An Innovative Continuing Nursing Education Program Targeting Key Geriatric Conditions for Hospitalized Older People in China

This article under embargo for 18 months from the date of publication due to publisher copyright restrictions. "This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis i nEducational Gerontology on 23 May 2013, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03601277.2012.704233."A lack of knowledge in registered nurses about geriatric conditions is one of major factors that contribute to these conditions being overlooked in hospitalised older people. In China an innovative geriatric continuing nursing education program aimed at developing registered nurses’ understanding of the complex care needs of hospitalised older people with common geriatric conditions were conducted and evaluated. The program consisted of didactic sessions focused on evidence-based practice and unfolding case study designed to simulate the care trajectory of an older person with a hip fracture and key geriatric conditions. Findings from the program evaluations revealed a significant increase in attitudes towards older people and knowledge concerning common geriatric conditions. The satisfactory rate ranked by program participants was 90%. The study therefore drew the conclusion that effective geriatric continuing nursing education should target participants’ learning needs, support evidence-based practice and engage participants in active learning

A Cross-Sectional Study of Risk Factors for Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Children 8–13 Years of Age in Suzhou, China

To determine the prevalence and risk factors of IBS in children 8–13 years of age in Suzhou city, a cross-sectional study was conducted on children in grades 1 through 6 in public elementary schools in three districts of Suzhou. A multistage stratified random-sampling survey was conducted in a primary investigation using standardized questionnaires. Rome II criteria were used to confirm IBS and their risk factors were analyzed. Of 8,000 questionnaires 7,472 responded satisfactorily for a response rate of 93.4%. IBS was diagnosed in 10.81%. A decrease in the prevalence of IBS was significantly associated with advancing age and grade in school (trend test, P<0.05). The prevalence of IBS in females was higher but not significantly different than males. The significant risk factors for IBS included young age (OR = 0.94), food allergy (OR = 1.53), gastroenteritis during childhood (OR = 1.29), eating fried food (OR = 1.62), anxiety (OR = 1.49), psychological insults in early childhood (OR = 1.47), and parental history of constipation (OR = 1.81; all P<0.05). IBS prevalence of 10.81% in study population warrants preventive measures such as encouraging dietary changes, preventing gastroenteritis and childhood psychological insults

Expert consensus on postoperative rehabilitation nursing of patients with head and neck cancer

The location and size of tumors, treatment methods and prognosis of patients with head and neck cancer can seriously affect their oral function and neck activity, thereby affecting daily activities such as eating, speech and upper limb movement. Early rehabilitation after head and neck cancer surgery can accelerate functional recovery, alleviate discomfort symptoms, improve quality of life, and reduce unnecessary rehabilitation or treatment measures. Developing a clinical rehabilitation nursing pathway for head and neck cancer, forming personalized rehabilitation plans, and conducting early and effective nursing interventions are currently one of the key points of clinical work for patients with head and neck cancer. At present, domestic and foreign guidelines or consensus pays less attention to the impairments of speech function, chewing and swallowing function, neck and shoulder function etc., and lacks a systematic and comprehensive rehabilitation nursing guide or consensus to provide practical guidance for the care of patients with head and neck cancer. Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine organized relevant experts from Beijing, Shanghai, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Zhejiang and Anhui to draft Expert consensus on postoperative rehabilitation nursing of patients with head and neck cancer basing on previous literature and clinical nursing skills and experiences, of which the aim is to provide guidance for those patients in the aspects of oral care, nutritional support, flap donor area care, care after tracheotomy, chewing and swallowing rehabilitation, speech function rehabilitation, neck and shoulder function rehabilitation, restricted mouth opening rehabilitation, risk identification and prevention and follow-up

The Spike-and-Slab Lasso Cox Model for Survival Prediction and Associated Genes Detection

