scholarly journals The effect of hemoperfusion on the recovery of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients; case series and review study

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. e13-e13
Author(s):  
Sepideh Hajian ◽  
Nafiseh Rastgoo

Hemoperfusion is an effective modality in removing certain toxins from the blood, especially those that bind to proteins in the body. Hemoperfusion has shown a therapeutic effect on COVID-19 patients. In this case series, we report four patients without effective results following the use of hemoperfusion on the recovery of COVID-19 patients. This study is a case series which carried out on four patients referred to COVID-19 ward of Velayat hospital in Qazvin, Iran. The mean age of the COVID-19 patients was 52.75 ± 18 years. The mean stay at the hospital was 21.5 ± 15.15 days. This study showed that hemoperfusion cannot show a significant therapeutic effect on COVID-19.

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (7) ◽  
pp. 803-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdel-Salam Abdel-Aleem Ahmed ◽  
Mahmoud Ibrahim Kandil ◽  
Eslam Abdelshafi Tabl

Background: Müller-Weiss disease (MWD) remains a controversial painful foot condition without consensus on its pathogenesis or a gold standard treatment modality. The aim of the study was to evaluate the outcomes of calcaneal lengthening in adolescent patients with symptomatic MWD with flatfoot. Methods: The study included 13 feet of 7 patients including 5 females and 2 males who were treated from March 2012 until June 2015 by calcaneal lengthening. The mean age was 15.6 years. The mean duration of symptoms was 13.5 months. The body mass index (BMI) averaged 28.9 kg/m2 at presentation. The patients were followed up for a mean of 37.8 months. Results: The osteotomy healed in all cases after a mean of 7.2 weeks. The second foot was operated on after an average of 11.5 months. The mean talometatarsal-1 angle improved from 39.8 degrees preoperatively to 5.9 degrees. The mean preoperative calcaneal pitch angle of 7.5 degrees increased to an average of 17.8 degrees postoperatively. The mean American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) Ankle-Hindfoot Score was improved from 61.9 preoperatively to 94.2 postoperatively. Four patients had occasional exertional pain. Four feet had mild residual forefoot abduction. Arthrodesis was not needed in any case by the last follow-up. Conclusion: Early diagnosis of MWD with flatfoot was important and allowed for nonfusion treatment options. Calcaneal lengthening osteotomy in selected MWD cases achieved satisfactory outcomes with pain control, deformity correction, and improvement of the functional results. Level of Evidence: Level IV, retrospective case series.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Homaid Alotaibi ◽  
Fahad Alsaif ◽  
Azhar Alali ◽  
Mohammed Almashali ◽  
Dana Al-Dabeeb ◽  
...  

Background: Nevus lipomatosis cutaneous superficialis (NLCS) is a rare hamartoma of mature adipose tissue characterized by solitary or multiple, soft, skin-colored or yellowish lobules that may coalesce to give rise to plaques with a cerebriform surface. There are two clinical types: (1) multiple lesions that are usually presented in a segmental distribution and (2) a solitary papule or nodule. Aim and Objective: To study the clinical and histopathological features of 5 Saudi patients with NLCS. Method: A retrospective analysis of clinical data and histopathological findings of 5 cases of NLCS in King Khalid University Hospital between January 2011 and November 2016. Demographic and clinical data were obtained from the clinical case files. Slides and tissue blocks were retrieved. H&E- and EVG-stained slides were studied in all cases. Results: We identified 5 patients with NLCS, of whom 4 were female. The average age at diagnosis was 36 years. The mean duration of the lesion was 4.4 years. The most common location was the lower part of the body. Most of the cases were diagnosed as skin papilloma before skin biopsy. Surgical excision was effective and no recurrence was observed. Conclusion: This is the first study about this rare type of skin tumor in Saudi Arabia and highlights the need for awareness of this clinical condition among dermatologists.


