Humans ; Amyloidosis ; Amyloid ; Cardiomyopathies

As the search for effective treatments for COVID-19 continues, the high mortality rate among critically ill patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU) presents a profound challenge. This study explores the potential benefits of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as a supplementary treatment for severe COVID-19. A total of 110 critically ill COVID-19 patients at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Vulcan Hill Hospital between Feb., 2020, and April, 2020 (Wuhan, China) participated in this observational study. All patients received standard supportive care protocols, with a subset of 81 also receiving TCM as an adjunct treatment. Clinical characteristics during the treatment period and the clinical outcome of each patient were closely monitored and analysed. Our findings indicated that the TCM group exhibited a significantly lower mortality rate compared with the non-TCM group (16 of 81 vs 24 of 29; 0.3 vs 2.3 person/month). In the adjusted Cox proportional hazards models, TCM treatment was associated with improved survival odds (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the analysis also revealed that TCM treatment could partially mitigate inflammatory responses, as evidenced by the reduced levels of proinflammatory cytokines, and contribute to the recovery of multiple organic functions, thereby potentially increasing the survival rate of critically ill COVID-19 patients.
Humans ; COVID-19 ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Critical Illness ; Treatment Outcome

Objective:To search, evaluate, and summarize the best evidence for difficult peripheral intravenous catheterization in children.Methods:Following the "6S" evidence pyramid model, literature related to the management of difficult peripheral veins in children was searched in both English and Chinese databases including UpToDate, BMJ Best Practice, National Guidelines Clearinghouse, the Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence-Based Health Care Database, PubMed, Medlive, SinoMed, CNKI, and Wanfang Database. The search period was from the establishment of the database to January 2023. Two researchers trained in systematic evidence-based nursing, independently evaluated the quality of included literature and extracted relevant evidence.Results:Five articles were included: two guidelines, two expert consensuses, and one systematic review. 19 best evidence were summarized, covering five aspects: difficult vein quality management, difficult vein assessment, difficult intravenous catheterization site and needle type selection, difficult intravenous catheterization auxiliary methods, and handling of failed difficult intravenous catheterization.Conclusions:This study summarizes the best evidence for difficult peripheral intravenous catheterization in children, demonstrating clinical nursing practicality. It provides evidence-based guidance for pediatric nursing staff performing difficult intravenous catheterization.

Bladder diverticulum is a hernia formed by the protrusion of the mucosa through the weak muscularis propria of the bladder wall. It can be divided into congenital and acquired. Most patients are asymptomatic, and be found by physical examination or incidentally during the diagnosis and treatment of other diseases. The majority of bladder diverticula occur in male patients, mostly due to lower urinary tract obstruction. Severe diverticula may cause recurrent urinary tract infection or even malignant transformation, which requiring surgical treatment.

Objective:To explore effects of psychological resilience and social support on quality of life in patients undergoing ileal conduit surgery.Methods:Using the convenient sampling method, a total of 232 patients who underwent total cystectomy and ileal conduit surgery in Department of Urology in a Class ⅢGrade A general hospital from January 2014 to December 2018 were investigated by using the general data questionnaire, City of Hope Quality of Life-Ostomy Questionnaire (COH-QOL-OQ) , Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS) and 10-item Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10) from March to August 2020.Results:The age of patients was (65.79±8.67) years old, the postoperative time was (42.14±15.76) months, the total score of quality of life was (263.28±28.71) , the score of social support was (71.81±8.02) and the score of psychological resilience was (31.27±5.27) . Multiple linear regression analysis showed that psychological resilience (β=0.18, P<0.01) , self-care (β=0.30, P<0.01) , age (β=0.18, P<0.01) , recurrent carcinoma (β=0.13, P<0.05) and self-paying (β=-0.21, P<0.05) were influence factors of quality of life of patients, which could explain the variability of 21.2%. Conclusions:A variety of factors affect quality of life of patients after ileal conduit surgery for a long time. Therefore, attention should be paid to continuing treatment and nursing, improving self-care ability and psychological quality, promoting quality of life and improving disease outcomes.

Objective:To explore the mindfulness level of colorectal cancer patients with enterostomy and identify its influencing factors, so as to provide a theoretical basis for formulating intervention measures to improve the physical and mental health of patients with enterostomy.Methods:From September 2019 to January 2020, convenience sampling was used to select 280 colorectal cancer inpatients with enterostomy in 3 Class Ⅲ Grade A general hospitals in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province as the research object. The questionnaire survey was conducted with the General Information Questionnaire and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) . Multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify the influencing factors of mindfulness in colorectal cancer patients with enterostomy. A total of 280 questionnaires were distributed and 242 valid questionnaires were returned with an effective response rate of 86.4%.Results:Among 242 colorectal cancer patients with enterostomy, the total MAAS score was (51.54±9.69) at a moderate level. The results of single-factor analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in MAAS scores among colorectal cancer and enterostomy patients with different gender, age, education level, working status, occupation, number of children, religious beliefs, family monthly income per capita, payment method of medical expenses, time of wearing stoma, stoma location, postoperative complications, disease stage and stoma type ( P<0.05) . Multiple linear regression analysis showed that gender, age, education level, working status, religious beliefs, payment method of medical expenses, stoma length, postoperative complications and disease stage were the influencing factors of the mindfulness of colorectal cancer patients with enterostomy, accounting for 39.4% of the total variation ( P<0.05) . Conclusions:The mindfulness of colorectal cancer patients with enterostomy is at a moderate level and needs to be improved. Medical and nursing staff can take personalized nursing measures to improve the mindfulness of patients based on different factors that affect the mindfulness of patients with colorectal cancer.

