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Tracking down the White Plague. Chapter three: Revision of endocranial abnormally pronounced digital impressions as paleopathological diagnostic criteria for tuberculous meningitis.

ABSTRACT: Abnormally pronounced digital impressions (APDIs) on the endocranial surface develop secondary to a prolonged rise in the intracranial pressure. This can result from a number of pathological conditions, including hydrocephalus due to tuberculous meningitis (TBM). APDIs have been described with relation to TBM not only in the modern medical literature but also in several paleopathological studies. However, APDIs are not pathognomonic for TBM and their diagnostic value for identifying TBM in past human populations has not been evaluated in identified pre-antibiotic era skeletons. To assess the diagnostic value of APDIs for the first time, a macroscopic investigation was performed on skeletons from the Terry Collection (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA). Our material consisted of 234 skeletons with tuberculosis (TB) as the cause of death (TB group) and 193 skeletons with non-tuberculous (NTB) causes of death (NTB group). The macroscopic examination focused on the stage of the prominence and frequency of APDIs in the TB group and NTB group. To determine the significance of difference (if any) in the frequency of APDIs between the two groups, χ2 testing of our data was conducted. We found that APDIs were twice as common in the TB group than in the NTB group. The χ2 comparison of the frequencies of APDIs revealed a statistically significant difference between the two groups. In addition, APDIs with more pronounced stages were recorded more frequently in the TB group. Our results indicate that APDIs can be considered as diagnostic criteria for TBM in the paleopathological practice. With suitable circumspection, their utilization provides paleopathologists with a stronger basis for identifying TB and consequently, with a more sensitive means of assessing TB frequency in past human populations.

SUBMITTER: Spekker O

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7978373 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundTuberculous meningitis is a serious form of tuberculosis (TB) that affects the meninges that cover a person's brain and spinal cord. It is associated with high death rates and with disability in people who survive. Corticosteroids have been used as an adjunct to antituberculous drugs to treat people with tuberculous meningitis, but their role has been controversial.ObjectivesTo evaluate the effects of corticosteroids as an adjunct to antituberculous treatment on death and severe disability in people with tuberculous meningitis.Search methodsWe searched the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group Specialized Register up to the 18 March 2016; CENTRAL; MEDLINE; EMBASE; LILACS; and Current Controlled Trials. We also contacted researchers and organizations working in the field, and checked reference lists.Selection criteriaRandomized controlled trials that compared corticosteroid plus antituberculous treatment with antituberculous treatment alone in people with clinically diagnosed tuberculous meningitis and included death or disability as outcome measures.Data collection and analysisWe independently assessed search results and methodological quality, and extracted data from the included trials. We analysed the data using risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and used a fixed-effect model. We performed an intention-to-treat analysis, where we included all participants randomized to treatment in the denominator. This analysis assumes that all participants who were lost to follow-up have good outcomes. We carried out a sensitivity analysis to explore the impact of the missing data.Main resultsNine trials that included 1337 participants (with 469 deaths) met the inclusion criteria.At follow-up from three to 18 months, steroids reduce deaths by almost one quarter (RR 0.75, 95% CI 0.65 to 0.87; nine trials, 1337 participants, high quality evidence). Disabling neurological deficit is not common in survivors, and steroids may have little or no effect on this outcome (RR 0.92, 95% CI 0.71 to 1.20; eight trials, 1314 participants, low quality evidence). There was no difference between groups in the incidence of adverse events, which included gastrointestinal bleeding, invasive bacterial infections, hyperglycaemia, and liver dysfunction.One trial followed up participants for five years. The effect on death was no longer apparent at this time-point (RR 0.93, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.12; one trial, 545 participants, moderate quality evidence); and there was no difference in disabling neurological deficit detected (RR 0.91, 95% CI 0.49 to 1.69; one trial, 545 participants, low quality evidence).One trial included human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive people. The stratified analysis by HIV status in this trial showed no heterogeneity, with point estimates for death (RR 0.90, 95% CI 0.67 to 1.20; one trial, 98 participants) and disability (RR 1.23, 95% CI 0.08 to 19.07; one trial, 98 participants) similar to HIV-negative participants in the same trial.Authors' conclusionsCorticosteroids reduce mortality from tuberculous meningitis, at least in the short term.Corticosteroids may have no effect on the number of people who survive tuberculous meningitis with disabling neurological deficit, but this outcome is less common than death, and the CI for the relative effect includes possible harm. However, this small possible harm is unlikely to be quantitatively important when compared to the reduction in mortality.The number of HIV-positive people included in the review is small, so we are not sure if the benefits in terms of reduced mortality are preserved in this group of patients.

Project description:BackgroundThe differential diagnosis between tuberculous meningitis (TBM) and bacterial meningitis (BM) remains challenging in clinical practice. This study aimed to establish a diagnostic model that could accurately distinguish TBM from BM.MethodsPatients with TBM or BM were recruited between January 2017 and January 2021 at Tongji Hospital (Qiaokou cohort) and Sino-French New City Hospital (Caidian cohort). The detection for indicators involved in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and T-SPOT assay were performed simultaneously. Multivariate logistic regression was used to create a diagnostic model.ResultsA total of 174 patients (76 TBM and 98 BM) and another 105 cases (39 TBM and 66 BM) were enrolled from Qiaokou cohort and Caidian cohort, respectively. Significantly higher level of CSF lymphocyte proportion while significantly lower levels of CSF chlorine, nucleated cell count, and neutrophil proportion were observed in TBM group when comparing with those in BM group. However, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the areas under the ROC curve (AUCs) produced by these indicators were all under 0.8. Meanwhile, tuberculosis-specific antigen/phytohemagglutinin (TBAg/PHA) ratio yielded an AUC of 0.889 (95% CI, 0.840-0.938) in distinguishing TBM from BM, with a sensitivity of 68.42% (95% CI, 57.30%-77.77%) and a specificity of 92.86% (95% CI, 85.98%-96.50%) when a cutoff value of 0.163 was used. Consequently, we successfully established a diagnostic model based on the combination of TBAg/PHA ratio, CSF chlorine, CSF nucleated cell count, and CSF lymphocyte proportion for discrimination between TBM and BM. The established model showed good performance in differentiating TBM from BM (AUC: 0.949; 95% CI, 0.921-0.978), with 81.58% (95% CI, 71.42%-88.70%) sensitivity and 91.84% (95% CI, 84.71%-95.81%) specificity. The performance of the diagnostic model obtained in Qiaokou cohort was further validated in Caidian cohort. The diagnostic model in Caidian cohort produced an AUC of 0.923 (95% CI, 0.867-0.980) with 79.49% (95% CI, 64.47%-89.22%) sensitivity and 90.91% (95% CI, 81.55%-95.77%) specificity.ConclusionsThe diagnostic model established based on the combination of four indicators had excellent utility in the discrimination between TBM and BM.

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Tracking down the White Plague. Chapter three: Revision of endocranial abnormally pronounced digital impressions as paleopathological diagnostic criteria for tuberculous meningitis.

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