Construction of a predictive model for cognitive impairment risk in patients with advanced cancer.

AIMS: The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors for cognitive impairment in advanced cancer patients and to develop predictive models based on these risk factors. BACKGROUND: Cancer-related cognitive impairment seriously affects the quality of life of advanced cancer patients. However, neural network models of cognitive impairment in patients with advanced cancer have not yet been identified. DESIGN: A cross-sectional design was used. METHODS: This study collected 494 questionnaires between January and June 2022. Statistically significant clinical indicators were selected by univariate analysis, and the artificial neural network model and logistic regression model were used for multivariate analysis. The predicted value of the model was estimated using the area under the subject's working characteristic curve. RESULT: The artificial neural network and the logistic regression models suggested that cancer course, anxiety and age were the major risk factors for cognitive impairment in advanced cancer patients. All the indexes of artificial neural network model constructed in this study are better than those of the logistic model. CONCLUSION: The artificial neural network model can better predict the risk factors of cognitive impairment in patients with advanced cancer. Better prediction will enable nurses and other healthcare professionals to provide better targeted and timely support.

Model Construction and Empirical Analysis of Comprehensive Evaluation Index of Economic Operation in Public Hos-pitals / 中国卫生经济

Objective:In order to cope with the rising risk pressure on the economic operation of public hospitals,it aims to re-search and construct a comprehensive economic operation evaluation index,and improve the comprehensiveness,scientific and dynamic nature of monitoring and analysis of the economic operation of public hospitals.Methods:Literature research,expert consultation and hierarchical analysis were adopted.Results:A comprehensive evaluation model of public hospitals'economic operation covering 5 dimensions and 25 indexes,including structural optimization,controllable risk,efficiency enhancement,smooth operation and sustain-able development,has been constructed;empirical analyses of the overall index,sub-indexes and monthly indexes have been carried out on the data of some of the tertiary hospitals in Shanghai,which have verified the validity of the above index model in enhancing the monitoring,analysis and evaluation of the hospitals'economic operation,and revealed the role of the above index model in the changes of the economic conditions of the hospitals and the factors.Conclusion:Constructing a comprehensive evaluation index can effectively complement management such as comprehensive assessment and evaluation of public hospitals and traditional financial descriptive analysis.

Standardized diagnosis and treatment of spinal infectious diseases / 中华骨科杂志

Infectious diseases of spine (IDS) refer to a series of infectious diseases in different parts of the spine (vertebral body, intervertebral disc, appendix of vertebra, spinal canal, and adjacent paravertebral tissues) caused by various pathogenic microorganisms, accounting for about 2%~7% of systemic musculoskeletal system infections. According to the classic classification IDS can be divided into two types: specific infection and non-specific infection. IDS often has an insidious onset, atypical clinical manifestations, and less-specific imaging and laboratory tests, which causes great difficulties for the accurate diagnosis and treatment, often leading to missed diagnosis, misdiagnosis, and even mistreatment. Problems such as disordered clinical diagnosis and treatment procedures, diverse treatment methods, and non-standard medication and course of treatment still affect the prognosis of IDS. This article reviews the current research progress of the diagnosis and treatment process of IDS, in order to further standardize the diagnosis and treatment process of IDS.

Analysis on the operation of personal saving accounts for Urban Employees' Basic Medical In-surance in Shanghai / 中国卫生政策研究

There is a unification of the social pooling accounts and personal saving accounts of Urban Employees' Basic Medical Insurance ( UEBMI) in Shanghai. In recent years, the revenue and expenditure of UEBMI funds increased, and the fund balance sprouted year by year, and mostly concentrated in personal health insurance saving accounts. On the whole, the vast majority of insured personal saving accounts have balances, but the balance is not high, i. e. less than 1000 yuan accounted for 52. 3%. Judging from the age group, the personal health insur-ance saving account funds is mainly concentrated in the 30-year-old and over working population. Because of its par-ticularity, the personal health insurance saving accounts can only be invested in current deposit (bank live), time deposit and national debt, bonds and other hedge. Compared with the price index devaluation, the personal health insurance saving accounts somehow failed to give full play to the personal attributes. It is suggested to explore the use function of personal health insurance saving accounts by establishing family saving accounts-family coexistence, pur-chasing of supplementary medical insurance and so on. Simultaneously, the channels of maintaining and increasing the value of personal health insurance saving accounts could be broadened.

