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BACKGROUND: Bone is the most common site of metastatic breast cancer (MBC). EDTA is often used to decalcify bony tissue samples to ensure the accurate assessment of antigenicity in MBC. It takes ~24 to 48 hours to decalcify small bone tissues such as bone marrow, which is considered unacceptable given the priority that is often placed on the rapid processing of bone marrow trephine cores. Thus, an effective decalcification method that preserves genetic material is needed. AIM: We performed immunohistochemical studies on surface decalcification (SD) in breast tumors and evaluated the effect of SD on receptor status and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Fluorescence in situ hybridization was performed on a subset of these tumors to establish a protocol for handling bone specimens for MBC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-four cases of invasive breast tumors were studied. We compared the immunohistochemical expressions of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), Ki67, and HER2 between control tissue (nondecalcified) and parallel tissue subjected to SD with hydrochloric acid. We also evaluated the effect of SD on the fluorescence in situ hybridization expression of HER2. RESULTS: Categorical decreases in ER and PR expression were identified in 9/31 (29.0%) cases without SD and 10/26 (38.5%) cases with SD. HER2 expression changed from equivocal to negative in 4/12 (33.4%) cases. Among the HER2-positive cases, all remained positive after SD. The most significant declines in immunoreactivity occurred with Ki67, with an average decrease from 22% to 13%. The average HER2 copy numbers were 5.37 and 4.76 in the control and SD groups, respectively, and the average HER2/CEP17 ratios were 2.35 and 2.08, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, SD is an alternative decalcification method in bony metastases to assess ER, PR, and HER2 in MBC.
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms , Receptors, Estrogen , Humans , Female , Receptors, Estrogen/metabolism , Receptors, Progesterone/metabolism , Biomarkers, Tumor/metabolism , Hydrochloric Acid , Ki-67 Antigen/genetics , Immunohistochemistry , In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence , Receptor, ErbB-2/metabolism , Breast Neoplasms/pathology , EstrogensABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Doctors who wish to become general practitioners (GPs) in China are required to attend and complete general practice resident training. In the early stages of the standardized GP training system, GP training supervisors play important roles. This study aims to explore how GP residents perceive their GP supervisors, factors that affect GP residents' satisfaction level, as well as to offer suggestions based on the implications of this study. DESIGN: We conducted a mixed quantitative and qualitative study. Firstly, with respect to the quantitative research, we conducted a survey to investigate training satisfaction through questionnaires, then extracted and analyzed the factors that influence training satisfaction. In the qualitative study, we conducted in-depth, semistructured interviews using qualitative research criteria (COREQ)--a 32-item checklist for interviews. PARTICIPANTS: Participants in the quantitative survey included 1172 GPs whose training time wasbetween 2008 and 2017. Afterwards, 100 participants were selected from this sample , filtered by stratified random sampling and by having provided extreme answers on the quantitative survey (less than 5% of the total sample). They were chosen for the qualitative research to conduct a more detailed investigation., This stratified random sampling was based on residents' grades, regions, and training levels (city level or county level). Extreme answers were identified as answers of "extremely good" or "extremely bad" to questions from the initial comprehensive survey of 1172 participants. Consequently, 30 participants with extreme answers were found, while the remaining 70 participants in the interviews were selected by stratified random sampling. Ultimately, this sample of participants met our information collection and sample estimation requirements. RESULTS: The results show that satisfaction with GP theoretical training supervisors, GP hospital-based training supervisors, and GP community-based training supervisors differed. Considering long-term averages, the hierarchy of satisfaction is as follows: GP theoretical training supervisors > GP community-based training supervisors > GP hospital-based training supervisors. GP hospital-based training supervisors need to improve their conception of GPs, teaching methods and conscientiousness. GP community-based training supervisors need to improve their teaching methods, knowledge of clinical theory and practice ability. CONCLUSIONS: On the one hand, teams of GP supervisors in China have gradually been established over time. On the other hand,the satisfaction tendencies of residents with respect to their GP supervisors are quite different, and teams of GP supervisors must be promoted and improved.
