Medicine
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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a novel acute respiratory infectious disease that can lead to multiple-organ dysfunction in patients with severe disease. However, there is a lack of effective antiviral drugs for COVID-19. Herein, we investigated the efficacy and safety of convalescent plasma (CP) therapy for treating severe COVID-19 in an attempt to explore new therapeutic methods. ⋯ Repeated chest computed tomography also revealed obvious absorption of the lesions in the bilateral lungs. Only 1 patient had a mild allergic reaction during the CP infusion, but no severe adverse reactions were observed. The early treatment with CP in patients with severe COVID-19 can rapidly improve the condition of the patients, and CP therapy is generally effective and safe.
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Upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage (UGIH) is defined as hemorrhage originating from the gastrointestinal tract proximal to the ligament of Treitz. The causes of UGIH include esophagitis, gastritis, peptic ulcers, Mallory-Weiss syndrome, and cancer. However, a rare cause of UGIH, such as an accessory spleen, may lead to serious complications if left untreated and can sometimes be very difficult to diagnose preoperatively. ⋯ UGIH caused by accessory spleen is extremely rare. This entity should be considered in differential diagnosis of gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Surgical intervention is necessary for timely diagnosis and treatment in case of gastrointestinal hemorrhage in critical clinical situations.
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The tumor immune microenvironment is of crucial importance in cancer progression and anticancer immune responses. Thus, systematic exploration of the expression landscape and prognostic significance of immune-related genes (IRGs) to assist in the prognosis of colon cancer is valuable and significant. The transcriptomic data of 470 colon cancer patients were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas database and the differentially expressed genes were analyzed. ⋯ The validation results illustrated that this model could act as an independent indicator to moderately separate colon cancer patients into low- and high-risk groups. This study ascertained the prognostic significance of IRGs in colon cancer and successfully constructed an IRG-based prognostic signature for clinical prediction. Our results provide promising insight for the exploration of diagnostic markers and immunotherapeutic targets in colon cancer.
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It is unclear which factors contribute to the developing pressure pain hypersensitivity of the upper trapezius, a type of neurophysiological hyperexcitability. The present study investigated the relationship between physical and psychological factors and pressure pain hypersensitivity of the upper trapezius for each sex. In total, 154 individuals with neck/shoulder myofascial pain participated, among 372 food service workers. ⋯ In multivariate analyses, LT strength (odds ratio = 0.94, 95% confidence interval = 0.91-0.97, P = .001) was the only significant influencing factor for pressure pain hypersensitivity in men. Dominant painful ipsilateral cervical rotation range of motion (odds ratio = 0.96, 95% confidence interval = 0.92-0.99, P = .037) was the only influencing factor for pressure pain hypersensitivity in women. LT strength and dominant painful ipsilateral cervical rotation range of motion could serve as guidelines for preventing and managing pressure pain hypersensitivity of the upper trapezius in food service workers with nonspecific neck/shoulder myofascial pain.
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This study's objective was to compare the total and outside the cleft prevalence of dental anomalies (DA) between patients with cleft lip and palate (CLP) and a control group. This retrospective cross-sectional study was done under a case-control design. The case group consisted of 192 non-syndromic patients with complete CLP, while the control group included 411 patients. ⋯ After considering only the DAs outside the cleft, the total prevalence remains significantly higher. However, this phenomenon is explained mainly by the elevated prevalence of upper premolars' agenesis. This study's results suggest that environmental factors are behind the high prevalence of DAs in subjects with CLP.