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Fulltext Unexplained abdominal pain as a driver for inappropriate therapeutics: an audit on the use of intravenous proton pump inhibitors

Lai PS, Wong YY, Low YC, Lau HL, Chin KF, Mahadeva S

PeerJ, 2014;2:e451.
PMID: 25024919 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.451

Background. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are currently the most effective agents for acid-related disorders. However, studies show that 25-75% of patients receiving intravenous PPIs had no appropriate justification, indicating high rates of inappropriate prescribing. Objective. To examine the appropriate use of intravenous PPIs in accordance with guidelines and the efficacy of a prescribing awareness intervention at an Asian teaching institution. Setting. Prospective audit in a tertiary hospital in Malaysia. Method. Every 4th intravenous PPI prescription received in the pharmacy was screened against hospital guidelines. Interventions for incorrect indication/dose/duration were performed. Patients' demographic data, medical history and the use of intravenous PPI were collected. Included were all adult inpatients prescribed intravenous PPI. Main Outcome Measure. Proportion of appropriate IV PPI prescriptions. Results. Data for 106 patients were collected. Most patients were male [65(61.3%)], Chinese [50(47.2%)], with mean age ± SD = 60.3 ± 18.0 years. Most intravenous PPI prescriptions were initiated by junior doctors from the surgical [47(44.3%)] and medical [42(39.6%)] departments. Only 50/106(47.2%) patients had upper gastrointestinal endoscopy/surgery performed to verify the source of bleeding. Unexplained abdominal pain [81(76.4%)] was the main driver for prescribing intravenous PPIs empirically, out of which 73(68.9%) were for suspected upper gastrointestinal bleed. Overall, intravenous PPI was found to be inappropriately prescribed in 56(52.8%) patients for indication, dose or duration. Interventions on the use of intravenous PPI were most effective when performed by senior doctors (100%), followed by clinical pharmacists (50%), and inpatient pharmacists (37.5%, p = 0.027). Conclusion. Inappropriate intravenous PPI usage is still prevalent despite the enforcement of hospital guidelines. The promotion of prescribing awareness and evidence-based prescribing through education of medical staff could result in more judicious use of intravenous PPI and dose-optimization.
Fulltext Peripheral Eye Length Evaluation in Myopic Children Undergoing Orthokeratology Treatment for 12 Months Using MRI

Low YC, Mohd-Ali B, Shahimin MM, Mohidin N, Abdul-Hamid H, Mokri SS

Clin Optom (Auckl), 2024;16:35-44.
PMID: 38351972 DOI: 10.2147/OPTO.S448815

PURPOSE: To investigate changes in peripheral eye length (PEL) in myopic children undergoing orthokeratology (Ortho-K) treatment for 12 months using MRI. The results were compared to single vision spectacle wearers (SVS).
PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 70 children with myopia (aged 8-9 years old) were recruited. A total of 45 children were fitted with Ortho-K, and 25 were fitted with SVS. The PEL and axial length (AL) were measured by using MRI 3-Tesla, whereas central and peripheral refraction (PR) measurements were conducted at ±30 degrees horizontally with nasal (N) and temporal (T) intervals of 10°, 20°, and 30° and with an open field autorefractometer (WAM-5500 Grand Seiko). All the measurements were conducted at the baseline and 12 months.
RESULTS: The MRI analysis indicates that at 12 months, the SVS group showed more elongation of the PEL and AL at all eccentricities than the Ortho-K group did (p < 0.05). The Ortho-K group only showed significant PEL elongation beyond 20 degrees at N20, N30, T20, and T30 (p < 0.05); however, a significant reduction in the AL was detected in the center AL, N10, and T10 (p < 0.05). All eccentricities in the relative PR of the Ortho-K group were significantly more myopic than at the baseline (p < 0.05), whereas in the SVS group, all eccentricities in the relative PR were shown to be significantly more hyperopic than at the baseline (p < 0.05). The PEL and PR showed negative correlations at 12 months in the Ortho-K group.
CONCLUSION: MRI analysis can be utilized to describe changes in PEL in myopic children. It appears that as myopia progressed in Ortho-K lens wearers, the PEL increased by a greater amount than the AL did; thus, the retina was reshaped to become increasingly oblate and to display peripheral myopic defocus.
Fulltext Comparison of vision-related quality of life between wearing Orthokeratology lenses and spectacles in myopic children living in Kuala Lumpur

Mohd-Ali B, Low YC, Mohamad Shahimin M, Arif N, Abdul-Hamid H, Wan Abdul-Halim WH, et al.

Cont Lens Anterior Eye, 2023 Feb;46(1):101774.
PMID: 36319519 DOI: 10.1016/j.clae.2022.101774

PURPOSE: There are limited reports available on the impact of wearing Orthokeratology (ortho-K) lenses on the quality of life of Asian children. This study evaluated and compared vision-related quality of life (VRQoL) between myopic children wearing ortho-K lenses and single-vision spectacles (SVSs), living in Kuala Lumpur, using Paediatric Refractive Error Profile (PREP) questionnaires.
METHODS: This is a cross sectional study. Myopic children who had been wearing ortho-K and SVSs for 12 months were recruited, and the questionnaires were distributed online. The PREP scores were obtained using a summary scoring method. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to determine data normality. Unpaired t-test was performed for normally distributed data, and the Mann-Whitney test for non-normally distributed data. P
Fulltext Investigating transportation research based on social media analysis: a systematic mapping review

Zayet TMA, Ismail MA, Varathan KD, Noor RMD, Chua HN, Lee A, et al.

Scientometrics, 2021;126(8):6383-6421.
PMID: 34188335 DOI: 10.1007/s11192-021-04046-2

Social media is a pool of users' thoughts, opinions, surrounding environment, situation and others. This pool can be used as a real-time and feedback data source for many domains such as transportation. It can be used to get instant feedback from commuters; their opinions toward the transportation network and their complaints, in addition to the traffic situation, road conditions, events detection and many others. The problem is in how to utilize social media data to achieve one or more of these targets. A systematic review was conducted in the field of transportation-related research based on social media analysis (TRR-SMA) from the years between 2008 and 2018; 74 papers were identified from an initial set of 703 papers extracted from 4 digital libraries. This review will structure the field and give an overview based on the following grounds: activity, keywords, approaches, social media data and platforms and focus of the researches. It will show the trend in the research subjects by countries, in addition to the activity trends, platforms usage trend and others. Further analysis of the most employed approach (Lexicons) and data (text) will be also shown. Finally, challenges and future works are drawn and proposed.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11192-021-04046-2.