Medicine
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Pulse-wave velocity (PWV) is a widely used clinical marker of arterial stiffness. Associations between several physical fitness measures and arterial stiffness have been examined. However, these results were inconsistent. ⋯ This association was consistent even after adjusting for confounding factors. Our study revealed a significant association between various aspects of physical fitness and arterial stiffness. This study suggests that physical fitness is a useful predictor of arterial stiffness in older adults.
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The objective of this study was to evaluate whether adaptive NKG2C+CD57+ natural killer (adapNK) cell frequencies are associated with pre-clinical coronary atherosclerosis in participants of the Canadian HIV and Aging Cohort Study. This cross-sectional study included 194 Canadian HIV and Aging Cohort Study participants aged ≥ 40 years of which 128 were cytomegalovirus (CMV)+ people living with HIV (PLWH), 8 were CMV-PLWH, 37 were CMV mono-infected individuals, and 21 were neither human immunodeficiency virus nor CMV infected. Participants were evaluated for the frequency of their adapNK cells and total plaque volume (TPV). ⋯ The frequency of adapNK cells was negatively correlated with TPV. A high frequency of adapNK cells was associated with a relative risk of 0.75 (95% confidence intervals 0.58, 0.97, P = .03) for presence of coronary atherosclerosis. This observation suggests that adapNK cells play a protective role in the development of coronary atherosclerotic plaques.
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Case Reports
Hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies misdiagnosed as Guillain-Barré Syndrome: A case report.
Hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies (HNPP) is an autosomal dominantly inherited genetic disease characterized by recurrent numbness and limb weakness. HNPP can be easily missed or misdiagnosed because of electrophysiological heterogeneity and atypical clinical symptoms. To date, diagnosis of HNPP remains a challenge for clinicians. ⋯ This case highlights the complexity of HNPP diagnosis and emphasizes the importance of early identification.
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This study aimed to examine the range of beige colored mucosa (BCM) in patients with esophageal eosinophilic infiltration (EEI) using narrow-band imaging (NBI). In this retrospective study, EEI was confirmed histologically in 12 consecutive patients from January 2014 to December 2017. The BCM tone on NBI without magnifying endoscopy was evaluated, and red, green, and blue (RGB) values of BCM and normal mucosa were measured. ⋯ BCM was observed in all cases of EEI. RGB values differed between bright and dark BCM. Assessing BCM tone using NBI is a potentially novel diagnostic method for EEI.
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Colon cancer is a common digestive tract tumor. Although many gene prognostic indicators have been used to predict the prognosis of colon cancer patients, the accuracy of these prognostic indicators is still uncertain. Thus, it is necessary to construct a model for the prognostic analysis of colon cancer. ⋯ The patients were divided into a high-risk group and a low-risk group according to the cutoff point. Then, the DEirlncRNAP model was verified using patient survival times, clinicopathological features, tumor-infiltrating immune cells, chemotherapy responses, and immunosuppressive biomarkers. A new DEirlncRNAP model for predicting the prognosis of colon cancer patients was established, which could reveal new insights into the relationships of colon cancer with tumor-infiltrating immune cells and antitumor immunotherapy.