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Aims and objectives: This systematic review and meta‐analysis aimed to compare the incidence of PVC‐related complications between catheterisation in the forearm and back of the hand in adult patients. Background: A peripheral intravenous catheter (PVC) is often inserted as part of care during patients' hospitalisation. The catheter is typically inserted in the forearm or at the back of the hand in usual practice. Studies have not yet reached a consensus on the optimal insertion site in any clinical setting. Design: We performed a systematic review and meta‐analysis based on PRISMA guidelines. Methods: We searched the following electronic databases: PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and CINAHL. Randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, case–control studies and cross‐sectional studies from inception to July 2021 reporting the incidence of PVC‐related complications at the forearm and back of the hand were included. Fixed‐effects models and random‐effects models were used to derive the pooled risk ratios. Results: Twenty‐four studies involving 16562 PVCs met our inclusion criteria. The meta‐analysis showed that compared with PVC placement in the back of the hand, placement in the forearm was associated with a higher incidence of total complications and infiltration/extravasation. However, the differences between the PVC indwelling sites were not significant (total complications: P = 0.43; phlebitis: P = 0.35; infiltration/extravasation: P = 0.51). Both incidence of total complications and infiltration/extravasation analyses showed high heterogeneity (total complications: I2 = 60%; infiltration/extravasation: I2 = 58%). Conclusion: Available evidence suggests that there is no significant difference between PVC placement in the forearm and at the back of the hand in terms of the incidence of complications, thus making both approaches suitable. Relevance to clinical practice: For patients who need indwelling PVC, medical staff can choose the best indwelling site, and both forearm and back of the hand are suitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This randomized controlled trial explored the effects of a Ving Tsun (VT) Chinese martial art training program on reactive standing balance performance, postural muscle reflex contraction latency, leg muscle performance, balance confidence and falls in community-dwelling older adults. We randomly assigned 33 healthy older adults to either a VT group (mean age = 67.5 years) or a control group (mean age = 72.1 years). The VT group received two 1-hour VT training sessions per week for three months (24 sessions). Primary outcome measures collected before and after the intervention period were electromyographic muscle activation onset latencies of the hamstring and gastrocnemius and the center of pressure path, length and movement velocity in standing (reactive balance performance). Secondary outcome measures included isometric peak force and time to isometric peak force of the knee extensors and flexors, the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale score, and fall history. Results revealed that the mean gastrocnemius muscle activation onset latency was significantly longer (22.53 ms) in the VT group after the intervention. The peak force of the knee flexors significantly increased (by 1.58 kg) in the control group over time but not in the VT group. The time to reach peak force in the knee flexors was significantly longer (by 0.51 s) in the control group (but not the VT group) at posttest compared with the pretest value. No other significant group, time, or group-by-time interaction effects were noted. We discussed possible reasons for the failure of three months of martial art training to benefit fall risks among these older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article utilizes Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach as a theoretical framework to demonstrate how news translators ideologically construe solidarity in translated newspaper commentaries about the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signing between Taiwan and China. Using a corpus of 26 Chinese commentaries from the Liberty Times in Taiwan and their English translations from the Taipei Times as data, this article (1) compares the context models, together with relevant ideological forces, constructed by the news translators and the original writers and (2) investigates how contextual variations guide the translators to make inter-subjective positioning shifts through engagement resources. The results reveal that the shifts identified in the translated headlines and arguments (including the change in dialogic nature and the notable addition of dialogically expansive expressions) were performed by the translators to establish presumably appropriate solidarity relations (i.e. tolerance-based solidarity) and to align the writers and the potentially diverse target audience, at whom the translated pieces are aimed. In this way, the translators can achieve the goals of translating commentaries while adequately responding to the pro-independence ideology of the Taipei Times and the professional ideology of the news translators as media practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• Overall, social isolation was not clearly related to ADL disability in older people. • Subgroup analysis showed that in Asian regions, social isolation was related to ADL disability. • Not participating in social clubs or religious groups consistently showed an association with ADL disability. We assessed the relationship between social isolation and functional disability in older people. Comparison of longitudinal cohort studies. Harmonised longitudinal datasets from the United States, England, European countries, Japan, Korea, China and Hong Kong. Social isolation was operationalised as a composite score with five domains, such as marital status, living alone, and social contact with others. Functional disability was defined as whether the cohort participant had any difficulty in activities of daily living (ADL). In each dataset, we used robust Poisson regression models to obtain the relative risks (RRs) and the corresponding 95 % confidence intervals (CI). We combined the RRs to synthesize a pooled estimate using meta-analysis with random-effects models. Overall, the social isolation composite score was not associated with ADL disability (pooled RR = 1.05, 95 % CI [0.97–1.14], n = 