Objective To investigate the feasibility of collecting exhaled breath condensate ( EBC)fromartificially ventilated patients with modified EcoScreen condenser. Methods ①In vitro test with lung simulator: the modified EcoScreen condenser was connected to lung simulator and mechanically ventilated for 60 min through three different types of connected tube as follows: dry ventilator pipe disconnected to humidifier, connected to the unheated humidifier, and connected to heated humidifier.Meanwhile, the changes of the peak pressure of inspiration ( PI) and tidal volume ( VT ) were observed. The volume of condensate was measured at last. ②In vivo test from artificially ventilated patients: 10 patients were artificially ventilated and their EBCs were collected with the modified EcoScreen condenser through dry pipe disconnected to humidifier for 20 min. The changes of PI, VT , respiratory frequency( f) , heart rate( HR) , mean arterial blood pressure ( MAP) , and blood oxygen saturation ( SpO2 ) were observed. Results ①In vitro test with lung simulator: At the end of the ventilating through the dry pipe disconnected to humidifier for 60 min,2. 2 mL condensate wascollected. Neither the change of PI or VT nor the obstruction of the collecting tube by iced condensate were observed. The ventilating through dry pipe connected to unheated humidifier had to stop at 50 min as the obstruction of the collecting tube caused by ice. 5 mL condensate was collected. It was observed that VTdecreased and PI increased. After ventilation through dry pipe connected to heated humidifier for 60 min,10. 5 mL condensate was collected while PI slightly increased and VT decreased. ② In vivo test from artificially ventilated patients: After ventilation through dry pipe disconnected to humidifier for 20 min, 2 mL EBC was collected without significance changes in PI, VT, f, HR, MAP, and SpO2 . Conclusions The modified EcoScreen condenser can be favourably applied to artificially ventilated patients for collecting EBC.It is recommended to performfor 20 min through the pipe disconnected to humidifier to obtain sufficient EBC without condensate dilution and airway obstruction. It is warranted more attention to the clinical and mechanical monitoring in this procedure.
As the largest ecosystem of human body, intestinal microorganisms participate in the synthesis and metabolism of uric acid. Developing and utilizing intestinal bacteria to degrade uric acid might provide new ideas for the treatment of hyperuricemia. The fecal samples of people with low uric acid were inoculated into uric acid selective medium with the concentration of 1.5 mmol/L for preliminary screening, and the initially screened strains that may have degradation ability were domesticated by concentration gradient method, and the strains with high uric acid degradation rate were identified by 16S rRNA sequencing method. A strain of high-efficiency uric acid degrading bacteria was screened and domesticated from the feces of people with low uric acid. The degradation rate of uric acid could reach 50.2%. It was identified as Escherichia coli. The isolation and domestication of high efficient uric acid degrading strains can not only provide scientific basis for the study of the mechanism of intestinal microbial degradation of uric acid, but also reserve biological strains for the treatment of hyperuricemia and gout in the future.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is effective in reducing the burden of the disease. Participation rate is an important determinant of the magnitude of the effectiveness in population-based CRC screening. We summarize the current status of participation rate across the different organized CRC screening programs in China. The results indicate that the overall participation rates are low, and the acceptance of the screening protocols is poor in Chinese population. We conclude that the associated factors may include the poor health consciousness, low willingness-to-pay for screening, lack of personalized screening strategy and inadequate organization. Studies on the inventions to improve the willingness of screening and participation rate are of high demand and will provide important references in implementing large-scale CRC screening programs in China in the future.
Place cell with location tuning characteristics play an important role in brain spatial cognition and navigation, but there is relatively little research on place cell screening and its influencing factors. Taking pigeons as model animals, the screening process of pigeon place cell was given by using the spike signal in pigeon hippocampus under free activity. The effects of grid number and filter kernel size on the place field of place cells during the screening process were analyzed. The results from the real and simulation data showed that the proposed place cell screening method presented in this study could effectively screen out place cell, and the research found that the size of place field was basically inversely proportional to the number of grids divided, and was basically proportional to the size of Gaussian filter kernel in the overall trend. This result will not only help to determine the appropriate parameters in the place cell screening process, but also promote the research on the neural mechanism of spatial cognition and navigation of birds such as pigeons.
