Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA
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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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In patients with advanced osteoarthritis (OA) of the bilateral knees, uncertainty remains as to whether simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty (SiTKA) or staged TKA (StTKA) is the treatment of choice. The purpose of this study was to investigate the safety and relative cost of SiTKA vs StTKA in Taiwan patients. ⋯ SiTKA is a safe and cost-effective surgery. Both SiTKA and StTKA have similar rates of postoperative complications, readmission and reoperation, but SiTKA significantly reduces medical expenses for both the patient and the NHI.
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Minimizing multiple organ dysfunction-related mortality and morbidity is a critical issue for patients with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) receiving therapeutic hypothermia (TH). Although erythropoietin (EPO) has demonstrated protective effects on various hypoxic-ischemic organs in animal studies and clinical trials in adults, its effects on neonates with HIE require further investigation. ⋯ The use of EPO in addition to TH is safe for neonates with HIE. The neonates with moderate or severe HIE who received EPO may have a lesser risk of hypotension than those who received TH alone. Further clinical studies on renal and cardiac functions and long-term neurological effects of EPO are required.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
An open-label randomized non-inferior study of generic-name and brand-name of propafenone for rhythm control in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.
Propafenone is a class IC antiarrhythmic agent that is commonly used as the first-line therapy for patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) in Taiwan. This study compared the efficacy and safety of generic (Rhynorm) and brand name (Rytmonorm) propafenone for rhythm control of paroxysmal AF in Taiwan. ⋯ Our results verified that Rhynorm was noninferior to Rytmonorm in terms of efficacy and safety for treating paroxysmal AF in Taiwan ( ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03674658).