Fatty liver disease,an emerging etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma in Argentina

AIM To investigate any changing trends in the etiologies of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) in Argentina during the last years. METHODS A longitudinal cohort study was conducted by 14 regional hospitals starting in 2009 through 2016. All adult patients with newly diagnosed HCC either with pathology or imaging criteria were included. Patients were classified as presenting non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD) either by histology or clinically, provided that all other etiologies of liver disease were ruled out, fatty liver was present on abdominal ultrasound and alcohol consumption was excluded. Complete follow-up was assessed in all included subjects since the date of HCC diagnosis until death or last medical visit.RESULTS A total of 708 consecutive adults with HCC were included. Six out of 14 hospitals were liver transplant centers(n = 484). The prevalence of diabetes mellitus was 27.7%. Overall, HCV was the main cause of liver disease related with HCC(37%) including cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients, followed by alcoholic liver disease 20.8%, NAFLD 11.4%, cryptogenic 9.6%, HBV 5.4% infection, cholestatic disease and autoimmune hepatitis 2.2%, and other causes 9.9%. A 6-fold increase in the percentage corresponding to NAFLDHCC was detected when the starting year, i.e., 2009 was compared to the last one, i.e., 2015(4.3% vs 25.6%; P < 0.0001). Accordingly, a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus was present in NAFLD-HCC group 61.7% when compared to other than NAFLD-HCC 23.3%(P < 0.0001). Lower median AFP values at HCC diagnosis were observed between NAFLD-HCC and non-NAFLD groups(6.6 ng/m L vs 26 ng/m L; P = 0.02). Neither NAFLD nor other HCC etiologies were associated with higher mortality.CONCLUSION The growing incidence of NAFLD-HCC documented in the United States and Europe is also observed in Argentina, a confirmation with important Public Health implications.

Prevalence of Self-Reported Respiratory Symptoms, Asthma and Chronic Bronchitis in Slum Area of a Rapidly Developing Indian City

Background: Poverty is an important surrogate marker for obstructive airway diseases (OAD). Slum constitutes a habitat wherein various poverty related parameters are perpetually prevalent in the ambience. 1/6th of world population lives in slums yet there is no information regarding their health status in context to asthma and COPD. Aims: We investigated the prevalence of asthma and chronic-bronchitis symptoms and associated risk-factors in slum habitats of Pune city. Methodology: 7062 adult slum-dwellers living in 12 slums of Pune city were cross-sectionally interviewed by local healthcare workers with respiratory health questionnaire which was designed using respiratory symptoms of validated European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS II) questionnaire and International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD) bronchial symptoms questionnaire. Results: The overall prevalence of selfreported asthma symptoms was 10% (18 - 40 years: 6.5%;>40 years: 13.5%). The overall prevalence of chronic bronchitis was 8.5% [18 - 40 years: 7% (males: 7%, females: 7%);>40 years: 10% (males: 10%, females: 10%)]. Increasing age (p = 0.00), female gender (p = 0.001), unemployment (0.00) current smoking (p = 0.00) and ex-smoking (p = 0.004) emerged as significant risk factor for asthma. While, ex-smoking (p = 0.004) and low-education status (p = 0.00) emerged as significant risk factors for chronic bronchitis. Conclusion: In slums reporting of asthma and chronic-bronchitis symptoms was much higher than what has been reported earlier from India. Asthma was commonly seen in females, old age, unemployed and ever-smokers. While chronic bronchitis was commonly seen in ex-smokers and illiterate subjects. Chronic bronchitis was equally distributed amongst male and females, despite 0% prevalence of smoking in females.

Measurement of Grain Production Efficiency in Main Grain-producing Areas and Analysis of Inter-provincial Differences--A Study Based on Super-SBM Model and Malmquist Index

China's food security mainly depends on the core areas of food production.Under the dual constraints of resource scarcity and environmental degradation,improving the grain production efficiency of the main grain-producing areas has become the fundamental way to strengthen the grain production capacity and improve the national food security capability,and to improve the efficiency of grain production in major grain-producing areas requires empirical support.This paper used the Super SBM model and the Malmquist index to measure the grain production efficiency of the main grain-producing areas from 2001 to 2020 from both static and dynamic perspectives,and compared the differences in grain production efficiency among different soil types and different provinces(autonomous regions)in the main grain-producing areas.The results showed that from 2001 to 2020,the grain production in the main grain-producing areas was in a relatively ineffective state,and the differences in grain production efficiency among different soil types and different provinces(autonomous regions)in the main grain-producing areas were obvious.The order of grain production efficiency in different soil types was black soil region>red-yellow soil region>paddy soil region>fluvo-aquic soil region,and the order of grain production efficiency of the provinces(autonomous regions)in the main grain-producing areas was Jilin>Heilongjiang>Inner Mongolia>Jiangxi>Hunan>Sichuan>Hubei>Jiangsu>Liaoning>Henan>Anhui>Shandong>Hebei.From 2001 to 2020,the total factor productivity of grain in the main grain-producing areas increased,but due to the trade-off between the technological progress and the growth of technical efficiency,the increase in the total factor productivity of grain in the main grain-producing areas was small,and the growth mainly came from the increase of input factors in this period.The total factor productivity of grain in Hebei,Heilongjiang,Liaoning,Jilin,Inner Mongolia,Shandong,Jiangsu,Henan and Anhui increased,but the increase was small,while the total factor productivity of grain in Jiangxi,Sichuan,Hunan and Hubei provinces declined.

ABCC8 is correlated with immune cell infiltration and overall survival in lower grade glioma

ATP binding cassette subfamily C member 8(ABCC8)encodes a protein regulating the ATP-sensitive potassium channel.Whether the level of ABCC8 mRNA in lower grade glioma(LGG)correlates with immune cell infiltration and patient outcomes has not been evaluated until now.Comparisons of ABCC8 expression between different tumors and normal tissues were evaluated by exploring publicly available datasets.The association between ABCC8 and tumor immune cell infiltration,diverse gene mutation characteristics,tumor mutation burden(TMB),and survival in LGG was also investigated in several independent datasets.Pathway enrichment analysis was conducted to search for ABCC8-associated signaling pathways.Through an online database,we found that ABCC8 expression in LGG was lower than in normal tissues.Then,the association of ABCC8 expression and immune cell infiltration in LGG was discussed.As we expected,the ABCC8 mRNA levels were negatively associated with non-T immune cell infiltration levels in all datasets.Consistently,TCGA_LGG RNA-seq data revealed that ABCC8 downregulated several non-T immune cell-associated signaling pathways in gene set enrichment analysis.Different ABCC8 expression groups showed diverse gene mutation characteristics and TMB.The high expression of ABCC8 was linked to improved survival of LGG patients.A pathway enrichment analysis of ABCC8-associated genes indicated that the GABAergic synapse signaling pathway might be involved in regulating immunity in LGG.Our findings show that ABCC8 reflects LGG tumor immunity and is an ideal prognostic biomarker for LGG.