Overweight or Obese Individuals at Eighteen Years of Age Develop Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma at a Significantly Earlier Age.

Background: Adolescent obesity is a national epidemic that recently has been shown to increase risk for pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PC) and is associated with an earlier age of PC onset. We hypothesized that PC patients who are overweight or obese at age 18 would have an earlier age of PC onset.

Methods: Retrospective review of 531 patients in our PC registry was completed.

Task-Shifting: An Approach to Decentralized Hepatitis C Treatment in Medically Underserved Areas.

Background: Despite the availability of safe and effective direct-acting antiviral drugs (DAAs), the vast majority of patients with chronic hepatitis C (HCV) in the USA remain untreated, in part due to lack of access to specialist providers.

Aims: To determine the effectiveness of DAA-based treatment in medically underserved areas in California, in a healthcare model dependent on task-shifting--wherein a visiting hepatologist assesses patients for treatment eligibility, but subsequent routine follow-up evaluation of patients prescribed treatment is devolved to a part-time licensed vocational nurse under remote supervision of the hepatologist.

Methods: We retrospectively determined rates of sustained virologic response 12 weeks after treatment completion (SVR-12), adverse events, and treatment discontinuations in patients who received sofosbuvir-based DAA regimens between December 2013 and November 2014.

Increased Serum Insulin Exposure Does Not Affect Age or Stage of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Diagnosis in Patients With Diabetes Mellitus.

Objectives: In considering whether medications that increase insulin levels accelerate pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PC) development, we hypothesized that PC patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) who used exogenous insulin or insulin-stimulating medications should have an earlier age at diagnosis or present with more advanced disease.

Methods: Patients enrolled in our PC registry from June 1, 2003, to May 31, 2012, were stratified according to treatment solely with insulin, insulin-stimulating medications, or insulin-independent medications. Age at PC diagnosis, PC stage, and years between DM and PC diagnoses were analyzed among the cohorts.

Meta-analysis of patients with hepatitis C virus genotype 6: 48 weeks with pegylated interferon and ribavirin is superior to 24 weeks.

Background: Hepatitis C virus genotype 6 (HCV-6) is common in patients from Southeast Asia and the surrounding regions. Optimal treatment duration for HCV-6 is unknown given the inconclusive evidence from studies with varying methodologies and small sample sizes.

Methods: A literature search for 'genotype 6' in MEDLINE and EMBASE in October 2013 produced 161 and 251 articles, respectively.