Medicine
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Observational Study
Analysis of psychological status and effect of psychological intervention in quarantined population during the epidemic of SARS-CoV-2.
During outbreaks of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), many countries adopted quarantine to slow the spread of the virus of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Quarantine will cause isolation from families, friends, and the public, which consequently leads to serious psychological pressure with potentially long-lasting effects on the quarantined population. Experience of specific practices to improve the psychological status of the mandatory quarantined population was limited. ⋯ The SCL-90 factor scores of participants with psychological intervention significantly decreased in somatization, obsessive-compulsive, depression, anxiety, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism. In contrast, most factor scores of the SCL-90 inventory changed little without statistical significance in participants without psychological intervention. Psychological problems should be emphasized in the quarantined individuals and professional psychological intervention was a feasible approach to improve the psychological status of the mandatory quarantined population in the epidemic of SARS-CoV-2.
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Radiomics contributes to the extraction of undetectable features with the naked eye from high-throughput quantitative images. In this study, 2 predictive models were constructed, which allowed recognition of poorly differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In addition, the effectiveness of the as-constructed signature was investigated in HCC patients. ⋯ The classification accuracy in the training and validation cohorts were 79.4% and 74.5%, respectively, for model 2. In the training cohort, the AUC was 0.721, while it was 0.681 in the validation cohort. The MRI-based radiomics signature and clinical model can distinguish HCC patients that belong in a low differentiation group from other patients, which helps in the performance of personal medical protocols.
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Hepatocellular with tumor thrombi extending into 3 hepatic veins (HVs) and right atrium presents as a real clinical challenge. We report the first documented case of surgical resection of an advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with extensive invasion to distal stomach, atrium and hepatic vasculatures. ⋯ This case illustrates that the extensive invasion of HCC to major vasculature and adjacent organs may not necessarily preclude the liver autotransplantation with multi-visceral resection as the treatment option of extremely advanced HCC patients.
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Observational Study
Determinants of first-line biological treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: Results from an observational study.
Guidelines for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) recommend the use of conventional synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (cs-DMARDs) at the onset of the disease and only in the case of therapeutic failure, the addition of a biological drug (b-DMARD) is suggested. The study aimed to evaluate determinants for first-line biological treatment in patients with RA in clinical practice. A cohort of patients with RA, resident in Lazio, a central Italian Region, where Rome is located, and with at least one disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD) prescription between 2010 and 2016 was selected using health information systems linkable with each other by an individual unique anonymous identifier. ⋯ In the first year of treatment, we observed a percentage of switch from cs-DMARDs to b-DMARDs of 7.9%. In clinical practice, about 7% of patients with RA are prescribed with a b-DMARD as first-line treatment. This therapeutic option, even if not supported by guide lines, is mostly link to younger age and clinical profile of the patients.
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Observational Study
Stature estimation for Saudi men based on different combinations of upper limb part dimensions.
Estimating stature based on body/limb parts can help define the characteristics of unidentified bodies. The most studied upper limb part is the hand, although few studies have examined whether stature can be estimated using fingers plus other hand dimensions. Moreover, there is paucity in anthropometric studies that determined whether bilateral whole limb parts (e.g., arms, forearms, and hands) are related to stature among the living subjects. ⋯ A multiparameter model provided reasonable predictive accuracy (±3.77-5.68 cm) and was more accurate than single-parameter models. Inclusion of the right-side fingers improved the model's accuracy. This study developed potential models for estimating stature during the identification of bodies of Saudi men.