ObjectiveTo compare the application of self-made tumble risk factors assessment scale before and after its revision in patients with mental disorder, in order to guide the clinical work. MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 2 209 patients with mental disorders who were discharged from the hospital between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2013. All the patients in our hospital underwent the assessment by "table of tumble risk factors for hospitalized patients and nursing measures" within one hour of admission. A total score of 4 or higher meant high tumble risk, and the standardized intervention measures were taken immediately. In 2013, the assessment scale was revised, and binocular vision disorder, low compliance or communication disorders, restlessness were added as risk factors for tumble. The difference among patients with a tumble score of 4 or higher between the year of 2012 and 2013 was compared and analyzed. ResultsIn 2012, 52 patients had a tumble score of 4 or higher, among whom there were 16 males and 36 females; 35 were younger than 65 years old and 17 were older than 65 years. There were 25 patients with organic mental disorders, 10 with spirit obstacle caused by active substance, 12 with schizophrenia, and 5 other cases. In 2013, 154 patients' tumble score was 4 or higher, among whom there were 58 males and 96 females; 142 were younger than 65 years old and 12 were older than 65. Organic mental disorders occurred in 22 patients, 8 had spirit obstacle caused by active substance, 120 had schizophrenia, and there were 4 other cases. In 2013, the number of patients with a tumble score of 4 or higher were significantly more than that in 2012 and young patients with schizophrenia were also significantly more than in 2012 (P<0.05). There were two cases of tumble adverse events, while no adverse events occurred in tumble in 2013. ConclusionCognitive impairment, low compliance, communication barriers and restlessness are high risk factors for tumble in patients with mental disorders. Correct evaluation and early intervention can effectively prevent the occurrence of tumble.
ObjectiveTo investigate the efficacy of sulfasalazine combined with thalidomide in the treatment of spondyloarthropathy (SpA), and to probe whether the treatment can reach and maintain clinical remission for the patients. MethodBetween January 2011 and June 2013, we used a prospective, non-intervention and regular follow-up study to observe and assess 70 SpA patients on their Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index, visual analogue scale score, peripheral arthritis, blood sedimentation, and C-reactive protein. All the patients had taken sulfasalazine, thalidomide and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for 24 weeks. Multivariate analysis of factors affecting the efficacy of the program was our object of this study. ResultsAfter 24 weeks, the total clinical remission rate of these patients was 72.9%. Clinical remission rate of 40 patients with short duration of SpA was 90.0%, while it was 50.0% for the other 30 patients with a non-short duration of SpA. Observation indexes before and after treatment in both groups of patients had significant differences (P<0.05). For patients with non-short duration SpA, the curative effect for female was obviously better than male, but the difference between male and female patients with short-duration SpA was not so obvious. Clinical remission rate for youth was similar with that for non-youth patients. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that whether the disease had a short duration[OR=3.408, 95%CI (1.637, 7.437), P=0.001] and whether the patients were urban residents[OR=4.163, 95%CI (2.011, 8.761), P=0.001] were statistically significant (P<0.05). ConclusionsClinical remission of spondyloarthropathy can be maintain by sulfasalazine combined with thalidomide. Clinical remission rate of the scheme is affected by duration of disease and residency except age and gender of the patients. Short duration and urban residency are independent factors for reaching clinical remission after treatment.
Based on the CT data and the structure characteristics of the femoral fractures during different healing stages, medical FE models of fractured femur treated with locking compression plate (LCP)were built.Under the physiological load of a standard body weight (70 kg) and the constraint condition,the stress distributions of LCP and fractured femur during healing were calculated by means of three-dimensional finite element analysis (3D-FEA).The results showed that the stress distribution in the LCP and the fractured femur was similar,during the initial stage which there was no newly formed bone or soft tissue in fracture site.The maximum von Mises stress (371.23,272.76 MPa) in the fractured femur was much higher than that in natural femur,and the intensive stress was concentrated mainly in the proximal area of the fractured femur.With the growth of bony callus bone in fracture site,the intensity of stress in proximal femur decreased.Contrasted to the two cases mentioned above,the value of the maximum von Mises stress (68.17 MPa) in bony callus bone stage decreased significantly,and was lower than the safe strength of natural bone.Therefore,appropriate training which is benefitial for the growth to new bone could be arranged for the better rehabilitation.
