[Investigation of the screening interval for population with negative colonoscopy examinations].

Objective: To investigate the colonscopy screening interval among patients with negative colonscopy. Methods: We selected 14 606 participants who completed the baseline and 3-year or 5-year colonoscopy examinations in the American Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) dataset as the target population. Sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., sex, age, marital status, race, and smoking), lifestyle, family history of cancer, and family history of colorectal cancer were collected. Cochran-Armitage trend analysis was used to examine whether the rate of positive cases (colorectal cancer, advanced adenoma, adenoma, and hyperplastic polyp) was increased with the length of screening interval. We compared the differences in number of detected cases, positive rates, and proportions of 3-year and 5-year screening interval strategies using internal standardization method. Results: The age of the population was （61.9±5.2） years and over half of them were males (54.4%) and 46.2% had family cancer history. The mean screening interval between the first and second endoscopies was （1 639.1±320.9） days. A total of 1 716 cases had positive endoscopic findings. With the screening interval extended, rate of the screened positive cases was also increased (P for trend<0.001). After standardized by the internal standardized population (14 606), 17.99 and 11.57 colorectal cancer cases and 177.37 and 240.35 advanced adenoma cases were detected by 3-year and 5-year screening interval strategies, respectively. Conclusion: Based on the initial screening negative population of colonoscopy in the United States, the 3-year screening interval strategy could detect a relatively large number of colorectal cancer cases, but its health and economic evaluation needs to be further explored.

[Analysis on the demand, access and related factors of cancer prevention and treatment knowledge among urban residents in China from 2015 to 2017].

Objective: To investigate the demand and access to the cancer prevention and treatment knowledge and related factors among urban residents in China from 2015 to 2017. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 16 provinces covered by the Cancer Screening Program in Urban China from 2015 to 2017. A total of 32 257 local residents aged ≥18 years old who could understand the investigation procedure were included in the study by using the cluster sampling method and convenient sampling method. All local residents were categorized into four groups, which contained 15 524 community residents, 8 016 cancer risk assessment/screening population, 2 289 cancer patients and 6 428 occupational population, respectively. The self-designed questionnaire was used to collect the information of general demographic characteristics, the demand and access to cancer prevention and treatment knowledge, and the influencing factors of the attitude. The Chi-square test was used to analyze the difference of the demand of the cancer prevention knowledge among different groups and the corresponding factors of the cancer prevention and treatment knowledge were analyzed by using the logistic regression model. Results: The proportion of residents who need the cancer prevention and treatment knowledge was 79.5%. The demand rate of the inducement, symptom and diagnosis methods of cancer in the occupational population was highest, about 66.8%, 71.0% and 20.8%, respectively. The demand rate of treatment methods and cost in current cancer patients was the highest, about the 45.9% and 21.9%, respectively. The top three sources to acquire the cancer prevention and treatment knowledge were "broadcast or television" (69.5%), "books, newspapers, posters or brochures" (44.7%) and "family and friends" (33.8%). The multivariate analysis showed that compared with public institution personnel/civil servants, unmarried/cohabiting/divorced/widowed and others, annual household income less than 20 000 CNY, from the eastern region, people without cancer diagnosis and people with self-assessment of cancer risk, the demand rate of cancer prevention and treatment knowledge was higher in enterprise personnel/workers, married, annual household income between 60 000 CNY and 150 000 CNY, from the central region, people with cancer and people with unclear cancer risk (all P values <0.05). Conclusion: There was a high demand for the cancer prevention and treatment knowledge among urban residents in China from 2015 to 2017. The main access to the knowledge is from the radio or television. The occupation, marital status, annual household income, residential region, health status and risk of disease were the main factors of the demand of the cancer prevention and treatment knowledge.

Prevalence of undiagnosed atrial fibrillation in elderly individuals and potential cost-effectiveness of non-invasive ambulatory electrocardiographic screening: The ASSERT-III study.

BACKGROUND: In approximately 10% of patients with implanted pacemakers or defibrillators, previously unrecognized atrial fibrillation (AF) is detected within 3 months. It is unknown whether elderly patients without implanted devices have a similar prevalence of undiagnosed AF using non-invasive ECG monitoring, and if this approach to screening in this population is cost-effective. METHODS: Individuals ≥80 years old attending outpatient clinics without a history of AF and with hypertension and one additional risk factor underwent 30 days of continuous ECG monitoring with an option for an additional 30 days of monitoring if no AF was detected. The primary outcome was AF ≥ 6 min. Cost-effectiveness to prevent stroke was estimated using a Markov model based on observed AF detection rates and data from the published literature. RESULTS: Among 129 patients enrolled, 100 initiated monitoring for an average duration of 36 ±â€¯21 days. The proportion of patients that completed at least 30 days of monitoring was 59%. Average age was 84 ±â€¯3 years and mean CHA2DS2-VASc score was 4.5 ±â€¯1.2. AF ≥ 6 min was documented in 14%, ≥6 h in 8%, and ≥24 h in 3%. One week of monitoring costed $50,000 per quality-adjusted life-year-gained, 30 days and 60 days of monitoring costed $70,000 and $84,000, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Continuous non-invasive ECG monitoring is feasible in elderly patients. Undiagnosed AF is present in many elderly individuals, with 1 in 7 having episodes lasting ≥6 min. One week of monitoring may be cost-effective for stroke prevention in this population.

