Correlation of the core stability measures with the hip strength and functional activity level in knee osteoarthritis

2016-06-19T11-58-13Z
Source: International Journal of Therapies and Rehabilitation Research
Tejashree A Dabholkar, Ajit Surendra Dabholkar, Dilshad Sachiwala.
Background Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease & the knee is the most common site for OA. Literature suggests that lower extremity injuries may diminish core stability measures. In spite of many researches done on proximal stability training for prevention of lower extremity injuries and also studies done on deficits of neuromuscular control of the trunk to predict risks of knee injuries, there are no studies correlating the core and hip muscles strength as well as functional activity level influencing the most common musculoskeletal condition i.e. knee osteoarthritis. Objectives- 1) To correlate core stability measures and hip strength in knee OA patients.. 2)To correlate core stability measures with hip strength and functional activity level in patients with knee involvement. Method- 19 patients with Osteoarthritis of knee (experimental group) as per the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected, where one lower extremity was considered as one single subject of the study population. The study consisted of 11 subjects with bilateral knee involvement (22 lower extremities) and 8 with unilateral involvement (8 lower extremities). As mentioned above the control group consisted of 15 normal subjects Patients were randomly selected for assessment techniques. Hip muscle strength assessment was done with the push pull dynamometer using the make test. Core muscle strength was assessed using a pressure biofeedback apparatus. Data thus obtained was statistically analysed with respect to the subjects. Results- There is a significant correlation of the core stability measures with the hip abductor and external rotator strength as well as the functional activity level in knee osteoarthritis.


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EMS assistant chief ends 40-year career

By Keith Upchurch
The Herald-Sun

DURHAM, N.C. — Most people haven't saved hundreds of lives in their careers, but Kevin Wilson has.

Wilson is retiring this month after 40 years with Durham County Emergency Medical Services, where his skill and compassion have kept many patients from dying.

Wilson remembers one instance where a medical student was in a serious car crash on Cole Mill Road and was minutes from death. When Wilson arrived, he found the woman trapped and barely breathing. She wore a full-length mink coat and expensive dress which Wilson had to cut apart to get needles into her chest. His quick action saved her life.

"Several days later in the intensive-care unit, I saw her," Wilson said. "Her mother ran up and started hugging me, and said: 'You put my daughter's life above the mink coat. Thank you'."

Cases like that have kept Wilson, 63, on the job despite the stress and long hours.

"There have been people through the years who said: 'You saved my dad's or mom's life' or 'You worked on them and they still died, but you really cared for us'," Wilson said. "That does something to your heart."

Wilson began working with EMS Jan. 1, 1976, when Durham had only four ambulances for the entire county. Now it has 18, and even that is often inadequate to keep up with demand as the population grows, he said.

Wilson, a Wilmington native, started as an EMS technician in Durham and worked his way up. Today, he's an assistant chief of EMS, and teaches those who teach paramedics. Although his duties as overseer of patient care often keep him in an office, Wilson frequently drives to ambulance calls to help out when someone is having a heart attack or stroke or has been in a crash, for example. He always follows up to be sure they got good care.

Wilson also oversees training for those who respond to infectious-disease emergencies, acts of chemical and biological terrorism, and explosions.

The number of 911 calls to EMS has increased nearly 10-fold since Wilson joined the department -- from 350 to 400 monthly ambulance calls in the mid-1970s to roughly 3,300 today.

"Older people are having cardiac events and strokes, and we have a lot of diabetics," Wilson said. "The demand for our services is great, and continues to grow."

In addition to more calls, paramedics have dramatically greater responsibility than they did 40 years ago. They have more medicines to administer, and are responsible for hooking the patient to an electrocardiogram and interpreting it in the ambulance -- a duty that historically was delayed until the patient arrived at the hospital. That quick response is saving lives, but adds complexity to the paramedic's job, Wilson said.

The need for paramedics in Durham is constant, and many opt for a career in nursing where the pay is better, according to Wilson. Those who stay don't do it primarily for the money, but because they're dedicated to helping others, he said.

"I always tell our people: 'I want you to take care of that patient as if they were a family member,' " Wilson said. "Treat them as if they were yours."

Wilson trains paramedics in the classroom, but he's not afraid to get his hands dirty in the field.

"It's easy to stand in a classroom and tell people to do stuff," he said. "It's different to get out in the street, in the blood and guts. I do it to set an example."

Wilson said his theme for the past 40 years has been simple: "Be kind to everybody, and care for them gently," he said. "Make sure they get the best of what we have. Then when you finish, you know you've done all that you can do."

Copyright 2016 The Herald-Sun

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Investigation of the In Vitro Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activities of Xanthosoma sagittifolium Leaf

2016-06-19T02-57-36Z
Source: Indo American Journal of Pharmaceutical Research
Md. Sarwar Hossain*, Muhammad Asaduzzaman, Md. Sahab Uddin, Md. Ali Asif Noor, Md. Ashikur Rahman, Mst. Shirajum Munira, Md. Asaduzzaman..
Plants are store house of phytochemical constituents used to diseases from the ancient era. The hunt for new remedies from natural origin is still going on to discover noble therapy against new and existence diseases. In this study ethyl acetate fraction (EAF), n-Hexane fraction (NHF), chloroform fraction (CLF) and aqueous fraction (AQF) of Xanthosoma sagittifolium (XS) leaf have been investigated for the evaluation of antioxidant and cytotoxic activities. For determination of antioxidant and cytotoxic activities total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total phenolic content (TPC), reducing power activity (RPA), DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity and brine shrimp lethality (BSL) assay were performed respectively. TFC of EAF (54.44 mg/g GAE) was found significantly higher as compared to other solvent fractions. Among four different fractions CLF showed the highest total antioxidant activity at 600 μg/ ml concentration followed by EAF, NHF and AQF. The ranking order for RPA was EAF > AQF > CLF > NHF. The IC50 values for the DPPH radical scavenging test were in the order of EAF (52.16 μg/ml) > CLF (99.78  0.24) > AQF (190.73  1.11) > NHF (394.01  10.49). Among all extracts of XS, NHF showed the highest cytotoxicity activity with LD50 value of 24.00 g/ml and the AQF showed the lowest cytotoxicity activity with LD50 value of 39.48 g/ml respectively. Our study suggests that XS leaf have strong antioxidant and cytotoxic effect confirming the traditional uses of this plant and different opportunities have been exposed that will lead further research.


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