OBJECTIVES: To analyze the differences in the prognosis of gastric signet ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) among different races using the US Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. METHODS: We analyzed the data of patients with gastric SRCC from the SEER database from 2000 to 2020, and divided the patients into cohorts of whites, blacks, Asians or Pacific Islanders, American Indians/Alaska Natives according to their race. The prognosis and treatment of the cohorts were evaluated using baseline demographic analysis, Kamplan-Meier survival curve, and nomogram analysis. RESULTS: We analyzed the data of a total of 2058 patients, including 8.6% blacks, 72.4% whites, 16.6% Asians or Pacific Islanders, 1.0% American Indians/Alaska Natives, and 1.4% other races. The tumor grade varied among different races, and the prevalence and survival rates of patients differed significantly across races. The differences in the white cohort were the most prominent, and all the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Racial differences were also noted in patient management and prognosis. CONCLUSIONS There are racial differences in tumor grades and prognosis of gastric SRCC, and these differences provide evidence for optimizing clinical diagnosis and treatment strategies for this malignancy.
Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Carcinoma, Signet Ring Cell/therapy* ; Databases, Factual ; Prognosis ; Racial Groups ; SEER Program ; Stomach Neoplasms/therapy* ; Survival Rate ; United States/epidemiology* ; White ; Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander ; American Indian or Alaska Native ; Black or African American

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to analyze the current status of end-of-life (EoL) care education of the undergraduate nursing curriculum and senior students' EoL care experience and competency.METHODS: A survey was conducted with 41 nursing schools and 622 senior nursing students on June 2018. The questionnaire consisted of 38 items on teaching regarding EoL care and 17 items on EoL care competencies based on the suggestions made by the American Nurses Association.RESULTS: Only 20% among 41 nursing schools opened an EoL care course as an elective, and the course was taken by 5.1% students. Of 622 students, 70.7% witnessed death of patients during their clinical training, but 74.8% received no or little education on EoL care from their clinical training instructors. Two of 38 education contents on EoL care were taught in class for over 80% of the students. All students scored below 3 points (2.31±0.66) for all 17 competencies, which means that they cannot perform EoL care.CONCLUSION: This study showed that there was a serious deficiency in undergraduate nursing education on EoL care. Accordingly, most nursing students who would graduate soon considered themselves incapable of performing EoL care. Nurses experience death and dying as a part of their practice and should be prepared to provide adequate EoL care. Therefore, it is urgent to improve EoL care training in the undergraduate nursing education.
American Nurses' Association ; Clinical Competence ; Curriculum ; Education ; Education, Nursing ; Humans ; Nursing ; Schools, Nursing ; Students, Nursing ; Terminal Care

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the impact of multimorbidity on work through a literature review of longitudinal studies.METHODS: A systematic review was carried out in the databases Lilacs, SciELO, PAHO, PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane. There were no restrictions regarding the year of publication or language to maximize the identification of relevant literature. The quality of studies was assessed by the protocol STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE).RESULTS: An initial database search identified 7522 registries, and at the end of the analysis, 7 manuscripts were included in the review. Several studies have demonstrated direct and indirect impacts of multimorbidity on the health of workers. For this, the number of missed days due to health-related issues was evaluated, as well as the reduction in work productivity of the unhealthy worker, vulnerability of the worker with multimorbidity regarding higher indices of dismissal and recruitment difficulties, and incidence of early retirement and/or receipt of benefits due to disabilities.CONCLUSIONS: Multimorbidity has a negative impact on work, with damages to quality of life and work productivity, worsening the absenteeism/presenteeism indices, enhancing the chances of temporary or permanent leaves, and lowering employability and admission of individuals with multimorbidity.
Comorbidity ; Efficiency ; Epidemiology ; Incidence ; Longitudinal Studies ; Pan American Health Organization ; Publications ; Quality of Life ; Registries ; Retirement

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the cardiovascular outcome of statin medication in individuals retrospectively categorized on the basis of the 2013 American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines risk assessment and to determine the additional prognostic value of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in assessing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in this group. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study reviewed 4255 asymptomatic individuals who had undergone self-referred CCTA with a median follow-up period of 87 months. The primary endpoint was major adverse cardiac events (MACEs); these included cardiac death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and unstable angina. Individuals recommended for statins according to the ACC/AHA guidelines were analyzed by their assessed risk. RESULTS: MACE occurrence was significantly higher in the statin-recommended (SR) group with significant coronary artery disease (CAD) than in those with insignificant CAD (p < 0.001). In individuals with a normal coronary artery on CCTA, MACEs did not occur regardless of statin medication. In the SR group with significant CAD, there was no significant difference between statin users and non-users (p = 0.810). However, in cases with insignificant CAD, the event-free survival was significantly lower among statin users (p = 0.034). In patients recommended for moderate-intensity statins, the segment involvement score on CCTA was significantly associated with a higher risk of MACEs (hazard ratio 2.558; p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: CCTA might have a potential role in CVD risk stratification among asymptomatic statin candidates.
American Heart Association ; Angina, Unstable ; Angiography ; Atherosclerosis ; Cardiology ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Vessels ; Death ; Disease-Free Survival ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors ; Myocardial Infarction ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Assessment

