Change in Functional Status from Preoperative to One Year Postoperative in Patients Who Have Undergone Elective Open-Heart Surgery: A Repeated-Measures Study

Purpose: Although patient-related factors affect surgical outcomes, preoperative functional status is not measured by any cardiac risk score. Functional status can, however, be objectively measured using validated outcome tools such as the Late-Life Function and Disability Instrument (LLFDI). The purpose of this study was to determine 1) if there was a change over time in functional status, as measured by the LLFDI, in patients who underwent elective cardiac surgery, and if so, 2) what specific aspect(s) of functional status changed. Methods: A prospective longitudinal study of one year was conducted on elective cardiac surgery patients (n = 43) using the self-reported LLFDI, which measures Disability Frequency (frequency of participation in social tasks), Disability Limitation (ability to participate in social tasks) and Function Total (ease in performing routine activities). Higher scores indicate increased function and decreased disability. LLFDI scores were compared at three times (preoperative, six-week and one-year postoperative) using repeated measures ANOVA. Post hoc pairwise comparison was conducted for specific interactions. Results: Both Function Total and Disability Frequency significantly changed over time (p = 0.047 and p = 0.013, respectively). Specifically, patients’ function level was significantly higher one-year postoperative compared to preoperative (M difference = +3.48, SE = 1.48, p = 0.026). Likewise, Disability Frequency scores were significantly higher (i.e. more active) at one-year postoperative versus preoperative (M difference= +5.98, SE = 2.19, p = 0.033). Disability Limitation scores were not significantly different between any time points (p > 0.05). Conclusion: By one-year postoperative, patients demonstrated increased ease in their routine physical activities and were more participatory in social life tasks. Individuals who underwent elective cardiac surgery took more than six weeks to detect notable improvement in functional status, which was expected with a sternotomy approach. This study provides support for the use of the LLFDI as an effective tool to capture functional status in the cardiac population. These findings may assist cardiac patients in recovery timeline expectations.

The US Election in 2024 and the Trend of the Ukraine Crisis

The crisis in Ukraine,which has dragged on for more than two years,and whether military aid to Ukraine should continue are major issues debated and fought over by the two parties in the United States prior to the 2024 election.Regarding whether to continue to aid Ukraine,various political forces in the United States have chosen sides in the election campaign,which can be roughly divided into the“aid camp”and the“stop-aid camp”according to their positions.

Elections in the United States

惊奇常常是在箱子里出现:包在彩色包装纸里面的生日礼物,朋友寄来牛皮纸包的包裹。不论是怎样的箱子,人们都喜欢打开来看看里面是什么。在美国以及其它许多国家,有一个特殊的箱子关系着未来。

Improving Sentiment Analysis in Election-Based Conversations on Twitter with ElecBERT Language Model

Sentiment analysis plays a vital role in understanding public opinions and sentiments toward various topics.In recent years,the rise of social media platforms(SMPs)has provided a rich source of data for analyzing public opinions,particularly in the context of election-related conversations.Nevertheless,sentiment analysis of electionrelated tweets presents unique challenges due to the complex language used,including figurative expressions,sarcasm,and the spread of misinformation.To address these challenges,this paper proposes Election-focused Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers(ElecBERT),a new model for sentiment analysis in the context of election-related tweets.Election-related tweets pose unique challenges for sentiment analysis due to their complex language,sarcasm,andmisinformation.ElecBERT is based on the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers(BERT)language model and is fine-tuned on two datasets:Election-Related Sentiment-Annotated Tweets(ElecSent)-Multi-Languages,containing 5.31 million labeled tweets in multiple languages,and ElecSent-English,containing 4.75million labeled tweets in English.Themodel outperforms othermachine learning models such as Support Vector Machines(SVM),Na飗e Bayes(NB),and eXtreme Gradient Boosting(XGBoost),with an accuracy of 0.9905 and F1-score of 0.9816 on ElecSent-Multi-Languages,and an accuracy of 0.9930 and F1-score of 0.9899 on ElecSent-English.The performance of differentmodels was compared using the 2020 United States(US)Presidential Election as a case study.The ElecBERT-English and ElecBERT-Multi-Languages models outperformed BERTweet,with the ElecBERT-English model achieving aMean Absolute Error(MAE)of 6.13.This paper presents a valuable contribution to sentiment analysis in the context of election-related tweets,with potential applications in political analysis,social media management,and policymaking.