Subject(s)
General Practice , General Practitioners , China , Family Practice , General Practice/education , General Practitioners/education , Humans , Research PersonnelABSTRACT
Objective: The participation of general practice (GP) residents in COVID-19 prevention and control tasks touched workload participation in public health and disease prevention and control and was also a rare, valuable training experience for the residents and research material for medical education. This experience contributed to the understanding of three key points: First, was the content of the COVID-19 prevention task suited to them, or did it overload them in the present? Second, their competence in the COVID-19 prevention task reflected whether the early medical school training was sufficient or not. Third, what can be drawn from this study to promote public health training in the future? This study aimed to explore these issues by conducting a real epidemic situated training (REST) program. Methods: A situated cognition study was designed that included situational context design, legitimate peripheral participation, and the construction of a community of practice. The Task Cognitive Load Scale (NASA-TLX Scale) and self-developed questionnaires were adopted to conduct a questionnaire survey of resident doctors in a GP training program from West China Hospital of Sichuan University, and 183 questionnaires were collected. SPSS 23.0 statistical software was used for the statistical analysis of data. Results: The NASA scale showed that the intensity of field epidemic prevention and control (training) was tolerable. In particular, there was statistical difference in the cognitive load intensity of training before and after the epidemic occurred at different time points (P < 0.05). This shows that they were early trained and well-prepared before sudden outbreak of the COVID-19. Before the outbreak of the epidemic, the public health knowledge and training received came from undergraduate education (83.16%), early residents program training (69.47%), online self-study (49.16%), and continuing education (20.53%). Conclusion: Former medical school education and training at the regulatory training stage have a good effect and enable residents to master the skills required for epidemic prevention and control and to physically and mentally prepare for the task. After this stage, epidemic prevention and control training in real situations will make important contributions to the self-assessment and performance improvement of public health training.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , General Practice , Internship and Residency , China/epidemiology , Cognition , Humans , SARS-CoV-2 , WorkloadABSTRACT
Department of General practice of West China Hospital of Sichuan University has been commissioned to train general practitioner for Tibet Autonomous Region since 2015. Based on the "demand-oriented and clinical ability training", the established training framework includes four aspects: a rotation plan of general practice theory-clinical practice-community application, the closed-loop mechanism of teaching management system improvement,innovation of training assessment and teaching activities. This article summarizes the practical experience of the commissioned general practice residency training for Tibet to provide reference for the program design.
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Objective:To survey the knowledge, attitudes, and practice about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among general practitioners in Sichuan province.Methods:From October to November 2020, a questionnaire survey on knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) among 104 general practitioners who participated in the training of the comprehensive prevention and control of COPD organized by Sichuan Provincial Health Commission. The content of the questionnaire included the basic information and the KAP status of COPD. The descriptive analysis, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis H were used for statistical analysis. Results:A total of 104 questionnaires were distributed and 102 were returned with a response rate of 98.1%. General practitioners with different ages, professional titles, visits of COPD patients each month, and whether or not to refer COPD patients to higher-level hospitals were not significantly different in the scores of knowledge( U=1 276.00, H=0.78, U=1 074.00, U=589.00), attitude( U=1 141.50, H=1.75, U=1 090.00, U=585.00), and practice( U=1 221.00, H=0.31, U=1 163.00, U=499.50) (all P>0.05). In knowledge part the highest correctness rate was "quitting smoking is the most powerful interventions affecting the natural disease course of COPD" (100.0%, 102/102); the lowest was that"the main objective examination for judging the airflow limitation of COPD patients is the lung function test"(5.9%, 6/102). In the part of the attitude, the highest positive rate was "educating patients to quit smoking and avoid exposure to second-hand smoke" (65.7%,67/102); the lowest positive rate was "provide exercise guidance to patients "(43.1%, 44/102) and " be responsible for long-term treatment follow-up" (43.1%, 44/102). In the part of practice, the highest behavioral rate was "when receiving patients with COPD, actively pay attention to the treatment of comorbid diseases" (95.1%, 97/102); the lowest behavioral rate was "when patients with COPD were seen at the clinic, and the patients were advised of the best time to use the inhaler" (65.7%, 67/102). Conclusions:The study indicates that the relevant departments need to increase the intensity of knowledge training for general practitioners in Sichuan province. General practitioners should continuously improve their education, prevention, and treatment ability and implement the primary responsibilities for COPD management.
