Tag: nevin manimala

Georgian Med News. 2021 Apr;(313):12-20.

ABSTRACT

Objective – to study the character of possible postoperative complications and to define the reason and frequency of postoperative hemorrhage as a complication of partial nephrectomy. From January 2008 to December 2019 were performed 175 partial nephrectomy (PN) by a single surgeon in a high volume center. 41 operations were laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN), 134 – open partial nephrectomy (OPN). In 152 cases kidney cancer was detected. Physical status, tumor volume, R.E.N.A.L. score, operative access, warm ischemia time (WIT), postoperative bleeding and its severity and treatment options were assessed in both groups of patients. Based on our study, R.E.N.A.L score may be a good tool in prognosis of a delay postoperative bleeding after nephron sparing surgery and this is statistically significant. On the other hand, single R.E.N.A.L score characteristics can’t be reliable predictors of a delay bleeding. It is possible that a lack of cases with a significant postoperative bleeding in current study (6 of 175 cases) have some statistical restrictions. From our point of view, for better prognosis of delay bleeding, aside from hephrometric system it is important to take into account a proximity of a segmental arteries to a resection border, presens of any type of a coagulopathy and a preoperative antithrombotic therapy, obesity. High R.E.N.A.L score index is connected with a risk of significant postoperative bleeding, but this type of bleeding is rare after any nephron sparing surgery. Postoperative selective angioembolization is a method of choice and, in most cases, effective to stop kidney bleeding and nephron preservation.

PMID:34103423

Georgian Med News. 2021 Apr;(313):41-44.

ABSTRACT

Otitis is a serious and noteworthy disease. Only timely and adequate treatment guarantees to cure it and prevent complications. The present study involved 250 patients, raining in age from 2 to 64 years. Patients’ data were anonymous and cannot be identified. 125 patients were diagnosed with middle purulent otitis, 20 with middle secretory otitis, 78 with external diffuse otitis, and 27 with external otitis media.The aim of the research was to determine the efficacyof antibiotic-contained ear drops in the treatment of acute otitis media, in combination with mono- or systemic antibiotics. The data were analyzed utilizing the descriptive statistics. The frequency distribution of variables was also determined and the results were presented in appropriate numeric values and percentages.

PMID:34103427

Georgian Med News. 2021 Apr;(313):48-51.

ABSTRACT

The aim – to study the efficiency of correction of hard tooth tissues discoloration. The study was conducted on 135 patients with tooth discoloration. Clinical – complex examination of patients with determination of hard tooth tissues color (Vіta scale), indexes of individual oral hygiene, intensity and prevalence of gums inflammation for the study of efficiency of the applied medical and preventive complexes of correction of hard tooth tissues discoloration depending on a clinical situation; statistical – for determination of authenticity of differences of the results. Patients of O-1 group, who used abrasive bleaching toothpastes, during the initial examination, had a poor oral hygiene. In patients O-2 group, who used peroxide containing bleaching toothpastes, during examination of 420 teeth hard tooth tissues discoloration were noted in 187 (44.53%) patients teeth. Patients O-3 group, who used enzyme containing bleaching toothpastes, during the initial examination had hard tooth tissues discoloration in 198 (47.14%) tooth. The proposed algorithms for whitening with usage of oral hygiene facilities tested positive. However, obtained in the long-term observation results showed that the most pronounced bleaching effect with enzyme containing toothpaste. Studies had shown the most pronounced efficacy of enzyme containing whitening toothpaste in the complex treatment and prevention of correction of hard tooth tissues discoloration compared to other whitening toothpastes.

PMID:34103429

Stroke Vasc Neurol. 2021 Jun 8:svn-2020-000852. doi: 10.1136/svn-2020-000852. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: For patients with stroke with large-vessel occlusion (LVO), study of factors predicting response to intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) would allow identifying subgroups with high expected gain, and those for whom it could be considered as futile, and even detrimental. From patients included in the Mechanical Thrombectomy After Intravenous Alteplase vs Alteplase Alone After Stroke trial, we investigated clinical-imaging factors associated with optimal response to IVT.

