Esophageal Surveillance Practices in Esophageal Atresia Patients: A Survey by the Eastern Pediatric Surgery Network

IntroductionEndoscopic surveillance guidelines for patients with repaired esophageal atresia (EA) rely primarily on expert opinion. Prior to embarking on a prospective EA surveillance registry, we sought to understand EA surveillance practices within the Eastern Pediatric Surgery Network (EPSN).MethodsAn anonymous, 23-question Qualtrics survey was emailed to 181 physicians (surgeons and gastroenterologists) at 19 member institutions. Likert scale questions gauged agreement with international EA surveillance guideline-derived statements. Multiple-choice questions assessed individual and institutional practices.ResultsThe response rate was 77%. Most respondents (80%) strongly agree or agree that EA surveillance endoscopy should follow a set schedule, while only 36% claimed to perform routine upper GI endoscopy regardless of symptoms. Many institutions (77%) have an aerodigestive clinic, even if some lack a multi-disciplinary EA team. Most physicians (72%) expressed strong interest in helping develop evidence-based guidelines.ConclusionsOur survey reveals physician agreement with current guidelines but weak adherence. Surveillance methods vary greatly, underscoring the lack of evidence-based data to guide EA care. Aerodigestive clinics may help implement surveillance schedules. Respondents support evidence-based protocols, which bodes well for care standardization. Results will inform the first multi-institutional EA databases in the United States (US), which will be essential for evidence-based care.Level of EvidenceThis is a prognosis study with level 4 evidence.     

疏肝健脾法治疗腹泻型肠易激综合征1例

肠易激综合征（IBS）是一种常见的功能性疾病，中医病名为"肠郁"。郭朋教授根据IBS生理、病理特点，以疏肝健脾法调和肝脾，辨证施治，取得良好疗效。文章从病因病机、辨证论治及经典案例介绍等几个方面对郭教授治疗IBS经验进行系统阐述，以期为中医药治疗IBS提供理论和方法学参考。     

南充市社区中老年人群血脂血糖现状水平分析

【摘要】 目的 了解社区中老年人群的血脂、血糖现状水平，探讨其与性别和年龄的关系，为本地区心脑血管疾病、糖尿病等疾病的防治提供诊疗依据。方法 对我市38078名社区居民采集清晨空腹血清标本，检测血糖（GLU）、甘油三酯（TG）、总胆固醇（TC）、高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（HDL C）和低密度脂蛋白胆固醇（LDL C）的结果，并对其进行年龄、性别分组统计分析。结果 不同性别和年龄组间的血脂、血糖水平差异有统计学意义（P＜005），74~89岁年龄组血脂、血糖总体水平高于其他各年龄组（P＜005）；女性血脂水平普遍高于男性（P＜005）。结论 中老年人群血脂、血糖异常率高，应定期对中老年人进行血脂、血糖监测，开展宣传教育活动，提高自我保健意识，预防高血脂、高血糖的发生和发展。     

Mimengosides J and K: two new neuroprotective triterpenoids from the fruits of Buddleja lindleyana

Two new 11-methoxyl substituted triterpenoids, named as mimengosides J (1) and K (2), along with seven known compounds, were isolated from the fruits of Buddleja lindleyana. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis. In addition, the new ones were evaluated for protective effects against damage of SH-SY5Y cells induced by 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ion (MPP⁺) and the results indicated that those may be one of the candidate compositions of Buddleja lindleyana for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease.

