Medicine
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Monotherapy with telbivudine or adefovir can affect estimated the glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). However, only a few studies have assessed changes in eGFR in patients who have chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and are receiving nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) combination therapy. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of long-term NA combination therapy on eGFR in Chinese CHB patients. ⋯ The eGFR in the telbivudine plus adefovir group was similar to that for the untreated group. The eGFR decreases due to adefovir therapy could be rescued by adding telbivudine, and the eGFR increase due to telbivudine could be compromised by adding adefovir. Adefovir in combination with lamivudine or entecavir therapy was significantly associated with decreased eGFR, but telbivudine could rescue the eGFR decrease that results from adefovir treatment.
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Primary Sjögren syndrome in Han Chinese: clinical and immunological characteristics of 483 patients.
The epidemiological characteristics of Sjögren syndrome (SS) are significantly varied in different countries. We conducted the present study to survey the epidemiological characteristics of primary SS in China. We recruited 483 primary SS patients from 16 Chinese medical centers nationwide from January 2009 to November 2011 and assessed salivary and lacrimal gland dysfunction, organ involvement, and autoimmunity in these patients. ⋯ Patients with pulmonary involvement had a higher parotid enlargement (21.4% vs 10.2%), purpura (12.1% vs 5.7%) and higher anti-La/SS-B (61.7% vs 41.8%), immunoglobulin G (IgG) (80.7% vs 64.6%) and IgA (48.9% vs 30.6%) levels. Patients with anti-Ro/SSA antibodies had more frequent exocrine gland symptoms and some extraglandular symptoms and immunological alterations. Compared with previous studies performed in other countries, SS patients in China showed particular clinical manifestation, systemic involvement, and immunological alterations.
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Recently somatic mutations of KCNJ5, ATP1A1, ATP2B3, and CACNA1D have been identified in patients with aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA). The present study sequenced the DNA in the tissues and blood samples from Chinese patients with APA for KCNJ5, ATP1A1, ATP2B3, and CACNA1D gene mutations. Among the 114 patients, 86 (75.4%) were identified with KCNJ5 somatic mutations, including 3 previously reported (G151R, L168R, T158A) and 2 other unreported mutations. ⋯ In conclusion, Chinese APA patients appear to have a high frequency of somatic KCNJ5 mutation. Mutation prevalence rates are similar among men and women and 2 novel mutations are identified. KCNJ5-mutated patients benefit more from surgical resection of APA than nonmutated patients.
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Observational Study
The risk of erectile dysfunction in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a population-based cohort study in Taiwan.
The prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) seemed high; however, large scale of population-based study was absent. We conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from the National Health Insurance system of Taiwan. The cohort included 29,042 male patients who were newly diagnosed with COPD. ⋯ Compared with non-COPD patients, the hazard ratio increased with the number of emergency room visits and admissions for COPD from 1.51 (95% CI 1.29-1.77) to 5.46 (95% CI 3.03-9.84) and from 1.50 (95% CI 1.28-1.76) to 11.5 (95% CI 5.83-22.6), respectively. Patients with COPD are at a significantly higher risk of developing ED compared with the general population regardless of age and presence of comorbidity. The results also support that poor control of COPD status is a key factor affecting ED development.
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Comparative Study Observational Study
Comparison of UHPLC and HPLC in benzodiazepines analysis of postmortem samples: a case-control study.
The aim of this study was to compare system efficiency and analysis duration regarding the solvent consumption and system maintenance in high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultra high-pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC). In a case-control study, standard solutions of 7 benzodiazepines (BZs) and 73 biological samples such as urine, tissue, stomach content, and bile that screened positive for BZs were analyzed by HPLC and UHPLC in laboratory of forensic toxicology during 2012 to 2013. HPLC analysis was performed using a Knauer by 100-5 C-18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm) and Knauer photodiode array detector (PAD). ⋯ In UHPLC, small particle size and short length of column cause effective separation of BZs in a very short time. Reduced flow rate, solvent consumption, and injection volume cause more efficiency and less analysis costs. Thus, in the detection of BZs, UHPLC is an accurate, sensitive, and fast method with less cost of analysis.