Animals ; Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine ; metabolism ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Carcinoma, Small Cell ; metabolism ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Cell Differentiation ; Chromogranin A ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Neuroendocrine Cells ; metabolism ; pathology ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; physiopathology

Disinfection ; Escherichia coli ; isolation & purification ; Hospitals ; Medical Waste ; Sewage ; Waste Products ; Water Microbiology

<p style="text-align: justify;">OBJECTIVE: To obtain reference values of bone mineral density (BMD) for Filipino women in order to make a population-specific diagnosis of osteoporosis.
SETTING: Osteoporosis Unit, Joint and Bone Center, Section of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, University of Santo Tomas Hospital, Manila, Philippines.
PARTICIPANTS: 442 healthy Filipino women volunteers recruited from the outpatient department, Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology Clinic of the University of Santo Tomas Hospital and from within the University of Santo Tomas campus. Subjects with known underlying illness or conditions or intake of drugs that predispose to osteoporosis were excluded from the study.
INTERVENTION: Bone mineral density (BMD) measurements, expressed in grams per square centimenter of the lumbar spine, non-dominant femur and non-dominant forearm were done in 442 consecutive healthy Filipino women using the LUNAR DPX-IQ machine.
RESULTS: Means and standard deviations of BMD measurements at each site were calculated using Kwikstat software Version 3.6, Release 7. Results were grouped in decades to serve as reference per decade.
CONCLUSION: BMD of these 442 healthy Filipino women may serve as an initial reference guide for the diagnosis of osteoporosis in Filipino women.p>
Human ; Female ; Aged ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Young Adult ; Osteoporosis ; Femur ; Forearm ; Chronic Pain ; Delivery Of Health Care ; Bone Density ; Body Mass Index

<p style="text-align: justify;">Sulodexide was evaluated in an investigator-initiated, multi-center, randomized, controlled, open-labeled study to determine its safety and tolerability profile, and effect on the neurological recovery and functional outcome of patients with acute ischemic stroke. Sixty-five (65) patients were randomized to Standard care group and 46 to Standard care plus Sulodexide Treatment group. Sulodexide was observed to be safe and well-tolerated among patients included in this study. Although not statistically significant, Modified Rankin Scale Responder Analysis consistently showed higher proportions of functionally improved patients in the Sulodexide group than in the Standard Care group on treatment days 10, 30, and 90 respectively.p>
Human ; Male ; Female ; Aged ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Glucuronyl Glucosamine Glycan Sulfate ; Research Personnel ; Stroke ; Glycosaminoglycans

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global public health emergency. High levels of fear and limited access to cancer treatment may jeopardize the delivery of optimal oncologic care, potentially influencing treatment outcomes. This study aimed to identify patients’ and their caregivers’ perception of safety and accessibility of cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of patients and caregivers at the Benavides Cancer Institute, University of Santo Tomas Hospital was performed from August to October 2020 using a 20-item investigator-developed questionnaire. Results: A total of 207 participants answered the survey. Frequency of hospital visits varied from none to more than ten times in the previous month; but having multiple postponements were uncommon. Eighty-two percent, 77%, 62%, and 55% of participants reported being afraid of contracting COVID-19 from other patients, hospital surroundings, hospital staff, and doctors, respectively. Twenty-six percent and 12% had difficulty finding transportation and passing through checkpoints, respectively. Twenty-eight percent strongly expressed financial limitations in prioritizing cancer care. Participants were amenable to the use of telemedicine and stringent protocols to reduce in-hospital transmission risk, but had some reluctance to spend out of their pockets for screening tests. Conclusion The perceived safety of cancer care was influenced by fears of contracting COVID-19; and accessibility was influenced by limited transportation and financial constraints. Despite these, multiple postponements and cancelled hospital visits were uncommon. Institutional approaches targeting these concerns will be crucial to ensure safe and timely delivery of cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic and further mitigate its impact on oncologic outcomes.
COVID-19 ; Pandemics ; Safety

Objective: To evaluate the frailty status and understand the relationship between the incidence of fall and frailty status in the elderly in Beijing. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in old people aged ≥60 years in Longtan community of Dongcheng district in Beijing from November 2015 to January 2016. The information about any fall during the past year and frailty status of the elderly were collected with a standardized structured questionnaire in face-to-face interviews. The frailty status of elderly people was assessed with frailty index (FI) method. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between fall and frailty status among the elderly. Results: Among 1 557 old people surveyed, the incidence of fall was 17.8% (277/1 557) during the past year. The incidence of fall in women (21.0%, 192/277) was statistically higher than that in men (13.3%, 85/277) (χ(2)=15.288, P=0.000). The median (quartile) value of FI of the elderly surveyed was 0.09 (0.08); and women had a higher FI median value than men [0.10 (0.08) versus 0.08 (0.07)](Z=5.376, P=0.000). The median FI value (quartile range) of 277 old people with history of fall in previous year was 0.12 (0.11), which was higher than the median FI value of 0.08 (0.07) of 1 280 old people without fall history (Z=7.501, P=0.000). Logistic regression analysis showed that higher FI value was associated with more risks for fall; and FI value showed the greatest impact on the incidence and frequency of fall (OR=1.093, 2.234) compared with other related factors of fall, such as age and gender. Conclusion: Frailty status has a greater impact on both incidence and frequency of fall compared with other factors in elderly people in Beijing; more attention should be paid to weak and old adults in the prevention of fall.
Accidental Falls/statistics & numerical data* ; Adult ; Aged ; Beijing ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Frail Elderly ; Frailty ; Geriatric Assessment ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Urban Population