ObjectiveAs few studies have evaluated the policy effects of the Chinese simplified DRGs-PPS systematically, this research aims to assess its policy effects and to provide insight for other developing regions that are undergoing the same reform. MethodsThe history and major problems of the Chinese DRGs-PPS were analyzed qualitatively. Moreover, the efficiency (average hospitalization cost; length of stay, LOS) and equity of the simplified DRGs-PPS were examined at both macro and micro levels. ResultsAs of today, only 20 of the 32 provinces in mainland China had implemented the simplified DRGs. There were also huge differences in terms of the number and categories of diseases among the various provinces involved. Literature review showed that " lack of rationale in setting payment standards" , "limited diseases are included into the DRGs categories" and "lack of regulation to avoid ethical risks of health service providers" were the frequently cited problems. On the macro level, the national average medical cost had increased while the average LOS had been relatively stable from the year 2004 onwards, and simplified DRGs had been implemented widely since 2004 while discrepancies existed in various provinces. On the micro level, among the studies that focused on assessing hospitals with statistical test, 78% (11/14) of these studies revealed that hospitalization cost could be reduced and 60% (6/10) of them indicated that LOS could be reduced. ConclusionBy comparing the policy effects at both macro and micro levels, we conclude that the simplified DRGs are useful in controlling hospitalization cost but they fail to reduce LOS. Also much more still needs to be done in China to facilitate the transition from simplified DRGs to genuine DRGs.
Electroencephalogram (EEG) analysis has been widely used in disease diagnosis. The EEG detection of the patients with epilepsy can be used to make judgments about patients' conditions in time, which is of great practical value. Therefore, the techniques of automatic detection, diagnosis and classification of epileptic EEG signals are urgently needed. In order to realize fast and accurate automatic detection and classification of the EEG signals during the normal, interictal and ictal periods of epilepsy, we propose an automatic classification and recognition method which combines the Real Adaboost algorithm based on error-correcting output codes (ECOC) with a feature extraction method based on sample entropy (SampEn) and wavelet packet energy in this paper. In the present study, we used the sample entropy of input signals and the energy of some parts of frequency bands as features, and then we classified the extracted features with the method combining ECOC with Real AdaBoost algorithm. In order to test the validity, we used the epilepsy database from the University of Bonn. The database has 5 groups of EEG signals, which contains the data of normal people with their eyes open or closed, the data collected inside and outside of the epileptic foci from patients during their interictal period and the data from patients during their ictal period. The results showed that the method had strong abilities of classification and recognition of the EEG signals, and especially the recognition rate had been improved significantly. The average recognition rate of the EEG signals with different features during the three periods of the five groups mentioned above can reach 96.78%, which is superior to those with algorithms recorded in many other literatures. The method has better stability, processing speed and potential of real-time application, and it plays a supporting role in the prediction and detection of epilepsy in clinical practice.
Objective To evaluate the characteristics and reasons of complications in the patients with thoracoscopic esophagectomy. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 165 patients with thoracoscopic esophagectomy in our hospital from January 2013 through January 2015. There were 102 males and 63 females at average age of 67.9±8.3 years. Results The operation time was 275.3±50.2 min. The intraoperative blood loss was 230.0±110.5 ml. The number of lymph node dissection was 18.1±6.5. The volume of drainage in thoracic cavity was 750±550 ml on the third day after operation. Thoracoscopic esophagectomy surgeries were successful except that 13 patients (7.8%) converted to open operation including 6 patients (4.2%) with severe pleural adhesion, 2 patients (1.2%) with hemorrhage, 2 patients (1.2%) with arrhythmia, and 3 patients (1.8%) with abnormal oxygenation. There were 17 patients (10.8%) were with intraoperative complications including 2 patients (1.2%) with arrhythmia, 3 patients (1.8%) with abnormal oxygenation, 7 patients (4.2%) with hemorrhage caused by vascular injury, 4 patients (2.4%) with thoracic duct injury, 1 patient (0.6%) with recurrent laryngeal nerve injury. Moreover, 46 patients (27.8%) experienced postoperative complications including 23 patients (13.9%) with pulmonary infection, 6 patients (3.6%) with hoarseness, 4 patients (2.4%) with anastomotic leakage, 3 patients (1.8%) with incision infection, 2 patients (1.2%) with tracheoesophageal fistula, and 2 patients (1.2%) with pneumothorax. Unexpectedly, five patients underwent re-operation due to chylothorax (n=3, 1.8%) and hemorrhage (n=2, 1.2%). One patient (0.06%) died of acute pulmonary embolism. Conclusion Serious adhesion in abdominal cavity, abnormal of lung and heart. And bleeding are the main reasons caused transferring open thoracic surgery operation in patients with thoracoscopic esophagectomy. Lung infection, hoarseness, and anastomotic leakage of neck are the most common postoperative complications. And acute pulmonary embolism is the main cause of postoperative death. Proper precautions to decrease the morbidity of complication are necessary.
