This study aimed to investigate the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on bystander reaction to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and present a strategy to improve the quality of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the COVID-19 era. This systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies were conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A meta-analysis using the Hunter–Schmidt method in 13 previous studies identified using our criteria revealed that the pandemic is likely to decrease the rate of bystander CPR (log odds ratio with 95% confidence interval: −0.11; −0.22, −0.01) with large heterogeneity (I² = 75.8%). Meta-regression analysis including global area and publication year revealed that heterogeneity is significantly affected by the global region (P = 0.048) and is the largest in Europe. A meta-analysis of 10 studies reporting the incidence of public-access defibrillation (PAD, automated external defibrillator use by bystanders) revealed that the PAD incidence is likely to be lowered by the pandemic (−0.30 [−0.47, −0.13]). The medical control system in each prefecture in Japan should play a central role as a community-based life-saving system to maintain and improve the quality of bystander CPR. The medical control strategy in the COVID-19 era should include continuous quality improvements of dispatcher-assisted CPR instruction and the system to recruit well-trained and qualified citizens to the scene of OHCA.

In recent years, lowering the sodium-to-potassium ratio (Na/K ratio) in the diet has been linked to an antihypertensive effect. However, very few studies have identified regular dietary patterns with a low Na/K ratio. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the dietary patterns of adult men and women and to clarify the relationship between these patterns and the Na/K ratio in the diet. The study included 639 (240 men and 399 women) subjects aged 20 years or older from the 2015 Niigata prefectural health and nutrition survey. Dietary patterns were extracted from 24 food groups by principal component analysis. To compare the characteristics of each dietary pattern, the principal component scores were divided into tertiles, and analysis of covariance was conducted on the intake of nutrients and foods, with sex, age, and energy as adjustment variables. To examine the relationship between dietary patterns and the dietary Na/K ratio, we conducted multiple regression analysis using the Na/K ratio as the dependent variable and a total of 16 items (10 basic attributes and six principal component scores, for each dietary pattern) as independent variables for each sex. Six dietary patterns were identified by principal component analysis. In both men and women, subjects with higher scores for the “vegetable/rice,” “milk/bread/fruit,” and “legumes” patterns had a significantly decreased Na/K ratio, and subjects with a higher score for the “noodles” pattern had a significantly increased Na/K ratio. In women, subjects with higher scores for the “meat/fat” and “fish and seafood” patterns had significantly increased Na/K ratio. It is suggested that the dietary patterns recommended to lower the Na/K ratio for hypertension prevention are the “vegetable/rice,” “milk/bread/fruit,” and “legumes” patterns.

Purpose of study: Stan is a new programming language used for Bayesian inference that implements the Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) algorithm. There is a high possibility that, going forward, this language will be widely adopted within the healthcare domain as well for research that makes use of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. We have developed a new software, with the principle aim of helping healthcare researchers become acquainted with Bayesian inferences. This software is free and makes it simpler to run models written using Stan. Materials and methods: The current software “Fatsia” is an operation management tool or macro tool that controls data files, Stan files, Stan, and R. The core specifications for Fatsia are as follows: The operation windows were positioned in a manner that followed the procedure for running the MCMC modeling on Stan. Several MCMC models were prepared as templates, with the user able to directly run the template they selected, or to edit that template. Results and findings: The free software, Fatsia, that we developed met the above specifications. It could be operated via a graphical user interface (GUI), with the use of keyboard input outside of the necessary procedures, reduced to the smallest degree possible. When controlling Stan and R, Fatsia can export Stan files to R and commands R to execute MCMC methods on the R console. Conclusions: The usefulness of Fatsia was in streamlining the procedure for executing an MCMC using Stan. With Fatsia, we were able to run Stan MCMC models with the smallest possible amount of keyboard use. When compared with OpenBUGS or RStudio, the operation of Fatsia is easier, showing a high degree of utility. Hence, the implementation of more MCMC templates can be expected in the future.

Carpal instability dissociative induces irreversible wrist osteoarthritis. The orthosis is essential for the treatment, but the rational wrist position has not been investigated. It needs to examine the effect of wrist muscles contraction on carpal bone under immobilization to determine the proper position of the wrist.

This study investigates the effect of contraction of carpal muscles on the position of carpal bones under the immobilization of the carpal joint. Seven healthy men participated in this study. We measured the carpal height (CH) during independent electrical stimulations of the abductor pollicis longus (APL), extensor carpi radialis longus (ECRL), extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU), flexor carpi radialis (FCR), and flexor carpi ulnaris (FCU). Further, we measured the CH during a pinch task simultaneously with the electromyogram (EMG) of each muscle activity. The three carpal joint positions during the measurements were neutral (N), radial deviation (RD), and ulnar deviation (UD).

Compared with the resting state, the CH during an electrical stimulation was not significantly shortened in RD compared with N and UD. On the contrary, it was shortened when the ECU contracted. During the pinch task, the amount of shortening of the CH increased with the increasing pinch force, but N and UD were significantly shorter than RD.

The study revealed that even under immobilization of the carpal joint, the axial pressure of the carpal joint associated with the muscular activity of the ECU causes movement of the carpal bones. These findings suggest that orthotic devices against carpal instability could be used in the radial deviation position. Besides, the ECU activity needs to be inhibited. In addition, it is necessary to refrain from using the hand during immobilization. Future work, more participants should be enrolled to investigate the kinetics of the carpal bones in a variety of motor tasks in different wrist positions.

To evaluate the feasibility of an online practice web application and groupware platforms for medical related fields, a small web application for psychophysical experiments was developed using Hypertext Markup Language version 5 features. The application was then used in a certified orthoptics class on the Microsoft Teams 365 meeting platform for two years. The two classes in each year were divided into small groups of either twelve or six students, which were then given areal matching tasks. The students were instructed to adjust the size of the comparison stimuli by moving a web application slider to make the area equal to the standard stimuli, after which they plotted the data on a Google Spreadsheet. After each practice, questionnaires were completed by the students using Google Forms. Over the two years, 85 students completed the questionnaires. While the students managed to achieve the practice goals, they negatively scored the user friendliness of the spreadsheet, especially when there were smaller group sizes. These results suggested that it was not the web application itself but the communication tools employed in the online practice and the group sizes that had affected the student experiences.