Suggestions to improve the compensation mechanism of public hospitals / 中华医院管理杂志

According to the target-model of the health care system and characteristics of the health financing system,it is proposed in the paper that the charges of medical services should be the main revenue of public hospital compensation.Efforts should be made to adjust health care service prices and strengthen pharmaceutical management simultaneously so as to rebuild the structure of medical service charge.Medical insurance should make the majority in the compensation to cover most the medical expenses,with government subsidies supporting development.Both government financial investment and medical insurance should join their efforts for planning-guidance and performance-guidance.The authors also suggested to improve a graded and normative diagnoses and treatment system,regulate medical behaviors of public hospitals and their cost standards,justifying the total compensation and standard verification of such hospitals.

Status quo and trend of VIP services in the tertiary public hospitals of Shanghai / 中国卫生政策研究

Objective:To analyze status quo and trends of VIP services in the tertiary public hospitals of Shang-hai and provide references for health administrative departments. Methods:Health policies of VIP services in tertiary public hospitals were searched and analyzed, and the number of medical institutions, services, prices and service fees were analyzed from 2011 to 2013 . Results:There is a clear demand for VIP services in the tertiary public hospi-tals of Shanghai, and fees for rooms, nursing, and examinations for outpatient and inpatient care are decided by the hospitals. 89. 7% of the tertiary public hospitals in Shanghai offered VIP services, and the trend was steadily grow-ing. The four services that could be decided by hospitals varied greatly, and the service fees for inpatient care in-creased significantly. The total cost of VIP services in the tertiary public hospitals of Shanghai accounted 6. 2% of all costs, and the percentage of income from drugs was lower. Conclusions:VIP services in public hospitals have a his-torical necessity;management should be strengthened in the short term;public hospitals should strengthen their own management and provide VIP services regularly, and health administration departments should strengthen regulation. In the long run, it is suggested that public hospitals should draw lessons from international experiences to form a pat-tern of multi-level medical services and actively carry out cooperation with private medical institutions.

Status quo and trend of premium private health services in Shanghai / 中国卫生政策研究

Objective:To study status quo of premium private health services and analyze the trend of its devel-opment. Method:The scope of premium private medical institutions was first defined. Then, seven indicators were used to analyze the allocation of resources;two indicators were used to analyze services;eight indicators were used to analyze costs. The entire situation of different styles of institutions through 2011 to 2013 was compared. Results:The results indicated that in the allocation of resources, the current level of premium private medical institutions is not high enough;large-scale construction is still at its early stages;and the medical personnel structure is not reasonable enough;as for service quantity, the total growth rate of premium private medical institutions is high but the service quantity is still far below that of the VIP services in public hospitals;as for medical expenses, premium private medi-cal institutions are charging high service fees, and the internal structure of the expenses is reasonable. Conclusions:Although the development of premium private health services is at an early stage, development prospects are promis-ing. Premium private health services should strengthen the aspects of medical technology, service levels, management capabilities, human resource building, and brand development.

Development of premium healthcare industry:International experience and implications / 中国卫生政策研究

Premium healthcare is the key area of healthcare industry and private medical institutions. Howev-er, with the expansion of VIP services in public hospitals and policy barriers to private medical institutions, the de-velopment of premium healthcare in China is still in its early stage. The premium healthcare industry has in fact be-gun to take shape in some developed countries, accumulating rich experience in the aspects of developing bases, op-erating modes and security systems. Therefore, this paper introduces the experiences of premium healthcare develop-ment in several countries:the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Singapore, Australia, and India: the building of safety net hospitals;the setting of hierarchical pricing and differential financial assistance;the use of pub-lic-private partnership based on commercial health insurance to determine prioritization. Based on the actual situation in China, this paper provides some implications to develop premium healthcare, including the implementation of dif-ferential payment policies built on the provision of basic healthcare services, the promotion of commercial health in-surance and public-private partnerships, and the determination of preferential areas.

