Arch Med Sci
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Review
The effect of Helicobacter pylori eradication on C-reactive protein: results from a meta-analysis.
Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that causes chronic gastroduodenal infection and affects various systemic diseases. An increase in the blood level of C-reactive protein (CRP; a systemic inflammatory marker), at a low-grade chronic inflammation level, is observed in cases of infection. However, the effect of H. pylori eradication on CRP remains undetermined. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the circulating CRP levels in eradicated patients through a meta-analysis. ⋯ Weak evidence exists regarding the effects of H. pylori eradication on CRP levels. Further research is called for.
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The aim of the current study was to evaluate the association of spironolactone and arterial stiffness and composite cardiovascular disease (CVD, including coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure and ischemic stroke) in hypertensive patients. ⋯ Spironolactone treatment is independently associated with lower cf-PWV and lower prevalence of composite CVD in patients with increased arterial stiffness.
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It is essential to predict the survival status of patients based on their prognosis. This can assist physicians in evaluating treatment decisions. Random forest is an excellent machine learning algorithm even without any modification. We propose a new random forest weighting method and apply it to the gastric cancer patient data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program. We evaluated the generalization ability of this weighted random forest algorithm on 10 public medical datasets. Furthermore, for the same weighting mode, the difference between using out-of-bag (OOB) data and all training sets as the weighting basis is explored. ⋯ Compared with the original random forest, the weighted random forest model shows a significant improvement in performance, and the effect of using all training data as the weighting basis is better than using OOB data.
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This study aimed to investigate the clinical features and vaccine effectiveness of patients with the SARS-CoV-2 wild-type strain and the Delta variant. ⋯ The Delta-variant group show higher transmissibility, and vaccination reduces the incidence of severe classification and promotes viral clearance.
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Autologous saphenous vein (SV) and internal mammary artery (IMA) are used as bypass conduits during coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Vasospasm of the arterial and venous grafts may constitute a significant clinical problem. Pretreatment with a vasodilator drug of the graft ex vivo or intraluminal injection before implantation may be used for spasm prophylaxis. This in vitro study was designed to assess the vasoactive effects and time-dependent changes of botulinum toxin A (BTX-A) and papaverine pretreatment on vasospasm of human SV and IMA grafts. Also, histomorphology of the vessels was assessed. ⋯ This study demonstrates that in human SV and IMA grafts, pretreatment with both BTX-A and papaverine are safe and have a potent inhibitory effect depending on the vessel and vasoconstrictor agent. The long-lasting vasodilatory effect of BTX-A on vascular smooth muscle may provide promising results in the prevention of venous and arterial graft spasm.