Effects of severity and location of nonsyndromic hypodontia on craniofacial morphology

Objective:To evaluate the effects of severity and location of nonsyndromic hypodontia on craniofacial morphology.Materials and Methods:A total of 154 patients with at least two or more congenitally missing teeth were selected and divided into two groups (group I [mild]: patients with two to five missing teeth; group II [severe]: patients with six or more missing teeth). The patients with hypodontia were divided into three groups according to the location of missing teeth in the dental arches (anterior, posterior, and both anterior and posterior) and location of missing teeth between the jaws (maxilla, mandible, and both maxilla and mandible). Fifty Class I patients without any missing teeth served as the control group. Twenty-one measurements were performed on lateral cephalograms. Intergroup differences for the severity and location of hypodontia were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc Tukey tests.Results:Significant decreases were found in mandibular plane angles (P < .05), upper and lower incisor measurements (P < .05), anterior (P < .001) and posterior (P < .05) face heights, and ramus height (P < .01), as well as a significant increase in the soft tissue convexity angle (P < .05) among the hypodontia groups and control group. These differences were more excessive in the severe hypodontia group. Upper lip-E plane measurements were significantly longer in the mandible group than in the maxilla group (P < .01).Conclusions:Patients with congenitally missing teeth have different craniofacial morphologies. The severity and location of missing teeth have a significant effect.     

Patient distribution in a mass casualty event of an airplane crash

Introduction

Difficulties have been reported in the patient distribution during Mass Casualty Incidents. In this study we analysed the regional patient distribution protocol (PDP) and the actual patient distribution after the 2009 Turkish Airlines crash near Amsterdam.

Methods

Analysis of the patient distribution of 126 surviving casualties of the crash by collecting data on medical treatment capacity, number of patients received per hospital, triage classification, Injury Severity Score (ISS), secondary transfers, distance from the crash site, and the critical mortality rate.

Results

The PDP holds ambiguous definitions of medical treatment capacity and was not followed. There were 14 receiving hospitals (distance from crash: 5.8–53.5 km); four hospitals received 133–213% of their treatment capacity, and 5 hospitals received 1 patient. Three hospitals within 20 km of the crash did not receive any casualties. Level I trauma centres received 89% of the ‘critical’ casualties and 92% of the casualties with ISS ≥ 16. Only 3 casualties were secondarily transferred, and no casualties died in, or on the way to hospital (critical mortality rate = 0%).

Conclusion

Patient distribution worked out well after the crash as secondary transfers were low and critical mortality rate was zero. However, the regional PDP was not followed in this MCI and casualties were unevenly distributed among hospitals. The PDP is indistinctive, and should be updated in cooperation between Emergency Services, surrounding hospitals, and Schiphol International Airport as a high risk area.     

Value of adipokines in predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis: Comprehensive review

AIM: To analyze the prognostic value of adipokines in predicting the course, complications and fatal outcome of acute pancreatitis (AP).METHODS: We performed the search of PubMed database and the systemic analysis of the literature for both experimental and human studies on prognostic value of adipokines in AP for period 2002-2012. Only the papers that described the use of adipokines for prediction of severity and/or complications of AP were selected for further analysis. Each article had to contain information about the levels of measured adipokines, diagnosis and verification of AP, to specify presence of pancreatic necrosis, organ dysfunction and/or mortality rates. From the very beginning, study was carried out adhering to the PRISMA checklist and flowchart for systemic reviews. To assess quality of all included human studies, the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies tool was used. Because of the high heterogeneity between the studies, it was decided to refrain from the statistical processing or meta-analysis of the available data.RESULTS: Nine human and three experimental studies were included into review. In experimental studies significant differences between leptin concentrations at 24 and 48 h in control, acute edematous and acute necrotizing pancreatitis groups were found (P = 0.027 and P < 0.001). In human studies significant differences between leptin and resitin concentrations in control and acute pancreatitis groups were found. 1-3 d serum adiponectin threshold of 4.5 μg/mL correctly classified the severity of 81% of patients with AP. This threshold yielded a sensitivity of 70%, specificity 85%, positive predictive value 64%, negative predictive value88% (area under curve 0.75). Resistin and visfatin concentrations differ significantly between mild and severe acute pancreatitis groups, they correlate with severity of disease, need for interventions and outcome. Both adipokines are good markers for parapancreatic necrosis and the cut-off values of 11.9 ng/mL and 1.8 ng/mL respectively predict the high ranges of radiological scores. However, the review revealed that all nine human studies with adipokines are very different in terms of methodology and objectives, so it is difficult to generalize their results. It seems that concentrations of the leptin and resistin increases significantly in patients with acute pancreatitis compared with controls. Serum levels of adiponectin, visfatin and especially resitin (positive correlation with Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II, Ranson and C-reactive protein) are significantly different in mild acute pancreatitis and severe acute pancreatitis patients, so, they can serve as a markers for the disease severity prediction. Resistin and visfatin can also be used for pancreatic and parapancreatic necrosis prediction, interventions needs and possible, outcome.CONCLUSION: High levels of adipokines could allow for prediction of a severe disease course and outcome even in small pancreatic lesions on computed tomography scans.     

