This is an epidemiological study of the retrospective cohort type in an experimental herd of sheep with a time frame of six years (2015 to 2020), where the outcome of interest was the monthly incidence of myiasis, and the main predisposing factor studied was the effect of the presence or absence of the tail on animals. The time unit adopted was the month and the experimental unit was each sheep in the herd. The incidence was calculated considering the occurrence of cases of myiasis as a dichotomous variable, thus generating two possibilities for categorization: animal with myiasis or animal without myiasis in each month. The classic actuarial method was used to calculate the incidence rates, weighted by the number of individuals at risk in the corresponding month. This choice aimed to control the effect of entry and exit of animals from the herd during the study period. Thus, the values for incidence are presented in percentage rates that are the result of the absolute division of the “number of sheep affected by myiasis in the month” by the “number of sheep in the herd in the same month”. The incidence rate of myiasis was the outcome of interest in the study. Relative risk (RR) and odds ratio (OR) were the association measures used in this study. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) was used as an aid to evaluate the effectiveness of tail docking to reduce the incidence of myiasis.

BackgroundHigh quality clinical research not only requires advanced professional knowledge, but also needs sound study design and correct statistical analyses. The number of clinical research articles published in Chinese medical journals has increased immensely in the past decade, but study design quality and statistical analyses have remained suboptimal. The aim of this investigation was to gather evidence on the quality of study design and statistical analyses in clinical researches conducted in China for the first decade of the new millennium.Methodology/Principal FindingsTen (10) leading Chinese medical journals were selected and all original articles published in 1998 (N = 1,335) and 2008 (N = 1,578) were thoroughly categorized and reviewed. A well-defined and validated checklist on study design, statistical analyses, results presentation, and interpretation was used for review and evaluation. Main outcomes were the frequencies of different types of study design, error/defect proportion in design and statistical analyses, and implementation of CONSORT in randomized clinical trials. From 1998 to 2008: The error/defect proportion in statistical analyses decreased significantly ( = 12.03, p

Types of study designs and sample sizes.

Acute intraoperative hypercapnia and respiratory acidosis, which can occur during monitored anesthesia care (MAC), pose significant cardiopulmonary risks for patients with aortic stenosis presenting for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). The goal of the present study is to assess the incidence, risk factors, and impact of intraoperative hypercapnia during MAC for patients undergoing transfemoral TAVR. Data were collected retrospectively from the electronic medical record of 201 consecutive patients with available intraoperative arterial blood gas (ABG) data who underwent percutaneous transfemoral TAVR with MAC using propofol and dexmedetomidine. ABGs (pH, PaCO2, PaO2) were performed at the start of each case (baseline), immediately prior to valve deployment (ValveDepl), and upon arrival to the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU). Data was analyzed using Fisher’s Exact Test, unpaired Student’s t test, Wilcoxon rank sum, or univariate linear regression as appropriate ..., It is a retrospective cohort study. The data was acquired via review of patient charts on EHR after IRB approval. Processed with Fisher's exact test, Student's t test, Wilcoxon rank sum, and linear regression as appropriate. , , # Hypercapnia during transcatheter aortic valve replacement under monitored anesthesia care

https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.31zcrjdvj

The dataset comprises raw data collected from patient charts, as well as data derived from statistical analysis.

Description of the file structure

"TAVR_MAC_data.csv" contains raw data obtained from patient charts and is the source of data used in statistical analysis.

"pco2_60.txt", "pco2_50.txt", "pH_7.2.txt" compare variables based on pCO2 and pH cutoffs. Categorical variables were reported as counts and percentages, and continuous variables as mean ± SD. Categorical variables were analyzed with Fisher’s Exact Test. Continuous variables were analyzed using an unpaired Student’s t test or Wilcoxon rank sum (2-group comparison) as appropriate after being assessed for normality.

"ALL_MAC_pts.txt" describes overall statistics of the study, as well as univariate linear regression analyses of predictors/imp..., This research study was approved by our institution's IRB. Written consent was deemed not necessary because it was a retrospective chart review study. The minimum amount of data necessary was collected in a de-identified form (with only age, sex, weight, BMI as identifiers) on an password protected, encrypted computer.

