Scientific reports
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There is a paucity of information regarding the development of body posture during adolescence. This three-year prospective study aimed to evaluate sitting and sleeping postures among adolescents, and to determine whether these postures are associated with age and sex. We assessed 525 adolescents aged 11-16 years from the fifth to eighth grades. ⋯ Moreover, we found a strong reduction of adequate posture prevalence for younger adolescents, but the oldest adolescents demonstrated no significant differences after three years. Early, rather than late, adolescence is a critical period for establishing inadequate sitting and sleeping postures. This has implications for posture throughout adulthood; hence, interventions targeted at this age group are needed.
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Accurate intraocular lens (IOL) power calculation is always a challenge in ophthalmology, and unoptimized process may lead to inaccurate refractive outcomes. Quality control circle (QCC) has shown its success in many fields as a process management tool. However, its efficacy in ophthalmology remains unclear. ⋯ After the QCC application, the percentage of eyes with achieved refractive outcomes within 0.5 diopter significantly increased from 63.2% to 80.8% calculated by Haigis formula and 59.2% to 75.8% by SRK/T formula in patients with normal axial length (AL) (22 mm ≤ AL < 26 mm). Although there were no statistically significant differences in patients with long AL by the two formulas (p = 0.886 and 0.726), we achieved an accuracy of 75% with the application of the PhacoOptics software, which was significantly higher than that using the other two formulas (p < 0.001). Our findings indicated that QCC optimized and standardized the process of IOL power calculation, thus improved the accuracy of IOL power calculation in patients who underwent cataract surgery.
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The study aimed to compare the dosimetric parameters to target dose coverage and the critical structures in the treatment planning of helical tomotherapy (TOMO), volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT), and fixed-field intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for NSCLC delivering conventionally fractionated radiotherapy. Thirty patients with pathologically confirmed NSCLC were included. Three radiation treatment plans were designed for each patient. ⋯ In larger tumor, VMAT provided the optimal dose distribution and sparing to heart. Compared to TOMO and IMRT, VMAT achieved better target dose distribution and similar sparing of critical structures. VMAT seemed to be the optimal technique for NSCLC.