INTRODUCTION: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had an unprecedented impact in Asia and has placed significant burden on already stretched healthcare systems. We examined the impact of COVID-19 on the safety attitudes among healthcare workers (HCWs), as well as their associated demographic and occupational factors, and measures of burnout, depression and anxiety. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey study utilising snowball sampling was performed involving doctors, nurses and allied health professions from 23 hospitals in Singapore, Malaysia, India and Indonesia between 29 May 2020 and 13 July 2020. This survey collated demographic data and workplace conditions and included three validated questionnaires: the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ), Oldenburg Burnout Inventory and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. We performed multivariate mixed-model regression to assess independent associations with the SAQ total percentage agree rate (PAR). RESULTS: We obtained 3,163 responses. The SAQ total PARs were found to be 35.7%, 15.0%, 51.0% and 3.3% among the respondents from Singapore, Malaysia, India and Indonesia, respectively. Burnout scores were highest among respondents from Indonesia and lowest among respondents from India (70.9%-85.4% vs. 56.3%-63.6%, respectively). Multivariate analyses revealed that meeting burnout and depression thresholds and shifts lasting ≥12 h were significantly associated with lower SAQ total PAR. CONCLUSION Addressing the factors contributing to high burnout and depression and placing strict limits on work hours per shift may contribute significantly towards improving safety culture among HCWs and should remain priorities during the pandemic.
Humans ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Pandemics ; COVID-19/epidemiology* ; Burnout, Psychological ; Health Personnel

Post-traumatic hydrocephalus (PTH) is a commonly encountered complication following decompressive craniectomy, and is usually characterized by symptoms including headache, nausea, vomiting, and papilledema. Extracranial herniation accompanied by hemiplegia is a rare complication in patients with PTH who underwent craniectomy after subdural hematoma removal. We report a case of PTH that presented with extracranial herniation within one month of decompressive craniectomy. Following ventriculoperitoneal shunt implantation, left hemiplegia improved dramatically with restoration of the left middle cerebral artery blood flow, which was evident on serial imaging. Vascular compromise is often overshadowed by increased intracranial pressure when clinicians are dealing with traumatic brain injury patients. Delicate neurological and radiological examinations and prompt early interventions could lead to optimal outcomes in patients receiving decompressive craniectomy.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy of oral levothyroxine on abortion rate and preterm birth rate in pregnant women with thyroid autoimmunity (TAI) and normal thyroid function.Methods:The relevant studies of oral levothyroxine tablets in the treatment of TAI pregnant women were systematically searched in Pubmed, Cochrane, CBM, CNKI, VIP and Wanfang databases. The retrieval period was established until August 2020. Two researchers independently screened the literatures, extracted the data and evaluated the risk of bias in the included study. Meta-analysis was performed using Revman5.3 software.Results:1) Totally six eligible studies were all randomized controlled studies, involving 1427 patients. 2) Compared with control group, the meta-analysis suggests oral levothyroxine tablets cannot effectively reduce the preterm delivery rate and the abortion rate. 3) Further subgroup analysis of the data according to the natural pregnancy group and assisted reproduction group found that oral levothyroxine tablets in natural pregnancy women with TAI can effectively reduce the preterm delivery rate ( RR=0.54, 95% CI=0.31-0.95, P=0.03), but not reduce the abortion rate ( RR=0.86, 95% CI=0.69-1.06, P=0.15). However, oral levothyroxine tablets cannot reduce the abortion rate for TAI women conceived by reproductive technology ( RR=0.80, 95% CI=0.47-1.36, P=0.41). Conclusion:Oral levothyroxine tablets can effectively reduce the premature delivery rate of TAI women who are naturally pregnant, but it is not beneficial to reduce the abortion rate. There is only one study on TAI women who are pregnant with reproductive technology, so it is impossible to evaluate whether this population can benefit from taking levothyroxine tablets. In view of the above results, it is recommended that the two groups of patients be managed separately.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy of oral levothyroxine on abortion rate and preterm birth rate in pregnant women with thyroid autoimmunity (TAI) and normal thyroid function.Methods:The relevant studies of oral levothyroxine tablets in the treatment of TAI pregnant women were systematically searched in Pubmed, Cochrane, CBM, CNKI, VIP and Wanfang databases. The retrieval period was established until August 2020. Two researchers independently screened the literatures, extracted the data and evaluated the risk of bias in the included study. Meta-analysis was performed using Revman5.3 software.Results:1) Totally six eligible studies were all randomized controlled studies, involving 1427 patients. 2) Compared with control group, the meta-analysis suggests oral levothyroxine tablets cannot effectively reduce the preterm delivery rate and the abortion rate. 3) Further subgroup analysis of the data according to the natural pregnancy group and assisted reproduction group found that oral levothyroxine tablets in natural pregnancy women with TAI can effectively reduce the preterm delivery rate ( RR=0.54, 95% CI=0.31-0.95, P=0.03), but not reduce the abortion rate ( RR=0.86, 95% CI=0.69-1.06, P=0.15). However, oral levothyroxine tablets cannot reduce the abortion rate for TAI women conceived by reproductive technology ( RR=0.80, 95% CI=0.47-1.36, P=0.41). Conclusion:Oral levothyroxine tablets can effectively reduce the premature delivery rate of TAI women who are naturally pregnant, but it is not beneficial to reduce the abortion rate. There is only one study on TAI women who are pregnant with reproductive technology, so it is impossible to evaluate whether this population can benefit from taking levothyroxine tablets. In view of the above results, it is recommended that the two groups of patients be managed separately.