2019 ◽  
Vol 02 (02) ◽  
pp. 127-127
Author(s):  
Cerdán Fabregat FJ

Abstract Objective The objective of the study was to evaluate percutaneous needle electrolysis (PNE) and exercise with eccentric overload on the tendon body in chronic Achilles tendinopathy. Material and Methods An experimental study involving seven subjects with a total of seven tendons with a medical diagnosis of chronic tendinopathy on the body of the Achilles tendon. A sample of five men (71.43%) and two women (28.57%) with a laterality of five right tendons and two left tendons. The mean age was 34 years (SD: 7.22), 42.86% of the sample was active, practicing regular sports activity (57.14%) at the amateur level. All tendons had over six-weeks evolution. Pain was assessed using the visual analogue scale (VAS) and functionality was analyzed using the VISA-A scale, whereas tendon structure was evaluated using musculoskeletal ultrasound. All subjects belonged to the same group and were applied the same treatment; three sessions of PNE, additionally, eccentric exercise was added every 48 hours after each intervention. This involved a total of six eccentric sessions. A seven-day period was allowed between the first and second session of PNE, whereas between the second and third session, 14 days were allowed. Results In the initial evaluation, the VAS score was 7.14 points (SD: 0.83) and the VISA-A scale was 34.86 points (SD: 3.72). On the ultrasound examination, the VAS presented changes as a degenerative process. After five weeks, the values on the VAS scale decreased by 75.4% and on the VISA-A scale they increased by 35.2%. Conclusions The combined programs of PNE plus eccentric exercises are an effective treatment for chronic tendinopathy of the Achilles tendon body.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 549-557
Author(s):  
Malia McAvoy ◽  
Heather J. McCrea ◽  
Vamsidhar Chavakula ◽  
Hoon Choi ◽  
Wenya Linda Bi ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVEFew studies describe long-term functional outcomes of pediatric patients who have undergone lumbar microdiscectomy (LMD) because of the rarity of pediatric disc herniation and the short follow-up periods. The authors analyzed risk factors, clinical presentation, complications, and functional outcomes of a single-institution series of LMD patients over a 19-year period.METHODSA retrospective case series was conducted of pediatric LMD patients at a large pediatric academic hospital from 1998 to 2017. The authors examined premorbid risk factors, clinical presentation, physical examination findings, type and duration of conservative management, indications for surgical intervention, complications, and postoperative outcomes.RESULTSOver the 19-year study period, 199 patients underwent LMD at the authors’ institution. The mean age at presentation was 16.0 years (range 12–18 years), and 55.8% were female. Of these patients, 70.9% participated in competitive sports, and among those who did not play sports, 65.0% had a body mass index greater than 25 kg/m2. Prior to surgery, conservative management had failed in 98.0% of the patients. Only 3 patients (1.5%) presented with cauda equina syndrome requiring emergent microdiscectomy. Complications included 4 cases of postoperative CSF leak (2.0%), 1 case of a noted intraoperative CSF leak, and 3 cases of wound infection (1.5%). At the first postoperative follow-up appointment, minimal or no pain was reported by 93.3% of patients. The mean time to return to sports was 9.8 weeks. During a mean follow-up duration of 8.2 years, 72.9% of patients did not present again after routine postoperative appointments. The total risk of reoperation was a rate of 7.5% (3.5% of patients underwent reoperation for the same level; 4.5% underwent adjacent-level decompression, and one patient [0.5%] ultimately underwent a fusion).CONCLUSIONSMicrodiscectomy is a safe and effective treatment for long-term relief of pain and return to daily activities among pediatric patients with symptomatic lumbar disc disease in whom conservative management has failed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 496-501
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Ahmadi-Motamayel ◽  
Parisa Falsafi ◽  
Hamidreza Abolsamadi ◽  
Mohammad T. Goodarzi ◽  
Jalal Poorolajal

