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Augmentation of left ventricular (LV) untwisting due to central hypovolemia is likely to be a compensatory mechanism for maintaining stroke volume, which is reduced by a decrease in cardiac filling during orthostatic stress. Orthostatic intolerance observed in both high and low fitness levels may be explained by the impaired response of LV untwisting due to central hypovolemia.

Background Several countries have imposed a mandatory 14‐day period of quarantine on individuals arriving from countries considered high‐risk for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection. However, it is not clear how long asymptomatic patients infected with SARS‐CoV‐2 can be an asymptomatic carrier. Case Presentation We experienced a case of an asymptomatic female patient infected with SARS‐CoV‐2 with abnormal chest computed tomography findings. She did not develop a fever during hospitalized isolation. She remained reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction‐positive for 24 days. Conclusion An asymptomatic patient diagnosed with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection remained reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction‐positive for 24 days, although she was quarantined in an isolation hospital. This finding suggests that an asymptomatic patient diagnosed with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection with abnormal chest computed tomography findings can be an asymptomatic carrier for more than 3 weeks., Is it enough for potential severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) carriers to be required to self‐quarantine for 14 days to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19)? In this case report, an asymptomatic female patient infected with SARS‐CoV‐2 who remained reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction‐positive for 24 days although she was quarantined in an isolation hospital. Asymptomatic patients diagnosed with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection can be an asymptomatic carrier for more than 3 weeks.

Professionalism is a critical competency for emergency medicine (EM) physicians, and professional behavior affects patient satisfaction. However, the findings of various studies indicate that there are differences in the interpretation of professionalism among EM resident physicians and faculty physicians. Using a cross-sectional survey, we aimed to analyze common challenges to medical professionalism for Japanese EM physicians and survey the extent of professionalism coursework completed during undergraduate medical education. We conducted a multicenter cross-sectional survey of EM resident physicians and faculty physicians at academic conferences and eight teaching hospitals in Japan using the questionnaire by Barry and colleagues. We analyzed the frequency of providing either the best or second-best answers to each scenario as the main outcome measure and compared the frequencies between EM resident physicians and EM faculty physicians. Fisher's exact test and the Wilcoxon rank sum test were used to analyze data. A total of 176 physicians (86 EM resident physicians and 90 EM faculty physicians) completed the survey. The response rate was 92.6%. The most challenging scenario presented to participants dealt with sexual harassment, and only 44.5% chose the best or second-best answers, followed by poor responses to the confidentiality scenario (69.9%). The frequency of either the best or second-best responses to the confidentiality scenario was significantly greater for EM resident physicians than for EM faculty physicians (77.1% versus 62.9%, p = 0.048). More participants in the EM resident physician group completed formal courses in medical professionalism than those in the EM faculty physician group (25.8% versus 5.5%, p < 0.01). Further, EM faculty physicians were less likely than EM resident physicians to provide acceptable responses in terms of confidentiality, and few of both had received professionalism training through school curricula. Continuous professionalism education focused on the prevention of sexual harassment and gender gap is needed for both EM resident physicians and faculty physicians in Japan.

Background Frequent and repeated visits from patients with mental illness or free medical care recipients may elicit physicians’ negative emotions and influence their clinical decision making. This study investigated the impact of the psychiatric or social background of such patients on physicians’ decision making about whether to offer recommendations for further examinations and whether they expressed an appropriate disposition toward the patient. Methods A randomized, controlled multi-centre study of residents in transitional, internal medicine, or emergency medicine was conducted in five hospitals. Upon randomization, participants were stratified by gender and postgraduate year, and they were allocated to scenario set 1 or 2. They answered questions pertaining to decision-making based on eight clinical vignettes. Half of the eight vignettes presented to scenario set 1 included additional patient information, such as that the patient had a past medical history of schizophrenia or that the patient was a recipient of free care who made frequent visits to the doctor (biased vignettes). The other half included no additional information (neutral vignettes). For scenario set 2, the four biased vignettes presented to scenario set 1 were neutralized, and the four neutral vignettes were rendered biased by providing additional information. After reading, participants answered decision-making questions regarding diagnostic examination, interventions, or patient disposition. The primary analysis was a repeated-measures ANOVA on the mean management accuracy score, with patient background information as a within-subject factor (no bias, free care recipients, or history of schizophrenia). Results A total of 207 questionnaires were collected. Repeated-measures ANOVA showed that additional background information had influence on mean accuracy score (F(7, 206) = 13.84, p p Conclusions Additional background information on past medical history of schizophrenia increased physicians’ mistakes in decision making. Patients’ psychiatric backgrounds should not bias physicians’ decision-making. Based on these findings, physicians are recommended to avoid being influenced by medically unrelated information.

Background It has been known that survival rates after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) are lower at night than during the day. It may be explained by diurnal temperature changes. Purpose The purpose of the present study was to test our hypothesis that diurnal variation of the prognosis after OHCA would be independent from the ambient temperature changes. Methods We used the All-Japan Utstein Registry (2005–2010) combined with atmospheric temperature from the Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System, and enrolled adult OHCA patients who had suffered from a witnessed cardiac arrest and who had been resuscitated. The primary outcome was a favorable neurological outcome one month after OHCA and the secondary outcome was the presence of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) before hospital admission. Effects of business vs. non-business hours and ambient temperature on the primary and secondary outcomes were assessed with adjustment for factors that are known to potentially affect OHCA outcomes. Sub-group analysis based on the initial cardiac rhythm (VT/Vf, PEA and Asystole) was also performed. Results Among the 263,750 witnessed OHCA patients, neurological survival and ROSC rates were significantly increased with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 1.13 (95% CI 1.08–1.18) and hazard ratio (HR) of 1.06 (95% CI 1.04–1.09) for non-business hours, and OR of 1.11 (95% CI 1.05–1.17) and HR of 1.05 (95% CI 1.02–1.08) for each 20°C increase in temperature. The effects were different between business vs. non-business hours and ambient temperature dependent on the initial cardiac rhythm. Conclusions These findings suggest that both the outdoor temperature and business hours are independent factors for predicting neurological outcomes after OHCA with different characteristics based on the initial cardiac rhythms. Diurnal variability of prognosis after OHCA is likely to be attributable to diurnal variation of medical resources.