Hepatic and Systemic Inflammation for Left Ventricular Mass in Physically Fit Adults: CHIEF Heart Study.

BACKGROUND: Both low-grade systemic and hepatic inflammation could result in increased left ventricular mass (LVM) in the general population. However, the associations, which might be modified by exercise, have not been clarified in physically active young adults. METHODS: The study included 2,004 military males aged 18-43 years in eastern Taiwan. Systemic and hepatic inflammation was defined by the upper tertiles of blood white blood cell (WBC) counts (7.51-11.00 x 103/µL) and serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT: 30-120 U/L), respectively. LVM indexed for the body height ≥49 g/m2.7 was defined as left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) based on echocardiography. Multiple logistic regression analysis adjusting for age, smoking, alcohol intake, physical fitness, and metabolic syndrome was utilized to determine the associations. RESULTS: As compared to the lower WBC/lower ALT group, there tended to have an increased risk of LVH with the higher WBC/lower ALT group, the lower WBC/higher ALT group, and the higher WBC/higher ALT group [odds ratios: 0.89 (95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.41-1.94), 1.90 (95% CI: 0.86-4.22) and 2.48 (95% CI: 1.04-5.92); p-value for trend = 0.01]. CONCLUSION: Our study suggested that in physically active males, those with hepatic inflammation rather than low-grade systemic inflammation had a higher risk of LVH. Hepatic injury might be relevant to LVH as an early sign of end-organ damage regardless of physical fitness in young adults.

Unusual cause of light chain cast nephropathy.

Acute kidney injury due to light chain cast nephropathy is increasingly recognised in patients with haematological malignancies; however, the management and prognosis of this disease remain poorly understood. We describe a case of a 78-year-old woman with known chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) who presented with fatigue and weight loss. She was found to have acute kidney injury, which rapidly worsened during admission. Kidney biopsy showed light chain cast nephropathy and bone marrow biopsy confirmed B-cell CLL. She was started on ibrutinib, halting further deterioration in her renal function and avoiding renal replacement therapy in the first 8 months.

Impact of endoscopic sedation on gastric polyp detection: A one-center retrospective observational study.

Sedation esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) has become more prevalent in many countries. However, owing to the limitation of health insurance payment for sedation EGD in Taiwan, non-sedation EGD still accounts for the majority of cases. This study was aimed to explore the differences between the sedation and non-sedation groups in terms of endoscopic findings, such as detection rate of gastric polyp of any size, number of detected gastric polyps, and location of the gastric polyps detected.We enrolled 10,940 patients who underwent EGD between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016 at the Tri-Service General Hospital; among the patients, 1900 received intravenous sedation (IVS) and 9040 did not. The data reviewed included demographics, parameters of the polyp (number, size, and location), and pathology.Compared with the non-sedation group, the sedation group had a higher overall polyp detection rate (P < .001); a greater number of detected polyps (Odds ratio 1.50, P = .007); and a higher detection rate of smaller polyps, such as fundic gland polyp, and hyperplastic polyp (P < .001). Among the pathological findings, gastric neuroendocrine tumor (NET) was detected using EGD in 2 cases and manifested as small polyps (<0.05 cm), and it showed significantly better detection rates in the sedation EGD group than in the non-sedation EGD group (P = .002).Sedation EGD could enhance a patients willingness and cooperation during EGD. Furthermore, sedation EGD increased the detection rates of small gastric polyps and was more likely to enable identification of unusual findings, such as gastric NET.

Sex-Specific Association Between Serum Uric Acid and Elevated Alanine Aminotransferase in a Military Cohort: The CHIEF Study.

AIM: The study was conducted in order to examine the sex-specific association of serum uric acid (SUA) levels with elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in a Taiwanese military cohort. METHODS: We made a cross-sectional examination of the sex-specific relationship using 6728 men and 766 women, aged 18-50 years from a large military cohort in Taiwan. SUA levels within the reference range (<7.0 mg/dL for men and <5.7 mg/dL for women respectively) were divided into quartiles and SUA levels greater than the upper reference limits were defined as hyperuricemia. Elevated ALT levels were defined as ≥40 U/L. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association between each SUA category and elevated ALT levels in men and women, respectively. RESULTS: The prevalence of hyperuricemia and elevated ALT in men were 18.7% and 12.7%, respectively, and in women were 3.3% and 2.1%, respectively. As compared with the lowest SUA quartile, hyperuricemia was associated with elevated ALT in men (odds ratios (OR): 1.62, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.19-2.20) after controlling for age, service specialty, body mass index, metabolic syndrome components, current cigarette smoking, alcohol intake status, and weekly exercise times, but the associations for the other SUA quartiles were null. By contrast, the associations of hyperuricemia (OR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.10-6.64) and the other SUA quartiles with elevated ALT were null in women. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the relationship between each SUA level and elevated ALT may differ by sex among military young adults. The mechanism for the sex difference requires further investigations.

Diagnosis and referral delays in primary care for oral squamous cell cancer: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of oral cancer is increasing. Guidance for oral cancer from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is unique in recommending cross-primary care referral from GPs to dentists. AIM: This review investigates knowledge about delays in the diagnosis of symptomatic oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in primary care. DESIGN AND SETTING: An independent multi-investigator literature search strategy and an analysis of study methodologies using a modified data extraction tool based on Aarhus checklist criteria relevant to primary care. METHOD: The authors conducted a focused systematic review involving document retrieval from five databases up to March 2018. Included were studies looking at OSCC diagnosis from when patients first accessed primary care up to referral, including length of delay and stage of disease at time of definitive diagnosis. RESULTS: From 538 records, 16 articles were eligible for full-text review. In the UK, more than 55% of patients with OSCC were referred by their GP, and 44% by their dentist. Rates of prescribing between dentists and GPs were similar, and both had similar delays in referral, though one study found greater delays attributed to dentists as they had undertaken dental procedures. On average, patients had two to three consultations before referral. Less than 50% of studies described the primary care aspect of referral in detail. There was no information on inter-GP-dentist referrals. CONCLUSION: There is a need for primary care studies on OSCC diagnosis. There was no evidence that GPs performed less well than dentists, which calls into question the NICE cancer option to refer to dentists, particularly in the absence of robust auditable pathways.

