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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Comment Letter
CT chest findings in coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19).
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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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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.