J Formos Med Assoc
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Patients with cancer are eligible for hospice care when their life expectancy is 180 days or shorter. This study investigated the prognostic factors of patients with cancer and sepsis who were admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) to assist with clinical decisions of hospice care. ⋯ APACHE II score and the cancer control status may be the prognostic factors for critically ill patients with cancer and sepsis, and they may be helpful for evaluating hospice care.
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There is conflicting data regarding the utility of measuring apolipoproteins in addition to traditional lipid measures in risk assessment of cardiometabolic diseases. The aim of this study was to determine whether apolipoprotein measurements can improve the ability to predict the future development of type 2 diabetes beyond what is possible based on traditional type 2 diabetes risk factors and clinical routine lipid measurements. ⋯ Apolipoprotein measurements significantly predict diabetes risk in an Asian population. Furthermore, the predictive ability of apo B alone to detect diabetes was comparable with that of the apo B/apo A-I ratio and better than the routine lipid measurements.
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There are still oral cancer patients without surgery. To improve the survival, it is necessary to know the causes of the oral cancer patients without surgery. ⋯ One-sevenths of patients were not treated surgically because of refusal, poor condition, older age, low BMI, and advanced stage. It is necessary to encourage the patients to undergo surgery with shortening the diagnosis-to-treatment interval.
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The objective of this study was to create a normative database of 3D cephalometric measurements for adult Chinese in Taiwan to understand the specific features, as well as to provide information for 3-dimensional (3D) orthognathic surgery planning for patients with maxillofacial deformity. ⋯ The normative data helps to serve as a guide for maxillofacial treatment for globally ethnic Chinese, particularly useful for orthodontic treatment, 3D planning of orthognathic surgery and outcome assessment. Gender and ethnic differences need to be taken into consideration.
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Dysphagia is a common and critical condition that occurs in Parkinson's disease (PD), and it may appear in early stages. However, few reliable swallowing-related questionnaires are currently available. Therefore, finding efficient questionnaires for surveying dysphagia during the early stages of PD is necessary. ⋯ The impaired MDADI for early-stage PD was determined, and decreased DL as a presentation of dysphagia could not be reflected by the MDADI. The MDADI may be used as a quick and convenient questionnaire for predicting the severity of early-stage PD, but not for the screening of early or subclinical dysphagia.