METHODS: We included patients receiving IVT alone. Excellent outcome was defined by a 3-month modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score ≤1. Clinical-imaging predictors were assessed on multivariate analysis after multiple imputations. The predictive performance of the model was assessed with the C-statistic.

RESULTS: Among 247 patients with LVO treated with IVT alone, 77 (31%) showed 3-month mRS ≤1. Predictors of 3-month mRS ≤1 were no medical history of hypertension (OR 2.43; 95% CI 1.74 to 3.38; p=0.007); no current smoking (OR 2.76; 95% CI 1.79 to 4.26; p=0.02); onset-to-IVT time (OR 0.47 per hour increase; 95% CI 0.23 to 0.78; p=0.003); diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) volume (OR 0.78 per 10 mL increase; 95% CI 0.68 to 0.89; p=0.0004); presence of susceptibility vessel sign (SVS) (OR 7.89; 95% CI 1.65 to 37.78; p=0.01) and SVS length (OR 0.87 per mm increase; 95% CI 0.80 to 0.94; p=0.001). The prediction models showed a C-statistic=0.79 (95% CI 0.79 to 0.80).

CONCLUSIONS: In patients with stroke with anterior-circulation LVO treated with IVT alone, predictors of excellent outcome at 3 months were no medical history of hypertension or current smoking, reduced onset-to-IVT time, small DWI volume, presence of SVS and short SVS length. These predictive factors could help practitioners in decision-making for IVT implementation in reperfusion strategies, all the more for the drip and ship paradigm.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT01062698.

PMID:34103393 | DOI:10.1136/svn-2020-000852

Hosp Pediatr. 2021 Jun 8:hpeds.2020-005298. doi: 10.1542/hpeds.2020-005298. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Patients with autoimmune encephalitis (AE) often present with symptoms that are broadly characterized as psychiatric or behavioral, yet little attention is given to the precise symptomatology observed. We sought to more fully define the psychiatric symptoms observed in patients with anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR), anti-glutamic-acid-decarboxylase 65 (GAD65), and anti-voltage-gated-potassium-channel complex (VGKC) antibody-mediated AE using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition nomenclature.

METHODS: We present a case series (n = 25) using a retrospective chart review of 225 patients evaluated for AE in a tertiary care academic medical center between 2014 and 2018. The included patients were ≤18 years old with anti-NMDAR AE (n = 13), anti-GAD65 AE (n = 7), or anti-VGKC AE (n = 5). The frequency of neuropsychiatric symptoms present at the onset of illness and time to diagnosis were compared across groups.

RESULTS: Psychiatric symptoms were seen in 92% of patients in our cohort. Depressive features (72%), personality change (64%), psychosis (48%), and catatonia (32%) were the most common psychiatric symptoms exhibited. On average, patients experienced impairment in ≥4 of 7 symptom domains. No patients had isolated psychiatric symptoms. The average times to diagnosis were 1.7, 15.5, and 12.4 months for anti-NMDAR AE, anti-GAD65 AE, and anti-VGKC AE, respectively (P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS: The psychiatric phenotype of AE in children is highly heterogenous. Involving psychiatry consultation services can be helpful in differentiating features of psychosis and catatonia, which may otherwise be misidentified. Patients presenting with psychiatric symptoms along with impairments in other domains should prompt a workup for AE, including testing for all known antineuronal antibodies.

PMID:34103402 | DOI:10.1542/hpeds.2020-005298

BMJ Glob Health. 2021 Jun;6(6):e004885. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004885.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 has shown an exceptionally high spread rate across and within countries worldwide. Understanding the dynamics of such an infectious disease transmission is critical for devising strategies to control its spread. In particular, Rwanda was one of the African countries that started COVID-19 preparedness early in January 2020, and a total lockdown was imposed when the country had only 18 COVID-19 confirmed cases known. Using intensive contact tracing, several infections were identified, with the majority of them being returning travellers and their close contacts. We used the contact tracing data in Rwanda for understanding the geographic patterns of COVID-19 to inform targeted interventions.

