Evaluation of a Triage Checklist for Mild COVID-19 Outpatients in Predicting Subsequent Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalization during the Isolation Period: A Single-Center Retrospective Study

Managing mild illness in COVID-19 and predicting progression to severe disease are concerning issues. Here, we investigated the outcomes of Japanese patients with mild COVID-19, and identified triage risk factors for further hospitalization and emergency department (ED) visits at a single tertiary hospital. A triage checklist with 30 factors was used. Patients recommended for isolation were followed up for 10 days for subsequent ED visits or hospital admission. Overall, 338 patients (median age, 44.0; 45% women) visited the clinic 5.0 days (median) after symptom onset. Thirty-six patients were immediately hospitalized following triage; others were isolated. In total, 72 non-hospitalized patients visited the ED during their isolation, and 30 were hospitalized after evaluation for oxygen desaturation. The median ED visit and hospitalization durations after symptom onset were 5.0 and 8.0 days, respectively. The checklist factors associated with hospitalization during isolation were age > 50 years, body mass index > 25 kg/m2, hypertension, tachycardia with pulse rate > 100/min or blood pressure > 135 mmHg at triage, and >3-day delay in hospital visit after symptom onset. No patients died. Altogether, 80% of patients with mild COVID-19 could be safely isolated at home. Age, BMI, underlying hypertension, date after symptom onset, tachycardia, and systolic blood pressure at triage might be related to later hospitalization

新見公立短期大学在学生の受験動向(創刊二十五周年記念号)

2004年(平成16年)4月、本学では、将来構想委員会が「新見公立短期大学在学生アンケート(志望動向)」による在学生の受験志望動向に関する調査を行った。本報告は、その調査結果の集計をもとに、2002年度に本学で行われた「第1回学生生活実態調査」(学生生活委員会および自己点検・評価委員会による)集計と比較し、在学生の受験動向をまとめたものである。その結果、全学的に本学第一志望の学生の占める割合が増加していること、看護学科で国公立四年制大学志望者が増加していることが分かった。そして、公立・免許資格・専門職養成の三大動機が本学志望の特徴であることが明らかになった。The planning committee of Niimi College investigated the entrance examination trends of our college in April, 2004. An investigation on students\u27 life was done by the student affairs committee and the self evaluation committee in Niimi College in 2002. This report compares the two investigations, and reveals the students\u27 trends of Niimi College\u27s entrance examination. As a result of an investigation on entrance examination to Niimi College, we came to understand that the number of students who wanted to come to Niimi College as their first choice is increasing in all the departments, and that in the Department of Nursing, the number of students who wanted to go to a four-year national university is increasing. We have also clarified that there are the three major motives:1) being public, 2) providing license qualifications, and 3) being a professional training facility

Detection of Internal Defects in Concrete and Evaluation of a Healthy Part of Concrete by Noncontact Acoustic Inspection Using Normalized Spectral Entropy and Normalized SSE

Non-destructive testing, with non-contact from a remote location, to detect and visualize internal defects in composite materials such as a concrete is desired. Therefore, a noncontact acoustic inspection method has been studied. In this method, the measurement surface is forced to vibrate by powerful aerial sound waves from a remote sound source, and the vibration state is measured by a laser Doppler vibrometer. The distribution of acoustic feature quantities (spectral entropy and vibrational energy ratio) is analyzed to statistically identify and evaluate healthy parts of concrete. If healthy parts in the measuring plane can be identified, the other part is considered to be internal defects or an abnormal measurement point. As a result, internal defects are detected. Spectral entropy (SE) was used to distinguish between defective parts and healthy parts. Furthermore, in order to distinguish between the resonance of a laser head and the resonance of the defective part of the concrete, spatial spectral entropy (SSE) was also used. SSE is an extension of the concept of SE to a two-dimensional measuring space. That is, based on the concept of SE, SSE is calculated, at each frequency, for spatial distribution of vibration velocity spectrum in the measuring plane. However, these two entropy values were used in unnormalized expressions. Therefore, although relative evaluation within the same measurement surface was possible, there was the issue that changes in the entropy value could not be evaluated in a unified manner in measurements under different conditions and environments. Therefore, this study verified whether it is possible to perform a unified evaluation for different defective parts of concrete specimen by using normalized SE and normalized SSE. From the experimental results using cavity defects and peeling defects, the detection and visualization of internal defects in concrete can be effectively carried out by the following two analysis methods. The first is using both the normalized SE and the evaluation of a healthy part of concrete. The second is the normalized SSE analysis that detects resonance frequency band of internal defects

Parents’ Initiation of Alcohol Drinking among Elementary and Kindergarten Students

Parental experience of initiation of alcohol drinking has been identified as one of the early causes of alcohol drinking in preadolescents in many countries, including Japan. This study identified the association between parental alcohol-related knowledge and the initiation of alcohol use among preadolescent students in an urban area in Japan. Self-administrated questionnaires were distributed to 420 parents of kindergarteners and elementary school students, of which 339 were filled and returned (response rate: 81%). The parents’ experience in initiating alcohol drinking in their children and their knowledge about the effects of alcohol on youth were explored. The requirements for drinking prevention programs for youth were also investigated. The result showed that a significantly higher proportion of parents of elementary school students had experiences of initiating alcohol use in their children compared to parents of kindergarten children. The parents’ knowledge regarding the effects of alcohol on youth showed no significant difference between the two parent groups. These data indicate that the age of children is the only factor as opposed to parents’ knowledge. We also found significant differences in the requirements of prevention programs between the two parent groups. The results of this study can contribute to the design of alcohol prevention programs for these parents, which could reduce the onset of children’s drinking