Prevalence and correlative factors of atrial fibrillation in hospitalized patients with hypertension: A single-center retrospective study

Objective To evaluate the prevalence of atrial fibrillation(AF) in hospitalized patients with hypertension,and to identify the correlative factors associated with AFin these patients. Methods A total of 831 patients withhypertension,who were hospitalized in the Department ofCardiology from January 1,2015 to June 1,2016 at theSecond Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical Universitywere included in this study. Based on the ACC /AHA/ESC criteria, these patients were classified into twogroups: NAF group (patients without AF,n = 559) andAF group (n = 272). Clinical characteristics,laboratorydata were compared between the two groups. The correlativefactors for AF were analyzed by logistic regression.

A comparison of efficacy and safety between Chinese generic imatinib and branded imatinib in patients with newly-diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia in the chronic phase:a single-center prospective cohort study

Objective To compare the efficacy and safety between Chinese generic imatinib(Xinwei~,Jiansu Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co.,Ltd.)and branded imatinib(Glivec~,Novartis)in patients with newly-diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase(CML-CP).Methods Patients with newly diagnosed CML-CP

Challenges to establishing and maintaining kidney transplantation programs in developing countries:What are the coping strategies?

Kidney transplantation(KT)is the optimal form of renal replacement therapy for patients with end-stage renal diseases.However,this health service is not available to all patients,especially in developing countries.The deceased donor KT programs are mostly absent,and the living donor KT centers are scarce.Single-center studies presenting experiences from developing countries usually report a variety of challenges.This review addresses these challenges and the opposing strategies by reviewing the single-center experiences of developing countries.The financial challenges hamper the infrastructural and material availability,coverage of transplant costs,and qualification of medical personnel.The sociocultural challenges influence organ donation,equity of beneficence,and regular follow-up work.Low interests and motives for transplantation may result from high medicolegal responsibilities in KT practice,intense potential psychosocial burdens,complex qualification protocols,and low productivity or compensation for KT practice.Low medical literacy about KT advantages is prevalent among clinicians,patients,and the public.The inefficient organizational and regulatory oversight is translated into inefficient healthcare systems,absent national KT programs and registries,uncoordinated job descriptions and qualification protocols,uncoordinated on-site investigations with regulatory constraints,and the prevalence of commercial KT practices.These challenges resulted in noticeable differences between KT services in developed and developing countries.The coping strategies can be summarized in two main mechanisms:The first mechanism is maximizing the available resources by increasing the rates of living kidney donation,promoting the expertise of medical personnel,reducing material consumption,and supporting the establishment and maintenance of KT programs.The latter warrants the expansion of the public sector and the elimination of non-ethical KT practices.The second mechanism is recruiting external resources,including financial,experience,and training agreements.

Four-year experience with more than 1000 cases of total laparoscopic liver resection in a single center

BACKGROUND Laparoscopic liver resection(LLR)has become a safe surgical procedure that needs additional summarization.AIM To review 4 years of total LLR surgeries,exceeding 1000 cases,which were performed at a single center.METHODS Patients who underwent LLR at West China Hospital of Sichuan University between January 2015 and December 2018 were identified.Surgical details,including the interventional year,category of liver disease,and malignant liver tumors prognosis,were evaluated.The learning curve for LLR was evaluated using the cumulative sum method.The Kaplan-Meier method was used to perform survival analysis.RESULTS Ultimately,1098 patients were identified.Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)was the most common disease that led to the need for LLR at the center(n=462,42.08%).The average operation time was 216.94±98.51 min.The conversion rate was 1.82%(20/1098).The complication rate was 9.20%(from grade II to V).The 1-year and 3-year overall survival rates of HCC patients were 89.7%and 81.9%,respectively.The learning curve was grouped into two phases for local resection(cases 1-106 and 107-373),three phases for anatomical segmentectomy(cases 1-44,45-74 and 75-120),and three phases for hemihepatectomy(cases 1-17,18-48 and CONCLUSION LLR may be considered a first-line surgical intervention for liver resection that can be performed safely for a variety of primary,secondary,and recurrent liver tumors and for benign diseases once technical competence is proficiently attained.

Efficacy and Safety of the Skin Adhesive EpinexusTM in Surgical Patients

This single-center, randomized, and controlled intervention study compared an acrylate skin adhesive, EpinexusTM (Mitsui Chemicals, Inc., Tokyo) with Dermabond AdvancedR (Ethicon, Inc., Somerville, New Jersey). The primary endpoint was cosmetic outcome at 52 weeks after treatment (Manchester Scar Scale), and the secondary endpoints were cosmetic outcome at 4 and 26 weeks after treatment (Manchester Scar Scale), wound closure, and usability. We evaluated 59 patients (29 cases and 30 controls). Failures and adverse events were also evaluated, and 8 adverse events (5 cases and 3 controls) were reported (epidermolysis, n = 4;contact dermatitis, n = 1;eczema, n = 1;and surgical wound dehiscence, n = 2). No difference was observed between groups in cosmetic outcome at 52 and 24 weeks;however, at 4 weeks, cases showed better cosmetic outcome compared with controls. With regard to usability, the treatment duration and application time were significantly longer with EpinexusTM, and ease of application was significantly better with Dermabond AdvancedR.

Effects of Low-dose and High-dose Rifaximin in the Treatment of Covert Hepatic Encephalopathy

Background and Aims:Rifaximin is effective in prevent-ing and treating hepatic encephalopathy(HE).This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of different dosages of rifaximin in the treatment of cirrhotic patients with covert HE(CHE).Methods:In this single-center,ran-domized,controlled,open-label study,CHE was diagnosed using a combination of the psychometric HE score and the EncephalApp Stroop test.Cirrhotic patients with CHE were recruited and randomly assigned to low-dose rifaximin 800 mg/day,high-dose rifaximin(1,200 mg/day),and control groups,and were treated for 8 weeks.The sickness impact profile(SIP)scale was used to evaluate the health-relat-ed quality of life(HRQOL)of patients.Forty patients were included in the study,12 were assigned to the low-dose group,14 to the high-dose group,and 14 patients to the control group.Results:The percentage of patients with CHE reversal was significantly higher in both the low-dose(41.67%,5/12)and high-dose(57.14%,8/14)groups than in the control group(7.14%,1/14)at 8 weeks(p=0.037 and p=0.005,respectively).In addition,both doses of ri-faximin resulted in significant improvement of the total SIP score compared with the control group.There were no sig-nificant differences in the CHE reversal rate,total SIP score improvement,and incidence of adverse event between the low-dose and high-dose groups(p>0.05).Conclusions:Low-dose rifaximin reverses CHE and improves HRQOL in cirrhotic patients with comparable effects and safety to high-dose rifaximin.