Annals of medicine
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As folates are essential for embryonic development and growth, it is necessary to accurately determine the levels of folates in plasma and red blood cells (RBCs) for clinical intervention. The aims of this study were to develop and validate a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for quantitation of folates in plasma and RBCs and to examine the association between plasma and RBC folate concentrations and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), gestational hypertension (GH) and preeclampsia (PE). ⋯ The in-house developed LC-MS/MS method for folates and metabolites in plasma or RBC showed satisfactory analytical performance for clinical application. Further, the levels of folates and metabolites were diversely associated with GDM, GH and PE development.
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Objectives: A new method was introduced using a smartphone's integrated inclinometer for rapid measurement of sagittal cervical parameters. The present study aims to compare the validity and reliability of the proposed method. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 120 patients with cervical spondylosis treated at our hospital. ⋯ For the validity of the representative parameters mentioned above, the Bland-Altman plot displayed a mean difference of 0.2, 0.1, 0.1, and 0.4°with a 95% CI of 4.3, 4.5, 3.4, and 4.1°, respectively. The measurement by smartphone's integrated inclinometer (46.31 ± 3.99 s) was significantly quicker than that by PACS (69.48 ± 3.25 s) according to independent-samples T test (p < 0.001). Conclusion: This novel smartphone measurement based on the integrated inclinometer is accurate and reliable for measuring cervical sagittal parameters rapidly and conveniently.
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The systemic immune-inflammation indicator (SII) has been extensively employed in various diseases for course change, treatment efficacy, or prediction, whereas whether it applies to iron overload or iron deficiency remains unclear. This study aimed at investigating the correlation between SII and serum ferritin in people aged over 20 in the US. ⋯ To the best of our knowledge, this study examined the correlation between SII and serum ferritin for the first time. The correlation between SII and serum ferritin was varied with sex, age and race in people aged 20 and older. Therefore, higher or lower SII may be relevant for identifying iron overload and iron deficiency.
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Studies demonstrated that outpatient aerobic exercise programs (aEP) can significantly decrease aortic stiffness in people with metabolic syndrome (MetS). There is some limited data that remotely supervised home-based aEP can also improve arterial stiffness in this population. We aimed to evaluate the changes in the arterial wall parameters after the 2-month ambulatory supervised aEP followed by the 6-month home-based aEP with and without targeting of heart rate (HR) by electrocardiogram (ECG) in people with MetS. ⋯ The combination of 2-month ambulatory supervised aEP and successive 6-month home-based aEP targeted by HR monitoring using ECG improved arterial properties in MetS subjects more than the same combination without HR targeting, leading to the greater reduction of c-r PWV and cIMT.
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This study aimed to investigate the association between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and perioperative morbidity and long-term mortality in operable patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). ⋯ The study found that low CRF is significantly associated with increased perioperative morbidity and long-term mortality in operable patients with early-stage NSCLC.