Feasibility and Acceptability of Remote Physical Exercise Programs to Prevent Mobility Loss in Pre-Disabled Older Adults during Isolation Periods Such as the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of remote physical exercise (PE) to prevent mobility loss among pre-disabled older adults during the COVID-19 lockdowns.Participants followed a 12-week PE remote program in Zoom© supervised groups (Web-Ex group, n=11) or phone-supervised individual booklet-based home-program (Booklet group, n=33).The total rate of adherence was 82.5% in the Web-Ex group and 85.8% in the Booklet group. The level of satisfaction was « a lot » for 60% of the participants in the Web-ex group and for 37.9% of those included in the Booklet group. Respectively 10% and 31% of the participants rated the difficulty as « low » in the web-ex and Booklet groups.Remote physical exercise using a web technology or booklets at home with regular and personalized follow-up during the lockdown was feasible and acceptable among pre-disabled seniors.

Open Subpectoral Biceps Tenodesis versus Arthroscopic Repair for SLAP Tears in Patients under 30 (224)

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to compare the outcomes of mini-open subpectoral biceps tenodesis (BT) to arthroscopic repair (AR) for SLAP tears in patients under 30. Methods: A retrospective review of patients who underwent either isolated BT or AR for the diagnosis of a SLAP tear was performed. Patients with a follow-up duration of <24 months were excluded. The American Shoulder & Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Subjective Shoulder Value (SSV), patient satisfaction, willingness to undergo surgery again, revisions, and return to work/sport were evaluated. A p value of <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: Our study included 103 patients in total; 29 patients were treated with BT, and 74 were treated with AR. The mean age was 24.8 years, 79.4% were male, and the mean follow-up duration was 60 months. At final follow up, there was no difference between treatment groups in any of the functional outcome measures assessed (p > 0.05). Overall, there was no significant difference in the total rate of RTP (BT: 76.3%, AR: 85%; p = 0.53), timing of RTP (BT: 8.8 months, AR: 9.4 months; p = 0.61), and total rate of RTP among overhead athletes (BT: 84.2%, AR: 83.3%; p = 1). However, there was a significantly lower rate of revision surgery with BT (0%) as compared to AR (14.1%; p = 0.03). Conclusions: In patients under the age of 30 with isolated SLAP tear pathology, BT is a reliable alternative to AR, with a low rate of revision surgery, and excellent patient reported outcomes.

Effect of Postoperative Analgesia with the Combination of Dexmedetomidine and Butorphanol after Posterior Spinal Surgery

<p><strong>Background and Objective: </strong>Opioid medications used to be the key method for the pain management after spine surgery; most of the opioids may cause many adverse reactions. The purpose of this research was to observe the role of dexmedetomidine combined with butorphanol in the pain management of patients after posterior spinal surgery.<br /><strong>Methods: </strong>This research was conducted in the First Hospital Affiliated to Jinzhou Medical University, China from May 2018 to January 2019. Sixty patients who underwent posterior spinal surgery were equally divided into two groups randomly: Group B who received butorphanol 0.125 mg/kg and Group DB who received dexmedetomidine (DEX) 0.1 &mu;g/kg/hour plus butorphanol 0.125 mg/kg. The patient-controlled analgesia was conducted to deliver a bolus dose of 0.5 ml. followed by an infusion of 2 ml/hour and a lockout time of 15 minutes. Heart rate, mean arterial pressure, respiration rate, pulse oxygen saturation, visual analog scale score (VAS), and Ramsay sedation score were recorded as follows: 1 hour (T1), 2 hours (T2), 6 hours (T3), 12 hours (T4), and 24 hours (T5) post‑surgery. The total number of buttons pressing of patient controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) and supplementary analgesic agents was observed and adverse drug reactions and total rate of patient satisfaction were evaluated statistically.<br /><strong>Results:</strong> VAS scores at different intervals in DB group were significantly lower compared with the B group after surgery; while the score of Ramsay sedation was remarkably higher in DB group. The total number of buttons pressing of PCIA was less than that of the B group and the frequency of nausea was notably lower in DB group (p &lt; 0.05). The total rate of satisfaction with analgesia in DB group was higher after surgery.<br /><strong>Conclusion: </strong>DEX could enhance the analgesic effect of butorphanol after posterior spinal surgery with lesser adverse reactions</p>

Comparison of ambulance usage characteristics in children between the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods in Turkey

