Isr Med Assoc J
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Immune cell counts in blood in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection may be useful prognostic biomarkers of disease severity, mortality, and response to treatment. ⋯ Total lymphocytes; NLR; and levels of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, and NK cells are useful as biomarkers of survival or mortality in severe COVID-19 disease and commonly reach normal levels in convalescents.
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Review Meta Analysis
Hospitalization of Patients with Ulcerative Colitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Hospitalization of ulcerative colitis patients is needed in severe exacerbation of the disease or for managing complications. In this systematic review and meta-analysis the prevalence of hospitalization in ulcerative colitis and possible predictive factors are discussed. A systematic literature search of English language publications that were published before 31 December 2019 was conducted. ⋯ The event rates for the number of patients hospitalized in a follow-up duration of 42,320 patient-years and for the number of patients underwent operation in a follow-up of 24,650 patient-years were 0.065 (95%CI 0.063-0.068) and 0.019 (95%CI 0.017-0.021), respectively. More studies during the era of biologics need to be performed to identify the factors predictive of hospitalization and surgery with UC. Prevention of inflammation and UC complications may prevent hospitalization and the need for surgical treatment.
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Review Historical Article
Research on Tuberculosis in Nazi Germany and the Cruelest Medical Experiments on Jewish Children: An Observational Review.
Germany was a scientifically advanced country in the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in medicine, with a major interest in research and the treatment of tuberculosis. From 1933 until 1945, Nazi Germany perverted scientific research through criminal experimentations on captured prisoners of war and on "subhumans" by scientifically untrained, but politically driven, staff. This article exposes a series of failed experiments on tuberculosis in adults, experiments without scientific validity. ⋯ Kurt Heißmeyer repeated the experiment on Jewish children, who were murdered for the sake of personal academic ambition. It is now 75 years since liberation and the murdered children must be remembered. This observational review raises questions of medical and ethical values.
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Case Reports
Quarantine-induced Stress Cardiomyopathy (Takotsubo syndrome) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is a non-ischemic cardiomyopathy characterized by an acute reversible left ventricular dysfunction with typical apical ballooning, usually with subsequent complete spontaneous recovery. TTS may be triggered by several physical and emotional stressors. The name Covidsubo was recently adopted to describe this emerging entity. TTS during quarantine may be a reasonable outcome of the overwhelming stress and fear of this pandemic. However, according to the current literature, conflicting results have been reported regarding the incidence of this syndrome during the first wave of the pandemic, and further studies are needed. High index of suspicion is needed to identify patients during the next waves of the pandemic, particularly given the need for minimizing imaging modalities and contact with the patients. ⋯ The only prominent stressor in the two cases in this article was the stress accompanying quarantine.