INTRODUCTION: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is common in Singapore, with moderate to severe OSA affecting around 30% of residents. These consensus statements aim to provide scientifically grounded recommendations for the management of OSA, standar-dise the management of OSA in Singapore and promote multidisciplinary collaboration. METHOD: An expert panel, which was convened in 2024, identified several areas of OSA management that require guidance. The expert panel reviewed the current literature and developed consensus statements, which were later independently voted on using a 3-point Likert scale (agree, neutral or disagree). Consensus (total ratings of agree and neutral) was set a priori at ≥80% agreement. Any statement not reaching consensus was excluded. RESULTS: The final consensus included 49 statements that provide guidance on the screening, diagnosis and management of adults with OSA. Additionally, 23 statements on the screening, diagnosis and management of paediatric OSA achieved consensus. These 72 consensus statements considered not only the latest clinical evidence but also the benefits and harms, resource implications, feasibility, acceptability and equity impact of the recommendations. CONCLUSION The statements presented in this paper aim to guide clinicians based on the most updated evidence and collective expert opinion from sleep specialists in Singapore. These recommendations should augment clinical judgement rather than replace it. Management decisions should be individualised, taking into account the patient's clinical characteristics, as well as patient and caregiver concerns and preferences.
Humans ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive/diagnosis* ; Singapore ; Consensus ; Adult

In recent years, cardiovascular disease has become a common disease. With the development of machine learning and big data technologies, the processing ability of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals has been greatly enhanced through new computer technologies, enabling the auxiliary diagnosis technology for cardiovascular disease (CVD) to achieve new improvements. This article discusses the application of machine learning in ECG processing, especially in the auxiliary diagnosis of diseases. Firstly, the conventional signal preprocessing methods are introduced, and then the EEG signal processing methods based on feature extraction and fuzzy classification are explored. Secondly, the application of auxiliary diagnosis in CVD is further summarized. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of the two methods are analyzed, and based on this, a design of an auxiliary diagnostic system compatible with the two methods is proposed, providing a new perspective for similar applied researches in the future.
Machine Learning ; Cardiovascular Diseases/diagnosis* ; Humans ; Electrocardiography ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted ; Fuzzy Logic ; Electroencephalography

Metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) is an inherited disease caused by a deficiency of the enzyme arylsulfatase A (ARSA). Lentivirus-modified autologous hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy (HSCGT) has recently been approved for clinical use in pre and early symptomatic children with MLD to increase ARSA activity. Unfortunately, this advanced therapy is not available for most patients with MLD who have progressed to more advanced symptomatic stages at diagnosis. Patients with late-onset juvenile MLD typically present with a slower neurological progression of symptoms and represent a significant burden to the economy and healthcare system, whereas those with early onset infantile MLD die within a few years of symptom onset. We conducted a pilot study to determine the safety and benefit of HSCGT in patients with postsymptomatic juvenile MLD and report preliminary results. The safety profile of HSCGT was favorable in this long-term follow-up over 9 years. The most common adverse events (AEs) within 2 months of HSCGT were related to busulfan conditioning, and all AEs resolved. No HSCGT-related AEs and no evidence of distorted hematopoietic differentiation during long-term follow-up for up to 9.6 years. Importantly, to date, patients have maintained remarkably improved ARSA activity with a stable disease state, including increased Functional Independence Measure (FIM) score and decreased magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lesion score. This long-term follow-up pilot study suggests that HSCGT is safe and provides clinical benefit to patients with postsymptomatic juvenile MLD.
Humans ; Leukodystrophy, Metachromatic/genetics* ; Pilot Projects ; Genetic Therapy/methods* ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Male ; Follow-Up Studies ; Female ; Lentivirus/genetics* ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells/metabolism* ; Cerebroside-Sulfatase/metabolism* ; Adolescent

During the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Cancer Association, articles published in Cancer Research and Treatment from 2004 to 2023 were assessed based on the subject and design of each study. Based on this analysis, trends in domestic cancer research were inferred and directions were suggested for the future development of Cancer Research and Treatment.

Objective:To quantitatively evaluate the impact of hypothyroidism on renal function and address its underlying mechanisms using 99Tc m-diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) renal dynamic imaging. Methods:A total of 35 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (12 males, 23 females, age (44.8±10.7) years), who were referred for radioiodine remnant ablation, were consecutively enrolled prospectively from October 2022 to October 2023 in Shanghai Sixth People′s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. Serum examinations of thyroid- and renal function-relevant parameters and 99Tc m-DTPA renal dynamic imaging were performed before and 4 weeks after stopping taking levothyroxine ( L-T 4). Paired t test, Wilcoxon signed rank test and Wilcoxon rank sum test were used to analyze data. Results:After L-T 4 withdrawal, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) derived from renal dynamic imaging, estimated GFR (eGFR), and cystatin C level significantly decreased ((95.80±18.09) vs (89.86±15.58) ml/min; t=4.83, P<0.001; (108.27±18.39) vs (87.97±16.24) ml·min -1·1.73 m -2;t=9.37, P<0.001; (0.72±0.12) vs (0.64±0.15) mg/L; t=3.73, P=0.001). GFR decreased more robustly in male patients than in females (6.16(3.62, 14.89) vs 3.83(0.57, 8.25) ml/min; Z=-1.98, P=0.048). Additionally, 99Tc m-DTPA renal dynamic imaging revealed that the peak times of both left and right kidneys were significantly prolonged (3.03(2.53, 3.78) vs 3.04(2.53, 4.13) min; Z=-3.85, P<0.001; 3.14(2.46, 4.20) vs 3.50(2.74, 4.50) min; Z=-3.44, P=0.001), but the left and right renal half-excretion times remained stable ( Z values: -0.88, -0.48, P values: 0.381, 0.634). Conclusion:Based on the 99Tc m-DTPA renal dynamic imaging results, it can be demonstrated that hypothyroidism can lead to a significant decrease in renal function, and the possible reason might be the reduction in the blood perfusion of kidneys.

