Medicine
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Integrative medicine inpatient treatment has been shown to improve physical and mental health in patients with internal medicine conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a 2-week integrative medicine inpatient treatment in patients with chronic pain syndromes and the association of treatment success with patient-related process variables. ⋯ Results of this study suggest that a 2-week integrative medicine inpatient treatment can benefit patients with chronic pain conditions. Functional improvements are associated with improved ability to change and implementation, disease acceptance, and satisfaction.
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Case Reports
Hemorrhagic, calcified, and ossified benign retroperitoneal schwannoma: First case report.
Schwannomas are mesenchymal tumors arising from the neural sheaths of peripheral nerves. They can almost develop in any part of the body, while head, neck and extremities are the most common sites. Occurrence in the retroperitoneum is rare. Schwannomas can show secondary degenerative changes including cyst formation, hyalinization, hemorrhage, and calcification, whereas the ossified retroperitoneal schwannoma was only reported in a malignant one. ⋯ We report the first case of a benign retroperitoneal schwannoma with secondary degenerative changes including hemorrhage, calcification, and ossification. Precise preoperative diagnosis of the tumor is challenging even with multiple preoperative imaging modalities. After complete resection, patients with benign retroperitoneal schwanommas generally have good prognosis.
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Desflurane is the most pungent of the currently used volatile anesthetics. We assessed whether the incidence of perioperative upper respiratory events in children undergoing general anesthesia via a supraglottic airway is higher with desflurane than with sevoflurane as maintenance anesthetic. We retrospectively reviewed and analyzed the electronic medical records of consecutive children 1 to 15 years of age who underwent general anesthesia via a supraglottic airway at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital between June 2013 and June 2015. ⋯ The incidence of upper respiratory events in the 3439 evaluated patients was 0.43% (12/2777) in the sevoflurane group and 0.30% (2/662) in the desflurane group (P = 0.75; odds ratio = 0.69 [95% confidence interval = 0.16-3.13]). The difference between the 2 groups was not significant. Compared with sevoflurane, desflurane does not increase the risk of perioperative upper respiratory events in children receiving general anesthesia via a supraglottic airway.
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Observational Study
Burden of respiratory disease in Thailand: Results from the APBORD observational study.
Asia-Pacific Burden of Respiratory Diseases (APBORD) was a cross-sectional, observational study examining the burden of respiratory disease in adults across 6 Asia-Pacific countries. This article reports symptoms, healthcare resource utilization (HCRU), work impairment and cost burden associated with allergic rhinitis (AR), asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and rhinosinusitis in Thailand. Consecutive participants aged ≥18 years with a primary diagnosis of AR, asthma, COPD, or rhinosinusitis were enrolled at 4 hospitals in Thailand during October 2012 and October 2013. ⋯ Costs associated with work productivity loss were the principal contributor for AR and rhinosinusitis patients while medication costs were the highest contributor for asthma and COPD patients. The study findings highlight the burden associated with 4 prevalent respiratory diseases in Thailand. Thorough investigation of concomitant conditions and improved disease management may help to reduce the burden of these respiratory diseases.
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Serum lipocalin-2 (LCN2) plays an important role in the regulation of the obesity-associated dysmetabolic state and cardiovascular disease. However, relatively little is known about the relationship between serum LCN2 levels and body fat content and distribution. We examined the associations of total body fat content and abdominal fat distribution with serum LCN2 levels in Chinese men. ⋯ A trend of increasing VFA was observed with increasing serum LCN2 levels (P < 0.001). Multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that VFA was positively associated with serum LCN2 levels, independent of overall obesity and other confounding factors (standardized β = 0.082, P = 0.008). Serum LCN2 levels are positively correlated with body fat content and independently associated with VFA in Chinese men.