Comparative effectiveness of gastric bypass versus gastric banding on acute care use for cardiovascular disease in adults with obesity.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Gastric bypass is known to have larger effects on weight and metabolism than gastric banding. However, scarce data exist as to whether the differences are translated into differential risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related morbidities. The objective was to examine whether adults with obesity and CVD who underwent gastric bypass have a lower rate of acute care use (emergency department [ED] visit or unplanned hospitalization) for CVD than those with gastric banding. METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed a comparative effectiveness study of gastric bypass versus banding among adults with obesity and CVD who underwent either surgery, using population-based [ED] and inpatient samples in California, Florida, and Nebraska from 2005 through 2011. The primary outcome was acute care use for CVD during a two-year postoperative period. We constructed negative binomial regression models to compare the event rate during sequential 6-month periods, using gastric banding group as the reference. We identified 11,229 adults with obesity and CVD who underwent gastric bypass and 3896 adults who had gastric banding. Patients with gastric bypass had significantly lower rate of the outcome compared to those with banding in the 7-12 months postoperative period (adjusted rate ratio [aRR] 0.77; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.61-0.98; P = 0.03). The significant reduction in the rate persisted during 13-18 months (aRR 0.71; 95% CI, 0.57-0.90; P = 0.005) and 19-24 months (aRR 0.66; 95% CI, 0.52-0.82; P < 0.001) after bariatric surgery. CONCLUSION: In this population-based comparative effectiveness study of adults with obesity and CVD, the rate of acute care use for CVD was lower after gastric bypass compared to gastric banding.

Shelter crowding and increased incidence of acute respiratory infection in evacuees following the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

Although outbreaks of acute respiratory infection (ARI) at shelters are hypothesized to be associated with shelter crowding, no studies have examined this relationship. We conducted a retrospective study by reviewing medical records of evacuees presenting to one of the 37 clinics at the shelters in Ishinomaki city, Japan, during the 3-week period after the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami in 2011. On the basis of a locally weighted scatter-plot smoothing technique, we categorized 37 shelters into crowded (mean space <5·5 m2/per person) and non-crowded (⩾5·5 m2) shelters. Outcomes of interest were the cumulative and daily incidence rate of ARI/10 000 evacuees at each shelter. We found that the crowded shelters had a higher median cumulative incidence rate of ARI [5·4/10 000 person-days, interquartile range (IQR) 0-24·6, P = 0·04] compared to the non-crowded shelters (3·5/10 000 person-days, IQR 0-8·7) using Mann-Whitney U test. Similarly, the crowded shelters had an increased daily incidence rate of ARI of 19·1/10 000 person-days (95% confidence interval 5·9-32·4, P < 0·01) compared to the non-crowded shelters using quasi-least squares method. In sum, shelter crowding was associated with an increased incidence rate of ARI after the natural disaster.

Low-fasting triglyceride levels are associated with non-invasive markers of advanced liver fibrosis among adults in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Elevated fasting triglyceride is often associated with metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the most common form of chronic liver disease. On the other hand, as liver disease progresses, patients may develop hepatocellular dysfunction that impairs triglyceride production. AIM: To test the hypothesis that lower fasting triglyceride levels may paradoxically indicate more advanced liver disease. METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis of 11 947 adults aged 20 years or older without chronic viral hepatitis from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2010 was performed to analyze the relationships between fasting triglyceride levels and five validated non-invasive indices of liver fibrosis, including Fibrosis 4 Score (FIB4), NAFLD Fibrosis Score (NFS), Ast-Platelet Ration Index, AST/ALT ratio and BARD. RESULTS: Low-fasting triglyceride levels were consistently associated with elevated liver fibrosis indices. Individuals in the lowest quintile of triglycerides (TG) had an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 3.0 (95% CI, 1.7-5.2; P < 0.001) for advanced fibrosis estimated by FIB4 score and OR of 1.8 (95% Cl, 1.2-2.7; P = 0.009) estimated by NFS, compared to individuals in the highest quintile. This association remained highly significant when restricted to individuals with abnormal LFTs from suspected NAFLD. This inverse relationship was continuous, and more pronounced among men and whites (P interaction <0.001 and 0.008 respectively), but not modified by age or body mass index. In addition, fasting TG had a stronger, more direct association with liver fibrosis indices than did albumin or total bilirubin. CONCLUSIONS: Fasting triglyceride levels were inversely associated with liver fibrosis indicators in American adults, especially among white men. Our findings suggest that sequential lipid measurements may serve as a useful disease marker in the management of chronic liver disease patients.

