This study provides preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of an 8-week core stability training programme in improving balance and mobility in ambulant people with MS. Variations in response to intervention are evident. Assessor-blinded randomized controlled studies are required to confirm these findings and determine patient characteristics which identify those who benefit most from this intervention.

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A 29-year old female presented with a one-week history of vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and headache. On admission, she had acute renal failure requiring dialysis. Tests revealed a hemolytic anemia with thrombocytopenia. An initial diagnosis of thrombotic thrombocytopenic microangiopathy was made and plasma exchange was instigated. However, renal biopsy did not show thrombotic microangiopathy but instead revealed acute kidney injury with mild tubulointerstitial nephritis and numerous oxalate crystals, predominantly in the distal tubules. The patient had been taking large doses (>1100 mg daily) of vitamin C for many months. She also gave a history of sclerotherapy using injections of an ethylene glycol derivative for superficial leg veins. The patient completed five sessions of plasma exchange and was able to discontinue dialysis. She eventually achieved full renal recovery. She has now discontinued sclerotherapy and vitamin supplementation.

Primary hyperparathyroidism is a common metabolic bone disease and currently presents a significant management dilemma. Most of the patients have few relevant symptoms and surgical parathyroidectomy offers the prospect of cure with freedom from the risk of long-term complications or the need for a follow-up. However, there is a natural reluctance to subject elderly patients to an operation where the balance of advantage is less clear. Advances in parathyroid imaging resulting in a greater use of targeted or focused parathyroidectomy has opened the way for the inclusion of less fit patients into the potentially operable category. However, there is still debate about whether these newer imaging techniques are sufficiently helpful and cost effective to warrant their use in all patients who may need parathyroid surgery. This has stimulated a debate about the indications for parathyroidectomy in the elderly and whether advances in medical therapy, which offset the end organ effects of excess parathyroid hormone, are of sufficient benefit to counteract this trend towards greater surgical intervention. These considerations mean that it is not possible to consider the merits of pharmacological therapy for primary hyperparathyroidism without reviewing the relative merits of minimally invasive and conventional surgery.

No abstract