Although molecular biology has made great progress in recent years, the detection rate of mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is still not ideal. This study aimed to evaluate the role of prognostic inflammatory index (PII) and systemic inflammatory response index (SIRI) in the auxiliary diagnosis of bacteria-negative pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). Sixty patients diagnosed with bacteria-negative pulmonary TB at the Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University between October 2019 and September 2022 were randomly selected as the case group, and seventy patients with nontuberculous pulmonary infection in the same department of the same hospital during the same period were randomly selected as the control group. Baseline data and values of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), lymphocyte count (LY), neutrophil count (NE), monocyte count (MO), albumin (ALB), prealbumin (PA), C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen (FIB), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), PII, and SIRI were compared between the 2 groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of PII and SIRI in the diagnosis of bacteria-negative pulmonary TB. No significant differences were found between the 2 groups in terms of sex and age ( P > .05); however significant differences were observed in relation to body mass index (BMI), ESR, LY, NE, MO, ALB, PA, CRP, FIB, NLR, PII, and SIRI ( P < .05). ROC curve analysis showed that area under curve (AUC) value {0.84 [95% CI (0.77, 0.90)]} and specificity {82.86% [95% CI (72.0, 90.8)]} of PII were the highest, while the sensitivity {86.67 [95% CI (75.4, 94.1)]} of NLR + PII was the highest. Pairwise comparison of the 7 indicators of ROC curve was performed, and only the diagnostic efficiency of NLR and NLR + PII was statistically significant ( Z = 2.36, P = .02 < .05). NLR, PII, SIRI, pairwise combinations, and NLR + PII + SIRI showed auxiliary diagnostic values for bacteria-negative pulmonary TB, among which PII had the highest diagnostic value and specificity, while NLR + PII had the highest sensitivity.

Background: Lipid aggregation, inflammatory cell infiltration, fibrous cap formation, and disruption are the major causes of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and the pathologic features of atherosclerotic plaques. Although ezetimibe’s role in decreasing blood lipids is widely known, there are insufficient data to determine which part of the drug has an effect on atherosclerotic plaque compositions.Objective: The study aimed to systematically evaluate the efficacy of ezetimibe for coronary atherosclerotic plaque compositions.Methods: Two researchers independently searched the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the efficacy of ezetimibe for coronary atherosclerotic plaques from inception until 22 January 2023. The meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis (TSA) were performed using Stata 14.0 and TSA 0.9.5.10 Beta software, respectively.Results: Four RCTs were finally included this study, which comprised 349 coronary artery disease patients. Meta-analysis findings showed that, compared with the control group, intervention measures could effectively reduce the fibro-fatty plaque (FFP) volume [WMD = −2.90, 95% CI (−4.79 and −1.00), and p = 0.003 &lt; 0.05]; there were no significant difference in the reduction of fibrous plaque (FP) volume [WMD = −4.92, 95% CI (−11.57 and 1.74), and p = 0.15 &gt; 0.05], necrotic core (NC) volume [WMD = −2.26, 95% CI (−6.99 and 2.46), and p = 0.35 &gt; 0.05], and change dense calcification (change DC) volume [WMD = −0.07, 95% CI (−0.34 and 0.20), and p = 0.62 &gt; 0.05] between the treatment group and the control group. TSA findings showed more studies are still required to confirm the efficacy of ezetimibe for FP and NC in the future.Conclusion: Compared to the control group, ezetimibe significantly decreased FFP, but it had no statistically significant difference on FP, NC, or change DC. According to TSA, further research will be required to confirm the efficacy of ezetimibe for FP and NC in the future.