Medicine
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Lumbar disc herniation (LDH) is the most common cause of low back pain and severely affects people's quality of life and ability to work. Although many clinical trials and medical reports conducted over the years have shown that acupuncture treatments are effective for LDH, the comparative effectiveness of these different acupuncture therapies is still unclear. This protocol of a network meta-analysis was designed to compare the effects and safety of acupuncture treatment regimens on LDH using both direct and indirect evidence. ⋯ This proposed systematic review will evaluate the comparative efficacy and safety of various acupuncture methods and combination protocols for LDH.
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Comparative Study
Surgery vs non-surgery in cutaneous melanoma based on SEER database: A cross-sectional study.
This study was to assess the survival outcome of cutaneous melanoma (CM) patients with surgery vs non-surgery through inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) using the propensity score. Patients diagnosed as CM were selected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) database. The survival outcome was estimated and compared by IPTW using the propensity score. ⋯ Compared with the non-surgery group, the surgery group had a lower risk of death in unmatched [hazard ratio (HR): 0.647, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.509-0.821, P < .001] and matched (HR: 0.636, 95%CI: 0.459-0.882, P < .01) cohorts. In multivariate Cox model of IPTW-weighted cohort, the risk of death in the surgery group decreased notably than the non-surgery group (HR: 0.423, 95%CI: 0.383-0.468, P < .001). In conclusion, CM patients receiving surgical treatment are associated with a better survival outcome compared with those without surgical treatment through IPTW using the propensity score.
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With the acceleration of the pace of life, the phenomenon of anxiety and depression in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) is more and more common, and "psycho-cardiology" arises spontaneously. At present, the drug treatments of psycho-cardiology are difficult to achieve satisfactory results, and the side effects are obvious. Complementary and replacement therapies of CHD complicated with anxiety or depression disorder play an increasingly positive role, but there is a lack of comparison among different complementary and alternative therapies. In this study, Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) analysis method will be used for the first time to synthesize all the evidences of direct and indirect comparison among a variety of interventions, and rank their effectiveness and safety. ⋯ This review does not require ethical approval.
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Comparative Study
Long-term functional outcomes of diffuse pigmented villonodular synovitis of knee: The role of adjuvant radiotherapy.
Diffuse pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) of knee is a rare benign disease that has a destructive clinical course. Synovectomy and adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) have been reported as treatment options but literatures reporting functional outcomes were sparse. This study aimed to evaluate the long-term functional outcomes and disease control among treatment modalities through the 22 years of experience. ⋯ Among those with preserved knee joints, there was no significant difference in the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index score and stiffness score between patients in the OP + RT and OP groups. For patients with diffuse PVNS of knee, the addition of moderate-dose adjuvant RT following OP provided excellent local control while maintaining good joint function with limited treatment-related morbidity. Our study emphasized the importance of moderate dose RT in diffuse PVNS of knee joint.
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Observational Study
Increased expression of microRNA-26a-5p predicted a poor survival outcome in osteosarcoma patients: An observational study.
MicroRNA (miR)-26a-5p is an oncogene significantly associated with osteosarcoma. We try to evaluate expression of circulating miR-26a-5p in osteosarcoma patients and evaluate its significance. A total of 243 consecutive osteosarcoma patients and 96 healthy participates were enrolled. ⋯ Moreover, patients with a high serum miR-26a-5p had a poorer overall survival than those with a low serum miR-26a-5p levels (P < .05). Circulating miR-26a-5p level also been showed as independent risk factor for osteosarcoma in multivariate analysis (hazard ratio [HR], 0.38; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.11-0.98; P < .01). Circulating miR-26a-5p was significantly upregulated in osteosarcoma patients and remarkably associated with poor prognosis, indicating that circulating miR-26a-5p might serve as a useful diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for osteosarcoma.