Factors influencing the surveillance of re-emerging intracranial infections in elective neurosurgical patients:A single-center retrospective study

BACKGROUND At present,many studies have reported the risk factors for postoperative intracranial reinfection,including age,sex,time to surgery,duration of postoperative catheterization,emergency procedures,type of disease and cerebrospinal fluid leakage,but the academic community has not reached a unified conclusion.AIM To find factors influencing the surveillance of re-emerging intracranial infections in elective neurosurgical patients.METHODS Ninety-four patients who underwent elective craniotomy from January 1,2015 to December 31,2022 in the Department of Neurosurgery,First Hospital of Jilin University,were included in this study.Of those,45 patients were enrolled in the infection group,and 49 were enrolled in the control group.The clinical data of the patients were collected and divided into three categories,including preoperative baseline conditions,intraoperative characteristics and postoperative infection prevention.The data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 software.RESULTS There were 23 males and 22 females in the infection group with a mean age of 52.8±15.1 years and 17 males and 32 females in the control group with a mean age of 48.9±15.2 years.The univariate analysis showed that the infection group had higher systolic blood pressures and postoperative temperatures,fewer patients who underwent a supratentorial craniotomy,more patients with a history of hypertension and higher initial postoperative white blood cell counts than the control group,with statistically significant differences(P<0.05).The multifactorial logistic regression analysis showed that a history of hypertension and a high postoperative body temperature were independent risk factors for postoperative infection in neurosurgical patients.CONCLUSION The results obtained in this study indicated that a history of hypertension and a high postoperative body temperature were independent risk factors for postoperative neurological symptoms.

CEN and CENELEC launch a declaration for the European elections

In view of the upcoming European elections on May 23-26,CEN and CENELEC published the Declaration "Standards Build Trust" on April 9 to highlight the contribution standards make to achieve the priorities of European policy-making from AI to sustainable energy,up to smart appliances and blockchain,which Europe will need in the coming years to make many important decisions to remain competitive in the world.

US POLITICS AND POLICIES AFTER THE ELECTIONS

In the US presidential election held on November 5, 1996, Bill Clinton defeat-ed the Republican candidate Bob Dole with an overwhelming majority of 379electoral votes-against Dole’s 159 votes. He has hence become a president to go be-yond the century and the first Democratic president gaining re-election after

Success Stories of Democratic Elections in Nedong Villages

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Chinese Village Elections: Deepening Political Reform in China

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Effect of Intravenous Tranexamic Acid in Reducing Blood Loss during and after Elective Caesarean Section in a Third Level Health Institution: A Randomized Controlled Study

Background: Blood loss during caesarean section (C/S) may lead to postpartum haemorrhage, and is one of the direct causes of maternal mortality and morbidity globally. Tranexamic acid is recommended in the treatment of postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) if oxytocin and other utertonics are ineffective in controlling PPH. In this centre it is not used prophylactically to reduce blood during caesarean section. Aim: To assess the effect of prophylactic intravenous tranexamic acid on blood loss during and after elective C/S at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). Methods: This was a prospective, single-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled interventional study conducted at the Obstetric theatre of UPTH from July 2020 to March 2021. Eligible women were randomized into two groups;seventy-two women received intravenous tranexamic acid while seventy-one women received a placebo. Socio-demographic data and the result of the study were collected through a proforma. Data collected was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 22.0. The results were expressed in tables and charts as frequencies, percentages and mean. Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact, and T-test were used to determine the relationship between variables. P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The findings showed that tranexamic acid significantly reduced mean blood loss during and after C/S (p-value post-surgery was significantly lower in the tranexamic acid group (624.88 ± 200.76 ml) in comparison to the placebo group (864.24 ± 229.09 ml), p-value = 0.001. The mean post-C/S packed cell volume (PCV) was significantly higher among the tranexamic acid group (30.68% ± 2.80%) in comparison to the placebo group (28.07% ± 3.27%), t = 5.131, p-value = 0.0001. The maternal side effects were nausea and vomiting, 9 (12.5%) and 1 (1.4%) participants respectively. Conclusion: Tranexamic acid significantly reduced blood loss during and after elective C/S. Maternal side effects were less with tranexamic acid use.

