Postgraduate medical journal
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Providing family updates is a common clinical task for medical trainees and practitioners working in hospital settings. Good clinical communication skills are essential in clinical care as it is associated with improved patient satisfaction, understanding of condition, treatment adherence, and better overall clinical outcomes. Moreover, poor communications are often the source of medical complaints. ⋯ In fact, in Asian populations with more collectivistic cultures, families are generally highly involved in patient care and decision-making. Therefore, effective clinical communications and regular provision of family updates are essential to build therapeutic rapport, facilitate familial involvement in patient care, and also provide a more holistic understanding of the patient's background and psychosocial set-up. In this article, we herein describe a seven-step understand the clinical context, gather perspectives, deliver medical information, address questions, concerns and expectations, provide tentative plans, demonstrate empathy, postcommunication reflections model as a practical guide for medical trainees and practitioners in provision of structured and effective family updates in their clinical practice.
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The evaluation of patients with fatty liver as defined by metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) in the real world remains poorly researched. This study aimed to analyse the clinical and histological features of patients with MAFLD and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and to characterize each metabolic subgroup of MAFLD. ⋯ Patients with MAFLD have a higher degree of liver fibrosis than NAFLD patients. In addition, diabetic patients should be screened for fatty liver and liver fibrosis degree.
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Dysmobility syndrome based on osteoporosis (ODS) is a disease characterized by low bone mass and low muscle mass. Its features are high fracture and high fall risk. Falls and fractures are the most important factors affecting the quality of life and lifespan of ODS. However, there is no serum marker for the evaluation of ODS patients.Our previous studies have shown that the expression of circulating miRNA is stable and is a good marker for disease diagnosis. Therefore, this study aims to explore potential serum markers of ODS. ⋯ hsa-miR-499a-5p is a potential serum biomarker for assessing muscle function and predicting fall or fracture risk in the ODS population.
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We evaluated the preference, patient satisfaction, and efficacy of zoledronic acid compared with oral bisphosphonates (BPs) for glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIOP) in patients with autoimmune diseases. ⋯ Patients showed a preference for and greater satisfaction with zoledronic acid, and its efficacy in treating osteoporosis was comparable to that of oral BPs. Therefore, zoledronic acid is a suitable treatment option for GIOP in patients with autoimmune diseases.