Medicine
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COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, is now a worldwide pandemic. The number of infected people has continually increased, and currently, this pandemic continues to present challenges to public health. Scatter plots are frequently used to interpret the impact in relation to confirmed cases. However, the 95% confidence intervals are rarely given to the scatter plot. The objective of this study was to; Develop 95% control lines on daily confirmed cases and infected days for countries/regions in COVID-19 (DCCIDC) and; Examine their impacts on public health (IPH) using the hT-index. ⋯ The scatter plot combined with the 95% control lines was applied to compare the IPHs hit by COVID-19 and suggested for use with the hT-index in future studies, not limited to the field of public health as we did in this research.
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Menopausal syndrome (MS) refers to a series of symptoms with autonomic nervous system dysfunction caused by decreased sex hormones before and after menopause. Baihe Dihuang (BHDH) decoction positively affects MS, but its mechanism remains unclear. This study aimed to reveal the underlying mechanism through network pharmacology. ⋯ Molecular docking results showed that emodin and stigmasterol are strongly associated with Serine/threonine-protein kinase AKT, Estrogen Receptor 1, epidermal growth factor receptor, sarcoma gene, and tumor protein P53. This study preliminarily revealed the multi-component, multi-target, and multi-channel mechanism of BHDH Decoction in treating MS. It provides a reference for in vitro and in vivo research and clinical application of BHDH Decoction in the treatment of MS.
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To investigate the potential role of COVID-19 in relation to Behcet's disease (BD) and to search for relevant biomarkers. We used a bioinformatics approach to download transcriptomic data from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of COVID-19 patients and PBMCs of BD patients, screened the common differential genes between COVID-19 and BD, performed gene ontology (GO) and pathway analysis, and constructed the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, screened the hub genes and performed co-expression analysis. In addition, we constructed the genes-transcription factors (TFs)-miRNAs network, the genes-diseases network and the genes-drugs network to gain insight into the interactions between the 2 diseases. ⋯ The genes-TFs-miRNAs network, genes-diseases network and genes-drugs network also play important roles in the interaction between the 2 diseases. Interaction between COVID-19 and BD exists. ACTB, ASPM, CCNA2, CCNB1, and CENPE as potential biomarkers for 2 diseases.
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Observational Study
1-hour versus 3-hour 99mTc-PYP imaging to evaluate suspected cardiac transthyretin amyloidosis.
The diagnosis of cardiac transthyretin amyloidosis can involve early or delayed 99mTc-pyrophosphate planar, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and/or SPECT/CT imaging. We investigated whether image interpretations differed among modalities and time points. In this observational study, data were reviewed for 173 patients with suspected transthyretin amyloidosis who underwent planar and SPECT/CT 1 and 3 hours after radiopharmaceutical injection. ⋯ There were more equivocal cases for 1 and 3 hours planar imaging than for 1 and 3 hours SPECT (71-73% vs 23-26%, P < .001) and 1 and 3 hours SPECT/CT (3-5%, P < .001). SPECT/CT image quality was higher at 3 hours than at 1 hour and higher than that on SPECT (P = .001). Three-hour SPECT/CT readings provided the highest number of definitive readings, had the highest image quality, and constituted the preferred protocol for evaluating unselected populations of patients that have a clinical suspicion of possible cardiac amyloidosis.
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The current study was performed to systemically review the efficacy and safety of tranexamic acid (TXA) in patients undergoing cardiac surgery at a single large-volume cardiovascular center. ⋯ This current study suggested that intravenous TXA significantly reduced total volume of postoperative bleeding in both adult and pediatric patients undergoing cardiac surgery at the single cardiovascular center without increasing the composite incidence of mortality and morbidities.