Prevalence of Pre-Operative Anxiety and Predictors among Elective Surgical Patients and Their Pre-Operative Hemodynamic Changes at Muhimbili National Hospital

Background: Surgery is a traumatic process that may subject patients to physiological and psychological responses leading to pre and post-operative effects. Preoperative anxiety, if severe may be associated with several complications including cancellation of surgery, poor intra- and post-operative analgesic control, altered post-operative healing, and longer hospital stays to mention a few. Objective: The main purpose was to determine the prevalence and predictors of pre-operative anxiety among elective surgical patients and their hemodynamic changes in these patients in the Surgical department in MNH. Methodology: This was a prospective descriptive and analytical study performed at MNH which involved patients admitted for elective surgical procedures from June 2021 to February 2022. Information was gathered in a structured questionnaire along with APAIS scores. Results: 169 patients for elective surgery in General Surgery and Urology units were included in the study. Among them, 94 males and 74 females. The overall pre-operative anxiety was 11.8%, 80.5% had moderate to severe Information-Related anxiety, while 26% and 17.2% had moderate-to-severe surgery-related and anesthesia-related types of anxiety respectively. Conclusion: Pre-operative anxiety was comparatively lower in our settings as well no factor was found with a significant relation to pre-operative anxiety, hence further and broader evaluation is recommended to result in the assessment and management of patients before elective surgery.

From Social Media to Ballot Box:Leveraging Location-Aware Sentiment Analysis for Election Predictions

Predicting election outcomes is a crucial undertaking,and various methods are employed for this purpose,such as traditional opinion polling,and social media analysis.However,traditional polling approaches often struggle to capture the intricate nuances of voter sentiment at local levels,resulting in a limited depth of analysis and understanding.In light of this challenge,this study focuses on predicting elections at the state/regional level along with the country level,intending to offer a comprehensive analysis and deeper insights into the electoral process.To achieve this,the study introduces the Location-Based Election Prediction Model(LEPM),which utilizes social media data,specifically Twitter,and integrates location-aware sentiment analysis techniques at both the state/region and country levels.LEPM predicts the support and opposing strength of each political party/candidate.To determine the location of users/voters who have not disclosed their location information in tweets,the model utilizes a Voter Location Detection(VotLocaDetect)approach,which leverages recent tweets/posts.The sentiment analysis techniques employed in this study include rule-based sentiment analysis,Valence Aware Dictionary and Sentiment Reasoner(VADER)as well as transformers-based sentiment analysis such as Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers(BERT),BERTweet,and Election based BERT(ElecBERT).This study uses the 2020 United States(US)Presidential Election as a case study.By applying the LEPM model to the election,the study demonstrates its ability to accurately predict outcomes in forty-one states,achieving an 0.84 accuracy rate at the state level.Moreover,at the country level,the LEPM model outperforms traditional polling results.With a low Mean Absolute Error(MAE)of 0.87,the model exhibits more precise predictions and serves as a successful alternative to conventional polls and other methodologies.Leveraging the extensive social media data,the LEPM model provides nuanced insights into voter behavior,enabling policymakers to make informed decisions and facilitating in-depth analyses of elections.The study emphasizes the importance of using social media data for reliable election prediction and offers implications for enhancing prediction accuracy and understanding voter sentiment and behavior.

