Neurofilament light (NFL) is a putative biomarker of neurodegeneration. This study evaluates the correlative association of NFL with Alzheimer's disease (AD) indices. Relevant studies were identified after a literature search in electronic databases and study selection was based on pre-determined eligibility criteria. Correlation coefficients between NFL levels and important AD indices reported by individual studies were pooled as z-scores. Meta-regression analyses were performed to evaluate the relationships between important covariates. Data from 38 studies (age 68.3 years [95% confidence interval (CI): 65.7, 70.9]; 54 % [95% CI: 50, 57] females) were used. Meta-analyses of correlation coefficients reported by the included studies showed that NFL levels in blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) correlated well (r = 0.59 [95% CI: 0.45, 0.71]; p < 0.0001). NFL levels correlated with MMSE score (r = −0.345 [95% CI: −0.43, −0.25]; p = 0.0001), and age (r = 0.485 [95% CI: 0.35, 0.61]; p = 0.00001). CSF NFL levels correlated with total tau (t-tau; r = 0.39 [95% CI: 0.27, 0.50]; p = 0.0001), phosphorylated tau (p-tau; r = 0.34 [95% CI: 0.19, 0.47]; p = 0.00001), and neurogranin (r = 0.25 [95% CI: 0.12, 0.37]; p = 0.001) but not with beta amyloid (Aβ) (r = 0.00 [95%CI: −0.13, 0.12]; p = 0.937). In meta-regression, MMSE scores were associated inversely with blood NFL (metaregression coefficient (MC) −0.236 [95% CI:−0.40, −0.072; p = 0.008), and age (MC) −0.235 [−0.36, −0.11]; p = 0.001) and positively with CSF Aβ-42 (MC 0.017 [0.010, 0.023]; p = 0.00001). NFL has good correlations with t-tau, and p-tau in CSF and CSF NFL levels correlates well with blood NFL levels. These results show that NFL can be a useful biomarker for improving diagnosis and predicting prognosis in AD patients especially if age weighted.

Objective Papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) has a good prognosis and a long survival time, surgery is the common treatment including total thyroidectomy (TT) and unilateral lobectomy (LT), but recent studies showed that TT does not show an advantage over LT for PTMC in preventing cancer recurrence and reducing mortality. Given this, the health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) has become one of the important factors that physicians must consider when making treatment decisions. The aim of this study was to compare the HRQoL of patients between undergoing TT and LT. Methods From October 2019 to December 2019, 69 PTMC patients were enrolled in our study, including 34 in the LT group and 35 in the TT group, respectively. We used three questionnaires which included the 36‐item short‐form health survey (SF‐36), thyroid cancer‐specific quality of life (THYCA‐QOL), and Fear of Progression Questionnaire‐Short Form (FoP‐Q‐SF) for each patient to evaluate their scores of HRQoL. Results According to the SF‐36, the scores of the domain for the role limitation due to physical problems, emotional problems, and social function (RP, RE, and SF) as well as Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) showed a significant negative linear association between the LT group and TT group: RP (coefficient [coef]: −33.953 [confidence interval (CI) −51.187 to −16.720], p < 0.001, RE (coef: −21.633 [CI −39.500 to −3.766], p = 0.018), SF (coef: −10.169 [CI −19.586 to −0.752], p = 0.035)and PCS (coef: −10.571 [CI −17.768 to −3.373], p = 0.005), MCS (coef: −10.694 [CI −19.465 to −1.923], p = 0.018). The THYCA‐QOL showed that the scores of the TT group were higher than that of the LT group in the problem of scar (coef: 16.245 [CI 1.697 to 30.794], p = 0.029 according to the multivariate analysis), suggesting a higher level of complaint in the TT group. There was no statistically significant difference in the scores of FoP‐Q‐SF between the two groups. Conclusions In patients with PTMC, LT offers an advantage over TT in terms of HRQoL, which supports the role of LT as an alternative strategy to TT.

The clinical data of 149 patients who underwent successful laparoscopic splenectomy (LS) between January 2014 and September 2017 were analyzed in the present study. The incidence of portal vein system thrombosis (PVST) in patients with and without cirrhosis was 32.0% and 9.5%, respectively. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the ratio of the postoperative maximum platelet (PLT) count to the preoperative PLT count (r = 1.144; P = 0.007) was the risk factor for PVST in all patients after LS. Of patients who received prophylactic anticoagulation, 9 and 6 cases of PVST in patients with and without cirrhosis, respectively, (37.5% vs. 85.7%; P = 0.037) resolved during hospitalization. In patients who underwent LS, a PLT count increasing to > 8 times baseline levels after surgery was the risk factor for PVST after LS, and the sensitivity to anticoagulation postoperatively was significantly higher in patients without cirrhosis than in those with cirrhosis.