Postgraduate medicine
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Postgraduate medicine · Mar 2022
ReviewNeuroinflammation and oxidative stress in schizophrenia: are these opportunities for repurposing?
To summarize the main findings on the subject of neuroinflammation and oxidative stress in patients with Schizophrenia (SCZ). ⋯ This review discusses the various plausible hypotheses, viz., cytokine hypothesis of peripheral inflammation, acute-phase reactants in SCZ, microglial hypothesis of central inflammation, neurogenesis in relation to neuroinflammation, and oxidative stress in SCZ. It also highlights the many opportunities available for repurposing already marketed drugs with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties with a view to devising more effective and comprehensive therapies to manage SCZ.
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Postgraduate medicine · Mar 2022
ReviewManaging hospitalized patients with a COPD exacerbation: the role of hospitalists and the multidisciplinary team.
Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are associated with high rates of hospitalizations, costs, and morbidity. Therefore, hospitalists and the multidisciplinary team (hospital team) need to take a proactive approach to ensure patients are effectively managed from hospital admission to postdischarge. Comprehensive screening and diagnostic testing of patients at admission will enable an accurate diagnosis of COPD exacerbations, and severity, as well as other factors that may impact the length of hospital stay. ⋯ A PubMed search (prior to 26 January 2021) was conducted using terms such as: COPD, exacerbation, hospitalization. This narrative review focuses on the challenges the hospital team encounters in achieving optimal outcomes in the management of patients with COPD exacerbations. Additionally, we propose a novel simplified algorithm that may help the hospital team to be more proactive in the diagnosis and management of patients with COPD exacerbations.
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Postgraduate medicine · Mar 2022
ReviewUltrasound imaging as an initial diagnostic method for intramuscular hemangiomas: a narrative review.
Intramuscular hemangiomas are benign vascular lesions, often misdiagnosed due to unfamiliarity. They are rare (but not very rare) causes of musculoskeletal pain, and diagnosing these tumors may be challenging because of their pertinent nonspecific symptomatology. ⋯ To date, there are no studies that examined the state-of-the-art in regard to the use of ultrasound imaging in the diagnosis of intramuscular hemangiomas. Accordingly, a literature search was performed using PubMed and Web of Science with the purpose to provide a conceptual understanding and awareness as regards the importance/utility of ultrasound imaging as a first step diagnostic tool for intramuscular hemangiomas at different muscles' locations.
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Postgraduate medicine · Mar 2022
Association of number of primary care physicians with preventable hospitalizations and premature deaths.
Primary care physicians (PCPs) may be the first providers for patients in a healthcare interaction, putting them in a unique position that may determine the health trajectory of a patient. Assessing whether PCPs improve the overall health of a community through reducing preventable hospital stays and premature deaths may provide necessary information towards improving the health outcomes at grassroots. ⋯ Higher number of PCPs in a county was associated with lower hospitalizations for preventable causes and lower premature deaths. Increasing PCPs may be an important metric to improve overall health in a community.
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Postgraduate medicine · Mar 2022
Predictive value of arterial blood lactic acid concentration on the risk of all-cause death within 28 days of admission in patients with severe acute pancreatitis.
To evaluate the ability of arterial blood lactic acid concentration to predict death within 28 days of admission of patients with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in the intensive care unit (ICU). ⋯ Arterial blood lactic acid concentration is an important independent predictor of all-cause mortality within 28 days of admission of SAP patients in the ICU.