Preoperative Lymphocyte-to-Monocyte Ratio as a Prognostic Predictor of Long-Term Mortality in Cardiac Surgery Patients: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis.

To evaluate the prognostic value of the preoperative lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) in patients who underwent cardiac surgery. Clinical data were extracted from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) database. The optimal cutoff value of LMR was determined by X-tile software.

Diagnosis, Monitoring, and Control of Schistosomiasis-An Update.

Schistosomiasis is a neglected disease of tropics and subtropics, which has been associated with illness and death of millions of people, especially children. Although, excessive use of anthelmintic drugs and improvement of sanitation procedures have been in practice, yet timely detection, and diagnosis of low-intensity infections, are of utmost importance for reducing morbidity and final elimination of the disease. The diagnosis methods, currently being used for schistosomiasis, have several limitations, hence warrant further investigations for development of novel detection methods with higher rapidity, reliability, and convenience.

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with Do-Not-Resuscitate orders signed in hospital: Who are the survivors?

Background: Signing Do-Not-Resuscitate orders is an important element contributing to a worse prognosis for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). However, our data showed that some of those OHCA patients with Do-Not-Resuscitate orders signed in hospital survived to hospital discharge, and even recovered with favorable neurological function. In this study, we described their clinical features and identified those factors that were associated with better outcomes.

Therapeutic potential of helminths in autoimmune diseases: helminth-derived immune-regulators and immune balance.

Helminths have accompanied human throughout history by releasing immune-evasion molecules that could counteract an aberrant immune response within the host. In the past decades, helminth infections are becoming less prevalent possibly due to the developed sanitation. Meanwhile, the incidence of autoimmune diseases is increasing, which cannot be exclusively explained by the changes of susceptibility genes.