Changes in plasma levels of thrombomodulin during haemodialysis.

We studied the changes in plasma levels of thrombomodulin (TM) known to be present on vascular endothelial cells and released into circulating blood following damage to endothelial cells, during haemodialysis in 49 patients with end-stage chronic glomerulonephritis maintained on haemodialysis. After a single haemodialysis, plasma levels of TM were significantly elevated from 38.4 +/- 13.8 ng/ml to 46.8 +/- 14.6 ng/ml (p less than 0.05). Plasma levels of TM before haemodialysis were significantly higher in the cases of long-term haemodialysis than in those of short-term haemodialysis (p less than 0.01). From these observations, increased plasma levels of TM may be due to decreased clearance of TM by renal insufficiency, or damage to endothelial cells induced by the recurrent haemodialysis. In those patients with a greater residual blood volume in a dialyser, the changes in plasma levels of thrombin-antithrombin III complex and TM during a single haemodialysis were significantly higher. From these findings, it was suggested that endothelial cell damage is more severe in patients with greater residual blood volume.

Relationship between elevation in the plasma concentration of elastase-alpha 1 proteinase inhibitor complex (E-alpha 1 PI) and haemostatic parameters during haemodialysis.

To investigate the relationship between changes in plasma concentrations of polymorphonuclear elastase (PMN-E) and haemostatic effects during haemodialysis (HD), changes in the plasma concentrations of elastase-alpha 1 proteinase inhibitor complex (E-alpha 1 PI) and fibrinogen (Fbg), cross-linked fibrin degradation products (XDP), thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT), plasmin-alpha 2 plasmin inhibitor complex (PIC) and soluble thrombomodulin (TM) in 49 patients with end-stage chronic glomerulonephritis maintained on chronic HD were measured. Plasma concentrations of TAT, PIC, TM and E-alpha 1 PI significantly increased during a single HD. There was a statistically significant correlation between change in plasma E-alpha 1 PI concentration and changes in plasma concentrations of TAT, PIC and TM during a single HD, as well as between changes in plasma concentrations of TM and TAT during a single HD. These observations suggested that activation of coagulation and fibrinolysis, endothelial cell damage, and activation of polymorphonuclear cells occur during HD. Activation of polymorphonuclear cells may induce activation of coagulation and fibrinolysis, leading to endothelial cell damage, augmented by release of proteases such as elastase.

Hereditary angioedema complicated with chronic renal failure: report of sibling cases.

Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is known as a deficiency state of C1 inhibitor (C1 INH), an important protease inhibitor protein involved in the complement system. As with other components of the classical pathway of the complement system, a state of its deficiency often causes clinical immunoregulatory disorders. A 45-yr-old brother and a 63-yr-old sister with HAE both developed chronic renal failure, probably due to chronic glomerulonephritis, and required regular hemodialysis. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of sibling cases of HAE associated with chronic renal failure.

Giant gastric varices after a left gastric venous caval shunt operation for esophageal varices: a case report.

A Japanese woman, who had undergone a left gastric venous caval shunt operation for esophageal varices 17 years earlier, was admitted to our hospital because of bleeding from giant gastric varices. An angiographic examination revealed a stealing of the portal blood flow to the inferior vena cava through both a dilated right gastroepiploic vein and a right gastric vein via the left gastric venous caval shunt. The gastric varices disappeared after obliterating both the feeding and drainage vessels by means of intervention radiology. We thus, consider the occlusion of both the afferent and efferent vessels to be an effective treatment for gastric varices.

