Discharge diagnoses of liver diseases in Nuuk Greenland compared to a Danish county hospital.

Background: It is a frequently held notion that Inuits/Greenlanders are less prone to develop chronic liver disease than Europeans. High alcohol consumption and chronic viral infection are more frequent in Greenland than in Denmark.

Study Design: A cross-sectional study to examine the incidence and prevalence of liver discharge diagnosis with focus on cirrhosis among hospital-admitted patients in Greenland and Denmark.

Valproic acid and risk of acute pancreatitis: a population-based case-control study.

To examine whether acute pancreatitis is associated with use of valproic acid. Through the population-based hospital discharge registries we identified all patients with an incident hospitalization of acute pancreatitis in the counties of North Jutland (data 1991 to 2003), Aarhus (data 1996 to 2003), and Viborg (data 1998 to 2003), Denmark. From the Danish Civil Registration System, we selected 10 sex-matched and age-matched population controls per case on the basis of risk set sampling.

Short-term prognosis of community-acquired bacteremia in patients with liver cirrhosis or alcoholism: A population-based cohort study.

Background: Liver cirrhosis is associated with an increased risk of infection and a poor prognosis, but the role of alcoholism in these outcomes is uncertain. This study looks at the short-term prognosis for bacteremia in patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis, nonalcoholic liver cirrhosis, and alcoholism, compared with the prognosis for other bacteremia cases.

Methods: All patients who were hospitalized with their first community-acquired bacteremia in North Jutland County, Denmark, in the period 1992 to 2002 were retrieved from a population-based bacteremia registry.

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and imaging of artificial RNA.

We use terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) to measure the far-infrared dielectric function of two artificial RNA single strands, composed of polyadenylic acid (poly-A) and polycytidylic acid (poly-C). We find a significant difference in the absorption between the two types of RNA strands, and we show that we can use this difference to record images of spot arrays of the RNA strands. Under controlled conditions it is possible to use the THz image to distinguish between the two RNA strands.

A nationwide study of the incidence and 30-day mortality rate of pyogenic liver abscess in Denmark, 1977-2002.

Background: Pyogenic liver abscess is a life-threatening disease. Accurate data on incidence and prognosis are important, but scarce.

Aim: To examine changes in the incidence and 30-day mortality rate of patients with pyogenic liver abscess in Denmark.

Drug-use pattern, comorbid psychosis and mortality in people with a history of opioid addiction.

Objective: To compare the 15-year mortality of people with a history of opioid dependence that had achieved stable abstinence, with the mortality associated with continued drug use. Another objective was to study the influence of hospitalization with comorbid psychosis on the 15-year mortality.

Method: In 1984, 188 persons (122 men and 66 women) with a history of intravenous narcotics addiction were interviewed about their drug-use pattern.

Dynamic range in terahertz time-domain transmission and reflection spectroscopy.

We present a quantitative method for identification of the dynamic range of the detectable absorption coefficient in the analysis of transmission terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy data. In transmission measurements the largest detectable absorption coefficient is determined by the dynamic range of the THz signals, whereas in reflection measurements the largest detectable absorption coefficient is determined by the scan-to-scan reproducibility of the signal.

The risk and prognosis of cancer after hospitalisation for herpes zoster: a population-based follow-up study.

We examined the risk of cancer and survival in a cohort of patients hospitalised with herpes zoster between 1977 and 1996, drawn from the Danish National Registry of Patients. Through linkage with the Danish Cancer Registry, we compared the observed number of cancers with the expected number on the basis of national age-, gender-, and site-specific incidence rates. The survival of herpes zoster patients with cancer was compared with that of non-herpes zoster patients with cancer.

A registry-based study of gender, fetal growth, and risk of Wilms tumor.

The possibility of an interaction between gender and fetal growth on the risk of Wilms tumor is poorly examined. Using nationwide population-based registries, the authors identified all children (N = 126) diagnosed with Wilms tumor in Denmark, 1973-1993, and selected 10 matched population controls per case. Data on birth weight, gestational age, and ponderal index were used to examine the association between gender, fetal growth, and risk of Wilms tumor.

