INTRODUCTION: Cancer patients attending emergency departments (EDs) often present with acute symptoms and are frequently admitted. This study aimed to characterise the profile of oncology patients who were discharged from the ED. METHODS: This was a retrospective audit of patients with cancer-related diagnoses who presented to the ED at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) over a 6-month period from 1 October 2018 to 31 March 2019 and were directly discharged from the ED. Data was extracted from the hospital's electronic medical record system. RESULTS: Of the 492 participants included in the study, the majority were triaged as Priority 2 (61.4%), while 30.7% were triaged as Priority 3, 6.9% as Priority 1 and 1.0% as Priority 4. There was no statistical difference between the National Early Warning scores across the different triage categories in these patients. The most common complaint was (44.3%), followed by genitourinary symptoms (19.5%) and those related to devices, catheters or stomas (17.3%). More investigations of all types were done for patients being managed in Priority 1 (57.6%) than in the other triage categories (40.1% for Priority 2, 23.2% for Priority 3 and 12.0% for Priority 4). Treatment procedures carried out were mainly symptomatic (analgesics, antiemetics, proton pump inhibitors) for 79.8% of the patients. There were no significant differences in the proportion of patients requiring various treatment modalities among the triage categories. CONCLUSION Selected oncological patients may potentially be managed in an ambulatory setting.
Humans ; Emergency Service, Hospital/statistics & numerical data* ; Retrospective Studies ; Female ; Neoplasms/diagnosis* ; Male ; Singapore ; Patient Discharge/statistics & numerical data* ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Triage ; Adult ; Emergencies ; Aged, 80 and over

OBJECTIVES: To study genotype-phenotype correlations in children with FGFR3 variants and to improve clinical recognition of related disorders. METHODS: Clinical data of 95 patients aged 0-18 years harboring FGFR3 variants, confirmed by whole‑exome sequencing at Shanghai Children's Medical Center from January 2012 to December 2023, were retrospectively reviewed. Detailed phenotypic characterization was performed for 22 patients with achondroplasia (ACH) and 10 with hypochondroplasia (HCH). RESULTS: Among the 95 patients, 52 (55%) had ACH, 24 (25%) had HCH, 9 (9%) had thanatophoric dysplasia, 3 (3%) had syndromic skeletal dysplasia, 2 (2%) had severe achondroplasia with developmental delay and acanthosis nigricans, and 5 (5%) remained unclassified. A previously unreported FGFR3 variant, c.1663G>T, was identified. All 22 ACH patients presented with disproportionate short stature accompanied by limb dysplasia, commonly with macrocephaly, a depressed nasal bridge, bowed legs, and frontal bossing; complications were present in 17 (77%). The 10 HCH patients predominantly exhibited disproportionate short stature with limb dysplasia and depressed nasal bridge. CONCLUSIONS ACH is the most frequent phenotype associated with FGFR3 variants, and missense variants constitute the predominant variant type. The degree of FGFR3 activation appears to correlate with the clinical severity of skeletal dysplasia.
Humans ; Receptor, Fibroblast Growth Factor, Type 3/genetics* ; Child ; Male ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Infant ; Adolescent ; Dwarfism/genetics* ; Achondroplasia/genetics* ; Lordosis/genetics* ; Infant, Newborn ; Retrospective Studies ; Genetic Association Studies ; Bone and Bones/abnormalities* ; Phenotype ; Limb Deformities, Congenital