Although prehospital emergency anesthesia (PHEA), with a specific focus on intubation attempts, is frequently studied in prehospital emergency care, there is a gap in the knowledge on aspects related to adherence to PHEA guidelines. This study investigates adherence to the “Guidelines for Prehospital Emergency Anesthesia in Adults” with regard to the induction of PHEA, including the decision making, rapid sequence induction, preoxygenation, standard monitoring, intubation attempts, adverse events, and administration of appropriate medications and their side effects. This retrospective study examined PHEA interventions from 01/01/2020 to 12/31/2021 in the city of Aachen, Germany. The inclusion criteria were adult patients who met the indication criteria for the PHEA. Data were obtained from emergency medical protocols. A total of 127 patients were included in this study. All the patients met the PHEA indication criteria. Despite having a valid indication, 29 patients did not receive the PHEA. 98 patients were endotracheally intubated. For these patients, monitoring had conformed to the guidelines. The medications were used according to the guidelines. A significant increase in oxygen saturation was reported after anesthesia induction (p < 0.001). The patients were successfully intubated endotracheally on the third attempt. Guideline adherence was maintained in terms of execution of PHEA, rapid sequence induction, preoxygenation, monitoring, selection, and administration of relevant medications. Emergency physicians demonstrated the capacity to effectively respond to cardiorespiratory events. Further investigations are needed on the group of patients who did not receive PHEA despite meeting the criteria. The underlying causes of decision making in these cases need to be evaluated in the future.

BackgroundData on initiation and utilization of direct-acting antiviral therapies for hepatitis C virus infection in the United States are limited. This study evaluated treatment initiation, time to treatment, and real-world effectiveness of direct-acting antiviral therapy in individuals with hepatitis C virus infection treated during the first 2 years of availability of all-oral direct-acting antiviral therapies.MethodsA retrospective cohort analysis was undertaken using electronic medical records and chart review abstraction of hepatitis C virus-infected individuals aged >18 years diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C virus infection between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2015 from the Indiana University Health database.ResultsEight hundred thirty people initiated direct-acting antiviral therapy during the 2-year observation window. The estimated incidence of treatment initiation was 8.8%±0.34% at the end of year 1 and 15.0%±0.5% at the end of year 2. Median time to initiating therapy was 300 days. Using a Cox regression analysis, positive predictors of treatment initiation included age (hazard ratio, 1.008), prior hepatitis C virus treatment (1.74), cirrhosis (2.64), and history of liver transplant (1.5). History of drug abuse (0.43), high baseline alanine aminotransferase levels (0.79), hepatitis B virus infection (0.41), and self-pay (0.39) were negatively associated with treatment initiation. In the evaluable population (n = 423), 83.9% (95% confidence interval, 80.1–87.3%) of people achieved sustained virologic response.ConclusionIn the early years of the direct-acting antiviral era,

This repository contains a table with parameters (including time to fixate - TTF parameter) and an R script for statistical analysis. This is supplementary material for the paper titled "Effectiveness of a Time to Fixate for Fitness to Drive Evaluation in Neurological Patients" and authored by Nadica Miljković and Jaka Sodnik (published in Behavior Research Methods and previously shared on arXiv).

TTF parameter was calculated in overall 56 patients during selected scenario with pedestrian collision in a driving simulator produced by Nervtech. Together with other parameters, ST parameters are stored in tableParametersAll.csv, while R programming code for statistical analysis of all parameters is placed in statisticalAnalysisAll.R.

Dataset contents

tableParametersAll.csv, table with parameters, csv (comma-separated values) format

statisticalAnalysisAll.R, code in R programming language for statistical analysis

Table with parameters has the following structure

column - no which is ordinary number in consecutive order from 1 to 56

column - id presents an internal patient's id

column - ttf presents TTF parameter in ms

column - fitness presents a categorical variable and can be either fit-, unfit-, or conditionally-fit-to-drive (cond fit)

column - speed at the collision onset in km/h

column - ttc presents time-to-collision in s

column - manual_correction is categorical variable: 0 means that no manual correction was required for ST calculation, while 1 means that manual correction was required

column - igd presents initial gaze distance in pixels

column - R1 presents the first measurement of perception response time (PRT)

column - R2 presents the second measurement of PRT

column - R3 presents the third measurement of PRT

Missing data are presented with NA (Not Available).

NOTE: Python code for ST calculation and sample eye tracker video are available on GitHub repository https://github.com/NadicaSm/Time-To-Fixate-Calculation-from-the-Eye-Tracker-Videos under GNU GPL license and released on Zenodo with doi (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6560419).

