No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2002.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [127]-138).

No description available.

Secondary lymphoedema and venous oedema of the limb are the consequence of an imbalance between tissue fluid infiltrate and drainage, which leads to interstitial fluid accumulation, tissue changes, limb discomfort and morbidity. Numerous conservative therapies have been developed to address some of these negative outcomes, with a proportion of these being labour and cost intensive. This makes the investigation of cost effective and easy to implement home based regimes very important. One such therapy is limb exercise, which can be beneficial for limb oedemas through changes in both interstitial pressure and calf muscle activation. Therefore, this thesis explored the benefits of different exercise regimes for limb oedema of both lymphatic and vascular origin. This was achieved through a systematic review of existing conservative therapies for limb oedemas and four clinical trials investigating the benefits of home based exercise regimes. Results demonstrated that various positive and significant outcomes could be gained from the implementation of such regimes, including improvements in both subjective and objective parameters. These results reveal how these chronic and disabling conditions can be maintained by the patient in the home environment in between health care visits. It also demonstrates how self maintenance may alleviate the burden on the health care system.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universitetet i Lund.

The primary objective of antenatal assessment and monitoring is to ensure wellbeing of the fetus and the mother. There are different methods of assessment during pregnancy and in labour. Doppler ultrasound is one of the tests widely used in clinical practice in the evaluation of pregnancies that are at a greater risk of developing maternal or fetal complications due to uteroplacental insufficiency. Doppler ultrasound enables evaluation of sequential changes in circulatory haemodynamics in the fetus by evaluation of the fetus for signs of brain sparing and severity of redistribution of circulation. Recognition of abnormal Doppler flow patterns helps the clinician to optimise the appropriate timing of delivery. Identification of the ‘high risk’ fetus, before any changes of fetal compromise become evident, still remains one of the major dilemmas in contemporary clinical practice. This thesis seeks to explore the role of Doppler monitoring fetal intrauterine central shunts as a method of identifying the ‘high-risk’ fetus before any other established parameters, such as, fetal biometry, fetal weight or flow waveforms in umbilical artery become abnormal. This thesis also evaluates the role of serial Doppler monitoring of fetal central shunts in those fetuses where IUGR has been established. This is based on the premise that the intrauterine shunts are present in fetal circulation to work closely with the placenta to ensure appropriate nutrition and oxygenation of the fetus, bypassing the lungs. Four prospective longitudinal studies were designed to evaluate the role of fetal intrauterine shunts in adaptive response mechanisms in cardiovascular stress. Two models were taken into consideration: an ‘acute cardiovascular stress’ model and a ‘chronic cardiovascular stress’ model. To study the ‘response to acute cardiovascular stress’ in high-risk fetuses, a cohort of mothers undergoing fetal intrauterine transfusion for fetal anaemia were selected. These fetuses were scanned immediately before and after transfusion, and Doppler flows through all the intrauterine shunts were documented and compared with fetoplacental and cerebral circulation. To study the ‘response to chronic cardiovascular stress’, a prospective longitudinal observational study was designed and the sequence of changes in Doppler ultrasound of the fetal central shunts studied and compared with the Doppler flow waveforms of normal pregnancies with a group of pregnancies complicated by uteroplacental insufficiency. Normograms were designed for all the Doppler parameters and flows from adverse pregnancy outcomes were compared to the normogram. The pregnancy outcomes in the longitudinal study were correlated with placental pathology. Our study showed that although changes were demonstrated in the flow patterns within central shunts, these changes were not statistically significant in the ‘acute cardiovascular stress model’, suggesting that there may be other haemodynamic alterations in acute cardiovascular stress. However, in the ‘chronic cardiovascular stress model’, the results suggest that the intrauterine cardiac shunts may play an important role in redistribution of fetal flows in early stages of growth restriction, suggesting that Doppler ultrasound monitoring of foramen ovale can be potentially used as a screening tool to identify high-risk fetuses as early as 16 weeks. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1349883 / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health, 2009

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2006. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2005 / Includes bibliographical references. Online version available on the World Wide Web.

