Developing a Screening Procedure During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Process and Challenges Faced by a Low-Incidence Area

Purpose: To summarize the imaging results of COVID-19 pneumonia and develop a computerized tomography (CT) screening procedure for patients at our institution with malignant tumors.Methods: Following epidemiological investigation, 1,429 patients preparing to undergo anti-tumor-treatment underwent CT scans between February 17 and April 16, 2020. When CT findings showed suspected COVID-19 pneumonia after the supervisor radiologist and the thoracic experience radiologist had double-read the initial CT images, radiologists would report the result to our hospital infection control staff. Further necessary examinations, including the RT-PCR test, in the assigned hospital was strongly recommended for patients with positive CT results. The CT examination room would perform sterilization for 30 min to 1 h. If the negative results of any suspected COVID-19 pneumonia CT findings were identified, the radiologists would upload the results to our Hospital Information Systems and inform clinicians within 2 h.Results: Fifty (0.35%, 50/1,429) suspected pneumonia cases, including 29 males and 21 females (median age: 59.5 years old; age range 27–79 years), were identified. A total of 34.0% (17/50) of the patients had a history of lung cancer and 54.0 (27/50) underwent chemotherapy or targeted therapy. Forty-six patients (92.0%) had prior CT scans, and 35 patients (76.1%) with suspected pneumonia were newly seen (median interval time: 62 days). Sub-pleura small patchy or strip-like lesions most likely due to fibrosis or hypostatic pneumonia and cluster of nodular lesions were the two main signs of suspected cases on CT images (34, 68.0%). Twenty-seven patients (54.0%) had, at least once, follow-up CT scan (median interval time: 18.0 days). Only one patient had an increase in size (interval time: 8 days), the immediately RT-PCR test result was negative.Conclusion: CT may be useful as a screening tool for COVID-19 based on imaging features. But the differential diagnosis between COVID-19 and other pulmonary infection and/or non-infectious disease is very difficult due to its overlapping imaging features.The confirmed diagnosis of the COVID-19 infection should be based on the etiologic eventually. The cancer patients at a low-incidence area would continue treatment by screening carefully before admission.

Human Emergency Behaviour Characteristics in Large-scale Emergencies Based on Mobile Communication Data

The characteristics of human emergency behaviour under the emergency are a crucial scientific issue in basic emergency management research. The analysis of time dynamic aspects of human behaviour based on electronic footprint data provides a new method for quantitative investigation of this problem. Previous studies generally assumed that human behaviours were randomly distributed in time, but few studies studied the impact of emergencies and carried out prediction methods through social media data. Using mobile QQ space communication data, this paper from four kinds of emergencies and one kind of conventional event data, digging out the statistical characteristic on the time dimension of human communication behaviour, and in case of any emergencies, such as public security mode of evolution, to explore intrinsic emergency regularity of the impact of human communication behaviour model and further predict human behaviour characteristics. We found that the communication peaks accompanying an emergency are local in time, resulting in a communication avalanche that importantly engages eyewitness social networks. In mobile QQ space communication, the probability distribution of the interval time of the Posting behaviour sequence shows the statistical characteristics of power-law and approximate exponential tail. Compared with most of the typical Posting behaviour, the probability distribution of the interval time of the Posting behaviour sequence is higher. At the same time, the mnemonic is lower than most of the typical Posting behaviour, with a weak anti- mnemonic. These results are theoretically helpful in understanding the regularity of the impact of emergencies on human communication behaviour patterns and have potential application value in predicting the impact degree of crises and the analysis and classification of human social attributes.

