Global, Regional and National Burden of Cancers Attributable to High Fasting Plasma Glucose in 204 Countries and Territories, 1990-2019.

Background: To report the burden of cancers attributable to high fasting plasma glucose (HFPG) by sex, age, location, cancer type and Socio-demographic Index (SDI) over the period 1990 to 2019 for 204 countries and territories. Methods: Using the Comparative Risk Assessment approach of Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study 2019, the burden of cancers attributable to HFPG was reported in 1990 and 2019. Results: Globally, in 2019 there were an estimated 419.3 thousand cancer deaths (95% UI: 115.7 to 848.5) and 8.6 million cancer DALYs (2.4 to 17.6) attributable to HFPG. By sex, 4.6 (1.1 to 9.9) and 4.0 (1.1 to 8.4) million global cancer DALYs were attributable to HFPG in men and women, respectively. The global age-standardized death and DALY rates of cancers attributable to HFPG (per 100,000) have increased by 27.8% (20.5 to 38.7%) and 24.5% (16.4 to 35.6%), respectively, since 1990. High-income North America (9.5 [2.7 to 18.8]) and Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa (2.0 [0.5 to 4.2]) had the highest and lowest regional age-standardized death rates, respectively, for cancers attributable to HFPG. In 2019, the global number of attributable cancer DALYs were highest in 65-69 age group. Moreover, there was an overall positive association between SDI and the regional age-standardized DALY rate for HFPG-attributable cancers. Conclusions: HFPG was associated with more burden in 2019. Preventive programs for diabetes and screening of individuals with diabetes for cancers, especially in older males living in developed countries, are required to arrest the large increases in HFPG-attributable cancers.

Potential Immune Indicators for Predicting the Prognosis of COVID-19 and Trauma: Similarities and Disparities.

Although cellular and molecular mediators of the immune system have the potential to be prognostic indicators of disease outcomes, temporal interference between diseases might affect the immune mediators, and make them difficult to predict disease complications. Today one of the most important challenges is predicting the prognosis of COVID-19 in the context of other inflammatory diseases such as traumatic injuries. Many diseases with inflammatory properties are usually polyphasic and the kinetics of inflammatory mediators in various inflammatory diseases might be different. To find the most appropriate evaluation time of immune mediators to accurately predict COVID-19 prognosis in the trauma environment, researchers must investigate and compare cellular and molecular alterations based on their kinetics after the start of COVID-19 symptoms and traumatic injuries. The current review aimed to investigate the similarities and differences of common inflammatory mediators (C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, ferritin, and serum amyloid A), cytokine/chemokine levels (IFNs, IL-1, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-10, and IL-4), and immune cell subtypes (neutrophil, monocyte, Th1, Th2, Th17, Treg and CTL) based on the kinetics between patients with COVID-19 and trauma. The mediators may help us to accurately predict the severity of COVID-19 complications and follow up subsequent clinical interventions. These findings could potentially help in a better understanding of COVID-19 and trauma pathogenesis.

Electrocardiographic findings and cardiac manifestations in acute aluminum phosphide poisoning.

Aluminium phosphide (AlP) poisoning has a high mortality due to cardiovascular involvement. In this study, we evaluated the frequency of cardiac manifestations and electrocardiographic (ECG) findings in 20 patients with acute AlP poisoning, who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) in Tehran, Iran, over a period of 6 months (between October 2008 and April 2009). The sex, age, cause and manner of ingestion, number of ingested AlP tablets, cardiac and ECG manifestations, creatine phosphokinase (CPK), CPK-myocardial band (CPK-mb) and troponin-T (TnT) were extracted from the patients' files. All data were analysed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The majority (60%) of patients were male. The mean age was 27 ± 8.7 years. The mortality rate was 40%. In all of the patients, the cause of poisoning was intentional suicide and ingestion was the route of exposure. The mean number of ingested AlP tablets per patient was 2.2 ± 1.1. The average time interval between admission and cardiovascular manifestations or ECG findings was 168.8 ± 116.2 min. The range of systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure was 60-130 mmHg and 40-70 mmHg, respectively. Dysrhythmia was observed in nine (45%) cases. Elevation of the ST segment was seen in nine cases (45%). Seven patients (35%) had prolonged QTc intervals. Bundle branch block (BBB) was observed in four (20%) patients. In nine (45%) patients, the serum cardiac TnT qualitative assay was positive. There were no significant differences between normal and abnormal ECG groups according to sex, age, number and manner of ingested AlP tablets and SBP. There was a significant correlation between cardiac manifestations and ECG findings and TnT-positive results with mortality in acute AlP poisoning.