Medicine
-
People living in the same area are more likely to experience similar socioeconomic characteristics, which leads to cluster effect and influences the generalizability of data regarding metabolic syndrome (MetS). However, previous studies did not consider or adjust for the cluster effect of living circumstances. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of MetS and associated lifestyle factors in Chinese adults 18 to 80 years of age, using multi-level generalized estimation equation (GEE). ⋯ MetS has become a serious public health challenge in China. Many lifestyle factors have been found to be closely associated with MetS, including obesity, a high-salt diet, alcohol consumption, and short sleep duration. Therefore, changes in lifestyle are very important for adults to reduce the prevalence of MetS.
-
The aim of this study is to investigate the accuracy of tumor size assessment by shear wave elastography (SWE) in invasive breast cancer and also evaluated histopathologic factors influencing the accuracy. A total of 102 lesions of 102 women with breast cancers of which the size was 3 cm or smaller were included and retrospectively analyzed. Tumor size on B-mode ultrasound (US) and SWE were recorded and compared with the pathologic tumor size. ⋯ In the multivariate analysis, ER positivity (P = .002) and molecular subtype (P = .027) significantly influenced the accuracy of tumor size measurement by SWE. In conclusion, the accuracy of the tumor size measured with SWE was lower than that measured with B-mode US and SWE tends to overestimate the size. ER positivity and molecular subtype are significantly associated with the accuracy of SWE in tumor size assessment.
-
Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is the standard of care for the treatment of complex coronary artery disease. However, the optimal surgical treatment for patients with reduced left ventricular function with low ejection fraction (EF) is inconclusive. In our center, left-sided coronary grafting with bilateral internal thoracic artery (BITA) is generally the preferred method for surgical revascularization, also for patients with low EF. ⋯ Long-term survival (median follow up of 14 years, interquartile range, 11.2-18.9) was also similar between the groups. Propensity score matching (129 matched pairs) yielded similar early and long-term outcomes for the groups. This study did not demonstrate any clinical benefit for BITA compared with SITA revascularization in individuals with low EF.
-
To investigate the incidence of skin diseases, the factors affecting the life quality, anxiety, and depression of patients with skin diseases and the correlation among the 3. A total of 1127 patients with skin diseases were selected online from March 2018 to June 2018. Logistic regression was used to analyze the factors influencing life quality, anxiety, and depression. ⋯ Additionally, sex, marital status, education, and family history of skin diseases were the main factors influencing depression. Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that the life quality, anxiety, and depression were positively correlated. Psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, acne, steroid-dependent dermatitis, and alopecia have a certain impact on the life quality of most patients, and may cause different degrees of anxiety and depression.
-
To evaluate the performance of different blood cells-derived indexes in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte to monocyte ratio, platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR), systemic inflammation response index (SIRI), and aggregate inflammation systemic index were calculated in 199 consecutive RA patients and 283 sex and age-matched controls (147 healthy donors and 136 patients with other rheumatic diseases). Area under the curve (AUCs), sensitivity and specificity were calculated to evaluate the accuracy of indexes in discriminating between RA and controls. ⋯ The accuracy of the indexes in differentiating RA from healthy donors was significantly higher than that (AUCs < 0.6 for all comparisons) differentiating RA from rheumatic diseases. In RA, SIRI and aggregate inflammation systemic index showed significant association with C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Our results do not support the use of blood cells-derived indexes for the diagnosis of RA, suggesting that they might reflect chronic inflammatory burden in rheumatic diseases rather than, specifically, in RA.