Hospital capacity

INTRODUCTION: Food allergies represent a growing public health concern, particularly among children. This study aims to examine egg allergy in pediatric patients and analyze the value of serum-specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) levels as predictive biomarkers for oral food challenge (OFC) outcomes. METHODS: Retrospective study, involving pediatric patients with suspected IgE-mediated egg allergy, conducted at a tertiary hospital. RESULTS: Data from 176 pediatric patients were analyzed, revealing a higher male prevalence (59...

BACKGROUND: The sirtuin family is well recognized for its crucial involvement in various cellular processes. Nevertheless, studies on its role in the human endometrium are limited. This study aimed to explore the expression and localization of the sirtuin family in the human endometrium, focusing on sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) and its potential role in the oxidative imbalance of the endometrium in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). METHODS: Endometrial specimens were collected from both patients with PCOS and controls undergoing hysteroscopy at the Center for Reproductive Medicine, Peking University Third Hospital, from July to August 2015 and used for cell culture...

Effective therapies are urgently needed to stabilize patients with marginally compressible junctional hemorrhage long enough to get them to the hospital alive. Herein, we report injectable and rapidly expandable cryogels consisting of polyacrylamide and thrombin (AT cryogels) created by cryo-polymerization for the efficient management of lethal junctional hemorrhage in swine. The produced cryogels have small pore sizes and highly interconnected porous architecture with robust mechanical strength. The cryogels exhibit rapid shape memory properties and prove to be resilient against fatigue...

INTRODUCTION: Worldwide, the primary care sector played a key role in coping with the challenges of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. METHODS: The aim of this study was to explore the resilience of the German primary healthcare system during the second wave of the pandemic from the perspective of identified interface stakeholders, i.e., representatives of hospitals, district offices, and medical associations. Qualitative data from interviews and focus groups were analyzed according to a resilience framework...

BACKGROUND: Patients with obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) combined with resistant hypertension (RH) have a high risk of developing primary aldosteronism (PA). This study investigated the aldosterone-renin ratio (ARR), plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC), and plasma renin activity (PRA) to determine the optimal cutoff values for PA diagnosis in patients with OSAHS combined with RH. METHODS: Patients diagnosed with moderate and severe OSAHS combined with RH were recruited from the inpatient clinic of the Department of Endocrinology at Ji'an Central Hospital between October 2020 and April 2023...

BACKGROUND: At present, eradication regimens for non-Helicobacter pylori Helicobacter (NHPH) have not been established yet. We investigated effectiveness of the standard triple-drug combination therapy for Helicobacter pylori eradication and of a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) monotherapy in eradication of NHPH. METHODS: Subjects were the patients who were diagnosed with NHPH-infected gastritis based on microscopic findings, helical-shaped organisms obviously larger than Helicobacter pylori, in the gastric mucosal specimens using Giemsa staining at Kenwakai Hospital between November 2010 and September 2021, whose NHPH species were identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of urease genes in endoscopically-biopsied samples, and who consented to NHPH eradication with either the triple-drug combination therapy for one week or a PPI monotherapy for six months...

Sarcopenia greatly reduces the quality of life of the elderly, and iron metabolism plays an important role in muscle loss. This study aimed to investigate the association between iron status and sarcopenia. A total of 286 adult patients hospitalized between 2019 and 2021 were included in this study, of which 117 were diagnosed with sarcopenia. Serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), transferrin, and transferrin saturation levels were compared between groups with and without sarcopenia and were included in the logistic analyses, with significant variables further included in the logistic regression model for the prediction of sarcopenia...

BACKGROUND: Despite the reduction in global under-5 mortality over the last decade, childhood deaths remain high. To combat this, there has been a shift in focus from disease-specific interventions to use of healthcare data for resource allocation, evaluation of performance and impact, and accountability. This is a descriptive analysis of data derived from a prospective cohort study describing paediatric admissions to a tertiary referral hospital in Malawi for the purpose of process evaluation and quality improvement...

INTRODUCTION: Reducing waiting times is a major policy objective in publicly-funded healthcare systems. However, reductions in waiting times can produce a demand response, which may offset increases in capacity. Early detection and diagnosis of cancer is a policy focus in many OECD countries, but prolonged waiting periods for specialist confirmation of diagnosis could impede this goal. We examine whether urgent GP referrals for suspected cancer patients are responsive to local hospital waiting times...