ObjectiveTo investigate the role of osteopontin (OPN) on the expressions of matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP-13) mRNA and protein in human knee osteoarthritic chondrocytes and to find the optimal time and concentration for OPN treatment. MethodsChondrocytes were isolated from articular cartilage tissues of patients with primary osteoarthritis (OA) and cultured using one step digestive treatment with collagenase typeⅡ. The chondrocytes were then identified using immunohistochemistry of collagen typeⅡ. The first generation of chondrocytes were stimulated with OPN at a concentration of 1μg/mL for 0, 24, 48, and 72 hours, and with OPN at the concentrations of 0, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4μg/mL for 48 hours. The levels of MMP-13 mRNA and protein expressions were measured with real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR and Western blot. ResultsThe immunohistochemical staining showed that first generation of chondrocytes expressed collagen typeⅡ. Both MMP-13 mRNA and protein expression levels in OA chondrocytes increased significantly in the presence of OPN (1μg/ mL) and peaked at 48 hours after incubation, showing significant difference between different time points (P < 0.05). The MMP-13 mRNA expression level in OA chondrocytes at the OPN concentration of 1μg/mL was significantly higher than those at the other concentrations (P < 0.05), and the MMP-13 protein expression level at the OPN concentration of 1μg/mL was significantly higher than that at 0μg/mL (P < 0.05). MMP-13 protein expression level at the OPN concentrations of 0.5, 2, and 4μg/mL were significantly higher than that at 0μg/mL (P < 0.05). ConclusionOPN induces up-regulation of MMP-13 mRNA and protein expressions in human knee osteoarthritic chondrocytes in time-and dose-dependent manners. The optimal time and concentration for OPN treatment are 48 hours and 1μg/mL, respectively.
ObjectiveTo compare the biomechanical properties between the proximal femoral locking plate and Gamma3 for fixing stable intertrochanteric fracture so as to provide a theoretical basis for selecting internal fixation in the clinical application. MethodsFive pairs of antiseptic femur specimens were selected. Specimens of each pair of matching were randomly divided into groups A and B (n=5). All specimens were made the intertrochanteric fracture of 31A1.1 type according to AO/Association for the Study of Internal Fixation (AO/ASIF) classification. Fracture was fixed with Gamma3 in group A and with proximal femoral locking plate in group B. The axial compression, destruction, and torsion tests were carried out on the mechanical testing machine. ResultsAxial compression test:The load-displacement curve of groups A and B was basically a straight line; axial stiffness of groups A and B was (621.00±36.48) N/mm and (542.55±46.94) N/mm respectively, showing significant difference (t=3.648, P=0.036). Destruction test:The maximum yield load of groups A and B was (4 394.82±450.37) N and (2 987.54±112.14) N respectively, showing significant difference (t=5.433, P=0.032). After loading maximum yield load, femoral fracture occurred again, and internal fixation and bone interface loosening were observed in group A; bending and breaking of proximal locking screw for internal fixation were found in group B, but loosening of internal fixation and bone interface was more obvious in group A than in group B. Torsion test:The torque of specimens in 2 groups increased with the increase of torsion angle (P < 0.05), the torque corresponding to the torsion angle in group B was larger than that in group A, but the difference was not significant (P > 0.05). The torsional stiffness of groups A and B was (1.78±0.16) N·mm/deg and (2.01±0.08) N·mm/deg respectively, showing no significant difference (t=-3.833, P=0.162). ConclusionProximal femoral locking plate and Gamma3 in the treatment of stable intertrochanteric fracture have good biomechanical properties, which can meet the requirements of minimal invasion, strong internal fixation, and early activity.