Performance of pulse palpation compared to one‐lead ECG in atrial fibrillation screening

BackgroundThe 2020 European Society of Cardiology atrial fibrillation guidelines recommend opportunistic screening for atrial fibrillation by pulse taking or ECG rhythm strip in those aged over 65 years.HypothesisWe aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of pulse palpation to ECG rhythm strip when screening for atrial fibrillation. A secondary aim was to investigate whether participants with palpitations were more likely to be diagnosed with new atrial fibrillation.MethodsThe study population were 75/76 year old individuals that participated in the STROKESTOP II study, a Swedish screening study for atrial fibrillation. Pulse palpation of the radial pulse for 30 sec was performed by healthcare professionals and recorded as regular or irregular. Thereafter a 30‐sec single‐lead ECG was registered. Patients were asked also if they had a history of palpitations.ResultsOf the 6159 participants included in the study, 461 (7.5%) had irregular pulse. Twenty‐two (4.8%) of those with irregular pulse were diagnosed with atrial fibrillation on single‐lead ECG rhythm strip. Among those with regular pulse, 6 (0.1%) cases of new atrial fibrillation were found. The sensitivity of the pulse palpation test was 78.6% and positive predictive value 4.8%. The proportion of newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation was not different between those with and without history of palpitations.ConclusionPulse palpation was inferior to single‐lead ECG when screening for atrial fibrillation. We therefore advocate the use of single‐lead ECG rather than pulse palpation when screening for atrial fibrillation. Palpitations did not predict atrial fibrillation.     

Urinary incontinence and newly invented pad technique: patients', close relatives' and nursing staff's experiences and beliefs

Urinary incontinence (UI) is a major public health issue and considered to be undertreated, costly and often lead to suffering for patients. Close relatives involved in caring for sufferers describe UI as a complicated problem. For older patients, close relatives and staff, it is important with high absorption UI pads in order to have an undisturbed nightly rest and to prevent bedsores. The aim was twofold: to understand older persons', close relatives' and nursing staff's views and experiences of UI, and their experience of using a particular UI pad system with an alarm. A qualitative design with individual and focus‐group interviews was used to describe 6 patients', 14 close relatives' and 22 staff's experience of UI. These were analysed by using qualitative manifest analysis. The findings were divided into four categories. The patients expressed that they, due to UI, regarded themselves as burdens to others. The patients, the relatives and some staff experienced UI as a natural consequence of ageing. The UI pad system appeared to be a functional incontinence aid during the night, but more research is needed to develop the product and to find new fields of applications. From all perspectives, it appears that nursing cannot be replaced by technology, though the UI pad system can be a very useful complement in UI nursing care. Complementary use of the UI pad system might lead to a more economically effective and safe use of the existing nursing resources.     

KAMEDO report no. 82: explosion at the fireworks warehouse in the Netherlands in 2000

A fire and subsequent explosions occurred in a fireworks warehouse on 13 May 2000. A total of 947 persons were injured and 21 persons died, including four firefighters and one reporter. Communication networks became overloaded and impaired notification chains. The hospital disaster plan was followed, but was proved inadequate. Public information was a high priority. A counselling center was established early and was planned to continue operation for five years. The command function did not perform to expectations. Hospital triage was impaired as many responsible left the triage area. Short-term psychosocial support evolved to long-term programs. Liability issues were examined.     

Single vs. combination immunotherapeutic strategies for glioma

Introduction: Malignant gliomas are highly invasive tumors, associated with a dismal survival rate despite standard of care, which includes surgical resection, radiotherapy and chemotherapy with temozolomide (TMZ). Precision immunotherapies or combinations of immunotherapies that target unique tumor-specific features may substantially improve upon existing treatments.

Areas covered: Clinical trials of single immunotherapies have shown therapeutic potential in high-grade glioma patients, and emerging preclinical studies indicate that combinations of immunotherapies may be more effective than monotherapies. In this review, the authors discuss emerging combinations of immunotherapies and compare efficacy of single vs. combined therapies tested in preclinical brain tumor models.

Expert opinion: Malignant gliomas are characterized by a number of factors which may limit the success of single immunotherapies including inter-tumor and intra-tumor heterogeneity, intrinsic resistance to traditional therapies, immunosuppression, and immune selection for tumor cells with low antigenicity. Combination of therapies which target multiple aspects of tumor physiology are likely to be more effective than single therapies. While a limited number of combination immunotherapies are described which are currently being tested in preclinical and clinical studies, the field is expanding at an astounding rate, and endless combinations remain open for exploration.     

pRb2/p130 protein in relation to clinicopathological and biological variables in rectal cancers with a clinical trial of preoperative radiotherapy

Background  

pRb2/p130 plays a key role in cell proliferation and is a considerable progress about expression patterns of pRb2/p130 in number of malignancies. However, pRb2/p130 expression and its significance in rectal cancer remain unknown. The purpose of the present study was to investigate pRb2/p130 protein patterns and their correlations with clinicopathological and biological factors in rectal cancer patients with or without preoperative radiotherapy (RT).