The use of physiotherapy (PT) in the hospital emergency department (ED) has shown positive results including improvements in patient waiting time, treatment initiation, discharge type, patient outcomes, safety and acceptability of the intervention by medical staffs. These findings originate from studies that primarily focus on musculoskeletal and orthopaedic conditions. Despite a significant number of people visiting the ED, there is a shortage of literature evaluating PT in the ED for elderly populations. The objective of this study is the evaluate the effect of delivering PT in the ED (versus no delivery) in patients aged 75 and over with 'falls' complaints...

BACKGROUND: Portal vein tumor thrombosis (PVTT) signifies late-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with high-risk progression and poor prognosis. As a standard treatment, sorafenib monotherapy has limited the efficacy in managing HCC with PVTT. Currently, both hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) and the combination of camrelizumab and rivoceranib have shown favorable survival benefits for advanced HCC, surpassing the standard sorafenib treatment. In this study, we investigate the safety and efficacy of HAIC combined with camrelizumab and rivoceranib in treating HCC patients with PVTT...

Improving the state and future of patients severely impaired following brain injury is at the heart of early rehabilitation, established from the first days of hospitalization. For cognitive deficits, this management involves several challenges, related to hospital conditions and to the patients' capacities during the acute phase. A relevant intervention can be provided, as long as it involves an assessment adapted to these particularities and a rehabilitation targeting the most limiting deficits at this stage...

This study explored the extent to which health promotion techniques and activities are incorporated into public health and clinical care at a District Hospital in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, as well as the challenges that this process faces. Information was obtained at the hospital facility through direct observation, interviews and open-ended questionnaires. Findings showed that the process of incorporating health promotion activities into public health and clinical care at the hospital was underdeveloped...

BACKGROUND: Pregnant women constitute a high-risk group for nutrient deficiency anemia which may be associated with detrimental effects on maternal and infant health. OBJECTIVES:  This study aimed to assess and compare hematological and biochemical changes across trimesters in pregnant women, considering parameters such as hemoglobin, serum iron, unsaturated iron-binding capacity (UIBC), total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), ferritin, vitamin B12, and folic acid...

BACKGROUND: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a prevalent spinal disorder that can potentially influence bone mineral density (BMD), thereby increasing the susceptibility to osteoporosis and fractures. Early identification of reduced bone mass in AIS patients is crucial for clinicians to develop effective preventive strategies against fractures. This study aims to elucidate the correlation between BMD, as measured by quantitative computed tomography (QCT), and various clinical parameters in AIS, including the Cobb angle, vertebral rotation, and the Risser sign...

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted individuals, society, and healthcare organisations worldwide. Recent international research suggests that concerns, needs, and experiences of healthcare workers (HCWs) have evolved throughout the pandemic. This longitudinal qualitative study explored the evolving views and experiences of Victorian healthcare workers (HCWs) and organisational key personnel during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: We recruited participants from the Coronavirus in Victorian Health and Aged care workers (COVIC-HA) study cohort...

Mathematical models are useful for public health planning and response to infectious disease threats. However, different models can provide differing results, which can hamper decision making if not synthesized appropriately. To address this challenge, multi-model hubs convene independent modeling groups to generate ensembles, known to provide more accurate predictions of future outcomes. Yet, these hubs are resource intensive, and how many models are sufficient in a hub is not known. Here, we compare the benefit of predictions from multiple models in different contexts: (1) decision settings that depend on predictions of quantitative outcomes (e...

BACKGROUND: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) poses a substantial threat to infants, often leading to challenges in hospital capacity. With recent pharmaceutical developments to be used during the prenatal and perinatal periods aimed at decreasing the RSV burden, there is a pressing need to identify infants at risk of severe disease. We aimed to stratify the risk of developing a clinically severe RSV infection in infants under 1 year of age. METHODS: This retrospective observational study was conducted at the Hospices Civils de Lyon, France, involving infants born between 2014 and 2018...

INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are a group of illnesses that include coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, congenital heart disease and deep vein thrombosis. Major surgery is often chosen as the treatment of choice for CVD. The concept of fast-track rehabilitation after surgery appeared in the 1970s. Participation in these exercise-based prehabilitation programmes may decrease postoperative complications and length of hospital stay. The primary aim of the present study is to evaluate whether the implementation of an additional resistance training (RT) prehabilitation protocol within cardiac exercises based prehabilitation can reduce intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay, postoperative complications and hospital length of stay (LOS)...

The available medical literature on lung function and corresponding clinical characteristics among symptomatic survivors of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (long COVID) is sparse. Primary physicians referred patients who manifested persistent dyspnea months after their index case of infection to a designated clinic. Patients underwent symptom-driven, quality-of-life, physical, and focused respiratory [pulmonary function tests and computed tomography (CT) of the chest] evaluations and were followed over time. In this paper, we present our findings...