Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in singapore. We describe a cohort of multi-ethnic Asian patients with AF, with the aim to evaluate anticoagulation use and to identify factors predictive of stroke, bleeding and all-cause mortality. Materials and Methods: this was a single centre, retrospective cohort study. All patients with an admission diagnosis of AF between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2010 were identified. Of these patients, those who had follow-up data up to 31 December 2012 were included in the study. results: there were 1095 eligible patients. the mean age was 67±14 years, mean cHADs2 score was 2±1 and mean HAs-bLED score 2±1. Of the 1095 patients, 657 (62.0%) had a cHADs2 score ≥ 2 but only 215 (32.7%) were eventually prescribed warfarin. Patients not on warfarin were older (p<0.0001) and were more likely females (p<0.0001). Among patients not on warfarin, 52% had HAs-bLED score ≤3. Multivariate analysis revealed that warfarin use and high HAs-bLED score were associated with increased bleeding risk. Age, Indian ethnicity and cHADs2 score were predictive of ischemic stroke. All-cause mortality was significantly related to age, presence of heart failure and HAs-bLED score. conclusions: Anticoagulation management of AF patients remains inadequate. Objective assessment of bleeding risks should be performed before withholding anticoagulation.

BACKGROUNDThe Borg scale is most commonly used to measure dyspnea in China. However, many patients that find it is difficult to distinguish the labeled numbers corresponding to different dyspnea scores. We developed a new method to rate dyspnea, which we call the count scale (CS). It includes the count scale number (CSN) and count scale time (CST). The aims of the present study were to determine the reproducibility and sensitivity of the CS during exercise in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

METHODSFourteen male patients with COPD (aged 58.00 ± 7.72 years) participated in this study. A progressive incremental exercise and a 6-minute constant work exercise test were performed every 2 to 3 days for a total of 3 times. The CS results were evaluated at rest and at 30% and 70% of maximal workload (Wmax) and Wmax. The Borg scales were obtained during exercise.

RESULTSNo significant differences occurred across the three trials during exercise for the CS and Borg scores. The CSN and CST were more varied at Wmax (coefficient of variation (CV) = (22.28 ± 16.96)% for CSN, CV = (23.08 ± 19.11)% for CST) compared to 30% of Wmax (CV = (11.92 ± 8.78)% for CSN, CV = (11.16 ± 9.96)% for CST) and 70% of Wmax (CV = (9.08 ± 7.09)% for CSN, CV = (12.19 ± 12.32)% for CST). Dyspnea ratings with either CSN or CST tended to decrease at the higher workload compared to the lower workload. CSN and CST scores were highly correlated (r = 0.861, P < 0.001). CSN was negatively correlated with Borg scores (r = -0.363, P = 0.001). Similar results were obtained for the relationship between CST and Borg scores (r = -0.345, P = 0.003).

CONCLUSIONWe concluded that the CS is simple and reproducible when measuring dyspnea during exercise in patients with COPD.

Aged ; Dyspnea ; diagnosis ; Exercise ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; physiopathology ; Reproducibility of Results

OBJECTIVEA randomized trial of breast self-examination (BSE) program was carried out to evaluate whether the intensive BSE can reduce the death number of women from breast cancer.

METHODSA total of 266,064 women (age of 30 to 64 years) associated with 519 textile factories in Shanghai had been randomly assigned to a BSE instruction group (132,979 women) or a control group (133,085 women) since 1989. Initial instruction in BSE group included demonstration of proper palpation techniques. It was followed by 2 reinforcement sessions during the subsequent 4 years including video shows, BSE instruction sessions and BSE practice under medical supervision. These activities were continued for 5 years. Attendance at all events was recorded. The cohort was followed through July 2000 for development of breast diseases, and the breast cancer cases were followed up through 2001 for vital status. The data analysis methods used included Kaplan-Meier plots, Log-rank test and Cox modeling.

