ObjectiveTo evaluate the conditions of activity of daily living (ADL) and influence factors of ADL of hospitalized elderly (≥60 years old) patients. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the health and ADL conditions of hospitalized elderly patients in the geriatric department of a tertiary hospital in Chongqing by ADL scale. The influence factors of ADL were analysed by using logistic regression analysis. ResultsA total of 375 hospitalized elderly patients were included. The ADL impairment rate of female was 59.60% (93/156), the one of male was 75.90% (166/219), and there was significant difference between different sex (χ2=11.169, P=0.001). The impairment rate by age were 95.40% at 60 to 69 years old, 91.40% at 70 to 79 years old, 87.20% at 80 to 89 years old, and 98.55% at above 90 years old, respectively; there was significant difference among different age groups (χ2=8.575, P=0.036). The result of logistic regression analysis showed that age was the individual risk factor of ADL (OR=0.188, 95%CI 0.085 to 0.416, P=0.000). The difficulty of walking up and down stairs occupied the highest proportion (68.80%) in 10 items of ADL scale. ConclusionHospitalized elderly patients should be equipped with specialized paramedics to minimize the difficulties of ADL, in order to improve their quality of life.
Objective According to health technology assessment (HTA) methodology, to assess the efficacy and safety of different doses of metoprolol in the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods Based on the principles of HTA, we searched some important medical databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library and CMCC, as well as several national special heart disease databases and side effect centers. We selected eligible studies based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria and critically assessed their quality. Results Intravenous metoprolol 10 mg - 15 mg could control rapid ventricular rate in patients with chronic AF. On either rest or exercise, oral metoprolol 150 mg/d had a better control of rapid ventricular rate than 50 mg/d in patients with chronic AF. For preventing postoperative AF (POAF), the intravenous metoprolol 20 mg group and the 30 mg group could decrease the incidence of POAF compared to the 10 mg group. Oral metoprolol 150 mg/d was more effective than 100 mg/d in preventing POAF. In addition, intravenous metoprolol therapy was well-tolerated and more effective than oral metoprolol therapy in preventing atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery. Results from several national side effect centers demonstrated that the incidence of adverse reactions associated with metoprolol was low. Conclusion Present evidence showed that high dose of metoprolol was superior to low dose in treating AF, however, the evidence available is insufficient. It is suggested that adequate evidence through further studies are needed. The safety profile of different doses of metoprolol is similar.
Objective To investigate the relationship between microvessel density(MVD) and lymph node metastasis and prognosis in gallbladder carcinoma. MethodsThe MVD in 42 gallbladder carcinoma by immunohistochemical SP method using a polyclonal antibody to FⅧ and the relationship between MVD and histologic types, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and prognosis was studied. Results The value of MVD was correlated with the depth of invasion (P＜0.05), lymph node metastasis (P＜0.01) and distant metastasis (P＜0.05). It was not significantly related to the pathologic pattern and tumor differentiation. The significantly negtive correlation was found between MVD and 5-year survival in patients with gallbladder carcinoma. Conclusion MVD is bly related to the metastasis of gallbladder carcinoma. It may serve as a prognotic factor.
Objective To explore the treatment of patellofemoral joint disorders with radiofrequency vaporization under arthroscopy. Methods From June 2004 to June 2007, 86 cases of patellofemoral joint disorder (98 knees) were treated by lateral retinacular release or medial retinacular tighten added, and combined with bipolar radiofrequency chondroplastyunder arthroscopy. There were 30 males (34 knees) and 56 females (64 knees), aging 15-68 years (mean 40 years). The locations were left in 42 cases, right in 32 cases, both sides in 12 cases. The disease course was 3 months to 6 years (mean 30.5 months). In 98 knees, there were 28 knees of static patellar tilt, 10 knees of static patellar subluxation, 45 knees of dynamic patellar tilt and 15 knees of dynamic patellar subluxation. The Lysholm knee score preoperatively was 57.72 ± 8.86. Results The patellofemoral cartilage abnormal ity were classified according to the Outerbridge grade (18 knees of grade I, 36 knees of grade II, 32 knees of grade III and 12 knees of grade IV). The incisions healed by first intention without compl ications such as infection or hemarthrosis. Seventy-five cases (82 knees) were followed up 8-37 months (mean 20.6 months). One month after operation, the patellofemoral joint pain was rel ieved remarkably, the knee joint activity was good and the radiological outcomes was also satisfactory. Six months after operation, the Lysholm knee score was improved significantly in patients of grades I, II and III (P lt; 0.05), while there was no significant change in patients of grade IV (P gt; 0.05). The postoperative score was 69.95 ± 5.42 (P lt; 0.05). Conclusion Radiofrequency vaporization chondroplasty and soft tissue balance under arthroscopy are advantageous in terms of easy operation, less injury, sl ight reaction and have good effect on patellofemoral joint disorders.