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To evaluate the cost-utility of pembrolizumab versus chemotherapy as the first-line setting for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from the US health care system perspective, a Markov model was developed to compare the lifetime cost and effectiveness of pembrolizumab versus chemotherapy for untreated metastatic NSCLC, based on the clinical data derived from phase III randomized controlled trial (KEYNOTE-042; ClinicalTrials.gov; NCT02220894). Weibull distribution was fitted to simulate the parametric survival functions. Drug costs were collected from official websites, and utility values were obtained from published literature. Total costs, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were computed as primary output indicators. The impact of different PD-L1 expression levels on ICER was also evaluated. One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the model uncertainty. Compared with chemotherapy, patients treated with pembrolizumab provided an additional 1.13, 1.01, and 0.59 QALYs in patients with PD-L1 expression levels of ≥50%, ≥20%, and ≥1%, with corresponding incremental cost of 53,784, 47,479, and 39,827, respectively. The resultant ICERs of pembrolizumab versus chemotherapy were 47,596, 47,184, and 68,061/QALY, in three expression levels of PD-L1, respectively, all of which did not exceed the WTP threshold of 180,000/QALY. Probability sensitivity analysis outcome supported that pembrolizumab exhibited evident advantage over chemotherapy to be cost-effective. One-way sensitivity analysis found that ICERs were most sensitive to utility value of pembrolizumab in progression survival state. All the adjustment of parameters did not qualitatively change the result. For treatment-naive, metastatic NSCLC patients with PD-L1+, pembrolizumab was estimated to be cost-effective compared with chemotherapy for all PD-L1 expression levels at a WTP threshold of 180,000/QALY in the context of the US health care system.
Subject(s)
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized/therapeutic use , B7-H1 Antigen/genetics , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/drug therapy , Cost-Benefit Analysis , Aged , Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized/adverse effects , Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/economics , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/epidemiology , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/genetics , Clinical Trials, Phase III as Topic , Disease-Free Survival , Female , Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic/drug effects , Humans , Male , Markov Chains , Middle Aged , Neoplasm Metastasis , Quality-Adjusted Life Years , Randomized Controlled Trials as TopicABSTRACT
Objective:To research and evaluate community health service management,analyze the influencing factors,seek for related enlightenment and provide references for health decision making.Methods:In 2016,it organized the municipal community health service's management as a whole,reported by the research units.Results:Health center,65 held a total of 590 units,took part in the comprehensive assessment,60 held health centers were stratified randomly sampled and 42 units participated in the municipal review assessment.Conclusion:It needed to make better the construction and development of community health services,keep the maintain and upgrade for the policy environment and financial support,including community primary public health services and primary medical service fund support,personnel allocation standard and fund support,medical insurance policy support.Under the current community health management system,it needed to set up efficient community health operation mechanism,provide fast primary health care and primary public health service projects to solve the residents' primary health demands.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>The management of pain, agitation, and delirium (PAD) in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is beneficial for patients and makes it widely applied in clinical practice. Previous studies showed that the clinical practice of PAD in ICU was improving; yet relatively little information is available in China. This study aimed to investigate the practice of PAD in ICUs in China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A multicenter, nationwide survey was conducted using a clinician-directed questionnaire from September 19 to December 18, 2016. The questionnaire focused on the assessment and management of PAD by the clinicians in ICUs. The practice of PAD was compared among the four regions of China (North, Southeast, Northwest, and Southwest). The data were expressed as percentage and frequency. The Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, and line-row Chi-square test were used.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of the 1011 valid questionnaire forms, the response rate was 80.37%. The clinicians came from 704 hospitals across 158 cities of China. The rate of PAD assessment was 75.77%, 90.21%, and 66.77%, respectively. The rates of PAD scores were 45.8%, 68.94%, and 34.03%, respectively. The visual analog scale, Richmond agitation-sedation scale, and confusion assessment method for the ICU were the first choices of scales for PAD assessment. Fentanyl, midazolam, and dexmedetomidine were the first choices of agents for analgesic, sedation, and delirium treatment. While choosing analgesics and sedatives, the clinicians put the pharmacological characteristics of drugs in the first place (66.07% and 76.36%). Daily interruption for sedation was carried out by 67.26% clinicians. Most of the clinicians (87.24%) used analgesics while using sedatives. Of the 738 (73%) clinicians titrating the sedatives on the basis of the proposed target sedation level, 268 (26.61%) clinicians just depended on their clinical experience. Totally, 519 (51.34%) clinicians never used other nondrug strategies for PAD. The working time of clinicians was an important factor in the management of analgesia and sedation rather than their titles and educational background. The ratios of pain score and sedation score in the Southwest China were the highest and the North China were the lowest. The ratios of delirium assessment and score were the same in the four regions of China. Moreover, the first choices of scales for PAD in the four regions were the same. However, the top three choices of agents in PAD treatment in the four regions were not the same.