简介:AbstractOver the last 20 years, it has become possible to use a precision medicine approach to the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Clinical and physiological features as well as a blood biomarker can be used to target treatments to patients most likely to benefit and avoid treatment in patients less likely to benefit. Future advances in a precision medicine approach to COPD will depend on more precise characterization of individual patients, possibly using quantitative imaging, new physiological techniques, novel biomarkers and genetic profiling. Precision medicine has led to significant improvements in the management of COPD and clinicians should use all available information to optimize the treatment of individual patients.
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简介:AbstractBackground:Though the utilization of traditional medicine has been proposed for modern drug research and development (R&D), limited research has discussed its feasible paths. In this commentary, we summarized key factors for new drug R&D under limited resources by reviewing China’s discovery of artemisinin, and raised suggestions to utilize traditional medicines in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs).Main text:We suggested that systematic utilization of traditional medicine, outstanding synergy of research units at all levels and timely information-sharing mechanism should be achieved to establish a comprehensive and efficient R&D system, especially under low-resource settings. In the case of artemisinin discovery, Chinese scientists integrated documented traditional medicine experiences and modern approaches to develop drug candidates timely. Due to limited R&D resources, China adopted a collaborative way, motivating nearly all domestic research units at different levels, to develop antimalarial products. Moreover, the excellent synergy among all units through efficient information-sharing mechanisms greatly avoided work repetition and accelerated the R&D process.Conclusion:Traditional medicines inspires drug discoveries in LMICs, while a comprehensive and efficient R&D system could accelerate its R&D process and save investment. The discovery of artemisinin in China gave a reliable pattern to promote sustainable development of traditional medicines and a good example to realize R&D of traditional medicine under low-resource settings.
简介:AbstractBackground:It is crucial to improve the quality of care provided to ICU patient, therefore a national survey of the medical quality of intensive care units (ICUs) was conducted to analyze adherence to quality metrics and outcomes among critically ill patients in China from 2015 to 2019.Methods:This was an ICU-level study based on a 15-indicator online survey conducted in China. Considering that ICU care quality may vary between secondary and tertiary hospitals, direct standardization was adopted to compare the rates of ICU quality indicators among provinces/regions. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify potential factors for in-hospital mortality and factors related to ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs), and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs).Results:From the survey, the proportions of structural indicators were 1.83% for the number of ICU inpatients relative to the total number of inpatients, 1.44% for ICU bed occupancy relative to the total inpatient bed occupancy, and 51.08% for inpatients with Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II scores ≥15. The proportions of procedural indicators were 74.37% and 76.60% for 3-hour and 6-hour surviving sepsis campaign bundle compliance, respectively, 62.93% for microbiology detection, 58.24% for deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis, 1.49% for unplanned endotracheal extubations, 1.99% for extubated inpatients reintubated within 48 hours, 6.38% for unplanned transfer to the ICU, and 1.20% for 48-hour ICU readmission. The proportions of outcome indicators were 1.28‰ for VAP, 3.06‰ for CRBSI, 3.65‰ for CAUTI, and 10.19% for in-hospital mortality. Although the indicators varied greatly across provinces and regions, the treatment level of ICUs in China has been stable and improved based on various quality control indicators in the past 5 years. The overall mortality rate has dropped from 10.19% to approximately 8%.Conclusions:The quality indicators of medical care in China’s ICUs are heterogeneous, which is reflected in geographic disparities and grades of hospitals. This study is of great significance for improving the homogeneity of ICUs in China.