Objective:To observe the impact of diabetes mellitus (DM)on pacing parameters and postoperative com-plications in patients With implantation of permanent artificial cardiac pacemaker.Methods:A total of 80 patients With sick sinus syndrome,Who received implantation of permanent artificial cardiac pacemaker from Jun 2008 to Jun 2011,Were enrolled.According to complicated With DM or not,they Were divided into DM group (n=40)and non-DM control group (n=40).Pacing parameters and postoperative complications Were compared betWeen tWo groups.Results:There Were no significant difference in atrial and ventricular pacing threshold,sensing and of pace-maker impedance in baseline betWeen tWo groups (P>0.05).All parameters of pacemaker increased in tWo groups after implantation 12 months;compared With non-DM control group,there Were significant increase in pacing threshold [atrial:(0.59±0.23)V vs.(0.67±0.25)V,ventricular:(0.47±0.28)V vs.(0.54±0.35)V],sens-ing [atrial:(2.33±1.16)mV vs.(2.92±1.36)mV,ventricular:(12.21±4.82)mV vs.(12.77±5.36)mV], impedance [atrial:(537.12±115.32)Ωvs.(662.48±235.26)Ω,ventricular:(602.48±222.46)Ωvs.(762.41± 235.38)Ω]of pacemaker in DM group,P<0.05 or <0.01;and incidence rate of postoperative complications (12.5%)in DM group Was significantly higher than that of non-DM control group (5%),P<0.05.Conclusion:Electrocardiographic reconstruction is more severe in SSS patients complicated DM,in these patients postoperative complication incidence significantly elevates.

BACKGROUNDA few inflammatory markers were studied to evaluate their possible prognostic roles in various cancers. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio are hypothesized to reflect the systemic inflammation. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether or not the pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio or platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio can predict the survival of patients with cervical cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radical hysterectomy.

METHODSWe performed a retrospective study on cervical cancer patients (FIGO stage Ib2-IIb) who had undergone neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radical hysterectomy at Peking Union Medical College Hospital between January 1999 and December 2010. Data on demographics, clinical prognostic markers and histopathology were collected and analyzed. Univariate and multivariate analyses for prognostic factors were performed.

RESULTSA total of 111 patients were identified. The median neutrophil-to-lymphocyte and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios were 2.4 and 142.2, respectively. Overall survival and progression-free survival were neither significantly different between patients with high and low neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (P = 0.149 and P = 0.108) nor in high and low platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (P = 0.336 and P = 0.510). On multivariate analysis, lymph node status (P = 0.000 and P = 0.007) and lymphovascular space involvement (P = 0.001 and P = 0.001) were independent prognostic factors of progression-free survival and overall survival.

CONCLUSIONSLymph node status and lymphovascular space involvement were found to be independent prognostic factors for patients with cervical cancer who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radical hysterectomy. The pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios seemed not to predict the survival of patients with cervical cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radical hysterectomy.

