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Background and Objectives: Many studies have investigated the association between dietary iron intake and death due to cardiovascular disease (CVD), but the results were inconsistent. We performed a dose-response meta- analysis to quantitatively assess the risk of CVD mortality with dietary intake of iron (total iron, heme iron, and non-heme iron).Methods and Study Design: PubMed and Embase databases were searched for articles published up to February 21, 2019. Prospective cohort studies were included if reporting relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for risk of CVD mortality associated with dietary iron intake. Restricted cubic splines were used to model the dose-response association.Results: We included eight articles (19 studies including 720,427 participants [46,045 deaths due to CVD]) in the meta-analysis. When comparing the highest versus lowest level of dietary heme iron intake, the pooled RR for CVD mortality was 1.19 (95% CI, 1.01-1.39). With a 1-mg/day increase in dietary heme iron intake, the pooled RR for death due to CVD, stroke, coronary heart disease, and myocardial infarction were 1.25 (95% CI, 1.17-1.33), 1.17 (1.04-1.32), 1.25 (0.70-2.22), and 1.17 (0.55-2.50) respectively. The association between dietary iron intake and CVD mortality was linear (pnonlinearity> 0.05).Conclusions: Higher dietary intake of heme iron was associated with a greater risk of CVD mortality. Reducing consumption of heme iron may help to prevent premature death due to CVD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This meta-analysis explored the efficacy and safety of anterior cervical corpectomy and fusion (ACCF) comparing to anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) in treating cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) patients. Methods: Several electronic databases were searched combined with manually searching. Thirteen randomized controlled studies were enrolled with 1,062 CSM patients, including 468 patients and 594 patients in the in the ACCF and ACDF group, respectively. The meta-analysis was then performed using the STATA 12.0 software. Crude standard mean difference (SMD) or odds ratio (OR) with their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Results: Our meta-analysis results revealed that CSM patients in ACDF group showed less blood loss than those in ACCF group (SMD = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.03 ~ 1.39, P < 0.001). The operation time of CSM patients in the ACDF group was also obviously shorter than those in ACCF group (SMD = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.23 ~ 0.57, P < 0.001). Furthermore, CSM patients in ACDF group had shorter hospital time than those in ACCF group (SMD = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.21 ~ 0.69, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Our findings provide empirical evidence that ACDF may be more effective than ACCF for CSM treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a long-range corrected hybrid meta-generalized-gradient approximation (GGA) functional, based on a global hybrid meta-GGA functional, M05 [Y. Zhao, N. E. Schultz, and D. G. Truhlar, J. Chem. Phys. 123, 161103 (2005)], and empirical atom-atom dispersion corrections. Our resulting functional, ωM05-D, is shown to be accurate for a very wide range of applications, such as thermochemistry, kinetics, noncovalent interactions, equilibrium geometries, frontier orbital energies, fundamental gaps, and excitation energies. In addition, we present three new databases, IP131 (131 ionization potentials), EA115 (115 electron affinities), and FG115 (115 fundamental gaps), consisting of experimental molecular geometries and accurate reference values, which will be useful in the assessment of the accuracy of density functional approximations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The best treatment of distal radius fractures (DRFs) in the elderly is uncertain. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to compare the outcomes of surgical and nonsurgical management of DRFs in persons 65 years of age or older. Methods: Medline, Cochrane, EMBASE, and Google Scholar databases were searched until April 27, 2015 using the following search terms: distal radius fracture, conservative treatment, nonoperative treatment, nonsurgical treatment, surgical treatment, operative, elderly, and older. The primary outcome measure was DASH score, and secondary outcomes were functional and radiological assessments. The standard difference in post-treatment means was calculated for the outcomes to compare the two groups. Results: Of 59 articles identified, eight studies with a total of 440 patients in the surgical groups and 449 in the control groups were included in the analysis. No significant differences in DASH score, VAS pain score, grip strength, wrist extension, pronation, or supination, and ulnar deviation were noted between the groups. The nonsurgical group had significantly greater wrist flexion, radial deviation, and ulnar variance and less radial inclination than the surgical group. Conclusions: Surgical and nonsurgical methods produce similar results in the treatment of DRFS in the elderly, and minor objective functional differences did not result an impact on subjective function outcome and quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Objective: The purpose of the study was to compare the outcomes and after spinal fusion with or without iliac screw (IS) insertion for patients with adult spinal deformity (ASD).Summary Of Background Data: The number of patients undergoing multilevel spinal stabilization for the treatment of ASD is growing. However, the selection of spinopelvic fixation for ASD patients with long fusion is controversial.Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed without time restriction according to the guidelines from the Cochrane Collaboration in May 2020 using PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library. The comparison of the two types of fixation was evaluated by spinopelvic parameters, incidence rate of complications, rate of revision, and clinical outcomes at the last follow-up.Results: The literature search identified 422 records, of which eight studies were included for meta-analysis with a total of 439 patients. All the included studies provided level III evidence. There was no significant difference in the sagittal vertical axis, pelvic incidence, the proximal junctional kyphosis rates, the pseudarthrosis rates, the revision rates, and the clinical outcomes at the last follow-up between those who receive sacrum fixation and sacropelvic fixation. Nevertheless, greater lumbar lordosis (LL) (weighted mean difference [WMD], 4.15; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.46-5.84, P < 0.01), greater sacral slope (SS) (WMD, 2.32; 95% CI 1.21-3.43, P < 0.01), and lower rate of the distal instrumentation instability (odds ratio, 0.25; 95% CI 0.10-0.61, P = 0.002) were observed in IS group between the comparison.Conclusion: The clinical outcomes in the IS group were similar to those in the non-IS group, but the application of the IS significantly restored LL, prevented decompensation, and reduced the occurrence of the distal instrumentation instability. Therefore, the IS may be a good choice for the operative treatment of ASD patients with sagittal malalignment and other risks of lumbosacral fracture, metal breakage, and screw pullout.Level of Evidence: 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although a previous meta-analysis reported no association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and prostate cancer risk, a number of studies suggest that MetS may be associated with the aggressiveness and progression of prostate cancer. However, these results have been inconsistent. This systematic review and metaanalysis investigated the nature of this association. Methods: We systematically searched MEDLINE, EMBASE and bibliographies of retrieved studies up to January 2013 using the keywords "metabolic syndrome" and "prostate cancer". We assessed relative risks (RRs) of the prostate cancer, several parameters of prostate cancer aggressiveness and progression associated with MetS using 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Results: The literature search produced 547 hits from which 19 papers were extracted for the meta-analysis. In cancer-free population with and without MetS, the combined adjusted RR (95% CI) of prostate cancer risk and prostate cancer-specific mortality in longitudinal cohort studies is 0.96 (0.85 ~ 1.09) and 1.12 (1.02 ~ 1.23) respectively. In the prostate cancer patients with and without MetS, the combined unadjusted OR (95% CI) of high grade Gleason prostate cancer is 1.44 (1.20 ~ 1.72), the OR of advanced prostate cancer is 1.37 (1.12 ~ 1.68) and the OR of biochemical recurrence is 2.06 (1.43 ~ 2.96). Conclusions: The overall analyses revealed no association between MetS and prostate cancer risk, although men with MetS appear more likely to have high-grade prostate cancer and more advanced disease, were at greater risk of progression after radical prostatectomy and were more likely to suffer prostate cancer-specific death. Further primary studies with adjustment for appropriate confounders and larger, prospective, multicenter investigations are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]