Medicine
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Observational Study
Cyclic adenosine monophosphate-regulated transcriptional co-activator 3 polymorphism in Chinese patients with acute coronary syndrome.
To investigate the cAMP-regulated transcriptional co-activator 3 (CRTC3) polymorphism and its significance in the acute coronary syndrome patients. In total, 248 patients with acute coronary syndrome admitted to Taizhou People's Hospital between March 2016 and October 2016 were included in this study. Eighty-eight age- and gender-matched healthy individuals received physical examination in our hospital served as normal control. ⋯ Statistical increase was noticed in the high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in those with AG phenotype compared with those with AA phenotype in those with rs3862434. Significant decrease was identified in the total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and weight in those with CC phenotype compared with those with CT phenotype among the cases with rs11635252 (P < .05). CRTC3 polymorphism was associated with the onset of acute coronary syndrome in Han Chinese patients, which may be related to the imbalance of the lipid metabolism.
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Observational Study
Desmoplastic melanoma versus spindle cell melanoma: Incidence and survival, 1973 to 2017.
Desmoplastic melanoma (DM) and spindle cell melanoma (SCM) are 2 rare subtypes of melanoma. This study aims to investigate these 2 melanomas comprehensively by comparison. Cases were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database (1973-2017). ⋯ The chance of DSS and OS of SCM were significantly higher comparing to DM for female patients (HR = 1.268, for OS; HR = 1.711, for DSS), patients age ≤65 years (HR = 1.290, for OS; HR = 1.638, for DSS), No-Spanish-Hispanic-Latino patients (HR = 1.098, for OS; HR = 1.426, for DSS), patients with skin tumor (HR = 1.174; for OS; HR = 1.444; for DSS) and patients who received surgery (HR = 1.091; for OS; HR = 1.398, for DSS). DM and SCM mostly occurred in white people' skin at 60 to 80 years old and eye and orbit was another most affected site for SCM. SCM had slightly higher occurrence in women and the risk of DSS and OS were significantly higher comparing to DM depending on the women, patients age ≤65 years, patients with skin tumor, No-Spanish-Hispanic-Latino patients and patients who received surgery.
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Observational Study
Monoclonal gammopathies regardless of subtypes are associated with poor prognosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: A STROBE-compliant article.
Monoclonal gammopathy (MG), a positive result of serum immunofixation electrophoresis (SIFE), has been reported in cases of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). We performed this study to further investigate the prognostic value of MG in DLBCL. We retrospectively reviewed patients diagnosed with DLBCL between January 2007 and December 2014, and identified 37 patients with MG. ⋯ Furthermore, our study found that the appearance of MG during treatment did make prognostic sense compared to nonsecretors. Overall, MG can serve as a prognostic factor for DLBCL. We hypothesize that its presence in DLBCL may reflect the immune microenvironment in tumor progression and warrants further study to unveil the underlying molecular pathogenesis.
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Observational Study
The peripheral blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is a prognostic predictor for survival of EGFR-mutant nonsmall cell lung cancer patients treated with EGFR-TKIs.
Epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) are the standard first-line treatment for EGFR-mutant nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. However, studies have reported that not all NSCLC patients harboring kinase domain mutations in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) show significant clinical benefits from EGFR-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Therefore, it is necessary to establish feasible biomarkers to predict the prognosis of EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients treated with EGFR-TKIs. ⋯ The multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that only low NLR was an independent prognostic factor for long-term PFS and OS (PFS, HR = 0.573, 95% CI: 0.340-0.964, P = .036; OS, HR = 0.491, 95% CI: 0.262-0.920, P = .026). The data show that a low NLR was a good prognostic factor in EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients receiving EGFR-TKIs treatment. Moreover, the NLR measurement has better prognostic value than LMR.
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Observational Study
Analysis of the functionally-narrowest portion of the pediatric upper airway in sedated children.
The narrowest portions of the pediatric larynx are the glottis and subglottic region. However, the pliable and paralyzed subglottic region, acting like a curtain, is no resistance when passing an endotracheal tube. Therefore, the 'functionally' portion of the pediatric upper airway, which may be the most vulnerable to damage during intubation, is the unyielding portion below the cricoid cartilage. ⋯ The mean ± SD of CSA was the smallest at the subcricoid level (cricoid, 8781.5 ± 1963.3 mm; subcricoid, 8425.0 ± 2025.7 mm; and trachea, 8523.7 ± 1791.1 mm; P = .02). The AP diameter at the subcricoid level was narrower than the transverse diameter at trachea level (mean difference: 4.2 mm, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.7-7.7, P = .02). Since the most susceptible portion for airway damage is unyielding portion, our findings suggest that, functionally, the narrowest portion of the pediatric larynx is located in the subcricoid region.