An aerobic exercise program can be safely tolerated by patients with sporadic IBM and can improve aerobic capacity and muscle strength when combined with resistance training. These findings indicate that aerobic and functional muscle strengthening exercise should be considered in the management of patients with IBM.

This article considers how structures of community feeling and ways of belonging are produced, maintained and recreated in local rural environments. It argues that rural social organizations, which operate through, and are embedded in, notions of conviviality and community, have taken up a particular role in this process. While using the concept of community with all the usual sociological caveats in place, the article seeks to emphasize a) the importance of the sociality of community and b) the need to understand the ways in which this sociality is continually shaped by the potent imaginary of what `community' and, more specifically, what `rural community' mean and represent. Drawing on a qualitative data set the article details the emotional connectivity participants made between the local and the social and the everyday routine practices involved in constructing a community sensibility. It concludes by examining how ambiguity and governance are part of these processes.

Objective:The objective of the study was to investigate the effects of a functional exercise program on muscle strength and mobility in a group of patients with sporadic inclusion body myositis (IBM). Methods and Materials:Seven patients with sporadic IBM were tested for muscle strength and functional capacities before and after a 16-week, patient-specific, home-based exercise program involving mild, daily, functional exercises.Results: Significant improvements in isometric strength were demonstrated in all muscle groups tested and were maximal in the hip flexor muscles. In addition, walking and stair climbing times improved in all patients. The exercise program was well-tolerated, and there was no significant change in the serum creatine kinase level following the exercise period. Conclusion:The findings of this study indicate that an individually prescribed home exercise program can be safely implemented and can result not only in significant gains in muscle strength but also in useful improvements in functional capabilities and is therefore beneficial in the management of patients with IBM.

There was a high level of agreement concerning the underlying cause of death after a review of the information in hospital medical records and on death certificates for men with prostate cancer when cause of death was viewed as a dichotomous variable. The International Classification of Diseases-9 coding rules concerning the underlying cause of death favor overreporting rather than underreporting prostate cancer deaths compared with a review of hospital medical records. Cause of death determination does not appear to have changed after the introduction of prostate specific antigen testing.