Current medical research and opinion
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Guidelines developed by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) recommend lipid-lowering therapies (LLTs) to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk. This study described LLT utilization patterns and LDL-C goal achievement (to <70 mg/dL) among patients with ASCVD in the United States. ⋯ This retrospective study highlighted limited LDL-C monitoring in patients with ASCVD, and unmet need in terms of suboptimal utilization of non-stain LLTs, limited adherence to LLTs, and inadequate lipid control after treatment (among those with LDL-C measurements during the follow-up period) need to be addressed to improve outcomes in this patient cohort.
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Mechanical and inflammatory factors were suggested as the causes of spine degeneration and low back pain (LBP). Previous studies partly reported the association of LBP with inflammation. However, none of them compared patients with LBP and asymptomatic subjects in terms of complete blood count and inflammatory markers in detail. We aimed to analyze the association of serum white blood cell (WBC) count, C-reactive protein (CRP), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) with chronic LBP by comparing the patients with chronic LBP and age- and gender-matched asymptomatic subjects. ⋯ Higher serum monocyte and basophil counts and serum ESR above new cut-off values should highlight the need to obtain early spinal imaging to prevent chronicity in patients with LBP.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Tislelizumab in advanced/metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: health related quality of life in Asian patients.
Post-hoc analysis examined health-related quality of life and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) symptoms in the Asian subgroup of patients in RATIONALE-302 (NCT03430843). ⋯ Overall, the health-related quality of life and ESCC-related symptoms of patients receiving tislelizumab in the Asian subgroup remained stable or improved, while patients receiving investigator-chosen chemotherapy experienced worsening. These results in Asian patients corroborate the findings in the intent-to-treat population, suggesting tislelizumab is a potential new second-line treatment option for patients with advanced or metastatic ESCC.
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A bibliometric analysis (BA) is a knowledge synthesis methodology aimed at quantitively summarizing large amounts of bibliometric data. We aimed to summarize the performance of BAs in the health sciences. We searched Scopus for BAs in the health sciences published prior to May 10, 2023. ⋯ Common BA themes included oncology, public health, neurosciences, mental health, artificial intelligence, and COVID-19. BAs are increasingly common in the health sciences, but their performance remains limited. More international collaborations and standardized guidelines could help improve their performance, notably the frequency at which they are cited.