Associations between health literacy and health care utilization and mortality in patients with coexisting diabetes and end-stage renal disease: A prospective cohort study.

Objectives Health literacy encompasses a broad skill set linked to patients' self-management ability and the complexity of their health care environments. Self-management in the context of multimorbidity is particularly challenging, placing patients at risk of poor clinical outcomes. This study aimed to explore the prognostic associations between health literacy domains, depression, and 12-month health care utilization and mortality in patients with diabetes and end-stage renal disease (DM-ESRD).

Atopic Patients Who Fulfilled Rome III Criteria for Irritable Bowel Syndrome Had Higher Animal Danders Sensitization.

Background/aims: The relationship between animal exposure and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is debated. Epidemiological studies have shown that atopy is more prevalent in IBS patients and vice versa. We set out to examine the association between animal danders sensitization and IBS-like symptoms in atopic patients.

Preliminary Effects of a Mobile Interactive Supervised Therapy Intervention on People Living With HIV: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: As people living with HIV infection require lifelong treatment, nonadherence to medication will reduce their chance of maintaining viral suppression and increase the risk of developing drug resistance and HIV transmission.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a mobile app, Mobile Interactive Supervised Therapy (MIST), for improving adherence to oral HIV medications among HIV-infected adults in Singapore.

Methods: We conducted a two-group pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a process evaluation, in which 40 HIV-infected participants with once-daily medication regimes were recruited from a public tertiary hospital in Singapore and randomly assigned equally to either the intervention (receiving MIST and routine care) or control (receiving routine care only) groups.

Is HLA-B*58:01 genotyping cost effective in guiding allopurinol use in gout patients with chronic kidney disease?

Concerns for fatal severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs) hamper allopurinol use. We adopted a health system perspective to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of HLA-B*58:01 genotyping before allopurinol initiation. A decision tree compared three treatment strategies in gout patients with chronic kidney disease who have higher risk for SCAR.

Glycolysis and Oxidative Phosphorylation Play Critical Roles in Natural Killer Cell Receptor-Mediated Natural Killer Cell Functions.

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes that directly kill tumor and pathogen-infected cells upon activation by cytokines and NK cell receptors (NKRs) without previous sensitization. It is known that cell metabolism affects the differentiation and effector functions of immune cells. For instance, interleukin-2 and interleukin-15 treatment increases glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) in NK cells to support their effector functions.

Clofazimine in peritonitis: A pediatric case report.

Peritonitis- and catheter-related infections due to nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) including have been reported among adults on peritoneal dialysis (PD). There is no recommended antimicrobial regimen for the treatment of peritonitis. Clofazimine has emerged as an important adjuvant antimicrobial treatment of lung infection.

A Mortality Prediction Rule for Hematology Patients with Invasive Aspergillosis Based on Serum Galactomannan Kinetics.

In invasive aspergillosis (IA), an early and adequate assessment of the response to the initial antifungal therapy remains problematic. We retrospectively analyzed 206 hematology patients with proven or probable IA, and collected serial serum galactomannan (sGM) values and survival status through week 6 and week 12. We created a model for survival at week 6 based on the sGM taken at baseline and on early sGM kinetics.

Gut microbiota changes in children with autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review.

Background: As more animal studies start to disentangle pathways linking the gut microbial ecosystem and neurobehavioral traits, human studies have grown rapidly. Many have since investigated the bidirectional communication between the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system, specifically on the effects of microbial composition on the brain and development.

Methods: Our review at the initial stage aimed to evaluate literature on gut microbial alterations in pediatric neurobehavioral conditions.

Mathematical processing is affected by daily but not cumulative glucocorticoid dose in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objectives: The impact of glucocorticoids on neurocognitive performance in patients with SLE is not fully addressed. We aimed to study the effect of daily and cumulative glucocorticoid dose on neurocognitive performance in SLE patients.

Methods: Consecutive SLE patients and gender- and age-matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent the computer-based Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Matric (ANAM), which evaluates eight neurocognitive domains including learning, recall, visual perception, mental rotation, short-term memory, attention, sustained attention and working memory.

Publisher Correction: A Simplified, Graded, Electrodiagnostic Criterion for Guillain-Barré Syndrome That Incorporates Sensory Nerve Conduction Studies.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Critical Care Bed Capacity in Asian Countries and Regions.

Objective: To assess the number of adult critical care beds in Asian countries and regions in relation to population size.

Design: Cross-sectional observational study.

Setting: Twenty-three Asian countries and regions, covering 92.