‘I believe high blood pressure can kill me:’ using the PEN-3 Cultural Model to understand patients’ perceptions of an intervention to control hypertension in Ghana

Objectives: Currently in Ghana, there is an on-going task-shifting strategy in which nurses are trained in hypertension management. While this study will provide useful information on the viability of this approach, it is not clear how patients in the intervention perceive hypertension, the task-shifting strategy, and its effects on blood pressure management. The objective of this paper is to examine patients’ perceptions of hypertension and hypertension management in the context of an on-going task-shifting intervention to manage blood pressure control in Ghana.

Design: Forty-two patients participating in the Task Shifting Strategy for Hypertension program (23 males, 19 females, and mean age 61. 7 years) completed in-depth, qualitative interviews. Interviews were transcribed, and key words and phrases were extracted and coded using the PEN-3 Cultural Model as a guide through open and axial coding techniques, thus allowing rich exploration of the data.

Results: Emergent themes included patients’ perceptions of hypertension, which encompassed misperceptions of hypertension and blood pressure control. Additional themes included enablers and barriers to hypertension management, and how the intervention nurtured lifestyle change associated with blood pressure control. Primary enabling factors included the supportive nature of TASSH nurses, while notable barriers were financial constraints and difficulty accessing medication. Nurturing factors included the motivational interviewing and patient counseling which instilled confidence in the patients that they could make lasting behavior changes.

Conclusions: This study offers a unique perspective of blood pressure control by examining how patients view an on-going task-shifting initiative for hypertension management. The results of this study shed light on factors that can help and hinder individuals in low-resource settings with long-term blood pressure management.     

肿瘤免疫检查点抑制剂相关的肝毒性

肿瘤免疫检查点抑制剂治疗为肿瘤患者带来生存获益的同时,也面临了许多挑战,例如免疫介导的肝毒性的发生。深入了解免疫检查点抑制剂治疗肿瘤过程中导致肝损伤的发生情况、可能机制、危险因素等,有助于更好地临床管理。     

A KRT1 gene mutation related to epidermolytic ichthyosis in a Chinese family

We report a Chinese family with members affected by epidermolytic ichthyosis (EI), caused by KRT gene mutations. The proband was a 14‐year‐old boy who had simultaneous appearance of nephroblastoma and epidermolytic ichthyosis (EI). Both the patient and his mother exhibited the specific clinical and pathological manifestations of EI. We analysed all exons and flanking sequences of the KRT1 and KRT10 genes using PCR, and found that the proband and his mother had a G>C transition at nucleotide position 1432 in exon 7 of KRT1, resulting in an amino acid substitution of glutamate (GAA) to glutamine (CAA) at codon 478 (E478Q). The KRT10 gene had no mutations.     

BCAN基因在肾透明细胞癌中的表达及临床意义

目的以基因表达数据集资料为研究对象,分析BCAN基因在肾透明细胞癌中的表达情况以及对患者预后的影响。方法在Oncomine数据库中挖掘BCAN在肾透明细胞癌(ccRCC)中的表达情况。从TCGA数据库中获取ccRCC患者临床资料和目的基因的表达信息并进行统计分析。利用GEO数据库中GSE73731数据集的ccRCC样本进行基因富集分析。利用String数据库分析与BCAN相关的蛋白。结果BCAN低表达组的ccRCC患者在病理分期及T分期方面低于高表达组(P<0.001;P=0.001);N分期及M分期差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。BCAN低表达组患者的总生存期优于高表达组(P=0.033)。BCAN基因高表达组的样本主要富集在KRAS信号通路。结论BCAN可以通过多种途径来促进肿瘤细胞的侵袭能力,有望成为ccRCC不良预后的重要生物标志物之一。     

【开放获取】男性肢端肥大症合并乳腺癌1例

患者男，64岁，因头颅增大、面部变长，颧骨隆起、下颌增大、双手掌肥厚、双手指粗短30余年，乳房肿物1年余就诊。患者30余年前无明显诱因出现渐进性手足增大，双手掌肥厚，嘴唇变厚，下颌增大，眉弓及颧骨突出，皮肤增厚，无乳腺增大、泌乳，未诊治……     

