Pharyngo-Esophageal Dysphagia in Parkinson's Disease

The radiologic characteristics of pharyngo-esophageal (PE) dysfunction in Parkinson's disease (PD) are not well established, partly because most previous studies have examined only small numbers of patients. We administered a dynamic videofluoroscopic swallowing function study to 71 patients with idiopathic PD. Using the Hoehn and Yahr disease severity scale, patients were subdivided into those with mild/moderate disease, subgroup I (n = 38), and advanced PD disease, subgroup II (n = 33). From pharyngeal ingestion to gastric emptying, bolus transport was normal in only 2 patients. The most common abnormalities occurring during pharyngeal ingestion included impaired motility, vallecular and pyriform sinus stasis, supraglottic and glottic aspiration, and deficient epiglottic positioning and range of motion. Esophageal abnormalities were multiple but most commonly included delayed transport, stasis, bolus redirection, and tertiary contractions. Typical aberrations of lower esophageal sphincter (LES) function included an open or delayed opening of the LES and gastro-esophageal reflux. A pathogenesis linking PE with the pathology of PD is proposed.     

Have traditional DMARDs had their day?

This review tries to answer the question of whether in the face of the recently introduced biologics conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) can still be recommended in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We start with an overview of the oldest conventional DMARD, injectable gold (Au), which was introduced in the treatment of RA in the 1920s. The effect of gold is directed at a number of different sites of the immune system. A significant improvement of clinical and biochemical disease activity parameters as well as an inhibition of X-ray progression has been shown in many studies. Head-to-head comparisons between gold and high-dose methotrexate (MTX) demonstrated no significant difference but some advantages for gold. Since trials comparing biologics with gold will never be performed, an indirect comparison was done by analyzing the results of trials with gold with those with biologics. Conclusions from such comparisons have to be drawn with caution especially since the methodology for performing trials has changed with time. We selected four trials with gold (two open, one placebo-controlled, and one comparison with MTX) and five trials with biologics (three placebo-controlled, one dose escalation study, and one comparison with MTX). In all these trials baseline data regarding swollen joint count (SJC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) were roughly comparable and, with the exception of interleukin (IL)-1 RA, demonstrated a similar improvement of over 50% already after 6 months [with faster onset with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha blockade]. American College of Rheumatology (ACR) response data were not available for the older gold trials. European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) response criteria could be calculated for the Au/MTX trial and were—for these compounds—only slightly inferior to the results with adalimumab. X-ray response is especially difficult to compare across studies. Although an inhibition with Au and MTX could be demonstrated, this occurred—similar to corticosteroid treatment—earlier and more pronounced with TNF-alpha blockers. We confirm the statement of Weinblatt that the most modern DMARDs do not appear to be much better than the oldest one indicating that conventional DMARDs are not outdated. Therefore, a sufficient trial of conventional DMARDs should precede the introduction of treatment with the very expensive biologics.     

中心静脉导管头端最佳位置影像学标识的系统评价

目的：对国内外探讨中心静脉导管头端最佳位置影像学标识的研究进行系统评价,分析并评鉴文献中报道的中心静脉导管头端最佳位置影像学标识的实施内容、可行性及其效果。方法运用循证护理的方法学,制订PECOD原则,检索Cochrane图书馆、JBI循证卫生保健国际合作中心图书馆、EM base、Elsevier、Web of know ledge、Ovid、CBM、CNKI和万方数据库中关于中心静脉导管头端最佳位置影像学标识的队列研究、病例对照研究及描述性研究。结果共纳入描述性研究文献4篇,对纳入研究进行描述性分析,气管隆凸下4 cm或2个胸椎椎体单元是较理想的影像学判断标识。结论目前X线胸片仍是确定中心静脉导管头端位置的首要方法,其影像学判断标识显得尤为重要。     

