The early variation of left ventricular twisting function in patients with lymphoma received anthracycline therapy assessed by three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography

Background: Anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity remains a significant and unresolved issue in patients receiving chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate left ventricular (LV) twisting function by three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (3D-STE) in patients with lymphoma after anthracycline therapy. Methods: One hundred and one patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who had planned to receive anthracycline chemotherapy were enrolled. LV apical rotation, basal rotation, twist, torsion, time to peak apical rotation and time to peak basal rotation were measured by 3D-STE at baseline, after the completion of two cycles and four cycles of the regimen, respectively. Apical–basal rotation delay was calculated as the difference between time to basal and time to apical rotation. Results: The results showed that LV apical rotation, basal rotation, twist and torsion declined progressively during the whole procedure (baseline vs. two and four cycles of the regimen, apical rotation: 12.5 ± ± 4.5° vs. 8.8 ± 3.6° vs. 6.0 ± 3.2°; basal rotation: –7.7 ± 3.0° vs. –5.9 ± 2.6° vs. –4.4 ± 2.5°; twist: 20.0 ± 6.4° vs. 14.5 ± 5.1° vs. 9.8 ± 4.5°; torsion: 2.9 ± 0.9°/cm vs. 2.1 ± 0.9°/cm vs. 1.4 ± 0.7°/cm; all p < 0.01). Furthermore, apical-basal rotation delay increased significantly after two cycles as well as after four cycles of the regimen (38.3 ± 67.9 ms vs. 66.7 ± 73.9 ms vs. 92.6 ± 96.9 ms; p < 0.01). Conclusions: LV twisting function deteriorated in the early stage of anthracycline therapy in patients with lymphoma, which could be detected by 3D-STE sensitively.

Willingness, preferred ways and potential barriers to use pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention among men who have sex with men in China

Objective To explore willingness and preferred ways to use HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), factors associated with willingness, and potential barriers to PrEP use among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Changsha, China. Design A cross-sectional survey was conducted from 25 June to 31 August 2019. Two hundred and fifty-five MSM were recruited from three community-based organisations (CBOs) in Changsha City. Willingness and potential barriers to use PrEP were examined using researcher-created scales. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to analyse the factors associated with willingness to use PrEP. P values <0.05 were considered significant. Setting Three MSM inclusive CBOs in Changsha, Hunan Province, China. Participants 255 HIV-negative MSM were recruited through their CBOs with snowball sampling. Results Less than half of the participants (43.1%) had heard of PrEP and 15.3% were willing to use PrEP. The participants reported higher willingness to use event-driven PrEP (3.70±0.07) than daily PrEP (2.65±0.07). Higher self-rated risk and fear of contracting HIV (OR: 14.47, 95% CI 2.19 to 95.53), awareness of PrEP (OR: 4.20, 95% CI 1.64 to 10.73), sharing one’s own sexual orientation with parents or siblings (OR: 2.52, 95% CI 1.54 to 7.20) and having a university education or above (OR:0.29, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.72) were associated with willingness to use PrEP. Only 12.2% of the sample was concerned about potential barriers to PrEP use. Conclusion Efforts to improve awareness and knowledge of PrEP, teach self-evaluation of HIV infection risk and provide social and emotional support for MSM are needed to scale up PrEP implementation in China

Effect of retrograde condensation and stress sensitivity on properties of condensate gas reservoirs

In the production process of low permeability condensate gas reservoir, the reverse condensate action and stress sensitivity will lead to the decrease of reservoir permeability and gas well productivity. However, there are few studies on the effect of retrograde condensation and stress sensitivity on permeability. In this study, the stress-sensitive experiments using the method with constant confining pressure but variable inner pressure were carried out on three cores from the BZ gas field in southwestern Bohai Sea. The test result that use the nitrogen as the experimental fluid represent the effect of core skeleton damage on reservoir permeability during formation pressure drop, and the test result that use the condensate gas as the experimental fluid represent the effect of core skeleton damage and retrograde condensation on reservoir permeability. The results reveal that when the formation pressure drops to the dew point pressure, retrograde condensation damage is the main cause of permeability decline. And the effects of core skeleton damage will increase as the formation pressure drops and exceed the retrograde condensation damage when the net stress is greater 7 MPa. When the net stress reaches 20 MPa, the core skeleton damage accounts for more than 90% of the total damage. Furthermore, the gas well production was calculated considering stress sensitivity and retrograde condensation based on the experimental results, the result shows that gas well production decreases by 97.65% when retrograde condensation is considered. This study can provide a reference for quantitative evaluation of the retrograde condensation and stress sensitivity in the production process of condensate gas reservoir

