Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management

PURPOSE: This study aimed to rank the features that are important in terms of safety and effectiveness in choosing the surgical method and providing appropriate care to the patient by using the variables examined before and after the surgery to evaluate the success of mini percutaneous nephrolithotomy and standard percutaneous nephrolithotomy surgeries. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The features evaluated before and after surgery were ranked according to their importance in the features considered, using Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS), LASSO, Ridge, Elastic_net, and Random Forest algorithms as variable selection techniques...

INTRODUCTION: Systemic AL amyloidosis, a plasma cell dyscrasia, is characterized by the production of misfolded immunoglobulin light chain. These misfolded proteins aggregate into amyloid fibrils and deposit throughout the body, resulting in widespread organ dysfunction and ultimately death. Achieving rapid and maximal elimination of the plasma cell clone is crucial to long-term survival. Daratumumab, an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody delivered intravenously, has been swiftly incorporated into standard first-line treatment regimens...

PURPOSE: Several in vivo experiments have shown that molecular hydrogen is a promising therapeutic agent for interstitial lung diseases (ILD). In this study, hydrogen therapy was investigated to determine whether it is superior to N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) for the treatment of patients with early-stage ILD. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective, single-center, randomized, controlled clinical trial was conducted in 87 patients with early-stage ILD. Hydrogen or NAC therapy was randomly assigned (1:1 ratio) to the eligible patients...

OBJECTIVE: For the diagnosis of pediatric osteomyelitis, the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were evaluated in this study. METHODS: A systematic computer-based search was performed for relevant articles focusing on the ESR diagnosis of pediatric osteomyelitis in PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library with an inclusion criteria: 1) the diagnostic utility of ESR for diagnosing osteomyelitis patients under the age of 18;2) two-by-two contingency tables can be obtained...

Deutetrabenazine (DTBZ) is used for the treatment of tardive dyskinesia (TD) and chorea in Huntington's Disease (HD). Four pivotal clinical trials showed the efficacy of DTBZ in these conditions. Long term follow-up studies confirmed evidence of overall safety and continued efficacy of this drug. Indirect comparisons revealed relative superiority of DTBZ over TBZ in terms of safety, but direct comparisons of safety and efficacy between the VMAT2 and dopamine blocking agents is lacking. Deutetrabenazine is safe and effective in the treatment of TD and chorea in HD in doses up to 72 mg daily and for up to three years in duration...

PURPOSE: The Ramathibodi Rapid Response System (RRRS), implemented in March 2017, aims to identify and respond to patients with deteriorating conditions outside the ICU. It employs the Ramathibodi early warning score and clinical signs to monitor all admitted patients, providing expert physician monitoring and early treatment for stabilization and appropriate care triage. This study assesses the RRRS's effectiveness in reducing in-hospital mortality and CPR events outside the ICU. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective observational study from March 2014 to February 2020 in a tertiary care hospital's general wards...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to create and validate a novel nomogram to predict the risk of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) who underwent intravenous thrombolysis (IVT). METHODS: In this retrospective study, 784 patients with AIS who received IVT were enrolled. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: a training set (n=550, 70%) and a testing set (n=234, 30%). Utilizing multivariable logistic regression analysis, relevant factors for the predictive nomogram were selected...

PURPOSE: Thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) is an enzyme that metabolizes purine analogs, agents used in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Improper drug metabolism leads to toxicity in chemotherapy patients and reduces treatment effectiveness. TPMT variants associated with reduced enzymatic activity vary across populations. Therefore, studying these variants in heterogeneous populations, such as Ecuadorians, can help identify molecular causes of deficiency for this enzyme...

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of chronic heart failure (CHF) checklist management in reducing adverse outcomes of heart failure patients is still uncertain. This study explores whether CHF checklist management is more useful than usual care in reducing adverse health outcomes in the medium- and long-term among CHF patients. METHODS: In our prospective study, 132 patients with CHF were randomly assigned to CHF management group and usual care group by random number method...

Variant transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTRv) is an autosomal dominant inherited genetic disorder that affects 5000-10,000 people worldwide. It is caused by mutations in the transthyretin (TTR) gene and results in amyloid deposition in a variety of organs due to abnormal accumulation of TTR protein fibrils. Although this is a multisystem disorder, the heart and peripheral nerves are the preferentially affected organs. Over 150 TTR gene mutations have been associated with this disease and the clinical phenotype can vary significantly...