If you find these parameters and R code useful for your own research and teaching class, please cite the following references:

Miljković, N., & Sodnik, J. (2023). NadicaSm/Time-To-Fixate-Calculation-from-the-Eye-Tracker-Videos: v2. [Software code], Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6560419

Miljković, N., & Sodnik, J. (2023). Effectiveness of a time to fixate for fitness to drive evaluation in neurological patients. Behavior Research Methods. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-023-02177-3

Motnikar, L., Stojmenova, K., Štaba, U. Č., Klun, T., Robida, K. R., & Sodnik, J. (2020). Exploring driving characteristics of fit-and unfit-to-drive neurological patients: A driving simulator study. Traffic Injury Prevention, 21(6), 359-364. https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2020.1764547

Acknowledgements

J.S. kindly acknowledges University Rehabilitation Institute Soča employees and the Nervtech team. Authors gratefully appreciate the support from Nenad B. Popović, PhD from University of Belgrade – School of Electrical Engineering for his valuable assistance in design of illustrations and for provided feedback for the initial manuscript structure. Also, both Authors thank Nebojša Jovanović, MSc from University of Belgrade - School of Electrical Engineering for his kind contribution to earlier stages of the project, especially for his work on developing Python code to capture time to fixate parameter. Last but not least, we are very thankful to Damjan Krstajić, founder and director of the Research Centre for Cheminformatics for his precious advices on statistical analysis in a retrospective study and to student Gregor Kovač from Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana for his diligent work on YOLO application in driving simulation.

Analysis data of "Risk factors for non-adherence to medications that affect surgery: A retrospective study in Japan "

Abstract

A rebound of osteoclast activity during the 2 years after a treatment or prevention of osteoporosis with denosumab (Dmab) leads to an increased risk of vertebral fractures (VF). We attempted to identify the risk factors for these VF and to examine the protective role of bisphosphonates. For that, 22 specialists in Switzerland provided data of unselected patients, treated with denosumab for osteoporosis or breast cancer without metastases under aromatase inhibitors, who have received at least 2 injections of Dmab, with at least 1 year of follow-up after discontinuation. The questionnaire covered separately the periods before, during and after Dmab treatment, and registered clinical, radiological and lab data. For the analysis of the risk factors, the main outcomes were: the time to the first VF after the treatment, the presence of multiple VFs (MVFs), and the number of VFs. The incidence of VF was 16.4% before, 2.2% during and 10.3% after the treatment with Dmab. The risk of VF after Dmab discontinuation was associated with an increased risk of non-vertebral fractures. The pre-treatment predictors of the post-treatment fracture risk were a parental hip fracture and previous VFs. Further risk factures appeared later, such as low total hip BMD during and after denosumab, increased bone resorption markers and the loss of total hip BMD after the denosumab. Treatment with bisphosphonates, especially after Dmab, had a protective effect. Bisphosphonates given before Dmab did not further decrease the risk of VF in cases who got bisphosphonates after Dmab. This study shows that the risk of VF is poorly predictable before the prescription of denosumab. But during and after the treatment, bone resorption markers and BMD have a significant predictive value. Bisphosphonates after the treatment with denosumab are protective against VFs.

Geographic coverage

Switzerland

Analysis unit

834 female patients

Kind of data

Retrospective analysis of clinical data collected by questionnaire

Sampling procedure

Data Collection by an electronic questionnaire. with min. 155 items

Mode of data collection

collection of questionnaires

Research instrument

questionnaire – statistical analysis of the data

Cleaning operations

review of the questionnaires – completion on missing data – exclusion of insufficient data

Objectives: Although the World Health Organization (WHO) Clinical Progression Scale for COVID-19 is useful in prospective clinical trials, it cannot be effectively used with retrospective Electronic Health Record (EHR) datasets. Modifying the existing WHO Clinical Progression Scale, we developed an ordinal severity scale (OS) and assessed its usefulness in the analyses of COVID-19 patient outcomes using retrospective EHR data. Results: The data set used in this analysis consists of 2,880,456 patients. PCA of the day-to-day variation in OS levels over the totality of the 28-day period revealed contrasting patterns of variation in disease severity within the first and second 14 days and illustrated the importance of evaluation over the full 28-day period. Discussion: An OS with well-defined, robust features, based on discrete EHR data elements, is useful for assessments of COVID-19 patient outcomes, providing insights on progression of COVID-19 disease severity over time. Conclusion: The OS provides a framework which can facilitate better understanding of the course of acute COVID-19, informing clinical decision-making and resource allocation. Methods An OS was developed to assign COVID-19 disease severity using the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership common data model within the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) data enclave. We then evaluated usefulness of the developed OS using heterogenous EHR data from January 2020 to October 2021 submitted to N3C by 63 healthcare organizations across the United States. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was employed to characterize changes in disease severity among patients during the 28-day period following COVID-19 diagnosis.

