What is the best predictor of mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease: mean, variability of HbA1c or HbA1c-Hemoglobin ratio?

Aim: Limitations in the measurement of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) result in uncertainty about the best predictor of mortality among these patients. Our study aimed to determine the association between the mean and average real variability (ARV) of HbA1c, as well as HbA1c-hemoglobin (HH) ratio with mortality among patients with T2D and CKD.

Materials And Methods: We identified 16,868 T2D patients with stage 3 or above CKD from outpatient visits during 2003-2018.

Comparison of all-cause mortality associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease in Taiwan MJ cohort.

Objectives: The global burden of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is rising. An alternative term, metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), instead highlights the associated metabolic risks. This cohort study examined patient classifications under NAFLD and MAFLD criteria and their associations with all-cause mortality.

Different levels of hypoglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes, their achieved mean HbA1c vs. all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.

Aim: In patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), levels of hypoglycemia and their risk of mortality are not well understood. The aim of this study was to ascertain the correlation among disparate levels of hypoglycemia and patients with T2D's achieved mean glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.

Methods: 27,932 T2D patients taking hypoglycemic medications at outpatient visits for more than 6 months between 2008 and 2018 were linked to Taiwan's National Death Registry.

Gender differences in cognitive function and its associated factors among older adults with type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes is widely prevalent among older people and can influence accelerated cognitive decline. Gender-based disparities may contribute to variations in cognitive decline. This study examined gender differences in cognitive function and associated factors among older adults with diabetes.

The relationship of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and all-cause or cardiovascular mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes: a retrospective study.

Background: The optimal levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are not currently clear. In this study, we determined the relationship between various mean LDL-C and all-cause or cardiovascular mortality risks in patients with T2D, stratifying by albumin level, age, sex, and antilipid medication use. We also evaluated the association of LDL-C standard deviation (LDL-C-SD) and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality by type of antilipid medication use.

Parathyroid adenoma presenting as chronic pancreatitis: A case report and literature review.

Background: Most patients with parathyroid adenomas are asymptomatic and rarely present with chronic pancreatitis (CP). Several studies have reported a positive association between primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) and pancreatitis. Parathyroidectomy is the definitive treatment for PHPT.

Low mean HbA1c does not increase all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients with diabetes: Effect-modifications by anemia and chronic kidney disease stages.

Background: Previous studies reported that low levels of glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) were associated with increased mortality. We investigated rates and risks of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in association with mean HbA1c levels with stratification of anemia and chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages, major causes of low HbA1c.

Methods: 47,145 patients with prescription of antidiabetic agents >6 months in the outpatient visits (2003-2018) were linked to Taiwan's National Death Registry to identify all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.

Incidence of idiopathic cardiomyopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes in Taiwan: age, sex, and urbanization status-stratified analysis.

Background: The epidemiology of diabetes and idiopathic cardiomyopathy have limited data. We investigated the overall and the age-, sex-, and urbanization-specific incidence and relative hazard of idiopathic cardiomyopathy in association with type 2 diabetes and various anti-diabetic medications used in Taiwan.

Methods: A total of 474,268 patients with type 2 diabetes were identified from ambulatory care and inpatient claims in 2007-2009 from Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) database.

Comparison of underwater and conventional endoscopic mucosal resection for removing sessile colorectal polyps: a propensity-score matched cohort study.

 Endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) is a standard method for removing sessile colorectal polyps ≥ 10 mm. Recently, underwater EMR (UEMR) has been introduced as a potential alternative. However, the effectiveness and safety of UEMR compared with conventional EMR is un clear.

Inhibits Colorectal Cancer Cells via Inducing Autophagy and Enhancing the Efficacy of Chemotherapeutic Drug Doxorubicin.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide and chemotherapy is the main approach for the treatment of advanced and recurrent cases. Developing an effective complementary therapy could help to improve tumor suppression efficiency and control adverse effects from chemotherapy. is a folk medicine for treating various forms of cancer, but its effect on colorectal cancer is largely unexplored.

Bidirectional association between migraine and fibromyalgia: retrospective cohort analyses of two populations.

Objective: Fibromyalgia (FM) and migraine are common pain disorders that tend to coexist. This study determined whether these two conditions exhibited any mutual influences.

Setting: Cohort study.

Pardaxin Promoted Differentiation and Maturation of Leukemic Cells via Regulating TLR2/MyD88 Signal against Cell Proliferation.

Objective: Leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells. Leukemic THP-1 and U937 cells were used in this study as monocytic effectors cells for proliferation responses and macrophage-like cells induction in leukemia. Pardaxin is an antimicrobial peptide isolated from the marine fish species.

Risk of heart failure in a population with type 2 diabetes versus a population without diabetes with and without coronary heart disease.

Aims: To conduct a population-based study comparing age- and sex-specific risk estimates of heart failure (HF) between people with type 2 diabetes and people without diabetes, and to investigate the risks of HF in association with type 2 diabetes in people with various coronary heart diseases (CHDs).

Materials And Methods: We used a nationally representative sample (one million people) selected from Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) system. A total of 34 291 patients with type 2 diabetes were identified from ambulatory care claims in 2000, and the same number of age- and sex-matched controls were randomly selected from the registry of NHI beneficiaries in the same year.

Inhibition of aqueous extracts of (AESN) on oral cancer through regulation of mitochondrial fission.

