Articles: disease.
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The rapid spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has attracted worldwide attention. There were also reported gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with COVID-19. This work aims to analyze the global research trends in COVID-19 and digestive disease. ⋯ The analytic results showed that the liver, especially liver transplantation, and inflammatory bowel disease were the 2 most influential research topics in COVID-19 and digestive disease.
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Tuberculosis (TB) is an important infectious disease worldwide. Classical spinal TB has specific radiological findings involving adjacent vertebral bodies with destruction of the intervertebral disc and involvement of paravertebral soft tissues with cold abscess formation. However, a few cases not exhibiting the radiological characteristics of TB spondylitis have been reported. We report a rare case of lumbar spinal TB with atypical clinical and radiological presentations that was difficult to differentiate from a malignant spinal tumor. ⋯ Atypical clinical and radiological presentations of spinal TB present a challenge for appropriate diagnosis and early treatment. Even in developed countries where there are very few spinal TB patients, clinicians should be aware that spinal TB is an important differential diagnosis, especially in elderly patients or patients coming from countries with a middle-high prevalence of TB.
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After the World Health Organization declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as a global pandemic, global health workers have been facing an unprecedented and severe challenge. Currently, a mixturetion to inhibit the exacerbation of pulmonary inflammation caused by COVID-19, Fuzheng Yugan Mixture (FZYGM), has been approved for medical institution mixturetion notification. However, the mechanism of FZYGM remains poorly defined. ⋯ The main potentially acting signaling pathways include the interleukin (IL)-17 signaling pathway, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway, Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, Th17 cell differentiation, and coronavirus disease-COVID-19. This study shows that FZYGM can exhibit anti-COVID-19 effects through multiple targets and pathways. Therefore, FZYGM can be considered a drug candidate for the treatment of COVID-19, and it provides good theoretical support for subsequent experiments and clinical applications of COVID-19.
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Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) syndrome is a severe cutaneous drug reaction characterized by fever, lymphadenopathy, hematologic abnormalities, single or multiple organ involvement, and viral reactivation.[1] The most frequently reported offending drugs are aromatic antiepileptic agents, antibiotics, and allopurinol.[2] Though a relatively rare syndrome, DRESS can lead to severe multi-organ system dysfunction, and in some cases even death. DRESS is one of the severe drug eruptions in dermatological diseases, but it is difficult to diagnose for internist. In this paper, a typical drug hypersensitivity syndrome with abnormal liver function and fever as the first manifestations was reported. The objective of this study was to improve the understanding of rare drug hypersensitivity syndrome in digestion and other fields, and to avoid missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis. ⋯ DRESS syndrome is a rare but life-threatening hypersensitivity reaction. The mortality will be very high if it's not diagnosed and treated timely. This paper presents a successful case of methylprednisolone plus intravenous immunoglobulin therapy, which provides a stronger evidence for the future diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
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In this study, we analyzed blood zinc concentration in patients with various cancer types and the degree of improvement in relation to the underlying disease following treatment with zinc preparations. Serum zinc levels of 530 cancer patients whose blood zinc levels were measured at our hospital from 2016 to 2021 were retrospectively examined in accordance with the primary disease. Changes in zinc levels were analyzed in 155 patients whose zinc levels had been measured on 2 or more occasions in accordance with whether they had received zinc preparations. ⋯ There was a weak inverse correlation between pre-dose zinc concentration and increased zinc concentration in patients with cirrhosis. In the analysis of covariance, the presence of liver cirrhosis was predominantly correlated with elevated zinc per dose. In summary, serum zinc levels in cancer patients are low and especially low in cancer patients with liver cirrhosis compared with those without cirrhosis after the administration of zinc preparations.