Principles of environmentally-sustainable anaesthesia: a global consensus statement from the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists

The Earth’s mean surface temperature is already approximately 1.1°C higher than pre-industrial levels. Exceeding a mean 1.5°C rise by 2050 will make global adaptation to the consequences of climate change less possible. To protect public health, anaesthesia providers need to reduce the contribution their practice makes to global warming. We convened a Working Group of 45 anaesthesia providers with a recognised interest in sustainability, and used a three-stage modified Delphi consensus process to agree on principles of environmentally sustainable anaesthesia that are achievable worldwide. The Working Group agreed on the following three important underlying statements: patient safety should not be compromised by sustainable anaesthetic practices; high-, middle- and low-income countries should support each other appropriately in delivering sustainable healthcare (including anaesthesia); and healthcare systems should be mandated to reduce their contribution to global warming. We set out seven fundamental principles to guide anaesthesia providers in the move to environmentally sustainable practice, including: choice of medications and equipment; minimising waste and overuse of resources; and addressing environmental sustainability in anaesthetists’ education, research, quality improvement and local healthcare leadership activities. These changes are achievable with minimal material resource and financial investment, and should undergo re-evaluation and updates as better evidence is published. This paper discusses each principle individually, and directs readers towards further important references.     

Mesenchymal neoplasms with NTRK and other kinase gene alterations

Kinase alterations are increasingly recognised as oncogenic drivers in mesenchymal tumours. Infantile fibrosarcoma and the related renal tumour, congenital mesoblastic nephroma, were among the first solid tumours shown to harbour recurrent tyrosine kinase fusions, with the canonical ETV6::NTRK3 fusion identified more than 20 years ago. Although targeted testing has long been used in diagnosis, the advent of more robust sequencing techniques has driven the discovery of kinase alterations in an array of mesenchymal tumours. As our ability to identify these genetic alterations has improved, as has our recognition and understanding of the tumours that harbour these alterations. Specifically, this study will focus upon mesenchymal tumours harbouring NTRK or other kinase alterations, including tumours with an infantile fibrosarcoma-like appearance, spindle cell tumours resembling lipofibromatosis or peripheral nerve sheath tumours and those occurring in adults with a fibrosarcoma-like appearance. As publications describing the histology of these tumours increase so, too, do the variety kinase alterations reported, now including NTRK1/2/3, RET, MET, RAF1, BRAF, ALK, EGFR and ABL1 fusions or alterations. To date, these tumours appear locally aggressive and rarely metastatic, without a clear link between traditional features used in histological grading (e.g. mitotic activity, necrosis) and outcome. However, most of these tumours are amenable to new targeted therapies, making their recognition of both diagnostic and therapeutic import. The goal of this study is to review the clinicopathological features of tumours with NTRK and other tyrosine kinase alterations, discuss the most common differential diagnoses and provide recommendations for molecular confirmation with associated treatment implications.     

Electroconvulsive therapy plays an irreplaceable role in treatment of major depressive disorder

Major depressive disorder is a serious and common neuropsychiatric disorder that affects more than 350 million people worldwide. Electroconvulsive therapy is the oldest and most effective treatment available for the treatment of severe major depressive disorder. Electroconvulsive therapy modifies structural network changes in patients with major depressive disorder and schizophrenia. And it can also affect neuroinflammatory responses and may have neuroprotective effects. Electroconvulsive therapy plays an irreplaceable role in the treatment of major depressive disorder.     

超声引导下经皮肺穿刺活检术术后并发症分析

目的分析超声引导下经皮肺穿刺活检术术后并发症的相关影响因素。 方法收集2015年1月至2017年12月于西部战区总医院住院并在超声引导下行经皮肺穿刺活检术的205例患者临床资料，分析205例患者穿刺术后病理结果及并发症发生率，探讨超声引导下经皮肺穿刺活检术术后并发症的相关影响因素。 结果205例患者行超声引导下经皮肺穿刺活检术，术后并发出血8例，占3.9%(8/205)，术后发热3例，占1.46% (3/205)，为低热，且予以对症治疗后均恢复正常，无严重并发症发生。术后出血的发生率在不同性别、年龄、BMI及病灶类型的患者中无显著差异(P>0.05)，且吸烟对患者术后出血率也无显著影响(P>0.05)；但有基础疾病的患者其术后出血率更高(P＝0.005)，且病灶直径越小，术后越容易并发出血(P＝0.006)。不同性别、年龄及病灶类型对术后发热的发生率无显著影响(P>0.05)，且术后发热与吸烟史及基础疾病史无关(P>0.05)，但BMI≥24或3 cm ≤病灶直径(d)<6 cm的患者术后更易发热(P<0.05)。 结论超声引导下经皮肺穿刺活检术术后并发症发生率低(约为5.37%)，主要为出血及低热，其中术后出血主要与基础疾病史和病灶直径有关，术后发热主要与病灶直径及BMI有关。     

Risk as a pattern over time: Delineation of time-dependent risk factors in biological,psychological, and social variables in cancer patients

Background

Survival in cancer patients is associated with a multitude of biological, social, and psychological factors. Although it is well established that all these factors add to overall mortality, it is not well understood how the predictive power of these parameters changes in a comprehensive model and over time.

Methods

Patients who attended the authors’ outpatient clinic were invited to participate. The authors followed 5180 mixed cancer patients (51.1% female; mean age, 59.1 years [SD = 13.8]) for up to 16 years and analyzed biological (age, sex, cancer site, anemia), psychological (anxiety, depression), and social variables (marital status, education, employment status) potentially predicting overall survival in a Cox proportional hazards model.

Results

The median survival time for the entire sample was 4.3 years (95% confidence interval, 4.0–4.7). The overall survival probabilities for 1 and 10 years were 76.8% and 38.0%, respectively. Following an empirical approach, the authors split the time interval into five periods: acute, subacute, short-term, medium-term, and long-term. A complex pattern of variables predicted overall survival differently in the five periods. Biological parameters were important throughout most of the time, social parameters were either time-independent predictors or tended to be more important in the longer term. Of the psychological parameters, only depression was a significant predictor and lost its predictive power in the long-term.

Conclusions

The findings of this study allow the development of comprehensive patient-specific models of risk and resilience factors addressing biopsychosocial needs of cancer patients, paving the way for a personalized treatment plan that goes beyond biomedical cancer care.     

Psychopharmacological Effects of Stimulation of the Functions of Neural Stem Cells by STAT3 Inhibitor under Conditions of Modeled Ethanol-Induced Encephalopathy

Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine - The psychopharmacological effects of a stimulator of functions of progenitor cells of the nervous tissue STAT3 inhibitor (STAT3 Inhibitor XIV, LLL12)...