Plos One
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Studies have reported that higher circulating levels of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and lower of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol may be associated with increased risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Whether dyslipidemia causes AAA is still unclear and is potentially testable using a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach. We investigated the associations between blood lipids and AAA using two-sample MR analysis with SNP-lipids association estimates from a published genome-wide association study of blood lipids (n = 188,577) and SNP-AAA association estimates from European Americans (EAs) of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study (n = 8,793). ⋯ Using the MR-Egger regression and weighted median methods, we were able to validate the association of AAA risk with TC, although the associations were less consistent for LDL cholesterol due to wider confidence intervals. Triglycerides and HDL cholesterol were not associated with AAA in any of the MR methods. Assuming instrumental variable assumptions are satisfied, our finding suggests that higher plasma TC and LDL cholesterol are causally associated with the increased risk of AAA in EAs.
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The new Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra assay (Ultra, Cepheid, Sunnyvale, USA) is a cartridge-based automated diagnostic test that can simultaneously identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTB) and resistance to Rifampicin (RIF). With respect to the previous version Xpert MTB/RIF assay (Xpert), IS6110/IS1081 repetitive elements probes have been added allowing the detection of lower MTB load, defined by the new semi-quantitative category "trace" with indeterminate RIF resistance. The aim of this study was to evaluate performance of the new version Ultra on Xpert-negative, but TB culture-positive clinical samples. ⋯ Our results are consistent with the few studies published so far and confirm the better performance of Ultra compared to the previous version in both respiratory and non-respiratory smear-negative samples, with an overall improvement of 45.6%.
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Although hypoalbuminemia is a known risk factor for acute kidney injury (AKI) following surgery, little is known about its effects following aneurysm clipping surgery. We aimed to investigate the predictors of AKI and overall mortality and assessed the relationship between preoperative albumin and postoperative outcomes after aneurysm clipping surgery. ⋯ Preoperative albumin≤ 3.9 g/dL is associated with postoperative AKI and mortality.
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Pediatric patients, especially in the preverbal stage, cannot self-report intensity of pain therefore several validated observational tools, including the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability (FLACC) Behavioral Scale, have been used as a benchmark to evaluate pediatric pain. Unfortunately, this scale is currently unavailable in Japanese, precluding its widespread use in Japanese hospitals. ⋯ Our Japanese version of the FLACC Behavioral Scale shows high validity and reliability.
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To predict hospital admission at the time of ED triage using patient history in addition to information collected at triage. ⋯ Machine learning can robustly predict hospital admission using triage information and patient history. The addition of historical information improves predictive performance significantly compared to using triage information alone, highlighting the need to incorporate these variables into prediction models.