Flexible Transparent Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage: From Electrode Structures to Integrated Applications

The rapid progress of flexible electronics tremendously stimulates the urgent demands for the matching power supply systems. Flexible transparent electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices (FT–EECSDs), with endurable mechanical flexibility, outstanding optical transmittance, excellent electrochemical performance, and additional intelligent functions, are considered as preferable energy supplies for future self-powered flexible electronic systems. A comprehensive review of the reasonable design of flexible transparent electrode and recent progress on the FT–EECSDs is presented herein. The manufacturing techniques of generally classified three types of flexible transparent electrodes are systematically summarized. Emphasis is given to the recent developments in the transparent solid-state electrolyte, flexible transparent energy conversion, and storage devices. The standard evaluation methods and reasonable evaluation parameters to evaluate the flexibility and transparency of FT–EECSDs are highlighted. Additionally, the typical integrated applications of FT–EECSDs are also described. Finally, the current challenges and a future perspective on the research and development direction are further outlined.

Prevalence of Preoperative Anemia in Elective Rheumatic Valve Surgery at a Tertiary Care Center in Nepal

Background: Rheumatic Valvular Heart disease (RVHD) is common in developing countries often associated with anemia;however its burden is often overlooked. Anemic patients undergoing surgery are likely to receive blood transfusion, increasing morbidity and mortality. Prevalence of anemia in cardiac surgical patients are studied extensively, however its burden in RVHD is lacking. This study attempted to investigate the prevalence of preoperative anemia in RVHD and its effect on blood transfusion, morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing valve surgery. Methods: This is a retrospective observational study conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Nepal. We considered 340 patients who underwent Rheumatic valve replacement surgery from 2014 January to December 2016 and data on their socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were extracted from the patient’s records. The analyses meeting the study objectives were conducted using IBM SPSS v25 for Windows (IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences, 2015IBM Corporation, New York, United States). Results: The prevalence of no anemia, mild, moderate, and severe anemia was 34.1%, 57.7%, 39.6%, 2.5%, respectively. The units of Red Blood Cell used for transfusion were 1.2 units, 2.0 units, 2.3 units, and 1.6 units in patients without anemia, and those with mild, moderate and severe anemia respectively. The incidence of reexploration was higher in patients with severe anemia as compared to the non anemic with an incidence of 66.6%. A proportion of the patients with no anemia, mild, moderate and severe anemia with less than 7 days stay in the intensive care unit were 89%, 82%, 84.7% and 100% respectively. The length of hospital stay more than 10 days was seen in 58.9%, 71.6%, 63% and 100% in patients with no anemia, mild, moderate and severe anemia. An overall incidence of mortality in anemic patients was 11% while in non anemic patients was 5.3%. Conclusions: The prevalence of anemia was high in the Nepalese patients with Rheumatic valvular heart disease planned for elective surgery. There was an increased incidence of blood transfusion, longer hospital stay, and increased mortality in anemic patients compared to their non anemic counterparts.

Timing of Elective Repeat Cesarean Delivery at 38 Weeks versus 39 Weeks: Rate of Spontaneous Onset of Labor before Planned Cesarean Section and Impact on Maternal Outcome: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: The timing of elective repeat cesarean delivery at 38 weeks versus 39 weeks is still a debatable subject, both regarding maternal and neonatal outcomes. In the Saudi context, there is lack of local data to aid decision-making regarding the timing of elective repeat cesarean delivery. Objectives: To estimate the rate of spontaneous onset of labor before the planned gestational age for repeat cesarean section in women who were booked at gestational age of (39 0/7 - 39 6/7) weeks (W39) versus (38 0/7 - 38 6/7) weeks (W38) and to compare the rate of maternal composite outcome between these groups. Design: Retrospective cohort. Setting: This study was conducted at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah, KSA. Method: Delivery registry books were reviewed to identify all deliveries from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2016 (3 years). All low-risk pregnant women who had 2 or more cesarean deliveries and who met the inclusion criteria were included. Results: A total of 440 women were included of whom 318 (72.3%) were planned for elective cesarean section at W38 gestational age and 122 women at W39 gestational age. Mothers planned at W39 had higher rate of emergency cesarean deliveries versus those planned at W38 (18.0% versus 10.4%, p = 0.030;RR = 13.06), most frequently due to early onset of contractions (16.4% versus 8.2%, p = 0.012;RR = 12.17) or cervical dilatation (11.6% versus 5.4%, p = 0.024, RR = 16.15). No difference in the incidence of individual or composite maternal complications was noted between the two groups. Mother’s age (OR 0.93, p = 0.018) and schedule date at W39 (OR = 1.94, p = 0.028) were independently associated with spontaneous onset of labor before the scheduled gestational age, while no association was found with parity, previous number of spontaneous vaginal deliveries, number of previous cesarean deliveries or interval from last cesarean delivery. Conclusion: Elective cesarean section scheduled at 39 weeks of gestation or beyond carries a higher risk of emergency cesarean section, with no significant increase in maternal complications. The identification of factors associated with spontaneous onset of labor before the planned gestational age should be carefully identified to determine the optimal timing.

