Medicine
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Observational Study
A retrospective observational study of length of stay in hospital after colorectal cancer surgery in England (1998-2010).
The National Health Service (NHS) is facing financial constraints and thus there is considerable interest in ensuring the shortest but optimal hospital stays possible. The aim of this study was to investigate patterns of postoperative length of stay (LOS) stay across the English NHS and to identify factors that significantly influence both optimal and prolonged LOS. Data were obtained from the National Cancer Data Repository (NCDR). ⋯ Control charts showed that there was significant variation in short and prolonged LOS across NHS trusts even after adjustment for case-mix. Significant variation in LOS existed between NHS hospitals in England throughout period 1998 to 2010. Understanding the underlying causes of this variation between surgical providers will make it possible to identify and spread best practice, improve services, and ultimately reduce LOS following colorectal cancer surgery.
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Chest X-ray is a "golden standard" for the diagnosis and severity assessment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). However, it cannot be used as routine examination of CAP in children. The present study aims to investigate the roles of prealbumin (PA) in CAP in children and further determine the usefulness of PA in diagnosis and severity assessment of CAP in children. ⋯ With a cutoff value of 125 mg/L, the sensitivity and specificity of PA for the severity assessment of CAP were 0.703 and 0.714, respectively. Combined with traditional inflammatory markers, PA may improve the diagnostic efficacy of CAP in children. PA can be used as a reference marker to complement the chest X-rays for severity assessment of children CAP.
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To investigate the relationship between excision repair cross-complementing group 1 (ERCC1)-4533/8092, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α)-238/308 polymorphisms, and the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Guangxi Zhuang population of China. ⋯ The genetic polymorphisms of ERCC1-8092 and TNF-α-308 are associated with the risk of HCC in Guangxi Zhuang population of China.
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Observational Study
Correlation between T2* (T2 star) relaxation time and cervical intervertebral disc degeneration: An observational study.
To demonstrate the potential benefits of T2 relaxation time of intervertebral discs (IVDs) regarding the detection and grading of degenerative disc disease using 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a clinical setting. ⋯ Our standardized method of region-specific quantitative T2 relaxation time evaluation seems capable of characterizing different degrees of disc degeneration quantitatively. The T2 values obtained in these cervical IVDs may serve as baseline values for future T2 measurements in both healthy and degenerated cervical discs.
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Recently, 2 new anthropometric indices, the A Body Shape Index (ABSI) and Body Roundness Index (BRI), have been developed. Our study was to compare the associations between different anthropometric indices, including ABSI, BRI, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and hypertension in a rural population of northeast China. This cross-sectional study was conducted in the rural areas of northeast China from January 2012 to August 2013 using a multistage, stratified random cluster-sampling scheme. ⋯ BRI had the highest AROCs for hypertension (AROC: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.64-0.67 for men and AROC: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.67-0.70 for women), while ABSI had the lowest AROCs for hypertension (AROC: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.58-0.61 for men and AROC: 0.59, 95% CI: 0.58-0.61 for women). Our results showed that ABSI, BMI, BRI, WC, and WHR were all associated with hypertension. ABSI showed the weakest association with hypertension, while BRI showed potential for use as an alternative obesity measure in assessment of hypertension.