J Formos Med Assoc
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The recommended target low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level for coronary artery disease (CAD) patients has been lowered from 100 to 70 mg/dL in several clinical guidelines for secondary prevention. We aimed to assess whether initiating statin treatment in CAD patients with baseline LDL-C 70-100 mg/dL in Taiwan could be cost-effective. ⋯ Lowering the target LDL-C level from 100 to 70 mg/dL among treatment-naïve CAD patients could be cost-effective given the health benefits of preventing cardiovascular events and deaths.
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Meta Analysis
Clinical characteristics and diagnostic challenges of pediatric COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Current studies on pediatric coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are rare. The clinical characteristics and spectrum are still unknown. Facing this unknown and emerging pathogen, we aimed to collect current evidence about COVID-19 in children. ⋯ COVID-19 has distinct features in children. The disease severity is mild. Current diagnosis is based mainly on typical ground glass opacities on chest CT, epidemiological suspicion and contact tracing.
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Aging is inevitable in life. It is defined as impaired adaptive capacity to environmental or internal stresses with growing rates of disease and death. Aging is also an important risk factor for various kidney diseases such as acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. ⋯ These changes can also be observed in many other different types of renal injury. Recent studies suggested that young blood may rejuvenate aged organs, including the kidneys. In order to develop new therapeutic strategies for renal aging, the mechanisms underlying renal aging and by which young blood can halt or reverse aging process warrants further study.
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Nuclear imaging, including gallium scintigraphy and fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET), has been widely used to identify focus of infection in fever of unknown origin. However, little is known about its role in critically ill patients, who are usually with multiple inflammatory foci and unable to tolerate long image acquisition time. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of FDG PET for suspected infection in critically ill patients. ⋯ FDG PET was a very sensitive tool with acceptable specificity for detecting the origin of infection in critically ill patients. However, current available studies have limitation in evaluating safety issue. Further research should investigate both benefit and risk of doing this test for this group of vulnerable patients.