nÃo hà / O transplante renal à a terapia que oferece maior sobrevida e melhor qualidade de vida (QV) para pacientes com doenÃa renal crÃnica (DRC). Entretanto, mundialmente observa-se carÃncia de ÃrgÃos para realizaÃÃo de transplantes ocasionando grande tempo de permanÃncia dos pacientes em terapia dialÃtica. Objetivos: Identificar mudanÃa de nÃvel de QV e verificar associaÃÃo de variÃveis com nÃvel inicial e mudanÃa de QV em portadores de DRC submetidos à hemodiÃlise (HD) durante seguimento de 24 meses. Materiais e mÃtodos: A amostra foi formada pelos pacientes em HD regular na Ãnica unidade de diÃlise da regiÃo norte do CearÃ, Brasil. Foram incluÃdos maiores de 18 anos, nunca submetidos a transplante renal e com pelo menos trÃs meses sob terapia dialÃtica. Cento e sessenta e quatro pacientes foram submetidos a uma avaliaÃÃo e tiveram seus dados analisados de forma transversal. Noventa e dois foram submetidos a pelo menos duas avaliaÃÃes e foram analisados longitudinalmente. Ao serem incluÃdos no estudo os pacientes tiveram seus dados demogrÃficos, clÃnicos e laboratoriais coletados; foram classificados de acordo com grau de comorbidade pelo Ãndice de Khan; e foram submetidos ao instrumento de medida de QV SF-36. Anualmente os pacientes eram re-avaliados laboratorialmente e submetidos à nova avaliaÃÃo pelo instrumento SF-36. RegressÃo linear pelo mÃtodo stepwise foi utilizada para estimar a correlaÃÃo entre as variÃveis e o nÃvel inicial de QV. A mudanÃa de nÃvel de QV foi determinada pela anÃlise de variÃncia para medidas repetidas com uso de co-variÃveis (ANCOVA) considerando pontuaÃÃo inicial e final, e pelo cÃlculo da taxa de variaÃÃo mensal (pontuaÃÃo final menos pontuaÃÃo inicial com divisÃo do resultado pelos meses de seguimento). As variÃveis contÃnuas foram testadas quanto a sua associaÃÃo com mudanÃa de QV por regressÃo linear, e as variÃveis categÃricas pela estratificaÃÃo da amostra de acordo com a taxa de variaÃÃo mensal em trÃs grupos: melhora, piora, e sem mudanÃa. Resultados: O nÃvel de QV apresentou melhora em relaÃÃo Ãs dimensÃes Aspectos sociais (63,8 vs. 75,0; p=0,001), Aspectos emocionais (39,7 vs. 63,1; p<0,001) e SaÃde mental (63,1 vs. 69,0; p=0,009). Entre os pacientes com baixo grau de comorbidade, alÃm das dimensÃes citadas, houve melhora das dimensÃes Capacidade funcional (56,7 versus 63,5; p=0,014) e Dor (56,7 vs. 66,5; p=0,009). Idade e albumina foram as principais variÃveis correlacionadas com nÃvel inicial de QV. A idade se associou negativamente com as oito dimensÃes de QV: Capacidade funcional (r=-0,312; p<0,001), LimitaÃÃo por aspectos fÃsicos (r=-0,262; p<0,001), Dor (r=-0,157; p=0,049), Estado geral de saÃde (r=-0,232; p=0,003), Vitalidade (r=-0,298; p<0,001), Aspectos sociais (r=-0,293; p=<0,001), LimitaÃÃo por aspectos emocionais (r=-0,260; p=0,001) e SaÃde mental (r=-0,217; p=0,006). O nÃvel de albumina se correlacionou positivamente com Capacidade funcional (r=0,218; p=0,006), Dor (r=0,276; p<0,001), Estado geral de saÃde (r=0,268; p<0,001), Vitalidade (r=0,270; p<0,001) e Aspectos sociais (r=0,250; p=0,001). A idade e o nÃvel de creatinina se correlacionaram com mudanÃa do nÃvel de QV estimada pela taxa de variaÃÃo mensal. A idade se associou negativamente com Dor (r=-0,031; p=0,024), explicando 9,0% da variaÃÃo, e creatinina se correlacionou positivamente com Estado geral de saÃde (r=0,096; p=0,040), explicando 4,6% da variaÃÃo. Mais mulheres do que homens evoluÃram com piora da Capacidade Funcional [19 (50,0%) vs. 11 (21,2%); p=0,006]. ConclusÃes: Houve melhora dos aspectos mentais de qualidade de vida entre os pacientes. Essa melhora deve ser encarada como fator favorÃvel para implementaÃÃo de intervenÃÃes sobre os aspectos fÃsicos de qualidade de vida, com especial atenÃÃo aos pacientes do sexo feminino e com maior grau de