Exploring the characteristics and antecedents of clinically significant long COVID: A longitudinal cohort study.

Background: A significant number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) survivors are experiencing long COVID, with symptoms lasting beyond three months. While diverse long COVID symptoms are established, there are gaps in understanding its long-term trends, intensity, and risk factors, requiring further investigation.

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the long COVID characteristics and associated factors by following COVID-19 survivors for one year post-infection and comparing them with healthy counterparts.

Factors Contributing to Non-Concordance Between End-of-Life Care and Advance Care Planning.

Context: Despite making do-not-resuscitate or comfort care decisions during advance care planning, terminally ill patients sometimes receive life-sustaining treatments as they approach end of life.

Objectives: To examine factors contributing to nonconcordance between end-of-life care and advance care planning.

Methods: In this longitudinal retrospective cohort study, terminally ill patients with a life expectancy shorter than six months, who had previously expressed a preference for do-not-resuscitate or comfort care, were followed up after palliative shared care intervention.

Health Beliefs, Protective Behaviors, and Information-Seeking.

Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 caused severe damage to public health globally and served as a stark reminder of the potential for future pandemics. Promoting protective behaviors to prevent the spread of any contagious disease thus remains a priority. Although research has shown that health beliefs can affect protective behaviors, few studies have examined the role of information-seeking in this relationship.

Factors Associated With Levels of Public Engagement in Protective Behaviors During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic: Causal-Comparative Study Based on the Health Belief Model.

Background: While the challenges of COVID-19 are still unfolding, the enhancement of protective behavior remains a top priority in global health care. However, current behavior-promoting strategies may be inefficient without first identifying the individuals with lower engagement in protective behavior and the associating factors.

Objective: This study aimed to identify individuals with and potential contributing factors to low engagement in protective behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Utilization of Hospice Resources in Adult Intensive Care Units: A Comparison Between Users and Non-Users].

Background: The application of palliative care is limited and challenging in intensive care units (ICUs) because of complex factors such as time constraints and unpredictable disease progression. Although research results and international consensus stress the early use of palliative care, utilization remains low, resulting in increased risks of ineffective medical care and poor quality of death. Improving this situation requires a comprehensive understanding of the palliative condition in ICUs.

Pediatric palliative care utilization by decedent children: A nationwide population-based study, 2002-2017.

Purpose: This study aimed (1) to describe how trends in pediatric palliative care (PPC) utilization changed from 2002 to 2017, and (2) to examine factors predicting PPC utilization among decedent children in Taiwan.

Design: This retrospective, correlational study retrieved 2002-2017 data from three national claims databases in Taiwan.

Methods: Children aged 1 through 18 years who died between January 2002 and December 2017 were included.

Scale Validation of the Mandarin-Language Supportive Care Needs Survey-Adolescent Form.

Objectives: To (1) modify the Mandarin-language 34-item Supportive Care Needs Survey-Adult Form into the Adolescent Form and (2) examine the psychometric properties of the Adolescent Form.

Data Sources: A multiphase, iterative scale validation process was used in this methodological study. Participants who were 13 to 18 years old and receiving cancer treatment in inpatient or outpatient settings, or receiving follow-up care in outpatient settings, were recruited using a convenience sampling method.

Medical clowning influences the emotions of parents of children undergoing cancer treatment: A quasi-experimental study.

Background: Medical clowning for children has been found to be effective at enhancing parents' psychological well-being during preoperative preparation, but has not been found during cancer treatment. This study aimed to examine whether and how medical clowning influenced the emotions of parents of children undergoing cancer treatment.

Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 96 parents of children receiving inpatient cancer treatment were recruited, from June 2018 through April 2020.

The Moderated Mediating Effects of Nutrition and Physical Activity Between Fatigue and Quality of Life in Childhood Cancer Survivors.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between nutrition, physical activity, fatigue, and quality of life (QoL) among childhood cancer survivors. The specific purpose was to examine whether nutrition mediated and physical activity moderated the relationship between fatigue and QoL in this population.

Methods: A pooled sample of 120 childhood cancer survivors was recruited at pediatric oncology wards and ambulatory settings between August 2020 and May 2021.

Sleep changes in Taiwanese first graders before and after school closure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: The objective of this study was (1) to examine sleep changes in first graders before and after school closure and (2) to examine the association between parental work rearrangement and children's sleep change during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Design And Methods: This was an observational study. The children's sleep habit questionnaire was completed by 103 parents of first-graders before and after school closure.

Conceptualizing Health Communication and its Impact on Patient Outcomes in Oncology Outpatient Settings: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Objectives: Informed by the dual process theory of supportive message, the aim of this study is to systematically describe symptom communication, including its relationship with patient outcomes.

Data Sources: This is a mixed-methods study with an exploratory design. By examining symptom communication that occurred in oncology and hospice outpatient clinics, the qualitative phase employed conversation analysis to validate a typology of interaction patterns.

Communication in Oncology Outpatient Clinic Settings: Congruence of Quality of Life Assessment between Patient-Physician and Patient-Caregiver Dyads.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to investigate the congruence of HRQOL reports between patient-physician and patient-caregiver dyads and to determine the association of variables, if any, with the congruence between dyads.

Methods: This correlational study with a cross-sectional design first approached physicians who provided care for patients with advanced cancer at the participating institution. Then, participating physicians' patients and their caregivers were recruited.

