Telemedicine in Nail Psoriasis: Validation of a New Tool to Monitor (In-Person, In-Picture, and In-Video) Nail Psoriasis Severity in Patients with Concurrent Onychophagia and Onychotillomania.

INTRODUCTION: Since during the COVID-19 pandemic nail psoriasis was evaluated exclusively with teledermatology, dermatologists started to face the difficulty in rating it concurrent with other onycopathies (i.e., onychotillomania and onychophagy). Thus, we aimed to improve the existing severity scores and verify the value in different clinical settings (i.e., in person vs. teledermatology (video or picture)). METHODS: This multicenter prospective observational study evaluated patients with nail psoriasis and screened them for onychophagy or onychotillomania in telemedicine from May 2020 to January 2021. For therapeutic purposes patients with nail psoriasis were followed and rated with the Nijmegen-Nail psoriasis Activity Index tooL (N-NAIL) for 9 months; at the same time, N-NAIL and a new dedicated index that monitor also the changes in nail dimension (Galeazzi-(G) N-NAIL) were tested for accuracy. We assessed inter- and intraobserver agreement for the three different settings (in person, video, and pictures). RESULTS: In our cohort of 382 patients with nail psoriasis after a clinical and dermatoscopic assessment we found 20 (5.24%) patients with onychophagy and 17 (4.45%) patients with onychotillomania. Analysis of the impact of nail psoriasis on patients revealed that onycholysis and crumbing, followed by subungual hyperkeratosis, were the clinical signs that prevalently bothered patients. N-NAIL score displayed moderate intra- and interobserver agreement. Over the 9 months follow-up, N-NAIL vs. GN-NAIL displayed a solid correlation at all the examined time points, i.e., baseline and after 3, 6, and 9 months. CONCLUSION: We created a new tool, the GN-NAIL capable of efficiently scoring nail psoriasis severity in complex cases, such as patients with onychotillomania and onychophagy, and monitor response to treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

How the Post-Data Severity Converts Testing Results into Evidence for or against Pertinent Inferential Claims.

The paper makes a case that the current discussions on replicability and the abuse of significance testing have overlooked a more general contributor to the untrustworthiness of published empirical evidence, which is the uninformed and recipe-like implementation of statistical modeling and inference. It is argued that this contributes to the untrustworthiness problem in several different ways, including [a] statistical misspecification, [b] unwarranted evidential interpretations of frequentist inference results, and [c] questionable modeling strategies that rely on curve-fitting. What is more, the alternative proposals to replace or modify frequentist testing, including [i] replacing p-values with observed confidence intervals and effects sizes, and [ii] redefining statistical significance, will not address the untrustworthiness of evidence problem since they are equally vulnerable to [a]-[c]. The paper calls for distinguishing between unduly data-dependant 'statistical results', such as a point estimate, a p-value, and accept/reject H0, from 'evidence for or against inferential claims'. The post-data severity (SEV) evaluation of the accept/reject H0 results, converts them into evidence for or against germane inferential claims. These claims can be used to address/elucidate several foundational issues, including (i) statistical vs. substantive significance, (ii) the large n problem, and (iii) the replicability of evidence. Also, the SEV perspective sheds light on the impertinence of the proposed alternatives [i]-[iii], and oppugns [iii] the alleged arbitrariness of framing H0 and H1 which is often exploited to undermine the credibility of frequentist testing.

The role of serum pyrrole-protein adduct in evaluating the severity and predicting the anticoagulant efficacy in patients with pyrroidine alkaloid-related hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome / 中华消化杂志

