Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in the ED of the largest tertiary medical center in Taiwan. Trends of adult, non-trauma patients who visited the ED during February-April 2019 were compared with those during February-April 2020. The number of visits, their dispositions, crowding parameters, and turnover rates were analyzed. The primary outcome was the change in ED attendance between the two periods. The secondary outcomes were changes in hospital admission rates, crowding parameters, and turnover rates.
Results: During the outbreak, there were decreased non-trauma ED visits by 33.45% (p < 0.001) and proportion of Taiwan Triage and Acuity Scale (TTAS) 3 patients (p=0.02), with increased admission rates by 4.7% (p < 0.001). Crowding parameters and turnover rate showed significant improvements.
Conclusion: Comparison of periods before and during the COVID-19 outbreak showed an obvious decline in adult, non-trauma ED visits. The reduction in TTAS 3 patient visits and the increased hospital admission rates provide references for future public-health policy-making to optimise emergency medical resource allocations globally.
METHOD: Potential references were identified through an English-language literature search using Medline, Psychinfo, Dissertation Abstracts (1966 to 1999) and through extensive manual searching of textbooks, reviews and reference lists.
RESULTS: The majority of studies related to EDs were conducted in Japan and China and a few were conducted in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Korea whereas there was none in the Philippines, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand. Prevalence rates in Japan range from 0.025 to 0.030% for anorexia nervosa (AN) and from 1.9 to 2.9% for bulimia nervosa (BN). Community studies in China have found the AN prevalence to be 0.01% and BN rates ranging from 0.5% to 1.3%. These rates are lower than ED rates in the West (particularly the U.S. and Britain). Body dissatisfaction (BD) and dieting rates, however, were similar to those in the West. BD rates ranged from 68% (Taiwan) to 81% (Korea) and dieting rates ranged from 34% (Taiwan) to 68% (Japan). Sociocultural and developmental risk factors were relevant to this population.
CONCLUSIONS: EDs in Asian populations have received little attention because they have been predominantly viewed as associated with Western culture. Classified by many as a "culture-bound syndrome" of the West, they may really be a culture-change syndrome.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The cows with mastitis were divided into two groups. In antibiotic control group, the cows were given tetraneomycin ointment. In conditioned-DPBS of AMSCs treatment group, amniotic membrane was collected for AMSCs after delivery. With expression of surface antigen and potential of tri-linage differentiation, AMSCs were injected into mammary glands. Then, milk was sampled every three days to monitor the effect of both treatments. The quality of milk was measured with pH, titratable acidity, free calcium ions and somatic cell count.
RESULTS: Our results demonstrated the Bovine AMSCs expressed CD44, low levels of CD4 and no CD105. Bovine AMSCs demonstrated the differentiation capability in the tri-cell lineages. Mastitis treatment with conditioned-DPBS from AMSCs (experimental group) and conventional antibiotics (control group) showed insignificant difference in pH value and titratable acidity. The level of ionic calcium concentration in the conditioned-DPBS group decreased from 3rd day to 12th day, while the level in the antibiotic group decreased from 0 day to 12th day. The somatic cell number was similar in both groups, which meet the standard of Taiwan milk collection.
CONCLUSION: In conclusion, conditioned-DPBS from bovine AMSCs has the therapeutic potential to treat bovine mastitis and may replace antibiotics therapy in the future.