Acupuncture Treatment for Hip Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Acupuncture treatment (AT) is an effective treatment for pain relief; however, there are few systematic reviews that have reported on the effectiveness of AT for hip pain. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of AT of hip pain. We searched eight databases for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effect of AT on hip pain until August 2022. Twelve RCTs (806 patients) were included: two reported a significant effect of AT compared with that of conventional medicine (CM) alone for hip pain; two reported significant effects of AT + CM compared with that of CM alone in terms of Visual Analogue Scale (VAS); two reported a significant effect of AT + CM compared with that of Sham AT + CM in terms of anaesthetic dosage; two reported a significant effect of AT + CM compared with that of Sham AT + CM in terms of the side effects associated with analgesic use; one study reported a significant effect of AT compared to that of no-treatment. No serious adverse events were reported. Our findings demonstrate the potential of AT in managing hip pain. Given the low quality and small sample sizes of the studies, the evidence supporting AT for hip pain management was weak. Further clinical trials and systematic reviews are required. The protocol of the current study was registered in the PROSPERO International prospective register of systematic reviews (CRD42017079586).

The lived experience of colorectal cancer patients with a temporary ileostomy and the patient's perception of the ostomy nurses' educational interventions.

PURPOSE: This study is aimed at exploring the lived experiences of colorectal cancer patients regarding temporary ileostomy and the educational interventions of ostomy nurses. METHODS: This study is conducted using Heideggerian phenomenological focus group. Focus group interviews were conducted from November 2021 to February 2022 using a semi-structured guide with nine colorectal cancer patients having a temporary ileostomy. The interview data were analyzed using latent content analysis RESULTS: Four main categories and 13 sub-categories are identified as the result of data analysis. Main categories were "colorectal cancer and ileostomy: patient's adaptation," "supporting resources for the patient with ileostomy," "ileostomy closure: hope and concerns," and "ostomy nurse's professionalism." The main categories reflect the shared experiences and perceptions of colorectal cancer patients, across the timeline from colorectal cancer diagnosis to ileostomy closure. CONCLUSION: This study provides a timely response to a pilot project for recognizing ostomy nurse's education for patients with stomas. Also, the findings of this study contribute to nursing knowledge by providing patients' perspectives on the education provided to them by the ostomy nurse. Lastly, this study inspires future studies to evaluate and recognize ostomy nurse's practice by using various methodological approaches.

Endothelial cell senescence: A machine learning-based meta-analysis of transcriptomic studies.

Numerous systemic vascular dysfunction that leads to age-related diseases is highly associated with endothelial cell (EC) senescence; thus, identifying consensus features of EC senescence is crucial in understanding the mechanisms and identifying potential therapeutic targets. Here, by utilizing a total of 8 screened studies from different origins of ECs, we have successfully obtained common features in both gene and pathway level via sophisticated machine learning algorithms. A total of 400 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were newly discovered with meta-analysis when compared to the usage of individual studies. The generated parsimonious model established 36 genes and 57 pathways features with non-zero coefficient, suggesting remarkable association of phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase and serine biosynthesis pathway with endothelial cellular senescence. For the cross-validation process to measure model performance of 36 deduced features, leave-one-study-out cross-validation (LOSOCV) was employed, resulting in an overall area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) of 0.983 (95 % CI, 0.952, 1.000) showing excellent discriminative performance. Moreover, pathway-level analysis was performed by Pathifier algorithm, obtaining a total of 698 pathway deregulation scores from the 10,416 merged genes. In this process, high dimensional data was eventually narrowed down to 57 core pathways with AUROC value of 0.982 (95 % CI, 0.945, 1.000). The robust model with high performance underscores the merit of utilizing sophisticated meta-analysis in finding consensus features of endothelial cell senescence, which may lead to the development of therapeutic targets and advanced understanding of vascular dysfunction pathogenesis with further elucidation.

[The Structural Analysis of Variables Related to Posttraumatic Growth among Psychiatric Nurses].

