Video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) in Asia - its impact and implications

Abstract Background: Within a short period of time, video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has revolutionised the practice of thoracic surgery. Most of the existing literature, however, is concentrated on the technical aspects.
Aims: We examined the impact of VATS on our practice and its implications.
Methods: We reviewed our thoracic case load two years before and two years after the introduction of VATS in our hospital.
Results: We have witnessed a rapid and progressive increase in our thoracic case load since the introduction of VATS. With increased experience, proportionally more cases were performed using VATS compared to conventional surgical access. The increased case load covered a wide range of thoracic diseases with the majority for spontaneous pneumothorax and pleural diseases.
Conclusion: The higher case load is due to increased referrals which at least partly reflect earlier acceptance by both the patients and their physicians for surgical intervention. The changing indications for surgery and the high cost associated with VATS, however, could place extra demand on the healthcare, especially for some countries in Asia. Cost containment is therefore a high priority here. More research is greatly needed in this area.     

东北地区2000～2005年住院军事飞行人员疾病构成和常见病疾病谱调查

目的 探讨东北地区2000～2005年住院军事飞行人员疾病的发生、发展与分布规律,为完善新时期飞行人员疾病预防、诊治和医学鉴定提供客观依据. 方法 采用流行病学回顾性调查方法 ,统计分析东北地区2000～2005年2223人次住院军事飞行人员的病例资料,并按国际疾病分类法第9版(ICD-9)编制"东北地区2000～2005年军事飞行人员疾病构成"和"东北地区2000～2005年军事飞行人员常见病疾病谱".应用SPSS 10.0统计软件进行统计分析. 结果 疾病构成显示,军事飞行人员肌肉骨骼系统疾病多年居首位,构成比是居第2位的消化系统疾病的2～3倍.与1995年比较,肌肉骨骼系统、感觉器官及泌尿生殖系统疾病的构成比上升显著;疾病谱显示腰椎间盘突出症、颈椎病、头痛、神经性耳聋和心律失常居前5位. 结论 21世纪前6年东北地区军事飞行人员常见病是腰椎间盘突出症、颈椎病、头痛、神经性耳聋和心律失常.提示转氨酶增高、半月板损伤和颈椎间盘突出症增加迅速,应引起关注.     

额、枕部直接冲击导致中脑损伤的力学机制研究

目的分析额、枕部直接冲击造成中脑应力响应,探讨颅脑直接冲击导致脑干损伤的力学机制。方法构建头颅三维有限元模型,模拟计算额、枕部直接冲击损伤,分析中脑上、下交界面节点应力分布,总结中脑应力响应。结果中脑-间脑界面在冲击初始阶段,2ms即出现应力增高,中脑-桥脑界面应力升高开始于冲击后期(10ms),两交界面节点应力在冲击时程中均持续升高,额部冲击比枕部冲击在中-间脑界面造成的应力峰值高。结论中脑在颅脑直接冲击伤的致伤机制中占有突出地位,中脑的应力改变可解释脑震荡的意识障碍及部分原发脑干伤的临床表现。     

农村贫困地区脑卒中危险因素及经济负担的病例对照研究

目的 研究农村贫困地区脑卒中危险因素及经济负担。方法 采用病例对照研究，在辽宁省彰武县农村选取脑卒中患者和对照农民各102人，进行问卷调查。结果 脑卒中的危险因素在彰武县农村农民中流行率较高，吸烟、饮酒、喝茶的比例分别达73．1％、64．7％、79．4％以上。很少吃水果、蛋类和动物性蛋白质者分别为61．8％、56．9％、61．8％以上。每人每天食盐和猪油摄入量分别为22．2g和31．3g，具有高血压和高血脂患病意识者仅为19．6％和20．6％。脑卒中患者中高血压家族史、饮酒、超重、低动物蛋白摄人率分别为31．4％、76．5％、23．5％和75．5％，显著高于对照组。脑卒中组人均年纯收人为。704．9元，对照组为959．4元，脑卒中患者医疗费用年平均为3120．6元。最多者每年医疗费用高达39000元，远远超出了其家庭纯收入。结论 高血压、饮酒、超重、低蛋白摄人、吸烟、高盐和高脂肪摄入可能是脑卒中的危险因素，脑卒中患病使患者家庭背负了沉重的经济负担。     

