The American journal of the medical sciences
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Currently, most available data on the medication adherence of patients with chronic heart failure are based on indirect methods. We examined the level of adherence to medical therapy using a direct method - serum drug level testing. ⋯ A significant proportion of outpatients with chronic heart failure were non-adherent to treatment when assessed by a direct method of serum drug level testing. Non-adherence was more likely in younger patients.
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It has been reported that the dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) is implicated in the biological processes of diverse diseases, including the tumorigenesis of human cancers. MicroRNA-628-5p (miR-628-5p) is differentially expressed and plays a critical role in several cancers, but the role of miR-628-5p in cervical cancer has not been well studied. ⋯ MiR-628-5p inhibited cervical cancer cell proliferation and promoted apoptosis by targeting VEGF.
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Tuberculous pleural effusion (TPE) is usually characterized by lymphocytic predominance and high pleural fluid adenosine deaminase (pfADA), while parapneumonic pleural effusion (PPE) is usually characterized by neutrophilic predominance. However, in some cases, neutrophils can be predominant in TPE. In such cases, the differential diagnosis between TPE and PPE is challenging and has been rarely investigated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of pfADA, pleural fluid lactate dehydrogenase (pfLDH) and other parameters, such as age/pfADA in the differential diagnosis of neutrophil-predominant TPE (NP-TPE) and PPE. ⋯ Although pfADA played an important role in the discrimination of NP-TPE from PPE, combining pfADA with pfLDH for patients ≤50 years old or combining pfADA with pfN% for patients >50 years old might improve diagnostic performance.