Repeated measures random forests (RMRF): Identifying factors associated with nocturnal hypoglycemia

Nocturnal hypoglycemia is a common phenomenon among patients with diabetes and can lead to a broad range of adverse events and complications. Identifying factors associated with hypoglycemia can improve glucose control and patient care. We propose a repeated measures random forest (RMRF) algorithm that can handle nonlinear relationships and interactions and the correlated responses from patients evaluated over several nights. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm captures the informative variable more often than naïvely assuming independence. RMRF also outperforms standard random forest and extremely randomized trees algorithms. We demonstrate scenarios where RMRF attains greater prediction accuracy than generalized linear models. We apply the RMRF algorithm to analyze a diabetes study with 2524 nights from 127 patients with type 1 diabetes. We find that nocturnal hypoglycemia is associated with HbA1c, bedtime blood glucose (BG), insulin on board, time system activated, exercise intensity, and daytime hypoglycemia. The RMRF can accurately classify nights at high risk of nocturnal hypoglycemia.     

儿童重症监护病房医院感染暴发白色念珠菌血流感染4例分析

摘要 目的：探讨儿童重症监护病房白色念珠菌血流感染暴发的临床表现、危险因素、控制措施等,为预防和控制院内白色念珠菌血流感染暴发提供科学依据。方法：以2018年7月我院儿童重症监护病房发生的4例白色念珠菌血流感染暴发患儿为研究对象,分析患儿临床情况、临床特征、危险因素、暴发原因以及采取的预防控制措施。结果：4例医院感染暴发白色念珠菌血流感染患儿均存在基础疾病、有机械通气史、存在中心静脉或动脉置管、静脉或动脉置管前后均使用碘伏消毒、曾使用广谱抗生素、输血制品,白色念珠菌血流感染后最突出的临床表现均是发热。药敏方面,医院感染暴发的4例白色念珠菌感染患儿对唑类及5-氟胞嘧啶均耐药,但对两性霉素B均敏感。经拔除血管置管、减少或者避免广谱抗菌药的应用,根据药敏使用卡泊芬净及两性霉素B抗真菌等积极治疗,1例患儿放弃治疗后死亡,3例患儿顺利出院。通过Fisher确切概率法分析可知,留置中心静脉或动脉置管是儿童重症监护病房发生医院感染暴发白色念珠菌血流感染的危险因素（P<0.05）。结论：留置中心静脉或动脉置管是儿童重症监护病房发生医院感染暴发白色念珠菌血流感染的危险因素,医院感染暴发白色念珠菌血流感染患儿最突出的临床表现是发热,唑类及5-氟胞嘧啶耐药的患儿使用卡泊芬净及两性霉素B可能获得较好的治疗效果。     

非阿片类镇痛复合静脉全麻在鼾症手术患者中的疗效

目的:观察三重措施预防为基础,联合非阿片镇痛药复合静脉全麻在行鼾症手术患者术后恶心呕吐的应用效果。方法:选择择期行鼾症手术男性病人80例,随机分为两组:吸入麻醉组(inhalation group, IHLA组)和静脉麻醉组(intravenous group, TIVA组),每组40例,两组均采用三重措施预防恶心呕吐,IHLA组采用以舒芬太尼为基础复合七氟烷吸入麻醉,TIVA组以氯胺酮和右美托咪定镇痛基础上丙泊酚全凭静脉麻醉。评估两组病人恶心呕吐危险系数,采用李克特量表(Likert scale),记录并分析两组患者术后6~8 h在麻醉后监测治疗室(post anesthesia care unit, PACU)及病房24 h恶心呕吐发生情况及补救用药用量。结果:两组患者一般临床资料、恶心呕吐风险评分、手术时间、术后恢复期补救用药量人数无显著差异(P>0.05);IHLA组在PACU恶心呕吐发生率为39.5%,TIVA组发生率为18.9%,两者相比有显著性差异(P<0.05);IHLA组病房24 h恶心呕吐严重程度高于TIVA组,两组术后需要补救应用抗呕吐药物用量无显著差异(P>0.05)。结论:以三重措施预防为基础,与吸入麻醉相比,非阿片类镇痛药复合静脉麻醉可以减少肥胖病人鼾症手术术后恶心呕吐发生率和严重程度,降低围术期风险,有利于患者早期恢复。     

