Spending and Hospital Stay for Melanoma in Hunan, China

ObjectiveThis study aimed to describe the economic burden of Chinese patients with melanoma in Hunan province of China, and to investigate the factors for hospitalization spending and length of stay (LOS) in patients undergoing melanoma surgery.MethodsData was extracted from the Chinese National Health Statistics Network Reporting System database in Hunan province during 2017–2019. Population and individual statistics were presented, and nonparametric tests and quantile regression were used to analyze the factors for spending and LOS.ResultA total of 2,644 hospitalized patients with melanoma in Hunan were identified. During 2017–2019, the total hospitalization spending was $5,247,972, and out-of-pocket payment (OOP) was$1,817,869, accounting for 34.6% of the total expenditure. The median spending was $1,123 [interquartile range (IQR):$555–2,411] per capita, and the median LOS was 10 days (IQR: 5–18). A total of 1,104 patients who underwent surgery were further analyzed. The non-parametric tests and quantile regression showed that women were associated with less spending and LOS than men. In general, patients aged 46–65 and those with lesions on the limbs had higher hospitalization costs and LOS than other subgroups.ConclusionMelanoma causes heavy economic burdens on patients in Hunan, such that the median spending is close to 60% of the averagely annual disposable income. Middle-aged men patients with melanoma on the limbs present the highest financial burden of melanoma

Associations of polysocial risk score with incident rosacea: a prospective cohort study of government employees in China

BackgroundThe associations between single risk factors and incident rosacea have been reported, but the effects of social risk factors from multiple domains coupled remain less studied.ObjectivesTo quantify the influence of social determinants on rosacea comprehensively and investigate associations between the polysocial risk score (PsRS) with the risks of incident rosacea.MethodsThis was a prospective cohort study of government employees undertaken from January 2018 to December 2021 among participants aged >20 from five cities in Hunan province of China. At baseline, information was collected by a questionnaire and participants were involved in an examination of the skin. Dermatologists with certification confirmed the diagnosis of rosacea. The skin health status of participants was reassessed every year since the enrolment of study during the follow-up period. The PsRS was determined using the nine social determinants of health from three social risk domains (namely socioeconomic status, psychosocial factors, and living environment). Incident rosacea was estimated using binary logistic regression models adjusted for possible confounding variables.ResultsAmong the 3,773 participants who completed at least two consecutive skin examinations, there were 2,993 participants included in the primary analyses. With 7,457 person-years of total follow-up, we detected 69 incident rosacea cases. After adjustment for major confounders, participants in the group with high social risk had significantly raised risks of incident rosacea with the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) being 2.42 (95% CI 1.06, 5.55), compared to those in low social risk group.ConclusionOur findings suggest that a higher PsRS was associated with an elevated risk of incident rosacea in our study population

Cal cuidar-se per cuidar? qualitat de vida i sobrecàrrega del cuidador informal familiar en cuidadors de persones grans dependents

En les darreres dècades, l’esperança de vida ha augmentat notablement. Aquesta realitat no tan sols implica que visquem més anys sinó que, també, tinguem més possibilitats de patir tota mena de malalties pròpies de l’edat (com les demències, les degeneratives, etc.) i de patir-les més anys. Per edat, els que cuidaven ahir, són els cuidador d’avui: més grans, més envellits i que, a més, cuiden durant més anys. Un cuidador són dues vides. Així que, com la que s’està cuidant, la vida del cuidador també necessita ser cuidada ja que, sinó, la cura pot esdevenir una càrrega i un factor negatiu en el desenvolupament del mateix cuidador amb conseqüències tant físiques, com psíquiques i psicològiques. Aquesta investigació es centra en la realitat d’aquests cuidadors, en la seva qualitat de vida i en la seva experiència; tenint en compte també, els diversos punts de vista dels professionals que, des de institucions distintes, treballen i actuen en aquests casos.In recent decades, life expectancy has increased dramatically. This does not mean that only live longer but also more likely to suffer from all kinds of diseases typical of the age (such as dementia, degenerative, etc.) and years of suffering the most. For age, who took care of yesterday are the caregiver today: bigger, aging and also care for more years. A caregiver are two lives. So, as being caring, life caregiver also need to be careful because, but care can become a burden and a negative factor in the development of the same caregiver consequences both physical and mental and psychological. This research focuses on the reality of these carers in their quality of life and their experience; taking into account the various views of professionals from different institutions, work and act in such cases

