Scientific reports
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Meta Analysis
A meta-analysis of accuracy and sensitivity of chest CT and RT-PCR in COVID-19 diagnosis.
Nowadays there is an ongoing acute respiratory outbreak caused by the novel highly contagious coronavirus (COVID-19). The diagnostic protocol is based on quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and chests CT scan, with uncertain accuracy. This meta-analysis study determines the diagnostic value of an initial chest CT scan in patients with COVID-19 infection in comparison with RT-PCR. ⋯ The overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of chest CT scan compared to RT-PCR were 87% (95% CI 85-90%), 46% (95% CI 29-63%), 69% (95% CI 56-72%), and 89% (95% CI 82-96%), respectively. It is important to rely on the repeated RT-PCR three times to give 99% accuracy, especially in negative samples. Regarding the overall diagnostic sensitivity of 87% for chest CT, the RT-PCR testing is essential and should be repeated to escape misdiagnosis.
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This study designed to evaluate the effect of nutraceutical supplementation on pain intensity and physical function in patients with knee/hip OA. The MEDLINE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Scopus, EMBASE, Google Scholar, Science direct, and ProQuest in addition to SID, Magiran, and Iranmedex were searched up to March 2020. Records (n = 465) were screened via the PICOS criteria: participants were patients with hip or knee OA; intervention was different nutritional supplements; comparator was any comparator; the outcome was pain intensity (Visual analogue scale [VAS]) and physical function (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis [WOMAC] index); study type was randomized controlled trials. ⋯ Nutritional supplementation were found to improve total WOMAC index (SMD = - 0.23, 95% CI - 0.37 to - 0.08), WOMAC pain (SMD = - 0.36, 95% CI - 0.62 to - 0.10) and WOMAC stiffness (SMD = - 0.47, 95% CI - 0.71 to - 0.23) subscales and VAS (SMD = - 0.79, 95% CI - 1.05 to - 0.05). Results of subgroup analysis according to the supplementation duration showed that the pooled effect size in studies with < 10 months, 10-20 months and > 20 months supplementation duration were 0.05, 0.27, and 0.36, respectively for WOMAC total score, 0.14, 0.55 and 0.05, respectively for WOAMC pain subscale, 0.59, 0.47 and 0.41, respectively for WOMAC stiffness subscale, 0.05, 0.57 and 0.53, respectively for WOMAC physical function subscale and 0.65, 0.99 and 0.12, respectively for VAS pain. The result suggested that nutraceutical supplementation of patients with knee/hip OA may lead to an improvement in pain intensity and physical function.