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia in the general population. The Korean Heart Rhythm Society organized a Korean Atrial Fibrillation Management Guideline Committee and analyzed all available studies regarding the management of AF, including studies on Korean patients. This guideline is based on recent data of the Korean population and the recent guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology, European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, American Heart Association, and Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society. Expert consensus or guidelines for the optimal management of Korean patients with AF were achieved after a systematic review with intensive discussion. This article provides general principles for appropriate risk stratification and selection of anticoagulation therapy in Korean patients with AF. This guideline deals with optimal stroke prevention, screening, rate and rhythm control, risk factor management, and integrated management of AF.
American Heart Association ; Anticoagulants ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Asia ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Cardiology ; Consensus ; Heart ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Risk Factors ; Stroke

Gradation of Disability in Human Body Injuries （hereinafter referred to as Gradation） has been released and used since January 2017, and has become the most widely used standard in forensic science practice. This paper calculates and rates the visual system evaluation provisions of the current domestic disability evaluation criteria represented by the Gradation which used the methods of Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment （hereinafter referred to as GEPI） issued by American Medical Association （AMA）. Through comparing, a good correlation between the provisions in Gradation and whole person impairment rating index in GEPI was shown. On the basis of this, suggestions are put forward to amend some provisions of Gradation, in order to provide reference for the revision and further improvement of domestic standards and provisions.
American Medical Association ; China ; Disability Evaluation ; Disabled Persons ; Forensic Medicine/standards* ; Forensic Sciences ; Guidelines as Topic ; Humans ; United States

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia in the general population. The Korean Heart Rhythm Society organized a Korean AF Management Guideline Committee and analyzed all available studies regarding the management of AF, including studies on Korean patients. This guideline is based on recent data of the Korean population and the recent guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology, European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, American Heart Association, and Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society. Expert consensus or guidelines for the optimal management of Korean patients with AF were achieved after a systematic review with intensive discussion. This article provides general principles for appropriate risk stratification and selection of anticoagulation therapy in Korean patients with AF. This guideline deals with optimal stroke prevention, screening, rate and rhythm control, risk factor management, and integrated management of AF.
American Heart Association ; Anticoagulants ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Asia ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Cardiology ; Consensus ; Heart ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Risk Factors ; Stroke

Kawasaki disease (KD) has been increasing recently in Korea. Although the delayed diagnosis of KD can cause coronary artery abnormalities, no specific test is available. Thus, optimal guidelines for early diagnosis and treatment of KD are the best way to prevent the development of coronary artery abnormalities. The 2017 updated American Heart Association guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management of KD are informative for physicians who face with children having manifestations suggestive of KD.
American Heart Association ; Aneurysm ; Child ; Coronary Vessels ; Delayed Diagnosis ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Korea ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome ; Secondary Prevention

OBJECTIVES: Adenovirus infection, which has been known to mimic Kawasaki disease (KD), is one of the most frequent conditions observed during differential diagnosis when considering KD. Accordingly, it is essential to being able to differentiate between these two diseases. Therefore, we performed multiplex reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and tissue-Doppler echocardiography to distinguish between adenovirus patients and KD patients. METHODS: A total of 113 adenoviral infection patients (female 48, male 65) diagnosed from January 2010 to June 2016 were evaluated. We divided adenoviral infection patients into two groups: group 1, which consisted of individuals diagnosed with KD according to the KD American Heart Association criteria (n=62, KD with adenovirus infection); and group 2, which comprised individuals only diagnosed with adenovirus infection (n=51). Laboratory data were obtained from each patient including N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide. Echocardiographic measurements were compared between two groups. In addition, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction was performed using nasopharyngeal secretions to diagnose adenoviral infection. RESULTS: Conjunctival injection, cervical lymphadenopathy, polymorphous skin rash, abnormalities of the lip or oral mucosa and abnormalities of extremities were significantly higher in group 1 than group 2. Moreover, group 1 had significantly higher C-reactive protein and alanine aminotransferase levels, as well as lower platelet counts and albumin levels than group 2. Coronary artery diameter was significantly greater in group 1 than group 2. CONCLUSION: In patients with adenoviral infection with unexplained prolonged fever, echocardiography and C-reactive protein can be used to differentiate KD with adenoviral infection from adenoviral infection alone.
Adenoviridae ; Adenoviridae Infections ; Alanine Transaminase ; American Heart Association ; C-Reactive Protein ; Coronary Vessels ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Echocardiography ; Exanthema ; Extremities ; Fever ; Humans ; Lip ; Lymphatic Diseases ; Male ; Mouth Mucosa ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome* ; Platelet Count ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

In recent years, acupuncture has been used widely as an adjuvant treatment for the in vitro fertilization (IVF). " " published in on May 15, 2018, the research findings do not support the use of acupuncture to improve the rate of live births among the women undergoing IVF. In order to avoid the misunderstanding of the scholars at home and abroad for the clinical effects of acupuncture on IVF assistance, the authors put forward the doubts after the analysis from the following 3 aspects, including the acupuncture scheme, outcomes and result explanation. Additionally, the thinking and suggestions are proposed for the future development of the clinical trials of acupuncture IVF assistance in terms of selecting the proper participants, being abided by the standards of the evidence-based medicine, designing multi-acupuncture schemes and setting up the rational control, as well as conducting the overall analysis of the trial data.
Acupuncture ; American Medical Association ; Embryo Transfer ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Humans ; Live Birth ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Rate ; United States