铁道车祸危险因素与行车安全经济效益的探讨

作者以1380名机车乘务员为研究对象,测查其生理心理指标,探讨发生车祸的危险因素,分析34年车祸流行的规律,并对行车安全的社会经济效盖进行了估算。研究结果显示,社会安定是减少车祸、保证行车安全的重要因素。通过多因素分析,揭示车祸的危险因素是低文化程度、过度疲劳、睡眠不足、视运动反应迟钝和弱神经类型,其间存在交互作用。实践表明,推行安全行车千日活动,可获巨大社会经济效益(1∶7)。     

网络和现实社会交互环境对网民的健康效应及卫生策略

网络社会对人类社会活动和生活方式带来了极大的影响，对人群健康的作用也存在双重效应。网络成瘾、网络孤独以及生理损伤成为网络社会的主要健康问题，但提高网民社会化程度、提供虚拟支持、增加健康信息供给的途径也给网民带来了诸多的健康效益。目前，要积极制定网络社会卫生策略，以促进网络社会化、虚拟支持和网络健康赋权对网民健康的贡献。     

Clinical importance,statistical significance and the assessment of economic and quality-of-life outcomes

The assessment of economic and quality-of-life outcomes of health care interventions is moving into a new era, with such assessments increasingly being made within the context of controlled clinical trials. Traditionally the measurement of many variables in economic evaluations, particularly costs, has been deterministic. In the context of clinical trials the measurement of variables is stochastic, with the standard principles of statistical inference being applied to analyse differences between treatments in terms of effectiveness. Economists participating in clinical research are therefore being called upon to specify the sample size for the economic component of the evaluation and to undertake statistical tests for differences in cost or cost-effectiveness. This paper discusses the current methodological issues surrounding stochastic measurement in clinical trials, discusses the additional issues raised by the assessment of economic and quality-of-life outcomes and specifies the challenges facing economists if they are to answer the questions now being posed about economic analysis by statisticians and clinical researchers. It is concluded that application of the standard principles of statistical inference to economic data is not straightforward and will require value judgements to be made about statistical significance and economic importance, which may differ from those already made in purely clinical studies.     

人头部力锤冲击试验的生物力学研究

目的：探讨人头部受主动冲击的钝力作用时的力响应特点,同时测试头部各部位承受最大冲击力的限度,从冲击动力学角度去探讨颅脑损伤的生物力学机理。方法：使用配备大量程力传感器的力锤对人尸体头部各部位进行冲击试验,记录接触力响应曲线,并手工记录锤头的质地、质量、初速度、冲击面大小,以及被冲击的头部是否有破坏性反应(头皮挫裂及颅骨骨折)。结果：人头部对主动冲击的钝物的接触力响应曲线为类似正弦波的脉冲波形,其波形宽度及峰值因冲击物的质地、有无头皮等发生变化;人头部在小面积钝物的冲击作用下,造成头皮挫裂的冲击力最大值平均为5100N;使颞部、顶部、额部、枕部骨折的冲击力最大值的平均值分别为6200、8100、8300、11000N;利用试验得到的数据,验证了作用于头部的钝物与头部组成的系统相当于带有强阻尼的弹簧振子。结论：头部在受到主动冲击时,典型的接触力一时间曲线为类似正弦波的脉冲波形;大面积的钝器作用于头部造成的颅骨骨折,更多发生延伸至远处的线形骨折;本试验还得出了人头部能耐受的冲击力大小等参数,这些对于建立有限元模型进行分析和验证是必须的。     

Estimates of global research productivity in virology

The quantity and quality of published research in the field of Virology by different world regions was estimated in this study. Using the PubMed database, articles from journals included in the "Virology" category of the "Journal Citation Reports" database of the Institute for Scientific Information for the period 1995-2003 were retrieved. The world was divided into nine regions based on geographic, economic, and scientific criteria. Data on the country of origin of the research was available for 33,425 out of 33,712 articles (99.2% of all articles from the included journals). USA exceeds all other world regions in research production for the period studied (42% of total articles), with Western Europe ranking second (35.7%). The mean impact factor in articles published in Virology journals was highest for the USA (4.60), while it was 3.90 for Western Europe and 3.22 for the rest of the world (seven regions combined). USA and Canada ranked first in research productivity when both gross national income per capita (GNIPC) and population were taken into account. The results of this analysis show a distressing fact; the absolute and relative production of research in the field of Virology by the developing regions is very low, although viral diseases cause considerable morbidity and mortality in these areas. It is evident from this study that developing regions need more help from the developed regions to enhance research infrastructure.