养阴利咽饮与玉液散吹喉对阴虚肺燥型慢性咽炎患者血清因子的影响

目的:探讨养阴利咽饮与玉液散吹喉对阴虚肺燥型慢性咽炎患者血清炎性因子的影响。方法:将2015年8月至2017年3月山东省淄博市第四人民医院收治的慢性咽炎患者118例作为研究对象,按治疗方法不同分为对照组和观察组,每组59例。对照组用常规西药治疗,观察组用养阴利咽饮与玉液散吹喉治疗,均连续治疗30 d。比较2组临床疗效,观察并比较治疗前后2组患者主要临床症状改善情况,唾液中分泌型免疫球蛋白A(SIgA)、血清炎性因子水平及生命质量变化。结果:治疗后观察组总有效率为91.53%,高于对照组的76.27%(P<0.05)。治疗后2组咽痛、干咳、咽黏膜充血水肿临床症状积分低于治疗前,且观察组低于对照组(P<0.01)。与治疗前比较,治疗后2组患者唾液中SIgA水平均明显升高,血清肿瘤坏死因子-α(TNF-α)及C-反应蛋白(CRP)水平均明显降低,且2组比较差异均有统计学意义(均P<0.01)。治疗后2组患者SF-36各项评分均明显高于治疗前,且观察组高于对照组(P<0.05或P<0.01)。结论:养阴利咽饮与玉液散吹喉联用可降低阴虚肺燥型慢性咽炎患者血清TNF-α、CRP水平,升高唾液中SIgA含量,改善患者临床症状,提高患者生命质量。     

Maladie rénale chronique et immunosénescence prématurée : données et perspectives

Immune senescence is associated with age-related diseases (i.e. infectious disease, cardiovascular diseases and cancers). Chronic kidney disease patients die prematurely when compared with general population, because of a higher occurrence of infections, cardiovascular events and cancer. These diseases are commonly observed in the elderly population and frequently associated with immune senescence. Indeed, chronic kidney disease causes a premature aging of the T lymphocyte compartment, widely related to a decrease in thymic function, a phenomenon that plays a key role in the onset of age-related diseases in chronic kidney disease patients. The degree of immune senescence also influences patients’ outcome after renal transplantation, particularly the risk of acute rejection and infections. Partial reversion of pre-transplant immune senescence is observed for some renal transplant patients. In conclusion, to reduce the increasing incidence of morbidity and mortality of chronic kidney disease patients, a better knowledge of uremia-induced immune senescence would help to pave the way to build clinical studies and promote innovative therapeutic approaches. We believe that therapeutic reversion and immune senescence prevention approaches will be part of the management of chronic kidney disease patients in the future.     

L’effet du non-recours aux soins médicaux et dentaires sur les dépenses de santé des personnes ayant une maladie chronique

BackgroundPeople with chronic disease often have dental (especially periodontal) disorders. Nevertheless, people with chronic disease seek dental care less often than others. We wanted to know if there is a relationship between the consumption of medical care and the consumption of dental care, and if so if the relationship is especially strong for people with chronic disease.MethodsWe conducted a longitudinal study that combined two data-sets: consumption data from the French National Health Insurance Fund and health and socioeconomic welfare data collected with a dedicated national survey. We studied healthcare expenditure and analyzed the association between healthcare consumption, health status and healthcare expenditure over a four-year period (2010–2013).ResultsPeople who did not seek medical or dental care in 2010 exhibited irregular consumer behavior thereafter. This pattern was particularly evident among those with chronic disease whose healthcare expenditures did not stabilize during the study period compared with the rest of the study population. Among people who did not seek medical care in 2010, variation in average dental care expenditure was 91% in people with chronic disease versus 42% for those without chronic disease. Lack of medical care during the first year of the study was also associated with greater expenditure-delay in people with chronic disease (77%) compared with 15% in people without chronic disease.ConclusionThe lack of medical or dental care in 2010 for people with chronic disease did not lead to an increase in medical and dental consumption in the following years. The catch-up delay was longer than four years. This highlights a problem of monitoring and identifies a marginalized population within the healthcare system.     

Differences in EEG patterns between tonic and high frequency spinal cord stimulation in chronic pain patients

ObjectiveTo investigate the differences in neural patterns between spinal cord stimulation (SCS) waveforms (60-Hz tonic vs 10-KHz high frequency stimulation, HFS) and their correlation to stimulation-induced pain relief.MethodsWe recorded 10-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) in response to stimulation ON and OFF in 9 chronic pain patients (4 women, 5 men) during SCS surgery and examined the intraoperative spatio-spectral EEG features.ResultsWe discovered stronger relative alpha power in the somatosensory region and higher trend in alpha/theta peak power ratio in frontal cortex with HFS. We also observed a shift in peak frequency from theta to alpha rhythms in HFS as compared to baseline and tonic stimulation, where slower theta activity was maintained. Further, a positive correlation was found between changes in Oswestry disability index (ODI) scores (from preoperative to postoperative) and HFS-induced alpha/theta peak power ratio in frontal and somatosensory regions.ConclusionsAltogether, our findings suggest that dynamic spectral interactions in theta-alpha band and their spatial distributions might be the first intraoperative neural signatures of pain relief induced by HFS in chronic pain.SignificanceExamining electrophysiological changes intraoperatively has a potential to elucidate response to SCS therapy prior to device selection, reducing the healthcare expenditures associated with failed implants.     