腹泻型肠易激综合征患者食物不耐受、症状指数及回盲部肥大细胞变化的相关性

目的:比较食物不耐受(food intolerance,FI)在腹泻型肠易激综合征患者(diarrhea-dominant irritable bowel syndrome,D-IBS)及健康人群中的存在情况,分析D-IBS患者食物不耐受严重程度、症状指数与回盲部肥大细胞数量变化之间的关系,以探讨食物不耐受在D-IBS发病中的意义及可能机制.方法:选取符合罗马Ⅲ诊断标准的D-IBS患者22例为病例组,无消化系症状的健康体检者21例为对照组,分别接受结肠镜检查.应用食物不耐受状况评价问卷对2组进行食物不耐受状况评分;用功能性肠病症状严重指数(functional bowel disorder severity index,FBDSI)和IBS病情尺度调查表(IBS symptomseverity scale,IBS-SSS)对病例组进行IBS症状严重程度评分.所有研究对象均接受结肠镜检查,在距回盲瓣4cm处取活检组织2块,采用甲苯胺蓝染色法计数黏膜肥大细胞数量,并与食物不耐受严重程度指数、IBS症状严重程度评分进行相关性分析.结果:D-IBS患者回盲部肠黏膜肥大细胞计数(4.68±0.55)个/高倍镜视野,健康对照组为(1.33±0.54)个/高倍镜视野,P<0.001,差异具有统计学意义;病例组食物不耐受存在情况明显高于对照组(P<0.05);食物不耐受严重程度与IBS症状严重程度指数间呈正相关(FBDSI:r=0.992,P<0.001;IBS-SSS:r=0.970,P<0.001);回盲部肥大细胞计数与I B S症状严重程度指数间呈正相关(FBDSI:r=0.957,P<0.001;IBS-SSS:r=0.985,P<0.001);食物不耐受严重程度与IBS患者回盲部肥大细胞计数间呈正相关(r=0.964,P<0.001),健康对照组中食物不耐受者回盲部肥大细胞计数明显高于无食物不耐受者(P<0.05).结论:D-IBS临床症状与肠道肥大细胞数量增多密切相关,食物抗原的刺激作用可能是D-IBS患者回盲部肥大细胞数目增多的原因之一;D-IBS患者食物不耐受存在情况普遍,食物不耐受可加重D-IBS患者肠道症状.     

