J Res Med Sci
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Acromegaly is a rare chronic disease and associated with an increased risk of malignancy. The issue of the risk of thyroid cancer in these patients is a topic of debate, and the number of large case-control studies is very limited. ⋯ In the literature, the risk of thyroid cancer was reported greater than five-fold. In this review, we will briefly summarize the studies available regarding thyroid cancer in patients with acromegaly and present three case reports.
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Multiple sclerosis (MS) can involve cognitive entities, including memory, attention, performance, and information processing. Furthermore, MS causes depression and negatively affects the quality of life (QOL). This study was aimed to assess the efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation on cognitive entities of MS patients. ⋯ Ten sessions of cognitive rehabilitation could significantly improve MS patients' cognitive performance. Moreover, this approach affected their QOL and sense of depression in a decisive trend. It can be concluded that cognitive rehabilitation can successfully affect numerous aspects of MS patients, while numerous medical therapies may be required for treatment of each mere aspect. Further evaluations are strongly recommended.
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The most feared complication of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is biliary tract injuries (BTI). We conducted a prospective study to evaluate the role of preoperative magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) in describing the biliary tract anatomy and to investigate its potential benefit to prevent BTI. ⋯ MRCP could be a valuable tool to study preoperatively the biliary anatomy and to recognize "dangerous" anatomical variations. Subsequent BTI might be avoided. Further randomized trials should be designed to assess its real value as a routine investigation before LC.
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Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are drugs that are primarily used for the treatment of malaria and are also recommended for treating connective tissue disorders, autoimmune diseases, and some dermatological and inflammatory diseases. Treatment with these drugs has potential risk for the development of retinopathy, clinically characterized by bilateral pigment changes in the macula, as one serious ocular complication. The aim of this research was to evaluate the parafoveal and perifoveal macular retinal thickness, as central foveal thickness in adult patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on chloroquine therapy using optical coherence tomography (OCT). ⋯ Maculopathy is the main side effect of chloroquine therapy in RA patients that can be detected by OCT in the early stages of the macular involvement.
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The basic reproduction number (R0) has a key role in epidemics and can be utilized for preventing epidemics. In this study, different methods are used for estimating R0's and their vaccination coverage to find the formula with the best performance. ⋯ For the purposes of our study, the estimation of TD was the most useful tool for computing the R0, because it has the minimum MSE. The estimation R0 > 1 indicating that the epidemic has occurred. Thus, it is required to vaccinate at least 41.5% to prevent and control the next epidemic.