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most common cause of preventable blindness in the working-age population. In addition to optimizing the hyperglycemia, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and other risk factors, regular fundus examination is essential for early diagnosis asymptomatic DR and timely treat the sight-threatening DR, so as to reduce blindness and severe visual impairment caused by DR. Clinical practice guidelines for the screening and management of DR have been implemented throughout the world, but there are reasonable differences between existing guidelines in the recommended timing of first retinal examination, screening intervals, methods for examination and criteria for referral to an ophthalmologist. It is of great clinical significance to have a detailed understanding of the current guidelines for DR screening and their clinical basis.
Prostate cancer is a common disease in the USA and Europe, with a gradually increasing incidence in China, and presents a significant health burden for older men. The lack of modifiable risk factors has made early detection as a strategy to reduce mortality. Current methods of screening involve the measurement of serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and digital rectal examination followed by biopsy. With PSA screening evidence of level I absent, the evidence on the use of PSA as a screening test is still highly controversial. Furthermore, there is controversy over whether screen-detected lesions will become clinically significant. There are three major treatment options for localized disease: radical prostatectomy, radical radiotherapy and monitoring with treatment if required. There is no evidence of randomized controlled trial (RCT) to suggest a survival advantage of any of these treatments. Opinions about the related benefits and risks of screening vary widely. In the absence of RCT of benefit for screening, many now suggest “informed consensus” screening, which encourages a discussion between the patient and his physician with both sides informed of all of the issues.
Objective To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of three LTBI screening strategies: the tuberculin skin test (TST), the T-SPOT.TB and the combination of TST and T-SPOT (TST+T.SPOT), to provide economic evidence for T.SPOT application in China. Methods A decision analysis model evaluated three strategies among a cohort of 1000 tuberculosis (TB) close contacts, using incremental cost-effectiveness of prevention a active TB patient (1 year post contact). Meta analyses were conducted to calculate the key parameters of T.SPOT and TST. The official data or literature was searched and the unaccessible data was to specify other parameters, such as cost, LTBI prevalence, etc. The one-way sensitivity analysis was performed, varying key parameters over a wide range of reasonable values to evaluate the impact of data uncertainties and to determine the robustness of our overall conclusion. Results a) As for the total cost, the TST+T.SPOT strategy (?212 213.81 per 1 000 contacts) cost the least, while the single T.SPOT strategy cost the most; b) Subsequently, the TST+T.SPOT strategy required less contacts to be treated to prevent an active case of TB (8.31) than the single TST strategy (25.67); c) the TST+T.SPOT strategy shared the most cost-effectiveness (?3 063.50 per active TB case prevented) than the single TST or T.SPOT strategy; and d) The results of one-way sensitivity analyses showed that cost-effectiveness values were sensitive to changes in LTBI prevalence (gt;60%), Sen and Spn of TST test (gt;70%), with the single TST being superior to the single T.SPOT. Conclusion The Single T.SPOT strategy enjoys the most cases prevented from active TB, while the TST+S.SPOT strategy is the most cost-effective. The conclusion is sensitive to a few parameters, such as LTBI prevalence, but the TST+T.SPOT strategy is always the best.
