1.Heterogeneity of Outcomes Reporting in Trials Evaluating Traditional Chinese Medicine Breast Massage for Stasis Acute Mastitis: A Methodological Review.
Yun-Peng LV ; Ting YUAN ; Xiao-Ying MU ; Ying-Yi FAN ; Ming-Yang AN ; Fen ZHOU
Chinese Medical Sciences Journal 2023;38(2):147-158
Objective To systematically analyze the current status of outcomes reporting in clinical trials on treating stasis acute mastitis with Traditional Chinese Medicine breast massage.Methods We searched CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, SinoMed, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane library, JBI, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Clinical Trials Registry Platform portal, Clinical Trials Registry, Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, Center Watch Registry from inception to May 15, 2022 to find randomized controlled trials, non-randomized controlled trials, case series and cohort studies which reported the outcomes of stasis acute mastitis managed with Traditional Chinese Medicine breast massage, with search terms of mastitis, acute mastitis, lactation mastitis, puerperal mastitis, breast problem, breast engorgement, milk stasis, blocked ducked, breast pain, breast massage, and acupoint massage. Outcomes and the measurement schemes (measurement methods, timing of assessing outcome, frequency of assessing outcome, measurers) were extracted from the included studies. We used the Management of Otitis Media with Effusion in Children with Cleft Palate (MOMENT) to assess the quality of each study, then categorized outcomes derived from the included studies into different domains according to the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Arthritis Clinic Trials (OMERACT) Filter 2.1 framework.Results We identified 85 clinical trials, in which 54 different outcomes were reported. A total of 81.2% (69/85) of studies were assessed as medium quality with a mean score of 2.6, and 18.8% (16/85) as low quality with a mean score of 0.9. These outcomes were organized in three core areas. Lump size (89.4%, 76/85) was the most frequently reported outcome, followed by breast pain (69.4%, 59/85) and milk excretion (68.2%, 58/85). Five methods were used to assess lump size and four methods to assess breast pain.Conclusions The outcomes reported in clinical trials regarding stasis acute mastitis treated by Traditional Chinese Medicine breast massage are heterogeneous. Developing a core outcome set to achieve consistent standards for reporting outcomes and modalities for validation of the outcomes is clearly warranted.
Child
;
Female
;
Humans
;
Australia
;
Massage
;
Mastitis/therapy*
;
Mastodynia
;
Medicine, Chinese Traditional
2.Tea tree oil, a vibrant source of neuroprotection via neuroinflammation inhibition: a critical insight into repurposing Melaleuca alternifolia by unfolding its characteristics.
Md Atiar RAHMAN ; Abida SULTANA ; Mohammad Forhad KHAN ; Rachasak BOONHOK ; Sharmin AFROZ
Journal of Zhejiang University. Science. B 2023;24(7):554-573
Over the past few decades, complementary and alternative treatments have become increasingly popular worldwide. The purported therapeutic characteristics of natural products have come under increased scrutiny both in vitro and in vivo as part of efforts to legitimize their usage. One such product is tea tree oil (TTO), a volatile essential oil primarily obtained from the native Australian plant, Melaleuca alternifolia, which has diverse traditional and industrial applications such as topical preparations for the treatment of skin infections. Its anti-inflammatory-linked immunomodulatory actions have also been reported. This systematic review focuses on the anti-inflammatory effects of TTO and its main components that have shown strong immunomodulatory potential. An extensive literature search was performed electronically for data curation on worldwide accepted scientific databases, such as Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and esteemed publishers such as Elsevier, Springer, Frontiers, and Taylor & Francis. Considering that the majority of pharmacological studies were conducted on crude oils only, the extracted data were critically analyzed to gain further insight into the prospects of TTO being used as a neuroprotective agent by drug formulation or dietary supplement. In addition, the active constituents contributing to the activity of TTO have not been well justified, and the core mechanisms need to be unveiled especially for anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects leading to neuroprotection. Therefore, this review attempts to correlate the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activity of TTO with its neuroprotective mechanisms.
Tea Tree Oil/therapeutic use*
;
Melaleuca
;
Neuroprotection
;
Drug Repositioning
;
Neuroinflammatory Diseases
;
Australia
;
Oils, Volatile
;
Anti-Inflammatory Agents/pharmacology*
3.Summary of evidence for threshold setting of multi-parameter electrocardiograph monitor in intensive care unit.
Ting LI ; Huiling HU ; Xue WU
Chinese Critical Care Medicine 2023;35(6):643-650
OBJECTIVE:
To retrieve the evidence for threshold setting of multi-parameter electrocardiograph (ECG) monitors in intensive care unit (ICU), and summarize the best evidence.
