Medicine
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Cervical cancer is the second most common female malignancy worldwide. The metabolic profile of plasma associated with the prognosis of cervical cancer remains poorly understood. In this cross-sectional study, plasma samples were collected from three groups of patients with CSCC, namely primary patients before treatment (BT group), patients with a poor prognosis (PP group, including patients with distant metastasis and local recurrence), and patients with a good prognosis within two years after the first treatment (GP group). ⋯ Multivariate analyses showed that 31 metabolites were significantly different among the 3 groups studied. Of those, the 5 metabolites phosphatidyl choline (15:0/16:0), phosphatidyl glycerol (12:0/13:0), actosylceramide (d18:1/16:0), D-Maltose, and phthalic acid, with an area under the curve above 0.75, were identified as potential biomarkers. The present findings provide evidence for biomarkers to monitor prognosis of patients with CSCC, which may help in better managing the disease.
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Multicenter Study
Combining procalcitonin with the qSOFA and sepsis mortality prediction.
To investigate whether procalcitonin (PCT) can improve the performance of quick sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score in predicting sepsis mortality, we conducted a retrospective multicenter cohort study with independent validation in a prospectively collected cohort in 3 tertiary medical centers. Patients with presumed sepsis were included. Serum PCT levels were measured at admission. ⋯ Incorporation of PCT into the qSOFA model could raise the sensitivity to 86.5% (95% confidence interval 80.6%-91.2%). In the validation cohort, qSOFA_PCT greatly improved the sensitivity to 90.9%. A simple modification of qSOFA score by adding the ordinal scale of PCT value to qSOFA could greatly improve the suboptimal sensitivity problem of qSOFA and may serve as a quick screening tool for early identification of sepsis.
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The objective of this meta-analysis on randomized controlled trials is to evaluate whether the administration of allopurinol with or without hydration will reduce contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) in patients undergoing contrast exposure. ⋯ The main findings of this meta-analysis are focus on allopurinol may cause reduces in the incidence of CI-AKI in patients undergoing interventional coronary procedures. Further researches are still required for confirmation.
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To evaluate 30-day mortality in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and non-HIV patients who acquired a healthcare-associated infection (HAI) while in an intensive care unit (ICU), and to describe the epidemiological and microbiological features of HAI in a population with HIV. This was a retrospective cohort study that evaluated patients who acquired HAI during their stay in an Infectious Diseases ICU from July 2013 to December 2017 at a teaching hospital in Brazil. Data were obtained from hospital infection control committee reports and medical records. ⋯ HIV infection was not associated with a higher 30-day mortality in critical care patients with a HAI. Age was the only independent risk factor associated with death. VAP was more frequent in HIV patients, probably because of the higher frequency of respiratory conditions at admission, with a predominance of Gram-negative organisms.
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Vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) is a common eye disease and can result in permanent decrease or loss of vision. Houttuynia eye drops (HED) is used for the treatment of VKC. However, the clinical evidence of HED has not been well concluded. Herein, we described a proposed systemic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the clinical efficacy of HED for the treatment of VKC. ⋯ PROSPERO CRD42019124737.