Plos One
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Meta Analysis
Prognostic value of presepsin in adult patients with sepsis: Systematic review and meta-analysis.
Presepsin is a novel biomarker to diagnose sepsis but its prognostic value has not been comprehensively reviewed. We conducted this meta-analysis to evaluate the mortality prediction value of presepsin in sepsis. ⋯ This meta-analysis demonstrates some mortality prediction value in presepsin in patients with sepsis. Further studies are needed to define the optimal cut-off point to predict mortality in sepsis.
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Symptoms of orthostatic intolerance (OI) are common in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and similar disorders. These symptoms may relate to individual differences in intracranial compliance and cerebral blood perfusion. The present study used phase-contrast, quantitative flow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine intracranial compliance based on arterial inflow, venous outflow and cerebrospinal fluid flow along the spinal canal into and out of the cranial cavity. ⋯ There were no significant differences between the groups in intracranial compliance or perfusion. In patients with CFS, low intracranial compliance and high resting cerebral perfusion appear to be associated with an increased severity of symptoms of OI. This may signify alterations in the ability of the cerebral vasculature to cope with changes to systemic blood pressure due to orthostatic stress, but this may not be specific to CFS.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Multimodal cortical and subcortical exercise compared with treadmill training for spinal cord injury.
Spared fibers after spinal cord injury (SCI) tend to consist predominantly of subcortical circuits that are not under volitional (cortical) control. We aim to improve function after SCI by using targeted physical exercises designed to simultaneously stimulate cortical and spared subcortical neural circuits. ⋯ In participants with chronic incomplete SCI, a novel mix of multimodal exercises incorporating balance exercises with skilled upper extremity exercises showed no benefit compared to an active control program of body weight-supported treadmill training. To improve participant retention in long-term rehabilitation studies, subsequent trials would benefit from a parallel group rather than crossover study design.
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Pneumonia is one of the major causes of child mortality, yet with a timely diagnosis, it is usually curable with antibiotic therapy. In many developing regions, diagnosing pneumonia remains a challenge, due to shortages of medical resources. Lung ultrasound has proved to be a useful tool to detect lung consolidation as evidence of pneumonia. ⋯ A total of 1450 positive (pneumonia) and 1605 negative (normal lung) vectors were analyzed with standard neural networks, and used to create an algorithm to differentiate lung infiltrates from healthy lung. A neural network was trained using the algorithm and it was able to correctly identify pneumonia infiltrates, with 90.9% sensitivity and 100% specificity. This approach may be used to develop operator-independent computer algorithms for pneumonia diagnosis using ultrasound in young children.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The Val158Met polymorphism of the catechol-O-methyltransference gene is not associated with long-term treatment outcomes in carpal tunnel syndrome: A randomized clinical trial.
Randomized clinical trial. ⋯ The current clinical trial did not show an association between the Val158Met polymorphism and changes in pain and function outcomes after either surgery or physical therapy in women with CTS.