METHODS:
After literature retrieval, clinical guidelines, expert consensus, evidence summary and systematic review that met the requirements were screened. Guidelines were evaluated by the appraisal of guidelines for research and evaluation II (AGREE II), expert consensus and systematic review were evaluated by the Australian JBI evidence-based health care center authenticity evaluation tool, and evidence summary was evaluated by the CASE checklist. High-quality literature was selected to extract evidence related to the use and setup of multi-parameter ECG monitors in the ICU.
RESULTS:
A total of 19 literatures were included, including 7 guidelines, 2 expert consensus, 8 systematic reviews, 1 evidence summary, and 1 national industry standard. After evidence extraction, translation, proofreading and summary, a total of 32 pieces of evidence were integrated. The included evidence involved the environmental preparation for the application of the ECG monitor, the electrical requirements of the ECG monitor, ECG monitor use process, ECG monitor alarm setting principles, ECG monitor alarm heart rate or heart rhythm monitoring setting, ECG monitor alarm blood pressure monitoring setting, ECG monitor alarm respiratory and blood oxygen saturation threshold setting, alarm delay warning time setting, adjusting alarm setting method, evaluating alarm setting time, improving the comfort of monitoring patients, reducing nuisance alarm report the occurrence, alarm priority processing, alarm intelligent processing and so on.
CONCLUSIONS
This summary of evidence involves many aspects of the setting and application of ECG monitor. According to the latest guidelines and expert consensus, it is updated and revised to guide healthcare workers to monitor patients more scientifically and safely, and aims to ensure patient safety.
Humans
;
Clinical Alarms
;
Australia
;
Intensive Care Units
;
Arrhythmias, Cardiac
;
Electrocardiography
;
Monitoring, Physiologic
4.Stress reduction via neuro-emotional technique to achieve the simultaneous resolution of chronic low back pain with multiple inflammatory and biobehavioural indicators: A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial.
Peter BABLIS ; Henry POLLARD ; Anthony L ROSNER
Journal of Integrative Medicine 2022;20(2):135-144
BACKGROUND:
Beginning with the concepts of stress developed by Selye, an approach to stress and pain management, known as neuro-emotional technique (NET), has been developed. It is a treatment approach based on the principle that the stressor effects of dormant and/or current unresolved issues or trauma are what determine one's bodily responses. These responses are relatively personalized to the conditioned, experiential and emotional reality of the individual.
OBJECTIVE:
To determine the effect of NET on patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) over time.
DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, AND INTERVENTIONS:
In a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study conducted in a single clinic, NET or control treatments were given twice weekly for 4 weeks in a population of 112 patients.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
Outcome measures, including Oswestry Disability Index, Quadruple Visual Analogue Scale, the psychoneuroimmunology markers of blood serum levels of C-reactive protein, tumour necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1 (IL-1), IL-6, and IL-10, and 10 dimensions of the Short Form Health Survey scale, were assessed at baseline and at 1, 3 and 6 months following the intervention period.
RESULTS:
Compared to placebo, NET produced clinical and statistical significance (P < 0.001) via declines of virtually all physiological, pain and disability markers, accompanied by gains in quality-of-life indicators at 0 (baseline), 1, 3 and 6 months. Reductions of the percentages of patients whose 5 biomarkers lay outside the normative range were achieved at 1, 3 and 6 months by NET but not control interventions.
CONCLUSION:
A randomized, controlled trial of CLBP patients indicated that 8 NET interventions, compared to placebo, produced clinically and statistically significant reductions in pain, disability and inflammatory biomarkers, and improvements in quality-of-life measures.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
The trial was registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (No. ACTRN12608000002381).
Australia
;
Chronic Pain/therapy*
;
Double-Blind Method
;
Humans
;
Low Back Pain/therapy*
;
Pain Measurement
;
Treatment Outcome
5.Comparative study on Sichuan yak pericardium and Australian cattle pericardium.
Yicong ZUO ; Ke KANG ; Dapeng SHANG ; Xiayan YANG ; Yao WU ; Qifeng YU ; Xiantao WEN
Journal of Biomedical Engineering 2022;39(3):537-543
Currently, as the key raw material of artificial biological heart valve, bovine pericardium is mainly depend on import and has become a "bottleneck" challenge, greatly limiting the development of domestic biological heart valve. Therefore, the localization of bovine pericardium is extremely urgent. In this study, the pericardium of Sichuan yak was compared with that of Australian cattle in terms of fundamental properties and anti-calcification performance. The results demonstrated that the appearance and thickness of yak pericardium were more advantageous than the Australian one. Sichuan yak pericardium and Australian cattle pericardium had comparable performance in shrinkage temperature, mechanical test and anti-calcification test. This study preliminarily verifies the feasibility of substitution of Australian cattle pericardium by Sichuan yak pericardium and promotes the progression of bovine pericardium localization with data support.