[Hemolytic anemia and acute renal failure caused by blood transfusions].

We report a case of 33 years old woman who developed hemolytic anemia after blood transfusion. In this case no abnormalities were observed by the cross-match test performed before blood transfusion. She was undergone the surgical resection of liposarcoma of her right arm in June, 1984 and 8 units of the concentrated red blood cells were transfused during the operation. During the following 2 months 13 units of the concentrated red blood cells were transfused. Immediately after blood transfusion, she developed icterus and oliguria and was diagnosed acute renal failure associated with hemolytic anemia. At this time we examined the antigen type of her red blood cells and of three donors' red blood cells which had been given to her. As the result, either C (Rh-hr), Pi (P), Lea (Lewis), Fyb (Duffy) antigens were found in some of donors' RBC, but no such antigens were detected in her RBC. The half life span of RBC measured using 51Cr labeled RBC was 6.2-14.5 hours, in respect of the antigen-positive RBC, where as it was 49.4 hours in the RBC without the antigens. It is more likely that the blood transfusion was the cause of hemolytic episode in this case, because the half life span of the donors' RBC was extremely shortened, compared with that of her own blood which was 16 days.

[Study on the pathogenetic factors of the progression of renal insufficiency, with special reference to the effects of dietary protein intake].

The effects of dietary protein intake on the progression of renal insufficiency were studied in daunomycin (DMC) induced nephrotic rats (DMC rats) and also patients with chronic renal diseases. In the first study, the author examined which treatment among enalapril (E) and indomethacin (I) and dietary protein restriction was the most effective to prevent proteinuria and glomerulosclerosis, and then the effect of dietary protein restriction on renal content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in DMC rats. These rats were divided into four groups as follows: group PL and group PH were isocaloric diets containing either 5% or 24% protein, respectively and group PE and PI were given orally E (100 mg/l drinking water) or I (50 mg/l drinking water) with diets of 24% protein, respectively. In group PL, urinary protein excretion (U-Protein) rates and renal damage index were significantly lower than those in other three groups. In group PE, renal damage index was significantly improved although U-Protein showed no reduction in contrast with these in group PH. Renal MDA in group PL was lower than that in group PH was significantly lower than that in group PL. In this study dietary protein restriction was the most effective treatment for the prevention of progressive renal insufficiency. In the second study, patients with chronic renal diseases were divided into two groups according to their Ccr: group I; Ccr greater than or equal to 60 ml/min, group II; Ccr less than 60 ml/min. All patients orally received diets of high protein (1.4 g/kgBW) and subsequently of low protein (0.7 g/kgBW). Ccr, U-Protein, serum MDA and serum SOD were estimated at the end of each dietary period. In group I, Ccr was significantly lower on low protein diet than that on high protein diet, although these were no significant changes in Ccr in group II. The low protein diet caused a significant decrease in U-Protein in both groups. Serum MDA in group I was significantly lower on low protein diet than that on high protein diet, but not in group II. Serum SOD activity showed no changes. It is suggested that dietary protein restriction might reduce oxidant stress to the kidney, in addition to renal hemodynamic changes induced by prostaglandin and renin-angiotensin system, resulting in the prevent of progress of renal insufficiency.

Laparoscopic repair of paraumbilical ventral hernia with increasing size in an obese patient.

We report a case of paraumbilical ventral hernia with increasing size over 1 year which was successfully repaired using laparoscopic techniques. The repair was made using a 1-mm-thick expanded polytetrafluoroethylene patch inserted intraperitoneally and then stapled to the anterior abdominal wall over the defect. This laparoscopic repair is easily accessible, is considered to reduce morbidity and is thus recommended as the first choice of treatment for ventral hernia.