The highest troponin I level during admission is associated with mortality in blunt cardiac injury patients.

Background: Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) levels are usually measured in primary evaluations of blunt cardiac injury (BCI) patients. We evaluated the associations of cTnI levels with the outcomes of BCI patients at different times.

Methods: From 2015 to 2019, blunt chest trauma patients with elevated cTnI levels were compared with patients without elevated cTnI levels using propensity score matching (PSM) to minimize selection bias.

Factors associated with walking performance among adolescents undergoing cancer treatment: A correlational study.

This study aimed to describe and compare the differences in walking performance between adolescent patients in inpatient wards and outpatient units, and to identify factors that influence walking performance among adolescents receiving cancer treatment. The cross-sectional study with correlational research design recruited 32 adolescents with cancer between February 2015 and March 2017 in two teaching hospitals in Taiwan. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate regression analyses were used.

The Trajectory of Cancer-Related Fatigue and Its Associating Factors in Patients with Esophageal Cancer Receiving Treatments: A Prospective Longitudinal Study.

Background: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is the most distressing symptom in the overall cancer population. For patients with esophageal cancer, CRF may even be harder to predict and control due to its complicated and prolonged treatment. Moreover, communication difficulties due to disease progression or treatment may further diminish esophageal cancer patients' ability to communicate about CRF.

The effectiveness of a medical clowning program on improving emotional status among hospitalized children undergoing cancer treatment: A quasi-experimental study.

Purpose: To examine the effectiveness of one-time medical clowning on improving short-term positive emotions among hospitalized children undergoing cancer treatment, and to analyze whether age moderates this effect.

Design: In this quasi-experimental research study, we recruited a pooled sample of 96 children who were undergoing cancer treatment in pediatric oncology/hematology wards at three university-affiliated medical centers in Taiwan from June 2018 through April 2020.

Methods: Children's demographic characteristics, symptom distress, quality of life, and pretest emotional status were collected at T1.

Factors influencing the protective behavior of individuals during COVID-19: a transnational survey.

To slow the spread of infectious disease, it is crucial to understand the engagement of protective behavior among individuals. The purpose of this study was to systematically examine individuals' protective behaviors and the associated factors across countries during COVID-19. This causal-comparative study used a self-developed online survey to assess individuals' level of engagement with six protective behaviors.

Safety, Feasibility, and Effects of Short-Term Calorie Reduction during Induction Chemotherapy in Patients with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma: A Pilot Study.

Short-term calorie reduction (SCR) requires individuals to reduce their calorie intake to less than 50% of normal requirements and has shown good tolerance and potential benefits in prior studies addressing gynecological cancer patients. More studies are needed to further confirm its safety, feasibility, and effects in patients with different cancers, including hematological malignancies. This pilot cohort study with a matched-pair comparison group was registered at ClinicalTrails.

Associations Between Fatigue, Sleep Disturbance, Physical Activity, and Quality of Life for Children With Cancer: A Correlational Study.

Background: Fatigue, sleep disturbance, and physical inactivity have been increasingly recognized as health issues that negatively affect quality of life (QoL) for children with cancer. Existing studies focus either on children receiving treatment or in survivorship, but not on both populations in a study. This causes difficulty in examining differences of these issues between treatment statuses and identifying associations of these issues with QoL.

Feasibility, Process, and Effects of Short-Term Calorie Reduction in Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy: An Integrative Review.

Recent preclinical studies have shown the potential benefits of short-term calorie reduction (SCR) on cancer treatment. In this integrative review, we aimed to identify and synthesize current evidence regarding the feasibility, process, and effects of SCR in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Ovid Medline, PsychINFO, and Embase were searched for original research articles using various combinations of Medical Subject Heading terms.

[Global Health Issues and Trends in Nursing Research].

Research is an indispensable element that shapes every profession and discipline. "Employ evidence-based research into practice" is one of the five core competences highlighted by the American Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2001 that all healthcare professionals should possess. With the development of evidence-based medicine, "Nursing research competence" has gradually become a core competence that all nurses must have.

Patterns of interactions among patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, their caregivers, and healthcare providers during symptom discussions.

Purpose: Effective symptom discussion is an essential step to enhance symptom management in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer (APC). However, little is known about how these patients communicate their symptoms during health encounters. The purpose of this study was to develop a typology to describe patterns of interactions between patients with APC, their caregivers, and healthcare providers as regards to symptoms and symptom management.

The Effect of Laminin Surface Modification of Electrospun Silica Nanofiber Substrate on Neuronal Tissue Engineering.

In this study, we first synthesized a slow-degrading silica nanofiber (SNF2) through an electrospun solution with an optimized tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) to polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) ratio. Then, laminin-modified SNF2, namely SNF2-AP-S-L, was obtained through a series of chemical reactions to attach the extracellular matrix protein, laminin, to its surface. The SNF2-AP-S-L substrate was characterized by a combination of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform-infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms, and contact angle measurements.

The Efficacy of Metacognitive Training for Delusions in Patients With Schizophrenia: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials Informs Evidence-Based Practice.

Background: Metacognitive training (MCT) was developed in 2007 and widely used to modify the delusions for patient with schizophrenia. However, its effectiveness remains unclear.

Aims: To investigate the overall effectiveness of MCT for delusion in schizophrenia patients from 2007 to 2016, and to investigate the variables (intervention approach, intervention dose, and participant factors) of an MCT study that could influence the effect size.