Long-Term Validation of Rapid Impedance Spectrum Measurements as a Battery State-of-Health Assessment Technique

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-155
Author(s):  
Jon P. Christophersen ◽  
John L. Morrison ◽  
Chester G. Motloch ◽  
William H. Morrison
Author(s):  
Kyuri Lee ◽  
Dukyoo Jung

This study aimed to identify educational needs and determine priorities in nursing care for home visit nurses providing services within the national long-term care insurance system in South Korea. This cross-sectional descriptive study assessed the educational needs of 92 home visit nurses. Participants’ characteristics were analyzed using percentages, averages, and standard deviations. Educational needs were calculated for participants’ current and required competency levels, utilizing the paired t-test, Borich’s educational needs formula, and the locus for focus model. Four main categories were identified as top priorities: (1) health assessment, (2) cognitive function care, (3) disease management, and (4) medication management. The study’s findings could support the development of appropriate and responsive education and training programs for home-visit nurses—as it reflects the actual needs of this group.


IEEE Access ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 9996-10011
Author(s):  
Ning Ma ◽  
Fan Yang ◽  
Laifa Tao ◽  
Mingliang Suo

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 01-02
Author(s):  
Picardo Noemi

It is essential that oncological patients treated with antiresorptives or antiangiogenic drugs diagnosed Medication Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw (MRONJ) must be treated in an interdisciplinary fashion. The patient’s stomatognathic system should be examined preventatively prior to the initiation of antiresorptive drugs in order to avoid pathological buccal manifestations, following the same healthcare clinical protocols used for patients receiving head and neck radiotherapy. Additionally, patients should be informed of the precautions to be taken, including regular dental appointments for oral health assessment. The risk of developing MRONJ should be evaluated according to the type of antiresorptives or antiangiogenic drugs administered and treatment duration. In the case of MRONJ, its fundamental characteristic is positioned in the biochemical particularity of the pharmacokinetic expression of antiresorptive drugs, reversibly (DS) or irreversibly (BPs) inhibiting the functionality of the osteoclast. Therefore, the consideration of invading bone tissue as little as possible and performing resective therapies in cases of systemic infectious spread follows, since its long-term resolution would not be effective because the drug (BPs) has frank accumulation at a distance, a characteristic used by treating doctors and it would not have clinical relevance to suggest its suspension. According to the recommendations of AAOMS; Task Force and AOCMF coincide with the sharing of consensus on minimally invasive manipulations once the necrotic foci have been installed and the preventive attitude prevails of eliminating all septic foci prophylactically before starting therapy with antiresorptive drugs. There are positions with a trend more committed to frank bone manipulation with the aim of evacuating the infectious problem and other more conservative positions in order not to expand drug necrosis volumetrically due to bone accumulation of BPs or DS.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Dzhus

The assessment of long-term outcome of functional disability and disease activeness in adult patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis appears to be complicated due to the absence of a unified approach to the classification and estimation of disease activeness, as well as the loss of supervision over a patient because of remission or his/her transition from pediatric to adult rheumatic service. The objective of the research was to determine how adults with the history of juvenile idiopathic arthritis fulfill the classification criteria for adult rheumatic diseases, as well as to assess activeness of these diseases, the degree of functional disorders, and social activeness of patients in Ukraine. Materials and methods. Patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis older than 18 years and with more than 3 years of disease duration living in different parts of Ukraine were included into the study. Data regarding sociodemographic features, fulfillment of adult classification criteria, Health Assessment Questionnaire, articular and extra-articular Juvenile Arthritis Damage Index and disease activity were analyzed.Results. We observed 122 adult patients with the history of juvenile idiopathic arthritis irrespective of the presence of active inflammation at the moment of the examination. This group included patients from different regions of Ukraine diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis during 1984-2013. An adult rheumatologist examined all patients and the diagnosis was revised according to the adult classification of rheumatic diseases. Typical diagnostic criteria for rheumatoid arthritis were estimated in 32.8% of patients, ankylosing spondylitis – in 31.1% of patients, undifferentiated arthritis – in 13.9% of patients, Still’s disease – in 4.9% of patients, psoriatic arthritis – in 0.8% of patients, steady clinical laboratory remission – in 16.5% of patients. Most patients (81.8%) with rheumatoid factor positive polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis fell under rheumatoid arthritis criteria in adulthood, and in 85% of patients with enthesitis-related arthritis as well as 53.8% of patients with extended oligoarthritis ankylosing spondylitis developed in adulthood. 68.8% of patients with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis, 68% of patients with rheumatoid factor negative polyarthritic subtype and 55% of patients with enthesitis-related arthritis had disability and incapacitation. Minimal disorders of the patients’ general condition according to the Health Assessment Questionnaire in adult age were found in most subtypes of juvenile idiopathic arthritis classified according to the International League of Associations for Rheumatology (extended and persistent oligoarthritis, rheumatoid factor positive polyarthritis, systemic subtype); moderate disorders of the general condition were found in enthesitis-related arthritis and rheumatoid factor negative polyarthritis. Side effects of juvenile idiopathic arthritis according to the articular Juvenile Arthritis Damage Index included severe articular damage being most frequently found in systemic and rheumatoid factor positive polyarthritis subtypes of juvenile idiopathic arthritis, while side effects of juvenile idiopathic arthritis according to the extra-articular Juvenile Arthritis Damage Index included extra-articular damage being found in systemic and rheumatoid factor negative polyarthritis subtypes of juvenile idiopathic arthritis, that was confirmed by the assessment of physical health according to the Short Form Health Survey-36, which was the worst in patients with systemic (40.3±12.6) and rheumatoid factor negative polyarthritis (38.9±9.4) subtypes of juvenile idiopathic arthritis.Conclusions. Further research of remote consequences of juvenile idiopathic arthritis in adult age and long-term observation of such patients require a detailed study to improve diagnostics and provide adequate treatment of rheumatic diseases with juvenile onset in adult age.


