Do the New Rural Pension Scheme promote the health status of chronic patients in old age? -Evidence from CHARLS 2018 in China.

Background: Many researchers have examined the impact of social insurance on health in elderly. However, in most cases, they have only demonstrated correlational results and have not been able to determine causal effects, possibly because confounding biases have not been fully addressed. In this study, we investigated the health effects of the New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS) on the elderly (age≥60 years old) with chronic diseases in rural areas, and to explore the causal relationship and effects of NRPS and health status.

Effect of Esmolol on Clinical Outcomes in Critically Ill Patients: Data from the MIMIC-IV Database.

Background And Aims: Esmolol is a common short-acting drug to control ventricular rate. This study aimed to evaluate the association between use of esmolol and mortality in critically ill patients.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study from MIMIC-IV database containing adult patients with a heart rate of over 100 beats/min during the intensive care unit (ICU) stay.

Lower serum chloride concentrations are associated with an increased risk of death in ICU patients with acute kidney injury: an analysis of the MIMIC-IV database.

Background: The association between baseline serum chloride levels and mortality in patients with severe acute kidney injury (AKI) is unknown. Our aim was to investigate the relationship between baseline blood chloride levels and 28-day mortality in patients with AKI admitted to the ICU and to detect possible effect modifiers in this population.

Methods: AKI patients with severe critical illness were extracted from the MIMIC-IV.

Early pulmonary artery catheterization is not associated with survival benefits in critically ill patients with cardiac disease: An analysis of the MIMIC-IV database.

Background: Many studies demonstrated no improved survival in patients with pulmonary artery catheter placement. However, no consistent conclusions have been drawn regarding the impact of pulmonary artery catheter in critically ill patients with heart disease. This study aimed to investigate the association of early pulmonary artery catheter use with 28-day mortality in that population.

Downregulated Expression of USP18 Is Associated with a Higher Recurrence Risk of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

As a member of the deubiquitinating protease family, ubiquitin specific peptidase 18 (USP18) is well acknowledged for its roles in stabilizing downstream protein substrates and inhibiting type I interferon signaling. USP18 has been reported to exert distinct roles in different cancer types. However, its expression and function in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) remain unknown.

[Influence of group sample size on statistical power of tests for quantitative data with an imbalanced design].

Objective: To explore the relationship between sample size in the groups and statistical power of ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis test with an imbalanced design.

Methods: The sample sizes of the two tests were estimated by SAS program with given parameter settings, and Monte Carlo simulation was used to examine the changes in power when the total sample size varied or remained fixed.

Results: In ANOVA, when the total sample size was fixed, increasing the sample size in the group with a larger mean square error improved the statistical power, but an excessively large difference in the sample sizes between groups led to reduced power.