A patient's recollection of pre-operative status is not accurate one year after arthroplasty of the hip or knee.

If patients could recall their physical status before total hip (THA) or knee arthroplasty (TKA) accurately it could have valuable applications both clinically and for research. This study evaluated the accuracy of a patient's recollection one year after either THA or TKA using the Oxford hip or knee scores (OHS and OKS). In total, 113 patients (59 THA, 54 TKA) who had completed the appropriate score pre-operatively were asked to complete the score again at a mean of 12.4 months (standard deviation (sd) 0.8) after surgery, recalling their pre-operative state. While there were no significant differences between the actual and recalled pre-operative scores (OHS mean difference 0.8, sd 6.21, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.82 to 2.42, p = 0.329; OKS mean difference -0.11, sd 7.34, 95% CI -2.11 to 1.89, p = 0.912), absolute differences were relatively large (OHS, 5.24; OKS, 5.41), correlation was weak (OHS r = 0.7, OKS r = 0.61) and agreement between actual and recalled responses for individual questions was poor in half of the OHS and two thirds of the OKS. A patient's recollection of pre-operative pain and function is inaccurate one year after THA or TKA.

The Sabra hypertension prone (H) and hypertension resistant (N) rat strain.

By selective inbreeding of the Hebrew University Sabra rat, we have obtained a hypertension prone (H) and a hypertension resistant (N) substrain. The criteria for selection was the blood pressure response to DOCA-salt. The outstanding element of our model is the N rat with its remarkable resistance to hypertension. When compared to H, the N rat presents the following characteristics: 1. The blood pressure of experimentally naive N rats is significantly lower at comparable ages, in both sexes. 2. N rats are resistant to both DOCA-salt and renal clip hypertension. 3. In the medulla oblongata (MO) of N rats, the noradrenaline (NA) content is significantly higher and the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase is significantly lower. 4. In the MO of N rats, the sensitivity of the NA dependent cAMP generating system is significantly decreased. 5. In the atrium of N rats, the NA content is significantly higher, and is unaffected by DOCA-salt treatment. The results suggest that genetic differences in catecholamine metabolism may account for the disparate susceptibility to hypertension of the two strains.