Detection of choroidal hypoperfusion in giant cell arteritis using swept-source optical coherence tomographic angiography

Objective: To determine whether swept-source optical coherence tomographic angiography (SS-OCTA) can demonstrate choroidal perfusion abnormalities seen on fluorescein angiography (FA) in giant cell arteritis (GCA). Design: Observational case series. Participants: Six eyes of 3 patients with bilateral ischemic optic neuropathy secondary to GCA, and one control patient without ocular involvement from biopsy-confirmed GCA. Methods: En face SS-OCTA (DRI OCT Triton, Topcon, Tokyo, Japan) and FA centered on the macula were obtained at presentation. SS-OCTA was segmented into superficial and deep retinal capillary plexuses and the choriocapillaris laminae. SS-OCTA images were independently analyzed for perfusion abnormalities and compared with corresponding FA images. Main Outcome Measures: Correspondence of choroidal angiographic abnormalities on SS-OCTA and FA. Results: SS-OCTA showed decreased angiographic signal within the choriocapillaris in 5/6 eyes and corresponded to hypoperfusion abnormalities on FA in similar geographic distributions in 5/5 eyes. SS-OCTA also showed dilation of the deep retinal capillary plexus overlying the area of choroidal hypoperfusion in one eye. In the one eye without angiographic signal abnormalities on SS-OCTA, no perfusion changes were noted on FA. One control patient without ocular involvement from biopsy-confirmed GCA did not show choroidal perfusion changes on SS-OCTA or FA. Conclusions: This case series demonstrates comparability between SS-OCTA and FA in detection and characterization of choroidal hypoperfusion secondary to GCA. As a rapid and non-invasive tool, SS-OCTA may serve as a viable alternative to FA in the diagnostic evaluation of GCA.

Identification of lncRNAs associated with the pathogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis

Background Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic autoimmune disease affecting the sacroiliac joint. To date, few studies have examined the association between long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and AS pathogenesis. As such, we herein sought to characterize patterns of AS-related lncRNA expression and to evaluate the potential role played by these lncRNAs in this complex autoimmune context. Methods We conducted a RNA-seq analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples isolated from five AS patients and corresponding controls. These data were then leveraged to characterize AS-related lncRNA expression patterns. We further conducted GO and KEGG enrichment analyses of the parental genes encoding these lncRNAs, and we confirmed the validity of our RNA-seq data by assessing the expression of six lncRNAs via qRT-PCR in 15 AS and control patient samples. Pearson correlation analyses were additionally employed to examine the associations between the expression levels of these six lncRNAs and patient clinical index values. Results We detected 56,575 total lncRNAs in AS and control patient samples during our initial RNA-seq analysis, of which 200 and 70 were found to be up- and down-regulated (FC > 2 or < 0.05; P < 0.05), respectively, in AS samples relative to controls. In qRT-PCR validation assays, we confirmed the significant upregulation of NONHSAT118801.2, ENST00000444046, and NONHSAT183847.1 and the significant downregulation of NONHSAT205110.1, NONHSAT105444.2, and NONHSAT051856.2 in AS patient samples. We further found the expression of NONHSAT118801.2 and NONHSAT183847.1 to be positively correlated with disease severity. Conclusion Overall, our findings highlight several lncRNAs that are specifically expressed in PBMCs of AS patients, indicating that they may play key functions in the pathogenesis of this autoimmune disease. Specifically, we determined that NONHSAT118801.2 and NONHSAT183847.1 may influence the occurrence and development of AS.

Identification of lncRNAs associated with the pathogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis

Background: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic autoimmune disease affecting the sacroiliac joint. To date, few studies have examined the association between long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and AS pathogenesis. As such, we herein sought to characterize patterns of AS-related lncRNA expression and to evaluate the potential role played by these lncRNAs in this complex autoimmune context. Methods: We conducted a RNA-seq analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples isolated from five AS patients and corresponding controls. These data were then leveraged to characterize AS-related lncRNA expression patterns. We further conducted GO and KEGG enrichment analyses of the parental genes encoding these lncRNAs, and we confirmed the validity of our RNA-seq data by assessing the expression of six lncRNAs via qRT-PCR in 15 AS and control patient samples. Pearson correlation analyses were additionally employed to examine the associations between the expression levels of these six lncRNAs and patient clinical index values. Results: We detected 56575 total lncRNAs in AS and control patient samples during our initial RNA-seq analysis, of which 200 and 70 were found to be up- and down-regulated (FC > 2 or < 0.05; P<0.05), respectively, in AS samples relative to controls. In qRT-PCR validation assays, we confirmed the significant upregulation of NONHSAT118801.2, ENST00000444046, and NONHSAT183847.1 and the significant downregulation of NONHSAT205110.1, NONHSAT105444.2, and NONHSAT051856.2 in AS patient samples. We further found the expression of NONHSAT118801.2 and NONHSAT183847.1 to be positively correlated with disease severity. Conclusion: Overall, our findings highlight several lncRNAs that are specifically expressed in PBMCs of AS patients, indicating that they may play key functions in the pathogenesis of this autoimmune disease. Specifically, we determined that NONHSAT118801.2 and NONHSAT183847.1 may influence the occurrence and development of AS.

