As emerging means of cancer treatment, immunotherapy is the fourth major therapeutic strategy after surgery, chemoradiotherapy, and targeted therapy, which benefits patients a lot. It has been more than 100 years for the medical community exploring how to harness the immune system to fight cancer. Since the advent of ipilimumab in 2011, the first checkpoint inhibitor, cancer immunotherapy represented by checkpoint inhibitors has exploded. Several programmed death protein-1 and programmed cell death ligand-1 inhibitors have successively been approved to treat advanced non-small cell lung cancer in the second-line setting or even the first-line setting. But checkpoint inhibitors therapy has only achieved limited benefit at the present stage. Exploring potential predictive biomarkers and mechanisms of resistance are in need of further consideration to optimize immunotherapy.
Severe acute kidney injury usually requires renal replacement therapy. Intermittent hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, continuous renal replacement therapy, and prolonged intermittent renal replacement therapy are the four common modalities of renal replacement therapy. Whether one modality of renal replacement therapy is superior to another in clinical practice remains controversial. The impact of the choice of renal replacement therapy modality on the short-term and long-term prognosis of patients needs to be further explored in large-scale randomized controlled studies and a longer follow-up time. This article will discuss the development history of renal replacement therapy for acute kidney injury, the current status of its application, and the comparison of the four treatment modalities, in order to help clinicians have a deeper understanding of how to design individualized renal replacement therapy programs for patients with acute kidney injury under the guidance of the concept of precision medicine.
Objective
To investigate the application status of titrated oxygen therapy in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) by means of literature retrieving.
Methods
Database retrieving is taken on eight major domestic medical journals about the treatment for AECOPD patients during the period of January 2013 to December 2015.
Results
There were 70 articles involving the treatment of AECOPD in the eight major journals during 2013 to 2015. Oxygen therapy was not mentioned in 14 articles, oxygen therapy data were incomplete in 13 papers and relatively complete in 43 papers. None of the articals provided full description of oxygen therapy. The arterial blood gas of the patients was analyzed, and showed excessive or not enough on effect of oxygen treatment.
Conclusion
The clinicians did not pay enough attention to oxygen treatment for AECOPD patients, so treatment guideline and clinical pathway should be construed to standardize titrated oxygen therapy.
The 12th Asian Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology (ACPE) has been successfully held from October 11st to 13rd, 2019 in Kyoto, Japan. More than 600 representatives from 33 countries and regions participated in the meeting. The arrangement of this conference mainly included: education session program, contributed papers report, symposium and poster presentation, which provided good opportunity for participants to communicate. Moreover, it promoted the dissemination and utilization of advanced methods and technologies of global pharmacoepidemiology, especially in Asia region, and provided technical support in order to ensure the safety and efficacy of public. Moreover, it was the first time that the symposium on herbal and Traditional Medicines has been set up in the ACPE. This paper introduced the main details of the contents
Waldenstr?m macroglobulinemia (WM) is a rare indolent lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma. Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) plays a key role in the signaling pathway of WM, which has changed the way of treatment of WM. As a first-generation BTK inhibitor, ibrutinib is an early-stage treatment and a salvage treatment that can control toxicity characteristics. However, in order to overcome the resistance of the first-generation BTK inhibitors, reduce the adverse reactions caused by off-target effects, and improve the efficacy, the research and development of new BTK inhibitors has become a hot topic. This article discusses the clinical studies of the first generation and new BTK inhibitors for WM, aiming to provide a certain basis for the more rational application of BTK inhibitors in WM.
Interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) is one of the transcription factors in the interferon regulatory factor family. In the normal physiological process, IRF4 protein is a key factor regulating B cell development, such as early B cell development, pre-B cell switch recombination, mature B cell somatic hypermutation, and also a key factor regulating plasma cell differentiation. In addition, in recent years, it has been reported that Irf4 gene abnormalities or abnormal protein expression is closely involved in the occurrence and development of a variety of B cell or plasma cell tumors. This article reviews the physiological role of IRF4 in the differentiation and maturation of B cell or plasma cells, how IRF4 participates in the occurrence and development of B cell or plasma cell tumors, and its potential therapeutic target for B cell or plasma cell tumors.
Objective To investigate the surgical effect on different types of spinal canal stenosis of retrograde degeneration. Methods The retrospective analysis was performed on 96 patients (85 males, 11 females; average age 54, range 39-71) admitted from September 2001 to January 2004 for spinal canal stenosis of retrograde degeneration. The patients were divided into five groups according to their clinical symptoms and signs and the imaging of the spinal cord. In group A, 39 patients had one segment of the spinal canal stenosis and they underwent the recessively expanding operation through the intervertebral canal by opening a window between the vertebral plates. In group B,21 patients had stenosis of the central vertebral canal of one segment and theyunderwent excision of the intervertebral disc through the window opened betweenthe vertebral plates and the recessively expanding operation.In group C, 18 patients had degenerative spinal derangement of one segment and they underwent decompression through the window opened between the bilateral vertebral plates and the recessively expanding operation, and then underwent the internal fixation and bone grafting. In group D, 11 patients had the mixed stenosis of the vertebralcanal of more than 2 segments and they underwent the recessively expanding operation through the window opened bilaterally on the diseased segment and excisionof the yellow ligament and the intervertebral disc. In group E, 7 patients had degenerative lateral curvature of the spine and they underwent the combined surgical procedures including decompression, internal fixation, and bone grafting. All the patients were followed up after operation. Results The follow-up of the 96 patients for 6-36 months with an average of 12.2 months showed that they had no postoperative complications. According to the JOA Scoring,85 patients had an excellent result, 9 had a good result, 1 had a fair result, and only 1 had a poor result. The X-ray films revealed no mistaken placing of the nails on the vertebral arch, broken nails or loosened nails. Conclusion The limited surgery and effective decompression can improve curative effects and reduce complications of spinal canal stenosis of retrograde degeneration. The imaging of the spinal cord has an important value in the choice of surgical protocols for spinal canal stenosis of retrograde.
ObjectivesTo investigate the clinical and imaging characteristics of pleural effusion in patients with acute pulmonary embolism (APE).MethodsComputed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA) scans and clinical data of suspected APE patients from January 2014 to December 2018 were analyzed.ResultsA total of 1024 suspected APE patients underwent CTPA examination in the imaging department of our hospital. Two hundred patients (19.5%) were diagnosed with APE. Imaging findings of pleural effusion were revealed in 70 cases (35.0%). The majority of APE patients without pleural effusion were males (82.3% vs. 64.3%, P<0.01), and the majority of APE patients with pleural effusion were females (35.7% vs. 17.7%, P<0.01). Most of the effusions were bilateral, small to moderate, with peripheral embolism (62.9%, P<0.05). Pulmonary consolidation, atelectasis and ground-glass opacity were common manifestations of CTPA. Compared with patients with simple pulmonary embolism, pulmonary embolism with pleural effusion was more common (62.9% and 33.8%, respectively, OR=3.279 and 95%CI 1.798 - 6.091, P<0.001). Diagnostic thoracic puncture was performed in 6 cases (8.6%). Pleural effusion was exudate in these 6 patients, with normal blood sugar and neutrophils predominated.ConclusionsAbout one third of APE patients are associated with pleural effusion, which most presented with small and bilateral pleural effusions. The main embolism associated with pleural effusion is peripheral embolism. There is a significant correlation between pulmonary consolidation and pleural effusion. Pleural effusion is mostly exudate and neutrophils often predominate.