Conflict Trend During African Elections

The crises in Libya and C?te d’Ivoire show a new trend of resolving post-election differences in African countries-taking up weapons with thesupport of Western countries. This is the opinion

1948年首届中央研究院工程学科院士遴选述略

李协、淩鸿勋、唐炳源、茅以升、王宠佑先后当选中央研究院1935年首届和1940年第二届工程学科聘任评议员,与当然评议员周仁组成评议会工程组“指导联络奖励”工程学科的发展。院士选举过程中,无论是茅以升、淩鸿勋提名候选人还是中央研究院最终确定的参考名单,与正式提名名单相比差距甚大,缺漏甚多,显现出个人提名与机构提名的不同。工程学科正式提名55人名列所有学科中第一,经两次淘汰,王宠佑等11人成为正式候选人,最终周仁、侯德榜、茅以升、淩鸿勋、萨本栋5人当选。当选比例低于总体当选率,也低于数理组其他学科,在一定意义上表明工程学科总体水平未能获得学界共同认可。从聘任评议员到院士选举,相对工程事业而言,更注重学术成就,在一定意义上也说明科学院之外设立工程院的合理性,将纯粹的学术与实践的事业予以区分。

有症状新型冠状病毒感染者感染后30 d内行胃肠恶性肿瘤根治手术安全性的队列研究

背景 胃肠道肿瘤患者在感染新型冠状病毒后是否需要长时间推迟限期手术,目前意见不统一。目的 探讨有症状的新冠病毒感染者在感染后30 d内行胃肠恶性肿瘤根治手术的安全性。方法 采用队列研究,分析2022年11月1日—2023年1月16日于解放军总医院第一医学中心普通外科医学部行手术治疗的胃肠道肿瘤患者的临床资料,比较感染与未感染新冠病毒患者的并发症发生率和并发症严重程度。结果 感染组胃肠道肿瘤患者81例,对照组胃肠道肿瘤患者131例,两组的年龄、性别、体质量指数等基线资料,以及手术方式、手术时长、出血量、术后平均住院日、淋巴结检出数目、疫苗接种率等的差异均无统计学意义(P>0.05)。感染组和对照组并发症发生率[14.8%(12/81) vs 16.8%(22/131),P=0.703]和并发症严重程度[Clavien-Dindo分级(Ⅰ级/Ⅱ级/Ⅲa级/Ⅲb级):2.5%、9.9%、4.9%和2.5%vs 3.8%、9.9%、7.6%和0.8%,P=0.721]等方面的差异亦无统计学意义。结论 有症状的新冠病毒感染者在感染后的30 d内(术前新冠病毒核酸检测转阴)行胃肠道恶性肿瘤根治手术是安全的。

台湾地区2024年“二合一”选举结果及影响分析

台湾地区2024年“二合一”选举在中美战略博弈持续、两岸关系严峻复杂的形势下举行。各主要政党展开激烈竞逐,打破岛内传统政治生态格局。民进党赖清德以未过半的相对多数票当选,立法机构呈“三党不过半”新局,折射出加速分化的岛内民意以及多元竞合的政党政治新态势。未来4年,岛内政局将在民进党当局“三重少数”执政下以立法机构为重心展开角力,政局恐将动荡不安。两岸关系的对抗性和不确定性进一步上升,内地发展进步将持续增强对两岸关系的主导权和主动权,民进党继续执政无法改变两岸关系发展基本格局。