Medicine
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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common chronic respiratory disease with increasing morbidity and mortality that cause huge social and economic loss. Although recommended by guidelines, pulmonary rehabilitation has not been widely applied in clinics because of its inherent limitations. Free from restrictions of specific training venues and equipment, Tai Chi, as a kind of pulmonary rehabilitation, has been used to cure the COPD, yet the efficacy and safety of Tai Chi remains to be assessed. In this study, we aim to draw up a protocol for systematic review to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Tai Chi for COPD. ⋯ PROSPERO CRD42019122791.
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Observational Study
HIV-related lymphomas in adults served in the public health network: An observational study.
Individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have higher morbidity and mortality due to cancer, which is the third most common cause of death in this group, despite the high effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART). We describe the clinical and laboratory characteristics, initial staging and outcome of HIV-related lymphoma. We included 18 patients in the study, of whom 61.1% were male, mean age 41 years. ⋯ The second most common scheme was etoposide, doxorubicin, vincristine and cyclophosphamide (EPOCH), used in 2 cases (25%), while in single cases (12.5% each) cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, etoposide, and prednisone (CHOEP), ifosfamide, etoposide, and carboplatin (ICE) and dexamethasone, cisplatin, and cytarabine (DHAP) were used. In this series, we observed very high mortality, equivalent to 44.4%, and a complete response in only 11.1%, much lower than that observed by other authors. We found that patients diagnosed with lymphoma associated with HIV had an advanced early clinical staging, and evolved with low response rates to chemotherapy.
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The quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) score is widely used to assess the risk of sepsis and predict in-hospital mortality in patients with suspected infection. However, its ability to predict mortality among geriatric patients with influenza in the emergency department (ED) remains unclear. Therefore, this study was conducted to delineate this issue. ⋯ Patients with qSOFA score of ≥2 (odds ratio, 4.21; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.56-11.40) had increased in-hospital mortality. qSOFA score of ≥2 also had excellent in-hospital mortality discrimination with an adjusted AUROC of 0.81 (95% CI, 0.71-0.90). A qSOFA of ≥2 had prominent specificity of 0.89 (95% CI, 0.86-0.92). An increase in qSOFA score of 2 greatly predicts mortality in geriatric patients with influenza.
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Computerized tomography (CT)-guided blue dye localization has been widely discussed for preoperative localization of pulmonary nodules. However, few studies have investigated this technique for intra-abdominal lesions. Although preoperative localization is not commonly required in laparotomy, it may assume importance with advancements in the field of laparoscopic surgery. ⋯ We established the following strategy for preoperative CT-guided dye localization of intra-abdominal lesions:Intra-abdominal lesions that are hard to identify due to their size or morphology, and difficult to approach due to their location or surrounding structures, maybe the candidates for this procedure, especially in cases of laparoscopic surgery.Operators should adjust their localization planning based on the surgery method, cutting path, and location of port sites. The target dye marker should be clearly visible in the presumed intra-operative field of view.A second dye marker should be made to ensure surgical success when the target dye marker is obscured by the surrounding structures in the presumed intra-operative field of view.
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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupoint catgut embedding in the treatment of chronic urticaria (CU). ⋯ PROSPERO, CRD42019129459.