Changes in Orthopedic Services in Two Indonesian Tertiary-referral Hospitals during the Coronavirus-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND: Many countries report decreasing on the number of hospital visit even on the emergency cases. AIM: This study aims to reveal the important data on how big the impact of coronavirus-19 pandemic on orthopedic services in two Government’s tertiary-referral hospitals. METHODS: This research is a comparison study to measure the trend of orthopedic services, the monthly orthopedic surgical load and outpatient visit were examined during the period of March to May 2020 (the early pandemic period) then compared to the same period in the 2019. RESULTS: The lowest number of outpatient visits occurred during May 2020 with 715 total number of outpatient visit. The lowest number of orthopedic surgery occurred during May 2020 with 167 total number of orthopedic surgery. Significant decrease of outpatient visits is recorded in 3 months of early pandemic period compared to the same period in 2019 (p < 0.005). Regarding the orthopedic surgical loads, the data show significant decrease in number of orthopedic surgeries in early pandemic period compared to those months in 2019 (p < 0.005). The largest declines were in visits for post-operative control patient (–179), spinal problem (–127,33), and osteoarthritis (–91,33). CONCLUSION: There was a significant difference in outpatient visit and orthopedic surgery number in the early pandemic period compared to the period before the pandemic occur. The largest drops in outpatient visit were in visits for post–operative control patient and spinal problem.

Identification of lncRNAs associated with the pathogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis

Background Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic autoimmune disease affecting the sacroiliac joint. To date, few studies have examined the association between long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and AS pathogenesis. As such, we herein sought to characterize patterns of AS-related lncRNA expression and to evaluate the potential role played by these lncRNAs in this complex autoimmune context. Methods We conducted an RNA-seq analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples isolated from five AS patients and corresponding controls. These data were then leveraged to characterize AS-related lncRNA expression patterns. We further conducted GO and KEGG enrichment analyses of the parental genes encoding these lncRNAs, and we confirmed the validity of our RNA-seq data by assessing the expression of six lncRNAs via qRT-PCR in 15 AS and control patient samples. Pearson correlation analyses were additionally employed to examine the associations between the expression levels of these six lncRNAs and patient clinical index values. Results We detected 56575 total lncRNAs in AS and control patient samples during our initial RNA-seq analysis, of which 200 and 70 were found to be up- and down-regulated (FC > 2 or < 0.05; P < 0.05), respectively, in AS samples relative to controls. In qRT-PCR validation assays, we confirmed the significant upregulation of NONHSAT118801.2, ENST00000444046, and NONHSAT183847.1 and the significant downregulation of NONHSAT205110.1, NONHSAT105444.2, and NONHSAT051856.2 in AS patient samples. We further found the expression of NONHSAT118801.2 and NONHSAT183847.1 to be positively correlated with disease severity. Conclusion Overall, our findings highlight several lncRNAs that are specifically expressed in the context of AS, indicating that they may play key functions in the pathogenesis of this autoimmune disease. Specifically, we determined that NONHSAT118801.2 and NONHSAT183847.1 may be valuable biomarkers of AS.

System for Control and Management of Data Privacy of Patients with COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic plagues the whole world, bringing numerous challenges which need to be addressed. One of them is the privacy of patient data. There are several problems related to data privacy in IoT environments, the use of applications, devices, and functionalities in hospital processes. Therefore, we have compared works from the literature and developed a taxonomy consisting of the requirements necessary to control patient privacy data in a hospital setting in the current pandemic. Based on the studies, an application was modeled and implemented. According to the tests and comparisons drawn between the variables, the application yielded satisfactory results.