J Formos Med Assoc
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Thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection (TAAD) is a devastating but treatable disease if detected early. The clinical manifestations and genetic characteristics underlying TAAD patients in Taiwan, however, remain unclear. ⋯ The presence of skin striae distensae may serve as a clinical cue for physicians to search for AoAD in subjects who are at risk. The NGS panel test not only helps confirm the diagnosis, but also stratify the risk of dissection among patients with dilated aorta.
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Recurrent pneumonia is uncommon in children and few studies investigate the clinical impact of underlying diseases on this issue. This study aimed to explore the difference in clinical manifestations, pathogens, and prognosis of recurrent pneumonia in children with or without underlying diseases. ⋯ Children with underlying diseases, prone to have recurrent pneumonia and more susceptible to resistant microorganisms, had more severe diseases and poorer clinical outcomes. Therefore, more attention may be paid on clinical severity and the therapeutic plan.
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Identifying child abuse is sometimes challenging due to its various presentations. To facilitate timely identification of critical or complex cases of physical abuse outside our child protection center, we established an outreach multidisciplinary team (OMDT) to support Kaohsiung City Government in 2014. The objective of this study was to describe our experience of OMDT services during a 6-year period and examine its role in assisting law enforcement. ⋯ Our experience indicates that an OMDT can play an important role in child protection and activating law enforcement for children with complex or critical physical abuse. We suggest that in Taiwan, OMDT services should be incorporated into child protection centers, National Health Insurance system and governmental child protection policies.
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Observational Study
Follow-up of subjects labelled with putative pre-psychotic states: Viewed from a transdiagnostic clinical high-at-risk mental state (CHARMS) paradigm.
Follow-up of subjects with putative pre-psychotic states is essential to clarify the transition process to psychosis, while "non-converters" also deserve clinical attention as many may evolve into other psychiatric disorders with diverse outcomes. This study aimed to examine help-seeking individuals who have been labelled at clinical high-risk state but not converting to full-blown psychosis during first two years of follow-up. ⋯ Various diagnoses, either full- or sub-threshold, appropriately describe the diverse clinical phenomenology of a cohort presenting with non-specific and/or subthreshold psychotic symptoms. The clinical high-at-risk mental state (CHARMS) paradigm provides a reasonable transdiagnostic approach for orienting clinicians' attention toward young subjects seeking mental health help at an early stage of illness to potentially pluripotent trajectories.
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The in-hospital length of stay (LOS) among very-low-birth-weight (VLBW, BW < 1500 g) infants is an index for care quality and affects medical resource allocation. We aimed to analyze the LOS among VLBW infants in Taiwan, and to develop and compare the performance of different LOS prediction models using machine learning (ML) techniques. ⋯ We provide a benchmark of LOS among VLBW infants in each gestational age group in Taiwan. ML technique can improve the accuracy of the prediction model of prolonged LOS of VLBW.