Fine particulate matter and incidence of metabolic syndrome in non-CVD patients: A nationwide population-based cohort study

Background

It has been reported that particulate matter (PM) is associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) while metabolic syndrome is also an important risk factor for CVD. However, few studies have investigated the epidemiological association between PM and metabolic syndrome.

Innovative Thinking on Endpoint Selection in Clinical Trials

ABSTRACT

In clinical trials, selection of appropriate study endpoints is critical for an accurate and reliable evaluation of safety and effectiveness of a test treatment under investigation. In practice, however, there are usually multiple endpoints available for measurement of disease status and/or therapeutic effect of the test treatment under study. For example, in cancer clinical trials, overall survival, response rate, and/or time to disease progression are usually considered as primary clinical endpoints for evaluation of safety and effectiveness of the test treatment under investigation. Once the study endpoints have been selected, sample size required for achieving a desired power is then determined. It, however, should be noted that different study endpoints may result in different sample sizes. In practice, it is usually not clear which study endpoint can best inform the disease status and measure the treatment effect. Moreover, different study endpoints may not translate one another although they may be highly correlated one another. In this article, we intend to develop an innovative endpoint namely therapeutic index based on a utility function to combine and utilize information collected from all study endpoints. Statistical properties and performances of the proposed therapeutic index are evaluated theoretically. A numerical example concerning a cancer clinical trial is given to illustrate the use of the proposed therapeutic index.     

Atypical Abnormal Pulmonary Vein Drainage with Atrial Septal Defect: Surgical Treatment

Sinus venosus atrial septal defect (SV‐ASD) usually coexists with partial anomalous pulmonary vein connection (PAPVC). It is a difficult diagnosis in transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) due to eccentric position of defects. We present a rare case of atypical anatomical variation in PAPVC, which was never described before. Two right pulmonary veins drained into superior vena cava, which overrode SV‐ASD and interatrial septum, a third pulmonary vein into the right atrium. Complete diagnosis could not be set after TTE, nor transesophageal echocardiography, whereas angio‐CT was finally conclusive. This diagnostic approach allowed the surgical planning.     

医养结合型养老机构卫生服务质量指标体系构建研究

目的:构建基于SERVQUAL模型的医养结合型养老机构卫生服务质量评价指标体系。方法:围绕医养结合型养老机构卫生服务的概念、特性、内涵、内容等,采用文献研究法、半结构式访谈法、Delphi—AHP法等定性与定量相结合的研究方法,构建指标体系并确定指标权重。结果:构建了具有7个一级指标,27个二级指标和77个三级指标的养老机构卫生服务质量评价指标体系。指标体系三轮咨询专家权威系数Cr均高于0.84,专家综合权威性系数均高于0.83;总体专家协调系数Kendall W第一、二轮为0.309,第三轮为0.706,且均通过显著性检验;内容效度指数I-CVI介于0.90~1.00之间,S-CVI为0.94,kappa值均高于0.74;信度系数Cronbachα总体为0.972,各维度Cronbachα系数在0.792~0.921之间。评价指标体系具有较好的稳定性、可靠性和一致性。结论:本研究建立的评价指标体系有利于医养结合型养老机构全面建立贴近老年人卫生服务需求的内设医疗机构,改善机构内卫生服务质量。在对指标体系进行应用时,可转化为机构中老年人对各指标项目的感受(P)与期望(E),以两者的差值(P-E)代表机构的卫生服务质量。根据专家赋权结果,应重点加强医养结合养老机构对可靠性、有效性、经济性等指标项目的建设。     

Chronic high-level multidrug-resistant Campylobacter coli enterocolitis in an agammaglobulinemia patient: Oral gentamicin efficacy

BackgroundCampylobacter is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea in agammaglobulinemia patients. These infections can be severe, prolonged, and recurrent in such patients.Patient and methodsWe report a 29-year-old male patient with X-linked agammaglobulinemia with Campylobacter coli enterocolitis that persisted for nine months despite multiple 10- to 14-day courses of oral ciprofloxacin and azithromycin.ResultsThe isolate was highly resistant to ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, tetracycline, and fosfomycin. The patient failed to respond to intravenous ertapenem, 1.0 g/day for two weeks, to which the pathogen was susceptible. He was finally cured with oral gentamicin, 80 mg four times daily, and stool cultures remained negative during the seven-month follow-up.ConclusionOral aminoglycoside might be the most appropriate choice for eradication of persistent Campylobacter in the intestinal tract for macrolide- and fluoroquinolone-resistant isolate in agammaglobulinemia patients with chronic diarrhea or relapsing systemic infections.     

Endoscopic gastroplasty to treat medically uncontrolled obesity needs more quality data: A systematic review

Endoscopic gastroplasty (EG) has been used in clinical practice to treat obesity. This systematic review has the objective of assessing if there is an acceptable level of scientific evidence on the safety and effectiveness of EG. A thorough search strategy was used up to October 2018, including the 2 most common techniques: endoscopic suturing and the primary obesity surgery endolumenal procedure. The quality of the studies was evaluated through the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tools for use in Systematic Reviews—“Checklist for Case Series”—and summarized using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) approach. Only 1 randomized controlled trial (moderate GRADE evidence) was found, and the remaining were case reports or small case series (very low GRADE evidence). The literature has low scientific quality. All studies, with 1 exception, are small case series with short follow-up. One of the randomized controlled trials did not meet the primary endpoint for weight loss in both groups (EG × sham) after 1-year follow-up. The case series reported from 16% to 19% total weight loss, but few had more than 6 months of follow-up. Serious adverse events ranged from 2% to 10%. Based on current literature, there is not enough quality scientific evidence regarding long-term weight loss and the procedure’s safety to recommend the use of EG in current clinical practice.