Objective:To investigate the value and clinical significance of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) in early pregnancy (8-12 gestational weeks) as a predictor of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) among women with different pre-pregnancy body mass index (pre-BMI) categories.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted including 9 710 singleton pregnant women (FPG levels in early pregnancy ≤5.6 mmol/L) who underwent prenatal screening and delivery in Yuyao People's Hospital from January 2020 to December 2022. Participants were stratified based on their pre-BMI as follows: <18.5 ( n=1 406), ≥18.5 to <25.0 ( n=7 162), ≥25.0 to <30.0 ( n=978), and ≥30.0 kg/m 2 ( n=164). Within each pre-BMI category, women were further divided into four groups based on FPG levels in early pregnancy (<4.5, ≥4.5 to <4.8, ≥4.8 to <5.1, and ≥5.1 mmol/L). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to identify risk factors for GDM, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to evaluate the efficacy of FPG in early pregnancy based on different pre-BMI in predicting GDM. Results:The overall incidence of GDM in the singleton pregnancy women with FPG levels in early pregnancy ≤5.6 mmol/L was 12.3% (1 197/9 710). For a pre-BMI of <18.5 kg/m 2, the ORs with 95% CIs for GDM within the different FPG categories (<4.5, ≥4.5 to <4.8, ≥4.8 to <5.1, and ≥5.1 mmol/L) were 0.041 (95% CI: 0.015-0.409), 1.834 (95% CI: 1.089-3.088), 6.779 (95% CI: 4.041-11.371), and 13.723 (95% CI: 5.560-33.871), respectively. For pre-BMI of ≥18.5 to <25.0 kg/m 2, the respective the ORs with 95% CIs were 0.048 (95% CI: 0.012-0.203), 2.573 (95% CI: 2.091-3.168), 9.023 (95% CI: 7.240-11.245), and 9.158 (95% CI: 6.484-12.937). For pre-BMI of ≥25.0 to <30.0 kg/m 2, the ORs with 95% CIs were 0.108 (95% CI: 0.053-0.446), 1.698 (95% CI: 1.064-2.654), 7.537 (95% CI: 5.285-13.080), and 9.994 (95% CI: 5.613-18.218). For pre-BMI of ≥30.0 kg/m 2, the ORs with 95% CIs were 0.098 (95% CI: 0.072-1.015), 2.888 (95% CI: 0.911-9.157), 13.674 (95% CI: 3.480-53.736), and 20.509 (95% CI: 6.674-63.019). The optimal cutoff value of FPG in early pregnancy for GDM prediction was 4.7 mmol/L with an area under the curve of 0.752, the risk of GDM significantly increased with FPG levels ≥4.7 mmol/L in early pregnancy across all pregnant women ( OR=17.356, 95% CI: 13.757-21.896, P<0.001). Conclusions:In the singleton pregnancy women with FPG levels in early pregnancy ≤5.6 mmol/L, FPG in early pregnancy is an independent risk factor for the occurrence of GDM; for pregnant women stratified by the same pre-BMI, the risk of developing GDM increases progressively with the rise of FPG in early pregnancy. FPG in early pregnancy has a certain value in predicting the occurrence of GDM.

Objective To explore the diagnostic efficacy of serum 14-3-3β protein combined with fractional exhaled nitric oxide(FeNO)and conventional ventilatory lung function parameters in diagnosing bronchial asthma(referred to as"asthma")in children.Methods A prospective study included 136 children initially diagnosed with asthma during an acute episode as the asthma group,and 85 healthy children undergoing routine health checks as the control group.The study compared the differences in serum 14-3-3β protein concentrations between the two groups,analyzed the correlation of serum 14-3-3β protein with clinical indices,and evaluated the diagnostic efficacy of combining 14-3-3β protein,FeNO,and conventional ventilatory lung function parameters for asthma in children.Results The concentration of serum 14-3-3β protein was higher in the asthma group than in the control group(P<0.001).Serum 14-3-3β protein showed a positive correlation with the percentage of neutrophils and total serum immunoglobulin E,and a negative correlation with conventional ventilatory lung function parameters(P<0.05).Cross-validation of combined indices showed that the combination of 14-3-3β protein,FeNO,and the percentage of predicted value of forced expiratory flow at 75%of lung volume had an area under the curve of 0.948 for predicting asthma,with a sensitivity and specificity of 88.9%and 93.7%,respectively,demonstrating good diagnostic efficacy(P<0.001).The model had the best extrapolation.Conclusions The combination of serum 14-3-3β protein,FeNO,and the percentage of predicted value of forced expiratory flow at 75%of lung volume can significantly improve the diagnostic efficacy for asthma in children.

