Background: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of [ 18 F]FDG PET/MR versus [ 18 F]FDG PET/CT in the thoracic staging of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLS). Material and methods:The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) were followed in conducting the present study. All available research was collected through Embase (Elsevier), PubMed, as well as Cochrane Library databases up to June 2021. Only studies covering both [ 18 F]FDG PET/MRI and [ 18 F]FDG PET/CT techniques in the same group were included.Statistical analysis was done using Stata v.12.

The situation of Covid-19 patients with opium consumption has not been comprehensively investigated especially in Iran. This study is aimed to investigate the effect of current opium addiction on the severity and outcome of the Covid-19 infection. During a retrospective cohort study, clinical, demographic and all variables related to the severity and death due to the Corona virus infection were collected from the medical records of patients hospitalized from February 2020 to June 2021 in the study area. The role of current addiction in the severity and outcome of the disease was investigated using Cox, logistic and linear regression models. Of 939 confirmed Covid-19 cases admitted during the study period, 70 (7.5%) patients were currently addicted.  Multivariate reg­ression models showed that current opium addiction significantly increased the chance of endotracheal intubation (OR=2.96, p=0.005) and reduced the mean length of stay in hospital (beta coefficient =-0.42, p<0.0001). However, opium addiction did not change the risk of death (HR= 1.54, p=0.063) or O2 saturation (OR=1, p>0.99). Opium addiction can be associated with the severity of Covid-19 infection, but does not play a considerable role in the mortality of the patients.

BackgroundLabor pain is one of the most painful experiences in a women's life. One of the methods of pain relief is spinal anesthesia. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of spinal anesthesia with sufentanil on the length of the first and second stages of labor in singleton pregnant women. MethodsA randomized clinical trial was conducted involving 56 women who had to be at least 37 weeks pregnant with a singleton pregnancy and 20 to 35 years of age, as well as seeking a spontaneous natural delivery. They were randomized into an intervention group (spinal anesthesia with sufentanil) of 28 subjects and a control group (no spinal anesthesia) of 28 subjects. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software program 20.0. ResultsMean duration of stage I of labor was 152.32 ± 92.01 and 187.68 ± 121.01 minutes in the intervention and control groups, respectively (p=0.34), whereas mean duration of stage II of labor in the 2 groups was 15.96 ± 14.26 and 26.43 ± 20.90 minutes, respectively (p=0.06). Twenty five percent of women in the intervention group and 35.71% of women in the control group experienced a long stage I, whereas 21.43% of women in the intervention group and 35.71% of women in the control group experienced a long stage II (p>0.05). ConclusionThis study suggests that spinal anesthesia with sufentanil does not increase the duration of labor stages. It is recommended that more studies be performed in the future using larger sample sizes to allow for the drawing of solid conclusions.

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Introduction: Liver function test is a part of safe and aff ordable routine blood biochemical tests and provides useful information for the diagnosis and management of liver dysfunction. In this study we evaluated the value of the R factor in distinguishing between intrahepatic and extrahepatic causes of infant cholestasis. Methods: Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic value of the R factor in each group in comparison with liver biopsy as the gold standard of diagnosis. The data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software and P < 0.05 indicated a significant difference. Results: The study included 37 neonatal hepatitis patients (group A) and 25 biliary atresia patients (group B). The R factor was calculated using the (ALT patient/ULN)/(ALP patient/ULN) formula; ROC analysis revealed that if the R factor was ≤ 0.09 the patient diagnosis would be biliary atresia with high sensitivity (92%) (p-value = 0.001). The corresponding specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), diagnostic accuracy and area under the ROC curve (AUC) were 75.7%, 72%, 93%, 82% and 0.87, respectively. Conclusion: The study revealed that the R factor is a good diagnostic marker for differentiating between the most common intrahepatic and extrahepatic causes of infant cholestasis and has good diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV, in comparison with liver biopsy as the gold standard of diagnosis.