Medicine
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Ovarian carcinoma (OC) is considered among the most prevalent triggers of cancer-related deaths in women. Many studies have demonstrated that human epididymis protein 4 (HE-4) as well as cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) are over-expressed in various malignant tumors, such as lung, liver, endometrial, gastric, breast, as well as ovarian cancers. Nonetheless, the overall diagnostic value of serum HE-4, in addition to CA-125 n patients experiencing OC, is still largely undetermined. Therefore, the current study intends to investigate the general diagnostic significance of HE-4 along with CA-125 in patients with OC. ⋯ DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/YQPC7 (https://osf.io/yqpc7/).
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Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common type of dementia; it has a significant impact on patients and exerts a great social and economic burden. However, there has been no comprehensive systematic review assessing the efficacy and safety of Buyang Huanwu-Tang (Boyang Hwano-Tang, BHT) for VaD. Therefore, this protocol was developed to conduct a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of BHT in the treatment of VaD. ⋯ 10.17605/OSF.IO/NDYGP.
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Observational Study
KIF4A as a novel prognostic biomarker in cholangiocarcinoma.
Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is one of the most common malignant tumors. Although gene-targeted therapies have significantly improved the outcome of many cancers, the results are still not satisfactory for patients with CCA. Owing to the lack of an effective biomarker for guiding clinical treatment and monitoring prognosis in patients with CCA, the purpose of this study was to identify a new biomarker that could help predict the outcome of patients with CCA using bioinformatics tools. ⋯ Increase in KIF4A expression affected the infiltration degree of the immune cells, which may be involved in the regulation of immune tolerance by CCA cells. The results indicated that the expression of KIF4A in CCA was higher than that in paracancerous tissues. Taken together, these findings suggest that KIF4A could be a potential new biomarker in CCA for predicting the response of patients to targeted immunotherapies.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Low urine pH associated with sarcopenia in the elderly: A multi-center observational study.
The pathophysiology of sarcopenia is complex and must be further explored. While metabolic acidosis may be a risk factor for sarcopenia, it remains unclear whether acidic urine is related to sarcopenia. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the association between sarcopenia and urine pH in the elderly. ⋯ A multivariate analysis that was adjusted for age, male sex, body mass index, uro-renal variables and exercise habit revealed that urine pH (odds ratio, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.22-0.85, P = .02), age and less exercise habit were independently and significantly associated with sarcopenia. The findings of the present study suggest a potential association between metabolic acidosis and the pathophysiology of sarcopenia in the elderly. As urine pH is a simple biomarker that can be obtained using dipstick tests, it is therefore expected to be helpful for detecting sarcopenia in the clinical setting.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Intensive care unit model and in-hospital mortality among patients with severe sepsis and septic shock: A secondary analysis of a multicenter prospective observational study.
We aimed to determine the association between the intensive care unit (ICU) model and in-hospital mortality of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. This was a secondary analysis of a multicenter prospective observational study conducted in 59 ICUs in Japan from January 2016 to March 2017. We included adult patients (aged ≥16 years) with severe sepsis and septic shock based on the sepsis-2 criteria who were admitted to an ICU with a 1:2 nurse-to-patient ratio per shift. ⋯ The compliance rate for the sepsis care 3-h bundle was higher in the closed ICU group than in the open ICU group. In-hospital mortality was not significantly different between the closed and open ICU groups in a multilevel logistic regression analysis (odds ratio = 0.83, 95% confidence interval; 0.52-1.32, P = .43) and propensity score matching analysis (closed ICU, 21.2%; open ICU, 25.7%, P = .22). In-hospital mortality between the closed and open ICU groups was not significantly different after adjusting for ICU structure and compliance with the sepsis care bundle.