UNASSIGNED: Literature evidence describes various treatment protocols that have been employed for the effectiveness in improving survival and addressing associated symptoms of cracked teeth.
UNASSIGNED: This systematic review investigates the survivability of endodontically treated cracked teeth and associated assessments, focusing on various treatment protocols.
UNASSIGNED: The PRISMA guidelines were utilised for guiding the article selection framework of this review. A comprehensive search of relevant literature was conducted in May 2023 across various databases, and studies meeting the inclusion criteria were selected. Data extraction, guided by a standardized form, captured crucial details, including study characteristics, treatment protocols, and treatment outcomes, enhancing the consistency and accuracy of information collection. Data extraction and synthesis was done by two reviewers independently. The Newcastle Ottawa tool was used to measure the methodological quality of the study. Six observational studies were eventually included.
UNASSIGNED: Mandibular molars are particularly prone to developing cracks, with research indicating a heightened susceptibility to this dental issue. Studies reveal that endodontically treated cracked teeth boast robust overall survival rates ranging from 75.8% to 100%. The risk of bias assessment, utilizing the Newcastle Ottawa scale, indicated a moderate risk across studies, highlighting the necessity for careful interpretation of findings.
UNASSIGNED: Endodontically treated cracked teeth show marked success in survival, with the incorporation of crowns post-endodontic treatment significantly enhancing longevity and resilience.

BACKGROUND: Potassium replacement protocols are used to standardise practice, reduce risk, and ensure timely potassium replacement, but there is considerable variability in their development and use, particularly as part of critical care nursing practice.
OBJECTIVE: To synthesise the research evidence on how potassium replacement protocols are used in adult critical care; and how critical care nurses\' role and practice is influenced by a potassium replacement protocol. The research question was \'How are protocols used by intensive care clinicians to guide potassium replacement in adult critical care?\'
METHODS: A structured integrative review was undertaken. A combination of keywords, synonyms, and Medical Subject Headings were used across the Ovid Medline and Embase databases. Records were independently assessed against inclusion and exclusion criteria. All papers were assessed for quality. A narrative synthesis was used to analyse and present the findings.
RESULTS: Ten studies were included in this review from 4076 records identified. Narrative synthesis revealed five categories: (i) protocol design demonstrating variation in protocol mechanisms, (ii) protocol rationale eliciting reasonings for protocol implementation, (iii) protocol use describing how protocols were nurse-driven enabling nursing autonomy (iv) protocol adherence highlighting variability in protocol compliance and (v) critical care nurse acceptability and feasibility coupling greater shared responsibility for patient care and improved clinician satisfaction.
CONCLUSIONS: Safe, high-quality care, supported by evidence continues to be a priority. Protocolised potassium replacement can improve patient outcomes and promote nurses\' autonomy, efficiency, and job satisfaction.
CONCLUSIONS: Recognising and promoting critical care nurses\' expert assessment skills and clinical decision-making is essential for optimising efficient, safe, and high-quality patient care. Although protocol deviations are accommodated in protocol development, comprehensive documentation to justify protocol deviations is key to justifying practice. Understanding protocol deviations are crucial to inform future protocol development, improvements, and evaluation to further enhance critical care nursing practice.

SARS-CoV-2, responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, is a highly infectious virus that quickly became and continues to be a public health emergency, given the severe international implications. Immunocompromised patients, such as those undergoing kidney transplantation, are at an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 and require hospitalization for more aggressive treatment to ensure survival. COVID-19 has been infecting kidney transplant recipients (KTRs), affecting their treatment protocols, and threatening their survival. The objective of this scoping review was to summarize the published literature regarding the impact of COVID-19 on KTRs in the United States in terms of prevention, various treatment protocols, COVID-19 vaccination, and risk factors. The databases such as PubMed, MEDLINE/Ebsco, and Embase were used to search for peer-reviewed literature. The search was restricted to articles that were published on KTRs in the United States from January 1, 2019, to March 2022. The initial search yielded 1,023 articles after removing duplicates, leading to a final selection of 16 articles after screening with inclusion and exclusion criteria. Four domains emerged from the review: (1) impacts of COVID-19 on performing kidney transplants, (2) impacts of COVID-19 vaccinations on KTRs, (3) outcomes of treatment regiments for KTRs with COVID-19, and (4) risk factors associated with an increased mortality rate of COVID-19 in KTRs. Waitlisted patients for kidney transplants had a higher risk of mortality compared to nontransplant patients. COVID-19 vaccinations in KTRs are found to be safe, and the immune response can be improved by placing patients on a low dose of mycophenolate before vaccination. Withdrawal of immunosuppressants showed a mortality rate of 20% without increasing the rate of acute kidney injury (AKI). There is evidence to support that kidney transplantation with the accompanying immunosuppressant regimen can provide KTRs with better COVID-19 infection outcomes compared to waitlisted patients. Hospitalization, graft dysfunction, AKI, and respiratory failure were the most common risk factors that increased the risk of mortality in COVID-19-positive KTRs. Withdrawing KTRs from immunosuppressive drugs increased the mortality rate. Further studies are needed to investigate the effects of specific drugs and dosages on the severity and mortality rate of COVID-19 in KTRs.

