with P aeruginosa episodes. Only prior P aeruginosa infection/colonization and severe COPD seem to be reliable indicators in clinical practice.BACKGROUND The Asthma Control Test (ACT) has been used to assess asthma control in both clinical trials and clinical practice. However, the relationships between ACT score and other measures of asthma impact are not fully understood. Here, we evaluate how ACT scores relate to other clinical, patient-reported, or economic asthma outcomes. METHODS A targeted literature search of online databases and conference abstracts was performed. Data were extracted from articles reporting ACT score alongside one or more of Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) score; rescue medication use; exacerbations; lung function; health-/asthma-related quality of life (QoL); sleep quality; work and productivity; and healthcare resource use (HRU) and costs. RESULTS A total of 1653 publications were identified, 74 of which were included in the final analysis. Of these, 69 studies found that improvement in ACT score was related to improvement in outcome(s), either as correlation or by association. The level of evidence for each relationship differed widely between outcomes substantial evidence was identified for relationships between ACT score and ACQ score, lung function, and asthma-related QoL; moderate evidence was obtained for relationships between ACT score and rescue medication use, exacerbations, sleep quality, and work and productivity; limited evidence was identified for relationships between ACT score and general health-related QoL, HRU, and healthcare costs. CONCLUSIONS Findings of this review suggest that the ACT is an appropriate measure for overall asthma impact and support its use in clinical trial settings. GlaxoSmithKline plc. study number HO-17-18170.BACKGROUND Management, culture and systems for better quality and patient safety in hospitals have been widely studied in Norway. Nursing homes and home care, however have received much less attention. An increasing number of people need health services in nursing homes and at home, and the services are struggling with fragmentation of care, discontinuity and restricted resource availability. The aim of the study was to explore the current challenges in quality and safety work as perceived by managers and employees in nursing homes and home care services. METHOD The study is a multiple explorative case study of two nursing homes and two home care services in Norway. Managers and employees participated in focus groups and individual interviews. The data material was analyzed using directed content analysis guided by the theoretical framework ‘Organizing for Quality’, focusing on the work needed to meet quality and safety challenges. RESULTS Challenges in quality and safety work were interrelated and depended ons to better support managers’ and employees’ work on quality and safety in nursing homes and home care.BACKGROUND Eosinophilic pleural effusion (EPE) is attributed to several well-recognised causes. However, some patients remain idiopathic, even after thorough clinical work-up. The present study aimed to better characterize idiopathic EPE (IEPE) and to outline the diagnostic procedure for this disease. METHODS Complete clinical data of 11 consecutive patients with IEPE were prospectively collected and analysed. Preliminary diagnostic procedure of IEPE in our hospital was performed. DW71177 Epigenetic Reader Domain inhibitor RESULTS All the 11 patients had respiratory symptoms and unilateral pleural effusion (PE) occurred in 4 patients. The mean percentage of eosinophils in PE was 22.4% (range, 12.4-50.5%). Lactate dehydrogenase, adenosine deaminase, proteins and carcinoembryonic antigen in PE were 246.0 U/L (range, 89.8-421.9 U/L), 13.8 U/L (range, 1.8-24.0 U/L), 42.6 g/dl (range, 32.8-52.6 g/dl) and 2.17 mg/mL (range, 0.46-4.31 mg/mL), respectively. Parasite-specific IgG antibody in blood and parasite eggs in stool were both negative. No evidence of tuberculosis or malignancy was observed in pleural biopsy. Symptoms and abnormal pulmonary imaging were eliminated after glucocorticoid use. CONCLUSIONS IEPE is a diagnosis of exclusion. Patients with EPE without a clear cause should be asked to provided complete medical, surgical and drug-related histories. A thorough work-up is essential. Moreover, we recommend follow-up after the use of glucocorticoid until effusion resolves. TRIAL REGISTRATION GYFYY. Registration No GYFYY20150901221. Registered time 1 September 2015. Date of enrolment of the first participant to the trial 22 January 2016.BACKGROUND Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) has never been revealed by preoperative scans. It is necessary to use digital mammography in predicting LVI in patients with breast cancer preoperatively. METHODS Overall 122 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma diagnosed between May 2017 and September 2018 were enrolled and assigned into the LVI positive group (n = 42) and the LVI negative group (n = 80). Independent t-test and χ2 test were performed. RESULTS Difference in Ki-67 between the two groups was statistically significant (P = 0.012). Differences in interstitial edema (P = 0.013) and skin thickening (P = 0.000) were statistically significant between the two groups. Multiple factor analysis showed that there were three independent risk factors for LVI interstitial edema (odds ratio [OR] = 12.610; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.061-149.922; P = 0.045), blurring of subcutaneous fat (OR = 0.081; 95% CI 0.012-0.645; P = 0.017) and skin thickening (OR = 9.041; 95% CI 2.553-32.022; P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Interstitial edema, blurring of subcutaneous fat, and skin thickening are independent risk factors for LVI. The specificity of LVI prediction is as high as 98.8% when the three are used together.BACKGROUND Meniscal extrusion results in loss of the ability to resist hoop strain and biomechanical overload on the joint articular surface. A centralization technique has been developed to overcome these problems. In this study, we analyzed the biomechanics of the extruded and centralized lateral meniscus (LM) in porcine knee joints at different flexion angles. METHODS Porcine knee joints (n = 8) were set in the universal tester and each knee was tested under the following states 1) intact; 2) extrusion-meniscal extrusion was created by resecting the posterior root of the LM and posterior synovial capsule; and 3) centralization-centralization was performed by two anchors inserted in the lateral tibial plateau. Deviation distance of the meniscus, contact pressure, and contact area in the anterior LM, middle LM, posterior LM, and the contact pressure of the tibial cartilage were evaluated with an axial compressive force of 200 N at knee flexion angles of 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90°. RESULTS The deviation distance of LM significantly increased in extrusion but was restored to the intact status after centralization at all angles.