BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Previous studies have retrospectively reported the positive effects of percutaneous vertebroplasty. The purpose of our study was to evaluate prospectively the effects of vertebroplasty on mobility, analgesic use, pain, and SF-36 (short-form 36-item) scales for patients with painful vertebral compression fractures that are refractory to medical therapy. METHODS We prospe...

OBJECTIVES To assess the influence of the department of initial admission on the hospital management and 3-month prognosis of patients with non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes. PATIENTS AND METHOD The data for the 4115 patients admitted to 18 hospitals in the PEPA study were compared according to the department of initial admission. RESULTS Twenty-six percent of the patients were admi...

BACKGROUND Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), inducible enzymes that catalyze the detoxification of reactive electrophiles and oxidants, protect against neoplastic transformation. Prostatic adenocarcinoma and high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN) fail to express GSTP1, a major class of GST. This failure of expression is associated with methlyation of the GSTP1 promoter, a somat...

BACKGROUND Minimally invasive pancreaticoduodenectomy (MIPD) remains one of the most challenging abdominal procedures. Safety and feasibility remain controversial when comparing MIPD with open pancreaticoduodenectomy (OPD). The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the feasibility and safety of MIPD versus OPD. METHODS A systematic review of the literature was perfor...

Background—The Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study (4S) randomized 4444 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and serum cholesterol 5.5 to 8.0 mmol/L (213 to 310 mg/dL) with triglycerides #2.5 mmol/L (220 mg/dL) to simvastatin 20 to 40 mg or placebo once daily. Over the median follow-up period of 5.4 years, one or more major coronary events (MCEs) occurred in 622 (28%) of the 2223 pati...

BACKGROUND To evaluate the clinical effectiveness and safety of Huangqi injection (HI) in treating chronic heart failure (CHF) systematically. METHODS A literature search was conducted for retrieving randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on CHF treated by HI in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, China Biology Medicine disc, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, China Science and ...

BACKGROUND A meta-analysis of the efficacy of chemohormonal regimens versus standard therapy in the management of advanced hormone-sensitive prostate cancer was conducted. MATERIALS AND METHODS The eligible studies included randomized studies evaluating chemohormonal regimens in the setting of high-risk localized or metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. RESULTS The search strategy y...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Preeclampsia is an independent cardiovascular risk factor for the mother, and recent studies reveal that offspring of affected pregnancies also may have an increased cardiovascular risk. Our objective was to examine evidence for increased cardiovascular risk factors in children exposed to preeclampsia in utero. METHODS We performed a systematic review and meta-analysi...

BACKGROUND An increasing number of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) studies are being conducted with nonclinical populations, but very little is known about their effectiveness. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy, mechanisms of actions, and moderators of MBSR for nonclinical populations. DATA SOURCES A systematic review of studies published in English journals in Medline, CINAHL or...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the primary outcomes of traditional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (TLC) compared with laparoendoscopic single-site cholecystectomy (LESSC). SUBJECTS AND METHODS Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing TLC with LESSC were included by a systematic literature research. The inclusion and extraction of the data were completed by two authors independently. Meta-analysis ...