Medicine
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Streptococcus suis is an emerging zoonotic pathogen. Human infections with S suis have been identified in Europe, North America, South America, Oceania, Africa and Asia. As the most common clinical symptom of human S suis, meningitis develops in 50% to 60% of infected patients, and approximately 60% of the patients with meningitis symptoms have neurologic sequelae. The cost of infection with S suis imposes a tremendous burden on patients' families. ⋯ Human infections with S suis highlights the need for health education, prevention and surveillance it.
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A sore throat is an adverse postoperative consequence of tracheal intubation under general anesthesia. Recently, dexmedetomidine, an anesthetic adjuvant, has shown beneficial effects in postoperative sore throat (POST). Herein, we compared the effects of dexmedetomidine and remifentanil on POST after spinal surgery in the prone position, which is a risk factor for developing POST. ⋯ Dexmedetomidine infusion as an adjuvant during sevoflurane anesthesia significantly reduced the incidence and severity of POST in patients who underwent lumbar surgery 24 hours postoperatively.
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Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is a common musculoskeletal disease that develops with increasing age. However, the exact occurrence and progression of IDD remains unclear. Gene expression profiles were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) repository. ⋯ The mRNA-miRNA interaction networks suggested that many miRNAs could regulate autophagy-related genes individually and collectively. The GraphPad Prism Tool and GeneCards database analysis results suggested that 2 hub genes were involved in IDD. Our results revealed that the role of ECM could be a regulatory mechanism in IDD and that these ECM-related genes might be targets for the intervention of IDD.
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There are few studies on the association between obesity and radiologically-confirmed osteoarthritis (OA) in the South Korean older population. We investigated the association between obesity and radiologically-confirmed OA in a nationally-representative sample of the South Korean older population. The study population comprised 5811 participants (2530 men and 3281 women) aged ≥60 years selected from the 2010 to 2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. ⋯ Compared with normal-weight people, the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for OA in obese subjects were 1.73 (1.13-2.64) and 2.76 (2.13-3.56) for older men and women, respectively, after adjusting for age, comorbidities, lifestyle behaviors, and socioeconomic status. Obesity was significantly associated with an increased risk of OA in the South Korean older population. This finding suggests that efforts to maintain appropriate body weight and reduce excessive body weight should be considered to reduce the risk of OA in older adults.