Medicine (Baltimore)

BACKGROUND: At present, Western medicine treatment methods for arrhythmia emerge in an endless stream, but the accompanying side effects are also exposed, which brings pressure on medical resources and social economy. In recent years, the advantages of acupuncture combined with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the control of arrhythmia have become increasingly prominent. Neiguan (PC6) is the collateral point in pericardium meridian; acupuncture at Neiguan can nourish the heart and calm the mind, and also plays an important role in treating arrhythmias...

To identify the occupational health and safety (OHS) risks among environmental health officers (EHOs) in Australia and New Zealand. The objectives were to profile and compare OHS experiences from different countries and regions to gain a regional perspective on OHS hazards that impact EHOs. An online hazard exposure survey was conducted among 339 EHOs (Australia: n = 301, 88.8%; New Zealand: n = 38, 11.2%). The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare 2 ordinal data groups, the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for more than 2 ordinal groups, and the independent samples t test was used to compare the means of 2 independent groups where the dependent variables were normally distributed...

Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) is classic bariatric procedure with long-term safety and efficacy. However, no studies have focused on predicting long-term weight loss after LRYGB in Chinese patients with body mass index (BMI) ≥ 32.5 kg/m2. To explore the relationship between initial and long-term weight loss after LRYGB in patients with BMI ≥ 32.5 kg/m2. All patients were followed-up to evaluate BMI, percentage of excess weight loss (%EWL), and comorbidities...

The aim of our study was to investigate the effect of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and its weight loss related improvement on left atrial (LA) area in individuals with severe obesity participating in a multimodal weight reduction (WR) program. Participants with obesity (body mass index, BMI, 40.2 ± 7.3 kg/m2) underwent a 1-year WR program. Phenotyping was performed at baseline and after 12 months. Individuals were categorized according to their baseline apnea-hypopnea-index (AHI) into "no OSA" (AHI < 5) and "OSA" (AHI ≥ 5)...

Astragalus membranaceus (AM) is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine extensively utilized in vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) treatment. However, due to the complex components of AM, its exact molecular mechanism remains unclear. Therefore, this study investigated the target and molecular mechanism of AM to treat VCI based on network pharmacology and molecular docking. Firstly, the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform, STITCH, and SwissTargetPrediction were utilized to gather the primary active ingredients of AM...

Intensive care unit (ICU)-acquired pneumonia (ICUAP) is a major concern owing to its associated high mortality rate. Few studies have focused on ICUAP caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP). This study aimed to investigate the risk factors for ICUAP-associated death due to KP and to develop a mortality prediction model. Patients with KP-associated ICUAP at Renji Hospital were enrolled from January 2012 to December 2017. The patients were registered from the ICU units of the Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Neurosurgery, Emergency and Geriatric Departments, and were followed for 30 days...

This study fills a gap in literature by providing contemporary real-world evidence on the prevalence of patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), Barrett esophagus (BE), and Barrett esophagus-related neoplasia (BERN) and their upper endoscopy utilization patterns in the United States. A retrospective cohort study design was used: adults with GERD, nondysplastic Barrett esophagus (NDBE), and BERN (indefinite for dysplasia [IND], low-grade dysplasia [LGD], high-grade dysplasia [HGD], or esophageal adenocarcinoma [EAC]) were identified from the MarketScan databases (January 01, 2015-December 31, 2019)...

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the effects of multidisciplinary whole-course nutrition management on the nutritional status and complications during the course of treatment in patients with esophageal cancer (EC) undergoing chemoradiotherapy. METHODS: A total of 36 EC patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy were divided into a control group (n = 18) and an intervention group (n = 18). Participants in the control group were given routine nutritional support, whereas those in the intervention group were provided whole-course nutrition management from the nutrition support team...

Patients with type 2 diabetes are at a higher risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma than the general population. In addition, emerging evidence suggests that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) might be beneficial for patients with type 2 diabetes. We investigated whether TCM use was associated with a reduced risk of respiratory hospitalizations in patients with type 2 diabetes. Conducting a retrospective cohort study, we used data retrieved from the NDCMP database. Among 56,035 patients, 5226 were classified as TCM users; 50,809 were classified as TCM nonusers...

RATIONALE: Salivary gland tumors account for approximately 3% of all tumors, most of which are benign, with pleomorphic adenomas being the most common, occurring mostly in middle-aged women, mostly originating from the major salivary glands and, to a lesser extent, from the minor salivary glands, with the tongue being a very rare site of occurrence. To date, case reports of pleomorphic adenoma at the root of the tongue are also rare. PATIENT CONCERNS: A 56-year-old male patient with no obvious cause of foreign body sensation in the pharynx, sputum, no pain, no blood in the sputum, no dysphagia, and no difficulty in swallowing and breathing, which was significantly aggravated in the past 2 weeks, with difficulty in swallowing, breath-holding on lying down...

