Medicine
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Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common progressive joint disorder in old people. Bushen huoxue (BSHX) is a classical method of TCM in treating KOA. However, there is no systematic review related to BSHX for KOA. The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive and reliable evaluation of the clinical evidence of BSHX in the treatment of KOA. ⋯ The results of this systematic review will provide evidence to judge whether BSHX is an effective intervention for patients with KOA.
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Observational Study
Psychometric testing of a short form, 11-item Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia-Arabic version: TSK-AV-11.
To examine the psychometric properties of a short form TSK-AV in Arabic-speaking patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP). One hundred one CLBP patients recruited from Jordan University Hospital provided demographic information and completed the TSK-AV full version and measures of pain severity and disability. Explorative factor analysis was used to determine whether a generally accepted 2-factor model consisting of fewer TSK items applies to the TSK-AV and exhibits acceptable psychometric properties. ⋯ Factor 2 was labeled as "somatic focus" and comprised items 3, 6, 11, and 13. The 11-item TSK-AV comprised of the 2 factors (TSK-AV-11) as well as its subscales all remained independent significant (P < .001) predictors of pain disability in Jordanian patients with CLBP after accounting for factors such as age, gender, pain duration, and pain severity. The short, 11-item TSK-AV (TSK-AV-11) appears to be an ideal clinical and research tool for measuring fear of movement/re (injury) in Arabic-speaking patients.
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At present, there is no uniform consensus on the treatment of brain metastases from esophageal cancer. The studies on the treatment of brain metastases from esophageal cancer by radiotherapy combined with temozolomide (TMZ) are even rarer. ⋯ This study suggests that radiotherapy plus TMZ might be a feasible option for brain metastases from esophageal cancer.
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Comparative Study
General internal medicine and family medicine journals: Comparative study of published articles using bibliometric data.
Like research in general internal medicine, family medicine research can play an important role in improving medical knowledge. We aimed to compare articles published in family medicine journals with articles published in general internal medicine journals. In this bibliometric study, we retrieved 658 randomly selected quantitative articles published in 2016 in 18 high impact factor journals of family medicine and general internal medicine. ⋯ In addition, these studies generally included more participants (>1000 vs <100: OR 3.5 [95%CI 1.4-8.6], P-value .02). There was no statistically significant difference in the study design between the two groups of articles (P-value .25). Despite some differences between the two groups of articles, studies published in family medicine journals do not appear to be any less ambitious in terms of study design and sample size than those published in general internal medicine journals.
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This study investigated the prevalence of depression among children with epilepsy and evaluated factors associated with depression. Participants who met the selection criteria were included in this cross-sectional study, which was conducted at the Pediatric Neurology Department of the West China Women's and Children's Hospital from January to May 2018. Depression status among children with epilepsy was evaluated by the Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children (DSRSC). ⋯ According to the multiple linear regression analysis, the DSRSC scores showed a significant correlation with comorbidities (B = 0.178; standard error (SE) = 1.123; P = .043), attitude towards seizures (B = -0.180; SE = 1.171; P = .039) and adverse reaction to medications (B = 0.233; SE = 1.797; P = .008). There is relatively high prevalence of depression in children with epilepsy in western China. More health education is needed to reduce the rate of depression in children with epilepsy, particularly for those patients with comorbidities, negative attitudes towards seizures and adverse reactions to medications.