Plos One
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Comparative Study
QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-Tube for contact screening in BCG-vaccinated adults: A longitudinal cohort study.
To assess the utility of QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-tube (QFT-GIT) for targeting preventive therapy in BCG-vaccinated contacts of tuberculosis (TB), based on its high specificity and negative predictive value for development of TB. ⋯ In BCG-vaccinated TB contacts, the addition of QFT-GIT safely reduced TB diagnosis and treatment rates without increasing the risk of subsequent active TB.
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Vitamin D deficiency has been related to metabolic syndrome (MetS) in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) is the main protein involved in vitamin D transport. Two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the DBP gene, rs4588 and rs7041, have been associated with low circulating levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] in various populations, but not in women with PCOS. ⋯ This same genotype was associated with lower 25(OH)D levels in both PCOS and control women (OR: 4.40, 95%CI:1.62-12.00; p = 0.002). In conclusion, these findings indicate that DBP gene polymorphisms and their haplotypes are not directly associated with PCOS. In contrast, the TT genotype of SNP rs7041 was associated with MetS in PCOS women, and with lower 25(OH)D levels in both PCOS and control groups.
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Laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy (LDP) is a safe and reliable treatment for tumors in the body and tail of the pancreas. Postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) is a common complication of pancreatic surgery. Despite improvement in mortality, the rate of POPF still remains high and unsolved. ⋯ Soft parenchymal texture was significantly associated with both overall (p-value = 0.012) and clinically significant POPF (p-value = 0.000). In multivariable analyses, parenchymal texture (OR, 2.933, P-value = 0.011) and operative time (OR, 1.008, P-value = 0.022) were risk factors for overall POPF. Parenchymal texture was an independent predictive factor for clinically significant POPF (OR, 7.400, P-value = 0.001).
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In Italy, at present, a well-known problem is inhomogeneous provision of rehabilitative services, as stressed by MoH, requiring appropriate criteria and parameters to plan rehabilitation actions. According to the Italian National Rehabilitation Plan, Comorbidity, Disability and Clinical Complexity should be assessed to define the patient's real needs. However, to date, clinical complexity is still difficult to measure with shared and validated tools. ⋯ The construct and concurrent validity of the RCS-E v13 was confirmed through its correlation to Barthel Index (disability) and Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (comorbidity) and appropriate admission criteria (not yet published), respectively. Furthermore, the factor analysis indicated two different components ("Basic Care or Risk-Equipment" and "Medical-Nursing Needs and Therapy Disciplines") of the RCS-E v13. In conclusion, the Italian RCS-E v13 appears to be a useful tool to assess clinical complexity in the Italian rehab scenario case-mix and its psychometric validation may have an important clinical rehabilitation impact allowing the assessment of the rehabilitation needs considering all three dimensions (disability, comorbidity and clinical complexity) as required by the Guidelines and the inhomogeneity could be reduced.
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Sleep Apnea Syndrome (SAS) is a common sleep-related breathing disorder, which affects about 4-7% males and 2-4% females all around the world. Different approaches have been adopted to diagnose SAS and measure its severity, including the gold standard Polysomnography (PSG) in sleep study field as well as several alternative techniques such as single-channel ECG, pulse oximeter and so on. However, many shortcomings still limit their generalization in home environment. In this study, we aim to propose an efficient approach to automatically assess the severity of sleep apnea syndrome based on the ballistocardiogram (BCG) signal, which is non-intrusive and suitable for in home environment. ⋯ Experimental results on 136 individuals of different sleep apnea syndrome severities validate the effectiveness of the proposed framework, with the accuracy of 94.12% (128/136).