Animals
;
Australia
;
Bioprosthesis
;
Cattle
;
Heart Valve Prosthesis
;
Pericardium
6.To "tell or not to tell"-Exploring disclosure about medicine use by people living with sleep disorders.
Vibha MALHOTRA ; Joanna HARNETT ; Erica MCINTYRE ; Amie STEEL ; Keith WONG ; Bandana SAINI
Journal of Integrative Medicine 2022;20(4):338-347
OBJECTIVE:
To explore the difference in rates and reasons for disclosure of either conventional or complementary medicine (CM) to healthcare practitioners between people living with sleep disorders (SDs) and those without SDs.
METHODS:
A cross-sectional survey (N = 2019 adults) that measured sociodemographic characteristics, health status, health service utilisation, health literacy and health communication (medicine disclosure) of a representative sample of Australians was conducted. Data from participants reporting an SD (n = 265) were compared to those not reporting an SD to assess measures of health communication and disclosure about medicine use.
RESULTS:
Overall, rates of medicine disclosure to both conventional and CM practitioners were high, in respondents with (70%) and without an SD (57%). Those reporting an SD had higher expectations of their conventional health practitioner's knowledge of CM, associated clinical decision-making skills, and approval of CM use, and held a higher degree of concern about drug interactions (P < 0.05). The main reasons cited for disclosing CM use to conventional health practitioners and conventional medicine use to CM practitioners were "I want them to fully understand my health status" and "I was concerned about drug interactions with the CMs used."
CONCLUSION
The high rate of medicine use disclosure by people with SDs is driven by an intention to inform their healthcare practitioner about their health status and concerns about potential medicine interactions. Therefore, research about the expectations that people with an SD have of their conventional healthcare practitioners' knowledge of CM and CM-drug interactions requires further examination. Likewise, further examination of CM practitioner's conventional medicine knowledge is encouraged.
Adult
;
Australia
;
Complementary Therapies
;
Cross-Sectional Studies
;
Disclosure
;
Humans
;
Sleep Wake Disorders/therapy*
7.Systematic evaluation of qualitative research on the real experience of burn patients during rehabilitation.
Lan WANG ; Qian YAO ; Yu Ping ZHANG ; Yi Lan XIA ; Yan GU ; Hong Chang ZHOU
Chinese Journal of Burns 2022;38(1):69-76
Objective: To systematically evaluate and integrate the real experience of burn patients during rehabilitation, and to provide theoretical guidance for the continual nursing care for burn patients. Methods: The systematic evaluation method was adopted. Databases including the China National Knowledge Internet, Wanfang Database, China Biology Medicine disc were retrieved with the search terms in Chinese version of "/, //, ////", and PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library were retrieved with the search terms of "burn/burns, rehabilitation/recovery/survivor/survive, experience/views/perceptions/, qualitative/phenomenon/interview/grounded theory". The qualitative studies on the real experience of burn patients during rehabilitation published from the establishment of each database to June 2020 were searched. The quality of the included studies was evaluated according to the quality evaluation criteria for qualitative research of the Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence-Based Health Care Center. The research country, research method, research object, research content, and main research result were summarized, and meta-synthesis of the research results was conducted with the aggregative integration method. Results: A total of 12 studies were included, and the quality of all the studies was grade B. The studies were conducted in 8 countries including Australia, Canada, Norway, etc., the research method mainly was phenomenological research method, and all the studies were focused on adult burn patients. A total of 46 specific themes were extracted with totally 10 new categories formed after summarization, and 3 integrated results were obtained as follows: burn patients suffered from both physical and psychological burdens, and their normal life was broken; burn patients gained post-traumatic growth and could actively adjust to cope with life difficulties; burn patients had multiple needs. Conclusions: Burn patients experience both physical and psychological pains during rehabilitation, so they long for multiple support from family and society. Medical staff, social groups, and family members should pay attention to the psychological experience and needs of burn patients with different characteristics during rehabilitation, and build a multi-directional social support system to help patients return to the society and rebuild their lives.
