Rehabilitation status of children with cerebral palsy and anxiety of their caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study is to explore the rehabilitation status of children with cerebral palsy (CP) and anxiety level of their caregivers during the Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: Caregivers of children with CP who were being followed up in our outpatient CP clinic were contacted between May 28 and June 26, 2020. Two hundred and six caregivers who voluntarily agreed to participate were administered the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and were questioned about the rehabilitation status of their children. Demographic data, other health problems, Gross Motor Function Classification System, and Manual Ability Classification System levels of children were recorded from their files. RESULTS: All children were at home with their families during the pandemic. Their mean age was 9.58±3.84 years. One hundred and ninety-nine children were going to the rehabilitation center before the pandemic, only three children went to the rehabilitation center twice a week during the pandemic period. The anxiety level of all the caregivers was found to be high. Trait anxiety of the caregivers who did not perform home exercise to their children were found to be statistically significantly higher than those who performed exercise (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Rehabilitation strategies should focus on reducing anxiety level in caregivers of children with CP and effective homecare therapy techniques should be acquired by the caregivers.

Effectiveness of Shortwave Diathermy for Subacromial Impingement Syndrome and Value of Night Pain for Patient Selection: A Double-Blinded, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of short wave diathermy (SWD) in patients with subacromial impingement syndrome. DESIGN: In this double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, 57 patients (aged 35-65 yrs) were classified into night pain positive (NP[+]) (n = 28) and night pain negative (NP[-]) (n = 29) groups. Both groups were randomly assigned to SWD (NP[+], n = 14; NP[-], n = 14) and sham (NP[+], n = 15; NP[-], n = 14) subgroups. Visual analog scale, Constant-Murley Scale (CS), and Shoulder Disability Questionnaire (SDQ) scores were used for evaluation. RESULTS: There was only a significant difference in pain with activity at 1-mo (mean difference [MD], -1.65; 95% confidence interval, -3.01 to -0.28]) and 2-mo evaluations (MD, -2.1; 95% confidence interval, -3.51 to -0.69) between SWD versus sham groups. In the NP(+) SWD group, the CS pain score was significantly higher than in the NP(+) sham group at all evaluations after treatment. At 1 mo, the NP(-) SWD group showed significantly better pain, strength, total CS, and SDQ scores than the NP(-) sham group. At 2 mos, the pain, range of motion, strength, and total CS and SDQ scores were better in the NP(-) SWD group than in the NP(-) sham group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Short wave diathermy is more effective in subacromial impingement syndrome without NP.

Acute effect of zoledronic acid infusion on atrial fibrillation development in patients with osteoporosis.

OBJECTIVE: There is ongoing controversy related to the relationship between bisphosphonates and atrial fibrillation (AF). Our aim in this study was to evaluate the potential acute effect of zoledronic acid (ZA) infusion on AF development by using 24-hour Holter recordings. METHODS: The study was designed to be a self-controlled case series study, and 33 consecutive patients with osteoporosis (29 females, age: 62.3±9.0 years) who were scheduled to receive ZA infusion constituted the study population. Patients underwent 24-hour Holter rhythm recordings at two different times; the first one was 48 hours before the planned ZA infusion, and the second one was on the morning of the infusion day. Heart rate, frequency and type of arrhythmias, as well as heart rate variability (HRV) from the two recordings were compared. RESULTS: There were no episodes of AF greater than 30 sec in any of the 24-hour Holter recordings obtained before and on the day of drug infusion. Holter recordings before drug infusion showed that only 1 patient had an atrial run of 3 beats long. Holter recordings obtained on the day of drug infusion revealed that 5 patients (15.2%) had atrial runs with lengths ranging between 3 and 12 beats (p=0.046). Regarding HRV variables, SDANN values were found to be significantly depressed on the day of ZA infusion (113.6±26.9 vs. 98.2±29.9, p=0.007). CONCLUSION: None of the patients developed AF during or early after ZA infusion. However, there was an increase in atrial ectopy in some patients, which might be due to alterations in cardiac autonomic activity.