Internal medicine
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Objective As the calreticulin (CALR) mutation frequency is significantly associated with essential thrombocythemia (ET) and primary myelofibrosis (PMF), this mutation may be an important biomarker in patients with ET and PMF. Methods We performed a literature search until April 2015 and obtained 21 relevant studies. The outcome was pooled as the effect size by using the Stata software program. ⋯ Moreover, the mutation ratio in Asian patients with PMF was lower (21%) than that in European-American patients (23%). A slight trend toward fibrotic transformation was found in ET with CALR mutations, whereas leukemic transformation was not significant in patients with ET or PMF with CALR mutations. Conclusion CALR mutations significantly influence the incident of ET as demonstrated by the meta-analysis.
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Objective The impact of dialysis initiation on survival is still somewhat controversial. Given that race or ethnicity has been observed to be a predictor of mortality and the rate of progression of chronic kidney disease, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the effect of early vs. late dialysis initiation on mortality in East Asian populations. Methods All eligible cohort studies of target were selected from the MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, The Cochrane Library and the Clinical Trials Registry databases from inception to October 2014. ⋯ Compared to late dialysis initiation, patients who received early dialysis initiation had a higher overall mortality risk (adjusted HR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.0-1.85; p<0.05) in East Asian populations. In a subgroup analysis, baseline characteristic differences (adjusted HR, 2.0; 95%CI, 1.56-2.57; p<0.001), initial dialysis modalities (adjusted HR, 2.12; 95% CI, 1.72-2.62; p<0.001) and follow up duration (adjusted HR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.19-2.12; p=0.002), demonstrated that the association between early dialysis initiation and mortality were significant. Conclusion A higher glomerular filtration rate (early) at the initiation of dialysis is associated with a higher all-cause mortality risk in East Asian populations.