Methods: A total of 413 individuals (163 men and 250 women) aged 30-60 years were selected by stratified random sampling. The participants had safe alcohol consumption habits (<2 drinks/day) and no symptoms of hepatitis B and C. NAFLD was diagnosed through ultrasound. Blood pressure, anthropometric, and body composition measurements were made and liver function tests were conducted. Biochemical assessments, including the measurement of fasting blood sugar (FBS) and ferritin levels, as well as lipid profile tests were also performed. Metabolic syndrome was evaluated according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria.
Results: The overall prevalence of ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD was 39.3%. The results indicated a significantly higher prevalence of NAFLD in men than in women (42.3% vs 30.4%; P < 0.05). Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the significant variables as NAFLD predictors. Overall, male gender, high body mass index (BMI), high alanine aminotransferase (ALT), high FBS, and high ferritin were identified as the predictors of NAFLD. The only significant predictors of NAFLD among men were high BMI and high FBS. These predictors were high BMI, high FBS, and high ferritin in women (P < 0.05 for all variables).
Conclusions: The metabolic profile can be used for predicting NAFLD among men and women. BMI, FBS, ALT, and ferritin are the efficient predictors of NAFLD and can be used for NAFLD screening before liver biopsy.
METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of BA patients who underwent Kasai procedure at the Dr. Sardjito Hospital, Indonesia from August 2012 to December 2018. The cut-off values of TB7/TB0, GGT7/GGT0, and ALT7/ALT0 for prediction of patients' survival were determined by receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves. Log-rank tests were utilised to test the association between cut-off values and overall survival.
RESULTS: In all 46 BA patients (23 males and 23 females) after Kasai procedure were included, consisting of one type 1, 17 type 2A, seven type 2B, and 21 type 3. The cut-off values of TB7/TB0, ALT7/ALT0 and GGT7/GGT0 for overall survival was 0.455 (sensitivity 87.5%, specificity 22.7%, area under curve (AUC) 0.59; 95% Confidence Interval (95%CI): 0.42, 0.75), 0.481 (sensitivity 87.5%, specificity 18.2%, AUC 0.49; 95%CI: 0.31, 0.65), and and 0.31 (sensitivity 79.2%, specificity 9.1%, AUC 0.34; 95%CI: 0.18, 0.50), respectively. However, these cut-off values were not significantly associated with overall survival, with p-values of 0.18, 0.49, and 0.56, respectively.
CONCLUSION: The TB7/TB0, ALT7/ALT0, and GGT7/GGT0 might not predict the overall survival of BA patients after Kasai procedure. Further multicentre studies with a larger sample size is needed to clarify our findings.
METHOD: This is a retrospective cohort study of confirmed severe dengue patients that were admitted in 2014 to Hospital Kuala Lumpur. Data on baseline characteristics, clinical parameters, and laboratory findings at diagnosis of severe dengue were collected. The outcome of interest is death among patients diagnosed with severe dengue.
RESULTS: There were 199 patients with severe dengue included in the study. Multivariate analysis found lethargy, OR 3.84 (95% CI 1.23-12.03); bleeding, OR 8.88 (95% CI 2.91-27.15); pulse rate, OR 1.04 (95% CI 1.01-1.07); serum bicarbonate, OR 0.79 (95% CI 0.70-0.89) and serum lactate OR 1.27 (95% CI 1.09-1.47), to be statistically significant predictors of death. The regression equation to our model with the highest AUROC, 83.5 (95% CI 72.4-94.6), is: Log odds of death amongst severe dengue cases = - 1.021 - 0.220(Serum bicarbonate) + 0.001(ALT) + 0.067(Age) - 0.190(Gender).
CONCLUSION: This study showed that a large proportion of severe dengue occurred early, whilst patients were still febrile. The best prediction model to predict death at recognition of severe dengue is a model that incorporates serum bicarbonate and ALT levels.
Methods: A prospective observational study including 223 patients receiving the branded medicine Exjade® and 101 patients receiving the copy Osveral® was carried out. Data were assessed for a 1-year period and included clinical symptoms, serum ferritin (SF), serum creatinine (SC), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Data were analyzed with SPSS version 22 software (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA).
