Postgraduate medicine
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Postgraduate medicine · May 2023
ReviewTrends and recent developments in pharmacotherapy of acute pancreatitis.
Acute pancreatitis (AP), a complex inflammatory disease of the pancreas, is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Currently, no specific therapies are approved for its treatment, and management is primarily based on supportive care. Despite enhanced understanding of AP pathogenesis, patients remain at significant risk owing to a lack of targeted drug treatments. ⋯ Alternative treatment options using stem cells and nanoparticles are also being explored and may hold promise for AP therapy. However, challenges for exploring targeted treatment approaches include disease complexity, timing of therapeutic intervention, and establishing appropriate clinical endpoints. Understanding the role of specific biomarkers may help in identifying appropriate targets for drug discovery and facilitate determining relevant clinical study endpoints to monitor disease severity and progression, thereby aiding in design of more precise therapies with improved clinical outcomes.
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Postgraduate medicine · May 2023
Observational StudyEffectiveness of hepatitis C antiviral treatment and feasibility of hepatitis C elimination goal.
Second-generation direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) have shown high efficacy in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in clinical trials. This study aimed to estimate the effectiveness in real-life conditions and their capacity to eliminate HCV infection in the general population. ⋯ With DAAs, SVR was achieved in all patients with active HCV infection who completed follow-up, and a second course of treatment was only necessary in a small proportion of patients. Adherence to treatment is essential for HCV infection elimination.
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This study was conducted to reveal the characteristics of pediatric emergency revisits of children with COVID-19 and the factors associated with clinical worsening and hospitalization at the revisit. ⋯ Children with a diagnosis of COVID-19 can revisit the emergency without evident clinical worsening. Since revisits cause increase in frequency of laboratory and radiological testing, preventing unnecessary revisits of children with COVID-19 can reduce the workload and cost of health care services. We may consider changing our perspective on revisit patients to make decisions based on clinical findings instead of obtaining for more laboratory tests.
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Postgraduate medicine · May 2023
Serum platelet distribution width predicts cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis.
Platelet distribution width (PDW) is a predictor for all-cause mortality in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic implication of PDW in predicting cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD). ⋯ High levels of PDW are independently associated with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in the PD population, and differences by sex exist in the association of PDW with all-cause mortality.
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Postgraduate medicine · May 2023
Changing face of non-infectious pediatric uveitis in the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods: a comparison study.
Our aim in this study was to reveal the clinical features of pediatric uveitis in the pandemic period and to compare it with the pre-pandemic era. ⋯ The present study involved a large number of pediatric patients with uveitis. There are some differences in the characteristics of pediatric uveitis cases comparing the pandemic period and the pre-pandemic period. This increased frequency and changing clinical features of pediatric uveitis seems to be a result of COVID-19 infection.