J Formos Med Assoc
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Comparative Study
Prevalence of antibody to hepatitis C virus in pregnant Taiwanese.
To assess the prevalence of an antibody to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) in pregnant women in Taiwan, and elucidate whether or not there is superinfection of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) in such cases, we investigated two independent groups of pregnant women. Group A included 294 without serum alanine aminotranferase (ALT) screening, and group B included 171 pregnant women with an abnormal ALT level (greater than 45 IU/L) who were recruited from 9,523 pregnant women screened for ALT. Blood samplings were taken at early gestation and each serum sample was tested with an HCV EIA kit for anti-HCV. ⋯ Therefore, the prevalence of anti-HCV in pregnant women by current assay in Taiwan is 0.34% without ALT screening, but increases to 2.3% among abnormal ALT cases. The prevalence rate is less than the rates reported in other countries. If confirmed by subsequent study, the results suggest that infection with HCV is low among healthy young females in Taiwan today.
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Comparative Study
The prognostic value of blood glucose in patients with acute stroke.
We prospectively studied levels of blood glucose and glycohemoglobin, and their correlations with types, severity, and prognosis of stroke in 37 patients with brain infarction (BI) and 35 patients with brain hemorrhage (BH). We found that in the BH group, patients with an elevated glucose level due to stress, diabetes, or both, had a lower consciousness level on admission, larger hematoma size, higher incidence of rupture into the ventricles, and a worse 1-month outcome than patients with a normal glucose level (p less than 0.05). ⋯ However, it seems to be the severity of the stroke, not the hyperglycemia, that causes the poor outcome. Hyperglycemia may be an epiphenomenon of stroke severity.