It is a widely accepted fact that evolving software systems change and grow. However, it is less well-understood how change is distributed over time, specifically in object oriented software systems. The patterns and techniques used to measure growth permit developers to identify specific releases where significant change took place as well as to inform them of the longer term trend in the distribution profile. This knowledge assists developers in recording systemic and substantial changes to a release, as well as to provide useful information as input into a potential release retrospective. However, these analysis methods can only be applied after a mature release of the code has been developed. But in order to manage the evolution of complex software systems effectively, it is important to identify change-prone classes as early as possible. Specifically, developers need to know where they can expect change, the likelihood of a change, and the magnitude of these modifications in order to take proactive steps and mitigate any potential risks arising from these changes. Previous research into change-prone classes has identified some common aspects, with different studies suggesting that complex and large classes tend to undergo more changes and classes that changed recently are likely to undergo modifications in the near future. Though the guidance provided is helpful, developers need more specific guidance in order for it to be applicable in practice. Furthermore, the information needs to be available at a level that can help in developing tools that highlight and monitor evolution prone parts of a system as well as support effort estimation activities. The specific research questions that we address in this chapter are: (1) What is the likelihood that a class will change from a given version to the next? (a) Does this probability change over time? (b) Is this likelihood project specific, or general? (2) How is modification frequency distributed for classes that change? (3) What is the distribution of the magnitude of change? Are most modifications minor adjustments, or substantive modifications? (4) Does structural complexity make a class susceptible to change? (5) Does popularity make a class more change-prone? We make recommendations that can help developers to proactively monitor and manage change. These are derived from a statistical analysis of change in approximately 55000 unique classes across all projects under investigation. The analysis methods that we applied took into consideration the highly skewed nature of the metric data distributions. The raw metric data (4 .txt files and 4 .log files in a .zip file measuring ~2MB in total) is provided as a comma separated values (CSV) file, and the first line of the CSV file contains the header. A detailed output of the statistical analysis undertaken is provided as log files generated directly from Stata (statistical analysis software).

Classification of statistical methods as reported in journals.

Good quality medical research generally requires not only an expertise in the chosen medical field of interest but also a sound knowledge of statistical methodology. The number of medical research articles which have been published in Indian medical journals has increased quite substantially in the past decade. The aim of this study was to collate all evidence on study design quality and statistical analyses used in selected leading Indian medical journals. Ten (10) leading Indian medical journals were selected based on impact factors and all original research articles published in 2003 (N = 588) and 2013 (N = 774) were categorized and reviewed. A validated checklist on study design, statistical analyses, results presentation, and interpretation was used for review and evaluation of the articles. Main outcomes considered in the present study were – study design types and their frequencies, error/defects proportion in study design, statistical analyses, and implementation of CONSORT checklist in RCT (randomized clinical trials). From 2003 to 2013: The proportion of erroneous statistical analyses did not decrease (χ2=0.592, Φ=0.027, p=0.4418), 25% (80/320) in 2003 compared to 22.6% (111/490) in 2013. Compared with 2003, significant improvement was seen in 2013; the proportion of papers using statistical tests increased significantly (χ2=26.96, Φ=0.16, p

Introduction:

Spain is one of the countries with the lowest rates of revascularization and highest ratio of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Objectives:

To investigate the changes and trends in the two revascularization procedures between 1998 and 2017 in our country.

Design:

Retrospective cohort study. Analysis of in-hospital outcomes.

Setting:

Minimum Basic Dataset from the Spanish National Department of Health: mandatory database collecting information of patients who are attended in the Spanish public National Health System.

Participants:

603,976 patients who underwent isolated CABG or PCI in the Spanish National Health System. The study period was divided in four 5-year intervals. Patients with acute myocardial infarction on admission were excluded.

Primary and Secondary Outcomes:

We investigated the volume of procedures nationwide, the changes of the risk profile of patients and in-hospital mortality of both techniques.