Adaptation, Psychological
;
Adult
;
Australia
;
Burns
;
China
;
Humans
;
Qualitative Research
8.Primary hydatid cyst of the pterygomandibular region: an unusual cyst, location and case report
Siji J CHIRAMEL ; Arjun GOPINATH ; Sreejith VP ; Shermil SAYD
Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons 2020;46(1):66-69
Hydatid disease is a zoonotic infection in humans. The disease is endemic in some parts of the world, including Africa, Australia, and Asia, where cattle grazing is common; the disease is spread by an enteric route following the consumption of food contaminated with the eggs of the parasite. Failure to identify this parasite results in delayed diagnosis and increased morbidity to the patient. Upon diagnosis, every possible step should be taken, both surgical and medical, to prevent anaphylactic reactions from the cystic fluid. Postsurgical long-term follow up along with periodical ultrasonography of the liver and computed tomography scan of the abdomen is essential to rule out possible recurrence.
Abdomen
;
Africa
;
Anaphylaxis
;
Animals
;
Asia
;
Australia
;
Cattle
;
Delayed Diagnosis
;
Diagnosis
;
Echinococcosis
;
Eggs
;
Follow-Up Studies
;
Humans
;
Liver
;
Ovum
;
Parasites
;
Recurrence
;
Ultrasonography
;
Zoonoses
9.The top 10 most-cited articles on the management of fractured instruments: a bibliometric analysis
Lora MISHRA ; Hyeon Cheol KIM ; Naomi Ranjan SINGH ; Priti Pragati RATH
Restorative Dentistry & Endodontics 2019;44(1):e2-
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this research was to identify the top 10 most-cited articles on the management of fractured or broken instruments and to perform a bibliometric analysis thereof. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Published articles related to fractured instruments were screened from online databases, such as Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and ScienceDirect, and highly cited papers, with at least 50 citations since publication, were identified. The most-cited articles were selected and analysed with regard to publication title, authorship, the journal of publication, year, institution, country of origin, article type, and number of citations. RESULTS: The top 10 most-cited articles were from various journals. Most were published in the Journal of Endodontics, followed by the International Endodontic Journal, and Dental Traumatology. The leading countries were Australia, Israel, Switzerland, the USA, and Germany, and the leading institution was the University of Melbourne. The majority of articles among the top 10 articles were clinical research studies (n = 8), followed by a basic research article and a non-systematic review article. CONCLUSIONS: This bibliometric analysis revealed interesting information about scientific progress in endodontics regarding fractured instruments. Overall, clinical research studies and basic research articles published in high-impact endodontic journals had the highest citation rates.
Australia
;
Authorship
;
Bibliometrics
;
Endodontics
;
Germany
;
Israel
;
Publications
;
Root Canal Preparation
;
Switzerland
;
Traumatology
10.Injury Fear, Stigma, and Reporting in Professional Dancers
Amy J VASSALLO ; Evangelos PAPPAS ; Emmanuel STAMATAKIS ; Claire E HILLER
Safety and Health at Work 2019;10(3):260-264
BACKGROUND: Professional dance is a physically demanding career path with a high injury prevalence, yet an ingrained culture of hiding or pushing through injuries. Developing better knowledge surrounding the cultural beliefs and behaviors related to injury reporting is critical to understand their incidence and burden. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate injury fear and injury reporting behaviors in professional dancers in Australia. METHODS: This study utilized data collected in a cross-sectional survey of professional dancers in Australia. Descriptive analysis of injury fear and reporting stigma are presented with comparisons between subgroups (full-time versus part-time dancers; men versus women) conducted using two-sided Fisher's exact tests. RESULTS: A total of 146 professional dancers were included. Over half (63%) of the respondents reported that they fear sustaining a dance-related injury, that they believe there is still a stigma surrounding injuries in dance (62%), and that this stigma has led to a delay in reporting or seeking care for an injury (51%). A lower proportion of part-time than full-time dancers reported that they would usually tell someone within their dance employment about an injury (35.1% vs. 59.6%, p = 0.006). CONCLUSION: Professional dancers are at risk of losing contracts or roles if they are injured, and therefore, it is common to dance through their occurrence. Many dancers, particularly those dancing part-time, are unwilling to tell their employers about their injuries. Action is required to improve this culture regarding injury reporting and help seeking for more effective injury understanding, prevention, and management in dance.
Australia
;
Cross-Sectional Studies
;
Dancing
;
Employment
;
Epidemiology
;
Humans
;
Incidence
;
Male
;
Prevalence
;
Surveys and Questionnaires

Result Analysis
Print
Save
E-mail