comorbidade. O avanÃar da idade e nÃveis baixos dos marcadores do estado nutricional (albumina e creatinina) devem ser considerados indicadores de risco para pior nÃvel de QV. / Kidney transplantation is the therapy that offers longest lifetime and best quality of life (QL) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, worldwide there is lack of organs to transplant, causing the need for long-term dialysis therapy. Objectives: To identify changes in QL level and verify the association between variables and initial level and changes in QL in CKD patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) during a follow-up of 24 months. Materials and methods: The sample consisted of patients undergoing regular HD in the only renal unit in the north of Cearà state, Brazil. We included those older than 18 years who never had kidney transplant and had been under dialysis at for least three months. Hundred and sixty-four patients were submitted to one evaluation and their data composed a transversal analysis. Ninety-two were submitted at least to two evaluations and were studied by longitudinal analysis. At baseline we collected demographic, clinical and laboratory data; classified the patients according to comorbidity by the Khan index; and submitted them to the SF-36 questionnaire in order to measure QL. Every year the patients were re-evaluated with laboratory tests and submitted again to the SF-36. Linear regression by the stepwise method was used to estimate the correlation between variables and initial level of QL. Change in QL level was detected by analysis of variance using co-variables (ANCOVA), considering the initial and final scores, and by the monthly variation rate (final minus initial score divided by number of months of follow-up). Continuous variables were tested for their association with change in QL by linear regression, and the categorical variables were stratified according to monthly variation rate into three groups: improving, worsening, and no change. Results: QL level improved with respect to Social functioning (63.8 vs. 75.0; p=0.001), Role-emotional (39.7 vs. 63.1; p<0.001) and Mental health (63.1 vs. 69.0; p=0.009). Among low comorbidity patients, besides improvement in these dimensions, there was improvement in Physical functioning (56.7 vs. 63.5; p=0.014) and Bodily pain (56.7 vs. 66.5; p=0.009). Age and albumin were strong correlators due to the initial QL level. Age was negatively associated with all eight QL dimensions: Physical functioning (r=-0,312; p<0,001), Role-physical (r=-0,262; p<0,001), Bodily pain (r=-0,157; p=0,049), General health (r=-0,232; p=0,003), Vitality (r=-0,298; p<0,001), Social functioning (r=-0,293; p=<0,001), Role-emotional (r=-0,260; p=0,001) and Mental health (r=-0,217; p=0,006). Albumin was positively associated with: Physical functioning (r=0,218; p=0,006), Bodily pain (r=0,276; p<0,001), General health (r=0,268; p<0,001), Vitality (r=0,270; p<0,001) and Social functioning (r=0,250; p=0,001). Age and creatinine level were associated with changes in QL estimated by monthly variation rate. Age was negatively associated with Bodily pain (r=-0,031; p=0,024), responsible for 9.0% of its variation, and creatinine was positively correlated with General health (r=0,096; p=0,040), responsible for 4.6% in its variation. More women than men worsened in Physical functioning [19 (50.0%) vs. 11 (21.2%); p=0.006]. Conclusions: There was improvement in mental aspects of QL among the patients. This improvement should be seen as a favorable factor to implement interventions aimed at the physical aspects of QL, with special attention to women and high-grade comorbidity patients. Ageing and low level of the laboratory markers related to nutritional status (albumin and creatinine) should be considered as risk markers of poorer QL level.