Motivation: Large-scale molecular profiling data have offered extraordinary opportunities to improve survival prediction of cancers and other diseases and to detect disease associated genes. However, there are considerable challenges in analyzing large-scale molecular data. Results: We propose new Bayesian hierarchical Cox proportional hazards models, called the spike-and-slab lasso Cox, for predicting survival outcomes and detecting associated genes. We also develop an efficient algorithm to fit the proposed models by incorporating Expectation-Maximization steps into the extremely fast cyclic coordinate descent algorithm. The performance of the proposed method is assessed via extensive simulations and compared with the lasso Cox regression. We demonstrate the proposed procedure on two cancer datasets with censored survival outcomes and thousands of molecular features. Our analyses suggest that the proposed procedure can generate powerful prognostic models for predicting cancer survival and can detect associated genes. Availability and Implementation: The methods have been implemented in a freely available R package BhGLM (http://www.ssg.uab.edu/bhglm/)

Trends in cognitive function before and after stroke in China

Abstract Background While cognitive impairment after stroke is common, cognitive trends before stroke are poorly understood, especially among the Chinese population who have a relatively high stroke burden. We aimed to model the trajectories of cognitive function before and after new-onset stroke among Chinese. Methods A total of 13,311 Chinese participants aged ≥ 45 years and without a history of stroke were assessed at baseline between June 2011 and March 2012 and in at least one cognitive test between 2013 (wave 2) and 2018 (wave 4). Cognitive function was assessed using a global cognition score, which included episodic memory, visuospatial abilities, and a 10-item Telephone Interview of Cognitive Status (TICS-10) test to reflect calculation, attention, and orientation abilities. Results During the 7-year follow-up, 610 (4.6%) participants experienced a first stroke. Both stroke and non-stroke groups showed declined cognitive function during follow-up. After adjustment for covariates, there was no significant difference in pre-stroke cognitive trajectories between stroke patients and stroke-free participants. The stroke group showed an acute decline in episodic memory (− 0.123 SD), visuospatial abilities (− 0.169 SD), and global cognition (− 0.135 SD) after stroke onset. In the years following stroke, the decline rate of the TICS-10 test was higher than the rate before stroke (− 0.045 SD/year). Conclusions Chinese stroke patients had not experienced steeper declines in cognition before stroke compared with stroke-free individuals. Incident stroke was associated with acute declines in global cognition, episodic memory, visuospatial abilities, and accelerated declines in calculation, attention, and orientation abilities

Optimal Rain Gauge Network Design Aided by Multi-Source Satellite Precipitation Observation

Optimized rain gauge networks minimize their input and maintenance costs. Satellite precipitation observations are particularly susceptible to the effects of terrain elevation, vegetation, and other topographical factors, resulting in large deviations between satellite and ground-based precipitation data. Satellite precipitation observations are more inaccurate where the deviations change more drastically, indicating that rain gauge stations should be utilized at these locations. This study utilized satellite precipitation observation data to facilitate rain gauge network optimization. The deviations between ground-based precipitation data and three types of satellite precipitation observation data were used for entropy estimation. The rain gauge network in the Oujiang River Basin of China was optimally designed according to the principle of maximum joint entropy. Two optimization schemes of culling and supplementing 40 existing sites and 35 virtual sites were explored. First, the optimization and ranking of the rain gauge station network showed good stability and consistency. In addition, the joint entropy of deviation was larger than that of ground-based precipitation data alone, leading to a higher degree of discrimination between rain gauge stations and enabling the use of deviation data instead of ground-based precipitation data to assist network optimization, with more reasonable and interpretable results

Assessment of Vandetanib as an Inhibitor of Various Human Renal Transporters: Inhibition of Multidrug and Toxin Extrusion as a Possible Mechanism Leading to Decreased Cisplatin and Creatinine Clearance

ABSTRACT Vandetanib was evaluated as an inhibitor of human organic anion transporter 1 (OAT1), OAT3, organic cation transporter 2 (OCT2), and multidrug and toxin extrusion (MATE1 and MATE2K) transfected (individually) into human embryonic kidney 293 cells (HEK293). Although no inhibition of OAT1 and OAT3 was observed, inhibition of OCT2-mediated uptake of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP + ) and metformin was evident (IC 50 of 73.4 6 14.8 and 8.8 6 1.9 mM, respectively)