2018 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 25-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Ploner ◽  
Anke Hagen ◽  
Anne Hauch

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 84-90
Author(s):  
A. E. Karateev ◽  
E. Yu. Polishchuk ◽  
E. S. Filatova ◽  
A. S. Potapova ◽  
V. A. Nesterenko ◽  
...  

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are the primary means of managing chronic osteoarthritis (OA) pain. The choice of NSAIDs is based on an analysis of the risk of adverse reactions (ARs). Objective: to evaluate the efficacy and safety of long-term use of NSAIDs for pain control in patients with OA in real clinical practice.Patients and methods. To assess the results of long-term use of NSAIDs in OA, a 12-month observational non-interventional study was conducted. It included 611 patients with knee, hip and generalized OA, and nonspecific back pain associated with OA of the facet joints. All patients were prescribed aceclofenac (Aertal®) 200 mg/day. The patients' condition was assessed 2 weeks, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after the start of therapy. The following parameters were determined: the intensity of pain during movement and the general health assessment (GA) according to the visual analogue scale (VAS, 10 cm); pain intensity according to the Likert verbal rating scale (VRS) (0–4); the number of patients with a pain reduction of ≥50% from baseline; patients' assessment of the result of therapy according to Likert VRS (1–5). The development of ARs was recorded at each visit.Results and discussion. By month 12, 46.8% of patients had dropped out of observation. In patients who continued the study, the average severity of pain according to the VAS at baseline, after 2 weeks, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months was: 6.5±1.2; 4.8±1.4; 3.2±1.4; 2.6±1.4; 2.2±1.1; 1.4±1.1 cm, respectively (significant differences compared to the baseline for all points – p<0.05). The same differences were obtained in GA assessment.Within the indicated time frame, the number of patients with moderate / severe pain (on the Likert scale) decreased from 77.8 to 24.9; 2.9; 2.3; 0.9 and 0%, respectively. The number of patients with a pain reduction of ≥50% from baseline was 12.0; 65.1; 81.0; 88.5 and 84.0%, respectively. A good or excellent assessment of treatment results after 2 weeks was given by 63.3% of patients, and after 12 months – by 95.6%. ARs were observed in about 30% of patients, mainly mild or moderate dyspepsia (in 11.1–23.3%) and arterial hypertension (in 7.1–10.9%). No serious ARs were registered.Conclusion. Aceclofenac is an effective and relatively safe drug for the long-term management of chronic pain in OA.


Author(s):  
Bram van den Borst ◽  
Jeannette B Peters ◽  
Monique Brink ◽  
Yvonne Schoon ◽  
Chantal P Bleeker-Rovers ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Long-term health sequelae of COVID-19 may be multiple but have thus far not been systematically studied. Methods All patients discharged after COVID-19 from the Radboud university medical centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, were consecutively invited to a multidisciplinary outpatient facility. Also, non-admitted patients with mild disease but with symptoms persisting &gt;6 weeks could be referred by general practitioners. Patients underwent a standardized assessment including measurements of lung function, chest CT/X-ray, 6-minute walking test, body composition, and questionnaires on mental, cognitive, health status and quality of life (QoL). Results 124 patients (age 59±14 years, 60% male) were included; 27 with mild, 51 with moderate, 26 with severe and 20 with critical disease. Lung diffusion capacity was below lower limit of normal in 42% of discharged patients. Ninety-nine percent of discharged patients had reduced ground-glass opacification on repeat CT imaging, and normal chest X-rays were found in 93% of patients with mild diseases. Residual pulmonary parenchymal abnormalities were present in 91% of discharged patients, and correlated with reduced lung diffusion capacity. Twenty-two percent had low exercise capacity, 19% low fat-free mass index, and problems in mental and/or cognitive function were found in 36% of the patients. Health status was generally poor, particularly in the domains functional impairment (64%), fatigue (69%) and QoL (72%). Conclusions This comprehensive health assessment revealed severe problems in several health domains in a substantial number of ex-COVID-19 patients. Longer follow-up studies are warranted to elucidate natural trajectories and to find predictors of complicated long-term trajectories of recovery.


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