Aim: A pandemic is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region of the world and affects many people. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on ambulance use by pediatric patients in ……………., Turkey. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in the spring-summer of 2019 and 2020. The electronic medical records of pediatric patients who were transported to the hospital by ambulance were analyzed. Results: It was determined that 49.6% of the 23,201 patients included in the study were transported during the pandemic period. Male gender was higher in both the pandemic and pre-pandemic periods, there was no difference in terms of average age. The rate of forensic cases and refugee patients increased, while that of emergency patients decreased. Both the arrival at the scene time and intervention time were prolonged. Medical cause was the most common cause of emergency calls in both years, however, it increased significantly in 2020. The decrease in cases of traffic accidents, suicides, and other accidents was statistically significant. In the pandemic period, total rate of COVID-19 infection and suspicion was 29.7%. Most of the patients had been referred to a public hospital. Conclusion: It was found that most of the ambulances were used for transporting patients with minor illnesses that did not require immediate medical attention.

OPTIMIZATION OF VINYL ACETATE PRODUCTION PROCESS

In the article, the kinetic laws and kinetics and mechanism of the oxidation acetylationreaction of ethylene in the vapour phase were studied in detail in a catalyst containing0,4%Рd+4%Cu+7%CH3COOK/HSZ. It was found that the total rate of the reaction was proportionalto the amount of unmodified and modified active sites of palladium (not clusters). Excess amountsof the modifier (both potassium acetate and copper) have been shown to block active sites byreducing catalyst efficiency.

Effcacy of quadruple therapy for the treatment of H. pylori infection at Gia Dinh people’s hospital

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is one of the most common chronic bacterial infections in the world. For the purpose of eradicating H. pylori, quadruple therapies are widely prescribed in patients infected with H. pylori. According to the Maastricht V Consensus Conference, in regions where the rate of resistance of H. pylori to CLR and MTZ is high such as Viet Nam, bismuth quadruple therapy is the first choice. However, bismuth also causes many side efects. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of quadruple therapies on H. pylori infection at Gia Dinh people’s hospital. Seventy-one patients aged 18 years old and older diagnosed with H. pylori infection at the Gastroenterology Unit of Gia Dinh People’s hospital were enrolled in this descriptive cross–sectional study. The efficacy and frequency of side effects of bismuth and non-bismuth quadruple therapies for H. pylori eradication were evaluated and the total rate of H. pylori eradication with both therapies was reported to be 70.4%. The success rate of bismuth quadruple therapy was 80.0%, significantly higher than that of non bismuth quadruple therapy (47.6%). Additionally, the frequency of side effects encountered by bismuth quadruple therapy was insignificantly higher than non-bismuth quadruple therapy (p > 0.05). In conclusion, the effectiveness of treatment with bismuth quadruple therapy was higher than that with non-bismuth quadruple therapy.

How Alfvén waves energize the solar wind: heat versus work

A growing body of evidence suggests that the solar wind is powered to a large extent by an Alfvén-wave (AW) energy flux. AWs energize the solar wind via two mechanisms: heating and work. We use high-resolution direct numerical simulations of reflection-driven AW turbulence (RDAWT) in a fast-solar-wind stream emanating from a coronal hole to investigate both mechanisms. In particular, we compute the fraction of the AW power at the coronal base ( $P_\textrm {AWb}$ ) that is transferred to solar-wind particles via heating between the coronal base and heliocentric distance $r$ , which we denote by $\chi _{H}(r)$ , and the fraction that is transferred via work, which we denote by $\chi _{W}(r)$ . We find that $\chi _{W}(r_{A})$ ranges from 0.15 to 0.3, where $r_{A}$ is the Alfvén critical point. This value is small compared with one because the Alfvén speed $v_{A}$ exceeds the outflow velocity $U$ at $r < r_{A}$ , so the AWs race through the plasma without doing much work. At $r>r_{A}$ , where $v_{A} < U$ , the AWs are in an approximate sense ‘stuck to the plasma’, which helps them do pressure work as the plasma expands. However, much of the AW power has dissipated by the time the AWs reach $r=r_{A}$ , so the total rate at which AWs do work on the plasma at $r>r_{A}$ is a modest fraction of $P_\textrm {AWb}$ . We find that heating is more effective than work at $r < r_{A}$ , with $\chi _{H}(r_{A})$ ranging from 0.5 to 0.7. The reason that $\chi _{H} \geq 0.5$ in our simulations is that an appreciable fraction of the local AW power dissipates within each Alfvén-speed scale height in RDAWT, and there are a few Alfvén-speed scale heights between the coronal base and $r_{A}$ . A given amount of heating produces more magnetic moment in regions of weaker magnetic field. Thus, paradoxically, the average proton magnetic moment increases robustly with increasing $r$ at $r>r_{A}$ , even though the total rate at which AW energy is transferred to particles at $r>r_{A}$ is a small fraction of $P_\textrm {AWb}$ .

