Stress cardiomyopathy following thyroidectomy in a postmenopausal patient: A case report.

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: First described in 1990 in Japan, Stress cardiomyopathy (SC) is characterized by transient systolic and diastolic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction with a variety of wall-motion abnormalities. It predominantly affects postmenopausal women and is often preceded by an emotional or physical trigger. SC is an increasingly recognized form of transient LV dysfunction that is often completely reversible. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of SC induced by thyroidectomy in a postmenopausal woman with a good outcome for the patient. CLINICAL DISCUSSION: The pathogenesis of SC remains obscure, several possible hypotheses include catecholamine induced myocardial spasm or catecholamine related myocardial stunning, metabolic disorders and coronary microvascular damage. It is described as a disease with a 6-fold female-male predominance, affecting elderly postmenopausal women leading researchers to an estrogen-based theory for the pathogenesis. Thera are also increasing evidences for link between SC and thyroid pathology. There is no consensus on the diagnostic criteria for SC. CONCLUSION: SC should be kept in mind especially in women with postmenopausal syndrome in perioperative period.

Development and application of a fuzzy occupational health risk assessment model in the healthcare industry.

BACKGROUND: Hazards of the workplace and their impacts on the healthcare industry affect the quality of patient care and safety and impose high costs on the healthcare industry. Occupational health in this industry requires proper identification of hazards and managing the related risks. In this study, the researchers attempted to develop an easy-to-use and high applicability occupational health risk assessment model with a fuzzy approach to evaluate risks more precisely. METHODS: In this study, a fuzzy inference system (FIS) was designed and applied to develop a risk assessment model. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the developed model could be applied as a practical model for evaluating occupational health risks. The weight of each risk criterion was used to calculate the risk level by adopting a fuzzy approach. The risk assessment results construed using the fuzzy set theory provided a broad picture of risks and could work adequately in the presence of inaccurate and insufficient data to calculate the risk. This model calculates risk levels and provides us with the dispersion and distribution of the calculated value of the risk number.

Development and application of a modified procedure for quantitative fit testing of disposable masks and respirators.

In this study, a modified procedure for quantitative fit testing of disposable masks and respirators using condensation nuclei counting was developed and applied. The procedure permits disposable masks and respirators to be initially tested and retested multiple times after use. Different types of masks and respirators were tested over time and quantitative results were obtained. It was found that after multiple testing that the N95 respirator passed the testing requirements with a fit factor above 100, the KN95 respirator did not perform satisfactorily in the tests, and the disposable masks did not reach fit factors above 4 or 7. The results in this study provided relevant information toward use, reuse, and testing of disposable masks and respirators, particularly relevant during the COVID pandemic when access to N95 respirators was limited.