Background: Cigarette smoke free radicals can cause cellular damage and different diseases. All the body fluids have antioxidants which protect against free radicals. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate salivary total antioxidant capacity and peroxidase, uric acid and malondialdehyde levels in smokers and a nonsmoking control group. Methods: Unstimulated saliva was collected from 510 males. A total of 259 subjects were current smokers and 251 were non-smokers. The levels of salivary total antioxidant capacity, uric acid, peroxidase and malondialdehyde were measured using standard procedures. Data were analyzed with t test and ANOVA. Results: The smokers were younger and dental hygiene index was higher than healthy nonsmoking controls. The mean total antioxidant capacity in smokers and nonsmokers was 0.13±0.07 and 0.21±011, respectively (P=0.001). Smokers had significantly lower peroxidase and uric acid levels than healthy controls. In addition, the mean malondialdehyde levels in the smokers and nonsmokers were 4.55 ±2.61 and 2.79 ±2.21, respectively (P=0.001). Conclusion: Cigarette smoke produces free radical and oxidative stress, causing many side effects. Salivary antioxidant levels decreased and malondialdehyde levels increased in smokers, indicating the high oxidative stress among smokers compared to nonsmokers. Cigarette smoke had deleterious effects on main salivary antioxidants levels.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (02) ◽  
pp. 14-17
Author(s):  
K K Hadiya ◽  
A J Dhami ◽  
D V Chaudhari ◽  
P M Lunagariya

This study was initiated on 24 prepubertal Holstein x Kankrej crossbred heifers of nearly identical age (7-9 months) and body weight (130-140 kg) at University farm to evaluate the effect of high plane of nutrition on blood biochemical and minerals profile and the age at puberty. Twelve heifers were managed under routine farm feeding (control) and the rest 12 under ideal optimum feeding regime (treatment) that included extra 1 kg concentrate, 30 g min mix and ad-lib dry fodder. The body weight and ovarian ultrasonography together with blood sampling was carried out at monthly interval from 10 to 18 months of age to study the ovarian dynamics and blood biochemical changes. High plane of nutrition to growing heifers was beneficial in reducing the age of onset of puberty (by 2-3 months) compared to routine farm fed group. The mean plasma total protein and cholesterol concentrations showed a rising trend with significant variations from 10 to 16 months of age, where it got mostly stabilized indicating adult profile. The activity of enzymes GOT and GPT also rose gradually and significantly from 10 months till 14-15 months of age, and thereafter it remained more or less static till 18 months of age. The levels of both these enzymes were higher, with lower protein and cholesterol, in control than the treatment group from 15-16 months of age onwards. The mean plasma levels of both calcium and phosphorus increased gradually and significantly with advancing age till 16-17 months of age, with little higher values in supplemented than a control group. The plasma levels of zinc, iron, copper, and cobalt also showed rising trend with significant differences between 10th and 12th-14th months of age, and from 15th to 18th months of age the levels were statistically the same in all the groups with slightly higher values in the treatment group.


2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
E Lau ◽  
Z Arshad ◽  
A Aslam ◽  
A Thahir ◽  
M Krkovic

Abstract Introduction Osteomyelitis refers to an inflammatory process affecting bone and bone marrow. This study reviews chronic femoral osteomyelitis treatment and outcomes, including economic impact. Method We retrospectively collected data from a consecutive series of 14 chronic femoral osteomyelitis patients treated between January 2013 and January 2020. Data collected include patient demographics, comorbidities, pathogens, complications, treatment protocol and costs. Functional outcome was assessed using EuroQOL five-dimensional interview administration questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L™) and EuroQOL Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS™). Results Of these, 92.9% had one or more osteomyelitis risk factor, including smoking and diabetes. Samples from 78.6% grew at least one pathogen. Only 42.9% achieved remission after initial treatment, but 85.7% were in remission at final follow-up, with no signs of recurrence throughout the follow-up period (mean: 21.4 months). The average treatment cost was £39,249.50 with a net mean loss of £19,080.10 when funding was considered. The mean-derived EQ-5D score was 0.360 and the mean EQ-VAS score was 61.7, lower than their values for United Kingdom’s general population, p = 0.0018 and p = 0.013 respectively. Conclusions Chronic femoral osteomyelitis treatment is difficult, resulting in significant economic burden. With previous studies showing cheaper osteomyelitis treatment at specialist centres, our net financial loss incurred suggests the need for management at specialised centres.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 232596712199455
Author(s):  
Nicola Maffulli ◽  
Francesco Oliva ◽  
Gayle D. Maffulli ◽  
Filippo Migliorini