The present study is designed to investigate the anti-oral cancer properties of on oral squamous cell carcinoma. is a Chinese herb used for suppression of various cancers. However, the inhibition of on oral cancer is unclear.

Inverse relationship between ambient temperature and admissions for diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperglycemic hyperosmolar state: A 14-year time-series analysis.

This study aimed to investigate the association of admissions for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and hyperglycemic hyperosmolar state (HHS) with ambient temperature and season, respectively in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), after excluding known co-morbidities that predispose onset of acute hyperglycemia events. This was a time series correlation analysis based on medical claims of 40,084 and 33,947 episodes of admission for DKA and HHS, respectively over a 14-year period in Taiwan. These episodes were not accompanied by co-morbidities known to trigger incidence of DKA and HHS.

Risk of Malignant Neoplasms of Kidney and Bladder in a Cohort Study of the Diabetic Population in Taiwan With Age, Sex, and Geographic Area Stratifications.

Diabetes has been reported to increase the risk of malignant neoplasms of kidney and bladder, but the studies' results are still inconclusive. Age, sex, and geographical area-specific incidence and relative risks of above neoplasms are also scarce in the literature. We prospectively investigated the age, sex, geographical area-specific incidence and relative risks of kidney and bladder neoplasms in diabetic population of Taiwan.

Illness and medical and other expenditures: observations from western and eastern China.

Background: Illness and the medical expenditure that follows have a profound impact on the well-being of individuals and households. China is a huge country with significant regional differences. The goal of this study is to investigate the associations of illness and medical expenditure with other categories of household expenditures, with special attention paid to the differences in observations between the western and eastern regions.

Anchorage independency promoted tumor malignancy of melanoma cells under reattachment through elevated interleukin-8 and CXC chemokine receptor 1 expression.

Metastasis of melanoma cells during the recurrence or the late stage of melanoma has been characterized as the dissemination of tumor cells under anchorage independency. The secreted interleukin-8 (IL-8) and its conical receptors from melanoma cells have been associated with melanoma malignancy. However, their correlations with melanoma cells under anchorage independency were unclear.

Loss of cell invasiveness through PKC-mediated syndecan-1 downregulation in melanoma cells under anchorage independency.

Anchorage-independent survival is one of the key features for malignant tumor cells. Whether specific gene alterations contributed by anchorage independency would further affect metastatic phenotypes of melanoma cells was unclear. We adapted suspension culture of melanoma cells to establish anchorage independency.

Conservative treatment of adhesive small bowel obstruction in children: a systematic review.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of conservative treatment for adhesive small bowel obstruction (ASBO) in children.

Design: Systematic review of studies involved children with ASBO who received initial conservative/non-operative treatment.

Setting: The search was performed in April 2013 using PubMed (see online supplementary file 1), current contents, and the Cochrane database.

Multiple variants in UGT1A1 gene are factors to develop indirect hyper-bilirubinemia.

Most Taiwanese patients with hyper-bilirubinemia have genetic abnormalities in the uridine diphosphoglucuronate-glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 (UGT1A1) gene beyond the variants in the TATA box upstream of UGT1A1 associated with Gilbert's syndrome. To investigate the role of UGT1A1 in the pathogenesis of indirect hyper-bilirubinemia, we prospectively studied 97 consecutive patients with indirect hyper-bilirubinemia for genotypes of promoter [(TA)6TAA6, (TA)7TAA7] and coding region [nucleotide (nt)-211, nt-686, nt-1,091 and nt-1,456] of UGT1A1. Thirty-six of the patients (45.

Underestimation of the coexistence of iron deficiencies and thalassemia minors: a single institution experience in Taiwan.

Some physicians neglect the possible coexistence of an iron deficiency with a thalassemia minor and do not treat the iron deficiency accordingly. This motivated us to conduct this study. We retrospectively reviewed the records of 3892 patients who visited our clinics and had hemoglobin (Hb) electrophoreses performed in our hematologic laboratory from August 1, 2007 to December 31, 2012.

Endocytotic routes of cobra cardiotoxins depend on spatial distribution of positively charged and hydrophobic domains to target distinct types of sulfated glycoconjugates on cell surface.

Cobra cardiotoxins (CTX) are a family of three-fingered basic polypeptides known to interact with diverse targets such as heparan sulfates, sulfatides, and integrins on cell surfaces. After CTX bind to the membrane surface, they are internalized to intracellular space and exert their cytotoxicity via an unknown mechanism. By the combined in vitro kinetic binding, three-dimensional x-ray structure determination, and cell biology studies on the naturally abundant CTX homologues from the Taiwanese cobra, we showed that slight variations on the spatial distribution of positively charged or hydrophobic domains among CTX A2, A3, and A4 could lead to significant changes in their endocytotic pathways and action mechanisms via distinct sulfated glycoconjugate-mediated processes.

Risks of Breast and Endometrial Cancer in Women with Diabetes: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

Objective: We investigated the overall and age-specific risks of developing breast and endometrial cancer among women with diabetes in a population-based cohort study.

Methods: Women with diabetes (n = 319310) and age-matched controls (n = 319308), selected from ambulatory care claims and beneficiary registry in 2000, respectively were linked to the in-patient claims (2000-2008) to identify admissions due to breast (ICD-9-CM: 174) and endometrial (ICD-9-CM: 182) cancer. The person-year approach with Poisson assumption was used to estimate the incidence density rate.