The literature on posttraumatic growth (PTG) is burgeoning, with the inconsistencies in the literature of the relationship between PTG and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms becoming a focal point of attention. Thus, this meta-analysis aims to explore the relationship between PTG and PTSD symptoms through the Pearson correlation coefficient. A systematic search of the literature from January 1996 to November 2015 was completed. We retrieved reports on 63 studies that involved 26,951 patients. The weighted correlation coefficient revealed an effect size of 0.22 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.18 to 0.25. Meta-analysis provides evidence that PTG may be positively correlated with PTSD symptoms and that this correlation may be modified by age, trauma type, and time since trauma. Accordingly, people with high levels of PTG should not be ignored, but rather, they should continue to receive help to alleviate their PTSD symptoms.

This study evaluated the accuracy of intracavitary electrocardiogram (IC-ECG) guidance for placement of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) in premature infants, relative to chest X-ray.Premature infants (n = 173) underwent placement of a PICC monitored by ECG, and a stable heart rhythm was shown. Changes in the P wave of the ECG reflected the position of the catheter tip, and a characterized P wave indicated the correct position. The P wave results were compared with a chest X-ray.P wave changes were observed in 157 (90.75%) of the premature infants on the ECG. Among them, the catheter tips of 148 (85.55%) and nine (5.20%) patients were in the correct and non-correct position, respectively, which was confirmed by chest X-ray. No characteristic P wave changes were observed in 16 (9.32%) patients on ECG, in which the catheter tips of eight (4.62%) patients each were in the correct and non-correct position, according to the chest X-ray. The accuracy of IC-ECG guidance for placement of the PICC was 90.17%. The PICC tip location results of the IC-ECGs were statistically similar to that of the chest X-rays.IC-ECG guidance is accurate for placement of PICC in premature infants, and provides an economical assessment without radiation.Abbreviations: CAJ = cavoatrial junction, IC-ECG = intracavitary electrocardiogram, PICC = peripherally inserted central catheter, SV = subclavian vein, SVC = superior vena cava.

Background: Lymphedema (LE) is recognized as a common complication after axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). Numerous studies have attempted to identify risk factors for LE. However, it is difficult to predict the probability of LE for an individual patient. The purpose of this study was to construct a scoring system for predicting the probability of LE after ALND for Chinese breast cancer patients. Patients and Methods: 358 breast cancer patients were surveyed and followed for 12 months. LE was defined by circumferential measurement. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to screen risk factors of LE. Based on this, ß-coefficient of each risk factor was translated into a prognostic score and the scoring system was constructed. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and calibration were calculated as an index for the predictive value of the scoring system. The model was internally validated using bootstrapping techniques. Results: The incidence rate of LE was 31.84%. Variables associated with LE and their corresponding score in the scoring system were: the level of ALND (level I = 0, level II = 1, level III = 2), history of hypertension (yes = 1, no = 0), surgery on dominant arm (yes = 1, no = 0), radiotherapy (yes = 2, no = 0), and surgical infection/seroma/early edema (yes = 2, no = 0). The probability of LE was predicted according to the total risk scores. The system had good discrimination, with an AUC at 0.877. If a cut-off value of 3 was used, the sensitivity was 81.20% and the specificity was 80.90%. An individual whose total risk score was higher than 3 was recognized as being at risk for LE. On internal validation, the bootstrap-corrected predictive accuracy was 0.798. The model demonstrated excellent calibration in the development set and internal validation. Conclusions: Our scoring system could be a simple and easy tool for physicians to estimate the risk of LE.

Extensive evidence has been obtained that supports an association between an attentional bias (AB) toward negative stimuli and vulnerability to stress-related psychopathology, little is known regarding the characteristics of individual AB in different posttraumatic growth (PTG) levels. The current study used a modified dot-probe task to investigate if individual differences in AB towards either positive or negative emotional stimuli, are related to self-reported PTG. A sample of 202 patients completed the experiment. Patients with low levels of PTG did not exhibit AB toward negative or positive stimuli, patients with medium levels of PTG had difficulty disengaging attention from negative stimuli, patients with high levels of PTG had difficulty disengaging attention from positive stimuli. And the AB towards positive stimuli was only predictive for PTG. An implication of this finding is that there are different characteristics of implicit cognitive processing in patients with different levels of PTG, suggesting the necessity of psychological intervention on the accidentally injured patients.

Some researches demonstrate that entecavir increases the incidence of virological and biochemical responses compared to lamivudine, although, they have shown inconsistent response rates. A metaanalysis was conducted to compare the efficacy of entecavir and lamivudine for chronic hepatitis B treatment. Two independent researchers identified pertinent clinical controlled trials. Our analysis includes nine case-control studies, which had 1251 entecavir groups and 1188 lamivudine groups. Analyses were performed with STATA version 9.0. Rates of virology and biochemical responses and HBeAg clearance and seroconversion were used as primary efficacy measures. Greater virological and biochemical responses rates were observed with entecavir to lamivudine after treatment of 48 weeks (odds ratio (OR) = 3.422, 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 2.349 -4.985, P = 0.000; OR = 2.173, 95% CI = 1.462 -3.230, P = 0.000, respectively), but no statistically significant differences were observed between cases and controls for clearance and seroconversion of HBeAg (P > 0.05). Safety and adverse-event profiles were similar in the two groups. In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggested that entecavir increases the incidence of virological and biochemical responses compared with lamivudine after treatment for 48 weeks.