Medicine
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We aim to identify factors predicting patient dissatisfaction 2 years after discectomy for lumbar disc herniation (LDH) in a Chinese older cohort. Preoperative and 2-year follow-up data for 843 patients were analyzed. After 2 years of discectomy, the patients rated their satisfaction by Patient Satisfaction Index (PSI), with response of 1 or 2 defining satisfaction and a PSI response of 3 or 4 defining dissatisfaction. ⋯ I n conclusion, more than 70% patients expressed satisfaction with discectomy for LDH. Two factors could predict patient dissatisfaction and be assessed before surgery: obesity and preoperative depression. Symptom recurrence and postoperative depression are also associated with diminished patient satisfaction.
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Observational Study
Tissue Factor Pathway Inhibitor-2 Gene Polymorphisms Associate With Coronary Atherosclerosis in Chinese Population.
Tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 (TFPI-2) may play critical roles in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between TFPI-2 gene polymorphisms and coronary atherosclerosis. Four hundred and seven patients with coronary atherosclerosis and 306 individuals with normal coronary artery were enrolled in the present study. ⋯ At follow-up (median 53 months, range 1-60 months), 85 patients experienced CVE. However, there was no strong association between the gene polymorphisms and the occurrence of CVE. Tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 gene polymorphisms were associated with coronary atherosclerosis in the Chinese population, suggesting that the information about TFPI-2 gene polymorphisms was useful for assessing the risk of developing coronary atherosclerosis, but there was not enough evidence showing it could predict occurrence of CVE.
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Observational Study
Does Once-Daily Raltegravir Have Any Role in the Antiretroviral Treatment?
Administering raltegravir once daily would make adherence to antiretroviral treatment easier, especially if the concomitant drugs are also administered once daily. We report our experience on the use of raltegravir, both once- and twice-daily. Retrospective review of HIV-infected patients on treatment with raltegravir 800 mg once or 400 mg twice a day plus 2 analogs. ⋯ In fact, 14 out of 56 Ctrough concentrations (25%) from patients taking raltegravir once daily were below the IC95 of wild-type HIV-1 clinical isolates while only 2 samples from patients receiving 400 mg twice a day were below this value, although no relationship between Ctrough and efficacy was found. The main limitations of the study are that the raltegravir dosing regimen was not randomized and more than 50% of the patients were virologically suppressed at baseline. Regimens comprising raltegravir 800 mg once daily plus 2 nucleos(t)ide reverse transcriptase inhibitors can be an efficacious and safe option, particularly in virologically suppressed patients and those with a viral load <100,000 copies/mL.
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Observational Study
Normal Myocardial Flow Reserve in HIV-Infected Patients on Stable Antiretroviral Therapy: A Cross-Sectional Study Using Rubidium-82 PET/CT.
Studies have found HIV-infected patients to be at increased risk of myocardial infarction, which may be caused by coronary microvascular dysfunction. For the first time among HIV-infected patients, we assessed the myocardial flow reserve (MFR) by Rubidium-82 (82Rb) positron emission tomography (PET), which can quantify the coronary microvascular function. MFR has proved highly predictive of future coronary artery disease and cardiovascular events in the general population. ⋯ However, the HIV-infected group had lower values of stress myocardial blood flow (MBF) (2.63 ± 0.09 mL/g/min vs 2.99 ± 0.14 mL/g/min; P = 0.03). We found no evidence of decreased MFR as assessed by 82Rb PET among HIV-infected patients on stable ART with full viral suppression compared with HIV-uninfected controls. We did notice a decreased MBF during stress.
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Observational Study
Association Between Genetic Polymorphisms in the Promoter Regions of Let-7 and Risk of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: A Case-Control Study.
The aim of this study was to investigate the association between 2 polymorphisms (ie, rs10877887 and rs13293512) in the promoter regions of let-7 and the risk of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).A case-control study of 618 PTC patients and 562 controls was conducted. The rs10877887 polymorphism was genotyped by using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and the rs13293512 polymorphism was genotyped by using a TaqMan Genotyping Assay. The results were confirmed by DNA sequencing.The rs10877887 polymorphism had reduced risks of PTC in heterozygous comparison, dominant model, and overdominant model (TC vs TT: adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.73, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 0.58-0.94, P = 0.01; TC/CC vs TT: adjusted OR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.63-1.00, P = 0.047; TC vs TT/CC: adjusted OR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.57-0.92, P = 0.007, respectively). Stratified analyses showed that PTC patients carrying the rs10877887 CC genotype were more likely to have multiple tumors (adjusted OR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.03-2.86, P = 0.04), and PTC patients carrying the rs13293512 TC + CC or CC were more likely to develop N0 status (TC/CC vs TT: adjusted OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.43-0.94, P = 0.02; CC vs ⋯ adjusted OR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.33-0.77, P = 0.001, respectively).Our study suggests that the rs10877887 polymorphism may be associated with the risk of PTC and the rs13293512 polymorphism may correlate to lymph node metastasis in PTC.