Scot Med J
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Observational Study
Optical coherence tomography: assessment of coronary artery disease and guide to percutaneous coronary intervention.
Angiographic guidance for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has significant limitations in interpretation. The superior spatial resolution of optical coherence tomography (OCT) can provide meaningful clinical benefits, although limited data is available on Asian populations. This study aimed to determine whether OCT can provide additional advantages and useful clinical information beyond that obtained by angiography alone in decision making for PCI. ⋯ The main OCT benefit is in borderline lesions on CA, in whom OCT identifies significant coronary stenosis and leads to PCI indication in patients. In the post-PCI context, OCT leads to an indication of PCI optimisation in half of the coronary lesions.
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Retracted Publication
Metformin prevents brain injury after cardiopulmonary resuscitation by inhibiting the endoplasmic reticulum stress response and activating AMPK-mediated autophagy.
The neurological damage caused by cardiac arrest (CA) can seriously affect quality of life. We investigated the effect of metformin pretreatment on brain injury and survival in a rat CA/cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) model. ⋯ In a CA/CPR rat model, 14-day pretreatment with metformin has a neuroprotective effect. This effect is closely related to the activation of AMPK-induced autophagy and inhibition of the ER stress response. Long-term use of metformin can reduce brain damage following CA/CPR.
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The first case of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection was detected in Wuhan, fever and respiratory symptoms have been frequently reported in patients infected with this virus. ⋯ Our study showed that taste and smell disorders and diarrhea were important markers in COVID-19 infection.
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Letter Meta Analysis
Renin-angiotensin system antagonists are associated with lower mortality in hypertensive patients with COVID-19.
The use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) in patients with Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has been controversial. We performed a meta-analysis of all published studies that reported the outcomes of ACEIs/ARBs in patients with COVID-19. ⋯ Sensitivity analysis including only hypertensive patients demonstrated a lower risk of death with ACEIs/ARBs use (OR: 0.57, 95% CI [0.32-0.98], p = 0.04). In conclusion, hypertensive patients with COVID-19 treated with ACEIs/ARBS have a lower mortality but further research is needed.