Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA
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The use of antibiotics in the early lives of premature infants may alter the microbiota and influence their clinical outcomes. However, whether the administration of probiotics can influence these outcomes remains unknown. In our study, probiotics were routinely administered unless contraindicated. We explored whether increased antibiotic exposure with the routine use of probiotics was associated with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) or bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). ⋯ Increased antibiotic exposure in the early lives of VLBW infants was associated with increased risks of NEC and BPD. The probiotics did not influence the outcomes. Our findings suggest that clinicians should be alerted to the adverse outcomes of antibiotic use in infants with VLBWs.
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Castleman disease and lymphoma each have a distinct treatment plan; however, they share the same features on contrast-enhanced computed tomography. ⋯ The value of HU provides a good diagnostic tool for the differential diagnosis of Castleman disease versus lymphoma in the neck lymph nodes. Considering the linear relationship in Castleman disease, an increasingly accurate differential diagnosis can be made.
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Inasmuch as optical and photochemical properties of a photosensitizer can be modified upon association with the nanoparticle (NP), we wondered whether the effectiveness of phototherapeutic rose bengal (RB) was affected upon tethering to the sodium lanthanide fluoride NP with an outer polyallylamine (PAH) coat. ⋯ Our findings provide evidence that the PAH coat plays a key role in enhanced biological activities of RB delivered via NPs, including the increase in singlet oxygen production and photocytotoxic effects.
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In real-world medical education, there is a lack of reliable predictors of future clinical competencies. Hence, we aim to identify the factors associated with clinical competencies and construct a prediction model to identify "improvement required" trainees. ⋯ Our study suggests that interventions for students with unsatisfactory medical school grades are warranted to improve their clinical competencies.
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Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) has been well recognized as the first-line intravesical therapy for high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Oncotice, the Tice strain of BCG, serves as a viable alternative to the Connaught strain owing to the worldwide shortage of the latter. We retrospectively compared these two strains in terms of efficacy and adverse effects (AE) in patients who underwent at least one maintenance course after induction. ⋯ Tice and Connaught were comparable in terms of RFS, PFS, and AE for patients with NMIBC accepting BCG induction and at least one maintenance course in our real-world practice. However, Tice was a predictor of inferior PFS on multivariate analysis.