REPEATED ASSESSMENT OF THE ENDOGENOUS 24-HOUR PROFILE OF BLOOD PRESSURE UNDER CONSTANT ROUTINE*

The impact of environmental and behavioral factors on the 24-h profile of blood pressure (BP) has been well established. Various attempts have been made to control these exogenous factors, in order to investigate a possible endogenous circadian variation of BP. Recently, we reported the results of the first environmentally and behaviorally controlled laboratory study with 24-h recordings of BP and heart rate (HR) during maintained wakefulness. In this constant-routine study, a pronounced endogenous circadian rhythm of HR was found, but circadian variation of BP was absent. This result suggested that the circadian rhythm of BP observed in earlier controlled studies, with sleep allowed, was evoked by the sleep–wake cycle as opposed to the endogenous circadian pacemaker. In order to verify our previous finding during maintained wakefulness, we repeated the experiment five times with six normotensive, healthy young subjects. Statistical analyses of the hourly measurements of BP and HR confirmed the replicable presence of an endogenous circadian rhythm of HR, as well as the consistent absence of an endogenous circadian variation of BP. Thus, this study provided additional evidence that the 24-h profile of BP—as observed under normal circumstances—is the sole result of environmental and behavioral factors such as the occurrence of sleep, and has no endogenous circadian component. (Chronobiology International, 18(1), 85–98, 2001)     

Fishy Business: The High Seas Boarding and Inspection Regime in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) was created in 2004 to more effectively conserve and manage the region's tuna fishery. One of the Commission's principal enforcement tools is the high seas boarding and inspection regime, which authorizes each member state to board and inspect fishing vessels engaged in a regulated fishery to verify compliance with the Commission's conservation and management measures. This article examines the structure of the WCPFC's high seas boarding and inspection regime and analyzes its effectiveness in furthering the Commission's conservations and management mandate.     

An SEI model for sarcoptic mange among chamois

We consider a simple model to study the dynamics of sarcoptic mange in a population of chamois. The epidemiological patterns observed during an epidemic in Italy are reconstructed and key parameters of the model are estimated from field data. In particular, we calculate the basic reproductive ratio R ₀, a threshold value for chamois density for the occurrence of an epidemic and the speed of propagation of the epidemic wave. The model is then used to obtain indications on the effect of culling as a possible control measure in a closed population and extended to analyse the spatial diffusion of the epidemic. Our results are in agreement with mange epidemiology and observations, and suggest that intervention could be efficacious in reducing the impact of an epidemic.     

开放性骨折患者发生医院感染的临床特征及危险因素分析

目的:研究开放性骨折患者发生医院感染的临床特征及危险因素,为降低院内感染提供临床参考。方法:回顾性分析于2013年3月-2015年3月间院内收治的1860例开放性骨折患者临床资料,对存在院内感染患者的感染类型、病原菌类型及相关危险因素进行分析,应用SPSS19.0统计软件对数据进行研究。结果:1860例患者中共计65例出现医院感染情况,发生率为3.49%,感染类型主要为骨髓炎占35.38%,肺部感染伴血气胸占23.08%,颌面部创伤后发生颅内感染占18.46%;65株病原菌中包括38株革兰氏阴性菌,占58.46%,23株革兰氏阳性菌,占35.38%,4株真菌,占6.15%;病程、骨折部位、损伤程度及住院时间为开放性骨折医院感染的独立危险因素,差异具有统计学意义(P0.05)。结论:通过分析开放性骨折患者医院感染的临床特征及危险因素,有利于医院防治工作的开展,为医院感染防治提供理论支持,具有重要指导意义。     

Fish communities’ response to implementation of restoring measures in a highly artificialized estuary

Over the years, the Mondego estuary has undergone various anthropogenic impacts. One of the most serious was the closing of the communication between the two arms of the system (north and south), in the 1990s, which promoted eutrophication and a consequent water quality decline in the south arm. Several mitigation measures were subsequently implemented, in particular the re-establishing of the communication between the two arms in 2006, increasing water flow and reducing water residence time in the south arm. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of management measures on the ecological and conservation condition of the Mondego estuary, through a longitudinal assessment of the structure and composition of the fish communities over a decade. The Mondego fish community showed important modifications over the years, in terms of structure, ecological quality and conservation value. The fish community status improved following the reconnection of both arms. In the south arm those changes appear to be more evident than in the other estuarine areas, where an inverse pattern was observed in the last few years. A redistribution of the fish species within the system may have been responsible for those unexpected alterations in the north arm and upstream area.     

Understanding the burnout experience: recent research and its implications for psychiatry

The experience of burnout has been the focus of much research during the past few decades. Measures have been developed, as have various theoretical models, and research studies from many countries have contributed to a better understanding of the causes and consequences of this occupationally‐specific dysphoria. The majority of this work has focused on human service occupations, and particularly health care. Research on the burnout experience for psychiatrists mirrors much of the broader literature, in terms of both sources and outcomes of burnout. But it has also identified some of the unique stressors that mental health professionals face when they are dealing with especially difficult or violent clients. Current issues of particular relevance for psychiatry include the links between burnout and mental illness, the attempts to redefine burnout as simply exhaustion, and the relative dearth of evaluative research on potential interventions to treat and/or prevent burnout. Given that the treatment goal for burnout is usually to enable people to return to their job, and to be successful in their work, psychiatry could make an important contribution by identifying the treatment strategies that would be most effective in achieving that goal.