Arch Med Sci
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Approximately 1% of the world population has now been infected by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). With cases still rising and vaccines just beginning to rollout, we are still several months away from seeing reductions in daily case numbers, hospitalisations, and mortality. Therefore, there is a still an urgent need to control the disease spread by repurposing existing therapeutics. Owing to antiviral, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and cardioprotective actions, statin therapy has been considered as a plausible approach to improve COVID-19 outcomes. ⋯ These findings call attention to the need for systematic clinical studies to assess both pre- and in-hospital use of statins as a potential means of reducing COVID-19 disease severity, particularly in terms of reduction of ICU admission and total mortality reduction.
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Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is still a great challenge to global public health. As conventional diagnostic methods for TBM are unsatisfactory, interferon-γ release assays (IGRAs) have been introduced for TBM diagnosis tentatively. However, the role of IGRAs for diagnosing TBM remains unclear. Thus, we systematically evaluated the diagnostic performance of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and peripheral blood (PB) IGRAs in TBM to fill this blank. ⋯ The diagnostic performance of IGRAs is suboptimal. In terms of cost, turn-around time and accessibility, these assays are unsuitable for use as biomarkers for TBM diagnosis.
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Recent medical literature has drawn attention to the possible influence of COVID-19 on the course of pregnancies. As the coherence of results seems to vary, especially in relation to first and second trimester pregnancies, a concise qualitative systematic review can shed light on the most recent data. ⋯ Evidently a limited amount of data is available. Usually, mothers and newborns are discharged from the hospital without any serious complications. Further observations are imperative.
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The exact prevalence of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is difficult to assess due to the clinical heterogeneity of this condition, the lack of a universal definition as well as the lack of studies comparing differences within and between ethnic groups across geographical regions. ⋯ We found highly variable national and regional prevalence of PCOS among European females. Our estimates encourage the search at the population level for new environmental and genetic determinants of PCOS.
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Autoimmune diseases concomitant with diabetes may complicate the treatment and adversely affect the prognosis. The most common is Hashimoto's disease (HD). We compared diabetes control and prevalence of chronic complications in type 1 diabetes patients differing in the coexistence of HD. ⋯ Hashimoto's disease does not significantly affect the level of type 1 diabetes control or the development of its complications. Only autonomic neuropathy in the form of impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia is rarer in patients with that thyroiditis.