Specific activities of the working group include reviewing the assessment score sheet of all falls and the preventive measures by degree of risk, making staff education, training, monitoring the implementation of the safety and preventive recommendations for prevention of falls.
  The data of all inpatient falls which occurred during one year prior to and one year subsequent to the WG intervention were analyzed.
  The incidence of inpatient secondary falls, decreased from 155 to 108 , and reports of level III severe falls, showed a reduction from five cases to three. Statistically, the total percentage of secondary falls incidence decreased from 2.19‰ to 1.54‰.
  We therefore concluded that through the activities of the WG, the strengthening of the in-house system to prevent secondary falls, staff education, training, and heightened staff safety awareness have led to a decrease in the total number of primary and secondary inpatient falls.

BACKGROUND: Waldenström Macroglobulinemia (WM) is a rare subtype of indolent B-cell lymphoma, and prospective randomized studies on WM are scarce. The R-CHOP therapy [rituximab (R), cyclophosphamide, hydroxy-doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone] is a popular and recommended regimen for primary therapy, prescribed by several treatment guidelines for WM. However, treatment with R-CHOP is accompanied by severe myelosuppression and high rates of peripheral neuropathy. Therefore, we retrospectively evaluated the efficacy and toxicity of half-dose CHOP combined with R as a primary therapy for WM. METHODS: Patients with untreated symptomatic WM, treated at the Disaster Medical Center between April 2011 and September 2016, were retrospectively analyzed after administration of 6 cycles of half-dose R-CHOP for every 3 weeks. The response, median time to response, best response, progression-free survival, overall survival, and toxicities were evaluated. RESULTS: Of the 20 WM patients analyzed, 16 (80%) received half-dose R-CHOP without vincristine, and 13 (65%) responded to the treatment. With a median follow-up duration of 26.3 months, the 2-year progression-free survival and 2-year overall survival rates were 70 and 93.3%, respectively. The median time to response and best response were 6 and 9.9 weeks, respectively. Grade 3/4 leukocytopenia, neutropenia, febrile neutropenia, and Grade 1 peripheral neuropathy developed in 32, 37, 0, and 21% of patients, respectively. CONCLUSION: The half-dose R-CHOP is an effective and well-tolerated primary therapy for WM. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting the use of a reduced-dose R-CHOP regimen for the primary treatment of WM.
Cyclophosphamide ; Disasters ; Disease-Free Survival ; Febrile Neutropenia ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Leukopenia ; Lymphoma, B-Cell ; Neutropenia ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases ; Prospective Studies ; Retrospective Studies ; Rituximab* ; Survival Rate ; Vincristine ; Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia*

Background/Aims: The Heart Failure Association (HFA)-PEFF score is recognized as a simple method to diagnose heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between HFA-PEFF scores and cardiovascular outcomes in HFpEF patients. Methods: A total of 502 consecutive HFpEF patients were prospectively observed for up to 1,500 days. Cardiovascular outcomes were compared between two groups of patients, defined by their HFA-PEFF scores: those who scored 2–4 (the intermediate-score group) and those who scored 5–6 group (the high-score group). Overall, 236 cardiovascular events were observed during the follow-up period (median, 1,159 days). Results: Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that there were significant differences in composite cardiovascular events and HF-related events between the intermediate-score group and the high-score group (p = 0.003 and p < 0.001, respectively). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis showed that the HFA-PEFF scores significantly predicted future HF-related events (hazard ratio, 1.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.11 to 2.50; p = 0.014); receiver operating characteristic analysis confirmed this relationship (area under the curve, 0.633; 95% CI, 0.574 to 0.692; p < 0.001). The cutoff HFA-PEFF score for the identification of HF-related events was 4.5. Decision curve analysis revealed that combining the HFA-PEFF score with conventional prognostic factors improved the prediction of HF-related events. Conclusions HFA-PEFF scores may be useful for predicting HF-related events in HFpEF patients.