Adult ; Aged ; Blood Platelets ; physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Inflammation ; mortality ; Lymphocytes ; physiology ; Middle Aged ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Neoplasm Staging ; Neutrophils ; physiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; blood ; mortality ; pathology ; therapy

Objective This study aimed to provide an epidemiological modeling method to evaluate the risk of metabolic syndrome (MS) development in the coming 5 years among 35-74 year-olds from Taiwan.Methods A cohort of 13 973 subjects aged 35-74 years who did not have metabolic syndrome but took the initial testing during 1997-2006 was formed to derive a risk score which tended to predict the incidence of MS.Multivariate logistic regression was used to derive the risk functions and using the ‘check-up center' (Taipei training cohort) as the overall cohort.Rules based on these risk functions were evaluated in the remaining three centers (as testing cohort).Risk functions were produced to detect the MS on a training sample using the multivariate logistic regression models.Started with those variables that could predict the MS through univariate models,we then constructed multivariable logistic regression models in a stepwise manner which eventually could include all the variables.The predictability of the model was evaluated by areas under curve (AUC) the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) followed by the testification of its diagnostic property on the testing sample.Once the final model was defined,the next step was to establish rules to characterize 4 different degrees of risks based on the cut points of these probabilities,after being transformed into normal distribution by log-transformation.Results At baseline,the range of the proportion of MS was 23.9％ and the incidence of MS in 5-years was 11.7％ in the non-MS cohort.The final multivariable logistic regression model would include ten risk factors as:age,history of diabetes,contractive pressure,fasting blood-glucose,triglyceride,high density lipoprotein cholesterol,low density lipoprotein cholesterol,body mass index and blood uric acid.AUC was 0.827 (95％ CI:0.814-0.839) that could predict the development of MS within the next 5 years.The curve also showed adequate performance in the three tested samples,with the AUC and 95％ CI as 0.813 (0.789-0.837),0.826(0.800-0.852) and 0.794(0.768-0.820),respectively.After labeling the degrees of the four risks,it was showed that over 17.6％ of the incidence probability was in the population under mediate risk while over 59.0％ of them was in the high risk group,respectively.Conclusion Both predictability and reliability of our Metabolic Syndrome Risk Score Model,derived based on Taiwan MJ Longitudinal Health-checkup-based Population Database,were relatively satisfactory in the testing cohort.This model was simple,with practicable predictive variables and feasible form on degrees of risk.This model not only could help individuals to assess the situation of their own risk on MS but could also provide guidance on the group surveillance programs in the community regarding the development of MS.

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics,diagnosis,treatment and prognosis of malignant ovarian germ cell tumors(MOGCT)with lung metastasis.Methods Fifteen patients of MOGCT with lung metastasis treated in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from Jan.1982 to Dec.2010 was retrospectively analyzed.Results(1)Clinical characteristics: the average onset age of these 15 patients is(23 ± 11)years old(6-48 years).The majority of these patients presented with abdominal pain(8/15)or irregular vaginal bleeding(4/15)as their initial symptoms.The primary tumor located in the left ovary in 8 cases,right ovary in 6 cases,and both sides in only 1 case.Metastatic lesions were confined to the lung in 12 patients,while the other 3 patients were found to have multi-site distant metastasis.(2)Diagnosis:all 15 cases included 9 pure non-gestational ovarian choriocarcinoma(NGOC),3 MOGCT containing choriocarcinoma component(one mature teratoma with choriocarcinoma component,one endodermal sinus tumor with embryonal carcinoma and choriocarcinoma components,one choriocarcinoma with dysgerminoma component),2 embryonal carcinoma,one immature teratoma.Only one patient in these 15 cases was correctly diagnosed before surgery.(3)Time of lung metastasis: of 12 MOGCT with choriocarcinoma component,11 patients were found to have lung metastasis in the course of their primary treatment,only 1 had lung metastasis 2 months after the synthetic treatment finished.Three MOGCT patients without choriocarcinoma component were all found to have lung metastasis when tumor relapsed in the advanced stages of the disease.(4)Treatment:all 15 patients received multi-agent chemotherapy combined with surgery.The mean courses of chemotherapy for these patients were 16 courses(5-43 courses).(5)Prognosis:of these 15 cases,complete remission was obtained in 10 patients of NGOC or mixed ovarian germ cell tumors with choriocarcinoma component,3 patients(one NGOC,one endodermal carcinoma and one immature teratoma,respectively)died in the course of treatment as result of tumor progression,2 progressed cases(one NGOC and one endodermal carcinoma respectively)abandoning therapy were lost to follow up.Conclusions MOGCT with lung metastasis are more often to found in NGOC patients.These patients could obtain high complete remission rate after standard multi-agent chemotherapy combined with surgery.The prognosis of MOGCT with lung metastasis containing choriocarcinoma component are better than that of those without containing choriocarcinoma component.