Prognosis of patients with liver cirrhosis and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.

Background/aims: Patients with liver cirrhosis and ascites have a high risk of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, but the prognostic impact of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis has not been well examined.

Methodology: Patients with liver cirrhosis and ascites were included at the time of their first paracentesis during hospitalization in the Department of Hepatology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, between September 1992 and September 2000. Cox regression was used to estimate the mortality of patients with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (ascites leukocyte count > or = 250 per mm3) relative to controls without spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.

Prognosis of patients with a diagnosis of fatty liver--a registry-based cohort study.

Background/aims: There are very limited data available regarding the prognosis of patients with fatty liver. We examined the overall and cause-specific mortality of fatty liver patients in a large Danish cohort.

Methodology: In the Danish National Registry of Patients, we identified 7,372 patients discharged with a diagnosis of fatty liver from a Danish hospital between 1977 and 1993.

Thirty-day case fatality after nephrectomy in patients with liver cirrhosis--a Danish population-based cohort study.

Objective: Previous studies have shown that patients with liver cirrhosis are at increased risk of death after a number of surgical procedures, but their risk of death after nephrectomy has not been examined. We compared the 30-day postoperative case fatality rate after nephrectomy in patients with liver cirrhosis with that of patients without liver cirrhosis using data from an established dataset.

Material And Methods: Between 1 January, 1977 and 31 December, 1993 we followed a population-based cohort of Danish liver cirrhosis patients in order to identify those who underwent nephrectomy.

Adverse pregnancy outcome in users of sulfamethizole during pregnancy: a population-based observational study.

Objective: To estimate the risk of adverse birth and neonatal outcome, and miscarriage in women who used sulfamethizole during pregnancy.

Methods: The association between use of sulfamethizole and adverse birth and neonatal outcome was investigated in a case-control and a cohort study in Denmark. We used data from the Prescription Database, the Birth Registry and the Hospital Discharge Registry in North Jutland County to study any association between sulfamethizole use and first recorded miscarriage.

Adverse pregnancy outcome in women exposed to acyclovir during pregnancy: a population-based observational study.

This study aimed to examine the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in children born to mothers who redeemed a prescription for systemic or topical acyclovir during pregnancy. Data on prescriptions of acyclovir were obtained from the Danish North Jutland Prescription Database and data on pregnancy outcomes from the Danish Medical Birth Registry and the County Hospital Discharge Registry. The risk of malformations, low birth weight, preterm birth and stillbirth in users of acyclovir were compared with non-exposed women using a follow-up design, while the risk of spontaneous abortion was examined using a case-control design.

Risk of cancer in patients hospitalized with fatty liver: a Danish cohort study.

Goals: To examine the risk of cancer in patients with fatty liver.

Background: The relation between liver disease, including fatty liver, and cancer risk is poorly understood.

Study: Using the population-based National Registry of Patients, we examined the incidence of cancer in 7,326 patients discharged with a diagnosis of fatty liver from a Danish hospital during 1977-1993.

Long-term survival and cause-specific mortality in patients with cirrhosis of the liver: a nationwide cohort study in Denmark.

Mortality from cirrhosis of the liver has been examined in few long-term follow-up studies. In the Danish National Registry of Patients, 1982-1989, we identified a cohort of 10,154 patients with liver cirrhosis and divided them according to the etiology of their liver disease. Causes of death were identified in the Danish Death Registry, 1982-1993.

A population-based study of maternal use of amoxicillin and pregnancy outcome in Denmark.

Aims: Amoxicillin is a widely used penicillin, but data on its safety in pregnancy are limited. We examined the association between amoxicillin exposure during pregnancy and birth weight, preterm delivery, congenital malformations, perinatal death, and spontaneous abortion.

Methods: We identified all primiparous women with a live birth, or a stillbirth after the 28th gestational week, from 1 January 1991-31 December 2000 in the County of North Jutland, Denmark.