Results: The median age of the sample was 8 years. There was no significant difference in gender distribution between the two groups (p = 0.625). Nausea was the most frequently reported adverse effect followed by diarrhea and abdominal pain in both groups. Patients receiving Exjade® had a higher relative reduction of SF at the end of the study compared with the Osveral® group (19.9% versus 9.93%, p = 0.028). SC was found to be significantly higher in the Osveral® group than in the Exjade® group throughout the study period. The mean platelet count was higher in the Exjade® group. ALT was significantly higher among patients receiving Osveral® over the last three months of the study.
Conclusions: Exjade® showed a better ability to reduce SF, with less liver toxicity, and better hemostasis profile. No congenital anomalies associated with short-term use of both drugs during pregnancy were observed or reported.
METHODS: This prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, interventional study aimed to determine the effectiveness of 15 mg of ertugliflozin versus 30 mg of the standard therapy pioglitazone versus placebo in NAFLD patients with T2DM. The study was established based on patient randomization in three groups: ertugliflozin, pioglitazone, and a placebo. This study was registered under the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (Trial ID: ACTRN12624000032550).
RESULTS: The impact of therapy was determined in the treatment groups by utilizing liver ultrasonography and biochemical parameters. After 24 weeks of clinical study, the results revealed significant improvement in the grades of fatty liver, especially in the ertugliflozin group. The number of patients with hepatic steatosis significantly decreased among the respective groups classified according to fatty liver grade. Among patients in the ertugliflozin and pioglitazone groups, 45% to 23.4% and 41.7% to 26.6%, respectively, decreased in the Grade 2 group. The aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels were significantly lower in all the study groups, especially in the ertugliflozin group (P ≤ .001).
CONCLUSION: The present study revealed that the concomitant use of ertugliflozin has favorable effects on liver enzymes, as it decreases liver fat intake and reduces complications in patients with NAFLD-associated T2DM. However, more in-depth studies will be required to observe every aspect of ertugliflozin.
METHODS: We randomly assigned inpatients with Covid-19 equally between one of the trial drug regimens that was locally available and open control (up to five options, four active and the local standard of care). The intention-to-treat primary analyses examined in-hospital mortality in the four pairwise comparisons of each trial drug and its control (drug available but patient assigned to the same care without that drug). Rate ratios for death were calculated with stratification according to age and status regarding mechanical ventilation at trial entry.
RESULTS: At 405 hospitals in 30 countries, 11,330 adults underwent randomization; 2750 were assigned to receive remdesivir, 954 to hydroxychloroquine, 1411 to lopinavir (without interferon), 2063 to interferon (including 651 to interferon plus lopinavir), and 4088 to no trial drug. Adherence was 94 to 96% midway through treatment, with 2 to 6% crossover. In total, 1253 deaths were reported (median day of death, day 8; interquartile range, 4 to 14). The Kaplan-Meier 28-day mortality was 11.8% (39.0% if the patient was already receiving ventilation at randomization and 9.5% otherwise). Death occurred in 301 of 2743 patients receiving remdesivir and in 303 of 2708 receiving its control (rate ratio, 0.95; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.81 to 1.11; P = 0.50), in 104 of 947 patients receiving hydroxychloroquine and in 84 of 906 receiving its control (rate ratio, 1.19; 95% CI, 0.89 to 1.59; P = 0.23), in 148 of 1399 patients receiving lopinavir and in 146 of 1372 receiving its control (rate ratio, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.79 to 1.25; P = 0.97), and in 243 of 2050 patients receiving interferon and in 216 of 2050 receiving its control (rate ratio, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.96 to 1.39; P = 0.11). No drug definitely reduced mortality, overall or in any subgroup, or reduced initiation of ventilation or hospitalization duration.
CONCLUSIONS: These remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, and interferon regimens had little or no effect on hospitalized patients with Covid-19, as indicated by overall mortality, initiation of ventilation, and duration of hospital stay. (Funded by the World Health Organization; ISRCTN Registry number, ISRCTN83971151; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04315948.).