Volume 07 · Issue 03 · 2021

Stroke is a principal cause of mortality and disability globally. Numerous studies have contributed to the knowledge base regarding self-management interventions among chronic disease patients, but there are few such studies for patients with stroke. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze self-management interventions among stroke patients. This scoping review aimed to systematically identify and describe randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of self-management interventions for adults with stroke.

A review team carried out a scoping review on stroke and self-management interventions based on the methodology of Arksey and O'Malley, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL Plus Full Text, Medline Plus Full Text, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from inception to July 2020.

Fifty-four RCTs were included. The most popular study design is comparing a self-management intervention to usual care or waitlist control condition. Physical activity is the most common intervention topic, and interventions were mainly delivered face to face. The majority of interventions were located in inpatient and multiple settings. Interventions were conducted by various providers, with nurses the most common provider group. Symptom management was the most frequently reported outcome domain that improved.

Self-management interventions benefit the symptom management of stroke patients a lot. The reasonable time for intervention is at least 6-12 months. Multifarious intervention topics, delivery formats, and providers are adopted mostly to meet the multiple needs of this population. Physical activity was the most popular topic currently. Studies comparing the effect of different types of self-management interventions are required in the future.

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided transmural drainage for pancreatic fluid collections (PFCs) has become the first-line treatment with quicker recovery and more minor injury compared with surgery and percutaneous drainage. The efficacy of stents implantation and drainage for different PFCs remains controversial, especially lumen-apposing metal stents (LAMS). This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of LAMS drainage for pancreatic pseudocysts (PPC) and walled-off necrosis (WON).

A meta-analysis was performed for LAMS drainage for WON and PPC by systematically searching PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase databases from January 2010 to January 2020. From 2017 to 2019, 12 patients who were treated with LAMS drainage for PFCs in our medical center were also reviewed and included in this study.

Combining 11 copies of documents with the data from our medical center, a total of 585 patients with PFCs were enrolled in this meta-analysis, including 343 patients with WON and 242 with PPC. The technical success rate in WON is not significantly different from that of PPC (P = 0.08 > 0.05). The clinical success of LAMS placement was achieved in 99% vs 89% in PPC and WON, respectively (RR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.86-0.98, P = 0.01 < 0.05). The further intervention of direct endoscopic necrosectomy was required by 60% of patients in WON group. There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse events, including infection, bleeding, stent migration and stent occlusion, after LAMS placement between WON and PPC.

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided LAMS for PFCs are feasible, effective with preferable technical and clinical success rates. The clinical effect of LAMS on PPC is slightly better than that of WON, but its adverse reactions still need to be verified in a large-sample prospective study.

Recent studies identifying methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) polymorphisms associated with breast cancer (BC), ovarian cancer (OC), cervical cancer, and endometrial cancer (EC) have reported conflicting results and been underpowered. To clarify the correlation between MTHFR mutations and these common female malignancies, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis incorporating all eligible publications.

Relevant reports published before January 20, 2020, were retrieved from PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases. The odds ratio and 95% confidence interval summaries for the MTHFR 677C/T and 1298A/C polymorphisms in BC, OC, cervical cancer, and EC were estimated.

A total of 171 studies comprising 56,675 cancer cases and 67,559 controls were included. The results showed a markedly elevated risk of cancer susceptibility related to MTHFR 677C/T based on all genetic models. Similarly, we identified a significant correlation between 1298A/C mutation and cancer risk based on overall comparisons among all models, except the heterozygous model. Moreover, subgroup analysis by cancer type revealed a significantly increased risk of BC associated with 677C/T in the five models and of cervical cancer associated with 1298A/C in some models. Based on ethnicity, significant associations were observed between Asian, African, and mixed populations for 677C/T and the Asian population for 1298A/C. With regard to the sample type used for analysis, we detected a positive association between using blood as the DNA source and cancer risk for 677C/T in all genetic models and for 1298A/C in some genetic models. Further stratification of the results revealed that a notably increased risk was associated with the use of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment-length polymorphism or TaqMan as the genotyping method, as well as with the use of population-or hospital-based groups as the controls for 677C/T and 1298A/C, respectively.

This meta-analysis suggests that MTHFR 677C/T and 1298A/C polymorphisms correlate with the risk of common gynecological cancers, with these findings potentially applicable for overall comparisons of related data.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a global reduction of 17% has been achieved in the major noncommunicable disease-associated mortality rate since 2000. This decline was due to the decreasing mortality associated with cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases. The WHO has not made any comments on diabetes-related mortality thus far. The objective of this study was to demonstrate trends in diabetes-related mortality associated with country-wide interventions.

