Sequential Treatment with Lamivudine and Peg-interferon Therapy in Patients with E-positive Chronic Hepatitis B and High Viral Load.

Background: Patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) who are positive for e antigen (HBeAg) and have a high viral load are considered to be poor therapeutic responders to pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN). The aim of this study was to assess the therapeutic response of sequential therapy, lamivudine (LAM) followed by PEG-IFN, in these cases. Methods: Chronic HBV patients who were HBeAg positive, with HBV DNA over 107 IU/ml and ALT 2-10 times the upper normal limit, and who were treatment naive were included in our study. Those with concurrent hepatitis C or HIV infection, liver cirrhosis or decompensated cirrhosis, or pregnancy were excluded. The enrolled cases received therapy with PEG-IFN monotherapy for 48 weeks (PEG-IFN group) or sequential therapy with lamivudine (LAM) for 4 weeks followed by PEG-IFN therapy for 48 weeks (LAM/ PEG-IFN group). Results: There were 10 patients in each group, and there were no differences in age, gender, HBV genotype, pre-treatment ALT, and HBV DNA levels between the two groups. The biochemical, virological and serologic responses within 24 weeks after treatment were 40%-60%, 30-50%, and 40-50%, respectively, in the PEG-IFN group, compared with 70%, 20-40%, and 20-40%, respectively, in the LAM/PEG-IFN group. The rates of positive EOT were 30% and 10% in the PEG-IFN group and the LAM/PEG-IFN group, respectively, with rates of 40% and 10% in the SVR-12-week subgroup, and 30% and 20%, respectively, in the SVR-24-week subgroup. The therapeutic responses between the two groups showed no differences. Conclusion: In chronic HBV patients who were positive for HBeAg positive and with a high viral load at baseline, similar therapeutic responses were noted between the sequential LAM/PEG-IFN therapy group and the PEG-IFN monotherapy group. Further research with a higher number of patients and a prolonged LAM course are needed to confirm the efficacy of this approach.

Gender Differences in Obesity Indices in a 10-Year Risk for Cardiovascular Disease.

Objective: To explore the relationship between gender-specific of obesity indices and the 10-year risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) among elderly population in southern Taiwan. Methods: Data were collected from Pingtung County in southern Taiwan through a health screening program, carried out from March 2007 to May 2008.The following obesity indices were included: (1) body mass index (BMI); (2) waist circumference (WC); (3) waist-to-hip ratio (WHR); (4) waist-height ratio (WHtR). The present study used the risk assessment tool of the Framingham Heart Study and adopted ≦10% as low risk, 11~20% as moderate risk, and >20% as high risk for CVD. Multiple logistic regression was used to predict the risk indices of obesity causing 10-year risk for CVD. Results: A total of 831 participants were recruited in the screen program. The prevalence of the obesity indices was as follow: BMI 21.3%; WC 14.6%; WHR 47.1%; and WHtR 65.2%. A total of 118participants were found to have 10-year CVD risk groupings>20%, a prevalence rate of 14.2%. The 10-year risk for CVD is higher in men; subjects≧65 years old in both genders have a higher prevalence of moderate and high risk for CVD. After using multiple logistic regression, the results showed that men who are abnormal in WHR, WHtR, have higher moderate and high 10-year risk for CVD; In this study, men didn't find this risk in BMI and WC. Women on all four obesity indices are not the predictive factors of 10-year risk for CVD. Conclusion: The predictive factors of 10-year risk for CVD were found in WHR and WHtR of men.

Effects of Guben Yiliu II combined with arterial perfusion with chemotherapeutic agent in treating advanced pancreatic cancer / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effects ot Guben Yiliu II (GY II) combined with arterial perfusion with chemotherapeutic agent on advanced pancreatic cancer (APC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty-five APC patients were randomly assigned to the treated group (35 cases) given GY II and arterial perfusion with chemotherapeutic agent and the control group (30 cases) with chemotherapeutic agent alone.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The clinical beneficial rate was 54.2% in the treated group and 40.0% in the control group, with significant difference between them (P < 0.05), the overall effective rate being 17.1% and 13.3%, and the effective rate in relieving pain being 64.5% and 59.2% in the treated and the control group respectively, all showed insignificant difference between groups (P > 0.05). Furthermore, in the treated group after treatment, the blood hypercoagulation state ameliorated, cellular immunity elevated, the toxic and side- effects of chemical medicine relieved, and the quality of life improved.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>GY II is effective in enhancing clinical effects and relieving toxic and side-effects of chemotherapy, and so, better efficacy could be obtained by therapy of GY II and arterial perfusion with chemotherapeutic agent for treatment of APC.</p>