METHODS: We estimated the attack rates and identified risk factors associated to COVID-19 spread. We used Bayesian disease mapping models to assess the spatial pattern of COVID-19 and to identify areas characterised by unusually high or low relative risk. In addition, we used multiple variable conditional logistic regression to assess the impact of the risk factors.

RESULTS: The results showed that COVID-19 cases in Rwanda are localised mainly in the central regions and in the southwest of Rwanda and that some clusters occurred in the northeast of Rwanda. Relationship to the index case, being male and coworkers are the important risk factors for COVID-19 transmission in Rwanda.

CONCLUSION: The analysis of contact tracing data using spatial modelling allowed us to identify high-risk areas at subnational level in Rwanda. Estimating risk factors for infection with SARS-CoV-2 is vital in identifying the clusters in low spread of SARS-CoV-2 subnational level. It is imperative to understand the interactions between the index case and contacts to identify superspreaders, risk factors and high-risk places. The findings recommend that self-isolation at home in Rwanda should be reviewed to limit secondary cases from the same households and spatiotemporal analysis should be introduced in routine monitoring of COVID-19 in Rwanda for policy making decision on real time.

PMID:34103325 | DOI:10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004885

Science. 2021 Jun 8:eabe4832. doi: 10.1126/science.abe4832. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the pronounced vulnerability of the elderly and chronically-ill to SARS-CoV-2-induced morbidity and mortality. Cellular senescence contributes to inflammation, multiple chronic diseases, and age-related dysfunction, but effects on responses to viral infection are unclear. Here, we demonstrate that senescent cells (SnC) become hyper-inflammatory in response to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), including SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein-1, increasing expression of viral entry proteins and reducing anti-viral gene expression in non-SnCs through a paracrine mechanism. Old mice acutely infected with pathogens that included a SARS-CoV-2-related mouse β-coronavirus experienced increased senescence and inflammation with nearly 100% mortality. Targeting SnCs using senolytic drugs before or after pathogen exposure significantly reduced mortality, cellular senescence, and inflammatory markers and increased anti-viral antibodies. Thus, reducing the SnC burden in diseased or aged individuals should enhance resilience and reduce mortality following viral infection, including SARS-CoV-2.

PMID:34103349 | DOI:10.1126/science.abe4832

J Immunother Cancer. 2021 Jun;9(6):e002718. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2021-002718.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have suggested that inflammatory markers (neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and fibrinogen) are prognostic biomarkers in patients with a variety of solid cancers, including those treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). We aimed to develop a model that predicts response and survival in patients with relapsed and/or metastatic (R/M) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) treated with immunotherapy.

METHODS: Analysis of 100 consecutive patients with unresectable R/M HNSCC who were treated with ICI. Baseline and on-treatment (day 28) NLR, fibrinogen and LDH were calculated and correlated with response, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) using univariate and multivariate analyses. The optimal cut-off values were derived using maximally selected log-rank statistics.

RESULTS: Low baseline NLR and fibrinogen levels were associated with response. There was a statistically significant correlation between on-treatment NLR and fibrinogen and best overall response. On-treatment high NLR and raised fibrinogen were significantly associated with poorer outcome. In multivariate analysis, on-treatment NLR (≥4) and on-treatment fibrinogen (≥4 ng/mL) showed a significant negative correlation with OS and PFS. Using these cut-off points, we generated an on-treatment score for OS and PFS (0-2 points). The derived scoring system shows appropriate discrimination and suitability for OS (HR 2.4, 95% CI 1.7 to 3.4, p<0.0001, Harrell’s C 0.67) and PFS (HR 1.8, 95% CI 1.4 to 2.3, p<0.0001, Harrell’s C 0.68). In the absence of an external validation cohort, results of fivefold cross-validation of the score and evaluation of median OS and PFS on the Kaplan-Meier survival distribution between trained and test data exhibited appropriate accuracy and concordance of the model.

