Effectiveness of preoperative shaving and postoperative shampooing on the infection rate in neurosurgery patients: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of preoperative shaving and postoperative shampooing on the infection rate in neurosurgery. DESIGN: Meta-analysis. DATA SOURCE: We conducted a search of the Embase, CINAHL, Scopus and PubMed databases up until February 1, 2022. Comparative studies were included. No language restrictions were applied. REVIEW METHODS: Original articles that compared the infection rate of patients who had their hair shaved before neurosurgery to the infection rate of unshaven patients were included. Original articles comparing the infection rates of patients whose hair was early postoperative shampooing versus patients whose hair was not shampooed after neurosurgery were also included. The risk of bias was also evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale by two authors independently. The meta-analyses were performed using Review Manager software (RevMan 5.3; Cochrane Collaboration). The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were assessed for dichotomous data (infection rate). The heterogeneity of the included studies was assessed using the I2 statistic (ranging from 0 to 100%). RESULTS: A total of 3451 studies were identified by searching the PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL and Embase databases. Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria, however two studies did not provide data suitable for meta-analysis. Twelve studies were included in the review. Two historical control studies, four prospective studies, one clinical trial and five retrospective studies were identified. There were 4583 patients whose hair was not shaved and 4295 patients whose hair was shaved. Among them, there were 3874 patients whose hair was unshaved and was early postoperative shampooing. No significant difference in the infection rate was found between the unshaved group and shaved group (OR: 0.86, 95% CI [0.62, 1.19], P = 0.85, I2 = 0%). A significant difference in the infection rates in shunt surgery patients was found between the unshaved group and shaved group (OR: 0.43, 95% CI [0.19, 0.99], P = 0.89, I2 = 0%). No significant difference was found between the unshaved with early shampooing group and the shaved group (OR: 0.82, 95% CI [0.48, 1.41], P = 0.80, I2 = 0%). CONCLUSION: Hair preservation before neurosurgery and early shampooing after neurosurgery did not increase the infection rate.

Screening and identification of biomarkers for systemic sclerosis via microarray technology.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a complex autoimmune disease. The pathogenesis of SSc is currently unclear, although like other rheumatic diseases its pathogenesis is complicated. However, the ongoing development of bioinformatics technology has enabled new approaches to research this disease using microarray technology to screen and identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the skin of patients with SSc compared with individuals with healthy skin. Publicly available data were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and intra­group data repeatability tests were conducted using Pearson's correlation test and principal component analysis. DEGs were identified using an online tool, GEO2R. Functional annotation of DEGs was performed using Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Finally, the construction and analysis of the protein­protein interaction (PPI) network and identification and analysis of hub genes was carried out. A total of 106 DEGs were detected by the screening of SSc and healthy skin samples. A total of 10 genes [interleukin­6, bone morphogenetic protein 4, calumenin (CALU), clusterin, cysteine rich angiogenic inducer 61, serine protease 23, secretogranin II, suppressor of cytokine signaling 3, Toll­like receptor 4 (TLR4), tenascin C] were identified as hub genes with degrees ≥10, and which could sensitively and specifically predict SSc based on receiver operator characteristic curve analysis. GO and KEGG analysis showed that variations in hub genes were mainly enriched in positive regulation of nitric oxide biosynthetic processes, negative regulation of apoptotic processes, extracellular regions, extracellular spaces, cytokine activity, chemo­attractant activity, and the phosphoinositide 3 kinase­protein kinase B signaling pathway. In summary, bioinformatics techniques proved useful for the screening and identification of biomarkers of disease. A total of 106 DEGs and 10 hub genes were linked to SSc, in particular the TLR4 and CALU genes.