Medicine
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Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most aggressive malignancies in gastrointestinal tract cancers and even patients with early ESCC have a high metastatic potential. Difficulties are associated with clinically predicting tumor progression and prognosis based on conventional tumor markers determined from preoperative blood examinations. The aim of the present study was to measure plasma fibrinogen levels and the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in blood and compare the clinical impacts of their combined values (fibrinogen and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio score-F-NLR score) and the modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS) in patients with ESCC. ⋯ Prognoses among the groups based on the F-NLR score and mGPS significantly differed (all P < 0.001). A multivariate analysis identified the depth of tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, and F-NLR score as independent prognostic factors (P = 0.002, P = 0.007, and P = 0.037, respectively). The results of the present study showed that the F-NLR score is a promising blood predictor for tumor progression and outcomes in patients with ESCC.
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Observational Study
Second-Line HIV Therapy Outcomes and Determinants of Mortality at the Largest HIV Referral Center in Southern Vietnam.
The growing numbers of HIV-infected patients requiring second-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Vietnam make essential the evaluation of treatment efficacy to guide treatment strategies. We evaluated all patients aged ≥15 years who initiated second-line ART after documented failure of first-line therapy at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City. The primary outcome was time from second-line ART initiation to death, or to a new or reoccurrence of a WHO-defined immunological or clinical failure event, whichever occurred first. ⋯ Older age, history of injection drug use, lower CD4 count, medication adherence <95%, and previous protease inhibitor use independently predicted treatment failure. While treatment efficacy was similar to that reported from other resource-limited settings, mortality was higher. Early deaths may be averted by prioritizing second-line therapy for those with lower CD4 counts and by improving treatment adherence support.
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Case Reports
Case Report: Human Bocavirus Associated Pneumonia as Cause of Acute Injury, Cologne, Germany.
Although the human bocavirus (HBoV) is known since a decade, limited information about its pathogenesis is available due to the lack of an animal model. Thus, clinical cases and studies are the major source of novel information about the course of infection and the related pathophysiology. ⋯ During the initial phase, an acute active HBoV infection was confirmed by positive polymerase chain reactions from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and serum. The case further demonstrates that HBoV can cause severe pneumonia, induce secondary disease also in adults, and may be associated with neurological symptoms as previously assumed.
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Celiac disease (CD) is common in Caucasians, but thought to be rare in Asians. Our aim was to determine the prevalence of CD in Chinese patients with chronic diarrhea predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D). From July 2010 to August 2012, 395 adult patients with IBS-D and 363 age and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited in Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University and Xiaogan Central Hospital in Hubei province, central China. ⋯ In the present study, CD was present in 1.01% of patients with IBS-D and in 0.28% of the control group. We like to suggest that the haplotype HLA-DQA1*03-DQB1*03:03 (HLA-DQ9.3), which is common in Chinese, is a new susceptibility factor for CD in China. Larger screening and genetic studies are needed in the Chinese population of different regions.
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Observational Study
Effect of Hypovitaminosis D on Postoperative Pain Outcomes and Short-Term Health-Related Quality of Life After Knee Arthroplasty: A Cohort Study.
Vitamin D may have an important role in pain perception. Inadequate vitamin D levels are associated with suboptimal recovery after surgery. However, the effects of hypovitaminosis D on postoperative pain-related outcomes and its impact on health-related quality of life after surgery are not well understood. ⋯ Hypovitaminosis D increased the risk of moderate-to-severe persistent pain (adjusted odds ratio 2.64, 95% CI: 1.03-6.77). Preoperative hypovitaminosis D had subtle effects on pain intensity scores in the early postoperative period and is a risk factor for moderate-to-severe persistent pain after knee arthroplasty. Hypovitaminosis D was not associated with worse health-related quality of life at 3 months after knee arthroplasty.