Objective To investigate the role of pre-chemotherapy hemoglobin and platelet levels in the effect of chemotherapy and prognostic outcome in patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics(FIGO) stage Ⅰ b2 - Ⅱb cervical cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical hysterectomy.Methods From January 1999 to December 2010,111 patients with FIGO stage Ⅰ b2 - Ⅱ b who underwent chemosurgical treatment at the department of obstetrics and gynecology in Peking Union Medical College Hospital were reviewed.The median age of patients was 42 years (range:21 -68 years).The median level of prechemotherapy hemoglobin and platelet levels was 127 g/L and 266 ×109/L,respectively.Chemotherapy response was evaluated according to the WHO criteria,including complete response (CR),partial response (PR),arable disease (SD) and progressive disease (PD).Patients who achieved CR or PR were defined as responder.Rates of clinical response were compared with the clinicalpathological variables using chi-square test.Multiple logistic regression was carried out to evaluate the relationship among the probability of achieving an optimal clinical response and the variables.The log-rank test was used to compare the homogeneity of progression-free survival and overall survival functions across strata defined by categories of prognostic variables.The Cox proportional hazard model was used to assess the significance of potential prognostic factors for progression-free survival and overall survival.Results All patients received one to three cycles of chemotherapy.After the neoadjuvant chemotherapy,9 patients achieved CR,77 patients PR,23 patients SD, 2 patients PD.The overall response rate was 77.5％(86/111).By univariate analysis,the clinical response rate was associated with tumor grade( P =0.026),deep cervical stromal invasion ( P =0.029 ) and positive lymph nodes ( P =0.048 ).By multiple logistic regression,deep cervical stromal invasion ( P =0.015 ) and positive lymph nodes ( P =0.031 ) were independent predictors of optimal clinical response.By log-rank test,5-year overall survival rate and 5-year progression-free survival rate were associated with lymph nodes metastases status and lymphovascular invasion ( P =0.000),but not with hemoglobin and platelet levels( P ＞ 0.05 ).By Cox regression model,lymph nodes metastases status and lymph-vascular space involvement ( P ＜ 0.01 ) were independently prognostic factors of 5-year overall survival rate and 5-year progression-free survival rate.Conclusion Pretreatment hemoglobin and platelet levels were neither predictors of clinical response to chemotherapy nor prognostic factors.

Objective This study aimed to provide an epidemiological modeling in evaluating the risk of developing obesity within 5 years in Taiwan population aged 30-59 years.Methods After excluding 918 individuals who were obesitive at baseline,a cohort of 14 167 non-obesity subjects aged 30-59 years in the initial year during 1998-2006,was formed to derive a Risk Score which could predict the incident obesity (IO).Multivariate logistic regression was used to derive the risk functions,using the check-up center (Taipei training cohort,n=8104) of the overall cohort.Rules based on these risk functions were evaluated in the left three centers (testing cohort,n=6063).Risk functions were produced to detect the IO on a training sample using the multivariate logistic regression models.Starting with variables that could predict the IO through univariate models,we constructed multivariable logistic regression models in a stepwise manner which eventually could include all the variables.We evaluated the predictability of the model by the area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) and to testify its diagnostic property on the testing sample.Once the final model was defined,the next step was to establish rules to characterize 4different degrees of risk based on the cut points of these probabilities after transforming into normal distribution by log-transformation.Results At baseline,the range of the proportion of normal weight,overweight and obesity were 50.00％ 60.00％,26.47％-31.11％ and 5.76％-7.24％ respectively in tour check-up centers of Taiwan.After excluding 918 obesity individuals at baseline,we ascertained 386 (2.73％,386/14 167) cases having IO and 2.66％-2.91％ of them having centered obesity in the four check-up centers respectivcly.Final multivariable logistic regression model would include five risk lactors:sex,age,history of diabetes,weight deduction ≥4 kg within 3 months and waist circumference.The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.898 (95％CI,0.884-0.912) that could predict the development of obesity within 5 years.The curve also had adequate performance in testing the sample [AUC=0.881 (95％CI,0.862 0.900) ].After labeling the four risk degrees,16.0％ and 2.9％ of the total subjects were in the mediate and high risk populations respectively and were 7.8 and 16.6 times higher,when comparing with the population at risk in general.Conclusion The predictability and reliability of our obesity risk score model,derived based on Taiwan MJ Longitudinal Health-checkup-based Population Database,were relatively satisfactory,with its simple and practicable predictive variables and the risk degree form.This model could help individuals to self assess the situation of risk on obesity and could also guide the community caretakers to monitor the trend of obesity development.