Medicine
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Comparative Study
Comparison of noninvasive scoring systems for the prediction of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in metabolic syndrome patients.
Over half of metabolic syndrome (MetS) patients have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). To prevent its complications, standard routine screening is required, but the human-resource and budgetary implications need to be taken into consideration. This study compared the performances of 4 noninvasive scoring systems in predicting NAFLD in MetS patients. ⋯ All 4 scoring systems proved to be acceptable for predicting NAFLD among MetS and T2DM patients in settings where the availability of ultrasonography is limited. NAFLD-MS provided the highest specificity and cost avoidance, and it is simple to use. All 4 systems can help clinicians decide further investigations.
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Second primary cancer is prevalent in patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer, for which lung cancer is the most common and associated with high lethality. Image screening for lung cancer was proved to be effective in early diagnosis and lower mortality. However, trials of screen for lung cancer generally excluded patients with a previous diagnosis of malignancy. ⋯ GI-hepatic cancer was the most common primary malignancy in the lung cancer cohort. Patients had better survival outcome when secondary lung cancer was diagnosed in original primary cancer clinic. Chest image screening strategy may contribute better survival in secondary lung cancer due to detection at an earlier stage.
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Comparative Study Observational Study
A comparative study of four Bowie-Dick test under the condition of pressure steam sterilizer simulating gas leakage.
We aimed to understand the evaluation of different Bowie-Dick test (B-D test) on the performance of pressure steam sterilization equipment in the case of simulated gas leakage, and we selected a pulsating vacuum steam sterilizer to set 4 different gas leakage levels: 1.1, 1.3, 1.5, and 1.7 mbar/min during the B-D test phase. In terms of methods, 4 different brands of B-D test kits (devices) were tested at 4 different leakage rates, and a total of 48 experiments were conducted. The results from univariate analysis revealed that there are statistically significant differences in the judgment of test results among different personnel and brands. ⋯ Result judgments of brand 1 and brand 2 are susceptible to subjective factors. The judgment of brand 3 is intuitive and consistent with the evaluation result of brand 4. In conclusion, the order of capacity to evaluate air leakage from best to worst is brand 4→brand 3→brand 1→brand 2.
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X inactive specific transcript (XIST) is a novel long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) which has been reported to be frequently upregulated in various human cancer types and to function as an oncogene. It has been reported that the expression of lncRNA XIST was upregulated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In the present study, we aimed to investigate the clinical significance and prognostic value of XIST in patients with NSCLC. ⋯ Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that XIST expression level (hazard ratio = 2.645, 95% confidence interval: 1.672-7.393, P = .029) was an independent factors in predicting the overall survival of NSCLC patients. The present study found that XIST expression level was significantly associated with advanced pathological stage and high TNM stage in NSCLC. Furthermore, upregulation of tissue lncRNA XIST predicts poor postoperative survival in patients with NSCLC.
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Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is the second most common subtype of stroke with higher mortality and morbidity, and it lacks effective prognostic markers. The aim of this research is to construct newly valuable prognostic nomogram incorporating red blood cell distribution width (RDW) for ICH patients. We retrospectively analyzed 953 adult patients with ICH. ⋯ Decision curve analysis showed an increased net benefit for utilizing the nomogram. High RDW values are associated with an unfavorable outcome after ICH. The established nomogram incorporating RDW should be considered for a 30-day functional prognosis.