Definition of therapeutic effect

Genitourinary syndrome of menopause is a comprehensive term that groups genital, urinary and sexual signs and symptoms mainly due sex hormone deficiency and aging, with a crucial impact on quality of life of midlife women. While this broad definition captures the common underlying physiopathology and the frequent overlap of symptomatology, improving knowledge about different components of genitourinary syndrome of menopause may be relevant for individualized treatment, with possible implications for efficacy, compliance and satisfaction...

BACKGROUND: Telehealth services ensure the delivery of healthcare services to a wider range of consumers through online platforms. Nonetheless, the acceptance and uptake of telehealth remain elusive. This study aims to understand the (a) uptake and (b) acceptability of telemedicine, (c) if therapeutic alliance mediates the relationship between the frequency of consultations with clinicians and the uptake of telemedicine in patients with early psychosis, and (d) role of education in moderating the relationship between therapeutic alliance and the uptake of telemedicine for their mental healthcare...

BACKGROUND: A significant aspect of the SARS-CoV-2 pathology involves oxidative stress, characterized by an imbalance between the production of harmful free radicals and the body's antioxidant defenses. With the ongoing evolution of SARS-CoV-2, the investigation into non-virus-specific therapeutic options, such as antioxidant therapy, has gained importance. OBJECTIVES: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to summarize data from randomized control trials (RCTs) to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of antioxidant therapy in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection...

Infantile central palsy (CP) is caused due to damage to the immature developing brain usually before birth, leading to altered topography and biochemical milieu. CP is a life-limiting disorder, which causes changes in sensory, motor, cognitive, and behavioral functioning. Understanding its pathophysiology is complex, and current therapeutic modalities, oral medication, surgical treatment, physical therapy, and rehabilitation provide minimal relief. As the brain is plastic, it has an inherent capacity to adapt to altered activity; thus, non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) strategies, like repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, which can modulate the neuronal activity and its function, may lead to recovery in CP patients...

Defining the exact histological features of salivary gland malignancies before treatment remains an unsolved problem that compromises the ability to tailor further therapeutic steps individually. Radiomics, a new methodology to extract quantitative information from medical images, could contribute to characterizing the individual cancer phenotype already before treatment in a fast and non-invasive way. Consequently, the standardization and implementation of radiomic analysis in the clinical routine work to predict histology of salivary gland cancer (SGC) could also provide improvements in clinical decision-making...

PURPOSE: Radiotherapy (RT) plays an important role in esophageal cancer (EC) patients aged ≥80 years. However, the survival modality and prognostic factors remain poorly understood. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the tolerance and long-term overall survival (OS) of patients aged ≥80 years who were diagnosed with EC and underwent definitive RT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 213 consecutive patients with EC over 80 years old who were treated with curative intent RT between February 1999 and December 2015 at our institution were retrospectively reviewed...

Objective: To summarize the clinical characteristics and therapeutic effect of traumatic facial nerve palsy. Methods: Sixty-eight cases of traumatic facial nerve palsy were retrospectively analyzed from January 2015 to May 2023. Results: The median course of disease was 33 days. The facial nerve function of the patients was grade HB-Ⅱin 2 cases, grade HB-Ⅲ in 4 cases, grade HB-Ⅳin 16 cases, grade HB-Ⅴ in 37 cases（38 ears）, and grade HB-Ⅵ in 9 cases. 42 cases occurred immediately after injury and 26 cases were delayed...

Allergen immunotherapy is a recognized key therapeutic modality for the treatment of allergic respiratory disease - definitive studies have provided evidence-based data to demonstrate its effectiveness in allergic rhinitis and asthma due to the inhalation of proteinaceous allergic substances from specific seasonal pollens, dust mites, animal allergens, and certain mold spores. Over the ensuing decades, laboratory investigations, have provided objective evidence to demonstrate immunologic changes, including production of protective IgG antibody, suppression of IgE antibody, upregulation of regulatory T-cells, and an induction of a state of immune tolerance to the offending allergen(s)...

Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) refer to sub-threshold hallucinations and delusions observed in both clinical samples and the general population. Psychotic-like experiences have far-reaching implications for an individual's coping strategies and daily functioning. They are associated with both psychotic and non-psychotic disorders. This article presents a comprehensive review of the current literature on PLEs, incorporating a detailed exploration of the definition, prevalence, risk factors, functional impairments, and comorbid psychiatric disorders...

BACKGROUND: Urosepsis is a common disease in urology, which is characterized by high treatment costs and high mortality. In the treatment of sepsis, anti-infection therapy is the most important means. However, the effect of empirical anti-infection therapy is often not ideal. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously monitor the prevalence of bacterial isolates in the blood culture of patients with urinary sepsis and their sensitivity to antibacterial drugs. This is of great significance to improve the efficacy of empirical antibiotic therapy for urosepsis...

Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) presents a critical neurologic emergency characterized by high mortality and morbidity rates, necessitating immediate therapeutic intervention, often ahead of definitive microbiological and molecular diagnoses. The primary hurdle in effective TBM treatment is the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which significantly restricts the delivery of anti-tuberculous medications to the central nervous system (CNS), leading to subtherapeutic drug levels and poor treatment outcomes. The standard regimen for initial TBM treatment frequently falls short, followed by adverse side effects, vasculitis, and hydrocephalus, driving the condition toward a refractory state...

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are cell-secreted nanovesicles that play an important role in long-range cell-cell communication. Although EVs pose a promising alternative to cell-based therapy, targeted in vivo delivery still falls short. Many studies have explored the surface modification of EVs to enhance their targeting capabilities. However, to our knowledge, there are no standardized practices to confirm the successful surface modification of EVs or calculate the degree of conjugation on EV surfaces (conjugation efficiency)...

Theranostics define diagnostic evaluations directing patient-specific therapeutic decisions. Molecular theranostics involves genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic and finally phenonic definitions thyroid cancer differentiation. It is the functional differentiation that determines the sensitivity and accuracy of RAI imaging as well as the effectiveness of RAI treatment. Total thyroidectomy is performed to empower an anticipated RAI treatment. A preoperative determination of the genomic and transcriptomic profile of the tumor is a strong predictor of response to therapeutic interventions...

TAFRO syndrome is a rare systemic inflammatory disorder with a fatal course. Nevertheless, a definitive treatment strategy has not yet been established. Anti-inflammatory therapies, including glucocorticoid treatment and immunosuppressants, have not been satisfactory. Therefore, new treatment options are needed for patients with TAFRO syndrome. The effectiveness of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) has mainly been reported in several case reports. In this case series study, we investigated the effect of TPE on TAFRO syndrome...

Background: Long COVID has brought numerous challenges to healthcare, with olfactory dysfunction (OD) being a particularly distressing outcome for many patients. The persistent loss of smell significantly diminishes the affected individual's quality of life. Recent attention has been drawn to the potential of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy as a treatment for OD. This comprehensive review aims to evaluate the effectiveness of PRP therapy in ameliorating OD, especially when associated with long-term COVID-19...

PURPOSE: This work aims to demystify Knowledge Graphs (KGs) in pharmacovigilance (PV). It complements the scoping review within this issue. By bridging knowledge gaps and stimulating interest, further engagement with this topic by pharmacovigilance professionals will be facilitated. METHODS: We elucidate fundamental KGs concepts and terminology, followed by delineating a sequence of implementation steps: use case definition, data type selection, data sourcing, KG construction, KG embedding, and deriving actionable insights...

Immune checkpoint inhibitors provide a definite survival benefit for patients with driver-negative advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but predictors of efficacy are still lacking. There may be a relationship between immune inflammatory state and tumor immune response. We explored the relationship of serum neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) with infiltrating cells in the tumor tissues of patients with NSCLC as well as their relationship with the therapeutic efficacy of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitors...

Electrophysiologic testing with programmed ventricular stimulation (PVS) has been utilized to induce ventricular tachycardia (VT), thereby improving risk stratification for patients with ischemic and nonischemic cardiomyopathies and determining the effectiveness of antiarrhythmic therapies, especially catheter ablation. A variety of procedural aspects can be modified during PVS in order to alter the sensitivity and specificity of the test including the addition of multiple baseline pacing cycle lengths, extrastimuli, and pacing locations...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Paraneoplastic neurologic syndromes (PNSs) are remote neurologic immune-related effects of tumors. The clinical characteristics of pediatric PNSs remain unclear. We retrospectively examined the clinical characteristics of cases of pediatric PNSs and assessed the performance of the 2021 diagnostic criteria in children. METHODS: Patients hospitalized in the Beijing Children's Hospital between June 2015 and June 2023 and fulfilling the description of definite by 2004 diagnostic criteria of PNSs were included...

With growing recognition and acknowledgement of the genuine complexity of proteomes, we are finally entering the post-proteogenomic era. Routine assessment of proteomes as inferred correlates of gene sequences (i.e., canonical 'proteins') cannot provide the necessary critical analysis of systems-level biology that is needed to understand underlying molecular mechanisms and pathways or identify the most selective biomarkers and therapeutic targets. These critical requirements demand the analysis of proteomes at the level of proteoforms/protein species, the actual active molecular players...