J Formos Med Assoc
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COVID-19 pneumonia presented with certain characteristic chest CT imaging features, which are helpful to the radiologist in the early detection and diagnosis of this emerging global health emergency. In this report, we present chest CT findings from five patients with COVID-19. Except for one case with normal lung appearance, all the other four cases had certain characteristics, including ground-glass opacity (GGO), consolidation and atoll sign. The lesions were mainly distributed in the peripheral portion of lung.
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This study aimed to determine the potential effects of angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2), von Willebrand factor (vWF), and extravascular lung water index (EVLWI) on the risk of mortality in sepsis patients with concomitant acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ⋯ The study findings indicate that Ang-2 levels and EVLWI at 24 h and 48 h after admission are significantly associated with the risk of mortality.
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The recommended target low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level for coronary artery disease (CAD) patients has been lowered from 100 to 70 mg/dL in several clinical guidelines for secondary prevention. We aimed to assess whether initiating statin treatment in CAD patients with baseline LDL-C 70-100 mg/dL in Taiwan could be cost-effective. ⋯ Lowering the target LDL-C level from 100 to 70 mg/dL among treatment-naïve CAD patients could be cost-effective given the health benefits of preventing cardiovascular events and deaths.