Background and objective Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in men and women in the world, more than one-half of cases are diagnosed at a advanced stage, and the overall 5-year survival rate for lung cancer is 18%. Lung cancer is divided into non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) and small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC). Approximately 80%-85%of cases are NSCLC which includes three main types:adenocarcinoma (40%), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (20%-30%), and large cell carcinoma (10%). Although therapies that target driver mutations in adenocarcinomas are showing some promise, they are proving ineffective in smoking-related SCC. We need pay more attention to the diagnosis and treatment of SCC. 18F-FDG positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) has emerged as an accurate staging mo-dality in lung cancer diagnosis. hTe aim of this study is to investigate the role of maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) on PET-CT in prognosis and its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics in resectable SCC. Methods One hun-dred and eighty-two resectable SCC patients who underwent PET/CT imaging between May 2005 and October 2014 were enrolled into this retrospectively study. All the enrolled patients had underwent pulmonary resection with mediastinal lymph node dissection without preoperative chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Survival outcomes were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Correlation between SUVmax and clinicopathological factors was analysed using Pearson correlation analysis and Spearman rank correlation analysis. Results hTe patients were divided into two groups on the basis of SUVmax 13.0 as cutoff value, and patients with SUVmax more than 13.0 had shorter median overall survival than patients less than 13.0 in univariate analysis (56 months vs 87 months;P=0.022). hTere was remarkable correla-tion between SUVmax and gender, tumor size, tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage, neutrophil, NLR, hemoglobin (P<0.05). Multivariate Cox analysis demonstrated that SUVmax (HR=1.714, 95%CI:1.021-2.876, P=0.042), TNM stage (HR=1.677, 95%CI:1.231-2.284, P=0.001) were independent predictors for survival. Furthermore, univariate survival analysis showed signiifcant difference by SUVmax in patients of stage I (P=0.045). Conclusion SUVmax may be of importance prognostic factor independent of TNM stage, which was considerable for risk stratiifcation in patients with TNM stage. Besides, there was correlation between SUVmax of primary tumor and clinicopathological characteristics.

Objective To investigate the inhibitory effects and mechanisms of a nature product derivate oridonin on in?vasion of human lung cancer. Methods Human lung cancer A549 and PC-9 cell lines were treated with oridonin. MTS as?say was used to determine cell proliferation. Transwell assay was used to determine the cell invasion, and adhesion assay to determine the cell adhesion. Flow cytometry was used to determine cell cycle. Western blotting and realtime-PCR were used to detect expression levels of CDK1, mTOR, p53, p21, E-cadherin, CD44,β-catenin, uPA, MMP-2/9, p-AKT and p-Src. The luciferase reporter assay was used to detect the NF-κB promoter activity. Results In vitro proliferation, invasion and adhesion of A549 and PC-9 cells were significantly inhibited by oridonin. The cell cycle was halted by G2/M phase, and ex?pressions of E-cadherin, p53 and p21 were promoted, while expressions of CDK1, mTOR, CD44,β-catenin, uPA, MMP-2/9, p-AKT and p-Src and promoter activity of NF-κB were down-regulated. Conclusion Oridonin is able to inhibit the in vitro invasion of human lung cancer A549 and PC-9 cell lines, which might be correlated with its abilities to regulate the ty?rosine kinase activity.

Objective: To investigate the gene frequency of HLA-B* 5801 in the population of Chinese Minnan region.Methods:In this study,we enrolled 178 patients requiring allopurinol therapy( including 40 patients with gout,89 patients with hyperuricemia and 49 patients with gouty arthritis) and 100 healthy people.We isolated genomic DNA from their blood and screened for HLA-B*5801 with both PCR and gene sequencing.Results:We found 22%patients and 16%healthy people with HLA-B*5801.The frequencies of HLA-B*5801 in patients and healthy people are 0.13 and 0.09,respectively.The results from PCR and gene sequencing were consistent.Conclusion:The frequency of HLA-B*5801 in the population of Chinese Minnan region is relatively high.Therefore,it is necessary to screen for HLA-B*5801 in allopurinol users before taking the medicine.

Objective To investigate the genotype and epidemiology of plasmid‐mediated AmpC β‐lactamases produced by the clinical strains of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae .Methods A total of 176 clinical nonrepetitive cefoxitin non‐sensitivity isolates of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae was collected from July 2011 to August 2012 .Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for AmpC enzyme gene amplification and DNA sequencing were carried out for genotype of AmpC beta‐lactamases .Results The results of PCR showed that the positive rate of ampC of the 176 strains of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae AmpC was 18 .2% ,mainly DHA type ,counting for 59 .4% ,CIT counting for 37 .5% ,EBC counting for 3 .1% .The positive rate of ampC of Escherichia coli was 11 .4% ,mainly CIT type ,counting for 77 .8% ,the positive rates of DHA type and EBC type both were 11 .1% .The positive rate of ampC of Klebsiella pneumoniae were 23 .7% ,mainly DHA type ,counting for 78 .3% ,CIT type count‐ing for 21 .7% .The results of DNA sequencing showed that there were 18 strains DHA‐1 type and 1 strain ampC gene type of Morganella morganii in DHA type strains ,the concordance rate was 97 .0% ,10 CIT type strains was CMY‐2 type ,1 strain was CMY‐42 ,one strain was CMY‐4 type ,EBC type was ampC gene type of Enterobacter cloacae ,the concordance rate was 99 .0% .A total of 32 strains of gene sequencing were registered as KJ127248 - KJ127279 in GenBank .Conclusion The main genotypes of plasmid‐mediated ampC enzyme produced by Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae were CMY‐2 and DHA‐1 respectively .