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Background: Distal radius fracture (DRF) often causes reduced ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs). There is a need for recurrent evaluation of the ability to perform ADL in the early stage of rehabilitation as a complement to traditional functional measures. Aim: Develop a short and simple performance test for use in clinical practice through modification of the Sollerman Grip Function Test (GFT). Method: DRF patients and controls performed the GFT. The tasks that discriminated patients from controls were calculated for sensitivity to change and correlated to the QuickDASH questionnaire at three subsequent occasions. Interrater reliability was tested. Results: Twelve GFT tasks discriminated DRF patients from healthy controls. One task was excluded due to heavy load. Remaining 11 tasks were all sensitive to change. Four tasks with correlation to the QuickDASH and representing the grip types most frequently used in ADL came to constitute the Wrist Performance Test (WPT). A test-retest showed satisfactory interrater reliability (rs = 0.87). Conclusion: A short performance test was developed through modification of the GFT. It is easy to use in clinical practice to evaluate the rehabilitation process after DRF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) polyneuropathy, a hereditary fatal disease, often report defects in both thermal perception and autonomic nervous system function as their first clinical symptoms. While elevated thermal perception thresholds (TPT) for cold and warmth only recently have been shown as an early marker of small nerve fiber dysfunction in these patients, heart rate variability (HRV) has frequently been used to quantify autonomic neuropathy. The main purpose with this report was to elucidate a possible relationship between estimates of HRV and TPT in a selected group of early and late-onset Swedish Val30Met ATTR patients. The results show significantly more pronounced elevation of TPT in early compared to late-onset patients. Significant correlations between HRV and TPT were found among late-onset cases, indicating a possible relationship between loss of thin nerve fibers in somatic and autonomic nerves, while generally no such relationships were found among early-onset cases. This observation emphasizes the importance of testing both HRV and TPT to ensure optimal early detection of neuropathic changes in an as wide as possible range of small nerve fibers in suspected ATTR patients. This is of particular importance as the phenotype of the ATTR disease varies between groups with different age of onset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nerve regeneration, measured as axonal outgrowth, Schwann cell migration, macrophage invasion, and neovascularisation, was compared after repair of a 15 mm gap in rats' sciatic nerves using autologous muscle grafts made acellular either by freezing and thawing or by chemical extraction. Both extracted and freeze-thawed acellular muscle grafts could be used to bridge the defect. However, axons and Schwann cells, as shown by immunohistochemical staining for neurofilaments and S-100 protein, respectively, grew faster into the extracted muscle grafts than into the freeze-thawed acellular muscle grafts and somewhat more axons were observed in the former graft. There were no significant differences between the two graft types with respect to neovascularisation as showed by staining for endothelial alkaline phosphatase, and limited differences concerning invasion of macrophages (ED1 and ED2) as detected by immunocytochemistry. The results showed that chemically extracted muscle grafts could be used to bridge an extended nerve defect and that such grafts in some aspects were superior to freeze-thawed muscle grafts for extended gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights the Consensus Meeting held in Lund, Sweden. Culmination of a proposal for the Decade of the Bone and Joint from 2000 to 2010; Objective of the consensus meeting; List of involved organizations.