Mucous Membrane Pemphigoid (MMP) is a potentially fatal mucocutaneous autoimmune blistering disease. Autoantibodies are produced against various components of the dermo-epidermal or mucosal-submucosal junction are referred to as basement membrane zone (BMZ). The hallmark is deposition of of Ig and C3 on the perilesional tissues and in some patients detection of anti-BMZ autoantibodies. A unique characteristic of MMP is that as the blisters or erosions heal, they leave irreversible scarring. This scarring results in serious and catastrophic sequelae that affect the quality of life. Conventional therapy consists of anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive agents (ISA). In patients who fail conventional therapy or develop significant side effects to them, rituximab (RTX) has been used off label. In this review, the clinical outcomes of patients with MMP treated with RTX were studied. 124 patients were identified, 47.58% being male. 72 patients were treated by the Lymphoma Protocol and 51 by Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) protocol. Follow up for the entire cohort was 36 months (range 0.5-72). On follow-up 64 patients (51.61%) achieved complete clinical remission (CR) off therapy, 25 patients (20.16%) were in CR on therapy, 5 patients (4.03%) were non-responders, and 9 patients (7.25%) were failures. 52 patients (41.93%) experienced a relapse, after 36 months follow-up. Duration between last RTX infusion and relapse was 10.5 months (range 1-30). Most patients with relapses were treated with additional RTX. A statistically significant better outcome was observed in patients treated with RTX as monotherapy compared to those who received RTX with ISA. Clinical outcomes in patients treated with Lymphoma protocol were better than RA protocol at a statistically significant level. Data on CD20+ B cell depletion and repopulation was limited. Interestingly relapses were seen in patients with CD20+ B cell depletion and after repopulation. In the final analysis, 89 patients (71.77%) were in complete remission. Data in this review indicated that RTX was a useful agent to treat MMP. While a randomized control trial may not be practically possible, better and disease specific protocols need to be developed. When publishing, authors should attempt to provide complete and detailed information. In doing so, they will benefit their colleagues and the patients with MMP they treat with RTX.

Representing 2%-3% of adult cancers, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) accounts for 90% of renal malignancies and is the most lethal neoplasm of the urologic system. Over the last 65 years, the incidence of RCC has increased at a rate of 2% per year. The increased incidence is at least partly due to improved tumor detection secondary to greater availability of high-resolution cross-sectional imaging modalities over the last few decades. Most RCCs are asymptomatic at discovery and are detected as unexpected findings on imaging performed for unrelated clinical indications. The 2004 World Health Organization Classification of adult renal tumors stratifies RCC into several distinct histologic subtypes of which clear cell, papillary and chromophobe tumors account for 70%, 10%-15%, and 5%, respectively. Knowledge of the RCC subtype is important because the various subtypes are associated with different biologic behavior, prognosis and treatment options. Furthermore, the common RCC subtypes can often be discriminated non-invasively based on gross morphologic imaging appearances, signal intensity on T2-weighted magnetic resonance images, and the degree of tumor enhancement on dynamic contrast-enhanced computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging examinations. In this article, we review the incidence and survival data, risk factors, clinical and biochemical findings, imaging findings, staging, differential diagnosis, management options and post-treatment follow-up of RCC, with attention focused on the common subtypes.

Based on a literature review, the purpose is to identify the main therapeutic approaches for the compulsive buying disorder, a present time disorder characterized by excessive and uncontrollable concerns or behaviors related to buying or expenses, which may lead to adverse consequences. The systematic review was carried out by searching the electronic scientific bases Medline/Pubmed, ISI, PsycInfo. The search was comprised of full-text articles, written in Portuguese and English, with no time limit or restrictions on the type of study and sample. A total of 1659 references were found and, by the end, 23 articles were selected for this review. From the articles found, it was determined that, although there are case studies and clinical trials underlining the effectiveness of the treatment for compulsive buying, only those studies with a focus on the cognitive-behavioral therapy approach make evident the successful response to the treatment. The publication of new studies on the etiology and epidemiology of the disorder is necessary, in order to establish new forms of treatment and to verify the effectiveness and response of the Brazilian population to the existing protocols.