Medicine
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Diabetic ketoacidosis is a serious and potentially life-threatening acute complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). Euglycemic diabetic ketoacidosis (eDKA) is however challenging to identify in the emergency department (ED) due to absence of marked hyperglycemia, often leading to delayed diagnosis and treatment. eDKA has been recently found to be associated with sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, one of the newest classes of antidiabetics, though there are very limited reports implicating dapagliflozin as the offending agent in ED patients. Here we report a type 2 diabetic patient who presented to the ED with eDKA secondary to dapagliflozin administration. ⋯ Life-threatening eDKA as a complication of dapagliflozin is a challenging and easilymissed diagnosis in the ED. Such an ED presentation is very rare, nevertheless emergency physicians are reminded to consider the diagnosis of eDKA in a patient whose drug regimen includes any SGLT2 inhibitor, especially if the patient presents with nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dyspnea, lethargy, and is clinically dehydrated. These patients should then be investigated with ketone studies and blood gas analyses regardless of blood glucose levels for prompt diagnosis and treatment.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Comparison of Leukosan SkinLink with surgical suture for traumatic laceration repair: A randomized controlled trial.
Leukosan SkinLink (LS), which combines non-woven textile strips and tissue adhesive, offers the advantage of atraumatic treatment while effectively shortening the procedure time. We hypothesized that wound closure would be faster with LS than with surgical suture (SS) and the wound infection and dehiscence would be similar. ⋯ Wound closure was approximately 4minutes faster with LS and there were no differences in wound infection and dehiscence rates. Thus, the LS could be used as a timesaving suture technique for acute traumatic lacerations in emergency department (ED).
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Comparative Study
Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with γ-knife compared to TACE or γ-knife alone for hepatocellular carcinoma.
To compare the clinical efficacies and adverse reactions between transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE), γ-ray 3-dimensional fractionated stereotactic conformal radiotherapy (FSCR), and TACE combined with FSCR for primary hepatocellular carcinoma. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board, and informed consent was waived due to the retrospective study design. About 121 patients met the inclusion criteria and were included in this study, from March 2008 to January 2010, in the Second Xiangya Hospital. ⋯ There were statistically significant differences (P = .010) of leukopenia between the 3 groups, and no statistically significant differences of (P > .05) thrombocytopenia, anemia, nausea, vomiting, and liver function lesions. TACE combined with γ-knife for primary hepatocellular carcinoma is superior to TACE or γ-knife alone in short-term and long-term effects. This procedure is a mild, safe, and effective treatment for primary hepatocellular carcinoma.
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As suggested by the 2012 KDIGO guidelines, persistent elevation of serum creatinine > 3.5 mg/dl (> 309 μmol/l) (or an estimated glomerular filtration rate < 30 ml/min per 1.73 m is one of contradictions for the use of immunosuppressive therapy in membranous nephropathy. ⋯ This case strongly suggested that rituximab has promising therapeutic significance, even in patients progressing to CKD4.
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The corpus callosum, which is the most important fiber pathway linking the bilateral hemispheres, plays a key role in information access, as well as the functional coordination and reorganization between the bilateral hemispheres. However, whether the corpus callosum will undergo structural changes during the recovery of aphasia is still unclear. In the current study, a Chinese aphasic patient with stroke was reported to develop changes in the corpus callosum after speech therapy. ⋯ The fibrous structure between the corpus callosum and cortical language areas may be reconstructed during the recovery of aphasia. In addition, and the corpus callosum may play an important role in the occurrence and recovery of aphasia after stroke.