急性深静脉血栓患者早期下床活动与卧床休息的系统评价

目的：评价与卧床休息相比,早期下床活动对急性深静脉血栓患者继发肺栓塞率的有效性。方法运用计算机检索Cochrane、JBI、Medline、EMbase、CINAHL、Web of Knowledge、CBM、万方和CNKI数据库,查找关于对比早期下床活动和卧床休息处理急性深静脉血栓患者继发肺栓塞问题的相关研究文献。检索时间均从建库至2015年1月1日。由2位评价员按纳入与排除标准独立筛选文献、提取资料并评价质量后,采用RevMan 5．3软件进行M eta分析。结果共纳入9项研究,共847例患者。M eta分析结果显示：与卧床休息相比,早期下床活动对急性深静脉血栓患者继发肺栓塞率[RR＝0．42,95％ CI（0．16,1．09）,P＝0．08]差异无统计学意义。结论现有证据表明：早期下床活动不会增加深静脉血栓患者继发肺栓塞率。鉴于纳入研究数量有限,上述结论尚需开展更多研究予以验证。     

Automatically Detecting Failures in Natural Language Processing Tools for Online Community Text

Background

The prevalence and value of patient-generated health text are increasing, but processing such text remains problematic. Although existing biomedical natural language processing (NLP) tools are appealing, most were developed to process clinician- or researcher-generated text, such as clinical notes or journal articles. In addition to being constructed for different types of text, other challenges of using existing NLP include constantly changing technologies, source vocabularies, and characteristics of text. These continuously evolving challenges warrant the need for applying low-cost systematic assessment. However, the primarily accepted evaluation method in NLP, manual annotation, requires tremendous effort and time.

Objective

The primary objective of this study is to explore an alternative approach—using low-cost, automated methods to detect failures (eg, incorrect boundaries, missed terms, mismapped concepts) when processing patient-generated text with existing biomedical NLP tools. We first characterize common failures that NLP tools can make in processing online community text. We then demonstrate the feasibility of our automated approach in detecting these common failures using one of the most popular biomedical NLP tools, MetaMap.

Methods

Using 9657 posts from an online cancer community, we explored our automated failure detection approach in two steps: (1) to characterize the failure types, we first manually reviewed MetaMap’s commonly occurring failures, grouped the inaccurate mappings into failure types, and then identified causes of the failures through iterative rounds of manual review using open coding, and (2) to automatically detect these failure types, we then explored combinations of existing NLP techniques and dictionary-based matching for each failure cause. Finally, we manually evaluated the automatically detected failures.

Results

From our manual review, we characterized three types of failure: (1) boundary failures, (2) missed term failures, and (3) word ambiguity failures. Within these three failure types, we discovered 12 causes of inaccurate mappings of concepts. We used automated methods to detect almost half of 383,572 MetaMap’s mappings as problematic. Word sense ambiguity failure was the most widely occurring, comprising 82.22% of failures. Boundary failure was the second most frequent, amounting to 15.90% of failures, while missed term failures were the least common, making up 1.88% of failures. The automated failure detection achieved precision, recall, accuracy, and F1 score of 83.00%, 92.57%, 88.17%, and 87.52%, respectively.

Conclusions

We illustrate the challenges of processing patient-generated online health community text and characterize failures of NLP tools on this patient-generated health text, demonstrating the feasibility of our low-cost approach to automatically detect those failures. Our approach shows the potential for scalable and effective solutions to automatically assess the constantly evolving NLP tools and source vocabularies to process patient-generated text.     

Development and Assessment of an E-Learning Course on Breast Imaging for Radiographers: A Stratified Randomized Controlled Trial

Background

Mammography is considered the best imaging technique for breast cancer screening, and the radiographer plays an important role in its performance. Therefore, continuing education is critical to improving the performance of these professionals and thus providing better health care services.

Objective

Our goal was to develop an e-learning course on breast imaging for radiographers, assessing its efficacy, effectiveness, and user satisfaction.

Methods

A stratified randomized controlled trial was performed with radiographers and radiology students who already had mammography training, using pre- and post-knowledge tests, and satisfaction questionnaires. The primary outcome was the improvement in test results (percentage of correct answers), using intention-to-treat and per-protocol analysis.