40,119). Subgroup analysis suggested social isolation composite score was associated with ADL disability in Asian regions (pooled RR = 1.09, 95 % CI [1.02, 1.16], but not in Western regions (pooled RR = 1.01, 95 % CI [0.96, 1.07]). The relationships between different domains of social isolation and ADL disability were heterogeneous, except that no participation in any social clubs or religious groups was consistently associated with ADL disability (pooled RR = 1.12, 95 % CI [1.04, 1.21]). Targeting social isolation may prevent decline in functional abilities in older adults, providing an avenue to active and healthy ageing. Nonetheless, interventions tackling social isolation should tailor to the unique cultural and social underpinnings. A limitation of the study is that reverse causality could not be ruled out definitively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The risk factors for skin injuries remain poorly understood in cancer patients with peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC). We herein aimed at exploring the effect of clinical factors on the risk of PICC-related skin injuries., Methods: We included 1245 cancer patients with PICC from 16 hospitals in Suzhou, China. The study outcome was in-hospital skin injuries, including contact dermatitis, skin (epidermal) stripping, tension injury, allergic dermatitis, skin tear, maceration, folliculitis, and pressure injury., Results: During hospitalization, 274 patients (22.0%) developed skin injuries after prolonged use of an indwelling catheter. Univariable logistic regression analysis identified several risk factors for PICC-related skin injuries; multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that the following factors independently and significantly ( p  < 0.05) associated with the risk of PICC-related skin injuries: body mass index (BMI, >25 kg/m 2 versus <18.5 kg/m 2 : odds ratio (OR), 1.79; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.03-3.11), skin condition (humid vs normal: OR, 2.96; 95% CI, 1.62-5.43), skin indentation (OR, 4.67; 95% CI, 3.31-6.58), allergic history (OR, 2.11; 95% CI, 1.21-3.66), history of dermatitis (OR, 3.05; 95% CI, 1.00-9.28), history of eczema (OR, 3.36; 95% CI, 1.20-9.43), catheter insertion site (under elbow vs . upper arm: OR, 3.32; 95% CI, 1.12-9.90), and PICC maintenance interval (4-5 days vs ⩽3 days: OR, 0.06; 95% CI, 0.01-0.50; 5-7 days vs ⩽3 days: OR, 0.07; 95% CI, 0.02-0.31; 7-9 days vs ⩽3 days: OR, 0.10; 95% CI, 0.02-0.57)., Conclusions: BMI, skin condition, skin indentation, allergic history, history of dermatitis, history of eczema, catheter insertion site, and PICC maintenance interval were independent risk factors for PICC-related skin injuries in cancer patients. This knowledge will guide future studies with formulating optimal treatment strategies for improving the skin health of cancer patients with PICC., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Alpine treeline ecosystem is more sensitive to global warming under low temperature limitation with the aggravation of greenhouse effect, which may directly affect plant growth and soil carbon and nitrogen processes. We expected that climate warming would change soil active carbon and nitrogen content in alpine ecosystems. This experiment was conducted in long-term research station of alpine forest ecosystems, in Lixian County, Sichuan Province. The open top camber (OTC) was used to simulate warming, intact soil core (soil organic layer and mineral soil layer) of OTC and CK were collected in April, July and October 2017. Soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC), soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and soil microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) were measured. The results showed that average temperature increased by 0.88 ℃ for air, 0.48 ℃ for soil organic layer and 0.23 ℃ for mineral soil layer. The simulated warming did not significantly change soil organic matter and water content, but significantly increased pH of mine-ral soil layer, and significantly reduced DOC and DON contents of mineral soil layer in non-growing season. There was significant seasonal variation for the contents of DOC, DON and MBN in the two layers, but not for MBC. The MBC and MBN contents of soil organic layer were significantly higher than that of mineral soil layer. There was a significant positive correlation between active carbon and nitrogen with soil organic matter and water content. There was a significant positive correlation between MBC, MBN and soil pH, whereas MBN was negatively correlated with soil temperature.

In order to understand the relationship between litter decomposition and soil fauna diversity during snow cover season, litterbags with plant debris of Actinothuidium hookeri, Cystopteris montana, two representative understory plants in the alpine timberline ecotone, and their mixed litter were incubated in the dark coniferous forest, timberline and alpine meadow, respectively. After a snow cover season, the mass loss and soil fauna in litterbags were investigated. After decomposition with a snow cover season, alpine meadow showed the highest mass loss of plant debris in comparison with coniferous forest and timberline, and the mass loss of A. hookeri was more significant. The mixture of two plants debris accelerated the mass loss, especially in the timberline. A total of 968 soil invertebrates, which belonged to 5 classes, 10 orders and 35 families, were captured in litterbags. Acarina and Collembola were the dominant groups in plant debris. The numbers of individuals and groups of soil faunal communities in litter of timberline were higher than those of alpine meadow and dark coniferous forest. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) indicated that the groups of soil animals were related closely with the average temperature, and endemic species such as Isoptera and Geophilomorpha were observed only in coniferous forest, while Hemiptera and Psocoptera only in.the alpine meadow. The diversity of soil faunal community was more affected by plant debris varieties in the timberline than in the coniferous forest and alpine meadow. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the average temperature and snow depth explained 30.8% of the variation of litter mass loss rate, soil animals explained 8.3%, and altogether explained 34.1%. Snow was one of the most critical factors impacting the decomposition of A. hookeri and C. montana debris in the alpine timberline ecotone.