<p>INTRODUCTIONThis study aims to determine if the quantitative method of region-of-interest (ROI) analysis of lesion attenuation on CT may be a useful adjunct to the conventional approach of diagnosis by visual assessment in assessing tracer wash-out in hepatocellular carcinomas.p><p>MATERIALS AND METHODSFrom a surgical database of 289 patients from 2 institutions, all patients with complete surgical, pathological and preoperative multiphasic CT scans available for review were selected. For each phase of scanning, HU readings of lesion obtained (Lesion(arterial), Lesion(PV) and Lesion(equilibrium)) were analysed using receiver operating curves (ROC) to determine the optimal method and cut-off value for quantitative assessment of tumour wash-out (Lesion(arterial - equilibrium), Lesion(PV - equilibrium) or Lesion(peak - equilibrium)).p><p>RESULTSNinety-four patients with one lesion each met the inclusion criteria. The area under the curve (AUC) values for Lesion(arterial - equilibrium) (0.941) was higher than the AUC for Lesion(pv - equilibrium) (0.484) and for Lesion(peak - equilibrium) (0.667). Based on ROC analysis, a cut-off of 10HU value for Lesion(arterial - equilibrium) would yield sensitivity and specificity of 91.5% and 80.9%, respectively. ROI analysis detected 9/21 (42.9%) of lesions missed by visual analysis. Combined ROI and visual analysis yields a sensitivity of 82/94 (87.2%) compared to 73/94 (77.7%) for visual analysis alone.p><p>CONCLUSIONUsing a cut-off of 10 HU attenuation difference between the arterial and equilibrium phases is a simple and objective method that can be included as an adjunct to visual assessment to improve sensitivity for determining lesion wash-out on CT.p>
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; diagnosis ; pathology ; surgery ; Confidence Intervals ; Databases, Factual ; Female ; Humans ; Liver ; pathology ; Liver Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Preoperative Period ; ROC Curve ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; instrumentation ; Young Adult

Objective: To evaluate the association of family history with risk of major coronary events (MCE) and ischemic heart disease (IHD). Methods: After excluding participants with heart disease, stroke or cancer at baseline survey, a total of 485 784 participants from the China Kadoorie Biobank, who had no missing data on critical variables, were included in the analysis. Cox regression analysis was used to estimate the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% CI. Subgroup analyses were performed according to the baseline characteristics. Results: During a median of 7.2 years of follow-up, we documented 3 934 incident cases of MCE and 24 537 cases of IHD. In multivariable-adjusted models, family history was significantly associated with risk of MCE and IHD. The adjusted HRs (95%CI) were 1.41 (1.19-1.65) and 1.25 (1.18-1.33), respectively. History of disease among siblings was more strongly associated with early-onset MCE than parental history (HR=2.97, 95%CI: 1.80-4.88). Moreover, the association of family history with MCE and IHD was stronger in persons who were overweight or obesive, and the association between family history and MEC was stronger in smokers. Conclusion: This large-scale, prospective study indicated that family history was an independent risk factor for MCE and IHD in China. The intervention targeting major known lifestyle risk factors and the management of chronic diseases should be strengthened for Chinese population, especially for the individuals with family history were at high risk.
Asian People/statistics & numerical data* ; China/epidemiology* ; Coronary Disease/genetics* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Myocardial Ischemia/genetics* ; Overweight/ethnology* ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Assessment ; Risk Factors ; Smoking/ethnology*

Objective: To describe the regional and population-related differences in calcaneus bone mineral density (BMD) across ten regions of China. Methods: Based on the results: from the second Re-survey of China Kadoorie Biobank project, in which 5% of the surviving participants were interviewed during 2013-2014 and 24 677 participants aged 38-87 years were included in the study. We excluded those people with missing data for BMD and important variables. Calcaneus BMD was measured using the quantitative ultrasound bone densitometer. We analyzed four indexes, including broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA), speed of sound (SOS), stiffness index (SI), and T score. Results The average calcaneus BMDs of the present population were: BUA (109.7±12.6) dB/MHz, SOS (1 554.7±45.6) m/s, SI (88.3±18.8), T score (-0.74±1.28). Urban residents showed higher calcaneus BMD, so as in men. The calcaneus BMD decreased by age, with a larger decline seen in women. Current smokers and postmenopausal women presented lower calcaneus BMD, while in those who frequently drank milk or yogurt or being physically more active, had higher calcaneus BMD. Conclusion: Calcaneus BMD varied greatly among people from the ten regions of CKB study and among participants having different demographic characteristics, lifestyle behaviors or health conditions.
Absorptiometry, Photon/methods* ; Adult ; Age Factors ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Bone Density/physiology* ; Calcaneus/diagnostic imaging* ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Residence Characteristics ; Rural Population ; Sex Factors ; Ultrasonography ; Urban Population