Results

A total of 54 participants were assigned to the intervention (20 students plus 34 radiographers) with 53 controls (19+34). The intervention was completed by 40 participants (11+29), with 4 (2+2) discontinued interventions, and 10 (7+3) lost to follow-up. Differences in the primary outcome were found between intervention and control: 21 versus 4 percentage points (pp), P<.001. Stratified analysis showed effect in radiographers (23 pp vs 4 pp; P=.004) but was unclear in students (18 pp vs 5 pp; P=.098). Nonetheless, differences in students’ posttest results were found (88% vs 63%; P=.003), which were absent in pretest (63% vs 63%; P=.106). The per-protocol analysis showed a higher effect (26 pp vs 2 pp; P<.001), both in students (25 pp vs 3 pp; P=.004) and radiographers (27 pp vs 2 pp; P<.001). Overall, 85% were satisfied with the course, and 88% considered it successful.

Conclusions

This e-learning course is effective, especially for radiographers, which highlights the need for continuing education.     

Psychological wellbeing and biochemical modulation in response to weight loss in obese type 2 diabetes patients

Background

Obesity in type 2 diabetes patients is a serious health issue by itself; it is also associated with other health problems including psychiatric illnesses. The psychological effects of dieting and weight loss have been a matter of controversy in the field of obesity management.

Objective

The aim of this study was to compare the impact of weight loss because of aerobic exercise training and dietary measures on psychological wellbeing and biochemical modulation in obese type 2 diabetes patients.

Material and methods

One hundred obese type 2 diabetes patients of both sexes participated in this study, and were included into two equal groups. The first group (A) received aerobic exercise training, three sessions per week for three months combined with dietary measures. The second group (B) received no training intervention for three months.

Results

There was a significant decrease in body mass index (BMI), leptin, total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), triglycerides(TG), homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance- index (HOMA-IR) , beck depression inventory (BDI ) & profile of mood states(POMS) and increase in high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) & Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES) of group (A) after treatments, but the changes of group (B) were not significant. Moreover, there were significant differences between mean levels of the investigated parameters of group (B) and group (A) at the end of the study.

Conclusion

Physical training and dietary measures can be used as methods of choice for psychological wellbeing and biochemical modulation in obese type 2 diabetes patients.     

高性能战斗机改装体检暂时飞行不合格者的随访观察

目的明确歼击机飞行员改装体检暂时飞行不合格的原因、最终健康状况和飞行结论。方法总结1999年1月-2010年12月在我院进行高性能战斗机改装体检结论为原机种暂时飞行不合格的67名飞行员病历资料,随访其健康状况和飞行结论,进行综合分析。结果改装体检暂时飞行不合格的原因依次为特殊功能检查不合格、外科病症、内科病症、神经精神科病症、眼科病症、耳鼻咽喉科病症;最终结论为飞行合格者47例(10例改装合格、另37例原机种飞行合格),飞行不合格者20例(2例因新发病症、18例因暂时飞行不合格的病症而停飞)。结论改装体检暂时飞行不合格的主要原因为特殊功能问题;《高性能歼击机飞行员体格要求》是符合实际的,而现行的飞行人员年度大体检制度有修改的必要。     

Servqual评价法在口腔门诊优质护理服务质量评价中的应用

目的 了解口腔门诊优质护理服务质量的现状,找出影响服务质量的问题,为进一步深化口腔医院的优质护理,提高口腔医院优质护理服务的质量提供依据.方法 采用Servqul量表对552名口腔门诊患者在口腔医院门诊就医服务过程中的需求进行调查.结果 患者对护理服务质量的5个维度即有形性、可靠性、反应性、保证性和移情性的期望值分别为4.03±0.64、4.12±0.58、4.16±0.81、4.32±0.74、4.02±1.01,感知值分别为4.06±0.67、4.13±0.57、4.19±0.72、4.40±0.60、3.96±0.89,感知服务质量分别为0.03±0.59、0.01±0.56、0.03±0.68、0.08±0.65、-0.06±0.76,5个维度护理服务质量的感知值和期望值的比较差异有统计学意义(P＜0.05).结论 口腔门诊的护理服务质量的移情性有待提高,Servqul评价法能较客观、全面地平估护理服务质量,对提高口腔门诊护理服务质量有指导作用.