芪苈强心胶囊配合保元汤加减治疗慢性心力衰竭临床研究

目的:观察芪苈强心胶囊配合保元汤加减用于慢性心力衰竭的治疗效果。方法:选取收治的慢性心力衰竭患者104例作为研究对象,运用随机数字表法将其分为观察组(52例)和对照组(52例),两组患者均接受常规治疗,对照组采用保元汤治疗,观察组同时应用芪苈强心胶囊联合保元汤治疗。观察患者治疗前及治疗后6个月的6 min步行试验的步行距离(6MWD)及纽约心脏病学会心功能分级(NYHA)、血清学指标N末端B型利尿钠肽原(NT-proBNP)、半乳糖凝集素3(Galectin-3)及白介素6(IL-6)、超敏C反应蛋白(hs-CRP)、肿瘤坏死因子α(TNF-α)、心脏指数(CI)、左室射血分数(LVEF)、左室舒张末期内径(LVEDD)、左室收缩末期内径(LVESD)、左室重量指数(LVMI)和室壁运动指数(WMI)、左室间隔厚度(IVST)变化情况。结果:治疗前后,两组患者比较心功能指标、Galectin-3、炎性因子指标、心室重构指标差异有统计学意义(P<0.05); 观察组与对照组患者相比,6 min步行距离、CI、LVEF、升高更为显著(P<0.05); 观察组患者NYHA分级、NT-proBNP、Galectin-3、IL-6、hs-CRP、TNF-α、LVEDD、LVESD、LVMI、WMI、IVST降低更为显著(P<0.05)。结论:芪苈强心胶囊辅助保元汤加减能够有效改善慢性心力衰竭患者心脏功能,有利于患者体内炎性因子及Galectin-3水平降低,抑制心室重构进展,患者心脏舒缩功能改善效果更佳。     

Risk of Infection Associated With Ibrutinib in Patients With B-Cell Malignancies: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

IntroductionB-cell malignancies confer an increased risk of infection due to associated immune defects. Conflicting evidence exists on the risk of infection in patients receiving ibrutinib. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate relative risk of infection with ibrutinib in B-cell malignancies.MethodsA systematic search of Embase, Medline, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, European Union Clinical Trials Register, and ClinicalTrials.gov was performed through January 15, 2019, to identify randomized controlled trials comparing ibrutinib with other agents or placebo in B-cell malignancies. We pooled point estimates using the Der Simonian and Laird random-effects model. Statistical analyses were performed by Stata/SE 15.1.ResultsSeven studies randomizing 2167 patients were included in the final analysis. Treatment duration in studies ranged from 9.4 to 38.7 months. Ibrutinib was associated with a significantly increased risk of infection (any grade and grade 3-5) in patients with B-cell malignancies [pooled risk ratio (RR) = 1.34, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06-1.69, P = .015; and RR = 1.35, 95% CI, 1.05-1.74, P = .018, respectively]. In patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a significantly increased risk of grade 3-5 infection was noted in the ibrutinib group [pooled RR = 1.24, 95% CI, 1.02-1.50, P = .028]. Incidences of pneumonia and upper respiratory tract infection were not significantly different between groups.ConclusionOur meta-analysis found that ibrutinib was associated with significantly higher risk of infections in patients with B-cell malignancies. Occurrence of major individual subtypes was not different between groups, possibly as a result of inconsistent reporting across studies.     

Management recommendations for patients with chronic kidney disease during the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic

COVID-19 has become a pandemic and it has already spread to at least 171 countries/regions. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global public health problem with a total of approximately 850 million patients with CKD worldwide and 119.5 million in China. Severe COVID-19 infection may damage the kidney and cause acute tubular necrosis, leading to proteinuria, hematuria and elevated serum creatinine. Since the SARS-CoV-2 enters the cells by binding to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor, some doctors question its ability to increase the risk and severity of developing COVID-19. Neither clinical data nor basic scientific evidence supports this assumption. Therefore, patients who take angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker are not advised to change their therapy. Patients with CKD are generally the elderly population suffering from multiple comorbidities. Moreover, some patients with CKD might need to take glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants. Dialysis patients are recurrently exposed to a possible contaminated environment because their routine treatment usually requires three dialysis sessions per week. Considering all the above reasons, patients with CKD are more vulnerable to COVID-19 than the general population. The development of COVID-19 may worsen the impaired kidney function and further lead to rapid deterioration of kidney function and even death. Strict comprehensive protocols should be followed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among patients with CKD. In this review, we provide some practical management recommendations for health care providers, patients with CKD, dialysis patients and dialysis facilities.     

Comment on “The effect of omalizumab on hematological and inflammatory parameters in patients with chronic spontaneous urticarial”: reply from authors

Abstract

We read Cosansu’s commentary entitled “Effectiveness of the new inflammatory parameters in patients with chronic spontaneous urticarial” to our study with great interest. The author remarked that a limited number of patients had C-reactive protein levels and it was not specified whether there were any other drugs used by the patients and no information was given about the severity of the disease in our study.