89 research outputs found

    Impact of guillain barre syndrome on psychosocial functionings of patients in islamabad

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    GuillainBarre Syndrome (GBS) is a rare autoimmune disease of unknown causes that affects peripheral nervous system. Objectives: To review the impacts of the GuillainBarre Syndrome on the psychosocial functioning of the patients and to assess the relationship between GuillainBarre Syndrome and the psychosocial functioning Methodology: Comparative cross sectional survey was conducted on 100 participants (50 GBS patients from Shifa International Hospitals and 50 normal participants from Islamabad in 6 months time from February to July 2013. Data collected through Structured Questionnaire in hospital settings for GBS patients and normal persons from Islamabad through Psychosocial functioning scale and social functioning scale and analyzedby using SPSS version 17

    Plerixafor Salvage Is Safe and Effective in Hard-to-Mobilize Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy and Filgrastim-Based Peripheral Blood Progenitor Cell Mobilization

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    The combination of filgrastim (G-CSF) and plerixafor is currently approved for mobilizing peripheral blood progenitor cells in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma undergoing autologous peripheral blood hematopoietic cell transplantation. However, chemotherapy and G-CSF-based mobilization remains a widely used strategy for peripheral blood progenitor cell collection. In this paper we describe our experience from two North American transplant centers in a series of patients who received salvage plerixafor while failing chemotherapy and G-CSF mobilization. Patients received a median of two doses of plerixafor salvage upon failure to mobilize adequate number of peripheral blood progenitor cells at neutrophil recovery. The use of plerixafor was associated with a 2.4-fold increase in peripheral blood CD34+ cell count and 3.9-fold increase in total CD34+ cell yield. All patients were able to collect ≥2 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg with this approach. These results were more pronounced in patients with a higher CD34+ cell count at the time of the first plerixafor dose. Interestingly, peripheral blood white blood cell count was not shown to correlate with a response to plerixafor. Our results provide safety and efficacy data for the use of plerixafor in patients who are destined to fail chemomobilization

    Anomaly Detection in Time Series: Current Focus and Future Challenges

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    Anomaly detection in time series has become an increasingly vital task, with applications such as fraud detection and intrusion monitoring. Tackling this problem requires an array of approaches, including statistical analysis, machine learning, and deep learning. Various techniques have been proposed to cater to the complexity of this problem. However, there are still numerous challenges in the field concerning how best to process high-dimensional and complex data streams in real time. This chapter offers insight into the cutting-edge models for anomaly detection in time series. Several of the models are discussed and their advantages and disadvantages are explored. We also look at new areas of research that are being explored by researchers today as their current focuses and how those new models or techniques are being implemented in them as they try to solve unique problems posed by complex data, high-volume data streams, and a need for real-time processing. These research areas will provide concrete examples of the applications of discussed models. Lastly, we identify some of the current issues and suggest future directions for research concerning anomaly detection systems. We aim to provide readers with a comprehensive picture of what is already out there so they can better understand the space – preparing them for further development within this growing field

    Distribution of gastric carcinoma in an area with a high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori.

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    BACKGROUND/AIMS: South Asia is an enigma for gastric cancer (GC) because it is a low risk region with a high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infections. We evaluated the trend of GC clinical presentation and risk factors in patients with dyspeptic symptoms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The medical records of patients, coded by the international classification of diseases (ICD-10-CM, 2015, Diagnosis Code C16.9) for malignancies of stomach diagnosed by esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) and histopathology, were studied. RESULTS: 394 GC cases with a mean age of 54±15 years, range of 18 to 88, were analyzed. 256 (65%) were male. Distal non-cardiac and cardiac tumors were 302 (77%) and 92 (23%) cases, respectively. The WHO classification of GC defined 222 (56%) cases as intestinal type adenocarcinoma, 68 (17%) cases as signet ring cell carcinoma (SRC), 62 (16%) cases as diffuse type and 42 (11%) cases as B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The co-morbid conditions associated with GC were H. pylori infection (positive in 246 (62%) cases), diabetes mellitus type 2 (in 90 (23%) cases), and cigarette smoking (in 94 (24%) cases). Of the male patients, 88 (34%) (p\u3c0.001) were smokers. Body mass index was abnormal in all age groups and in both sexes. Cardiac regions for GC were more common in the 46- to 60-year old age range and in males. Diffuse GC was seen in all age groups but there were significantly more common in the 18- to 45-year old age range. Gastric non-Hodgkin\u27s lymphoma was seen at an early age of 18-45 years in 14(12%) and a later of 61-88 years in 20 (15%). CONCLUSION: Intestinal type GC is common at all ages but SRC and diffuse GC are more common in patients less than 50 years old. SRC and diffuse GC were not specific to the elderly in our study population

