Maintenance hemodialysis patients face great risk and challenges in the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, and adequate and reasonable nutrition is an important weapon in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Therefore, the Chinese Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition proposed Dietary Expert Advice on Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 in Hemodialysis Patients for hemodialysis patients. In this paper, the nine pieces of advice on hemodialysis patients’ staple food, intake of high-quality protein, vegetables and fruits, food types and combinations, prevention of virus transmission, fluid intake, nutritional supplements, regular rest and adequate sleep, as well as supplement of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant preparations are interpreted in detail.
Since January 2020, due to the epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019, all universities in China have postponed their studies or even suspend their studies. In response to the teaching policy of “suspending class, but keeping teaching and learning” , college teachers have rapidly changed into online teaching mode. However, how to ensure the quality and effect of online teaching still needs further exploration. Through analyzing the course characteristics of medical imaging diagnostics and students’ learning situations, this study discusses how to design detailed online teaching projects and improve the teaching quality and how to select online software suitable for the course. A questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate the effect of online teaching during the spring course in 2020, selecting a total of 297 clinical and other undergraduate students of grade 2017 from West China School of Medicine of Sichuan University. The results showed that the detailed online teaching programs including “video learning” “distance teaching” “periodic examination” “weakness tutorial” were helpful to the learning process agreed by the majority of students. During the epidemic period, online teaching method can help students master the content of medical imaging diagnosis. In the era of Internet, the “online+offline” teaching mode is expected to be popularized in the future.
ObjectiveTo investigate the anxious level of people with epilepsy (PWE) during the outbreak of 2019 Novel Coronavirus Diseases (COVID-19) and explore the reasons of anxiety.MethodsAn internet questionnaire survey were conducted on the anxiety state of PWE and health controls (HC) aged 18 to 45 years old between Feb 9, 2020 and Feb 17, 2020. The questionnaire included demographic information, general status and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).ResultsIn all, 148 PWE and 300 HC were included in this study. The total SAI score (46.72±9.98 vs. 41.77±10.20, P<0.001) and the total TAI score (44.18±8.88 vs. 31.27±17.44, P<0.001) were significantly higher in PWE than in HC. PWE concerned most (69.9%) about the difficulty of obtaining antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) while HC concerned most about the lack of face masks (73.3%).ConclusionHigh anxious level in PWE during the outbreak of COVID is probably due to the difficulty of obtaining AEDs. Thus, the society should strengthen the solution of the problem of purchasing AEDs and conduct timely psychological counseling.
Objective To explore the vascular access infection (VAI) incidence of hemodialysis patients during the the maximum spread of the COVID-19 epidemic (epidemic period) compared with the corresponding period with no local cases of COVID-19 (control period). Methods A single-center, retrospective study was carried out. Adult patients who underwent hemodialysis at the Department of Blood Purification Center, the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University during the epidemic period between December 7, 2022 and February 23, 2023 and the control period between December 7, 2020 and February 23, 2021 were selected. The incidence of local access site infection (LASI) and access related bloodstream infection (ARBSI) in included patients were observed and compared. ResultsA total of 1 401 patients were included. Among them, there were 737 cases during the epidemic period and 664 cases during the control period. There was no statistically significant difference in the age, gender, and duration of catheterization among patients of different periods and pathway types (P>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the occurrence of LASI between the epidemic period and the control period (χ2=1.800, P=1.180). There was a statistically significant difference in the occurrence of ARBSI between the epidemic period and the control period [χ2=4.610, relative risk (RR)=2.575, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.053, 6.298), P=0.032]. There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of LASI and ARBSI at different stages in patients with arteriovenous fistula and unnel-cuffed catheters (TCC) (P＞0.05). There were statistically significant differences in the incidence of LASI [χ2=4.898, RR=3.832, 95%CI (1.058, 13.885), P=0.027] and ARBSI [χ2=7.150, RR=4.684, 95%CI (1.333, 16.460), P=0.005] among non cuffed catheters (NCC) patients at different stages. TCC patients might experience LASI (P<0.05) during the epidemic period and ARBSI (P<0.05) during the control period compared with the arteriovenous fistula patients; both central venous catheterization and NCC patients might experience LASI and ARBSI during the control period (P<0.05). Conclusion Targeting COVID-19 prevention may be associated with the reduction of vascular access infection in hemodialysis patients, in particular in NCC patients.
The master protocol platform trial is a trial in which multiple treatments or different combinations of treatments are consistently evaluated in the context of a single disease, possibly within several sub-studies for different disease subtypes, allowing multiple treatments to enter or exit the trial platform based on a certain decision algorithm. Compared with the traditional clinical trial design, the master protocol platform trial as a scientific innovative model of clinical trial can accelerate drug evaluation to deal with the contradiction between the awaited evaluation of numerous drugs and lack of effective therapy for diseases. By using the large-scale randomized controlled clinical trial for COVID-19 inpatients (RECOVERY) led by the University of Oxford in the UK in 2020 as an illustration, this paper introduced the concept, design principle, and basic trial process of the master protocol platform trial to provide methodological references for clinical research of drugs.