The WHO statistics were used to assess trends in diabetes-related mortality from 2000 to 2016. Different types of community-based interventions in 49 countries were compared and assessed.

The baseline mortality decreased by 7%. Mortality in middle-income countries was higher than that in high-income countries. The prevalence of obesity showed a gradual increase in all countries. After implementation of the WHO "best buy" in 2010, mortality increased in 17 countries and decreased in 32 countries. Regarding the smoking prevalence trend, 87% countries with decreasing diabetes-related mortality had a gradual decline in tobacco usage since 2000. The decline was observed only in 43% countries with increasing diabetes-related mortality. The prevalence of hypertension increased in 19% countries with declining diabetes-related mortality and in 35% countries with increasing diabetes-related mortality. Physical activity measures tended to be better implemented in countries with declining diabetes-related mortality than in countries with increasing diabetes-related mortality.

Smoking cessation and better blood pressure control are associated with declining diabetes-related mortality. Longer implementation periods are needed for other lifestyle interventions.

Chemotherapy plus granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF) regimen is one of the available approaches to mobilize peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPCs). It causes thrombocytopenia and delays leukapheresis. This study aimed to evaluate the role of recombinant human thrombopoietin (rhTPO) before mobilization chemotherapy in facilitating leukapheresis in patients with lymphoma.

In this randomized open-label phase 2 trial, patients were randomly assigned in a 1:2 ratio to receive mobilization with rhTPO plus GCSF in combination with chemotherapy (the rhTPO plus GCSF arm) or GCSF alone in combination with chemotherapy (the GCSF alone arm). The recovery of neutrophils and platelets and the amount of platelet transfusion were monitored.

Thirty patients were enrolled in this study between March 2016 and August 2018. Patients in the rhTPO plus GCSF arm (n = 10) had similar platelet nadir after mobilization chemotherapy (P=0.878) and similar amount of platelet transfusion (median 0 vs. 1 unit, P=0.735) when compared with the GCSF alone arm (n = 20). On the day of leukapheresis, the median platelet count was 86 × 10⁹/L (range 18-219) among patients who received rhTPO and 73 × 10⁹/L (range 42-197) among those who received GCSF alone (P=0.982). After the use of rhTPO, the incidence of platelet count <75 × 10⁹/L on the day of leukapheresis did not decrease significantly (30.0% vs. 50.0%, P=0.297). Platelet recovery after PBPC transfusion was more rapid in the rhTPO plus GCSF arm (median 8.0 days [95% confidence interval 2.9-13.1] to platelets ≥50 × 10⁹/L vs. 11.0 days [95% confidence interval 8.6-13.4], P=0.011). The estimated total cost of the mobilization and reconstitution phases per patient was similar between the two treatmtent groups (P=0.362 and P=0.067, respectively).

Our findings indicate that there was no significant clinical benefit of rhTPO use in facilitating mobilization of progenitor cells, but it may promote platelet recovery in the reconstitution phase after high-dose therapy.

This trial has been registered in Clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03014102.

Asthma is a heterogeneous disease with distinct prevalence and manifestation between sexes. This study was to identify sex-specific features of asthma via metabolomic analysis of sphingolipids.

Forty-two asthma patients (27 women and 15 men) admitted to the Peking University Third Hospital from January 2015 to December 2015 were enrolled. Peripheral venous blood was collected for metabolomic analysis by targeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Sex hormones(estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, and androstenedione) and multiple inflammatory factors (periostin, leptin, IgE, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-13, IL-17A, and IFN-γ) were also assessed. The eosinophil percentage in induced sputum was also detected. All these data were applied to comparative analysis between sexes.

Testosterone was negatively related to periostin (ρ = -0.420, P = 0.009) and IL-5 (ρ = -0.540, P = 0.012), while estradiol was positively related to the blood eosinophil percentage (ρ = 0.384, P = 0.025). Among the eighteen species of sphingolipids detected in the 42 patients, five ceramide (Cer) species (Cer16:0, Cer:20:0, Cer22:0, Cer24:0, and Cer26:0) and one sphingomyelin (SM) species (SM38:0) were significantly higher in male than in female patients. Further investigation found that the correlation between Cer20:0 and IL-5 was positive in males (ρ = 0.943, P = 0.005) but negative in females (ρ = -0.561, P = 0.030).

Testosterone was negatively correlated with eosinophil inflammatory factors, but estradiol was positively correlated. Male asthma patients had higher ceramide and sphingomyelin levels than female patients. Different sexes had opposite correlations with ceramide and IL-5, respectively, suggesting that therapeutic strategies targeting ceramide should be different between sexes.

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