血液标志物与胰腺外炎症CT评分对急性胰腺炎严重性早期预测的比较

目的:比较血液标志物及胰腺外炎症CT评分(extrapancreatic inflammation on CT score,EPIC)对急性胰腺炎(acute pancreatitis,AP)严重性的早期预测价值.方法:对2010-09/2011-09住院的96例AP患者首个24h内的临床、实验室及CT资料进行分析.临床上重症急性胰腺炎(severe acute pancreatitis,SAP)的标准为:死亡或持续器官衰竭及/或入住ICU,及/或手术治疗.对重症急性胰腺炎组及轻症急性胰腺炎(mild acute pancreatitis,MAP)组患者血液标志物及胰腺外炎症CT评分进行t检验,血液标志物及EPIC预测AP严重性的相关性检验及预测AP严重性的ROC分析,并计算预测敏感性、阳性预测值及准确度.结果:MAP76例,SAP20例.重症患者的血液标志物及胰腺外炎症CT评分均明显较轻症患者的大[白细胞:(15.16±5.06)×109/Lvs(11.05±1.76)×109/L,中性粒细胞与淋巴细胞比值:18.95±12.13vs6.63±3.44,高敏C-反应蛋白:58.35mg/L±20.47mg/Lvs28.59mg/L±12.92mg/L,D-二聚体:1596.95μg/L±1409.05μg/Lvs412.52μg/L±316.66μg/L,胰腺外炎症CT评分:3.30±0.86vs1.50±0.96,P=0.000].白细胞、中性粒细胞与淋巴细胞比值、高敏C-反应蛋白、D-二聚体及胰腺外炎症CT评分与AP严重性的Spearman相关系数(rs)分别为0.419、0.571、0.568、0.434及0.61(P=0.000).白细胞、中性粒细胞与淋巴细胞比值、高敏C-反应蛋白、D-二聚体及胰腺外炎症CT评分对AP严重性预测的曲线下面积分别为0.798(0.670-0.925)、0.906(0.830-0.981)、0.904(0.838-0.970)、0.808(0.638-0.938)以及0.917(0.851-0.983);预测敏感性分别为70.00%、85.00%、85.00%、75.00%及85.00%;阳性预测值分别为58.33%、73.91%、51.52%、48.39%及72.00%;预测准确度分别为83.33%、90.63%、80.21%、78.13%及90.63%.结论:白细胞及D-二聚体对AP严重性的预测价值中等,中性粒细胞与淋巴细胞比值、高敏C-反应蛋白及胰腺外炎症CT评分的预测价值较高,其中中性粒细胞与淋巴细胞比值和胰腺外炎症CT评分预测的准确度最高,胰腺外炎症CT评分与AP严重性的相关系数最大,其预测AP严重性的受试者曲线下面积最大.     

Predicting mortality among older adults hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia: an enhanced confusion, urea, respiratory rate and blood pressure score compared with pneumonia severity index

Background and objective: Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI) predicts mortality better than C onfusion, U rea >7 mmol/L, R espiratory rate >30/min, low Bl ood pressure: diastolic blood pressure <60 mm Hg or systolic blood pressure <90 mm Hg, and age >65 years (CURB‐65) for community‐acquired pneumonia (CAP) but is more cumbersome. The objective was to determine whether CURB enhanced with a small number of additional variables can predict mortality with at least the same accuracy as PSI. Methods: Retrospective review of medical records and administrative data of adults aged 55 years or older hospitalized for CAP over 1 year from three hospitals. Results: For 1052 hospital admissions of unique patients, 30‐day mortality was 17.2%. PSI class and CURB‐65 predicted 30‐day mortality with area under curve (AUC) of 0.77 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.73–0.80) and 0.70 (95% CI: 0.66–0.74) respectively. When age and three co‐morbid conditions (metastatic cancer, solid tumours without metastases and stroke) were added to CURB, the AUC improved to 0.80 (95% CI: 0.77–0.83). Bootstrap validation obtained an AUC estimate of 0.78, indicating negligible overfitting of the model. Based on this model, a clinical score (enhanced CURB score) was developed that had possible values from 5 to 25. Its AUC was 0.79 (95% CI: 0.76–0.83) and remained similar to that of PSI class. Conclusions: An enhanced CURB score predicted 30‐day mortality with at least the same accuracy as PSI class did among older adults hospitalized for CAP. External validation of this score in other populations is the next step to determine whether it can be used more widely.     

Cold hypersensitivity after hand injuries. A prospective 7-year follow-up

Abstract

We studied changes in cold hypersensitivity from 3 to 7 years following severe hand injuries. Data was collected using postal questionnaires 7 years after injury in 71 patients who had participated in a 3-year follow-up from the time of injury. There was no change in cold sensitivity measured using the McCabe Cold Sensitivity Severity scale (CSS) from 3 to 7 years after injury. However, there was a trend toward decreased severity measured using a five-level scale of self-reported cold hypersensitivity. Compared to the 3-year follow-up, fewer respondents rated their condition as severe and two patients had recovered from their cold hypersensitivity at the 7-year follow-up. Furthermore, 21 (30%) of the respondents stated a decrease in cold hypersensitivity during the last 2 years. Limitations in cold associated activities and the importance of being less limited in leisure activities (NRS 0-10) did not change between the two follow-ups. In conclusion, the CSS-scores did not change from 3 to 7 years after injury. Several patients experienced improvements in cold hypersensitivity, but few recovered completely from the condition.     