Results:

We observed a 2.2-fold increase in the rate of any type of myocardial revascularization/million inhabitants-year: 357 (1998) to 776 (2017). 93,682 (15.5%) had a coronary surgery. PCI to CABG ratio rose from 2.2 (1998-2002) to 8.1 (2013-2017). Charlson´s index increased by 0.8 for CABG and 1 for PCI. The median annual volume of PCI/hospital augmented from 136 to 232, while the volume of CABG was reduced from 137 to 74. In the two decades, we detected a significant reduction of CABG in-hospital mortality (6.5% Vs 2.6%, p<0.001) and a small increase in PCI (1.2% Vs 1.5%, p<0.001). Risk adjusted mortality rate was reduced for both CABG (1.51 Vs 0.48, p<0.001), and PCI (1.42 Vs. 1.05, p<0.001).

Conclusion:

We detected a significant increase in the volume of revascularizations (particularly PCI) in Spain. Risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality was significantly reduced.

Methods Sources of information and patient selection:

Data was obtained from the MBDS from the Department of Health of Spain (National Institute of Healthcare Information). This research was carried out according to the STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology) recommendations. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board and Ethics Committee at Hospital Clínico San Carlos (Madrid, Spain).

We investigated all the outpatient or hospitalization episodes of the Spanish NHS from 1998 to 2017 in which a CABG or PCI procedure had been carried out. Those episodes during which patients underwent concomitant procedures were excluded (See next Table 1 ICD9 and ICD10 codes).

    ICD9


    ICD10




    CABG


    36.1x


    0210xxx,0211xxx,0212xxx,0213xxx




    PCI


    00.66, 36.03, 36.06, 36.07, 36.09


    0270xxx, 0271xxx,0272xxx,0273xxx, 02C0xxx, 02C1xxx, 02C2xxx, 02C3xxx, 02C4xxx




    Excluded Concomitant procedures


    35.xx, 37.3x, 37.51, 38.44, 38.45, 39.1x, 39.2x, 39.3x & 37.90


    027Fxxx, 027Gxxx, 02NFxxx, 02NGxxx, 02Vxxxx, 027Jxxx, 02NJxxx, 02Nxxxx, 02Rxxxx, 02Qxxxx, 028xxxx, 02Bxxxx, 02Cxxxx (different from 02C0xxx, 02C1xxx, 02C3xxx and 02C4xxx), 02Fxxxx, 02Hxxxx, 02Jxxxx, 02Kxxxx, 02Nxxxx, 02Pxxxx, 02Uxxxx, 02Wxxxx, 02Yxxxx, 025xxxx




    STEMI


    410.x1


    I21.x9, I21.x1, I21.x, I21.4, I21.3, I21.9

Likewise, all episodes with an acute myocardial infarction/acute coronary syndrome with ST segment elevation as the primary diagnosis on admission (See supplementary Table 1) were excluded, as those with both types of revascularization. In addition, to avoid possible coding errors, patients younger than 18 or older than 100-year-old, and patients operated on CABG in centers without CABG or who underwent PCI in centers without PCI were also discarded. Patients discharged alive earlier than two days after CABG were also considered as coding errors. The episodes corresponding to patients who were transferred to another center and consecutive planned revascularizations episodes were consolidated into a single episode(1). Each episode corresponds to a single patient, but a patient might have more than one episode. Given that we analyzed in-hospital outcomes, different consolidated episodes will be considered as different patients for the purpose of this study.

The full period of time (1998-2017) was divided in four 5-year intervals (1998-2002, 2003-2007, 2008-2012 and 2013-2017).

Patient and Public Involvement:

No patient was actively involved in the study

National volume of revascularization procedures and risk profile of the patients:

We investigated the absolute number of CABG and PCI per year, the number of procedures per million of inhabitants and the changes in the PCI/CABG ratio. Further analyses to investigate the trends in the indexed volume of each type of procedure were also performed according to sex and age. To estimate the nationwide population, data was extracted from the National Institute of Statistics.

Healthcare centers were classified according to the volume of procedures per year. Thus, for both CABG and PCI, hospitals were divided into four groups according to the quartile of the volume of PCI or CABG interventions that they performed in each year: Low volume (quartile 1), Low-Intermediate Volume (quartile 2), High-Intermediate Volume (quartile 3) and High Volume (quartile 4).

