Medicine
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Case Reports
Case series: Primary aldosteronism diagnosed despite normal screening investigations: A report of three cases.
Since the introduction of the aldosterone-to-renin ratio (ARR) as a screening tool for primary aldosteronism (PA), there has been a marked increase in the reported prevalence of this condition among hypertensive, even normotensive, subjects. ⋯ After rigorous standardized diagnostic evaluation, there are still many reasons for ARR negative in PA, but they all basically occur in the background of normal or normal-high renin without suppression. A negative screening test result should be repeated and analyzed carefully if this is not consistent with the clinical picture. If, despite a repeatedly negative ARR, clinical suspicion remains high, we recommend consideration of further evaluation, including confirmatory tests and adrenal venous blood sampling (AVS) or even 68Ga-pentixafor PET/CT to better confirm the diagnosis and improve patient outcomes.
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Case Reports
Radiological findings of contrast-induced encephalopathy following cerebral angiography: A case report.
Contrast-induced encephalopathy (CIE) is a rare complication associated with the use of contrast media. New contrast agents make contrast complications increasingly rare. The diagnosis of CIE is challenging, particularly in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Neuroimaging results for patients with CIE can also be highly variable. ⋯ Patients with CIE may have a high signal on diffusion-weighted imaging and a low signal on apparent diffusion coefficient brain MRI. This is similar to the MRI findings in acute stroke. This needs to be distinguished from acute cerebral infarction and suggests that we should closely monitor patients' neurological symptoms at the time of cerebral angiography and after the investigations.
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Case Reports
Stomach ulcer caused by mistakenly oral medication of 14,400 mg ibuprofen: A case report.
Gastric mucosal ulcer caused by drug overdose is very rare in clinical practice, and here is a case of gastric antral ulcer caused by drug overdose. ⋯ This case provides valuable information to the clinic, through the compilation of literature and case analysis, the author found that paying attention to mental health, to women in poor areas and to women from families of low education level are indispensable in medical diagnosis and treatment.
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Observational Study
Galectin-3 changes from admission to discharge and its prognostic value for in-hospital mortality in heart failure: A prospective observational study.
The aim of this study was to compare the levels of Galectin-3 (Gal-3) in heart failure patients at admission and discharge, and to evaluate the ability of Gal-3 at admission in predicting in-hospital mortality. A total of 111 patients were enrolled. Gal-3 and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels were measured at admission and discharge. ⋯ The optimal cutoff values for Gal-3 and BNP to predict in-hospital mortality were identified as 28.1 ng/mL and 1782.6 pg/mL, respectively, with moderate to good sensitivity and specificity. A median reduction of 19.9% of Gal-3 may indicate possibility to discharge. Our findings suggest that Gal-3 and BNP, when combined with heart failure stage, may be useful for predicting in-hospital mortality.
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Immunotherapy is one of the main therapeutic approaches for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Based on the poor response of immunotherapy, it is crucial to determine the most accurate and widespread predictive characteristics of NSCLC. We retrieved lung squamous cell carcinoma and lung adenocarcinoma gene expression profiles and clinical data from the cancer genome atlas database and classified them into 3 subtypes based on 29 immune gene sets. ⋯ In addition, the Hippo signaling pathway was negatively correlated with immune signature, whereas epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition was positively correlated. In addition, we found significant differences in immune signatures between males and females; however, no correlation was observed with other clinical data. The identification of NSCLC subtypes based on immune signatures has potential clinical implications for NSCLC treatment.