<i>Background</i>: More than 17.000 Palestinians were injured during different Israeli military incursions on the Gaza Strip from 2006 to 2014. Many suffered traumatic extremity amputations. We describe the injuries, complications, living conditions and health among a selection of traumatic amputees in the Gaza Strip.<p> <p><i>Methods</i>: We included 254 civilian Palestinians who had survived, ...

<p><i>Background</i>: eHealth has an enormous potential to improve healthcare cost, effectiveness, and quality of care. However, there seems to be a gap between the foreseen benefits of research and clinical reality.</p> <p><i>Objective</i>: Our objective was to systematically review the factors influencing the outcome of eHealth interventions in terms of success and failure.</p> <p><i>Methods</i>: ...

<i>Background</i>: Length of hospital stay (LOS) may serve as a surrogate measure of healthcare quality and resource use, particularly when transfers of care and readmissions are accounted for. This study aimed to benchmark true hospital stay by measuring index, transfer and readmission stays across the range of digestive cancer surgery.<p> <p><i>Methods</i>: A cohort study of all patients ...

<p><i>Background</i>: Sexual dimorphism in placental size and function has been described. Whether this influences the clinically important umbilical artery (UA) waveform remains controversial, although a few cross-sectional studies have shown sex differences in UA pulsatility index (PI). Therefore, we tested whether fetal sex influences the UA Doppler indices during the entire second half of pregnancy ...

<p><i>Background</i>: Earlier work has described videoconferencing technologies, peripheral equipment, organizational models, human relations, purposes, goals and roles as versatile, multifaceted, and those used differently in different clinical practices. Knowledge about benefits and challenges connected to specific characteristics of services are lacking. A 2005 systematic review of published ...

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), given their regenerative potential, are being investigated as a potential therapeutic tool for cartilage lesions. MSCs express several bioactive molecules which act in a paracrine fashion to modulate the tissue microenvironment. Yet, little is known about the divergence of these signalling molecules in different MSC populations. The present study investigated ...

<p><i>Objectives</i>: Population statistics for carotid plaque and cardiovascular risk factors reported in scientific journals are usually presented as averages for the population or age and sex adjusted, rather than sex and age groups. Important population differences about atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk factors may thus be missed. We compare the distribution of cardiovascular risk factors, ...

In observational studies, vitamin D deficiency is associated with depressive symptoms. However, randomised controlled trials (RCT) with vitamin D supplementation have not been conclusive. In the present study 206 subjects were randomised to vitamin D (100 000 IU (2500 µg) as a bolus dose followed by 20 000 IU (500 µg) per week) and 202 to placebo. The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) was filled ...

<p><i>Background</i>: Studies on the association between long‐chained n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n‐3 PUFAs) and risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) are conflicting, potentially due to challenges related to assessment of n‐3 PUFA intake and changes in diet during follow‐up.</p> <p><i>Objectives</i>: To investigate whether dietary intake of marine n‐3 PUFAs was associated with risk of incident ...

<i><p>Objective</i>: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) comprises 7 heterogeneous categories of chronic childhood arthritides. Approximately 5% of children with JIA have rheumatoid factor (RF)–positive arthritis, which phenotypically resembles adult rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Our objective was to compare and contrast the genetics of RF‐positive polyarticular JIA with those of RA and selected other ...