OSA in military veterans suffering from PTSD presents more often with insomnia than obesity or increased daytime sleepiness. These findings are different from those typically seen in non-PTSD veterans with OSA.

Background and Objectives: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is reportedly associated with sleep disorders. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate sleep disorders in newly diagnosed SLE patients. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on patients with newly diagnosed SLE (ie, case group) and a control group. The case and control groups were matched in terms of gender, age, socioeconomic status, and educational level. Venous blood samples were obtained from the participants to measure prolactin and melatonin levels. Furthermore, they were subjected to polysomnography. The data were analysed by SPSS (version 16) at a significance level of 0.05. Results: A total of 28 women were enrolled in this study (ie, 14 individuals in each group). The frequencies of sleep disorder in the case and control groups were obtained as 64.3% and 50%, respectively (P=0.4). These two groups had the mean sleep onset times of 10.76±10.64 and 8.67±7.12 min (P=0.5) and the respiratory disturbance indices of 9.20±10.23 and 8.44±9.27, respectively (P=0.8). The frequency of sleep apnoea was obtained at 50% for both case and control groups (P=1). There was no significant difference between these groups in terms of the mean serum prolactin and melatonin levels (P=0.3 and P=0.2, respectively). Serum melatonin level showed a direct correlation with sleep latency to N1 (i.e., the first part of non-rapid eye movement in sleep) and spontaneous arousal index in the case group (P=0.02, r=0.602 and P=0.04, r=0.544, respectively). Conclusion: According to the findings, there was no significant difference in the frequency of sleep disorders between the healthy subjects and patients at the onset of lupus. Additionally, melatonin and prolactin levels showed no significant difference between the groups. Our results are inconsistent with previous studies, due to the difference in disease duration probably. It seems that the chronicity and complications of the disease, as well as the adoption of glucocorticoid therapy for the chronic disease affect sleep quality in SLE patients more than disease duration.

SUMMARYObjectivesThe objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of rapid intravenous rehydration to resolve vomiting in children with acute gastroenteritis.MethodsThis randomized control trial was conducted in the pediatric emergency department in a tertiary care center in Tabriz, North-West of Iran. The study participants' were 150 children with acute gastroenteritis and vomiting who were moderately dehydrated, had not responded to oral rehydration therapy and without any electrolyte abnormalities. 20–30 cc/kg of a crystalloid solution was given intravenously over 2 hours and the control group was admitted in the emergency department (ED) for a standard 24 hour hydration. Effectiveness of rapid intravenous rehydration in the resolution of vomiting in children with acute gastroenteritis was evaluated.ResultsIn 63 children of the intervention group (out of 75) vomiting was resolved after rapid IV rehydration and they were discharged. Among them, 12 that did not tolerate oral fluids were admitted. In the control group, 62 patients' vomiting was resolved in the first 4 hours after admission, and there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding resolution of vomiting.ConclusionsRapid intravenous rehydration in children with moderate dehydration and vomiting due to gastroenteritis is effective in reducing admission rates in the ED.

Management of children with acute gastroenteritis is based upon dehydration estimation. There is no clinical or paraclinical tool which exactly estimates the dehydration degree. Recently ultrasonographic parameters as inferior vena cava (IVC) diameter and aorta (AO) have been used in some studies for this purpose. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of ultrasound in detecting mild and moderate degrees of dehydration in children. The study was performed in the emergency department of Dr. Sheikh’s Children Hospital, Mashhad, Iran. Children with mild to moderate degrees of dehydration according to World health Organization (WHO) clinical scale were enrolled. Their inferior vena cava diameters, aorta and IVC/AO ratio were measured before and after fluid therapy using ultrasound. Ultrasound was performed by two pediatric sonographers. 36 patients (mean age of 16.94±11.02 months) entered the study. 11 patients had mild and 25 moderate dehydration according to WHO clinical scale. All 11 patients with mild dehydration received oral rehydration. 13 patients in the moderate dehydration group received intravenous rehydration because of oral intolerance to fluids and recurrent vomiting. IVC diameter and IVC/AO ratio after fluid therapy in children with both mild and moderate dehydration degrees was significantly greater (P<0.001). However, we did not observe any significant difference in aorta diameter before and after fluid therapy. Using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve, the proper cut-off point of IVC/AO ratio to differentiate patients with moderate dehydration from mild dehydration is equal to 0.782 with sensitivity and specificity equal to 88% and 45.45% respectively. Further, the area under the ROC curve for this cut-off is equal to 0.569. In conclusion, ultrasonography cannot differentiate between mild and moderate dehydration degrees, but studies with larger population of patients should be performed.

Several studies have estimated breast cancer risk in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) relative to the general population. However, the results have been inconclusive. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to ascertain a more comprehensive conclusion. A systematic literature search of electronic databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Scopus was conducted to identify eligible studies using multiple search strategies. Based on the degree of heterogeneity, a random-effect model was chosen to calculate the pooled standardized incidence rate (SIR) with 95% confidence interval (CI), to estimate the strength of association between SLE and breast cancer incidence risk. A total of 18 eligible studies including 110,720 patients with SLE were enrolled in this meta-analysis. The combined results showed no significant association between SLE and breast cancer incidence (SIRs = 1.012 (95% CI, 0.797-1.284)). Subgroup analysis by study type, ethnicity, follow-up years, sample size, and SLE diagnostic criteria also showed no altered risk for breast cancer incidence (the summary risk estimate of each subgroup ranged from 0.82 to 1.40 with no statistical significance). This meta-analysis suggests no direct association between SLE and risk of breast cancer incidence.