ObjectivesThis study aimed to study the economic effect of five kinds of detection systems for nucleic acid, which were based on five kinds of working electrodes: gold electrode, glassy carbon electrode, carbon paste electrode, screen printing electrode, and indium-tin-oxide (ITO) glass electrode.MethodsThe cost of completing a single test was taken as the cost of economic analysis. The Youden index was used to represent the effect of cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA). Meanwhile, the cost-utility analysis (CUA) and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were used for the economic analysis of the corresponding system.ResultsThe cost of five detection systems based on gold electrode, glass carbon electrode, carbon paste electrode, screen printing electrode, and ITO glass electrode was 3.70 yuan/unit, 4.20 yuan/unit, 5.25 yuan/unit, 33.98 yuan/unit and 5.01 yuan/unit, respectively. The Youden indexes of all five systems were 1. The cost effectiveness (C/E) were 3.70, 4.20, 5.25, 33.98, and 5.01, respectively. The cost utility (C/U) were 6.61, 6.89, 9.91, 62.93, and 9.45, respectively. The C'/E and C'/U of the gold electrode detection system were the minimum (2.96 and 5.29). Compared with the system applying the gold electrode, the system using the glassy carbon electrode had ΔC >0 and ∆E0 >0; When carbon paste electrode, screen printing electrode, and ITO glass electrode system were used, ∆C was >0 and ∆E0 was <0.ConclusionsFrom the perspective of CEA and CUA, the system using the gold electrode has the best economic effect. The sensitivity analysis proved the reliability of CEA and CUA results. According to the ICER, gold electrode or glassy carbon electrode can be used in clinical practice with the choice depending on the user.
Currently,lung cancer (LC) has one of the highest incidence rates among various malignant tumors worldwide,and the annual mortality rate of LC has ranked first among all malignant tumors. About 80% of LC patients present to the hospital in a late advanced stage and lose the chance of surgical resection. Among all the patients who receive surgical treatment,the 5-year mortality rate of patients with early TNM stages is far lower than that of patients with advanced stage LC. With the advancement of medical equipment and more people who receive routine medical examination,more and more patients with small pulmonary nodules are discovered. Limited lung resection,including wedge resection and segmental resection,can be performed with minimally invasive video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for these patients to acquire equivalent surgical outcomes as traditional lobectomy and a much better postoperative quality of life. LC screening increases the chances of early detection and diagnosis of LC patients,so these patients can receive reasonable diagnosis and treatment at an early stage. This strategy can greatly reduce treatment cost and mortality,and achieve maximal treatment benefits with minimal economic and medical cost. This review focuses on the necessity,high-risk groups,evaluation criteria and methods of LC screening with some LC screening guidelines and research studies in order to provide reasonable and feasible screening strategies and references for clinical LC screening.
Objective To investigate the nutritional status of hospitalized patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), analyze the influencing factors, and construct a predictive model to provide a localized theoretical basis and more convenient risk prediction indicators and models for clinical nutrition support and intervention treatment of CKD patients in China. Methods Convenience sampling was used to select hospitalized CKD patients from Department of Nephrology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, from January to October 2019. General information questionnaires, the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 scale, and the Huaxi Emotional-distress Index questionnaire were used for data collection. Single factor analyses and multiple logistic regression analysis were conducted to explore the risk factors for malnutrition in CKD hospitalized patients. A predictive model was established and evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and bootstrap resampling. Results A total of 1059 valid copies of questionnaires were collected out of 1118 distributed. Among the 1059 CKD hospitalized patients, 207 cases (19.5%) were identified as having nutritional risk. The multiple logistic regression analysis showed that CKD stage [odds ratio (OR)=1.874, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.631, 2.152), P<0.001], age [OR=1.015, 95%CI (1.003, 1.028), P=0.018], and the Huaxi Emotional-distress Index [OR=1.024, 95%CI (1.002, 1.048), P=0.033] were independent risk factors for malnutrition in CKD hospitalized patients, while serum albumin [OR=0.880, 95%CI (0.854, 0.907), P<0.001] was an independent protective factor. The evaluation of the multiple logistic regression analysis predictive model showed a concordance index of 0.977, standard deviation of 0.021, and P<0.05. The area under the ROC curve was 0.977. Conclusions The prevalence of malnutrition is relatively high among CKD hospitalized patients. CKD stage, age, psychological status, and serum albumin are influencing factors for malnutrition in CKD hospitalized patients. The multiple logistic regression model based on the above indicators demonstrates good predictive performance and is expected to provide assistance for early nutritional intervention to improve the clinical outcomes and quality of life for CKD patients with malnutrition in China.