BioMed research international
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Deep nerve hydrodissection uses fluid injection under pressure to purposely separate nerves from areas of suspected fascial compression, which are increasingly viewed as potential perpetuating factors in recalcitrant neuropathic pain/complex regional pain. The usage of 5% dextrose water (D5W) as a primary injectate for hydrodissection, with or without low dose anesthetic, could limit anesthetic-related toxicity. An analgesic effect of 5% dextrose water (D5W) upon perineural injection in patients with chronic neuropathic pain has recently been described. ⋯ Patients received 3.8 ± 2.6 treatments over 9.7 ± 7.8 months from the first treatment to the 2-month posttreatment follow-up. Pain improvement exceeded 50% in all cases and 75% in half. Our results confirm the analgesic effect of D5W injection and suggest that hydrodissection using D5W provides cumulative pain reduction.
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The aim of this study was to detect the effect of 1 μg/kg of oral dexmedetomidine (DEX) as premedication among children undergoing dental procedures. ⋯ Oral DEX administered at 1 μg/kg provided satisfactory sedation levels, ease of parental separation, and mask acceptance in children but was not effective in preventing emergence delirium. The trial was registered (Protocol Registration Receipt NCT03174678) at clinicaltrials.gov.
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Baseline neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been repeatedly reported as a significant prognostic factor in advanced cancer patients. We explored whether changes in NLR may predict outcome of advanced cancer patients enrolled into phase 1 trials and treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. ⋯ Changes in the NLR may be a useful predicting factor in advanced cancer patients treated with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 agents. Further prospective trials are needed to verify these findings.
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Cardiorespiratory fitness assessment with leg cycle exercise testing may be influenced by motor impairments in the paretic lower extremity. Hence, this study examined the usefulness of a unilateral arm crank exercise test to assess cardiorespiratory fitness in individuals with stroke, including sixteen individuals with hemiparetic stroke (mean ± SD age, 56.4 ± 7.5 years) and 12 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Participants performed the unilateral arm crank and leg cycle exercise tests to measure oxygen consumption ([Formula: see text]O2) and heart rate at peak exercise. ⋯ In the stroke group, the heart rate at peak exercise during the unilateral arm crank exercise test did not significantly correlate with the Brunnstrom recovery stages of the lower extremity (p = 0.137), whereas there was a significant correlation during the leg cycle exercise test (rho = 0.775, p < 0.001). The unilateral arm crank exercise test can detect the deterioration of cardiorespiratory fitness independently of lower extremity motor impairment severity in individuals with hemiparetic stroke. This study is registered with UMIN000014733.
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The peripheral blood neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR), and platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have been reported to correlate with the prognosis of many malignancies. This study evaluated the prognostic value of pretreatment NLR, LMR, and PLR in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). A retrospective analysis of clinical and pathological data of 140 NPC patients without distant metastasis during initial treatment was conducted to identify correlations between NLR, LMR, and PLR and clinicopathological features, overall survival, and progression-free survival. ⋯ In addition, NLR ≥ 2.28 was significantly associated with a relatively short progression-free survival (P < 0.05). Cox proportional hazard regression analysis showed that NLR was an independent prognostic factor in NPC. Pretreatment NLR, LMR, and PLR might be a useful complement to TNM staging in the prognostic assessment of NPC patients.