Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA
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Measurement of the levels of the derivatives of reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROMs) and of the biological antioxidant potential (BAP) enables simultaneous assessment of oxidation degree and antioxidant capacity, using the same sample and testing equipment. At present, reference values of healthy adults are clarified, but the reference value of healthy children is unknown. This study was undertaken to clarify the age-related changes and the reference values of d-ROMs and BAP in healthy children. ⋯ This study was carried out for the first time in healthy children in oxidative stress assessment using d-ROMs and BAP. In the infancy 2-6 years, the d-ROMs value was significantly higher and the BAP/d-ROMs ratio was significantly lower. From this, it was suggested that age should be considered when performing oxidative stress assessment using d-ROMs and BAP in children.
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Catheter ablation provides a therapeutic option for decreasing episodes of ventricular tachycardia in patients with coronary artery disease. Clinical studies show improvement with catheter ablation in reducing arrhythmia recurrence and therapy from implantable defibrillators, but not in decreasing mortality. ⋯ Overall, complication rates of catheter ablation are acceptable, but recurrence rates are still significant. Advances in mapping and ablation technologies could be expected to improve the success rates and reduce the mortality.
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Neuropathic pain (NeP) is often under-recognized, resulting in poor pain management. Therefore, a Taiwan version of the 10-item Douleur Neuropathique 4 (DN4-T) questionnaire was developed to identify patients with NeP from a mixed population of patients with pain. ⋯ The DN4-T questionnaire has been reliably translated into Mandarin Chinese and can be used as a diagnostic tool for NeP in conjunction with clinical evaluation.
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Thumb basal joint arthritis is a common, disabling condition of the hand. Ligament reconstruction and tendon interposition (LRTI) is one of the more common surgical solutions. We performed a retrospective study to evaluate long-term radiological and clinical outcomes of modified LRTI procedures in treating thumb basal joint arthritis. ⋯ With good and durable surgical outcomes, the modified LRTI procedure could be a good treatment for thumb basal joint arthritis.
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A novel risk model to predict long-term mortality in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), derived from the EPICOR (long-term follow-up of antithrombotic management patterns in acute coronary syndrome patients) registry, has been released recently and its performance remains to be assessed. The objective is to evaluate the EPICOR score for 2-year mortality risk in ACS patients after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). ⋯ The simplified EPICOR score showed fair discriminatory power of 2-year mortality in patients with ACS and an improved performance in the STEMI subgroup. It could aid in risk stratification of ACS patients as an independent predictor.