Cắt gan trung tâm ở trẻ 6 tháng tuổi bị u nguyên bào đã điều trị hóa chất

TÓM TẮT Bệnh nhi 6 tháng tuổi được chẩn đoán u nguyên bào gan, ban đầu được xem là không thể cắt bỏ được vì khối u có kích thước lớn và lan tỏa. Bệnh nhân được điều trị 4 đợt hóa chất cisplatin với thời gian cách nhau 2 tuần. Kết quả chụp cắt lớp vi tính sau 4 đợt hóa trị cho thấy khối u đã thu nhỏ lại và có thể cắt bỏ. Khối u đã được cắt bỏ bằng phương pháp phẫu thuật cắt gan trung tâm. Bệnh nhân đã có thể ăn uống trở lại vào ngày thứ tư và xuất viện vào ngày thứ bảy sau mổ. Bác sĩ chuyên khoa nhi ung bướu đã theo dõi bệnh nhân bằng siêu âm gan, alpha - fetoprotein và tiếp tục điềutrị thêm 2 chu kỳ cisplatin. ABSTRACT CENTRAL HEPATECTOMY IN A 6 - MONTH - OLD CHILD WITH HEPATOBLASTOMA FOLLOWING CHEMOTHERAPY A hepatoblastoma in a 6 - month - old child was initially considered unresectable because of diffuse liver involvement. The patient received 4 courses of cisplatin with an interval time of 2 weeks. A computed tomography scan after 4 courses of chemotherapy showed shrinking of the tumor, which made it resectable, and the tumor was removed by central hepatectomy. The patient was able to eat a regular diet on the fourth day and was sent discharge on the seventh day, after the operation. The pediatric oncologist followed the patient with liver ultrasonography and alpha - fetoprotein and administered 2 more cycles of cisplatin. Keywords: Central Hepatectomy, Hepatoblastoma, children.

A novel nomogram for predicting prognosis after mechanical thrombectomy in patients with acute ischemic stroke

Background: Mounting evidence has shown that mechanical thrombectomy [MT] improves clinical outcomes for large vessel occlusions [LVOs] in patients with acute ischemic stroke [AIS] of the anterior circulation. The present study aimed to provide a comprehensive analysis of risk factors associated with clinical outcomes in AIS patients receiving MT. Methods: A total of 212 consecutive patients who underwent MT for AIS were enrolled in the present study. Clinical characteristics were recorded at admission. Two endpoints were defined according to the 3-month modified Rankin scale [mRS] score after AIS [good outcome, mRS 0-2; and death, mRS 6]. Additionally, we compared the clinical outcomes and safety of MT alone and bridging therapy in AIS patients. Results: Of the 212 patients treated with MT, 114 [53.77%] patients had a good outcome and 31 [14.62%] died. The incidence of a worse outcome after MT was significantly elevated in males and patients with high WBC counts, high admission blood glucose levels, high baseline NIHSS scores and a long interval time from groin puncture to reperfusion in AIS patients treated with MT after adjustment for covariates [P<0.05]; these risk factors were further confirmed by our constructed nomograms. In addition, we observed no significant benefit of bridging therapy compared to MT alone in AIS patients. Conclusion: Our constructed nomogram based on male sex, admission WBC, admission blood glucose, NIHSS, and the interval time from groin puncture to reperfusion predicts prognosis after mechanical thrombectomy in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Letter to the Editor: Response to ‘Overlooked Shortcomings of Observational Studies of Interventions in Coronavirus Disease 2019: An Illustrated Review for the Clinician‘ by Tleyjeh et al

We commented on the publication by Tleyjeh et al regarding the overlooked shortcomings of observational studies of interventions in Coronavirus Disease 2019. Although we agree with Tleyjeh and colleagues on the issue of the competing risk bias in observational studies, the recommendations on the application of the Fine-Gray model provided by the authors are incomplete. The Fine-Gray approach may not be suitable in the presence of interval time-dependent covariates, that are often the case in the studies assessing therapeutic interventions for patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019.

Factors Predicting Pathological Response to Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy in Rectal Cancer: The Experience of a Single Institution with 269 Patients (STONE-01)

Aims: The aim of this study was to define a potential benefit of pathological complete response rate (pCR) and downstaging rate after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in relation to treatment and patient factors in locally advanced rectal cancer. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study. Patients were divided according to chemotherapy regimens concurrent to radiotherapy (1-drug vs. 2-drug) and according to the time interval between the end of CRT and surgery (≤8 weeks vs. >8 weeks), as well as in relation to specific relevant clinical factors. Logistic regression was used to estimate the independent factors for pCR and downstaging. Results: 269 patients were eligible for this study. Overall, pCR and downstaging rates were 26% and 75.4%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that female gender (p = 0.01) and time to surgery >8 weeks (p = 0.04) were associated with pCR; age > 70 years (p = 0.05) and time to surgery >8 weeks (p = 0.002) were correlated to downstaging. At multivariate analysis, interval time to surgery of >8 weeks was the only independent factor for both pCR and downstaging (p = 0.02; OR: 0.5, CI: 0.27–0.93 and p = 0.003; OR: 0.42, CI: 0.24–0.75, respectively). Conclusions: This study indicates that, in our population, an interval time to surgery of >8 weeks is an independent significant factor for pCR and downstaging. Further prospective studies are needed to define the best interval time.