Medicine
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Observational Study
Molecular Analysis of Oral Bacteria in Heart Valve of Patients With Cardiovascular Disease by Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction.
Structural deficiencies and functional abnormalities of heart valves represent an important cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and a number of diseases, such as aortic stenosis, have been recently associated with infectious agents. This study aimed to analyze oral bacteria in dental plaque, saliva, and cardiac valves of patients with cardiovascular disease. Samples of supragingival plaque, subgingival plaque, saliva, and cardiac valve tissue were collected from 42 patients with heart valve disease. ⋯ The micro-organism most frequently detected in heart valve samples was the S. mutans (89.3%), followed by P. intermedia (19.1%), P. gingivalis (4.2%), and T. denticola (2.1%). The mean decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) was 26.4 ± 6.9 (mean ± SD), and according to the highest score of periodontal disease observed for each patient, periodontal pockets > 4 mm and dental calculus were detected in 43.4% and 34.7% of patients, respectively. In conclusion, oral bacteria, especially S. mutans, were found in the cardiac valve samples of patients with a high rate of caries and gingivitis/periodontitis.
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The differentiation of active inflammatory processes from an inactive form of the disease is of great value in the management of interstitial lung disease (ILD). The aim of this investigation was to assess the efficacy of 99mTc-methoxy-isobutyl-isonitrile (99mTc-MIBI) scans in distinguishing the severity of the disease compared to radiological and clinical parameters. In total, 19 known cases of ILD were included in this study and were followed up for 1 year. ⋯ The washout rate was ~40 min starting from 20 min up to 60 min and this rate was significantly different in our 2 study groups (ILD: 46.61[15.61-50.39] vs NL: 70.91[27.09-116.36], P = 0.04). The present study demonstrated that 99mTc-MIBI lung scans might distinguish the severity of pulmonary involvement in early views, which were well correlated with HRCT findings. These results also revealed that 99mTc-MIBI lung scans might be used as a complement to other diagnostic and clinical examinations in terms of functional information in ILD; however, further investigations are strongly required.
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Observational Study
Predictive Value of Serum miR-10b, miR-29c, and miR-205 as Promising Biomarkers in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Screening.
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The high mortality of ESCC is mainly due to late diagnosis. Current detection methods have their own weakness, including high costs and invasive procedures. ⋯ The levels of serum miR-29c and miR-205 were significantly downregulated in ESCC patients compared with healthy volunteers. In contrast, ESCC patients appeared to have a higher level of miR-10b than healthy controls. ROC curve analyses revealed that the AUC value for miR-10b, miR-29c, and miR-205 were 0.85 (95% CI: 0.79-0.93; sensitivity = 76%; specificity = 84%), 0.72 (95% CI: 0.62-0.82; sensitivity = 68%; specificity = 68%), and 0.72 (95% CI: 0.62-0.83; sensitivity = 70%; specificity = 64%), respectively, suggesting that miR-10b, miR-29c, and miR-205 have great potential to be noninvasive screening tools for ESCC detection.
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The imaging finding of omental cake has been demonstrated in other modalities, such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasonography. However, to the best of our knowledge, the image presentation of omental cake on a routine kidney-ureter-bladder film has not been reported before in the literature. We presented a unique case of a 61-year-old woman, with known advanced cecal colon mucinous adenocarcinoma, presented to our institution with abdominal fullness, poor appetite, and decreased stool passage for 20 days. ⋯ The imaging finding in plain radiograph corresponds to the findings in other imaging modalities, including abdominal sonography and computed tomography. The patient underwent subtotal colectomy and ileostomy during later courses of chemotherapy due to adhesion ileus and possible intraabdominal abscess, and pathologic study confirmed the diagnosis of cecal mucinous adenocarcinoma and peritoneal carcinomatosis. Although the image finding of omental cake on plain radiograph has never been described, this image finding is unique and should be recognized, as it may suggest the presence of omental cake when first identified in the emergency department from patients with abdominal distension and warrant further evaluation to evaluate the underlying cause.
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Comparative Study
Comparative Short-Term Clinical Outcomes of Mediastinum Tumor Excision Performed by Conventional VATS and Single-Port VATS: Is It Worthwhile?
Single-port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has been widely applied recently. However, there are still only few reports describing its use in mediastinum tumor resection. We present the technique of single-port video-assisted thoracoscopic mediastinum tumor resection and compare it with conventional VATS with regard to short-term outcome. ⋯ Single-port VATS was associated with shorter operative time, lower postoperation day 1 pain score, and shorter postoperation hospital stay in our cohort study (P = 0.001, <0.001, and 0.039), and propensity scores matched cohort study (P = 0.003, <0.001, and <0.001). Single-port VATS for mediastinum tumor appears to be a safe and promising technique with short-term outcome not inferior to conventional VATS in our cohort study. The long-term oncology outcome may require time and more enrolled patients to be further evaluated.