Medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of aprepitant on kynurenine to tryptophan ratio in cART treated and cART naïve adults living with HIV.
Changes in tryptophan metabolism affect human physiology including the immune system, mood, and sleep and are associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pathogenesis. This study investigates whether the treatment of HIV-infected individuals with the neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist, aprepitant, alters tryptophan metabolism. This study utilized archival samples from 3 phase 1B clinical trials "Anti-HIV Neuroimmunomodulatory Therapy with Neurokinin-1 Antagonist Aprepitant"-2 double-blinded, placebo-controlled, and 1 open-label study. ⋯ Aprepitant treatment affected tryptophan metabolism in both cART treated and cART naïve individuals with more profound effects in patients receiving cART. While aprepitant treatment affected tryptophan metabolism in all HIV-infected patients, it only significantly decreased kynurenine to tryptophan ratio in cART treated individuals. Aprepitant treatment offers an opportunity to target inflammation and mood disorders frequently co-existing in chronic HIV infection.
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At present, whether respiratory training can improve the lung function, quality of life, and mental health of patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is still controversial. Therefore, in order to provide new evidence-based medicine for clinical treatment, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of respiratory training in improving lung function, quality of life, and mental health of patients with COVID-19. ⋯ DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/ZQTGY.
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This study aimed to assess the role of leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in the development of atrial fibrillation (AF) among Chinese patients. This is a cross-sectional study. A total of 350 patients from June 2016 to December 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. ⋯ After an 18-month follow-up, 20 out of 119 PAF patients had progressed into PsAF and a relative LTL of ≤0.73 was an independent predictor for progression of PAF into PsAF. LTL was found to be shorter in patients with AF than in age-matched individuals with sinus rhythm and positively correlated with severity of AF. LTL shortening could be an independent risk factor for progression from paroxysmal AF to persistent AF in the short term.
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If wounds are infected with bacteria resistant to an empirical antibiotic regimen, effective wound treatment will be delayed. This can delay wound healing and lengthen hospital stays, increasing the costs to patients. Long-term antibiotic use can also result in minor and major complications, such as diarrhea, antibiotic resistance, or life-threatening leukopenia. ⋯ However, it was not statistically different between the ARB and ASB groups (P = .164). In our study the difference in healing time was small when vascularized tissue transfer was done in ARB-infected wound compared with ASB-infected and clean wound. It is necessary to perform surgery using vascularized tissue for the infected wound of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
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In recent years, with the development of medical technology and the increase of inter-disciplinary cooperation technology, new methods in the field of artificial intelligence medicine emerge in an endless stream. Brain-computer interface (BCI), as a frontier technology of multidisciplinary integration, has been widely used in various fields. Studies have shown that BCI-assisted training can improve upper limb function in stroke patients, but its effect is still controversial and lacks evidence-based evidence, which requires further exploration and confirmation. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to systematically evaluate the efficacy of different BCI-assisted training on upper limb function recovery in stroke patients, to provide a reference for the application of BCI-assisted technology in stroke rehabilitation. ⋯ CRD42021250378.