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The practice of PAD in China follows the international guidelines; however, the pain assessment should be improved. The PAD practice is a little different across the four regions of China; however, the trend is consistent.</p><p><b>TRIAL REGISTRATION</b>The study is registered at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov (No. ChiCTR-OOC-16009014, www.chictr. org.cn/index.aspx.).</p>
Subject(s)
Humans , Delirium , Drug Therapy , Dexmedetomidine , Therapeutic Uses , Fentanyl , Therapeutic Uses , Haloperidol , Therapeutic Uses , Hypnotics and Sedatives , Therapeutic Uses , Intensive Care Units , Midazolam , Therapeutic Uses , Pain , Drug Therapy , Pain Management , Methods , Pain Measurement , Methods , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To prepare a drug-loading film using chitosan and carboxymethyl chitosan as the carrier materials for delivering matrine to oral ulcers.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Matrine-loading films using chitosan or carboxymethyl chitosan as the carrier materials were prepared by solution casting method and orthogonal experiment at room temperature. The mechanical properties, surface morphology and drug-loading capacity of the drug-loading film were characterized using tensile test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), swelling test and in vitro drug release test.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>When the molecular weight of chitosan was 650 000 and the mass ratio of chitosan/glycerol was 1:1.4, the prepared film had the maximum mechanical strength and tensile modulus reaching 0.7875 MPa. SEM observation showed that matrine aggregated at the bottom of the drug-loading film with an asymmetrical distribution. The in vitro drug release test showed that the film had a high drug-loading capacity and a sustained drug release property. The duration of drug release from the drug-loading film was prolonged as the molecular weight of chitosan increased, reaching 23 h when the molecular weight of chitosan was 650 000. The duration of drug release was further increased to 108 h when the bottom of the drug-loading film was coated with a layer of 1% carboxymethyl chitosan.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The matrix materials of the drug-loading film are natural, green, nontoxic and biodegradable, and the preparation of the film is simple without using large quantities of organic solvents. The novel drug-loading film can obviously prolong the duration of drugs release for better local drug delivery to oral ulcers in a sustained manner.</p>
Subject(s)
Alkaloids , Chemistry , Chitosan , Chemistry , Delayed-Action Preparations , Drug Delivery Systems , Drug Liberation , Glycerol , Chemistry , Microscopy, Electron, Scanning , Quinolizines , ChemistryABSTRACT
AIM: To investigate clinical features, treatment strategies and outcomes of patients with hepatolithiasis (HL) undergoing surgical treatment, using a new clinical classification. METHODS: Sixty-eight HL patients were hospitalized and treated surgically from August 2011 to December 2012 and they were classified into four HL types according to pathological evolution of the disease. These four HL types included typeâ Iâ primary type (defined as no previous biliary tract surgery), type II inflammatory type (with previous biliary tract surgery and cholangitis), type III mass-forming type (HL complicated by hepatic mass-forming lesion), and type IV terminal type (with secondary biliary cirrhosis and resultant portal hypertension). The perioperative data including general information, imaging data, postoperative complications, and immediate and final stone clearance rate were obtained and analyzed. RESULTS: In all 68 patients, the proportion of HL typeâ I-IV was 50% (34/68), 36.8% (25/68), 10.3% (7/68) and 2.8% (2/68), respectively. Abdominal pain was the main clinical manifestation in typeâ Iâ (88.2%), fever was predominant in type II (52.0%), the malignancy rate in type III was high (71.4%), and portal hypertension and spleen enlargement were common in type IV (2/2, 100.0%). Liver resection rate for typesâ I-III was 79.4%, 72.0% and 71.4%, respectively. The overall incidence of postoperative complications was 23.5% (16/68). There were no perioperative deaths. The average length of hospital stay was 12.7±7.3 d. Immediate and final stone clearance rate was 73.5% (50/68) and 89.7% (61/68), respectively. Fifty-nine of 68 patients (86.8%) were followed- up for >1 year after surgery, and 96.6% of these patients (57/59) had a good quality of life according to a criterion recommended for postoperative evaluation of quality of life. CONCLUSION: The pathological evolution-based clinical classification of HL has a role in optimizing treatment strategy, and patients can benefit from this classification when it is used properly.
