Medicine
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Observational Study
Baseline Characteristics and Risk Factors of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients.
Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) has started a single-center right heart catheterization (RHC)-based pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) study in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) since 2006. The baseline characteristics of these patients were described and the risk factor for PAH in lupus was identified. The demographic, clinical, laboratory, and treatment characteristics of SLE patients with PAH when they were registered were collected as the baseline data. ⋯ The immunosuppressive therapy rate and the PAH target therapy rate were high, which is consistent with reports from Western countries. This study has confirmed that pericardial effusion and positive anti-RNP antibody are risk factors for SLE-associated PAH. Long SLE disease duration, the presence of interstitial lung disease, without acute skin rash, positive anti-SSA antibody, low SLEDAI and ESR, and high uric acid levels are also associated with PAH in SLE patients.
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The Adolescents Surveillance System for Obesity prevention (ASSO) Project aimed at developing standardized and web-based tools for collecting data on adolescents' obesity and its potential determinants. This has been implemented and piloted in the local area of Palermo city, Italy. The aim of the present study is to provide an overview of the Project's design, implementation, and evaluation, highlighting all the aspects for a potential scale-up of the surveillance system on the whole national territory and abroad, as a sustainable and effective source of data. ⋯ This article provides a detailed overview of the Project and highlights that ASSO can be considered a valid, logical, coherent, efficient, and sustainable surveillance system that is consistent with countries' needs and priorities. The system developed by the ASSO Project provides high-quality data and complies with several characteristics typical of a suitable surveillance system. It has a potential of being adopted within the National Health Service and other countries' Health Services for monitoring adolescents' obesity and its determinants, such as food intakes, behaviors, physical activity, and fitness profiles.
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Preoperative end-stage renal disease carries a high mortality and morbidity risk after aortic valve replacement (AVR), but the effect of renal insufficiency remains to be clarified. Through propensity score analysis, we compared the preoperative demographics, perioperative profiles, and outcomes between patients with and without renal insufficiency. From August 2005 to November 2014, 770 adult patients underwent AVR in a single institution. ⋯ The 1-year survival significantly differed between the 2 groups including (normal 87.5% versus renal insufficiency 67.9%, P < .001) or excluding in-hospital mortality (normal 90.7% versus renal insufficiency 82.1%, P = .05). Patients with preoperative renal insufficiency who underwent AVR had higher in-hospital mortality rates and increased morbidities, especially those associated with hemodynamic instabilities requiring intraaortic balloon pump support or hemodialysis. Earlier surgical intervention for severe aortic valve disease should be considered in patients who show deteriorating renal function during follow-up.
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The purpose of this study was to examine the monitoring capabilities of the equipment for clever exercise pedometer (ECE PEDO) that provides audible feedback when the person exceeds the upper and lower limits of the target step numbers per minute and to compare step counts with Yamax SW-200 (YX200) as the criterion pedometer. A total of 30 adult volunteers (15 males and 15 females) were classified as normal weight (n = 10), overweight (n = 10), and obese (n = 10). After the submaximal exercise test on a treadmill, the moderate intensity for walking was determined by using YX200 pedometer and then the number of steps taken in a minute was measured. ⋯ Correlations across all three BMI categories and both sex remained consistently high ranging from 0.92 to 0.95. There was a high level of agreement between the ECE PEDO and YX200 pedometer in the Bland-Altman analysis. Although both devices showed a strong similarity in counting steps, the ECE PEDO provides monitoring of intensity such that a person can walk in a specified time with a desired speed.
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Clinical significance of diametrically polarized tumor-associated macrophages in gastric cancer has been elucidated in our previous study, whereas the role of cytokines that orchestrate tumor-associated macrophages polarization in gastric cancer remains elusive. The study aims to evaluate the prognostic value of colony-stimulating factor-1 expression in patients with gastric cancer. We examined the colony-stimulating factor-1 expression in tumor tissues by immunohistochemical staining in retrospectively enrolled 365 patients with gastric cancer undergoing gastrectomy at Zhongshan Hospital during 2008. ⋯ Cox multivariate analysis identified the colony-stimulating factor-1 expression as an independent prognostic factor. The generated nomogram performed well in predicting the 3- and 5-year overall survival of gastric cancer patients. T he colony-stimulating factor-1 is a potential independent adverse prognosticator for gastric cancer patients, which could be integrated with the tumor-associated macrophages staging system to improve the predictive accuracy for overall survival, especially in advanced tumors.