The effect of granulocyte colony-stimulating factors on survival parameters in pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a retrospective study

ObjectiveThere is a paucity of data concerning the use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factors (G-CSFs) in pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of G-CSF use on relapse-free and overall survival in 358 consecutive, newly diagnosed pediatric ALL patients uniformly treated at the same institution between April 2012 and April 2020.Materials and MethodsPatients were evaluated in two separate periods, based on the G-CSF treatment approach. All patients who underwent ALL treatment between April 2012 and December 2016 received G-CSF (G-CSF⁺ arm; n: 245) in the course of the protocol for reducing the risk of febrile neutropenia and/or inducing neutrophil recovery to prevent any treatment delay. No patients after December 2016 received G-CSF, even if they belonged to the high-risk group, and these were included in the G-CSF^? arm (n: 113).ResultsEstimated mean relapse-free (106.5 months; 95 % CI 102?110.8 vs 82 months 95 % CI 75.2?88.9; p: 0.794) and overall survival (111.4 months; 95 % CI 108?114.8 vs 85 months 95 % CI 80.4?89.8; p: 0.431) rates were similar between the G-CSF⁺ and G-CSF^? groups.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that G-CSF use during ALL treatment had no effect on relapse rates or overall survival.     

Ovine Iliac Vein Model for Endovascular Thrombectomy of Acute Deep Venous Thrombosis

An ovine iliac vein thrombosis model was devised to test a wall-contacting rotational thrombectomy device. Thrombosis was successfully induced in 9 sheep with an average clot length of 31 mm ± 12 and >60% vessel occlusion on angiography. The thrombus was subsequently removed, maintaining normal intraoperative pulmonary arterial pressure (5.9 mm Hg ± 3.6) and complete distal reperfusion after thrombectomy. Additionally, the sheep were without signs of vascular trauma or embolic complications on gross necropsy and histopathologic analysis. The findings from this study support the use of an ovine iliac deep vein thrombosis model for testing of a lower extremity thrombectomy device.     

特发性肺纤维化急性加重期证候与血清生物标志物的相关性研究＊

目的 通过分析特发性肺纤维化急性加重期（AE-IPF）患者证候与血清生物标志物的关系，为中医辨证治疗提供参考。方法 采用观察性研究设计，收集2019年3月至2019年11月三个中心的AE-IPF患者76例，其中痰热壅肺证26例、痰浊阻肺证50例，并纳入健康志愿者10例作为对照。采用ELISA测定患者血清CCL18、HMGB1、KL-6、MMP-7、SP-A和SP-D水平，分析与中医证候的相关性。结果 AE-IPF患者血清CCL18、HMGB1、KL-6、MMP-7、SP-A和SP-D水平均显著高于健康对照组。血清CCL18、HMGB1、KL-6、MMP-7和SP-D水平在痰热壅肺证和痰浊阻肺证患者间无显著性差异（P＞0.05），而血清SP-A水平存在显著性差异（P＜0.05）。结论 血清SP-A与AE-IPF证候存在一定的相关性，血清SP-A的浓度升高，与痰热壅肺证关系越密切，反之，血清SP-A浓度降低，则与痰浊阻肺证关系越密切。AE-IPF痰热壅肺证患者的预后可能较痰浊阻肺证患者更差。     

Impact of COVID-19 and malaria coinfection on clinical outcomes: a retrospective cohort study

ObjectivesDespite the possibility of concurrent infection with COVID-19 and malaria, little is known about the clinical course of coinfected patients. We analysed the clinical outcomes of patients with concurrent COVID-19 and malaria infection.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study that assessed prospectively collected data of all patients who were admitted between May and December 2020 to the Universal COVID-19 treatment center (UCTC), Khartoum, Sudan. UCTC compiled demographic, clinical, laboratory (including testing for malaria), and outcome data in all patients with confirmed COVID-19 hospitalized at that clinic. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality during the hospital stay. We built proportional hazard Cox models with malaria status as the main exposure and stepwise adjustment for age, sex, cardiovascular comorbidities, diabetes, and hypertension.ResultsWe included 591 patients with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis who were also tested for malaria. Mean (SD) age was 58 (16.2) years, 446/591 (75.5%) were males. Malaria was diagnosed in 270/591 (45.7%) patients. Most malaria patients were infected by Plasmodium falciparum (140/270; 51.9%), while 121/270 (44.8%) were coinfected with Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. Median follow-up was 29 days. Crude mortality rates were 10.71 and 5.87 per 1000 person-days for patients with and without concurrent malaria, respectively. In the fully adjusted Cox model, patients with concurrent malaria and COVID-19 had a greater mortality risk (hazard ratio 1.43, 95% confidence interval 1.21-1.69).DiscussionCoinfection with COVID-19 and malaria is associated with increased all-cause in-hospital mortality compared to monoinfection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).     

Preliminary study on blood coagulation and hemostatic effect and acute toxicity of Oxalis corniculata L. ethanol extract

In the present study, we aimed to observe the effects of ethanol extract of Oxalis corniculata L. on bleeding time (BT) and coagulation time (CT) and determine its acute toxicity in mice. Firstly, the ethanol extract of O. corniculata was administered to 40 mice, which were randomly divided into the normal control group, Yunnan Baiyao control group, low-dose group, and high-dose group. The low-dose (0.6 g/kg) and high-dose (1.2 g/kg) groups received ethanol extract of O. corniculata by gavage, and the BT and CT of the mice were measured by the slide method and tail clipping method, respectively. Secondly, the median lethal dose method was used with 50 mice to observe the physiological state, poisoning reaction, and death of the mice after intragastric administration. Finally, on the 14th day of the experiment, a necropsy was performed to observe any abnormality of the organs. In conclusion, in the coagulation and hemostasis tests, there were no statistical differences between the groups (P > 0.05), while there was a significant dose-response relationship, and the BT and CT were significantly shorter than those of the negative control group, which were comparable to the Yunnan Baiyao control group. Moreover, in the acute toxicity test, the median lethal dose of ethanol extract of O. corniculata was 6.0291 g/kg, with a 95% confidence interval of 5.3065–6.7829 mg/kg.     

适量运动对心房颤动患者预后的影响:系统综述与Meta分析

目的 分析适量运动对于心房颤动(房颤)患者的运动能力以及远期临床预后的影响。方法 通过检索中国知网,万方,维普,Pubmed,OVID,Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL),web of science数据库,纳入对房颤患者进行适量体育活动干预的临床试验。本研究的主要终点为静息心率,最大心率,6 min步行试验,最大运动功率,全因死亡率以及卒中发生率,用以评估适量运动对房颤患者活动耐力以及预后的影响。结果 本研究共纳入7项试验,2 452例患者,试验组为适量运动干预组,对照组为不活跃组。适量运动并不会显著增加患者的静息心率(MD=-1.68,P=0.70)以及最大心率(RD=9.72,P=0.11)。运动训练可显著提高房颤患者的运动能力,明显增加6 min步行距离(MD=59.07,95%CI=11.70-106.44,P<0.05),并且在一定程度上提高运动功率(MD=17.96,95%CI=-6.30-42.22,P=0.15)。适量运动对房颤患者的远期预后不会造成不良影响,适量运动组对比不活跃组,全因死亡率为15.7% vs 14.2%(RD=0.03,95%CI=-0.18-0.25,P=0.75);卒中发生率5.0% vs 2.9%(RD=0.02,95%CI=-0.06-0.09,P=0.69),两组差异无统计学意义。结论 适量运动可在一定程度上提高房颤患的活动耐力,且不增加卒中以及全因死亡率。