Medicine
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Low endometrial receptivity is associated with infertility in women through multiple and complex mechanisms. Existing treatments are not always effective. Symptomatic drugs such as estradiol valerate and/or aspirin do not completely solve the problem. Traditional Chinese herbs have been widely used in infertility and uterine disease including low endometrial receptivity. However, their effectiveness and safety are still obscure and deserve further investigation. ⋯ DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/M85VT.
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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of moxibustion in infertility females/women undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET). ⋯ PROSPERO, CRD42019135593.
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Placenta previa and accreta with prior cesarean section is an extremely serious condition that is associated with maternal morbidity and mortality from obstetric hemorrhage. The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy and advantages of a novel surgical technique, parallel transverse uterine incisions (PTUI), during conservative cesarean delivery in patients with placenta previa and accreta. This was a retrospective cohort study including 124 pregnant women, who had at least 1 prior cesarean section and were diagnosed with anterior placenta previa and accreta between January 2014 and October 2017. ⋯ Moreover, cesarean hysterectomy (3.3% vs 21.9%; P = .002) and intensive care unit admission (1.7% vs 29.7%; P = .000) were significantly fewer among patients who underwent PTUI. Multivariable regression analyses further showed that the risk of intraoperative hemorrhage (β = -2343.299, P = .000) and cesarean hysterectomy (odds ratio = 0.027, P = .018) were both significantly decreased by PTUI. PTUI is a novel approach that may significantly reduce maternal complications, while preserving the uterus for patients with anterior placenta previa and accreta.
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According to the literature reports and clinical studies on alopecia areata (AA) from 2008 to 2018, most clinical treatments have been oral drugs and external ointments. At present, systemic immunosuppressive therapy has been widely used in AA, but there are various side effects such as elevated liver enzymes, gastrointestinal discomfort, poor drug compliance, and repeated illness. We present a case report describing a traditional medicine treatment for AA that uses an ethnic therapy of Zhuang medicine, a kind of Traditional Chinese Medicine, namely, medicated thread moxibustion. ⋯ The medicated thread moxibustion method of Zhuang medicine can be an effective alternative treatment in patients with AA.
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The incidence of malignant melanoma has been rising steadily over the past decades and Merkel cell carcinoma is a highly aggressive neuroendocrine skin tumor with a high mortality rate. Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is a recommended prognostic tool in primary cutaneous malignant melanomas of intermediate thickness and in all clinically node-negative Merkel cell carcinomas. The gold standard method for identification of SLNs is lymphoscintigraphy, which involves radioactive tracers. Indocyanine green-based near-infrared fluorescence imaging (NIRFI) has been also used for intraoperative SLN identification. We aim to evaluate the diagnostic sensitivity of the VisionSense VS3 NIRFI device for SNL identification. This device uses stereoscopic 3D high definition for both fluorescence and visible light imaging. Our hypothesis is that SLNs may be identified transcutaneously using fluorescent dye injections and NIRFI; therefore, obviating the need for lymphoscintigraphy in the future. METHODS AND ANALYSIS:: lymph node identification in skin malignancy using indocyanine green transcutaneously is a prospective diagnostic sensitivity study conducted at the Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery at the University Hospital Berne, Inselspital, Switzerland. The study aims at recruiting 93 patients (start date September 2017) to compare the accuracy of VisionSense VS3 camera at identifying SLNs transcutaneously with the current gold standard, lymphoscintigraphy. Moreover, a secondary objective is to determine if anatomical location of the SLN and patient factors (eg, body mass index, age) have an impact on the ability of VisionSense to detect SLNs when compared with the same gold standard.