Objective:To explore the role of serum pyrrole-protein-adduct (PPA) in evaluating the severity and predicting the anticoagulant efficacy in patients with pyrrolidine alkaloid-related hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (PA-HSOS).Methods:From April 2018 to December 2019, the data of 48 patients with PA-HSOS admitted and treated at Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Medical College of Nangjing University were collected, which included PPA level, portal vein velocity (PVV), ascites grading, PA-HSOS severity grading (according to the new severity grading criteria for suspected hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome in adults by the European Society of Blood and Bone Marrow Transplantation and adjusted) and the outcome of anticoagulation. Patients with acute onset (onset of symptoms within 1 month after consuming pyrrolizidine alkaloid-containing plants) were taken as research subjects. The combination of PPA with PVV or with ascites classification of PA-HSOS severity assessment model was fitted by logistic regression, and the logit values of 2 combination models were calculated, the formula was logit 1=0.034×PPA(nmol/L)+ 0.055×PVV(cm/s)-3.287, logit 2=0.039×PPA(nmol/L)-2.712×ascites grade 2 (Yes=1, No=0)-0.388×ascites grade 3 (Yes=1, No=0)-0.899. The patients received initial anticoagulation therapy at Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Medical College of Nanjing University were selected as research subjects. The anticoagulant efficacy prediction model of combination of PPA with serum creatinine (SCR) and with hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) was fitted by logistic regression, and the logit value was calculated, the formula was logit 3=0.013×PPA(nmol/L)+ 0.064×SCR (mol/L)+ 0.542×HVPG (mmHg, 1 mmHg=0.133 kPa)-16.005. The predictive value of PPA in evaluating the severity of PA-HSOS and anticoagulant efficacy was evaluated. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed for statistical analysis. Results:The serum PPA level of 48 patients was 10.81 nmol/L (3.91 nmol/L, 32.04 nmol/L). Among them, 33 cases (68.8%) were mild PA-HSOS, 3 cases (6.2%) were moderate PA-HSOS, no severe PA-HSOS case and 12 cases (25.0%) were very severe PA-HSOS. Among 23 patients received initial anticoagulant therapy at Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Medical College of Nanjing University and with complete data, 8 patients responded and survived, and 15 patients did not respond (5 patients died, 1 patient relieved after continue anticoagulant therapy, and 9 patients survived after switching to anticoagulant therapy and transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) treatment). One patient without initial anticoagulant therapy, survived after TIPS treatment because of the progress of the disease. Area under the curve (AUC) of PPA to assess the severity of acute onset PA-HSOS was 0.75, 95% confidence interval ( CI) was 0.52 to 0.98 ( P=0.047). When PPA≥45.519 nmol/L, the specificity and sensitivity in evaluating severe and very severe PA-HSOS was 100.0% and 57.1%, respectively. AUC of combination of PPA and PVV to assess the severity of PA-HSOS was 0.77, 95% CI was 0.55 to 1.00 ( P=0.032). When the logit of combination model≥0.180, the specificity and sensitivity in evaluating severe and very severe PA-HSOS was 71.4% and 81.8%, respectively. AUC of combination of PPA and ascites grade (grade 1, 2 or 3) to assess the severity of PA-HSOS was 0.85, 95% CI was 0.63 to 1.00 ( P=0.005). When the logit of combination model≥0.347, the specificity and sensitivity in evaluating severe and very severe PA-HSOS was 85.7% and 92.0%, respectively. AUC of combination of PPA, SCR and HVPG to predict anticoagulation efficacy was 0.85, 95% CI was 0.69 to 1.00 ( P=0.009). When the logit≥0.393, the specificity and sensitivity in predicting anticoagulation efficacy was 62.5% and 91.7%, respectively. Conclusions:PPA can be used to assess the severity of acute onset PA-HSOS patients, and combined with ascites grading can significantly improve its efficiency. PPA combined with SCR and HVPG can better predict anticoagulant efficacy.

Quick and simple test to evaluate severity of acute lateral ankle sprain.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: For early return to sports after a lateral ankle sprain (LAS) and recurrence prevention, effective rehabilitation and gradual return to sports should be initiated while predicting the return time based on the appropriate severity evaluation immediately after injury. However, since severity evaluations performed in previous studies required large space and stairs and involved high-revel activity, their use as a test and index to evaluate severity after LAS was not appropriate considering convenience and risk of re-injury. Therefore, a quick and simple test was developed to evaluate the severity of acute LAS. This study aimed to verify the association between ankle function for severity evaluation and anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) injury type by ultrasonography and to clarify the usefulness for acute LAS severity evaluation of the single-leg loading (SLL) test. METHODS: In total, 50 patients (34 men, 16 women) out of 58 patients who visited our sports clinic within 3 days after acute LAS and who conformed to the study criteria were included in this study. During the first visit, SLL test and objective/subjective ankle joint evaluation were performed. The SLL test consists of single-leg standing, single-leg heel raising and single-leg hopping, and patients were classified into four levels from 1 to 4 according to results. In addition, ultrasonographic evaluation was performed within 1 week after the first visit to evaluate the type of ATFL injury. Type I was defined as intact ATFL, Type II as swollen ATFL with an almost intact fibrillar pattern and Type III as ATFL appearing swollen with a disrupted fibrillar pattern. The relationship between the SLL test and each evaluation item was investigated using Spearman's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: As a result of the SLL test, 15 patients had Level 1 (30%), 19 Level 2 (38%), 5 Level 3 (10%) and 11 Level 4 (22%). With regard to correlation coefficients of the SLL test, Japanese Society for Surgery of the Foot ankle/hindfoot scale and sports activity were rs = 0.71 (p < 0.001) and rs = 0.66 (p < 0.001), respectively, showing a significant positive correlation. SLL test and the type of ATFL injury also showed a significant negative correlation (rs = -0.58, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The SLL test was a simple and useful test that can be used as an index to evaluate the severity of acute LAS.

Sural nerve sensory response in diabetic distal symmetrical polyneuropathy.

INTRODUCTION: The sural sensory nerve action potential (SNAP) amplitude is a measure of the number of axons. We tested the hypothesis that sural SNAP amplitude can be used as a marker in screening, severity evaluation, and follow-up of diabetic distal symmetrical polyneuropathy (DSPN). METHODS: Patients with type 2 diabetes underwent nerve conduction studies and were followed for 6 years. Composite amplitude scores (CASs) were determined to evaluate DSPN severity. RESULTS: Sural SNAP amplitudes were negatively correlated with CAS (r = -.790, P < .0001), and changes in sural SNAP amplitudes were negatively correlated with those of CAS after controlling for follow-up duration (r = -.531, P = .028). DISCUSSION: When a patient's baseline sural SNAP amplitude is above zero, it can be used as one measure of DSPN in screening, severity evaluation, and follow-up. However, if the patient's sural SNAP value is zero, CAS can be used as a follow-up measure.

