Introduction. Time-under-tension (TUT) reflects time under load during strength training and is a proxy of the total exercise dose during strength training. The purpose of this study was to investigate if young participants are able to reproduce TUT and exercise form after two weeks of unsupervised exercises.Material and Methods. The study was an assessor-blinded intervention study with 29 participants. After an initial instruction, all participants were instructed to perform two weeks of home-based unsupervised shoulder abduction exercises three times per week with an elastic exercise band. The participants were instructed in performing an exercise with a predefined TUT (3 s concentric; 2 s isometric; 3 s eccentric; 2 s break) corresponding to a total of 240 s of TUT during three sets of 10 repetitions. After completing two weeks of unsupervised home exercises, they returned for a follow-up assessment of TUT and exercise form while performing the shoulder abduction exercise. A stretch sensor attached to the elastic band was used to measure TUT at baseline and follow-up. A physiotherapist used a pre-defined clinical observation protocol to determine if participants used the correct exercise form.Results. Fourteen of the 29 participants trained with the instructed TUT at follow-up (predefined target: 240 s ±8%). Thirteen of the 29 participants performed the shoulder abduction exercise with a correct exercise form. Seven of the 29 participants trained with the instructed TUT and exercise form at follow-up.Conclusion. The majority of participants did not use the instructed TUT and exercise form at follow-up after two weeks of unsupervised exercises. These findings emphasize the importance of clear and specific home exercise instructions if participants are to follow the given exercise prescription regarding TUT and exercise form as too many or too few exercise stimuli in relation to the initially prescribed amount of exercise most likely will provide a misinterpretation of the actual effect of any given specific home exercise intervention.
BackgroundRisk stratification of patients in the emergency department can be strengthened using prognostic biomarkers, but the impact on patient prognosis is unknown. The aim of the TRIAGE III trial was to investigate whether the introduction of the prognostic and nonspecific biomarker: soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) for risk stratification in the emergency department reduces mortality in acutely admitted patients.MethodsThe TRIAGE III trial was a cluster-randomized interventional trial conducted at emergency departments in the Capitol Region of Denmark. Eligible hospitals were required to have an emergency department with an intake of acute medical and surgical patients and no previous access to suPAR measurement. Three emergency departments were randomized; one withdrew shortly after the trial began. The inclusion period was from January through June of 2016 consisting of twelve cluster-periods of 3-weeks alternating between intervention and control and a subsequent follow-up of ten months. Patients were allocated to the intervention if they arrived in interventional periods, where suPAR measurement was routinely analysed at arrival. In the control periods suPAR measurement was not performed. The main outcome was all-cause mortality 10 months after arrival of the last patient in the inclusion period. Secondary outcomes included 30-day mortality.ResultsThe trial enrolled a consecutive cohort of 16,801 acutely admitted patients; all were included in the analyses. The intervention group consisted of 6 cluster periods with 8900 patients and the control group consisted of 6 cluster periods with 7901 patients. After a median follow-up of 362 days, death occurred in 1241 patients (13.9%) in the intervention group and in 1126 patients (14.3%) in the control group.The weighted Cox model found a hazard ratio of 0.97 (95% confidence interval, 0.89 to 1.07; p = 0.57). Analysis of all subgroups and of 30-day all-cause mortality showed similar results.ConclusionsThe TRIAGE III trial found no effect of introducing the nonspecific and prognostic biomarker suPAR in emergency departments on short- or long-term all-cause mortality among acutely admitted patients. Further research is required to evaluate how prognostic biomarkers can be implemented in routine clinical practice.Trial registrationclinicaltrials.gov, NCT02643459. Registered 31 December 2015.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13049-018-0539-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Background: Invasive infections with non-beta-haemolytic streptococci (NBHS) is quite common and presents the clinicians with difficulties regarding which patients are at risk for infective endocarditis (IE). The HANDOC score was developed to identify patients with NBHS bacteraemia who are at low risk of IE. This study was conducted to validate HANDOC in an external cohort.Methods: Patients with NBHS in blood cultures between March and September 2016 in a Danish centre were included as part of an on-going study. Patient characteristics were collected to classify bacteria according to Duk es criteria and the components of the HANDOC score were collected retrospectively from the patients' medical records.Results: 68 patients were included in the cohort, of which 16 fulfilled Duk es criteria for IE. All patients with IE (16 of 16) had a HANDOC score above the predefined cut-off. Cases of IE were found in patients with. Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus bovis, Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus anginosus, and Streptococcus sanguinis group streptococci. The HANDOC score thus had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 62% in this cohort.Conclusions: HANDOC has a sensitivity of 100% and a relatively high specificity (62%) also in a prospectively enrolled cohort of patients from another country than its origin. This indicates that HANDOC can be implemented in clinical practice to identify patients with a low risk of IE in whom echocardiography can be omitted.
KEYWORDSEndocarditis bacteraemia echocardiography streptococcus management score ARTICLE HISTORY
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