Medicine
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Observational Study
A study on the paraspinal muscle surface electromyography in acute nonspecific lower back pain.
Aim of this study was to determine if surface electromyography (sEMG) could provide objective data in monitoring the alteration of signal amplitude of myoelectric activity of the paraspinal muscles in the patients with acute nonspecific lower back pain (ANLBP), and to explore the correlation between sEMG data and symptom relief in the ANLBP patients before and after massage therapy. Forty-five ANLBP patients and 20 healthy subjects were enrolled into this study. Patients were given massage therapy for 1 week. ⋯ In addition, AEMG alteration at maintained flexion position was significantly correlated with improvement of VAS or DFTF. Myoelectric activity of the paraspinal muscles in the ANLBP patients was different from that of healthy subjects. Massage therapy not only relived patients' symptoms, but also normalized myoelectric activity of the paraspinal muscles in the ANLBP patients.
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Validated risk scoring systems in African American (AA) population are under studied. We utilized history, electrocardiogram, age, risk factors, and initial troponin (HEART) and thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) scores to predict major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in non-high cardiovascular (CV) risk predominantly AA patient population. A retrospective emergency department (ED) charts review of 1266 chest pain patients where HEART and TIMI scores were calculated for each patient. ⋯ DCA showed net benefit of using HEART score is equally predictive of 6-week MACE when compared to TIMI. In non-high CV risk AA patients, HEART score is better predictive tool for 6-week MACE when compared to TIMI score. Furthermore, patients presenting to ED with chest pain, the optimal strategy for a 2% to 4% miss rate threshold probability should be to discharge these patients from the ED.
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Observational Study
Association of mRNA expression levels of Cullin family members with prognosis in breast cancer: An online database analysis.
Cullin proteins couple with RING-finger proteins, adaptor proteins and substrate recognition receptors to form E3 ubiquitin ligases for recognizing numerous substrates and participating in a variety of cellular processes, especially in genome stability and tumorigenesis. However, the prognostic values of Cullins in breast cancer remain elusive. ⋯ While high mRNA expression of CUL2, CUL4B, and CUL5 were correlated with better survival for breast cancers. The associated results suggested that some Cullin members could serve as new predictive prognostic indicators for breast cancer.
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Tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy (TIC) is defined as systolic and/or diastolic dysfunction of the left ventricle resulting from prolonged elevated heart rates, completely reversible upon control of the arrhythmia. Atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia (AVRT) is one of the most frequent causes of TIC. In its incessant form, it is unlikely to be controlled by pharmacological treatment, catheter ablation being the principal therapeutic option. The coexistence of left bundle branch block (LBBB) in patients with AVRT may cause difficulties in the early diagnosis and management of tachycardia because of the wide complex morphology, making it harder to localize the accessory pathway (AP). ⋯ AVRT is rarely associated with intrinsic LBBB, being a potential cause of TIC. In these patients, it is unlikely to control the arrhythmia pharmacologically, catheter ablation being the best therapeutic option. The variation of QRS complex duration between LBBB pattern in SR and AVRT could be useful for early diagnosis of an ipsilateral AP on surface ECG.
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Data regarding the safety of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) treatment is limited. To compare the adverse events (AEs) induced by aflibercept and ranibizumab using a spontaneous reporting system and determine the signals. We used data from the Korea Institute of Drug Safety & Risk Management-Korea Adverse Event Reporting System Database (KIDS-KD), collected between 2007 and 2016. ⋯ Endophthalmitis (OR 6.96, 95% CI 2.74-17.73) was more likely to be reported in patients with aflibercept than in patients without aflibercept, whereas medicine ineffective (OR 18.49, 95% CI 2.39-143.29) and retinal disorder (OR 7.03, 95% CI 1.60-30.96) were more likely to be reported in patients with ranibizumab than in patients without ranibizumab. New signals have been identified for aflibercept and ranibizumab. Further research is necessary to evaluate the causality of AEs that were detected as signals in this study.