The American journal of the medical sciences
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Review Case Reports
Delayed Hemorrhagic Gastritis Caused by Immunotherapy in a Patient with Metastatic Melanoma.
Pembrolizumab is a monoclonal antibody which targets the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) receptor of lymphocytes. It is commonly used to treat many types of malignancies. Immunotherapy-related adverse events are relatively common and include pneumonitis, colitis and hepatitis. ⋯ The symptoms (nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain) improved dramatically with a long steroid taper. An esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) performed three months after hospital discharge showed improvement in gastric mucosa, but biopsies continued to show evidence of acute and chronic gastritis. As cancer patients continue to live longer with immunotherapy, it is important for all providers to be aware of the less common side effects of newer agents such as pembrolizumab.
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The primary target of SARS-CoV-2 is the respiratory tract; nevertheless, the virus can invade extrapulmonary organs, such as the nervous system. Peripheral facial nerve palsy has been reported in COVID-19 cases as isolated, unilateral, or bilateral in the context of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). In the present study, online databases, including PubMed and Google Scholar, were searched. ⋯ Finally, 36 patients with facial nerve palsy were included in our study using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) or antibody SARS-CoV-2 positive test. Interestingly, 23 (63.8%) of these patients had no typical history of COVID-19, and facial nerve palsy was their first clinical manifestation. The present study concludes that there is enough evidence to suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection may present with facial nerve palsy as the initial clinical manifestation.
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Our objective was to safely and remotely assess longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in at-risk health care workers at the onset of the epidemic. ⋯ This remotely conducted, contact-free study did not identify serologic evidence of widespread occupational SARS-CoV-2 infection in health care workers.
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Early screening is the most effective way to control breast cancer. Due to the lack of accurate biomarkers, early diagnosis of breast cancer is still very difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to discover new candidate genes of breast cancer and improve the early diagnosis and prognosis. ⋯ More comprehensive cancer-related genes can be screened based on the DO-UniBIC method, which can be used as the candidate gene set for prognostic analysis.
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Cannabis is associated with risk of acute coronary syndrome in observational studies. However, its association with prevalent coronary artery disease (CAD) remains unclear. We hypothesized that cannabis use is associated with prevalent CAD. ⋯ Cannabis use is associated with prevalent CAD. This finding emphasizes the potential harmful effects of cannabis use on cardiovascular health and highlights the need for further research as it becomes more accepted at both a national and global level.