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explain a structural model of posttraumatic growth among psychiatric nurses based on existing models and a literature review and verify its effectiveness. METHODS: Data were collected from psychiatric nurses in one special city, four metropolitan cities, and three regional cities from February to March 2016. Exogenous variables included hardiness and distress perception, while endogenous variables included self-disclosure, social support, deliberate rumination, and posttraumatic growth. Data from 489 psychiatric nurses were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 19.0 and AMOS 20.0. RESULTS: The modified model was a good fit for the data. Tests on significance of the pathways of the modified model showed that nine of the 14 paths were supported, and the explanatory power of posttraumatic growth by included variables in the model was 69.2%. For posttraumatic growth among psychiatric nurses, deliberate rumination had a direct effect as the variable that had the largest influence. Indirect effects were found in the order of hardiness, social support, and distress perception. Self-disclosure showed both direct and indirect effects. CONCLUSION: A strategy to improve deliberate rumination is necessary when seeking to improve posttraumatic growth among psychiatric nurses. Enhancing psychiatric nurses' hardiness before trauma would enable them to actively express negative emotions after trauma, allowing them to receive more social support. This would improve deliberate rumination and consequently help promote psychological growth among psychiatric nurses who have experienced trauma.

Comparison of Clinical Findings of Congenital Muscular Torticollis Between Patients With and Without Sternocleidomastoid Lesions as Determined by Ultrasonography.

AIM: To compare clinical findings for patients with congenital muscular torticollis (CMT) between those with and without a sternocleidomastoid (SCM) lesion. METHODS: Medical records of 182 patients with CMT were retrospectively reviewed and the patients were divided into SCM lesion and nonlesion groups by ultrasonographic results. Intrauterine position, age, duration of therapy, rotation/tilting side, and the passive range of motion and angle of the neck were compared. RESULTS: There were 74 SCM lesion and 108 nonlesion cases. The mean age at the first visit was 55.3 days in the SCM lesion group and 146.6 days in the nonlesion group. The mean therapy time in the nonlesion group was 66.5 days, significantly shorter than for the SCM lesion group (117.5 d). Tilting and rotation of the head in the same direction was observed only in the nonlesion group (n=9, 8.3%). Rotational limitation of the affected muscle side was 22.6 degree in the SCM lesion and 3.6 degree in the nonlesion group, and the tilting limitation was 19.2 degree in the SCM lesion and 10.4 degree in the nonlesion group. CONCLUSIONS: The nonlesion group had a better prognosis with shorter treatment duration. This group was more limited in head tilting than in head rotation, and the pattern of head rotation/tilting in the same direction was observed only in this group. These findings suggest that pathophysiological mechanisms and clinical characteristics may differ between CMT patients with and without SCM lesions. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level II-prognostic studies, retrospective study.

Research trends in outdoor pig production - A review.

Since the industrialization of swine production in the late 1900s, swine farms in the United States, as well as in Europe, have largely become consolidated. Pig farms became larger in size but fewer in number, with 91% of market pigs being produced by large operations with 5,000 or more pigs on-site in the US, and only 3% of the total utilized agricultural land representing organic farming. Such change in the market made it difficult for small farmers to stay competitive, forcing them to find alternative ways to reduce the cost of production and increase profit using the outdoor production system. In contrast to the indoor confinement system, outdoor production system uses pasture-based units and/or deep-bedded hoop structures that promote animal welfare and environmental sustainability with a lower capital investment. In accord with the growing concern for animal and environmental welfare and food safety by the consumers, small farmers practicing an outdoor production system are seeing increased opportunities for marketing their products in the pork niche market. Unlike the general belief that the reproductive and growth performance measures of the outdoor sows and piglets are poorer in comparison with the animals reared indoors, studies showed that there was no significant difference in the performance measures, and some traits were even better in outdoor animals. Improved reproductive and production traits can increase the sustainability of outdoor farming. Present study reviewed the recent studies comparing the performance measures, meat quality and health of indoor and outdoor animals, as well as the efforts to improve the outdoor production system through changes in management such as hut types and breed of animals.

Sulfur-Doped Porphyrinic Carbon Nanostructures Synthesized with Amorphous MoS2 for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction in an Acidic Medium.

