Background Pediatric leukemia is the most prevalent childhood cancer in China and incurs heavy economic burden to patients without sufficient insurance protection. Although all Chinese children are obliged to enroll i...
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Background Pediatric leukemia is the most prevalent childhood cancer in China and incurs heavy economic burden to patients without sufficient insurance protection. Although all Chinese children are obliged to enroll in the national insurance scheme, "Resident Basic Medical Insurance (RBMI)", the protection may vary among patient subgroups. This study is designed to measure the disparities in economic burden for patients with leukemia under RBMI protection and explore the influencing factors. Methods The included patients were aged <= 15 and diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML, with/without transplantation). They all completed treatment course consecutively in Nanfang Hospital and Zhujiang Hospital from Jan.1, 2015, to Dec.30, 2019, in Guangzhou, China. Their inpatient treatment and insurance settlement data were drawn from the Hospital Information System (HIS) and Insurance Settlement System (ISS). A total of 765 consecutive patients and 14,477 inpatient medical records were included and analyzed. Their insurance status (6 subtypes), economic burden [total cost, out-of-pocket cost (OOP), reimbursement, reimbursement rate (RR)], and cost structures (operation/procedure, blood products, drug, simple treatment) were calculated respectively. Non-normally distributed costs were reported as the median and interquartile range (IQR). Wilcoxon test was used for univariate tests and generalized linear model with log link was used to explore the influencing factors. Results The insured patients who were treated in the location of insurance with instant reimbursement reported the highest total cost and reimbursement, while those who seek medical care cross-province with no instant reimbursement reported the lowest total cost and highest OOP payment. In terms of annual change, the total cost of children with leukemia decreased from 2015-2019 with stably increasing reimbursement rate. Blood products and drugs were the major components
Automatic dubbing, which generates a corresponding version of the input speech in another language, can be widely utilized in many real-world scenarios, such as video and game localization. In addition to synthesizing...
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For estimating the jump amplitude in stochastic differential equations with jumps, existing parameter estimation methods in the academic community suffer from inherent systematic errors. Commonly used kernel functions...
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For estimating the jump amplitude in stochastic differential equations with jumps, existing parameter estimation methods in the academic community suffer from inherent systematic errors. Commonly used kernel functions often assume symmetric distributions, limiting their ability to model skewed distributions. Many methods can simulate positively skewed distributions but fail to handle negatively skewed ones, and they tend to overestimate the probability density when the jump size is close to zero. This paper introduces a novel kernel density estimation method based on cosine functions for jump amplitude estimation. Our approach addresses these systematic errors, especially under large sample conditions, enabling more accurate statistical inference for the jump amplitude in stochastic differential equations with jumps. We anticipate that this method will contribute positively to research in areas such as finance and signal processing.
Interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) and IRF7 are closely related IRF members and the major factors for the induction of interferons, a key component in vertebrate innate immunity. However, there is limited knowledge...
Interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) and IRF7 are closely related IRF members and the major factors for the induction of interferons, a key component in vertebrate innate immunity. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the evolution and adaptation of those IRFs to the environments. Two unique motifs in IRF3 and 7 were identified. One motif, GASSL, is highly conserved throughout the evolution of IRF3 and 7 and located in the signal response domain. Another motif, DPHK, is in the DNA-binding domain. The ancestral protein of IRF3 and 7 seemed to possess the DPHK motif. In the ray-finned fish lineage, while the DPHK is maintained in IRF7, the motif in IRF3 is changed to NPHK with a D -> N amino acid substitution. The D -> N substitution are also found in amphibian IRF3 but not in amphibian IRF7. Terrestrial animals such as reptiles and mammals predominantly use DPHK sequences in both IRF3 and 7. However, the D -> N substitution in IRF3 DPHK is again found in cetaceans such as whales and dolphins as well as in marsupials. These observations suggest that the D -> N substitutions in the IRF3 DPHK motif is likely to be associated with vertebrate's adaptations to aquatic environments and other environmental changes.
Background Lymphomas usually present with different occurrence patterns across different geographical locations, but their epidemiology in Zambia is yet to be extensively explored. Objectives To study the spectrum of ...
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Background Lymphomas usually present with different occurrence patterns across different geographical locations, but their epidemiology in Zambia is yet to be extensively explored. Objectives To study the spectrum of lymphoma subtypes prevalent within the Zambian population. Methods Histopathological records with suspected lymphoma at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka from the year 2014 to 2016, diagnosed based on the 2008 World Health Organization (WHO) criteria were reviewed. The analysis was done in terms of type, sex, age, and site of biopsy;and Fisher's exact test was used for significance testing. Results During the study period (2014-2016), there were more B cell neoplasms {222 (92.5%)} than T cell neoplasms {18 (7.5%)}. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) was seen in 191 (79.6%) whereas classic Hodgkin's lymphoma (CHL) was seen in 39 (16.3%). Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) and diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) showed equal proportions {17.5% of all lymphoma cases (42/240) each}, as the most prevalent subtypes of NHL whereas marginal zone B cell lymphoma was the rarest subtype with 1.4% (4/240). For CHL, mixed cellularity and lymphocyte rich subtypes (4.6% of all lymphoma cases) were the most common subtypes. There was a statistically significant difference in the occurrences of lymphoma subtypes across different age categories (p = 0.002). Conclusion Zambia has a diverse lymphoma subtypes population, affecting a relatively young population. The data from this study will serve as a baseline for improved health care provision and more robust future studies.
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