Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning may result in acute neurological sequelae, cognitive sequelae, and delay neurological sequelae. The administration of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) to prevent the development of delayed neurological sequelae in CO poisoning have extensively investigated but conflicting results have been reported. We performed a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating HBO treatment and its effect on neuropsychometric dysfunction after CO poisoning. We searched Medline, Embase, Pubmed, and the Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials from inception to December 2017. Eligible studies compared HBO therapy with normobaric oxygen (NBO) in patients with CO poisoning. Six studies compared HBO with NBO in CO poisoning patients. Compared with patients treated with NBO, a lower percentage of patients treated with HBO reported headache (16.2% vs 16.5%, relative risk [RR] = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.38–1.80), memory impairment (18.2% vs 23.8%, RR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.43–1.49), difficulty concentrating (15.0% vs 18.4%, RR = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.55–1.34), and disturbed sleep (14.7% vs 16.2%, RR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.59–1.39). Two sessions of HBO treatment exhibited no advantage over one session. The meta-analysis indicated that compared with CO poisoning patients treated with NBO, HBO treated patients have a lower incidence of neuropsychological sequelae, including headache, memory impairment, difficulty concentrating, disturbed sleep, and delayed neurological sequelae. Taking into consideration the cost-effectiveness of one session of HBO, one session of HBO treatment could be an economical option for patients with CO poisoning with high severity.

Dyslipidemia is associated with glomerular injury. However, the effect of statins on chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression remains controversial. We aimed to investigate the efficacy of statins for renal protection in patients with CKD. The retrospective cohort study comprised 3441 patients diagnosed with CKD in multiple medical centers. We divided the patients into two cohorts based on statin prescription, and compared proportions and risks of CKD progression events between the two groups. CKD progression event was defined as an average annual decline of eGFR >5 mL/min/1.73 m² or advancement to the dialysis stage. The result revealed that among all incident patients with CKD, 28.7% and 30.3% of the users and nonusers demonstrated CKD progression, respectively. The crude odds ratio (OR) of CKD progression was 0.93 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.78–1.10]. After adjustment for baseline characteristics, the adjusted OR was 0.80 (95% CI 0.63–1.01). The sensitivity analysis results showed consistent OR for CKD progression, stratification by age, sex, Charlson score, and statins use within 1 year before index date. The effect of statins was significant in patients with CKD stage 3B-5 (OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.48–0.95), but not statistically significant in those with CKD stage 1–3A (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.68–1.38). The effect of statins was significant in patients with proteinuria ≥1000 mg/day (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.43–0.92), but not statistically significant in those with proteinuria <1000 mg/day (OR 1.02, 95% CI 0.74–1.41).

An influenza vaccination might reduce the risk of incident peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), but supporting evidence is limited. This case-crossover study analyzed data from Taiwan’s real-world National Health Insurance Research Database. This study included elderly (≥ 67 years old) patients with CKD having incident PAOD from January 1, 2006, to June 30, 2015. We defined 1 year before PAOD onset as the index date for the self-control group. A conditional logistic regression model was used to investigate exposure to an influenza vaccination for estimating the risk for incident PAOD following vaccination. In total, this study included 46,782 elderly patients with CKD having incident PAOD. The odds ratios for incident PAOD were 0.85 (95% confidence interval 0.77–0.94), 0.85 (0.79–0.92), 0.84 (0.79–0.90), and 0.85 (0.81–0.90) at 1, 2, 3, and 4 months after an influenza vaccination, respectively. We observed consistent results for the subgroups of patients with CKD and concomitant diabetes. However, we did not observe any beneficial effects of influenza vaccination in patients with advanced CKD or end-stage renal disease. This study demonstrated that influenza vaccination may be associated with a reduced risk of incident PAOD among patients with early-stage CKD.

The effect of comorbidities and the immune profiles of the kidney cancer microenvironment play a major role in patients’ prognosis and survival. Using the National Health Insurance Research Database (Taiwan), we identified patients aged >20 years with a first diagnosis of kidney cancer between 2005 and 2014. Differences in demographic characteristics and comorbidities were examined using the Pearson chi-squared test or the t test. The Cox regression model was used to construct the nomogram. RNA-seq data were applied from The Cancer Genome Atlas database, and correlations between immune metagenes and clinical characteristics were determined using a linear regression model. In this nationwide cohort study, including 5090 patients with kidney cancer, predictors in our prediction models included age, sex, chronic kidney disease, dialysis requirements, renal stones, cerebrovascular disease, and metastasis tumor. In the tumor tissue profiles, significant positive correlations between immune metagenes and clinical stage or overall survival were observed among Natural Killer (NK) cells (CD56−), CD4+ T-helper 2 (Th2) cells, and activated Dendritic Cell (aDC). A negative correlation was observed between expression level of Dendritic Cell (DC) and overall survival. Patients with kidney cancer exhibit high prevalence of comorbid disease, especially in older patients. Comorbid disease types exert unique effects, and a particular comorbidity can affect cancer mortality. Moreover, the expression of immune metagenes can be utilized as potentialbiomarkers especially for further study of molecular mechanisms as well as microenvironments in kidney cancer.

Renal dysfunction is common in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Previous findings from a meta-analysis of GWAS indicated that the variation of RAB38/CTSC is highly associated with the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) in European populations. In addition, RAB38 knockout rats showed an increase in urinary albumins. Although the prevalence of chronic kidney disease is high in Taiwan, the role of genetic variants in diabetic renal function is still unclear. In the current study, 275 diabetic nephropathy (DN) patients were recruited to perform a genetic association study. Our results indicated that rs1027027, rs302647, and rs302646 in RAB38 were significantly associated with urinary protein-to-creatinine ratio (UPCR) levels in DN patients. Importantly, after analysis stratified by gender, a significant genetic influence on UPCR levels was observed in the male population. The findings confirmed the roles of gender and variants of RAB38 in the risk of UPCR in Diabetic Nephropathy patients.