Concept, connotation and priorities of premium healthcare:A case study of Shanghai / 中国卫生政策研究

Premium healthcare is one of the major components of private healthcare, a key part of the health service industry, and one of the significant areas of the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan of health. However, there is no clear definition of premium healthcare that is widely accepted based on a Chinese literature review, and to define the concept of premium healthcare is the basis and premise for research. This paper adopted the methods of systematic re-view, field investigation and key person interviews to clarify the definition of premium healthcare and the results sug-gested that areas of health management, medical care for the elderly, mobile medical care, and so on should be the priorities of premium healthcare development.

Study on improving the basic health insurance system in Shanghai:Based on the perspective of commercial health insurance / 中国卫生政策研究

Although the Shanghai's basic health insurance always takes the leading position nationwide in the aspects of coverage, funding level, security level, etc, it still cannot avoid the contradictory problems brought by the rapidly rising demand for health care, poor results of funds management, etc. Commercial health insurance has its u-nique advantages in terms of funds and personnel management. Therefore, they can play their complementary role to the basic medical insurance in order to improve the basic health insurance system. Based on the perspective of com-mercial health insurances, this paper explores the basic health insurance system in Shanghai from the aspects of man-agement patterns, governing body, insurance objects, funding modalities and insurance programs.

Intratumoral injection of Propionibacterium acnes suppresses malignant melanoma by enhancing Th1 immune responses.

Malignant melanoma (MM) is an aggressive cutaneous malignancy associated with poor prognosis; many putatively therapeutic agents have been administered, but with mostly unsuccessful results. Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) is an aerotolerant anaerobic gram-positive bacteria that causes acne and inflammation. After being engulfed and processed by phagocytes, P. acnes induces a strong Th1-type cytokine immune response by producing cytokines such as IL-12, IFN-γ and TNF-α. The characteristic Th2-mediated allergic response can be counteracted by Th1 cytokines induced by P. acnes injection. This inflammatory response induced by P. acnes has been suggested to have antitumor activity, but its effect on MM has not been fully evaluated.We analyzed the anti-tumor activity of P. acnes vaccination in a mouse model of MM. Intratumoral administration of P. acnes successfully protected the host against melanoma progression in vivo by inducing both cutaneous and systemic Th1 type cytokine expression, including TNF-α and IFN-γ, which are associated with subcutaneous granuloma formation. P. acnes-treated tumor lesions were infiltrated with TNF-α and IFN-γ positive T cells. In the spleen, TNF-α as well as IFN-γ producing CD8(+)T cells were increased, and interestingly, the number of monocytes was also increased following P. acnes administration. These observations suggest that P. acnes vaccination induces both systemic and local antitumor responses. In conclusion, this study shows that P. acnes vaccination may be a potent therapeutic alternative in MM.

Effective anti-tumor adoptive immunotherapy: utilization of exogenous IL-2-independent cytotoxic T lymphocyte clones.

To attain one of the final goals for cancer immunotherapy, cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) clones were selected on the basis of exogenous IL-2 independence after limiting dilution culture from mixed lymphocyte tumor cell culture cells of FBL-3 tumor-immune spleens. About 10% of the clones could be propagated up to >5 times by weekly passages in the presence of splenic feeder and stimulating tumor cells. Two of the representative FBL-3-specific CTL clones that were able to undergo the fifth passage were expanded in large numbers for adoptive transfer by two rounds of a weekly passage with medium containing IL-2. FBL-3-specific CTL clones thus obtained showed a strong ability to eliminate the established tumors when transferred into tumor-bearing nude mice. In addition, the cells were recovered from the mouse spleen even 8 months after the transfer. The most striking differences between the CTL clones used in this experiment and those maintained conventionally in the presence of IL-2 were the abilities to produce IL-2 by themselves and the high expression level of the integrin molecule, VLA-4, that disappeared when cultured completely in the continuous presence of IL-2 in vitro during 12 weeks. In addition, concomitant with the disappearance of exogenous IL-2 independence and VLA-4 expression, the CTL clones lost their capacity to eradicate the tumor in vivo. Thus, the higher capacity of CTL clones to produce IL-2 on their own seemed to be correlated with the in vivo efficacy for tumor eradication and the long-term maintenance of their physiological profiles typical of memory T cells.