Ann Acad Med Singap
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Ann Acad Med Singap · Mar 2020
Observational StudyElevated Serum Interleukin-18 Level is Correlated with Vascular Access Dysfunction in Patients on Maintenance Haemodialysis.
We evaluated the impact of serum interleukin-18 (IL-18) level on short-term vascular access (VA) function in chronic haemodialysis (HD) patients. ⋯ HD patients with high IL-18 level tend to have worse rates of VA dysfunction. In HD outpatients, IL-18 is an independent risk factor for short-term VA dysfunction.
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Ann Acad Med Singap · Mar 2020
Counting Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Cases: Case Definitions, Screened Populations and Testing Techniques Matter.
While counting cases of disease appears straightforward, there are issues to consider when enumerating disease counts during an epidemic. For example, for Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19), how is a case defined? Hubei province in China changed its case definition twice in a fortnight-from laboratory-confirmed cases to clinically-confirmed cases without laboratory tests, and back to laboratory-confirmed cases. This caused confusion in the reported number of cases. ⋯ This will result in underdiagnosis of confirmed cases and also raises the question: how is a "suspect case" defined? With the passage of time and increased capability to perform laboratory tests, more people can be screened and the number of confirmed cases will increase. What are the technical considerations of laboratory testing? This includes specimen collection (variable collection methods), samples collected (upper or lower respiratory tract biospecimens), time of collection in relation to course of disease, different laboratory test methods and kits (not all of which may be standardised or approved by authorities such as the Food and Drug Administration). Are approved laboratory facilities and trained manpower available, and how are test results interpreted and false-negatives excluded? These issues will affect the accuracy of disease counts, which in turn will have implications on how we mount an appropriate response to the outbreak.