Medicine
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Miscarriage represents a prevalent yet insufficiently studied adverse pregnancy outcome. The definitive causal links between various pathogens and miscarriage remain to be established. To investigate the causal connections between pathogen infections and miscarriage, we utilized a two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. ⋯ Our extensive research has identified a causal association between miscarriage and infections by several human herpesviruses (HHV-1, HHV-3, HHV-4, HHV-6, and HHV-7), polyomaviruses (BK, JC, and Merkel cell polyomaviruses), and Chlamydia trachomatis (inverse variance weighted, P < .05). Notably, a meta-analysis of the integrated data highlighted the particularly high accuracy and consistency of the association with Merkel cell polyomavirus. Our MR analysis has clarified the causal relationships between specific pathogen infections and miscarriage, providing a critical foundation for the prevention and treatment of this adverse pregnancy outcome.
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This study employs Mendelian randomization (MR) approach to investigate the potential causal association between genetic variants associated with gut microbiota, inflammatory factors, and the risk of uterine fibroids development. We extracted data on 211 types of gut microbiota, 91 inflammatory factors, and uterine fibroids occurrence from genome-wide association studies and applied the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method for analysis. To further assess the robustness of our MR analysis, we conducted sensitivity tests including Cochrane's Q test, the MR-Egger intercept test, the MR-PRESSO global test, and a leave-one-out analysis. ⋯ When using 91 inflammation-related proteins as the outcome variable, 13 proteins demonstrated a potential causal association with uterine fibroids risk (IVW, all P < .05). Additionally, the MR-Egger intercept and MR-PRESSO global tests indicated no evidence of horizontal pleiotropy (P > .05), and the leave-one-out analysis confirmed the robustness of the results. This MR approach suggests that specific gut microbiota and inflammatory factors may have a causal association with the development of uterine fibroids, shedding light on the pathogenesis of uterine fibroids and potentially identifying targets for future therapeutic interventions.
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Existing literature offers some insights into the prevalence of anxiety and depression in children with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU). However, the literature on anxiety sensitivity (AS) and quality of life (QoL) in these children remains poorly understood. This study aimed to evaluate psychiatric diagnoses, anxiety and depression levels, AS, and QoL in children with CSU compared to healthy controls. ⋯ This study indicated that children with CSU exhibited a higher prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses than controls. Additionally, children with psychopathology in the CSU group demonstrated higher AS and greater impairment of QoL than those without psychiatric diagnoses. Furthermore, the most significant predictor of a decline in QoL was the presence of a psychiatric diagnosis.
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Acute rejection (AR) is a common complication in the early stage after kidney transplantation. Some studies have shown that the occurrence of AR after kidney transplantation may further affect the development of tumors, and both AR and tumor development are related to immune cells and immune genes, so it is particularly important to diagnose the occurrence of AR at an early stage and to analyze the correlation between AR and tumors. In this study, we applied bioinformatics techniques for differential expression analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis analysis of AR patients to obtain differentially expressed genes and modular genes significantly associated with AR, respectively, so as to obtain their intersecting genes with immune-related genes; 21 intersecting genes were screened by lasso regression and Boruta algorithm to obtain the genes, and finally, the feature genes that were significantly associated with the dependent variable were further obtained by single-factor and multi-factor logistic regression. ⋯ We finally screened 4 feature genes (CD1D, FPR2, FAM3C, and HMOX1) to construct the AR diagnostic model; through comparative evaluation, we believe that logistic regression shows a better advantage in the construction of diagnostic models for AR. FAM3C may become a potential biological marker for AR diagnosis and plays an important role in the development of renal cancer. In summary, immune-related genes play an important role in the diagnosis of AR after kidney transplantation, and the gene FAM3C may be a potential therapeutic target for AR and renal cancer.
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Comparative Study
Virtual reality headset versus traditional training in orthopedic surgery: A comparative study on real surgical performance in total knee arthroplasty.
Is it possible for a low-volume surgeon to enhance their surgical skills without performing actual surgeries by utilizing virtual reality headsets and emerging technologies? It has been observed that the time spent by surgical assistants in the operating room decreased after the post-shift leave regulation. In the literature, the use of virtual reality simulations as a support tool in surgical training is recommended. Although the efficacy of virtual reality surgical simulations in surgeries such as arthroscopy and laparoscopy has been proven, there are limited studies on their effect in open surgeries. ⋯ It was observed that the virtual reality group was more successful in the "Time and Motion" and "Surgical Functioning and Fluency" criteria. Virtual reality surgical simulations are useful tool in surgical training and can contribute to the development of surgeons' skills. However, more research is needed on how to integrate these simulations into training programs and in which areas they are most effective.