Patients were classified into four groups according to their age (≤60,>60 & ≤70,>70 & ≤80, and >80-year-old). We analyzed the evolution of the prevalence of various comorbidities Age-modified Charlson´s Index was calculated (3,4). In addition, the individual components of this score (previous history of myocardial infarction, kidney disease, diabetes, ...) and other procedural variables were analyzed throughout the study period (see Table 1).

Mortality:

We analyzed in hospital non-adjusted and adjusted mortality for PCI and CABG and its changes over the study period.

Statistical Analysis:

Categorical variables were represented with absolute and relative frequencies (%) and were compared with the chi-squared test. The normality of the quantitative variables was analyzed with PP- plots, and they were expressed with mean and standard deviation or median and interquartile range. Imputation ​​was not made for missing values. Statistics were estimated using available data. Quantitative variables were compared among the periods of the study with an analysis of variance or non-parametric comparison of medians. Contrasts were performed to investigate the presence of a linear trends (LT). The relative risk reduction (RRR) and odds ratio (OR) were used to represent the strength of association between different variables and mortality.

We investigated factors associated to mortality for each type of revascularization. For this purpose, we created multivariable models including variables with theoretical value and variables related to mortality (statistical significance p<0.1) in an univariable analysis. The best models were selected based on the value of the Akaike information criterion, R2 and their area under the curve.

Subsequently, we estimated 2 new models to predict mortality after PCI and CABG, respectively, excluding the time period. We divided the observed mortality in each year for PCI and CABG by that expected according to the corresponding model. In this way, we analyzed the evolution of risk- adjusted mortality rate (RAMR) over time. (14).

Statistical analysis was performed with Stata v 15.0 (StataCorp. 2017. Stata Statistical Software:Release 15.College Station,TX: StataCorp LLC.).

1. Goicolea Ruigómez FJ, Elola FJ, Durante-López A, Fernández Pérez C, Bernal JL, Macaya C. Coronary artery bypass grafting in Spain. Influence of procedural volume on outcomes. Rev Esp Cardiol (Engl Ed).2020[Epub ahead of print].

2. INEbase [Internet]. Madrid: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain); [cited 2019, July, 20]. Available from: http://www.ine.es/.

3. Charlson ME, Szatrowski TP, Peterson J, Gold J. Validation of combined comorbidity index. J Clinical Epidemiol.1994;47:1245-51.

4. Sun JW, Rogers JR, Her Q, Welch EC, Panozzo CA, Toh S, et al. Validation of the combined comorbidity index of Charlson and Elixhauser to predict 30-day mortality across ICD 9 and ICD 10. Med Care.2018;56:812.

Background: Surgical excision of extramammary Paget disease (EMPD) is associated with a high local recurrence rate. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the local recurrence rate of EMPD after preoperative mapping biopsy (PMB) with local excision. Methods: This retrospective study included patients with EMPD who were treated at our dermatosurgery clinic between January 2016 through May 2022. In addition, we retrieved individual patient data of EMPD cases from articles published in PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, and Scopus to compare recurrence rates between patients with or without PMB using Cox’s proportional hazard model. Results: In total, 146 patients with EMPD were included. Among them 109 underwent PMB. PMB was associated with a significantly reduced recurrence rate. The 5-year recurrence rate was 11.7% (95% CI, 2.1%–20.4%) in cases that underwent PMB and 45.5% (95% CI, 22.3%–61.8%) in cases that did not undergo PMB (hazard ratio, 0.23; 95% CI 0.09-0.59, p = 0.002). Conclusion: This study found that PMB before local excision significantly reduced the risk of recurrence when treating EMPD. Further studies are necessary to compare the recurrence rates of PMB, Mohs micrographic surgery and WLE for EMPD.

The purpose of this study is to retrospectively analyze colorectal cancer screening data of 40-74 year old population in Shipai Town, Dongguan City. In this study, the data of SDC2 Gene Methylation Test and Fecal Immunochemistry Test (Q-FIT) were screened from about 11,000 subjects who participated in Colorectal Cancer Screening in Shipai Town People’s Livelihood Project from May 2021 to May 2022. Data from 822 subjects with positive SDC2 Gene Methylation Test and/or positive Fecal Immunochemistry Test (Q-FIT) results and with colonoscopy and/or pathological results were selected for retrospective analysis. This retrospective study evaluated the screening performance of SDC2 Gene Methylation Test and/or Fecal Immunochemistry Test (Q-FIT) for colorectal cancer using colonoscopy and/or pathological results as the clinical standard method.

