Bmc Med
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Alogliptin after acute coronary syndrome in patients with type 2 diabetes: a renal function stratified analysis of the EXAMINE trial.
The EXAMINE trial tested the efficacy and safety of alogliptin, an inhibitor of dipeptidyl peptidase 4, compared with placebo in 5380 patients with type 2 diabetes and a recent acute coronary syndrome. Because alogliptin is cleared by the kidney, patients were stratified according to screening renal function within two independently randomized strata: (1) estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥ 60 ml/min/1.73m2 and (2) eGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73m2. We aim to assess the efficacy and safety of alogliptin vs. placebo according to the renal function strata. ⋯ Alogliptin may benefit patients with eGFR ≥ 60, but may be detrimental to patients with eGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73m2. These hypothesis-generating findings require further validation to assess the potential benefit and risk of alogliptin across the renal function spectrum among patients with type 2 diabetes and a recent acute coronary syndrome.
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Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has an apparent sex disparity, with a more rapid progress in men than in women. Whether the well-established sex-specific evolutionary biology trade-off between reproduction and longevity might inform CKD has not previously been considered. Relevant evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is not available. ⋯ Genetically predicted testosterone was associated with CKD and worse kidney function in men, whilst not affected by kidney function. Identifying drivers of testosterone and the underlying pathways could provide new insights into CKD prevention and treatment.
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Multicenter Study
Lactate dehydrogenase and susceptibility to deterioration of mild COVID-19 patients: a multicenter nested case-control study.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has infected more than 4 million people within 4 months. There is an urgent need to properly identify high-risk cases that are more likely to deteriorate even if they present mild diseases on admission. ⋯ Advanced age and high LDH level are independent risk factors for exacerbation in mild COVID-19 patients. Among the mild patients, clinicians should pay more attention to the elderly patients or those with high LDH levels.
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As of March 31, 2020, the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic that started in China in December 2019 is now generating local transmission around the world. The geographic heterogeneity and associated intervention strategies highlight the need to monitor in real time the transmission potential of COVID-19. Singapore provides a unique case example for monitoring transmission, as there have been multiple disease clusters, yet transmission remains relatively continued. ⋯ The trajectory of the reproduction number in Singapore underscores the significant effects of successful containment efforts in Singapore, but it also suggests the need to sustain social distancing and active case finding efforts to stomp out all active chains of transmission.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) called for global action towards the elimination of cervical cancer. One of the main strategies is to screen 70% of women at the age between 35 and 45 years and 90% of women managed appropriately by 2030. So far, approximately 85% of cervical cancers occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The colposcopy-guided biopsy is crucial for detecting cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and becomes the main bottleneck limiting screening performance. Unprecedented advances in artificial intelligence (AI) enable the synergy of deep learning and digital colposcopy, which offers opportunities for automatic image-based diagnosis. To this end, we discuss the main challenges of traditional colposcopy and the solutions applying AI-guided digital colposcopy as an auxiliary diagnostic tool in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs). ⋯ We believe that a practical and accurate AI-guided digital colposcopy has the potential to strengthen the diagnostic ability in guiding cervical biopsy, thereby improves cervical cancer screening performance in LMICs and accelerates the process of global cervical cancer elimination eventually.