Postgraduate medicine
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Postgraduate medicine · Jun 2020
Application of Narrow-Band Imaging thoracoscopy in diagnosis of pleural diseases.
Patients with undiagnostic pleural effusions are routinely examined by conventional medical thoracoscopy under the white light (WL). The endoscopic appearance of pleural diseases under WL could be misleading. Narrow-Band Imaging (NBI) has been applied as an interesting and effective diagnostic tool for endoscopy. However, there is also controversy about its value in the application of thoracoscopy. ⋯ The advantage of NBI lies in its high specificity. It's useful to diagnose unknown pleural effusions in clinical practice. With better visualization of blood vessels, we can enhance the accuracy of biopsy and reduce the risk of unexpected bleeding arose from the biopsy.
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Postgraduate medicine · Jun 2020
Association between regular aerobic exercise and hyperhomocysteine in hypertensive patients.
The relationship between total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) and exercise remains controversial. This study aimed to investigate the association between regular aerobic exercise and hyperhomocysteine (hHcy) in patients with hypertension. ⋯ Regular aerobic exercise has a negative association with hHcy in this cross-sectional study. That suggests a hypothesis that doing aerobic exercise might decrease the risk of hHcy in hypertensive patients.
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Postgraduate medicine · Jun 2020
Case ReportsRituximab for acute demyelinating myelopathy after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a case report.
Acute demyelinating myelopathy after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is rare, and the exact pathogenesis remains unclear. Here, we report the case of a 20-year-old patient with B-cell acute lymphocyte leukemia (B-ALL) who developed acute demyelinating myelopathy approximately 10 months after HSCT. ⋯ Treatments with high doses of corticosteroids, immunoglobulins, and rituximab improved his neurologic symptoms, and he achieved 44 months of leukemia-free and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD)-free survival, with no recurrence of the demyelination myelopathy. An understanding of the contribution of immune reconstitution to the pathogenesis of demyelinating myelopathy after HSCT and the association of this disease with GVHD will require more clinical cases.
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Postgraduate medicine · May 2020
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyLinagliptin in patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular and/or renal disease: results from a cardiovascular and renal outcomes trial.
Review of: Rosenstock J, Perkovic V, Johansen, OE, et al. Effect of linagliptin vs placebo on major cardiovascular events in adults with type 2 diabetes and high cardiovascular and renal risk: the CARMELINA randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2019;321:69-79. ⋯ Additionally, progression of albuminuria occurred less frequently in patients who received linagliptin versus placebo (HR 0.86 [0.78-0.95]). Overall, no new safety findings were identified for linagliptin, and no increased risk of hypoglycemia was observed for linagliptin versus placebo. Together, these findings from the CARMELINA trial reaffirm treatment guidelines for choosing additional therapies for patients with T2DM at elevated CV and/or renal risk, and provide new information on the role of linagliptin in the management of T2DM.
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Postgraduate medicine · May 2020
Patient factors associated with diabetes medication adherence at different health literacy levels: a cross-sectional study at a family medicine clinic.
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) incurs tremendous health costs associated with various complications due to poor diabetes control. Medication adherence, which is correlated with patients' health literacy, should be consistently practiced achieving optimal diabetes control. A deeper understanding of the specific communication and psychosocial factors related to medication-taking behaviors across different levels of health literacy among people with T2D will guide the development of effective interventions and strategies to enhance medication adherence. ⋯ Findings suggest that practitioners should address concern beliefs among low-adherent patients with low health literacy, help improve self-efficacy, and address perceived barriers to medication adherence among all low-adherent patients to optimally support patients' diabetes care.