动物瘢痕模型的相关研究进展

皮肤损伤后的异常愈合会导致病理性瘢痕的产生。病理性瘢痕的出现不仅影响美观,严重时还会造成心理和生理功能障碍。病理性瘢痕的机制研究对于瘢痕治疗有极为重要的意义。其中,动物瘢痕模型是目前研究病理性瘢痕的重要模型手段之一。理想的动物瘢痕模型应该在组织学、细胞学等层面尽可能接近于人类的病理性瘢痕。该文分别从传统技术动物瘢痕中的啮齿类动物模型、兔耳模型和猪模型,以及新技术动物瘢痕模型这两个方面,结合近年来在瘢痕领域应用较多的研究,进行了相应系统的阐述。     

脑卒中患者恐惧疾病进展的研究现状

脑卒中患者在面对复杂的治疗期、漫长的康复期及难以预测的病情变化时容易产生对疾病或疾病进展的恐惧。恐惧疾病进展会损害脑卒中患者的身心健康和社会功能,最终影响患者的康复和预后。从恐惧疾病进展的定义、测量工具、国内外研究现状及影响因素几个方面进行综述,为临床护理人员深入了解脑卒中患者恐惧疾病进展现状、开展相关护理实践和临床研究提供依据。     

肿瘤性复杂性胸壁缺损的修复策略及对肿瘤治疗的积极影响

复杂性胸壁缺损的修复一直是一项极具挑战性的工作。肿瘤性复杂性胸壁缺损的修复决策及其执行困难是限制胸壁肿瘤治疗方法选择及影响预后的重要因素之一。皮瓣解剖学研究的深入、胸壁支持结构重建技术的进步、显微外科技术的发展、麻醉护理的发展、对综合治疗的重视和治疗手段的进步等,使传统认为不可切除的胸壁肿瘤得以彻底地切除和安全有效地修复,从而使与缺损修复相关的肿瘤切除及辅助治疗的禁忌证缩减到最小程度,有效地提高了胸壁肿瘤患者的生存质量,并很大程度上延长了生存率。作者以湖南省肿瘤医院整形外科15年565例胸壁肿瘤切除后修复重建的临床资料为依据,充实了胸壁肿瘤切除及修复的策略:(1)可靠的胸壁骨性支架重建;(2)有效的软组织修复;(3)麻醉及护理与手术团队的合作;(4)系统有序的综合治疗。并进一步明确了复杂胸壁肿瘤切除及重建的细节理念,包括胸部肿瘤治疗中加强多学科合作的密切性和科学性,整形外科医生参与肿瘤治疗整体规划的主动性和时机前移等。     

Uncertainty evaluation at three spatial scales for the NDVI-based VWC estimation method used in the SMAP algorithm

Vegetation water content (VWC) is the key input parameter for a soil moisture retrieval algorithm based on microwave remote sensing, and VWC uncertainty can limit the estimated accuracy of soil moisture. There has been little research on VWC algorithm development and validation in China, and the uncertainty of the VWC estimation method has not been well evaluated. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the uncertainty of the VWC estimation method used in the SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) algorithm on three spatial scales (the point-scale, 30 m scale, and 1 km scale) for maize in northeast China. Results from three ground experimental datasets showed that the SMAP VWC estimation method was strongly biased with an average overestimation of 1.16 kg m^?2,1.04 kg m^?2, and 1.13 kg m^?2 for the point-scale, 30 m scale, and 1 km scale respectively, and maximum bias occurred in the mid-stage of maize. Also, a new power relationship between NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and VWC was proposed for the 30 m scale based on Sentinel 2 NDVI and field VWC values from 2017 experiment, with respective R² (coefficient of determination) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) values of 0.80 and 0.67 kg m^?2. The results confirmed that this power relationship was still suitable for VWC estimation at the 1 km scale, and it has smaller bias than the original SMAP VWC method. Future work will be carried out to evaluate the applicability of this VWC estimation method over a lager region. It is expected that it can improve the accuracy of soil moisture by providing high precision VWC input parameters.