Chronic hepatitis B, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and physical fitness of military males: CHIEF study.

AIM: To investigate the association of chronic hepatitis B and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis with physical fitness in a Taiwanese military male cohort. METHODS: We made a cross-sectional examination of this association using 3669 young adult military males according to cardiorespiratory fitness and hospitalization events recorded in the Taiwan Armed Forces study. Cases of chronic hepatitis B (n = 121) were defined by personal history and positive detection of hepatitis B surface antigen. Cases of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (n = 129) were defined by alanine transaminase level > 60 U/L, liver ultrasound finding of steatosis, and absence of viral hepatitis A, B or C infection. All other study participants were defined as unaffected (n = 3419). Physical fitness was evaluated by performance in 3000-m run, 2-min sit-ups, and 2-min push-ups exercises, with all the procedures standardized by a computerized scoring system. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the relationship. RESULTS: Chronic hepatitis B negatively correlated with 2-min push-up numbers (ß = -2.49, P = 0.019) after adjusting for age, service specialty, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, current cigarette smoking, alcohol intake status, serum hemoglobin, and average weekly exercise times. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis was borderline positively correlated with 3000-m running time (ß = 11.96, P = 0.084) and negatively correlated with 2-min sit-up numbers (ß = -1.47, P = 0.040). CONCLUSION: Chronic hepatitis B viral infection and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis affects different physical performances in young adult military males, and future study should determine the underlying mechanism.

The role of thiazolidinediones in hepatocellular carcinoma risk reduction: a population-based cohort study in Taiwan.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of thiazolidinediones (TZDs) on the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development among diabetes mellitus (DM) patients. METHODS: We conducted a population-based case-control study in Taiwan based on data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. A total of 76,349 newly diagnosed DM patients were identified from claims between 2000 and 2010. Among diabetics, 3,026 and 12,104 patients respectively, received or did not receive TZDs. Comparison frequency was matched with age, sex, and index date, excluding those with cancer at baseline. The incidence of HCC at the end of 2010 and the risks associated with the presence of hepatitis B and C infections were analyzed. The effect of TZDs use on the reduction of HCC risk was also assessed. RESULTS: The incidence of HCC was lower in the TZD cohort compared with the non-TZD cohort (418.3 vs. 484.6 per 100,000 person-years), with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 0.53 (95% confidence interval = 0.38-0.77) using multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression. In the stratified analysis, HCC risk reduction was greater for diabetics without the comorbidities of cirrhosis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, end-stage renal disease, and hyperlipidemia, in the TZD cohort than in the non-TZD cohort. Male sex, cirrhosis, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C were significant independent factors predicting HCC (HRs of 1.43, 13.96, 2.31, and 2.15, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the use of TZDs may reduce the risk of developing HCC among DM patients. Comorbidity with cirrhosis and/or hepatitis B/C infection appears to be associated with an extremely increased risk of developing HCC in this patient subset. These high-risk patients should be closely monitored.

Rationale and design of the cardiorespiratory fitness and hospitalization events in armed forces study in Eastern Taiwan.

AIM: To investigate the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and hospitalization events in a cohort of large voluntary arm forces in Taiwan. METHODS: The cardiorespiratory fitness and hospitalization events in armed forces (CHIEF) is a retrospective cohort consisting of more than 4000 professional military members aged 18-50 years in Eastern Taiwan. All participants received history taking, physical examination, chest radiography, 12-lead electrocardiography, blood tests for cell counts and fasting glucose, lipid profiles, uric acid, renal function and liver function in the Hualien Armed Forces General Hospital during 2014. In addition, participants were required to undergo two indoor resistant exercise tests including 2-min push-up and 2-min sit-up, both scored by infrared sensing, and one outdoor endurance 3000-m none weight-bearing running test, the main indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness in the Military Physical Training and Testing Center in Eastern Taiwan in 2014. RESULTS: Hospitalization events for cardiovascular disease, acute kidney injury, rhabdomyolysis, severe infectious disease, acute psychiatric illness, diabetes, orthopedic surgery and mortality will be identified in the National Insurance Research Database for 10 years. CONCLUSION: CHIEF will be among the largest Eastern Asian armed forces cohort, in which physical status was strictly evaluated to follow up the hospitalization events for severe illness.

Current systemic treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: A review of the literature.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common form of human cancer worldwide and the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths. The strategies of various treatments for HCC depend on the stage of tumor, the status of patient's performance and the reserved hepatic function. The Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system is currently used most for patients with HCC. For example, for patients with BCLC stage 0 (very early stage) and stage A (early stage) HCC, the curable treatment modalities, including resection, transplantation and radiofrequency ablation, are taken into consideration. If the patients are in BCLC stage B (intermediate stage) and stage C (advanced stage) HCC, they may need the palliative transarterial chemoembolization and even the target medication of sorafenib. In addition, symptomatic treatment is always recommended for patients with BCLC stage D (end stage) HCC. In this review, we will attempt to summarize the historical perspective and the current developments of systemic therapies in BCLC stage B and C in HCC.