Xiaozhe Zhou; Bao Ren; Xiong Zhang; Jilong An; Ke Zhang; Wenshan Gao
Volume 24, Issue 5 , 2022
Abstract
Background: Soft-tissue sarcomas are cancerous growths of mesenchymal tissues, most commonly arising from fat, muscles, and other connective tissues. Due to the fact that these tumors often lie adjacent to nerves and blood vessels, it is difficult to remove them. Traditional surgery is often carried ...
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Background: Soft-tissue sarcomas are cancerous growths of mesenchymal tissues, most commonly arising from fat, muscles, and other connective tissues. Due to the fact that these tumors often lie adjacent to nerves and blood vessels, it is difficult to remove them. Traditional surgery is often carried out according to the operators discretion and experience of local anatomy; however, the surgery bears the risk of damage to nerves and blood vessels. In cases of postoperative recurrence, the local anatomy is often not clear due to scar formation, and the risk of operation would be greater.
Case presentation: This report describes the application of three-dimensional (3D) modeling prior to surgery, which can clearly reveal the tumor tissue and the surrounding important nerves and blood vessels.
Conclusion: In two operations for recurrent soft-tissue sarcoma of the thigh with complex adjacencies, it was found that 3D models are of great value for preoperative planning and intraoperative navigation. More importantly, these models can improve the success rate of surgery and reduce the operative time.
Zeinab Siami; Danial Dehghan; Armin Khavandegar; Mehran Lak; Mahmood Bakhtiyari
Volume 24, Issue 5 , 2022
Abstract
Background: While several antivirals have been considered among the candidate repurposed drugs against SARS-CoV-2 infection, limited evidence exists on Atazanavir/Ritonavir.
Objectives: This trial was designed to assess the efficacy of Atazanavir/Ritonavir compared to Lopinavir/Ritonavir, another antiretroviral ...
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Background: While several antivirals have been considered among the candidate repurposed drugs against SARS-CoV-2 infection, limited evidence exists on Atazanavir/Ritonavir.
Objectives: This trial was designed to assess the efficacy of Atazanavir/Ritonavir compared to Lopinavir/Ritonavir, another antiretroviral drug investigated in the previous studies.
Methods: This randomized, double-blind clinical trial was conducted on hospitalized patients with laboratory or confirmed SARS CoV-2 infection. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either Lopinavir/Ritonavir (200mg Lopinavir+50mg Ritonavir, twice a day) or Atazanavir/Ritonavir (300mg Atazanavir+100 mg Ritonavir, once a day) for up to 14 days during their admission along with the standard care. The primary endpoint was total all-cause death in all patients during the hospitalization period. Secondary outcomes included length of hospitalization.
Results: Out of 103 adults included in the analysis 54 and 49 were assigned to Atazanavir/Ritonavir and Lopinavir/Ritonavir groups, respectively. The occurrence of adverse effects, defined as symptoms attributed to the drugs which no longer appear upon the cessation of the drug, was higher for cardiac side effects in Atazanavir/Ritonavir group. No statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of the length of hospitalization. After adjustment for other covariates in the study, treatment with Atazanavir/ritonavir did not result in a significant reduction in mortality compared to treatment with Lopinavir/Ritonavir.
Conclusion: The efficacy of Atazanavir/Ritonavir in this preliminary study was not superior to Lopinavir/Ritonavir in reducing mortality and length of hospitalization in COVID-19 patients. However, the limited efficacy of both compounds does not support their use in primary care for COVID-19 patients.
Pegah Shakibnia; Razieh Heidari Ahmadi; Faezeh Fallah; Farnoosh Ebrahimzadeh; Amin Sadeghi Dosari; Ali Mojtahedi; Nayereh Hajipour; Maryam Sharifi Luyeh; Majid Taati Moghadam
Volume 23, Issue 11 , 2021
Abstract
Context: During the past three decades, the Middle East has experienced three major viral epidemics. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pulmonary disease which has been first reported in China in the early third decade of the 21st century and quickly infected people in Asia, the Middle East, and ...
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Context: During the past three decades, the Middle East has experienced three major viral epidemics. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pulmonary disease which has been first reported in China in the early third decade of the 21st century and quickly infected people in Asia, the Middle East, and the entire world. This pandemic is life-threatening and has caused widespread financial losses; however, the exact extent of the damage is still unclear.
Evidence Acquisition: This review study aimed to present the latest on the COVID-19 symptoms, pathogenicity, host immune responses, etiology and epidemiology, transmission routes in the Middle Eastern countries, especially Iran, and the role this country plays in the spread of the disease. The search was conducted using Google scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science to identify relevant studies published from 2019 to 2021.
Results: Many countries do not have sufficient equipment to prevent, identify, and treat the disease and still have major challenges in controlling this deadly virus. In Iran, a Middle Eastern country, people faced widespread disease and deaths due to the lack of facilities caused by heavy economic and political sanctions. These challenges affect not only Iran but also many neighboring countries. Over time, mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus led to the emergence of various variants of the virus, such as Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (B.1.1.28.1), and Delta (B.1.617.2).
Conclusion: Different variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus pose a substantial menace to public health due to their high transmissibility and ability to escape the immune system. Recently, concerns have increased about the risk of hospitalization and the high spread rate of the COVID-19 delta variant.