BACKGROUND: Since its launch as a standardized treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Ethiopia in April 2018, the safety profile of the shorter injectable regimen under a programmatic setting has not been well studied. Thus, this study aimed to assess the status of adverse events in patients treated with a shorter injectable regimen in Ethiopia. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study. Data were collected using a structured data abstraction form and analyzed using SPSS, version 25, both descriptively and analytically...

INTRODUCTION: While most children experience mild coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections, a minority of cases progress to severe or critical illness. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of Remdesivir (RDV) therapy in children with moderate to severe COVID-19, enhancing clinical decision-making and expanding our understanding of antiviral treatments for pediatric patients. METHODS: The study included 60 patients, 38 receiving RDV treatment and 22 serving as the control group...

OBJECTIVE: Education and training is core to improving peripheral intravenous access outcomes. This study aimed to show that a vascular access training program (Operation STICK) in the emergency department (ED) improves the outcomes of traditionally placed peripheral intravenous catheters (PIVC). METHODS: This was a pre-post quasi-experimental study of traditionally placed PIVCs at a large ED in southeastern Michigan, United States. A control group (non-OSTICK) was compared to an experimental group (OSTICK) using a 3:1 propensity score matched analysis...

AIMS OF THE STUDY: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and predictors of Drug-related problems (DRPs), as well as to evaluate the impact of DRPs on the health-related quality of life in geriatric patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was conducted over a three-month period. Patients aged 60 years and older visited diabetes clinics from October 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022, were included in the study. Data were collected through structured questionnaires, whereas lab results, medication records, comorbidities, and the consequences of DRPs were collected from electronic medical records...

The new Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP)-targeted therapies have proven high efficacy and tolerability in episodic and chronic migraine. Eptinezumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that selectively binds CGRP with high affinity. Eptinezumab was approved by the Food and Drug Administration on February 21st, 2020, for the preventive treatment of migraine in adults. It is administered intravenously over 30 minutes with a standard dose of 100 mg and has a T-max of 30 minutes-1 hour and a half-life of 27 days...

BACKGROUND: Sore throat is a common complication after general anesthesia. Oral care solutions have been used to reduce the incidence of oral complications or ventilator-associated pneumonia, but their effect on postoperative sore throat (POST) is unclear. This study aims to investigate whether oral care solution can alleviate POST in patients undergoing i-gel laryngeal mask general anesthesia. METHODS: A total of 120 patients who were scheduled for elective surgery under laryngeal mask general anesthesia were enrolled...

PURPOSE: While pharmacoinvasive strategy (PI) is a safe and effective approach whenever access to primary percutaneous intervention (pPCI) is limited, data on each strategy's economic cost and impact on in-hospital stay are scarce. The objective is to compare the cost-effectiveness of a PI with that of pPCI for the treatment of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in a Latin-American country. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 1747 patients were included, of whom 470 (26...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to explore the therapeutic effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on post stroke shoulder pain (PSSP). METHODS: We enrolled 13 individuals in this study who underwent three different treatments in a random sequence: active tDCS+active TENS, active tDCS+sham TENS, and sham tDCS+active TENS. Each treatment was administered once, with a 3-day washout period between interventions...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the potential relationship between the prone jackknife position during percutaneous nephroscopy and the occurrence of intraoperative hypotension. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 651 patients who underwent percutaneous nephroscopy at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University. The primary focus was to investigate the occurrence of hypotension during the surgical procedure and assess the duration of hypotensive episodes...

RFX, a rifamycin-based antibacterial agent obtained by the culture of the actinomycete Streptomyces mediterranei, has a broad antibacterial spectrum covering gram- positive, gram-negative, aerobic, and anaerobic bacteria. RFX is an antibiotic that elicits its effect by inhibiting bacterial RNA synthesis. When administered orally, its intestinal absorption is extremely low (<0.4%), restricting antibacterial activity mainly in the intestinal tract, with few systemic side effects. RFX has been recommended by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the European Association for the Study of the Liver guidelines for the treatment of HE...