Overview to the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT) Satellite

As China's first X-ray astronomical satellite, the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), which was dubbed as Insight-HXMT after the launch on June 15, 2017, is a wide-band (1-250 keV) slat-collimator-based X-ray astronomy satellite with the capability of all-sky monitoring in 0.2-3 MeV. It was designed to perform pointing, scanning and gamma-ray burst (GRB) observations and, based on the Direct Demodulation Method (DDM), the image of the scanned sky region can be reconstructed. Here we give an overview of the mission and its progresses, including payload, core sciences, ground calibration/facility, ground segment, data archive, software, in-orbit performance, calibration, background model, observations and some preliminary results.Comment: 29 pages, 40 figures, 6 tables, to appear in Sci. China-Phys. Mech. Astron. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1910.0443

Assessment of School-Based Quasi-Experimental Nutrition and Food Safety Health Education for Primary School Students in Two Poverty-Stricken Counties of West China.

Few studies on nutrition and food safety education intervention for students in remote areas of China were reported. The study aimed to assess the questionnaire used to measure the knowledge, attitude and behavior with respect to nutrition and food safety, and to evaluate the effectiveness of a quasi-experimental nutrition and food safety education intervention among primary school students in poverty-stricken counties of west China.Twelve primary schools in west China were randomly selected from Zhen'an of Shaanxi province and Huize of Yunnan province. Six geographically dispersed schools were assigned to the intervention group in a nonrandom way. Knowledge, attitude and behavior questionnaire was developed, assessed, and used for outcome measurement. Students were investigated at baseline and the end of the study respectively without follow-up. Students in intervention group received targeted nutrition and food safety lectures 0.5 hour per week for two semesters. Item response theory was applied for assessment of questionnaire, and a two-level difference-in-differences model was applied to assess the effectiveness of the intervention.The Cronbach's alpha of the original questionnaire was 0.84. According to item response model, 22 knowledge items, 6 attitude items and 8 behavior items showed adequate discrimination parameter and were retained. 378 and 478 valid questionnaires were collected at baseline and the end point. Differences of demographic characteristics were statistically insignificant between the two groups. Two-level difference-in-differences models showed that health education improved 2.92 (95% CI: 2.06-3.78) and 2.92 (95% CI: 1.37-4.47) in knowledge and behavior scores respectively, but had no effect on attitude.The questionnaire met the psychometric standards and showed good internal consistence and discrimination power. The nutrition and food safety education was effective in improving the knowledge and behavior of primary school students in the two poverty-stricken counties of China

Item characteristic curves.

<p>Each Item characteristic curve describes the item-specific relationship between the ability level (X-axis) and probability of the ‘correct’ response (Y-axis). Ability in the item response theory model practically (though not exclusively) ranged from −3 to +3. The difficulty parameter is the point on the ability scale that corresponds to a probability of a correct response of 50%. The discrimination parameter is the slope of each curve. For Likert-type attitude and practice items, polytomous item response model were applied (multiple curves within a single figure, each curve stands for the relationship between ability and probability of a certain response).</p

The efficacy of probiotics supplementation for the treatment of atopic dermatitis in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background There is a lack of certain evidence for the therapeutic efficacy of probiotics for adult atopic dermatitis (AD). Methods PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Database were searched for relevant studies, and randomized controlled trials of AD describing treatment with single/mixed probiotic therapy were included. Changes in outcomes were calculated by standard mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Relative efficacies of the probiotics were ranked by the surface under the cumulative ranking (SUCRA). Results Nine studies with a total of 402 participants, including 208 AD patients who received probiotic treatments and 194 controls, were considered during the current analysis. A reduction in disease severity for probiotic supplementation compared to controls in both the short term (SMD: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.02–1.25) and the long term (SMD: 1.57; 95% CI: 0.66–2.49). There was a significant improvement in long-term quality of life after probiotic supplementation compared with controls (SMD: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.39–1.09). A mixture of L. salivarius (LS01) and Bifidobacterium (BR03) was found the highest probability of the best supplementation. Conclusions Probiotic supplementation decreases clinical severity and improves the quality of life among adult AD patients. The mixture of LS01 and BR03 appeared optimal

Students’ lunch provided by school.

<p>Meal provided by school consisted of four vegetable dishes and rice, and was shared by ten students.</p

Test information curves.

<p>Ability signifies knowledge, attitude and behavior with respect to nutrition and food safety, estimated using the maximum-likelihood method. Ability in the item response theory model practically (though not exclusively) ranged from −3 to +3. The test information of knowledge dimension reached a peak when the ability was between 0 and 1; this indicates that the measurement exhibited highest discriminative power among students with moderate ability with respect to nutrition and food safety knowledge. By contrast, this questionnaire exhibited highest discriminative power among students with limited ability with respect to attitude and behavior.</p

Research process flow chart.

<p>Research process flow chart.</p