The results showed a statistically significant decrease in pain of 20% for the active treatment compared to the control intervention, suggesting a clinically important difference in knee pain. This double-blinded randomised crossover trial was well conducted, even though the study did not involve a control group without any interventions making it hard to state the possible placebo effect. Furthermore, a high drop-out rate was reported (30%),

Cell Cycle inhibitor but the study was adequately powered to detect a clinically relevant difference in knee pain. To be able to demonstrate the efficacy of multiple orthotic modalities, adherence to treatment is important. This study emphasised adherence to intervention by giving educational SAR405838 messages, assessed adherence by calling the patients every week, and asked the included

patients to diary record their daily use of orthoses. The participants wore the orthoses on average more than 3 hours a day, however, the doseresponse for orthoses was not appropriately documented. The study participants were predominantly those with medial knee osteoarthritis, without severe co-morbidities, and obese individuals with high average body mass index (> 32.8). Even though the present study showed a significant and clinical reduction in knee pain for obese individuals treated with multiple orthotic modalities, both weight loss and exercises should be the first choice treatment for these individuals. However, recommendations involving use of multiple orthotic modalities more than 3 hours a day seem to be an effective additional treatment option for obese patients aged over 60 years with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis. STK38 “
“The SPHERE 12 (Somatic and Psychological HEalth REport) is a 12-item, self-rated tool to screen for anxiety, depression, and somatisation

in primary care. The SPHERE 12 is a shortened version of the SPHERE 34 (Hickie et al 2001a), which was derived from the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30), the Schedule of Fatigue and Anergia, the Illness, Fatigue and Irritability Questionnaire, and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for somatisation. Six items of the SPHERE 12 assess psychological health (PSYCH subscale) and six assess physical symptoms and fatigue (SOMA subscale). Instruction to the patient and scoring: Patients rate the PSYCH and SOMA items in terms of how much each has troubled them over the past few weeks on a scale of 0–2 (0 = never troubled, 2 = troubled most of the time). A score of two or more on the PSYCH subscale reflects the presence of a possible mental disorder (anxiety or depression) and three or more on the SOMA subscale reflects the presence of a possible somatic disorder (somatoform disorder or somatisation) (Hickie et al 2001a, Wilhelm et al 2008). Positive scores on both scales reflect a mixed presentation.