Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA
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Exoscope has been used in otoneurologic surgery in several reports. However, most ear surgeries are performed using either microscope or endoscopy today. The purpose of this study is to present our subjective and objective experience of using this instrument in our institution. ⋯ Exoscopic ear surgery is feasible, safe, and effective in managing various otologic conditions involving external ear, middle ear, mastoid, and lateral skull base. Its high-definition image quality, stereoscopic effects, sufficient magnification, reliability and teaching value made it a potential instrument in general ear surgeries. Further improvements to current drawbacks can be anticipated.
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Lead (Pb) poisoning can damage human bodies silently, without specific symptoms or conspicuous warning signs. To provide safe and user-friendly tools for detecting heavy metals at low concentrations, scientists have developed and optimized versatile biosensors. ⋯ With the high transmissions speeds for 4G and 4G wireless Internet, such a system can be applied for health protection; water-quality data can be provided by anyone and publicly shared for display on smartphone interfaces, alerting individuals of heavy metal contamination. In this review, we describe recent developments in heavy metal-sensing devices, including home health maintenance systems, which have been successfully and practically applied to prevent heavy metal Pb poisoning.
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The appropriateness of hysterectomy has gained an interest in scrutiny and debate. Periodic audits of the prevailing clinical practices are imperative for insight, and to formulate recommendations and guidelines. We report the temporal trends of hysterectomies, over the last 10 years in a teaching hospital. ⋯ We report a static trend in hysterectomy over the past 10 years. This audit provides an insight for the need of shifting the abdominal to vaginal route, in carefully chosen patients. This will be beneficial for the patients, and for the trainees, where they can learn under supervision. Availability and patient education about the nonsurgical management options for benign gynecological conditions, as well as awareness about sequelae of hysterectomy, will bring down the rate in countries such as India.
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Patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement surgery (TAVR) are typically older adults with multiple chronic diseases and therefore have a high surgical risk. The N-terminal of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and pro-BNP, referred to as NT-pro-BNP, is an easily measurable biomarker of heart failure. Studies on correlation between higher NT-pro-BNP levels and adverse prognoses after TAVR have yielded inconsistent results. Here, we investigated whether preoperative NT-pro-BNP levels are correlated with outcomes among older adults undergoing TAVR. ⋯ For older patients undergoing TAVR with NT-pro-BNP levels > 4853 ng/L, their postoperative outcomes and 1-year mortality were correlated. Thus, NT-pro-BNP is useful for the risk assessment of patients undergoing TAVR and should be regarded as a biomarker in future risk assessments.