ObjectiveTo investigate the epidemiological characteristics of the first cluster of patients with coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) in Gansu.MethodsAll 6 COVID-19 patients from a non-familial cluster in Gansu, were extracted from Gansu Provincial Health Information System until Feb 20, 2020. The patients were confirmed by nucleic acid detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The analyses were included via retrospective method: patient clinical characteristics, the summary of epidemiology, and CT image characteristics.ResultsThis clustered outbreak was the first non-family clustered outbreak in Gansu after traveled to Thailand. All 6 COVID-19 confirmed patients were a kindergarten staff in Gansu, aged from 26 to 51 years, and were female. They traveled to Thailand in the same period, and had the same epidemiological exposure history. They were diagnosed as COVID-19 by transnasopharyngeal swab real-time fluorescent reverse transcription-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid examination at different time points after return to Gansu. The first patient was ill on January 21, 2020, with fever as first symptom. She was diagnosed at the Xigu District People’s Hospital in Lanzhou and was transferred to Lanzhou Pulmonary Hospital after being diagnosed. She was cured with one week’s antiviral treatment. The remaining 5 patients were treated in Longxi People’s Hospital. The common clinical symptoms were fever, throat discomfort, headache, and fatigue. Through 7 to 10 days’ antiviral treatment, they all were cured. All patients belonged to common type and had good prognosis.ConclusionThe COVID-19 patients in a non-familial cluster have the same epidemiological history. Early medical observation, SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid examination and comprehensive chest CT should be arranged promptly to make diagnosis and give responsive treatment, so that the prognosis is often good.
Objective To evaluate the clinical features of acute macular neuroretinopathy (AMN) associated with COVID-19. MethodsA retrospective case series studies. A total of 12 eyes of 8 patients diagnosed of AMN associated with COVID-19 at Peking University People’s Hospital from December 5, 2022 to January 5, 2023 were included. Of the 8 patients, 2 were male (4 eyes) and 6 were female (8 eyes), with an average age of (29.38±8.60) years. All patients underwent best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT), and infra-red fundus photography (IR). After definite diagnosis, the patients were given symptomatic treatment such as local vasodilation, anti-inflammatory and systemic circulation improvement and nutritional nerve. Follow-up time was 21-30 days weeks. Clinical manifestations, OCT and IR image characteristics, and treatment outcomes were retrospectively analyzed. ResultsThe time from diagnosis of COVID-19 to the onset of ocular symptoms was (3.00±0.93) days. Among 12 eyes, 6 had complaints of paracentral scotoma, with 2 of them accompanied by visual acuity loss; and 6 had complaints of dark shadows in the vision, with 2 of them accompanied by visual acuity loss. At the initial examination, 2 eyes had a BCVA of less than 0.05, 2 eyes had a BCVA between 0.4 and 0.6, and 8 eyes had a BCVA between 0.8 and 1.0. At the last follow-up, visual symptoms improved in 7 eyes and remained unchanged in 5 eyes. Fundus color photography showed reddish-brown lesions in the macular area. Spectral-domain OCT revealed localized thickening and strong reflection of the outer plexiform layer (OPL) in the macular area, patchy strong reflections in the outer nuclear layer (ONL), and varying degrees of local discontinuity in the adjacent external limiting membrane, ellipsoid zone/interdigitation zone (EZ/IZ), with reduced local reflection in the adjacent retinal pigment epithelium layer in 2 eyes. The strong reflection area of the ONL on corresponding structural OCT was observed more clearly as a lesion range with strong reflection on en-face OCT. The incomplete structure of the EZ/IZ band was observed more clearly as a lesion range with weak reflection on en-face OCT. IR showed several clear-bordered and weakly reflecting lesions at the center of the macula, with the tip pointing to the fovea. ConclusionsAMN associated with COVID-19 tends to occur in young females. The OCT findings of AMN are characterized by strong reflections in the OPL and ONL, and lesion ranges can be observed more clearly at different levels using en-face OCT. The lesions on IR appear as weak reflections.
ObjectiveTo investigate the current situation of stress load and professional benefit of hemodialysis nurses during the outbreak period and the remission period of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, and discuss the differences in stress load and professional benefit of hemodialysis nurses between the two periods.MethodsIn February 2020, 119 hemodialysis nurses from three hemodialysis centers in Sichuan Province were selected as the respondents. Using the Stress Overload Scale and the Questionnaire of Nurses’ Perceived Professional Benefits, questionnaire survey was conducted in February 2020 and April 2020, respectively. Paired-sample t test was used for analysis.ResultsA total of 109 valid questionnaires were collected. The scores of stress load of hemodialysis nurses in outbreak period and remission stage were 3.00±1.26 and 2.17±1.16, respectively, of which the scores of event load dimension were 3.49±1.15 and 2.31±1.27, respectively, and the scores of individual vulnerability dimension were 2.59±1.19 and 2.05±1.06, respectively; the professional benefit scores of hemodialysis nurses in outbreak and remission were 4.19±0.83 and 4.21±0.78, respectively. The difference in stress load of the same group of hemodialysis nurses between different time periods was statistically significant (P<0.05), while there was no significant difference in professional benefit (P>0.05).ConclusionsDuring the outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic, the stress load of hemodialysis nurses was ata medium level, and that in the remission stage of COVID-19 epidemic was at a low level; the professional benefit of nurses in the outbreak and remission period was at a high level. The stress load status of hemodialysis nurses was different between different periods of the epidemic. We should take incentive mechanism or targeted psychological intervention measures to improve the professional benefit level of nurses.