Turning to critical illness is a common stage of various diseases and injuries before death. Patients usually have complex health conditions, while the treatment process involves a wide range of content, along with high requirements for doctor′s professionalism and multi-specialty teamwork, as well as a great demand for time-sensitive treatments. However, this is not matched with critical care professionals and the current state of medical care in China. Telemedicine, which shortens the distance of medical professionals and the gap of disease diagnosis and treatments in various regions through electronic information, can effectively solve the current problem. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a standardized, high-quality visualization telemedicine round system .Therefore, experts have been organized to search domestic and foreign literature on telemedicine round for critically ill patients and to form this consensus based on clinical experiences so as to further improve the level of critical care treatments in regions.

Patient complaints not only reflect the shortcomings of hospital services, but also provide an opportunity for hospitals to improve quality. In July 2023, based on the theory of comprehensive quality management and from the perspective of complaint management, Shanghai General Hospital constructed and launched a " 1 (patient service quality improvement work team)+ X (Shanghai 12320 Health Hotline, various functional departments and clinical medical technology departments of the hospital)" patient service defect management system. This system established a four level organizational structure of patient service quality improvement leadership group-work team-clinical medical technology department work group-all employees. It established mechanisms for acceptance, disposal, improvement, training, evaluation, and rewards and punishments, created a comprehensive service platform, and achieved systematic improvement in patient services. By the end of 2024, the hospital had carried out nearly 200 patient service improvement projects; The daily usage of cloud customer service had exceeded 5 000 people, with an effective response rate of over 94%. In 2024, the response rate for handling work orders through various channels within 48 hours was 90%. This practice had achieved good results in improving the quality of hospital services and enhancing the patient experience, which could provide references for other hospitals to promote the management of patient service defects.

ObjectiveTo retrospectively analyze the association between novel coronavirus (“SARS-CoV-2”) infection and clinical symptoms in inpatients with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) in Pudong New Area, Shanghai, so as to provide evidence for improving clinical diagnostic ability. MethodsFrom January 13 to March 2, 2023, respiratory tract specimens of 456 inpatients with SARI were collected from 8 sentinel institutions, SARS-CoV-2 was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. Whole genome sequencing and sequence analyses were performed to samples with a cycle threshold (Ct) value of <35. At the same time, demographic information, clinical characteristics and underlying disease condition of the cases were collected, and the association between age, symptoms and nucleic acid positive rates was evaluated by χ² test and Spearman correlation analysis. ResultsA total of 456 cases were included, the median (P₂₅, P₇₅) age was 70 (69, 85) years old, of which 200 cases were novel coronavirus nucleic acid positive for SARS-CoV-2, with a positive rate of 43.86%. The positive rate was the highest in the 80-year-old group (56.82%), and the positive rate increased significantly with age (r=0.15, P=0.002). The proportion of oppression in chest, sore throat and expectoration in novel coronavirus nucleic acid positive cases was significantly higher than that in negative cases (all P<0.05). The 33 viruses sequenced successfully were all Omicron subvariants, with BF.7 (51.52%) and BA.5.2 (42.42%) being the predominant ones. ConclusionA positive correlation was observed between advanced age and the risk of SARS-CoV-2 positivity in patients with SARI. The symptoms of expectoration, oppression in chest and sore throat are more common in positive cases, which can be used as a prompt indicator for key screening and clinical identification of elderly SARI cases.

Rare tumors pose significant challenges to clinical research, diagnosis, and therapy due to their low incidence, high molecular heterogeneity, and the lack of preclinical models.Conventional patient-derived cell lines and patient-derived tumor xenografts have significant limitations in recapitulating the characteristics of rare tumors. As an emerging in vitro biological model, organoids preserve the molecular characteristics of original tumors and possess high biological relevance, efficient amplification capabilities, and potential for personalized medicine applications. They have currently been applied in the research of various rare tumors. This review summarizes current research on organoid models of rare tumors derived from different tissue origins, and outlines current challenges and future development directions.

During the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Cancer Association, articles published in Cancer Research and Treatment from 2004 to 2023 were assessed based on the subject and design of each study. Based on this analysis, trends in domestic cancer research were inferred and directions were suggested for the future development of Cancer Research and Treatment.