RESULTSAmong women under instruction, 864 breast cancers were detected and 133 breast cancer deaths occurred, and 896 breast cancers were detected and 130 deaths recorded in the control group. The tumor size (P = 0.07), TNM stage (P = 0.39) and cumulative breast cancer mortality rate (P = 0.72) were not significantly different between the 2 groups. However, more and smaller fibroadenomas were detected in the instruction group than in the control group (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONIntensive instruction in BSE can not reduce mortality rate of breast cancer, but more and smaller benign breast lumps can be detected.

Adult ; Breast Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; Breast Self-Examination ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mass Screening ; Middle Aged

Rett syndrome (RTT) is a progressive neurodevelopmental disorder, mainly caused by mutations in MeCP2 and currently with no cure. We report here that neurons from R106W MeCP2 RTT human iPSCs as well as human embryonic stem cells after MeCP2 knockdown exhibit consistent and long-lasting impairment in maturation as indicated by impaired action potentials and passive membrane properties as well as reduced soma size and spine density. Moreover, RTT-inherent defects in neuronal maturation could be pan-neuronal and occurred in neurons with both dorsal and ventral forebrain features. Knockdown of MeCP2 led to more severe neuronal deficits as compared to RTT iPSC-derived neurons, which appeared to retain partial function. Strikingly, consistent deficits in nuclear size, dendritic complexity and circuitry-dependent spontaneous postsynaptic currents could only be observed in MeCP2 knockdown neurons but not RTT iPSC-derived neurons. Both neuron-intrinsic and circuitry-dependent deficits of MeCP2-deficient neurons could be fully or partially rescued by re-expression of wild type or T158M MeCP2, strengthening the dosage dependency of MeCP2 on disease phenotypes and also the partial function of the mutant. Our findings thus reveal stable neuronal maturation deficits and unexpectedly, graded sensitivities of neuron-inherent and neural transmission phenotypes towards the extent of MeCP2 deficiency, which is informative for future therapeutic development.

BACKGROUNDThe evaluation of retinal image quality in cataract eyes has gained importance and the clinical modulation transfer functions (MTF) can obtained by aberrometer and double pass (DP) system. This study aimed to compare MTF derived from a ray tracing aberrometer and a DP system in early cataractous and normal eyes.

METHODSThere were 128 subjects with 61 control eyes and 67 eyes with early cataract defined according to the Lens Opacities Classification System III. A laser ray-tracing wavefront aberrometer (iTrace) and a double pass (DP) system (OQAS) assessed ocular MTF for 6.0 mm pupil diameters following dilation. Areas under the MTF (AUMTF) and their correlations were analyzed. Stepwise multiple regression analysis assessed factors affecting the differences between iTrace- and OQAS-derived AUMTF for the early cataract group.

RESULTSFor both early cataract and control groups, iTrace-derived MTFs were higher than OQAS-derived MTFs across a range of spatial frequencies (P < 0.01). No significant difference between the two groups occurred for iTrace-derived AUMTF, but the early cataract group had significantly smaller OQAS-derived AUMTF than did the control group (P < 0.01). AUMTF determined from both the techniques demonstrated significant correlations with nuclear opacities, higher-order aberrations (HOAs), visual acuity, and contrast sensitivity functions, while the OQAS-derived AUMTF also demonstrated significant correlations with age and cortical opacity grade. The factors significantly affecting the difference between iTrace and OQAS AUMTF were root-mean-squared HOAs (standardized beta coefficient = -0.63, P < 0.01) and age (standardized beta coefficient = 0.26, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSMTFs determined from a iTrace and a DP system (OQAS) differ significantly in early cataractous and normal subjects. Correlations with visual performance were higher for the DP system. OQAS-derived MTF may be useful as an indicator of visual performance in early cataract eyes.

Aberrometry ; methods ; Adult ; Aged ; Cataract ; physiopathology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Visual Acuity ; physiology