Objective To investigate prognostic factors of surgery treatment for pulmonary metastasis from rectal cancer. Methods From September 1973 to September 2007,43 patients, 12 women and 31 men with mean age of 58 years (ranged 36-77 years) were diagnosed and performed 45 curative resections of pulmonary metastases from rectal cancer in this hospital.Followup informations were collected including：the clinical parameters include age, sex, pTNM/UICC stage,the number, maximum diameter of lung metastases，the preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA) levels, the interval between resection of primary tumor and diagnosis of lung metastasis (disease-free interval (DFI)，the presence of hilar/mediastinal tumorinfiltrated lymph nodes，intraoperative blood loss and postoperative chemotherapy schemes. After lung metastasectomy，probability of survival was calculated according to the method of KaplanMeier.All factors that may have affected the survival were entered into Cox’s proportional hazards regression model to identify significant variables associated with survival. Results Fourty-three patients were selected fully follow-up cases, with mean period ranged from 1-103 months (median 54 months). There was 1 early postoperative mortality from cardiac complications (2.3%). The probability of survival at 1, 3, and 5 years was 91.3％，56.4% and 32.2%, respectively，Median overall survival was 42.6 months. The DFI was found to be 28.6 months（ranged 0-114 months）. Hilar or mediastinal tumorinvolvedlymph nodes were found in 9 patients. Fiveyear survival was 42.6% for patients with CEA＜5ng／ml and 18.0% for those with CEA≥5ng／ml (P=0.009).Fiveyear survival rate was 53.3% for patients with DFI≥3 years, 32.3% for those with1 year＜DFI＜3 years and 15.1% for those with DFI ≤1 year (P=0.036). In the multivariate analysis,the overall survival was significantly correlated with the preoperative serum CEA level and DFI (P=0.013,0.016),respectively. Conclusion Patients with pulmonary metastases from colorectal carcinoma will benefit from pulmonary metastasectomy. Patients with preoperative serum CEA ＜5ng／ml and DFI ≥3 years have an significantly long-term survival.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia. Early diagnosis and effective management are important to reduce atrial fibrillation‐related adverse events. Photoplethysmography (PPG) is often used to assist wearables for continuous electrocardiograph monitoring, which shows its unique value. The development of PPG has provided an innovative solution to AF management. Serial studies of mobile health technology for improving screening and optimized integrated care in atrial fibrillation have explored the application of PPG in screening, diagnosing, early warning, and integrated management in patients with AF. This review summarizes the latest progress of PPG analysis based on artificial intelligence technology and mobile health in AF field in recent years, as well as the limitations of current research and the focus of future research.
Control at beyond-visual ranges is of great significance to animal-robots with wide range motion capability. For pigeon-robots, such control can be done by the way of onboard preprogram, but not constitute a closed-loop yet. This study designed a new control system for pigeon-robots, which integrated the function of trajectory monitoring to that of brain stimulation. It achieved the closed-loop control in turning or circling by estimating pigeons’ flight state instantaneously and the corresponding logical regulation. The stimulation targets located at the formation reticularis medialis mesencephali (FRM) in the left and right brain, for the purposes of left- and right-turn control, respectively. The stimulus was characterized by the waveform mimicking the nerve cell membrane potential, and was activated intermittently. The wearable control unit weighted 11.8 g totally. The results showed a 90% success rate by the closed-loop control in pigeon-robots. It was convenient to obtain the wing shape during flight maneuver, by equipping a pigeon-robot with a vivo camera. It was also feasible to regulate the evolution of pigeon flocks by the pigeon-robots at different hierarchical level. All of these lay the groundwork for the application of pigeon-robots in scientific researches.