Background: Tendon injuries are commonly seen in sports medicine practice. Many elite players involved in high-impact activities develop patellar tendinopathy (PT) symptoms. Of them, a small percentage will develop refractory PT and need to undergo surgery. In some of these patients, surgery does not resolve these symptoms. Purpose: To report the clinical results in a cohort of athletes who underwent further surgery after failure of primary surgery for PT. Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: A total of 22 athletes who had undergone revision surgery for failed surgical management of PT were enrolled in the present study. Symptom severity was assessed through the Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment Scale for Patellar Tendinopathy (VISA-P) upon admission and at the final follow-up. Time to return to training, time to return to competition, and complications were also recorded. Results: The mean age of the athletes was 25.4 years, and the mean symptom duration from the index intervention was 15.3 months. At a mean follow-up of 30.0 ± 4.9 months, the VISA-P score improved 27.8 points ( P < .0001). The patients returned to training within a mean of 9.2 months. Fifteen patients (68.2%) returned to competition within a mean of 11.6 months. Of these 15 patients, a further 2 had decreased their performance, and 2 more had abandoned sports participation by the final follow-up. The overall rate of complications was 18.2%. One patient (4.5%) had a further revision procedure. Conclusion: Revision surgery was feasible and effective in patients in whom PT symptoms persisted after previous surgery for PT, achieving a statistically significant and clinically relevant improvement of the VISA-P score as well as an acceptable rate of return to sport at a follow-up of 30 months.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayman Ali Abdel Fattah ◽  
Abdel Hay Rashad Elasy ◽  
Ahmed Helmy Hoseini ◽  
Tarek Abdel Rahman Abdel Hafez

Abstract Background Repair of a perforated tympanic membrane (myringoplasty) can facilitate normal middle ear function, resist infection, and help re-establish normal hearing. Autogenous graft materials are the most popular graft materials used in myringoplasty because of their easy acceptability by the body. This study is conducted to compare between temporalis fascia graft and fascia lata graft in myringoplasty for patients with tubo-tympanic dry perforation. Results A total of 60 patients with persistent dry tympanic membrane perforation were included in our study during the period from January 2018 to May 2020. Patients underwent myringoplasty with temporalis fascia (30 patients as group A) or fascia lata (30 patients as group B). Patients were scheduled for follow-up visits concerning graft status, ear discharge, and audiograms. The mean postoperative air-bone gap in group A was 17.5 ± 4 after 1 month and 8.6 ± 6.9 after 3 months, while in group B, the mean postoperative air-bone gap was 17.6 ± 4.9 after 1 month and 9.4 ± 7.5 after 3 months. There was 90% success in graft uptake in group A, while there was 80% success in group B. Conclusion Using temporalis fascia is still the best and most trustworthy technique of myringoplasty compared to fascia lata graft. However, fascia lata can be a good alternative to temporalis fascia especially in cases of revision myringoplasty, ears having large perforation, or near-total perforation where the chances of residual perforation are high because of the limited margin of remnant tympanic membrane overlapping the graft.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 3771
Author(s):  
Alexey Kashevnik ◽  
Walaa Othman ◽  
Igor Ryabchikov ◽  
Nikolay Shilov

Meditation practice is mental health training. It helps people to reduce stress and suppress negative thoughts. In this paper, we propose a camera-based meditation evaluation system, that helps meditators to improve their performance. We rely on two main criteria to measure the focus: the breathing characteristics (respiratory rate, breathing rhythmicity and stability), and the body movement. We introduce a contactless sensor to measure the respiratory rate based on a smartphone camera by detecting the chest keypoint at each frame, using an optical flow based algorithm to calculate the displacement between frames, filtering and de-noising the chest movement signal, and calculating the number of real peaks in this signal. We also present an approach to detecting the movement of different body parts (head, thorax, shoulders, elbows, wrists, stomach and knees). We have collected a non-annotated dataset for meditation practice videos consists of ninety videos and the annotated dataset consists of eight videos. The non-annotated dataset was categorized into beginner and professional meditators and was used for the development of the algorithm and for tuning the parameters. The annotated dataset was used for evaluation and showed that human activity during meditation practice could be correctly estimated by the presented approach and that the mean absolute error for the respiratory rate is around 1.75 BPM, which can be considered tolerable for the meditation application.


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