Identification of Substandard and Falsified Medicines: Influence of Different Tolerance Limits and Use of Authenticity Inquiries

Substandard and falsified medicines have severe public health and socioeconomic effects, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The WHO has emphasized the need for reliable estimates of the prevalence of such medicines to efficiently respond to this problem. In the present study, we used 601 medicine samples collected in Cameroon, the DR Congo, and Malawi to assess the rates of substandard and falsified medicines based on different criteria. Based on the specifications of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia for the amount of the active pharmaceutical ingredients, the rate of out-of-specification medicines was 9.3%. By contrast, this rate ranged from 3.3% up to 35.0% if the tolerance limits of other pharmacopoeias or recently published medicine quality studies were used. This shows an urgent need for harmonization. Principal methods to assess the rate of falsified medicines are packaging analysis, chemical analysis, and authenticity inquiries. In the present study, we carried out an authenticity inquiry for the aforementioned medicine samples, contacting 126 manufacturers and 42 distributors. Response rates were higher for samples stated to be manufactured in Asia (52.4%) or Europe (53.8%) than for samples manufactured in Africa (27.4%; P < 0.001). One sample had been identified as falsified by packaging analysis by the local researchers and two additional ones by chemical analysis. Notably, seven additional falsified samples were identified by the authenticity inquiries. The total rate of falsified medicines resulted as 1.7%. Considerations are discussed for assessing the rates of “substandard” and “falsified” medicines in future medicine quality studies.

No-Regret Matching Game Algorithm for NOMA Based UAV-Assisted NB-IoT Systems

NB-IoT is the standardized technology for machine type communication (MTC) in Long Term Evolution (LTE). NB-IoT can achieve IoT requirements nevertheless, it suffers a low rate and capacity. On the other hand, Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) are promising technology used to enhance the throughput, capacity, and coverage of wireless communication networks. In this paper, we propose a heterogeneous network scenario where a UAV small Base Station (UBS) is used to assist the LTE Macro Base Station (MBS) with the help of the Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access technique to solve the NB-IoT throughput and capacity issues. Matching game based no-regret learning algorithm is proposed to optimize the NB-IoT device association and using NOMA pairing at each base station to provide the maximum system total rate and capacity. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme increases the total rate of the system by 60% and the system capacity by at least 80%, compared to NOMA without UAV and the total rate and capacity of the system by 200% and 85% respectively, with OMA scheme.

The Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak on Nosocomial Infection Rate: A Case of Iran

Background. Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) is a new type of coronavirus that has caused a global pandemic. The disease is highly contagious, and all people are susceptible to the disease. Therefore, extensive measures were taken to prevent the spread of the disease at the community and hospitals. This study aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 outbreak on nosocomial infection rate. Methods. This cross-sectional study was conducted in an educational hospital, southeast Iran. The nosocomial infection rates of critical/intensive care units (CCU/ICUs) and medical-surgical units were assessed during and before the COVID-19 outbreak. Results. There was a 19.75-point decrease in the total rate of nosocomial infection during the COVID-19 outbreak ( P = 0.02). In addition, there was a 39.12-point decrease in the total rate of CCU/ICUs’ nosocomial infection during the COVID-19 outbreak ( P < 0.001). A 19.23-point decrease was also observed in the total rate of medical-surgical units’ nosocomial infection during the COVID-19 outbreak ( P = 0.13). All kinds of CCU/ICUs’ nosocomial infections had between 31.22- and 100-point decreases during the COVID-19 outbreak. Among medical-surgical units, 33.33- and 30.70-point decreases were observed only in UTI and SSI, respectively, during the COVID-19 outbreak, while BSI had a 40-point increase during the COVID-19 outbreak. Conclusions. Proper implementation of infection control protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic seems to reduce nosocomial infections.