不同海拔高原官兵亚健康状态的调查研究

目的：调查研究不同海拔高度官兵的亚健康状态。方法抽取4种海拔(1500、3700、5380、5390 m)的高原边防和后勤官兵共344名，进行康奈尔健康量表测评。测评结果建立数据库，用SPSS 17.0进行数据分析，测量相关数据的前后变化。结果数据结果显示不同海拔高度的官兵健康状况随海拔高度的变化存在差异，而高原边防和后勤官兵的整体健康状况差异不大。结论高原官兵要改善亚健康状态，应该从思想教育，心理调整和保障制度等多方面着手，切实保障官兵健康和提高部队战斗力。     

Learners’ acceptance of a webinar for continuing medical education

The aim of this study was to evaluate learners’ acceptance of a webinar for continuing medical education that was instigated by the International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (IAOMS). A live, interactive webinar on orthognathic surgery was broadcast via the Internet. The learners’ acceptance of the webinar was evaluated using a standardized, validated questionnaire (Student Evaluation of Educational Quality, SEEQ). One hundred and fifty-three participants attended the webinar; 55 participants (46 male, nine female) completed the questionnaire. The mean age of the respondents was 41.6 ± 10.0 years. The age of male and female respondents did not differ significantly. The respondents were spread over five continents, with the highest number from Brazil. The SEEQ showed a high level of acceptance for almost all subscales. There was no statistically significant difference between male and female respondents concerning acceptance of the webinar (P = 0.614). The wide distribution of participants shows the potential for webinars as facilitators of barrier-free distribution of knowledge. The webinar was well accepted by the attendees independent of sex, specialty, and work experience. However, the sex ratio reflects the underrepresentation of women in oral and maxillofacial surgery.     

Pediatric asthma quality of life questionnaire (PAQLQ): Validation among asthmatic children in Thailand

Quality of life (QoL) is an important consideration among asthma sufferers. The Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ) is one of the most widely used instruments for measuring health-related QoL in children with asthma. The standardized version of PAQLQ contains 23 questions in three domains, i.e., activity limitation, symptoms and emotional function. The objective of this study was to validate the Thai-translated version of the PAQLQ. The study design consisted of a five-week single cohort study. Patients recorded symptoms, and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) each morning and evening during the first and fifth week of the study in asthma diary. At each clinic visit, a trained-interviewer administered the PAQLQ and performed spirometric measurements. Fifty-one children, ages between 7 and 17 yr participated in the study. Scores from the asthma diary were used to classify patients into stable vs. unstable groups. The construct validity of the questionnaire was confirmed in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies by demonstrating correlations between various PAQLQ domains with clinical asthma parameters (asthma diary, beta-agonist use and PEFR). There was high internal consistency for scores of the three domains (Cronbach's alpha-coefficient = 0.83-0.95). For those with stable asthma, the reliability of PAQLQ was good for the rating scale (intra-class correlation coefficient--ICC = 0.84) and for total score (alpha = 0.97) indicating high reproducibility of the PAQLQ. The significant difference of changes QoL scores between stable and unstable groups was observed in all domains. We conclude that the Thai version of PAQLQ is valid and reliable for implementing in Thai children with asthma.     

Correlation between regional myasthenic weakness and mental aspects of quality of life

Here we report how the different types of regional muscle involvement, i.e. bulbar, ocular or generalized, in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) influence the mental aspects of quality of life. Clinical examination according to Osserman was performed in 48 MG patients (45 women, three men; mean age 54, SD 12 years). Each patient was at the time for clinical evaluation asked to fill out the disease-specific Myasthenia Gravis Questionnaire (MGQ) and the Short-Form 36-item questionnaire for health survey (SF-36) as patient-oriented tools. We related the regional domains (generalized domain, bulbar domain and ocular domain) of the MGQ and the clinical findings, respectively, with mental quality of life as assessed by SF-36. Bulbar and generalized involvement results in impairment of mental aspects of quality of life, whereas ocular involvement does not.     

Sensitivity and specificity of a self-administered questionnaire for familial screening of adult-onset dystonia.

We developed a self-administered questionnaire for screening the most common adult-onset dystonias. It was tested in 90 first-degree relatives of 22 adult-onset dystonia patients, yielding 79% sensitivity and 94% specificity. Simulation of a case-finding procedure based on serial application of the questionnaire and clinical examination of both subjects screening positive and subjects screening negative who had < 8 years of schooling increased sensitivity to 95% and specificity to 100%. This questionnaire may be an important screening resource for familial aggregation studies to be used in the context of a complex case-finding procedure.