    Midostaurin improves quality of life and mediator-related symptoms in advanced systemic mastocytosis

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    Background: Advanced systemic mastocytosis (advSM) is characterized by presence of the KIT D816V mutation and pathologic accumulation of neoplastic mast cells (MCs) in various tissues, leading to severe symptoms and organ damage (eg, cytopenias, liver dysfunction, portal hypertension, malabsorption, and weight loss). Treatment with midostaurin, an orally active multikinase/KIT inhibitor now approved for advSM in the United States and the European Union, resulted in a high rate of response accompanied by reduced MC infiltration of the bone marrow and lowered serum tryptase level. Objective: We aimed to determine whether midostaurin improves health-related quality of life (QOL) and MC mediator related symptoms in patients with advSM. Methods: In 116 patients with systemic mastocytosis (89 patients with advSM fulfilling the strict inclusion criteria of the D2201 study [ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00782067]), QOL and symptom burden were assessed during treatment with midostaurin by using the 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) and the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale patient reported questionnaires, respectively. MC mediator related symptoms were evaluated by using a specific physician-reported questionnaire Results: Over the first 6 cycles of treatment with midostaurin (ie, 6 months), patients experienced significant improvements in total SF-12 and Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale scores, as well as in subscores of each instrument. These improvements were durable during 36 months of follow-up. Similarly, we found substantial improvements (67%-100%) in all MC mediator related symptoms. Conclusion: QOL and MC mediator related symptoms significantly improve with midostaurin treatment in patients with advSM (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT00782067)

    Acalabrutinib monotherapy in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who are intolerant to ibrutinib.

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    The Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib improves patient outcomes in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL); however, some patients experience adverse events (AEs) leading to discontinuation. Acalabrutinib is a potent, covalent BTK inhibitor with greater selectivity than ibrutinib. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of 100 mg of acalabrutinib twice daily or 200 mg once daily in patients with CLL who discontinued ibrutinib because of intolerance as determined by the investigators. Among 33 treated patients (61% men; median age, 64 years; range, 50-82 years), median duration of prior ibrutinib treatment was 11.6 months (range, 1-62 months); median time from ibrutinib discontinuation to acalabrutinib start was 47 days (range, 3-331 days). After a median of 19.0 months (range, 0.2-30.6 months), 23 patients remained on acalabrutinib; 10 had discontinued (progressive disease, n = 4; AEs, n = 3). No acalabrutinib dose reductions occurred. During acalabrutinib treatment, the most frequent AEs included diarrhea (58%), headache (39%), and cough (33%). Grade 3/4 AEs occurred in 58%, most commonly neutropenia (12%) and thrombocytopenia (9%). Of 61 ibrutinib-related AEs associated with intolerance, 72% did not recur and 13% recurred at a lower grade with acalabrutinib. Overall response rate was 76%, including 1 complete and 19 partial responses and 5 partial responses with lymphocytosis. Among 25 responders, median duration of response was not reached. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was not reached; 1-year PFS was 83.4% (95% confidence interval, 64.5%-92.7%). Acalabrutinib was well tolerated with a high response rate in patients who were previously intolerant to ibrutinib. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT02029443

    A randomized, open-label, multicentre, phase 2/3 study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of lumiliximab in combination with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab versus fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab alone in subjects with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

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    The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

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    Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

    A randomized, open-label, multicentre, phase 2/3 study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of lumiliximab in combination with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab versus fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab alone in subjects with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

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    Summary: Lumiliximab is a chimeric monoclonal antibody that targets CD23 on the surface of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) B-cells. Early phase clinical studies with lumiliximab alone and in combination with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab (FCR) established its potential efficacy and tolerability. The 152CL201 trial [Lumiliximab with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab (FCR) versus FCR alone in subjects with relapsed CLL; LUCID] was a phase 2/3, randomized (1:1), open-label, multicentre study of lumiliximab in combination with FCR versus FCR alone in patients with relapsed CLL. Six hundred and twenty-seven patients were randomized to either arm. Overall the combination of lumiliximab with FCR was not significantly better than FCR alone (overall response rate 71% vs. 72%, complete response rate 16% vs. 15%, median progression-free survival 24.6 vs. 23.9 months respectively, for FCR with and without lumiliximab). There was a slightly increased incidence of adverse events with lumiliximab but these increases did not appear to lead to differences in eventual outcomes. An interim analysis failed to show sufficient efficacy of the combination of lumiliximab with FCR. The study was therefore stopped early for lack of efficacy. Despite the eventual outcome, the LUCID trial is one of the largest studies that provides valuable insight into the efficacy and tolerability of FCR as a therapeutic option for patients with relapsed CLL.0SCOPUS: ar.jSCOPUS: ar.jFLWINinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe
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