Snap diagnosis of fulminant type 1 diabetes by the normalized glucose/HbA1c ratio.

Elevated Fulminant Index (FI), [plasma glucose (PG)/glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c)], was reportedly a sensitive index to differentiate fulminant type 1 diabetes (FT1D) from non-fulminant T1D (nFT1D). Aim of this study was to describe a better, but simpler index of FT1D. 49 and 52 patients with FT1D and nFT1D, respectively, were registered, and the discriminating ability of the rounded, normalized ratio, [PG (mmol/L) - 5.0]/[HbA1c (%) - 5.0], and the original ratio, [PG (mmol/L)]/[HbA1c (%)], was compared. Normalizing the ratio significantly raised its accuracy: area under the curve for receiver operating curve, AUROC (95%CI), 0.927 (0.858-0.964) and 0.851 (0.763-0.910), respectively, with and without the normalization (p < 0.01). Rounding of the figure into [PG (mmol/L) - 5.0]/[HbA1c (%) - 5.0] did not significantly sacrifice the discriminating ability of the index. Namely, the optimal cut point of rounded and normalized GAR, 10.0, showed 89.8% sensitivity. In conclusion, rounded, normalized (rn) GAR ≥10 (the rounded optimal cut-off) could be used for the snap diagnosis of FT1D.

Predictive analysis of multiple future scientific impacts by embedding a heterogeneous network.

Identifying promising research as early as possible is vital to determine which research deserves investment. Additionally, developing a technology for automatically predicting future research trends is necessary because of increasing digital publications and research fragmentation. In previous studies, many researchers have performed the prediction of scientific indices using specially designed features for each index. However, this does not capture real research trends. It is necessary to develop a more integrated method to capture actual research trends from various directions. Recent deep learning technology integrates different individual models and makes it easier to construct more general-purpose models. The purpose of this paper is to show the possibility of integrating multiple prediction models for scientific indices by network-based representation learning. This paper will conduct predictive analysis of multiple future scientific impacts by embedding a heterogeneous network and showing that a network embedding method is a promising tool for capturing and expressing scientific trends. Experimental results show that the multiple heterogeneous network embedding improved 1.6 points than a single citation network embedding. Experimental results show better results than baseline for the number of indices, including the author h-index, the journal impact factor (JIF), and the Nature Index after three years from publication. These results suggest that distributed representations of a heterogeneous network for scientific papers are the basis for the automatic prediction of scientific trends.

Tobacco Price Increase and Smoking Cessation in Japan, a Developed Country With Affordable Tobacco: A National Population-Based Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: Longitudinal assessment of the impact of tobacco price on smoking cessation is scarce. Our objective was to investigate the effect of a price increase in October 2010 on cessation rates according to gender, age, socioeconomic status, and level of tobacco dependence in Japan. METHODS: We used longitudinal data linkage of two nationally representative studies and followed 2702 smokers for assessment of their cessation status. The odds ratios (ORs) for cessation were calculated using logistic regression. To estimate the impact of the 2010 tobacco price increase on cessation, data from 2007 were used as a reference category. RESULTS: Overall cessation rates significantly increased from 2007 to 2010, from 3.7% to 10.7% for men and from 9.9% to 16.3% for women. Cessation rates were 9.3% for men who smoked 1-10 cigarettes per day, 2.7% for men who smoked 11-20 cigarettes per day, and 2.0% for men who smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day in 2007. These rates increased to 15.5%, 10.0%, and 8.0%, respectively, in 2010. The impact was stronger among subjects who smoked more than 11 cigarettes per day than those who smoked 1-10 cigarettes per day in both sexes: ORs for 2010 were 4.04 for those smoking 11-20 cigarettes per day, 4.26 for those smoking more than 20 cigarettes per day, and 1.80 for those smoking 1-10 cigarettes per day in the main model in men. There were no obvious differences in the relationship between tobacco price increase and smoking cessation across age and household expenditure groups. CONCLUSIONS: The tobacco price increase in Japan had a significant impact on smoking cessation in both sexes, especially among heavy smokers, with no clear difference in effect by socio-demographic status.

Administration of recombinant human growth hormone normalizes GH-IGF1 axis and improves malnutrition-related disorders in patients with anorexia nervosa.

High serum level of GH in the presence of low plasma level of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is one of the endocrinological features of anorexia nervosa (AN). Whether the amount of endogenous GH is not enough to increase IGF-I is not certain. We studied the effect of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) on the GH-IGF-I axis and on malnutrition-related disorders in this syndrome. Twenty patients with AN were divided into two groups; one (N = 13) was given rhGH (0.33 mg/day), and the other (N = 7) was given placebo for 6 or 12 months, respectively. During each treatment, levels of serum GH, plasma IGF-I, serum thyroid hormones, serum cholesterol, fasting plasma glucose and cardiac function were monitored. Changes in body mass index (BMI) and calorie taken were also evaluated. Plasma IGF-I level increased from 74.4 +/- 41.9 to 269.0 +/- 31.2 microg/L (P<0.001) during administration of rhGH, which associated with a decrease in serum GH level from 17.0 +/- 15.0 to 1.6 +/- 0.8 microg/L (P<0.001). Administration of rhGH increased BMI, body temperature, fasting plasma glucose level, and food intake. Serum level of triiodothyronine, but not thyroxine, increased during treatment with rhGH. The treatment decreased serum levels of both total and HDL-cholesterol. Studies with echocardiography showed an increase in cardiac output during the treatment with rhGH. These improvements were not observed in patients treated with placebo. Administration of rhGH is recommended as one of the methods of managing the patients with AN.

Long-term follow-up of patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1.

Whether early surgical treatment of non-functioning pancreas islet cell tumor (NFPT) provides a favorable quality of life and life expectancy in patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) remains controversial. We analyzed the long-term clinical courses and surgical outcomes of 14 Japanese patients with MEN1-associated NFPTs. NFPTs smaller than 20 mm in diameter did not show any apparent growth over a long monitoring period. Furthermore, these small NFPTs did not metastasize to regional lymph nodes or the liver. On the other hand, the development of additional NFPTs or metastasis was found in five of six patients with large (35 mm or larger) NFPTs. Among the seven patients who underwent a partial pancreatectomy, six patients developed impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes. The accumulation of more prospective data is needed to clarify the optimal surgical indications for patients with NFPTs, especially among the Japanese population, which has a relatively low insulin secretion potency compared with non-Hispanic white and African-American populations.