The Retrospective Analysis of Antarctic Tracking Data (RAATD) is a Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) project led jointly by the Expert Groups on Birds and Marine Mammals and Antarctic Biodiversity Informatics, and endorsed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. The RAATD project team consolidated tracking data for multiple species of Antarctic meso- and top-predators to identify Areas of Ecological Significance. These datasets constitute the compiled tracking data from a large number of research groups that have worked in the Antarctic since the 1990s. This metadata record pertains to the "filtered" version of the data files. These files contain position estimates that have been processed using a state-space model in order to estimate locations at regular time intervals. For technical details of the filtering process, consult the data paper. The filtering code can be found in the https://github.com/SCAR/RAATD repository. This data set comprises one metadata csv file that describes all deployments, along with data files (3 files for each of 17 species). For each species there is: - an RDS file that contains the fitted filter model object and model predictions (this file is RDS format that can be read by the R statistical software package) - a PDF file that shows the quality control results for each individual model - a CSV file containing the interpolated position estimates For details of the file contents and formats, consult the data paper. The data are also available in a standardized version (see https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/SCAR_EGBAMM_RAATD_2018_Standardised) that contain position estimates as provided by the original data collectors (generally, raw Argos or GPS locations, or estimated GLS locations) without state-space filtering.

Background: The harm benefit analysis (HBA) is the cornerstone of animal research regulation and is considered to be a key ethical safeguard for animals. The HBA involves weighing the anticipated benefits of animal research against its predicted harms to animals but there are doubts about how objective and accountable this process is.

Objectives: i. To explore the harms to animals involved in pre-clinical animal studies and to assess these against the benefits for humans accruing from these studies; ii. To test the feasibility of conducting this type of retrospective HBA.

Methods: Data on harms were systematically extracted from a sample of pre-clinical animal studies whose clinical relevance had already been investigated by comparing systematic reviews of the animal studies with systematic reviews of human studies for the same interventions (antifibrinolytics for haemorrhage, bisphosphonates for osteoporosis, corticosteroids for brain injury, Tirilazad for stroke, antenatal corticos...

The antiretroviral therapy outcomes study conducted in Ghana is a multicentre retrospective study among HIV-infected adults offered clinical care at four health facilities in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Demographic and clinical data of patients offered antiretroviral therapy between January 2008 and December 2012 were reviewed. Data were gathered from each patient's hospital records for 36 months beginning from the first day of therapy initiation. The main objective of the study was to investigate treatment outcomes of individual patients after 36 months of therapy. Outcome measures included retention in care, loss to follow-up, mortality, treatment failure and immunologic response to antiretoviral therapy. For patients who were lost to follow up within the study period the duration on treatment before being lost to follow up was also investigated. Data extraction process was started January 2015 and completed in October 2015. Data cleaning and validation was done in July 2016

Background Invasive meningococcal disease is a significant cause of mortality and morbidity in the UK. Administration of chemoprophylaxis to close contacts reduces the risk of a secondary case. However, unnecessary chemoprophylaxis may be associated with adverse reactions, increased antibiotic resistance and removal of organisms, such as Neisseria lactamica, which help to protect against meningococcal disease. Limited evidence exists to suggest that overuse of chemoprophylaxis may occur. This study aimed to evaluate prescribing of chemoprophylaxis for contacts of meningococcal disease by general practitioners and hospital staff. Methods Retrospective case note review of cases of meningococcal disease was conducted in one health district from 1st September 1997 to 31st August 1999. Routine hospital and general practitioner prescribing data was searched for chemoprophylactic prescriptions of rifampicin and ciprofloxacin. A questionnaire of general practitioners was undertaken to obtain more detailed information. Results Prescribing by hospital doctors was in line with recommendations by the Consultant for Communicable Disease Control. General practitioners prescribed 118% more chemoprophylaxis than was recommended. Size of practice and training status did not affect the level of additional prescribing, but there were significant differences by geographical area. The highest levels of prescribing occurred in areas with high disease rates and associated publicity. However, some true close contacts did not appear to receive prophylaxis. Conclusions Receipt of chemoprophylaxis is affected by a series of patient, doctor and community interactions. High publicity appears to increase demand for prophylaxis. Some true contacts do not receive appropriate chemoprophylaxis and are left at an unnecessarily increased risk.