     

从“肾毒”论治慢性肾脏病＊

慢性肾脏病是一种以肾脏功能的损伤为主要表现，并可累及全身多脏器的慢性进展性疾病。中医辨证治疗本病在延缓病情、改善预后等方面具有显著的优势。通过中医理论研究及临床经验总结，笔者提出从“肾毒”论治慢性肾脏病，认为其不仅是本病的致病因素，更是重要的病理产物，是本病发生发展、迁延难愈的关键。在治疗上提出以“益肾元、解肾毒”为大法，并根据不同兼夹辨证施治，采用药对，长治缓图。以“肾毒”立论拟定的经验方苏茵解毒方，在临床治疗和实验研究上均显示出明显的效果，并已制备成院内制剂临床使用，在疗效及经济效益方面均具有显著的优势。     

Applications of geospatial analyses in health research among homeless people: A systematic scoping review of available evidence

BackgroundUnequal housing access resulted in more than 150 million homeless people worldwide, with millions more expected to be added every year due to the ongoing climate-related crises. Homeless population has a counterproductive effect on the social, psychological integration efforts by the community and exposure to other severe health-related issues. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have long been applied in urban planning and policy, housing and homelessness, and health-related research.MethodsWe used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method to systematically review 24 articles collected from multiple databases (n = 10) that focused on health-related issues among homeless people and used geospatial analysis techniques in their research.ResultsOur findings indicated a geographic clustering of case study locations– 26 out of the 31 case study sites are from the USA and Canada. Studies used spatial analysis techniques to identify hotspots, clusters and patterns of patient location and population distribution. Studies also reported relationships among the location of homeless shelters and substance use, discarded needles, different infectious and non-infectious disease clusters.ConclusionMost studies were restricted in analyzing and visualizing the patterns and disease clusters; however, geospatial analyses techniques are useful and offer diverse techniques for a more sophisticated understanding of the spatial characteristics of the health issues among homeless people. Better integration of GIS in health research among the homeless would help formulate sensible policies to counter health inequities among this vulnerable population group.     

Machine learning models for Parkinson’s disease detection and stage classification based on spatial-temporal gait parameters

BackgroundParkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disease with no cure, presenting a challenging diagnosis and management. However, despite a significant number of criteria and guidelines have been proposed to improve the diagnosis of PD and to determine the PD stage, the gold standard for diagnosis and symptoms monitoring of PD is still mainly based on clinical evaluation, which includes several subjective factors. The use of machine learning (ML) algorithms in spatial-temporal gait parameters is an interesting advance with easy interpretation and objective factors that may assist in PD diagnostic and follow up.Research questionThis article studies ML algorithms for: i) distinguish people with PD vs. matched-healthy individuals; and ii) to discriminate PD stages, based on selected spatial-temporal parameters, including variability and asymmetry.MethodsGait data acquired from 63 people with PD with different levels of PD motor symptoms severity, and 63 matched-control group individuals, during self-selected walking speed, was study in the experiments.ResultsIn the PD diagnosis, a classification accuracy of 84.6 %, with a precision of 0.923 and a recall of 0.800, was achieved by the Naïve Bayes algorithm. We found four significant gait features in PD diagnosis: step length, velocity and width, and step width variability. As to the PD stage identification, the Random Forest outperformed the other studied ML algorithms, by reaching an Area Under the ROC curve of 0.786. We found two relevant gait features in identifying the PD stage: stride width variability and step double support time variability.SignificanceThe results showed that the studied ML algorithms have potential both to PD diagnosis and stage identification by analysing gait parameters.     

A review of approaches to 18F radiolabelling affinity peptides and proteins

Affinity peptide and protein‐ (APP) based radiotracers are an increasingly popular class of radiotracer in positron emission tomography (PET), which was once dominated by the use of small molecule radiotracers. Radiolabelled monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are important examples of APPs, yet a preference for smaller APPs, which exhibit fast pharmacokinetics and permit rapid PET aided diagnosis, has become apparent. ¹⁸F exhibits favourable physical characteristics for APP radiolabelling and has been described as an ideal PET radionuclide. Notwithstanding, ¹⁸F radiolabelling of APP is challenging, and this is echoed in the literature where a number of diverse approaches have been adopted. This review seeks to assess and compare the approaches taken to ¹⁸F APP radiolabelling with the intention of highlighting trends within this expanding field. Generic themes have emerged in the literature, namely the use of mild radiolabelling conditions, a preference of site‐specific methodologies with an impetus for short, automated procedures which produce high‐yielding [¹⁸F]APPs.