Internal medicine
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Objective Pleural infection is a significant disease that continues to pose severe problems for respiratory physicians. However, prognostic factors of pleural infection remain poorly understood. The controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score represents the immune-nutrition status of patients with chronic infectious diseases. ⋯ The incidence of 90-day mortality was higher in patients with higher CONUT scores than in those with lower scores [25.3% (21/84) vs. 2.8% (7/251), p<0.001]. In addition, after adjusting for confounders, a high CONUT score was found to be an independent prognostic factor for 90-day mortality (hazard ratio, 9.30; 95% confidence interval, 3.96-21.87; p<0.001). Conclusion Our study indicated that a high CONUT score was associated with an increased risk of 90-day mortality in patients with pleural infection and can be considered for clinical evaluations in practice.
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Case Reports
Encapsulating Peritoneal Sclerosis in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Systemic Sclerosis.
We encountered a 57-year-old Japanese woman with encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and systemic sclerosis. The patient was admitted to our hospital because of ascites retention. ⋯ On autopsy, sclerotic thickening of the peritoneum showed diffuse infiltration of podoplanin-positive fibroblast-like cells, and a diagnosis of EPS was made. EPS rarely occurs in SLE, and tocilizumab may be a new treatment candidate for EPS.