J Formos Med Assoc
-
Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain. A common complaint is soreness. However, until now, no assessment tool is available to address soreness and evaluate its impact on disease severity. We aimed to establish a questionnaire for soreness assessment and to evaluate its validity in fibromyalgia patients. ⋯ The FIQRS has good reliability and internal consistency for the assessment of disease impact on fibromyalgia patients, thus providing a reliable tool for soreness evaluation. Future studies are warranted for further validation regarding its correlation with other psychometric properties and life quality measurements.
-
Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is an oral precancerous disorder associated with the habit of areca nut chewing. MiR-10b has been shown to be upregulated in the oral cancer cells and induced by Twist. Our previous work has revealed that Twist participated in the pathogenesis of OSF and therefore we aimed to investigate whether Twist/miR-10b axis was involved in the activation of myofibroblast in the oral cavity. ⋯ MiR-10b upregulation in OSF may be due to the stimulation of areca nut, leading to elevated myofibroblast activation. Our findings showed that the areca nut-induced expression of miR-10b was under the regulation of Twist and inhibition of miR-10b may provide a direction for treatment of OSF.
-
The main objective of this study was to investigate the safety of bedside percutaneous dilational tracheostomy (PDT) by pulmonologists in critically ill patients, and the factors associated with complications resulting from PDT. ⋯ Our study demonstrated that it was feasible for pulmonologists to perform bedside PDT in critically ill patients. However, antiplatelet agents and anticoagulants use increased the risk of bleeding in PDT patients.
-
Sarcopenia is prevalent in chronic hemodialysis patients. This prospective cohort study evaluated the impact of sarcopenia and its diagnostic criteria on hospitalization and mortality in 126 chronic hemodialysis patients. ⋯ Muscle functionality and quality can predict hospitalization and overall survival in chronic hemodialysis patients, better than muscle mass.
-
Practice Guideline
2020 Taiwan consensus statement on the management of hepatitis C: Part (II) special populations.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a silent killer that leads to rapid progression of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). High prevalence of HCV infection has been reported in Taiwan, especially in high-risk populations including people who inject drugs (PWID) and patients requiring dialysis. ⋯ Special populations include patients with acute or recent HCV infection, previous DAA failure, chronic kidney disease, decompensated cirrhosis, HCC, liver and other solid organ transplantations, receiving an HCV viremic organ, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and HCV dual infection, HCV and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection, active tuberculosis infection, PWID, bleeding disorders and hemoglobinopathies, children and adolescents, and pregnancy. Moreover, future perspectives regarding the management of hepatitis C are also discussed and summarized in this consensus statement.