CONCLUSIONS: NLR and fibrinogen levels are simple, inexpensive and readily available biomarkers that could be incorporated into an on-treatment scoring system and used to help predict survival and response to ICI in patients with R/M HNSCC.

PMID:34103355 | DOI:10.1136/jitc-2021-002718

BMJ Open. 2021 Jun 8;11(6):e044353. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044353.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The depth and breadth of clinical data within electronic health record (EHR) systems paired with innovative machine learning methods can be leveraged to identify novel risk factors for complex diseases. However, analysing the EHR is challenging due to complexity and quality of the data. Therefore, we developed large electronic population-based cohorts with comprehensive harmonised and processed EHR data.

PARTICIPANTS: All individuals 30 years of age or older who resided in Olmsted County, Minnesota on 1 January 2006 were identified for the discovery cohort. Algorithms to define a variety of patient characteristics were developed and validated, thus building a comprehensive risk profile for each patient. Patients are followed for incident diseases and ageing-related outcomes. Using the same methods, an independent validation cohort was assembled by identifying all individuals 30 years of age or older who resided in the largely rural 26-county area of southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin on 1 January 2013.

FINDINGS TO DATE: For the discovery cohort, 76 255 individuals (median age 49; 53% women) were identified from which a total of 9 644 221 laboratory results; 9 513 840 diagnosis codes; 10 924 291 procedure codes; 1 277 231 outpatient drug prescriptions; 966 136 heart rate measurements and 1 159 836 blood pressure (BP) measurements were retrieved during the baseline time period. The most prevalent conditions in this cohort were hyperlipidaemia, hypertension and arthritis. For the validation cohort, 333 460 individuals (median age 54; 52% women) were identified and to date, a total of 19 926 750 diagnosis codes, 10 527 444 heart rate measurements and 7 356 344 BP measurements were retrieved during baseline.

FUTURE PLANS: Using advanced machine learning approaches, these electronic cohorts will be used to identify novel sex-specific risk factors for complex diseases. These approaches will allow us to address several challenges with the use of EHR.

PMID:34103314 | DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044353

BMJ Open. 2021 Jun 8;11(6):e045667. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045667.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: As many as 74% of veterans with alcohol use disorders (AUDS) report symptoms of insomnia. Insomnia represents a barrier to alcohol treatment because insomnia symptoms (1) may lead to relapse among those who use alcohol to help them sleep and may negatively impact (2) executive functions and (3) emotion regulation skills. Cognitive-behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is an efficacious first-line treatment for insomnia; however, no research has examined the impact of CBT-I on individuals’ response to alcohol treatment. In the Sleep and Alcohol for Veterans (Project SAVE) randomised controlled trial, we hypothesise that CBT-I will enhance the efficacy of alcohol treatment among Veterans with insomnia by enhancing their abilities to attend to treatment, regulate emotions and initiate sleep without alcohol.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Eighty Veterans enrolled in alcohol treatment at the Veterans Administration (VA) hospital will be randomly assigned to receive either CBT-I or single-session sleep hygiene (SH) education. Individuals will be eligible to participate if they meet Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) criteria for moderate to severe AUD and Insomnia Disorder of at least 1-month duration. Participants will complete assessments at baseline, post-treatment and 6-week follow-up. Preliminary process outcomes include retention/recruitment rates and treatment satisfaction (feasibility and acceptability, respectively). Primary outcomes are insomnia severity, percentage of heavy-drinking days and alcohol-related problems. We will assess a variety of secondary clinical and mechanistic outcomes (eg, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, attention and working memory).

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval was obtained in October 2018. Data collection began in July 2019 and is planned for completion by July 2021. Trial results will be disseminated at local and national conferences, in peer-reviewed publications and through media outlets, as available. Results will also be shared with interested participants and clinical collaborators at the end of the trial.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT03806491 (pre-results).

PMID:34103317 | DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045667