Objective To explore the efficiency of artificial intelligence and radiomics-assisted X-ray in diagnosis of lumbar osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures(OVCF).Methods The clinical data of 455 patients diagnosed as lumbar OVCF by MRI in our hospital were selected.The patients were divided into the training group(n=364)and the validation group(n=91),X-ray films were extracted,the image delineation,feature extraction and data analysis were carried out,and the artificial intelligence radiomics deep learning was applied to establish a diagnostic model for OVCF.After verifying the effectiveness of the model by receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve,area under the curve(AUC),calibration curve,and decision curve analysis(DCA),the efficiencies of manual reading,model reading,and model-assisted manual reading of X-ray in the early diagnosis of OVCF were compared.Results The ROC curve,AUC and calibration curve proved that the model had good discrimination and calibration,and excellent diagnostic performance.DCA demonstrated that the model had a higher clinical net benefit.The diagnostic efficiency of the manual reading group:the accuracy rate was 0.89,the recall rate was 0.62.The diagnostic efficiency of the model reading group:the accuracy rate was 0.93,the recall rate was 0.86,the model diagnosis showed good predictive performance,which was significantly better than the manual reading group.The diagnostic efficiency of the model-assisted manual reading group:the accuracy rate was 0.92,the recall rate was 0.72,and the recall rate of the model-assisted manual reading group was higher than that of the manual reading group,but lower than that of the model reading group,indicating the superiority of the model diagnosis.Conclusion The diagnostic model established based on artificial intelligence and radiomics in this study has reached an ideal level of efficacy,with better diagnostic efficacy compared with manual reading,and can be used to assist X-ray in the early diagnosis of OVCF.

Objective To develop a clinical prediction model for predicting risk factors for prolonged hospital stay after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion(ACDF).Methods The clinical data of 914 patients underwent ACDF treatment for cervical spondylotic myelopathy(CSM)were retrospectively analyzed.According to the screening criteria,800 eligible patients were eventually included,and the patients were divided into the development cohort(n=560)and the validation cohort(n=240).LASSO regression was used to screen variables,and multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to establish a prediction model.The prediction model was evaluated from three aspects:differentiation,calibration and clinical effectiveness.The performance of the model was evaluated by area under the curve(AUC)and Hosmer-Lemeshow test.Decision curve analysis(DCA)was used to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of the model.Results In this study,the five factors that were significantly associated with prolonged hospital stay were male,abnormal BMI,mild-to-moderate anemia,stage of surgery(morning,afternoon,evening),and alcohol consumption history.The AUC of the development cohort was 0.778(95%CI:0.740 to 0.816),with a cutoff value of 0.337,and that of the validation cohort was 0.748(95%CI:0.687 to 0.809),with a cutoff value of 0.169,indicating that the prediction model had good differentiation.At the same time,the Hosmer-Lemeshow test showed that the model had a good calibration degree,and the DCA proved that it was effective in clinical application.Conclusion The prediction model established in this study has excellent comprehensive performance,which can better predict the risk of prolonged hospital stay,and can guide clinical intervention as soon as possible,so as to minimize the postoperative hospital stay and reduce the cost of hospitalization.

Objective To explore the risk factors for surgical site infection(SSI)after transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion(TLIF)for the treatment of lumbar degenerative diseases.Methods A total of 1 000 patients who underwent TLIF for lumbar degenerative diseases in our hospital were included and divided into the infection group(n=23)and the non-infection group(n=977)according to whether the surgical incision was infected.General data,surgical and laboratory indicators of patients were collected,and potential risk factors of SSI were screened by univariate analysis and multivariate regression analysis,a nomogram model was established,and its predictive efficiency was validated by the receive operating characteristic(ROC)curve.Results The incidence of SSI in patients after TLIF was 2.3％.The results of univariate analysis showed that age,operative time,intraoperative blood loss,preoperative C-reactive protein(CRP),smoking,and diabetes mellitus were the significant risk factors for the occurrence of SSI.Multivariate regression analysis showed that older age,longer operation time,more intraoperative blood loss,smoking and diabetes mellitus were the independent risk factors for postoperative SSI.ROC curve showed that the nomogram model established in this study has good predictive efficiency.Conclusion Older age,longer operation time,more intraoperative blood loss,smoking,and diabetes mellitus were independent risk factors for postoperative SSI.For patients with these high risk factors,corresponding intervention measures should be taken before operation to reduce the incidence of SSI.

