Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA
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Maintaining physical fitness is important for health of the elderly. How to implement an effective and efficient model is a practical issue. A healthy physical fitness promotion program with machine-assisted exercises was designed for elderly and executed in a community in 2015 and 2016. The program was implemented for 10 to 12 weeks with two (group 1) or three (group 2) sessions per week, and functional fitness tests were conducted before, at the end, and 3 months after the training. This study is to investigate the effectiveness of machine-assisted physical fitness promotion program for the community elderly. ⋯ This study discovered that 10 to 12 weeks of machine-assisted exercise training can improve the elderly community members' body composition, muscle strength, muscle endurance, agility, dynamic balance, and cardiorespiratory endurance. Moreover, with three sessions per week, its effects were even maintained for 3 months after the training.
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The recent outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has been causing respiratory diseases globally, damaging wide ranges of social-economic activities. This virus is transmitted through personal contact and possibly also through ambient air. Effective biosensor platforms for the detection of this virus and the related host response are in urgent demand. ⋯ Furthermore, environmental biosensors can be designed to detect SARS-CoV-2 in the ambient air or in the intensive care ventilators. Here, we evaluate technical components of biosensors, including the biological targets of recognition, the recognition methods, and the signal amplification and transduction systems. Effective SARS-CoV-2 detectors can be designed by an adequate combination of these technologies.
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Case Reports
Extramedullary plasmacytoma of hypopharynx treated using transoral laser microsurgery and adjuvant radiotherapy.
Extramedullary plasmacytoma (EMP) of the hypopharynx is exceedingly rare. There were only two cases reported before. A 77-year-old man was presented with a 6-month history of foreign body sensation in the throat. ⋯ The pathology report showed aggregates of plasma cells with eccentric nuclei and perinuclear halos (compatible with plasmacytoma). Postoperative radiotherapy was performed, and there was no evidence of tumor recurrence after an 18-month follow-up. This is the first report of transoral laser microsurgery with postoperative radiotherapy in plasmacytoma of hypopharynx, and it resulted in optimal tumor control and minimal morbidity.
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Editorial Comment
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