Medicine
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Adult degenerative scoliosis associated with lumbar stenosis has become a common issue in the elderly population. But its surgical management is on debating. The main issue condenses on the management priority of scoliosis or stenosis. ⋯ It was effective to perform decompression and short fusion for Group 1 and correction surgery and long fusion for Group 3. For Group 2, the compensated imbalance symptom was always provoked by the symptomatic lumbar stenosis. The cases in the Group 2 got well clinical improvements after local surgical intervene on the symptomatic spinal stenosis and short fusion, leaving the deformity untreated.
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Zika virus (transmitted by mosquitoes) reached French Polynesia for the first time in 2013, leading to an epidemic affecting 10% of the total population. So far, it has not been known to induce any neurological complications, but, a few weeks after the outbreak, an unexpectedly high number of 42 patients presented with Guillain-Barré syndrome. We report the clinical and electrophysiological characteristics of this series. ⋯ Lumbar puncture showed elevated proteins in 90% of the cases, with cell count always inferior to 50/μL. This epidemic raises several questions, such as the potential existence of interactions between Zika virus and Polynesian HLA system and/or the consequences of several recombination events of this virus. This situation should call for increased vigilance, especially in countries where Aedes mosquitoes are present.
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Review Meta Analysis
The Adverse Events of Oxycodone in Cancer-Related Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
The adverse events (AEs) of oxycodone in cancer-related pain were controversial, so we conducted a meta-analysis to determine it. PubMed, Embase, CBM, CNKI, WanFang database, The Cochrane library, Web of Science, and the reference of included studies were searched to recognize pertinent studies. Relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for all AEs were all extracted. ⋯ The subgroup analysis shown that Ox controlled-release (CR) had less sleepiness compared with MS-contin (Mc) CR (RR = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.25-0.90, P = 0.02). The power analysis suggests that all AEs have low statistical power. The present meta-analysis detected that no statistically significant difference were found among oxycodone and other opioids in all AEs, but Ox CR may had less sleepiness compared with Mc CR when subgroup analysis were conducted.
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Review Meta Analysis
Moxibustion Treatment for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
To determine whether the administration of moxibustion is an effective treatment for knee osteoarthritis (KOA). We conducted a search of relevant articles using Medline, EMBASE, the Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library published before October 2015. The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities' Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC scale) and the short form 36 questionnaire (SF-36 scale) were assessed. ⋯ The meta-analysis of the 2 included trials showed that there was not a statistically significant difference in the pain or function subscale for the WOMAC scale when the 2 groups were compared (n = 322; WMD, 17.63; 95% CI, -23.15-58.41; P = 0.40; heterogeneity: χ = 19.42, P < 0.0001, I = 95%), with low or moderate quality separately. The administration of moxibustion can to some extent alleviate the symptoms of KOA. More rigorous, randomized controlled trials are required in the future.
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Review Case Reports
Calcineurin Inhibitors Associated Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome in Solid Organ Transplantation: Report of 2 Cases and Literature Review.
Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a rare neurologic side effect of calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) with poorly understood clinical features. We report cases of 2 patients with PRES developing after kidney transplantation and summarize PRES clinical features through a literature review. The 1st case was a 28-year-old man who received a kidney transplant from a deceased donor. ⋯ CNI-associated PRES has a generally favorable prognosis with early diagnosis and prompt treatment including alternating or discontinuing CNIs and blood pressure control. CNI-associated PRES should be considered in patients exhibiting acute neurological symptoms after transplantation. Early diagnosis and immediate treatment are critical for a favorable prognosis.