The cuttable C-related genotype and allele for the E-cadherin 3-UTR Pml I polymorphism are associated with higher susceptibility to endometriosis

Epithelial cadherin (E-cadherin; CDH1) may influence pericellular proteolysis and intracellular signal transduction, which plays an essential part of tumor invasion. In our study we investigated the correlation between CDH1 gene polymorphism and endometriosis in two groups of pre-menopausal Taiwanese women, group 1 (n = 150) consisting of women with severe stage IV endometriosis and group 2 (n = 159) of women with no endometriosis. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to identify the cuttable (C) and uncuttable (T) polymorphism of the CDH1-Pml I gene (rs1801026) located on the 3-untranslated region (3-UTR) of chromosome 16 and compare the genotypes and allelic frequencies of this gene in both groups. We found that the genotype and allele distributions of the CDH1-Pml I C/T polymorphism were significantly different in both groups. In group 1 the CDH1*C frequency was 47.7% and the T frequency 52.3%, while the CC homozygote frequency was 6.7%, the TT homozygote 11.3% and the CT heterozygote 82%. In group 2 the CDH1*C frequency was 17% and the T frequency 83%, while the CC frequency was 0.6%, the TT 66.1% and the CT 33.3%. These data indicate that the CDH1 gene polymorphism may be associated with the development of severe endometriosis and that the CDH1 gene C allele is related to higher susceptibility to endometriosis

Cytochrome P450c17alpha 5'-untranslated region *T/C polymorphism in endometriosis.

Estrogen plays a role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. The CYP17 gene codes for the cytochrome P450c17alpha enzyme that is involved in the estrogen biosynthesis. We aimed to investigate if CYP17 polymorphism could be used as marker to predict the susceptibility of endometriosis. Women were divided into two groups: (1) severe endometriosis (n=119); (2) non-endometriosis groups (n=128). A 169-bp fragment encompassing the T/C polymorphic site in 5'-untranslated promoter region (5'-UTR) of the CYP17 was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction, treated with restriction enzyme MspA1I, and electrophoresis. The polymorphism was divided into restriction-enzyme indigestible (T homozygote), T/C heterozygote, and digestible (C homozygote). Genotypes and allelic frequencies for this polymorphism in both groups were compared. We observed a higher but non-significant percentage of T homozygote in the endometriosis women compared with the non-endometriosis women. Proportions of T homozygote / heterozygote / C homozygote for CYP17 in both groups were: (1) 26.1/46.2/27.7% and (2) 17.2/45.3/37.5% (p-value=0.131). T allele was related with higher susceptibility of endometriosis. T and C allele frequencies in both groups were: (1) 49.2/50.8%; (2) 39.8/60.2% (p-value=0.046). Despite the CYP17* T allele appearing to be associated with a trend of increased risk of endometriosis, CYP17 5'-UTR gene polymorphism might not be a useful marker for prediction of endometriosis susceptibility.

Insulin-like growth factor II gene Apa I polymorphism is not associated with endometriosis susceptibility

Insulin-like growth factor II (IGF2) has been shown to play a role in abnormal cell growth and carcinogenesis. We investigated if the IGF2 gene Apa I polymorphism at exon 9 was associated with the susceptibility to endometriosis, analyzing 120 women with moderate/severe endometriosis and 103 controls. The genotype frequencies did not differ statistically between the endometriosis (aa = 25.4, ab = 57.4, bb = 17.2 percent) and control (aa = 20.8 ab = 52.8, bb = 26.4 percent) groups. The allele frequencies did not differ either: a = 54.1, b = 45.9 percent among women with endometriosis and a = 47.2, b = 52.8 percent in the control group. Therefore, no indication was found for an association of this polymorphism with endometriosis susceptibility.