[Application of ultrasonography scoring system in the assessment of IgG4-related sialadenitis].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the diagnostic value of salivary gland ultrasonography (SGUS) for IgG4-related sialadenitis. METHODS: Ultrasonography examination of major salivary glands was conducted for 48 IgG4-related sialadenitis patients and 50 Sjögren's syndrome patients, whose ages and disease duration were matched. The imaging features were graded using two different scoring systems (0-16 and 0-48, respectively) obtained from the grades of bilateral parotid and submandibular glands. The scores were used to further evaluate the features of salivary gland ultrasonography in IgG4-related sialadenitis and to compare them with Sjögren's syndrome patients. The association of SGUS scores of IgG4-related sialadenitis group with serological tests was analyzed. RESULTS: The mean age of IgG4-related sialadenitis group and Sjögren's syndrome group was 49.23 years and 50.44 years, respectively. The serum IgG4 level of the patients in the IgG4-related sialadenitis group was increased, with an average (9.60±6.43) g/L. And the serum IgE level was at a median of 251.5 (123.4-543.6) IU/mL. In the 0-16 system, the scores of submandibular glands of the patients in IgG4-related sialadenitis and Sjögren's syndrome were 6.0 (6.0-8.0) and 4.0 (2.0-8.0), and the scores of the total four glands were 10.0 (8.0-14.0) and 8.0 (4.0-12.0) respectively. In the 0-48 system, the scores of submandibular glands with IgG4-related sialadenitis and Sjögren's syndrome were 18.0 (14.5-20.0) and 11.0 (7.0-14.0), and the scores of the total four glands were 26.0 (18.5-34.0) and 21.5 (15.0-26.3) respectively. It suggested that in the 0-16 system and the 0-48 system, scores of submandibular glands and the total of four glands of IgG4-related sialadenitis were higher than those of Sjögren's syndrome. Meanwhile, the association analysis of 0-48 system showed a positive correlation of SGUS scores with serum IgG4, which also showed a positive correlation of SGUS scores with serum IgE in 0-16 system. CONCLUSION: Semi-quantitative ultrasonography scoring systems can evaluate and quantify the lesions of salivary glands, which can be helpful in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of IgG4-related sialadenitis combined with the clinical manifestations, serological indicators and/or histopathological manifestations. Ultrasonography can also assess the activity of IgG4-related sialadenitis preliminarily.

Direct evaluation of the force constant matrix in quantum Monte Carlo.

We develop a formalism to directly evaluate the matrix of force constants within a Quantum Monte Carlo calculation. We utilize the matrix of force constants to accurately relax the positions of atoms in molecules and determine their vibrational modes, using a combination of variational and diffusion Monte Carlo. The computed bond lengths differ by less than 0.007 Šfrom the experimental results for all four tested molecules. For hydrogen and hydrogen chloride, we obtain fundamental vibrational frequencies within 0.1% of experimental results and ∼10 times more accurate than leading computational methods. For carbon dioxide and methane, the vibrational frequency obtained is on average within 1.1% of the experimental result, which is at least 3 times closer than results using restricted Hartree-Fock and density functional theory with a Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof functional and comparable or better than density functional theory with a semi-empirical functional.

[Reliability and validity of the Chinese version on Comprehensive Scores for Financial Toxicity based on the patient-reported outcome measures].

Objective: To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version on comprehensive scores for financial toxicity (COST), based on the patient-reported outcome measures. Methods: A total of 118 cancer patients were face-to-face interviewed by well-trained investigators. Cronbach's α and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to evaluate reliability. Content validity index (CVI) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were used to evaluate the content validity and construct validity, respectively. Results: The Cronbach's α coefficient appeared as 0.889 for the whole questionnaire, with the results of test-retest were between 0.77 and 0.98. Scale-content validity index (S-CVI) appeared as 0.82, with item-content validity index (I-CVI) between 0.83 and 1.00. Two components were extracted from the Exploratory factor analysis, with cumulative rate as 68.04% and loading>0.60 on every item. Conclusion: The Chinese version of COST scale showed high reliability and good validity, thus can be applied to assess the financial situation in cancer patients.

[Self-concept of school-age children: the norm in Kaohsiung].

This study has two objectives: (1) to establish the norm of three graphical projective tests (Children's Social-Self Test, Children's Attitude Inventory and Children's Self-Concept Inventory), and (2) to explore the influence of sex, order of birth, social economic status of family, and leadership of class that effect self-concept of the school-age children. These subjects are selected from elementary schools in Kaohsiung, twenty-two classes are drawn out from each grade by systemic-random sampling. Then two classes are drawn out from 22 classes at random to arrange retest for reliability. The total subjects are 6207 students. From October 1987 to June 1988, six researchers are divided into three group to conduct the test. Besides establishing the norm, we find results from analysis of data as follow: 1. The reliability and validity of three graphical projective tests are good, they can be used for assessing the self-concept of school-age children. 2. The grade, sex, order of birth, social economic status of family, leadership of class all influence the self-concept of school-age children. 3. The self-concept and the grade has negative correlation. 4. The self-concept and the social economic status of family has positive correlation. 5. The girls have higher self-concept than the boys. 6. The order of first-born or second-born has higher self-concept than the others. 7. The ones who are leaders of class have higher self-concept than the others.