The impact of medical staff’s character strengths on job performance in Hangzhou hospitals

BackgroundImproving job performance has a significant effect on the quality of medical services and ensuring people’s health.PurposeThis study explores the influence and mechanism of the character strengths and career callings of medical staff as well as the intermediary role of such career calling.MethodologyA cross-sectional survey was conducted of 414 healthcare staff members in public hospitals in Hangzhou. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical linear regressions were used to analyze the medical staff’s job performance and related factors, and structural equation modeling path analysis was used to explore and validate the influence and mechanism of character advantage and career calling on job performance.ResultsThe results show that medical staff character strengths have a positive impact on job performance. Path analysis shows that character strengths indirectly affect job performance, and career calling plays a partial mediating role in character strengths and job performance.ConclusionThe results show that good personalities promote job performance, and the association is more significant under a high sense of career calling

The effects of positive leadership on quality of work and life of family doctors: The moderated role of culture

BackgroundQuality of work and life (QWL) of family doctors is highly valued in improving access and equity of healthcare; however, the current low level of QWL in many countries and regions needs to be improved urgently.MethodsThis study explored the effect of positive leadership on the QWL of family doctors, as well as the moderating role of culture, via analysis of data from 473 valid questionnaires of family doctors in China as a sample using SEM, hierarchical linear regression, and a simple slope test.ResultsThe empirical results show that positive leadership promoted the QWL of family doctors by improving their achievement motivation and coordinating supportive resources. In addition, our hierarchical linear regression analysis found that the interactive items of positive leadership and culture had a positive effect on achievement motivation (β(a)  = 0.192), QWL (β(b)  = 0.215) and supportive resources (β(c)  = 0.195). Meanwhile, culture had a moderated mediating effect on the relationship between positive leadership and QWL via the achievement motivation of family doctors and supportive resources.ConclusionThese findings suggest that the interaction among multiple factors, including environmental factors, individual physiological features and culture, may influence the impact of positive leadership on the QWL of family doctors. The possible reasons of these findings and theoretical and practical implications are discussed in this study

The proportion of HIV disclosure to sexual partners among people diagnosed with HIV in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Sexual behavior is one of the main routes of HIV/AIDS spread. HIV disclosure to sexual partners has been confirmed to be an important strategy for HIV/AIDS prevention and control. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to pool proportions and characteristics of HIV disclosure to sexual partners among people diagnosed with HIV in China.Methods: We searched eight databases and extracted the data on HIV disclosure to partners. Heterogeneity of the data was tested with I2. Published bias subjectively and objectively analyzed through the funnel plot and Egger's regression test. Subgroup analyses were performed to explore the variation in the proportion by sexual partnership types (unclassified, regular, casual sexual partners), whether being men who have sex with men (MSM), and when to diagnose. The sources of heterogeneity were analyzed. Sensitivity analysis was carried out to evaluate the stability of the results.Results: Out of 3,698 studies, 44 were included in the review; 11 targeted on MSM. The pooled proportion of HIV disclosure to sexual partners was 65% (95% CI: 56%−75%; 34 studies). Sub-group analyses indicated the proportions of HIV disclosure to regular, casual and unclassified sexual partners were 63% (95% CI: 45%−81%; 31 studies), 20% (95% CI: 8%−33%; nine studies), and 66% (95% CI: 59%−73%; 14 studies), respectively. Fifty-seven percent (95% CI: 45%−69%; three studies) disclosed on the day of diagnosis, 62% (95% CI: 42%−82%; four studies) disclosed within 1 month, and 39% (95% CI: 2%−77%; four studies) disclosed 1 month later. Among MSM, the disclosure to regular male partners, regular female sexual partners, spouses, and casual partner were 47% (95% CI: 29%−65%; six studies), 49% (95% CI: 33%−65%; three studies), 48% (95% CI: 18%−78%; seven studies), and 34% (95% CI: 19%−49%; four studies), respectively.Conclusions: The disclosure prevalence of people diagnosed with HIV to sexual partners still need improving in China, and it varies among partner types, key populations, and time being diagnosed. HIV disclosure strategies and procedures need to be developed more detailed and tailored based on the pain points of disclosure status, so as to ultimately prevent HIV transmission through sexual contact.</p