Medicine
-
Observational studies have established that obesity is associated with nutritional deficiencies, but the exact causality remains uncertain. Thus, this Mendelian randomization (MR) study aimed to identify the causal associations between obesity and circulating levels of nutrients. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with obesity (body mass index and waist-hip ratio), were extracted from a genome-wide association study of 694,649 European ancestry. ⋯ Genetically predicted higher body mass index significantly decreased circulating levels of magnesium (β = -0.07, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.10 to -0.03, P = 1.47 × 10-4), folate (β = -0.07, 95% CI: -0.10 to -0.04, P = 5.61 × 10-5), vitamin A (β = -0.11, 95% CI: -0.14 to -0.07, P = 3.10 × 10-9), vitamin E (β = -0.10, 95% CI: -0.13 to -0.06, P = 1.84 × 10-8), albumin (β = -0.15, 95% CI: -0.17 to -0.12, P = 9.89 × 10-28); whereas genetically predicted higher waist-hip ratio decreased circulating levels of magnesium (β = -0.07, 95% CI: -0.11 to -0.02, P = 1.87 × 10-3), folate (β = -0.07, 95% CI: -0.11 to -0.03, P = 9.87 × 10-4), vitamin C (β = -0.08, 95% CI: -0.12 to -0.04, P = 2.40 × 10-4), albumin (β = -0.08, 95% CI: -0.11 to -0.04, P = 3.72 × 10-5). The study supports a causal effect of obesity on lower circulating levels of nutrients. Our findings highlight the necessity of adjuvant nutrients in obesity management.
-
To evaluate the effect of diagnosis-related group (DRG) payment method systematically before and after implementation in terms of average hospitalization day, cost and care quality. ⋯ The use of DRG payment method can effectively reduce LOS and average hospitalization expenses. However, quality of care may decline with DRG adoption.
-
Bertolotti syndrome (BS) is characterized by radiculopathy caused by structural anomalies. Despite the structural deformity, conservative treatment is predominantly recommended due to surgery-related complications. Because of the diagnosis complexity, the incidence and contributing factors of BS, remain controversial. We report the case of a patient with BS who was treated with integrative Korean medicine (IKM). Moreover, we evaluated the epidemiological characteristics of lumbosacral transitional vertebrae (LSTV) from medical records of patients diagnosed with LSTV at 4 different medical clinics of Korean medicine. ⋯ IKM demonstrates potential efficacy in BS management, with notable trends in LSTV-related symptomatology warranting further investigation.
-
Case Reports
Identification of novel CDH23 variants linked to hearing loss in a Chinese family: A case report.
Deafness is associated with both environmental and genetic factors, with hereditary deafness often caused by mutations in deafness-related genes. Identifying and analyzing deafness-related genes will aid in early diagnosis and pave the way for treating inherited deafness through gene therapy in the future. ⋯ This study identified 2 novel heterozygous mutations in a Chinese family. Both the proband and her sibling have non-syndromic hearing loss (NSHL) and carry distinct heterozygous mutations of cadherin-like 23 (CDH23). One mutation, CDH23:c.2651 A>G, originated from their mother and paternal family, affecting the exon23 domain of CDH23. The other mutation, CDH23:c.2113 G>T, was inherited from their paternal grandmother, impacting the exon19 domain of CDH23. These 2 novel mutations likely cause NSHL by affecting protein function. This finding suggests that identifying 2 novel mutations in CDH23 contributes to the genetic basis of NSHL.
-
To investigate the causal relationship between sleep duration and heart failure (HF) in a European population. We focused on the continuous sleep duration of 460,099 European individuals as our primary exposure. Genome-wide significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, n = 9851,867) linked to continuous sleep duration were adopted as instrumental variables. ⋯ These conclusions were further bolstered by consistent results from sensitivity analyses. Our study suggests a causal linkage between sleep duration and the onset risk of HF in the European population. Notably, shorter sleep durations were associated with a heightened risk of HF.