Pak J Med Sci
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Endoscopic therapy can reduce the risks of rebleeding, continued bleeding, need for surgery, and mortality. The objective of this systematic review was to compare the different modalities of endoscopic therapy for GI bleeding. ⋯ We recommend the application of hemoclips in treating GI bleeding due to its high hemostasis efficacy and low risk of 30-day mortality.
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Review
Effect of inulin-type fructans in patients undergoing cancer treatments: A systematic review.
Current studies give us inconsistent results regarding the inulin consumption in cancer patients. The results of to-date studies are summarized in this systematic review. ⋯ The available evidence is inconclusive regarding the effect of inulin and oligofructose on cancer outcomes. Nonetheless, possible inulin positive effects including improved stool consistency after abdomen radiotherapy and increased stool butyrate content which is involved in controlling tumor cells proliferation and apoptosis should not be denied. Further research is needed in this area before strong conclusions can be drawn.
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Massive retroperitoneal hematoma caused by lumbar artery rupture is generally associated with trauma or retroperitoneal malignancy. However, despite recent advances in technologies and tools, spontaneous lumbar artery rupture is a very rare disease entity but remains a challenging problem because it is frequently associated with significantly high mortality and morbidity and is very difficult to make a correct diagnosis. ⋯ A massive retroperitoneal hematoma caused by lumbar artery rupture should be considered in patients with late-onset shock accompanied by blunt abdominal/pelvic trauma. Furthermore, early detection and urgent embolization would prevent further complications and eliminate the need for surgical interventions.
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Thrombocytopenia is a frequent finding in intensive care unit especially among adults and medical ICU patients. Thrombocytopenia is defined as a platelet count less than 100×109/l in ICU setting. Platelets are made in the bone marrow from megakaryocytes. ⋯ In such cases, the time course of changes in platelet count is also pivotal. The dynamics of platelet count decrease vary considerably between different ICU patient populations including trauma, major surgery and minor surgery/medical conditions. There are strong evidences available that delay in platelet count restoration in ICU patients is an indicator of a bad outcome.
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Mild to moderate vitamin E deficiency because of inadequate consumption of vitamin E-rich foods and intestinal fat malabsorption is common in growing children, women of reproductive age and elderly South Asian population. Severe vitamin E deficiency may lead to peripheral and motor neurodegenerative diseases (e.g ataxia and motor skeletal myopathy), impaired immune response and free radical-induced hemolytic anemias. ⋯ Oxidative stress-induced reactive oxygen species have been shown to cause ineffective erythropoiesis and enhanced lysis of erythrocytes in some of the experimental animals and humans. Several studies on patients with various types of inherited hemolytic anemias, chronic renal disease, premature low birth infants and apparently healthy humans have shown that vitamin E might be therapeutically effective in the prevention and/ or treatment of anemia in these subjects.