Medicine
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Observational Study
Dopaminergic Therapy Modulates Cortical Perfusion in Parkinson Disease With and Without Dementia According to Arterial Spin Labeled Perfusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
Arterial spin labeling (ASL) magnetic resonance imaging analyses allow for the quantification of altered cerebral blood flow, and provide a novel means of examining the impact of dopaminergic treatments. The authors examined the cerebral perfusion differences among 17 Parkinson disease (PD) patients, 17 PD with dementia (PDD) patients, and 17 healthy controls and used ASL-MRI to assess the effects of dopaminergic therapies on perfusion in the patients. The authors demonstrated progressive widespread cortical hypoperfusion in PD and PDD and robust effects for the dopaminergic therapies. ⋯ These patterns of hypoperfusion could be related to cognitive dysfunctions and disease severity. Furthermore, desensitization to dopaminergic therapies in terms of cortical perfusion was found as the disease progressed, supporting the concept that long-term therapies are associated with the therapeutic window narrowing. The highly sensitive pharmaceutical response of ASL allows clinicians and researchers to easily and effectively quantify the absolute perfusion status, which might prove helpful for therapeutic planning.
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Compared to conventional echocardiography, spectral tissue Doppler imaging (s-TDI) allows more precise evaluation of diastolic cardiac function. The purpose of this study was to conduct s-TDI to analyze the slow movement of the left ventricular (LV) myocardium in adolescents with systemic arterial hypertension (HT) and to determine whether patients with HT suffer from LV diastolic dysfunction. The study group comprised 69 consecutive patients (48 boys and 21 girls aged 14-17 years [mean, 15.5 ± 1.1 years]) with primary HT, and the control group comprised 48 healthy participants (24 boys and 24 girls aged 14-17 years [mean, 15.8 ± 1.3 years]). ⋯ The e'/a' ratios from the septal and lateral insertion sites were lower, whereas the E/e' ratio from the septal insertion site was significantly higher in the study group, similar to that seen in atrial reversal velocity (P < 0.001). These findings indicate that using sTDI to find and measure diastolic LV failure is valuable when the probe is placed at the septal and lateral mitral valve annuli during examination. Changes in the myocardium appear similar to those seen in adults.
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Observational Study
Multimorbidity: Epidemiology and Risk Factors in the Golestan Cohort Study, Iran: A Cross-Sectional Analysis.
Advances in medicine and health policy have resulted in growing of older population, with a concurrent rise in multimorbidity, particularly in Iran, as a country transitioning to a western lifestyle, and in which the percent of the population over the age of 60 years is increasing. This study aims to assess multimorbidity and the associated risk factors in Iran. We used data from 50,045 participants (age 40-75 y) in the Golestan Cohort Study, including data on demographics, lifestyle habits, socioeconomic status, and anthropometric indices. ⋯ Other factors associated with higher risk of multimorbidity included non-Turkmen ethnicity, low education, unemployment, low socioeconomic status, physical inactivity, overweight, obesity, former smoking, opium and alcohol use, and poor oral health. Apart from advanced age and female sex, the most important potentially modifiable lifestyle factors, including excess body weight and opium use, and opium user, are associated with multimorbidity. Policies aiming at controlling multimorbidity will require a multidimensional approach to reduce modifiable risk factors in the younger population in developing countries alongside adopting efficient strategies to improve life quality in the older population.
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The purpose of this study is to explore the risk factors affecting the postoperative transfusion of allogeneic blood in patients undergoing orthopedics surgery with intraoperative blood salvage (IBS). A retrospective study of 279 patients undergoing orthopedic surgeries with IBS from May 2013 to May 2015 was enrolled. The binary logistic regression was used to find out the risk factors associated with postoperative transfusion of allogeneic blood in orthopedics patients with IBS, and then receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to determine the optimal threshold of the regression model. ⋯ The area under ROC curve was 0.79 and the predicted accuracy rate of the model was 81.58%. After operation, the orthopedic patients with IBS still have a high allogeneic blood transfusion rate, and IBS is not a perfect blood protection method. The logistic regression model of our study provides a reliable prediction for postoperative transfusion of allogeneic blood in orthopedic patients with IBS, which have a certain reference value.
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Acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with extended hospital stay, a high risk of progressive chronic kidney diseases, and increased mortality. Patients undergoing radical prostatectomy are at increased risk of AKI because of intraoperative bleeding, obstructive uropathy, older age, and preexisting chronic kidney disease. In particular, robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALP), which is in increasing demand as an alternative surgical option for retropubic radical prostatectomy (RRP), is associated with postoperative renal dysfunction because pneumoperitoneum during RALP can decrease cardiac output and renal perfusion. ⋯ Furthermore, the length of hospital stay in RALP was also significantly shorter (P < 0.001). The incidence of AKI after RALP is significantly lower than after RRP. RALP can therefore be a better surgical option than RRP in terms of decreasing the frequency of postoperative AKI.