OBJECTIVE To compare longitudinal metabolic effects of 7 antipsychotics, including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), blood pressure (BP), glucose, triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C); to investigate risk factors for metabolic syndrome (MetS); and to make recommendations on frequency and timing of monitoring metabolic measurements. METHODS This randomized, open-label, pharmacologic trial was conducted among patients with schizophrenia (DSM-IV) in 32 hospitals across China. Patients were randomly assigned to 7 groups and assessed at baseline, 2, 4, and 6 weeks. Linear mixed-effect models were used to assess changes of metabolic measures over time. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the risk factors for MetS. RESULTS In total, 2,550 (718 drug-naïve) of 2,774 patients finished the study between July 6, 2010, and November 30, 2011. We found significant (P aripiprazole (OR = 1.74, P = .15) ≈ haloperidol (OR = 1.75, P = .22) ≈ ziprasidone (OR = 1, reference). CONCLUSIONS Metabolic traits should be monitored frequently in early stages of antipsychotic treatment due to rapid and substantial changes. Clinicians should not assume low risk for patients with normal metabolic parameters at baseline. TRIAL REGISTRATION Chinese Clinical Trial Registry identifier ChiCTR-TRC-10000934. © Copyright 2020 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.The fragility index (FI) has been recommended for use as an additional statistic when presenting the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The FI in a completed RCT is the smallest number of subjects whose status needs to be changed, such as from nonresponder to responder, for a statistically significant finding to lose its statistical significance. A small FI suggests that a finding is fragile; a large FI suggests that the finding is robust. Whereas an FI value of 0-1 indicates extreme fragility, there is no cutoff to separate what is small and what is large for the FI. The FI is useful because it helps readers understand significant findings of an RCT in a different and more intuitive way. The FI has limitations. It can only be calculated in the context of an RCT, and only when binary outcomes are compared between 2 groups. It should not be calculated in nonrandomized studies, because it cannot be adjusted for the biasing effect of confounding variables, nor in time-to-event studies, because it cannot include the effect of time. Interpretation of the FI can be problematic when the number of subjects who drop out for unknown reasons is large. RCTs with small samples and RCTs in which the event of interest is rare tend to be fragile. However, the most important limitation of the FI is that it revolves around the much decried use of a statistical threshold (usually P less then .05) for determining the significance of a study finding. At best, the FI complements the understanding of the results of an RCT with statistically significant findings for categorical outcomes. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/o-pentagalloylglucose.html It should be used and interpreted in the context of other statistical information, including summary statistics, measures of effect size, and confidence intervals. © Copyright 2020 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.Objective To determine whether physical dependence developed during lisdexamfetamine dimesylate treatment, as evidenced by presence of withdrawal symptoms after treatment cessation in adults with binge-eating disorder (BED) treated for up to 38 weeks. Methods Three studies enrolled adults with DSM-IV-TR-defined BED. In two 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies conducted from November 2012 to September 2013, participants were treated with placebo or dose-optimized lisdexamfetamine (50 or 70 mg). In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized-withdrawal maintenance-of-efficacy study conducted from January 2014 to April 2015, participants categorized as responders after 12 weeks of open-label lisdexamfetamine (50 or 70 mg) were randomized to continued lisdexamfetamine or placebo for 26 weeks. The Amphetamine Cessation Symptom Assessment (ACSA), a 16-item self-report instrument (total score 0-64), assessed withdrawal experiences. Mean ± SD ACSA scores and medians are presented for study completers. Results In the short-term efficacy studies, mean ± SD ACSA aggregate scores for placebo and lisdexamfetamine (pooled data) were 7.0 ± 7.60 (n = 275) and 4.9 ± 6.41 (n = 271), respectively, on the day of the last dose at week 12/early termination (ET) and 4.8 ± 6.82 (n = 234) and 5.5 ± 7.50 (n = 221) on day 7 after the last dose. In the maintenance-of-efficacy study, mean ± SD ACSA aggregate scores for placebo and lisdexamfetamine were 4.8 ± 6.67 (n = 44) and 4.7 ± 7.78 (n = 85) on the day of the last dose at week 38/ET and 3.9 ± 5.75 (n = 37) and 5.2 ± 7.93 (n = 71) on day 7 after the last dose. Conclusions Study results suggest that abrupt lisdexamfetamine termination was not associated with amphetamine withdrawal symptoms at the exposure durations and therapeutic doses analyzed. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov identifiers NCT01718483, NCT01718509, and NCT02009163. © Copyright 2020 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which began in December 2019, is still ongoing in Korea, with >9,000 confirmed cases as of March 25, 2020. COVID-19 is a severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and real-time reverse transcription-PCR is currently the most reliable diagnostic method for COVID-19 around the world. Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine and the Korea Centers for Disease Prevention and Control propose guidelines for diagnosing COVID-19 in clinical laboratories in Korea. These guidelines are based on other related domestic and international guidelines, as well as expert opinions and include the selection of test subjects, selection of specimens, diagnostic methods, interpretation of test results, and biosafety. © The Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine.BACKGROUND The pathogenesis of glucocorticoid (GC)-induced osteonecrosis (ON) of the femoral head remains unclear. Recent research has suggested that it is closely associated with injured bone microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs). However, few studies have used BMECs to perform research pertaining ON of the femoral head. OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to investigate the functional changes of BMECs treated with a GC and to detect the changes in related genes using microarrays. MATERIAL AND METHODS Cells were isolated using an enzymatic method and identified with EC markers, such as von Willebrand factor (vWF), CD31 and vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cadherin). Bone microvascular endothelial cells were treated with 0.1 mg/mL and 0.3 mg/mL of hydrocortisone to establish a GC-damaged model of BMECs. The mRNA microarrays were used to detect the differential expression profiles between BMECs with and without GC damage. RESULTS Primary cells appeared as having a cobblestone-like morphology. Immunofluorescence staining revealed that the cells were 100% positive for vWF and CD31, and near 100% positive for VE-cadherin.