ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of pediatric Tuina (PT) in preventing recurrent acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) in children. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study based on the electronic medical records of children with recurrent ARTIs in 2016. Children were divided into a PT group or a non-PT group, according to whether they had received PT or not in 2016. The primary outcome was the number of ARTI episodes in 2017 and 2018. The secondary outcomes were the number of ARTIs leading to outpatient department visits and outpatient antibiotic prescriptions due to ARTIs in the same time period. Negative binomial regressions were used to detect the association between PT and the outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 2303 children were included in the analysis, including 94 in the PT group and 2209 in the non-PT group. Children who received PT six or more times in 2016 had fewer episodes of ARTIs in 2017 [incidence rate ratio (IRR): 0.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.42-0.84)] and 2018 [IRR: 0.58, 95% CI (0.36-0.94)] and fewer outpatient department visits due to ARTIs in 2017 [IRR: 0.56, 95% CI (0.38-0.83)] than children who had not received PT in 2016. There was no significant difference in the number of outpatient antibiotic prescriptions between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Receiving PT six or more times within one year is associated with a decrease in recurrent ARTIs in children in the following two years. Randomized controlled trials are needed for effect evaluation prior to establishing PT as a method for preventing recurrent ARTIs among children.
Subject(s)
Respiratory Tract Infections , Humans , Respiratory Tract Infections/drug therapy , Respiratory Tract Infections/epidemiology , Retrospective Studies , Male , Female , Child, Preschool , Child , China/epidemiology , Infant , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage , Recurrence , Adolescent , Acute DiseaseABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the relationship between the expression of serum exsomal miRNA-155-5p (miR-155-5p) and prognosis in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Methods:A total of 336 samples from ESCC patients in Fujian Provincial Cancer Hospital from October 2014 to December 2015 were collected. The relative expression levels of serum exsomal miR-155-5p were detected by using real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Cut-off value of the expression levels of serum exsomal miR-155-5p was determined by using X-tile software. Based on the optimal cut-off value, patients were divided into miR-155-5p low expression group and miR-155-5p high expression group. The survival curve was drawn by using Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to make survival analysis.Results:The cut-off value of serum exsomal miR-155-5p expression level was 2.340. According to the cut-off value, patients were divided into miR-155-5p low expression group (<2.340) of 51 cases and miR-155-5p high expression group (≥2.340) of 285 cases. There were no statistical differences in age ( χ2 = 0.020, P = 0.887), gender ( χ2 = 0.283, P = 0.595), tumor location ( χ2 = 0.063, P = 0.977), differentiation grade ( P = 0.474), clinical staging ( χ2 = 3.996, P = 0.136) and surgery treatment ( χ2 = 0.941, P = 0.332) of patients in both groups. ESCC patients in serum exsomal miR-155-5p high expression had a higher risk of death compared with patients in miR-155-5p low expression group ( HR = 1.763, 95% CI 1.049-2.961, P = 0.032). Conclusion:The high expression level of serum exsomal miR-155-5p is associated with poor prognosis in ESCC patients and it could be used as a prognostic new marker in ESCC patients.