Aging populations, along with low fertility rates, have become a pervasive world-wide problem. To address this challenge, China issued a universal 3-child policy on May 31, 2021. However, little is known regarding the intentions of childbearing-aged Chinese for a third child. The purpose of this study was to assess the fertility intentions of the Chinese as related to this third-child policy and identify risk factors for third-child refusal. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 2129 Chinese childbearing-aged participants were recruited nationwide from June 15 to July 22, 2021...

Ecuador was an endemic area for iodine deficiency; however, due to the population consumption of iodized table salt, the country is nowadays considered iodine sufficient. Despite the population consumption of iodized salt for more than 50 years, the prevalence of hypothyroidism has increased in recent years. A similar increment has been reported for thyroid cancer (TC) becoming the second most common cancer in women and seventh most common cancer in men. High blood lead (BPb) level is a controversial causal factor for impaired thyroid function as well as a debated environmental cause for the increased incidence of TC...

Health information is particularly essential in times of pandemics in which rapid response is crucial for political and stakeholder decision-making processes, and therefore the availability of data as well as its quality analysis are necessary. This study aimed to describe the completeness and quality of the e-Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) Health Surveillance database (SUS Vigilância em Saúde) of the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil, from the notification of deaths from corana virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from January 2020 to June 2021...

Anencephaly, the most severe form of neural tube defect, has no known cure, and in most cases, patients die before or shortly after birth. To date, no surgical intervention has been reported in the management of anencephaly. This study presents a case of dichorionic-diamniotic twin pregnancy in which 1 twin was anencephalic and describes the surgical management of this complex case. We aimed to share the problems experienced during the follow up of a patient who survived for a long time after surgery. We also aimed to highlight several clinical issues, including the challenges of managing anencephaly in twin pregnancies, problems experienced during the follow up process in our case, diagnosis of brain death in anencephaly cases, and ethical dilemmas related to organ donation...

BACKGROUND: The impact of statin use on the survival of esophageal cancer patients remains unclear now. The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between statin use and the long-term survival of esophageal cancer patients. METHODS: The PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases were searched up to August 20, 2022, for relevant studies. The endpoints included overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), recurrence-free survival, and hazard ratios (HRs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled to assess the association between statin use and the prognosis of esophageal cancer patients...

RATIONALE: Endometrial stromal sarcoma (ESS) is a rare disease in patients with uterine malignancies, accounting for <1%. Low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma (LGESS) accounts merely 0.2% of gynecologic malignant tumor. Primary low-grade extrauterine endometrioid stromal sarcomas (LGEESS) is even more uncommon, with only a few documented case reports. We report a case of primary LGEESS exhibiting widely invasion in multiple organs after hysterectomy, which is the first case reported in Jiangsu Province of China...

RATIONALE: Plasmacytoma is a rare plasma cell dyscrasia that grows within the axial skeleton or soft tissue structures as solitary or multiple masses. The primary types are solitary plasmacytoma, including solitary bone plasmacytoma (SBP) and solitary extramedullary plasmacytoma, and multiple solitary plasmacytomas. SBP is characterized by localized proliferation of monoclonal plasma cells and is rare. However, SBP with chronic osteomyelitis is even rarer. PATIENT CONCERNS: A 47-year-old man previously diagnosed with chronic osteomyelitis presented with repeated discharge and ulceration in the front of his right tibia...

BACKGROUND: Difficult peripheral venous access, especially in obese people, is challenging for novices. We conducted a randomized cross-over study to examine whether near-infrared venous imaging or ultrasound guidance is more useful for novice operators to obtain difficult peripheral venous access. METHODS: Medical students were recruited as participants. After receiving basic training using commercial simulators, participants were randomly assigned to obtain simulated venous access using a difficult venous access simulator with near-infrared venous imaging or ultrasound guidance in a randomized cross-over design...

This literature on financial toxicity (FT) of breast cancer aimed to identify the leading countries, institutions, key researchers, influential references, top journals, research hotspots, and frontiers in the field. Published articles on FT in breast cancer patients were systematically retrieved and screened from the Web of Science databases from inception to March 28, 2022. The CiteSpace software was used to generate knowledge maps to analyze bibliometric characteristics in FT research on breast cancer patients...

Using the 10th Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey in 2020, we attempted to determine the relationship between smartphone addiction and depression in 25,987 high school students. The demographic characteristics of the subjects were reviewed frequently, and the correlation between smartphone dependence and depression were determined. The results show that it is difficult to track the time spent on smartphones to determine the level of depression (R = 0.143, P < .01), it is difficult concentrating on other tasks due to smartphones (R = 0...