Annals of medicine
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Sonoelastography has been increasingly used for non-invasive evaluation of the mechanical features of human tissues. The interplay between orofacial pain and regional muscle activity appears clinically paramount, although only few imaging studies have investigated this association. Using shear wave sonoelastography (SWS), this study ascertained whether orofacial pain induced alterations in the stiffness of superficial and deep masticatory muscles. ⋯ SWS provides reliable stiffness measurements for the superficial and deep masticatory muscles. The ipsilateral masseter and temporalis muscles might be stiffer than those on the side without orofacial pain. Future studies using the present sonoelasotography protocol can be designed to investigate the stiffness changes in the target muscles after interventions.
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Few risk-forecasting models of allergic rhinitis (AR) exist that may aid AR pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in clinical practice. Therefore, this study aimed to develop and validate an effective clinical model for identifying candidates for AR PrEP using a routine medical questionnaire. ⋯ Early identification of candidates for AR PrEP using routine medical information may improve the deployment of limited resources and effective health management. Our models showed good performance in predicting AR; therefore, they can serve as potential automatic screening tools to identify AR PrEP candidates.
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Observational Study
Clinical analysis of acute postoperative pain after total laparoscopic hysterectomy for adenomyosis and uterine fibroids - a prospective observational study.
To investigate the outcome of total laparoscopic hysterectomy (TLH) and postoperative pain characteristics and compare the pain severity after TLH for adenomyosis or uterine fibroids. ⋯ Acute postoperative pain for adenomyosis and uterine fibroids showed considerably different severity, postoperative total pain and abdominal visceral pains of TLH for adenomyosis were more severe compared with uterine fibroids. While patients received goserelin before laparoscopic hysterectomy of adenomyosis suffered from less severity of postoperative total pain than that without goserelin preoperative treatment.
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To explore the crosstalk between baseline or visit hemoglobin and major adverse cardiovascular and cerebral events (MACCE) in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) patients and to construct risk stratification models to predict MACCE amongst these patients. ⋯ Visit hemoglobin and long-term hemoglobin changes were more predictive of MACCE risk than baseline hemoglobin levels. Our findings indicated that increasing hemoglobin levels might improve the long-term prognosis of anemia patients. We established a new risk stratification model for MACCE, which may more efficiently prioritize targeted screening for at-risk anemic patients undergoing PCI.
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Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is a disorder of hip development that leads to dysplasia, subluxation, or total hip dislocation. Early detection of DDH is important, and early initiation of abduction treatment is key to successful correction of the hip joint. However, mild forms of DDH, including hip instability without complete dislocation, have good spontaneous healing potential, and a watchful waiting strategy in mild DDH has been found to be safe. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the cost differences between different treatment strategies for DDH. ⋯ With correct patient selection, a watchful waiting strategy is cost-effective in treating mild developmental dysplasia of the hip, considering the high percentage of spontaneous recovery.