Articles: cations.
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Although the overall psychosocial benefits and body image gains of postmastectomy breast reconstruction are well-established, there is limited information on how postoperative complications affect patient quality of life (QOL). ⋯ Our study demonstrates that QOL and well-being are not negatively impacted by postoperative complications. Although patients who had no complications had an overall more positive experience, nearly two-thirds of all patients, no matter the degree of complication, stated that their overall experience either met or exceeded their expectations.
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Pulmonary artery catheters provide important information about cardiac function, mixed venous oxygenation, and right-sided pressures and potentially provide temporary pacing ability. ⋯ The overall risk of serious complications with right heart catheter placement and manipulation is low and often outweighed by its benefits, specifically pressure monitoring and pacing.
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Case Reports
Cervical Instability and Quadriparesis Requiring Stabilization in Pediatric Patient due to a Mutation in COL2A1.
A 3-year-old male with no past medical history presented with flaccid plegia of his upper extremities and significant weakness in his lower extremities after wrestling with his brother. Cervical spine magnetic resonance imaging was consistent with cord edema and intraparenchymal hemorrhage at C1-C2. A nonossified tissue mass at the expected location of the upper dens created narrowing of the canal at the C1-2 level and mass effect on the cord. ⋯ Genetic testing showed a COL2A1 collagen disorder, with the child harboring a de novo mutation for c.3455 G>T (p. G1152V). The patient was discharged to inpatient acute rehabilitation, with gradual improvement in strength in all 4 extremities.
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To evaluate whether postoperative serum hyperamylasemia (POH), with drain fluid amylase (DFA) and C-reactive protein (CRP), improves the Fistula Risk Score (FRS) accuracy in assessing the risk of a postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF). ⋯ POPF risk assessment should follow a dynamic process. The stepwise retrieval of early, postoperative biological markers improves clinical risk stratification by increasing the granularity of POPF risk estimates and affords a possible therapeutic window before the actual morbidity of POPF occurs.
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Chronic pain is a prevalent disease with increasing clinical challenges. Genome-wide association studies in chronic pain patients have identified hundreds of common pathogenic variants, yet they only explained a portion of individual variance of chronic pain. With the advances in next-generation sequencing technologies, it is now feasible to conduct rarer variants studies in large-scale databases. ⋯ These 2 rare variants were then tested for replication in 3 other biobanks, and the strongest evidence was found for rs28364172 as an individual contributor. Transcriptional analyses of Slc13a1 in rodents showed substantial regulation of its expression in the dorsal root ganglia and the sciatic nerve in neuropathic pain assays. Our results stress the importance of the SLC13A1 gene in sulfate homeostasis in the nervous system and its critical role in preventing pain states, thus suggesting new therapeutic approaches for treating chronic pain in a personalized manner, especially in people with mutations in the SLC13A1 gene.