To develop doped carbon nanostructures as non-precious metal cathode catalysts, nanocomposites were synthesized by using SBA-15 and 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-methoxyphenyl)porphyrin-iron(III) chloride with different ratios of amorphous MoS2 precursor. From various analyses, it was found that, during pyrolysis at 900 °C under an N2 atmosphere, the amorphous MoS2 precursor decomposed into Mo and S, facilitating the formation of graphene sheet-like carbon with MoC and doping of sulfur in the carbon. In the nanocomposite formed from 10 wt % MoS2 precursor (denoted as Mo/S/PC-10), most of the MoS2 was decomposed, thus forming S-doped carbon, which was grown on the MoC phase without crystalline MoS2 . Furthermore, Mo/S/PC-10 exhibited better performance in the oxygen reduction reaction (specific activity of 1.23 mA cm-2 at 0.9 V and half-wave potential of 0.864 V) than a commercial Pt catalyst, owing to a heteroatom-doped carbon nanostructure with a fairly high specific surface area. In the polarization curve of the unit-cell performance measured at 80 °C under ambient pressure, Mo/S/PC-10 as a cathode catalyst exhibited an optimal power density of 314 mW cm-2 and a current density of 280 mA cm-2 at 0.6 V.

Does rapid blood sampling affect the retention time of patients with low-acuity complaints in the emergency department?

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to investigate whether rapid blood sampling during triage led to shorter stays in the emergency department for patients with low-acuity complaints. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted in the emergency department (ED) of a tertiary university hospital in South Korea. A pre- and post-intervention comparison analysis was completed over one-month periods in June and September 2014. Data included triage level of the patient, time from the ED visit to receiving the doctor's orders, result time of complete blood cell count (CBC) and blood chemistry (BC), length of stay (LOS) for all discharged patients who required blood sampling. RESULTS: A total of 1308 patients were reviewed for June 2014, and 1530 patients were reviewed for September 2014. The time from the order to the CBC and BC result report differed significantly between the two groups (p<0.001). Rapid blood sampling did not affect the LOS in the ED (p=0.339). CONCLUSION: Rapid blood sampling performed immediately after triage was not effective for shortening the LOS of discharged patients with low acuity complaints who required blood sampling. But the LOS of ED patients who were referred to the internal medicine was reduced by more than 200min.

High-Performance Chemically Regenerative Redox Fuel Cells Using a NO3- /NO Regeneration Reaction.

In this study, we proposed high-performance chemically regenerative redox fuel cells (CRRFCs) using NO3- /NO with a nitrogen-doped carbon-felt electrode and a chemical regeneration reaction of NO to NO3- via O2 . The electrochemical cell using the nitrate reduction to NO at the cathode on the carbon felt and oxidation of H2 as a fuel at the anode showed a maximal power density of 730 mW cm-2 at 80 °C and twofold higher power density of 512 mW cm-2 at 0.8 V, than the target power density of 250 mW cm-2 at 0.8 V in the H2 /O2 proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). During the operation of the CRRFCs with the chemical regeneration reactor for 30 days, the CRRFCs maintained 60 % of the initial performance with a regeneration efficiency of about 92.9 % and immediately returned to the initial value when supplied with fresh HNO3 .

Analysis of the risk factors of musculoskeletal disease among dentists induced by work posture.

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to ergonomically evaluate the work posture of dentists to examine their subsequent risk of developing musculoskeletal diseases. [Subjects and Methods] Scenes in which the three dentists performed procedures at their dental clinics were videotaped. The videotapes of the dentists' work postures were evaluated and analyzed by using the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) and Quick Exposure Check (QEC). [Results] The RULA analysis of the dentists' work posture indicated, "improvement required" in the posture used to treat the anterior and "instant improvement required" in the posture used to treat the maxillary second molar. Of all the work postures studied, the risk was considered particularly high in the lower back and neck, implying prominent problems in these body parts. The QEC analysis showed that the worst work posture was that required to treat the maxillary second molar, which led to a high risk of neck problems and vibrations. [Conclusion] The neck area has the highest risk of developing musculoskeletal disease. Hence, regular rests and the provision of information regarding muscle strengthening exercise for the neck are necessary.

Phlegmasia cerulea dolens after coronary artery bypass surgery: what should we know.

Phlegmasia cerulea dolens (PCD) is one of the most critical disorders of acute deep vein thrombosis in that it can cause permanent disability secondary to the compartment syndrome. Although several etiological factors have been proposed, PCD after coronary artery bypass surgery is extremely rare and its definitive pathophysiology is still under debate. We herein present a case of PCD that resulted in the compartment syndrome after coronary artery bypass surgery. Early recognition and decompression of PCD are crucial for saving the affected limbs.