Subject(s)
Decision Support Techniques , Endoscopy, Digestive System/methods , Lithiasis/pathology , Lithiasis/surgery , Liver Diseases/pathology , Liver Diseases/surgery , Liver/pathology , Liver/surgery , Adult , Diagnostic Imaging/methods , Endoscopy, Digestive System/adverse effects , Female , Humans , Hypertension, Portal/etiology , Hypertension, Portal/pathology , Length of Stay , Lithiasis/classification , Lithiasis/complications , Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary/etiology , Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary/pathology , Liver Diseases/classification , Liver Diseases/complications , Male , Middle Aged , Patient Selection , Postoperative Complications/etiology , Predictive Value of Tests , Severity of Illness Index , Time Factors , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
A phytochemical work on the alkaloid constituents from Trigonostemon lii Y.T. Chang was conducted to give six new ß-carboline alkaloids, trigonostemines A-F (1-6) and eight known ß-carboline alkaloids (7-14). Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic techniques including 2D NMR experiments and mass spectrometry. All of the compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against the HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, MCF-7, and SW480 human cancer cell lines. Trigonostemines A and B (1 and 2) exhibited stronger inhibitory activities than the positive control (cisplatin) in some cell lines.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic/chemistry , Carbolines/chemistry , Euphorbiaceae/chemistry , Indole Alkaloids/chemistry , Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic/pharmacology , Carbolines/pharmacology , Cell Line, Tumor , Cell Survival/drug effects , Cisplatin/pharmacology , Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor , Humans , Indole Alkaloids/pharmacology , Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy , Mass Spectrometry , Plant Extracts/chemistry , Plant Leaves/chemistryABSTRACT
40 cases of hypertrophicscar (HS) tissues and corresponding normal skin tissues were studied by FTIR technique, and the results showed that all of the HS and normal tissues can be classified into three kinds. Furthermore, the absorption bands of biomacromolecule in collagen, protein, nucleic acid and lipid of hypertrophicscar are stronger than those of normal tissues. But there is no significant difference in A1,063/A1,548 between HS and normal tissues. It is suggested that the cells of HS could still be normally growing and should not be scathed in the treatment process.
Subject(s)
Cicatrix, Hypertrophic/metabolism , Collagen/analysis , Skin/chemistry , Epidermis/chemistry , Humans , Lipids/analysis , Nucleic Acids/analysis , Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform InfraredABSTRACT
The tetranucleotide repeat locus D7S809 was investigated in Cantonese population by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, subsequent polyacryramide gel electrophoresis and silver staining. 14 alleles and 50 genotypes were detected in 190 sample individuals. All alleles differed in size by 4 bp repeat. No interalleles were found. The heterozygosity, power of discrimination and chance of non-paternal exclusion were 0.8613, 0.9645 and 0.7184 respectively. No significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were found. The D7S809 was a highly polymorphic, stable and accurate type locus and had been successfully applied to 100 paternity test cases.