Prognostic value of the Geneva prediction rule in patients with pulmonary embolism

Background

Assessment of pre-test probability of pulmonary embolism (PE) and prognostic stratification are two widely recommended steps in the management of patients with suspected PE. Some items of the Geneva prediction rule may have a prognostic value.We analyzed whether the initial probability assessed by the Geneva rule was associated with the outcome of patients with PE.

Methods

In a post-hoc analysis of a multicenter trial including 1,693 patients with suspected PE, the all-cause death or readmission rates during the 3-month follow-up of patients with confirmed PE were analyzed. PE probability group was prospectively assessed by the revised Geneva score (RGS). Similar analyses were made with the a posteriori-calculated simplified Geneva score (SGS).

Results

PE was confirmed in 357 patients and 21 (5.9%) died during the 3-month follow-up. The mortality rate differed significantly with the initial RGS group, as with the SGS group. For the RGS, the mortality increased from 0% (95% Confidence Interval: [0–5.4%]) in the low-probability group to 14.3% (95% CI: [6.3-28.2%]) in the high-probability group, and for the SGS, from 0% (95% CI: [0–5.4%] to 17.9% (95% CI: [7.4-36%]). Readmission occurred in 58 out of the 352 patients with complete information on readmission (16.5%). No significant change of readmission rate was found among the RGS or SGS groups.

Conclusions

Returning to the initial PE probability evaluation may help clinicians predict 3-month mortality in patients with confirmed PE.(ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00117169)     

Outpatient treatment of symptomatic pulmonary embolism: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Patients with acute deep vein thrombus (DVT) can safely be treated as outpatients. However the role of outpatient treatment in patients diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism (PE) is controversial. We sought to determine the safety of outpatient management of patients with acute symptomatic PE.

Materials and Methods

A systematic literature search strategy was conducted using MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials and all EBM Reviews. Pooled proportions for the different outcomes were calculated.

Results

A total of 1258 patients were included in the systematic review. The rate of recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with PE managed as outpatients was 1.47% (95% CI: 0.47 to 3.0%; I²: 65.4%) during the 3 month follow-up period. The rate of fatal PE was 0.47% (95% CI: 0.16 to 1.0%; I²: 0%). The rates of major bleeding and fatal intracranial hemorrhage were 0.81% (95% CI: 0.37 to 1.42%; I²: 0%) and 0.29% (95% CI: 0.06 to 0.68%; I²: 0%), respectively. The overall 3 month mortality rate was 1.58% (95% CI: 0.71 to 2.80%; I²: 45%). The event rates were similar if employing risk stratification models versus using clinical gestalt to select appropriate patients for outpatient management.

Conclusions

Independent of the risk stratification methods used, the rate of adverse events associated with outpatient PE treatment seems low. Based on our systematic review and pooled meta-analysis, low-risk patients with acute PE can safely be treated as outpatients if home circumstances are adequate.     

The hazard of sharp force injuries: Factors influencing outcome

The risk of dying from sharp force injury is difficult to ascertain. To the best of our knowledge, no study has been performed in Norway regarding mortality due to sharp force injury or factors that impact survival. Thus, the objective of the present study was to investigate and assess mortality in subjects with sharp force injury. This retrospective study comprises data on 136 subjects (34 female, 102 male) with suspected severe sharp force injury (self-inflicted or inflicted by others) admitted to Haukeland University Hospital between 2001 and 2010. The majority of subjects were intoxicated, and the injury was most often inflicted by a knife. The incidence of sharp force injury in Western Norway is similar to the incidence in other European countries. Almost half of the subjects with self-inflicted injury died. In cases with injury inflicted by another individual, one in five died. Mortality rates were higher in those with penetrating chest injuries than those with penetrating abdominal injuries and higher in cases with cardiac injury compared to pleural or lung injury. Sharp force injury can be fatal, but the overall mortality rate in this study was 29%. Factors influencing mortality rate were the number of injuries, the topographic regions of the body injured, the anatomical organs/structures inflicted, and emergency measures performed.