Objective:To investigate the level of beliefs about medication in young patients with newly treated pulmonary tuberculosis and analyze its influencing factors.Methods:This was a cross-sectional study. Using the convenient sampling method, a total of 320 young newly treated pulmonary tuberculosis patients who visited the designated tuberculosis hospitals in Kashgar Prefecture and Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from January 2022 to April 2023 were selected as the research objects. The investigation was carried out with the General Information Questionnaire, Beliefs about Medicines Questionaire Specific (BMQ-S), 8-Item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8), Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ) and Tuberculosis-related Stigma Scale (TSS). Multiple linear regression was used to analyze the influencing factors of medication beliefs in young patients with newly treated tuberculosis.Results:A total of 320 questionnaires were distributed in this study, and 302 valid questionnaires were collected, with an effective response rate of 94.38% (302/320). The total score of BMQ-S of 302 young patients with newly treated tuberculosis was -1.00 (-2.00, 1.00), MMAS-8 score was 5.38 (4.75, 5.75), BIPQ score was 37.00 (24.00, 44.00) and TSS score was 48.00 (44.00, 52.00). The results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that comorbidities, medication adherence, disease perception and stigma were the influencing factors of medication beliefs in young newly treated pulmonary tuberculosis patients ( P<0.01) . Conclusions:The medication belief level of young patients with newly treated pulmonary tuberculosis needs to be improved. Medical staff should correct the negative cognition of the patient's disease, emphasize the benefits of drug treatment and enhance the patients' beliefs in the necessity of medication.

Objective To investigate the population characteristics,distribution of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)syndromes and influencing factors of long-term prognosis of diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome(IBS-D),and to provide evidence for the formulation of intervention program for IBS-D patients.Methods A total of 124 patients with IBS-D admitted to the medical institutions of the project team members from July 2020 to August 2022 were selected.According to the scoring results of IBS Quality of Life Measure(IBS-QOL),the patients were divided into the good prognosis group(81 cases)and the poor prognosis group(43 cases).The distribution of TCM syndromes in patients with IBS-D was explored,and the difference of IBS-QOL scores of the patients between good prognosis group and poor prognosis group was compared.Univariate logistic regression analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to determine the main risk factors for poor prognosis in patients with IBS-D.Results(1)The analysis of population characteristics showed that there was no significant difference in the proportion of male and female patients with IBS-D.The patients with IBS-D were usually middle-aged,and had a large interval span of the course of disease.The severity of their symptoms was mostly moderate.All of the patients with IBS-D had various degrees of anxiety and depression,and had nutritional imbalance.(2)The distribution of TCM syndromes in the patients with IBS-D were shown as the following:78 cases were identified as liver depression and spleen deficiency type,accounting for 62.90％;26 cases were identified as spleen-qi deficiency type,accounting for 20.97％;20 cases were identified as spleen and kidney yang deficiency type,accounting for 16.13％.(3)Analysis of IBS-QOL score showed that compared with the good prognosis group,the items scores of negative emotion,physical function,behavioral disorder,health status,being fastidious about food,social function,sexual behavior and interpersonal relationship of IBS-QOL in the poor prognosis group were significantly lowered(P＜0.01).(4)The univariate analysis showed that the risk of poor prognosis in patients with IBS-D would be increased by the factors of age,education level,course of disease,severity of symptoms,anxiety state,depression state,TCM syndrome types,Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation scoring system Ⅱ(APACHE 11)score,complication of neurological diseases,hemoglobin level,albumin level and total protein level(P＜0.01).(5)The multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the risk factors for poor prognosis of IBS-D patients involved age,education level below junior high school,the severity of symptoms being severe,Self-Rating Anxiety Scale(SAS)score,Self-Rating Depression Scale(SDS)score,TCM syndrome being liver depression and spleen deficiency type,hemoglobin level,albumin level and total protein level(P＜0.01).Conclusion Most of IBS-D patients exert long-term poor prognosis,and their long-term prognosis is affected by the factors of age,education level,severity of symptoms,anxiety and depression state,nutritional imbalance and TCM syndrome being liver depression and spleen deficiency type.The identification of the risk factors of poor prognosis will provide evidence for the formulation and adjustment of clinical intervention programs.

Ritlecitinib is an inhibitor that acts on Janus kinase 3 and the hepatocellular carcinoma kinase family.In June 2023,the FDA approved Ritlecitinib for the treatment of severe alopecia areata in patients aged 12 years and above.Multiple clinical studies have observed hair regeneration in patients after using Ritlecitinib,which is generally safe and well tolerated during use.This article introduces its pharmacological effects,pharmacokinetics,clinical research,safety,and usage and dosage.