Treatment of pincer nails / 中华皮肤科杂志

Pincer nails are a kind of nail deformity characterized by abnormal thickening and distal transverse overcurvature of the nail plate,whose etiology and pathogenesis are still unclear.According to the morphology of the nail plate,pincer nails can be divided into three subtypes:common pincer nail (trumpet nail),tile-shaped nail,and plicated nail.Width index,height index and curvature index are objective indicators to evaluate the severity and therapeutic effect of the pincer nails.According to the classification and severity of the pincer nails,appropriate treatment methods can be adopted to improve the appearance of the nail plate and relieve clinical symptoms of patients.This review systematically summarizes the classification of,evaluation of the severity of and several therapeutic methods for pincer nails.

Investigating the correlation between short-term effectiveness of VNS Therapy in reducing the severity of seizures and long-term responsiveness.

VNS (Vagus Nerve Stimulation) Therapy® is an adjunctive therapy for patients with medically refractory epilepsy. The primary metric used to assess response to any treatment for epilepsy is seizure frequency reduction as measured using seizure diaries. In addition to seizure frequency, reduction in seizure severity is clinically meaningful to patients and can be measured objectively. Analysis of electro-encephalographic (EEG) signals has revealed that seizures are accompanied by spatial synchronization of EEG electrodes that may persist for several minutes after the seizure. A quantitative feature was obtained from EEG data around ictal events collected during a 3-5day epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) visit prior to VNS implantation and following one month after VNS implant. This feature was obtained from 15 patients who underwent implantation of the closed-loop AspireSR® VNS Therapy System. We used this feature to first evaluate if automated delivery of VNS at the time of seizure onset reduces the severity of seizures in patients by reducing EEG spatial synchronization. We then explored the correlation between the effectiveness of VNS in reducing the severity of seizures and long-term (12 month follow-up) responsiveness using clinical metrics of seizure frequency reduction. Results of application of this methodology to 103 pre-VNS and 102 post-VNS seizures revealed that automatic delivery of VNS Therapy reduces ictal spatial synchronization (EEG-based quantitative feature) in patients who responded (≥50% reduction in seizure frequency) to VNS Therapy. This feature may be used as potential biomarker for predicting long-term response to VNS Therapy.

[Clinical evaluation of the severity of hidradenitis suppurativa]. / Évaluation clinique de la sévérité de l'hidradénite suppurée--maladie de Verneuil.

Treatment and long-term management of patients with chronic diseases require the use of instruments to measure severity and outcome. In the case of hidradenitis suppurativa, such instruments are currently poorly understood and utilised. Herein, we describe the main instruments, their scope of application, their qualities and their shortcomings. The Hurley classification, which was devised for surgical assessment and is limited to description of impairment at a given site, is too often used to assess overall severity in individual patients. The Sartorius score (and variants thereof) combines global and local measurements; it is widely used, but because of its hybrid nature, the global score, or PGA-HS, is currently used; the latter, focusing on inflammatory signs, is perfectly suitable for daily assessment of pharmaceutical treatment. The HiSCR score, derived from the foregoing grading system, is used as a global criterion in clinical trials. Patient-based instruments, such as pain or suppuration score, and, to a lesser extent, quality-of-life score constitute very useful supplements. Since the disease is extremely heterogeneous, no instruments cover the entire array of situations and the requirements of medical and surgical practitioners involved in the management of this patient population.

Disease progression evaluation methods for open-angle glaucoma / 军事医学

The incidence of open-angle glaucoma has been rising year after year in China, which has caught much at-tention from ophthalmologists.There are various methods to evaluate the disease progression of an open-angle glaucoma pa-tient.These methods can be divided into two classes:functional assessment and structural assessment.We survey these two classes of methods in this paper.

Application study of sequential severity evaluation in emergency nursing for stroke patients / 中国实用护理杂志

Objective To explore the clinic value of sequential severity evaluation in emergency nursing for stroke patients. Methods 138 of stroke patients were enrolled in study group, which completed sequential severity evaluation in emergency medical and nursing provision drawn up according to the results. Another 207 of stroke patients were enrolled in control group, which emergency nursing provision drawn up according to general procedure. Length of time from emergency call to special therapeutic, mortality compared between the two groups respectively. Results In study group, length of time from emergency call to special therapeutic (48.9?34.1) min was significantly shorter than that of control group (73.1?46.7) min; mortality (11.1%) was significantly lower than that of control group (24.3%),cure rate (34.7%) was significantly higher than that of control group (26.9%). Conclusion Sequential severity evaluation in acute nursing may be a worthy procedure for proving reaction ability of nurse reaction ability in emergency medical and nursing, proving outcome for stroke patients and it should be commended.