily living. The primary aim of the proposed study is to determine whether upper limb impairments can be prevented by undertaking an exercise program of prolonged stretching and resistance training, commencing soon after surgery.

Evaluation of artificial neural networks in the classification of primary oesophageal dysmotility.

Objective: Artificial neural networks (ANNs) can rapidly analyse large data sets and exploit complex mathematical relationships between variables. We investigated the feasibility of utilizing ANNs in the recognition and objective classification of primary oesophageal motor disorders, based on stationary oesophageal manometry recordings.

Material And Methods: One hundred swallow sequences, including 80 that were representative of various oesophageal motor disorders and 20 of normal motility, were identified from 54 patients (34 F; median age 59 years).

Habitual physical activity, anabolic hormones, and potassium content of fat-free mass in postmenopausal women.

Background: Total body potassium (TBK) is known to decline throughout adulthood. The relations between physical activity, age, anabolic hormones, and TBK have rarely been considered.

Objective: We sought to describe the relation between habitual physical activity, age, serum estradiol, and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and TBK in postmenopausal women.