Objective: A response team was deployed to rural Oddar Meanchey Province, Cambodia, in mid-August 2023, immediately after a cluster of patients with acute febrile illness was reported. The team aimed to identify the cause of the outbreak and analyse the epidemiological characteristics and associated risk factors. Methods: This retrospective cohort study involved all residents of Prasat Rumdoul Village. A case was defined as a resident with a fever >=38°C or a history of fever with symptoms such as cough, sore throat or coryza occurring from 18 July to 18 August. Demographic data, information about infection prevention practices and clinical information were collected using structured questionnaires and analysed using binomial regression. Laboratory samples were collected, and confirmatory laboratory tests and environmental investigations were also conducted. Results: Among the 126 villagers, 95 cases were identified (attack rate: 75.3%); 52 (54.7%) were female, and the median age was 29 years. Prolonged close contact with individuals who had influenza-like illness significantly increased the risk of infection (adjusted risk ratio [ARR]: 2.19, P = 0.002). Protective factors included mask-wearing (ARR: 0.26, P = 0.003) and regular handwashing (ARR: 0.85, P = 0.012). No villagers had been vaccinated against influenza within the past 1 year. Laboratory tests confirmed influenza type B/Victoria as the causative agent. Poor adherence to preventive measures and crowded living conditions contributed to the outbreak. Discussion: The outbreak was caused by influenza type B/Victoria, the same strain circulating in nearby Thailand. Public health interventions to improve vaccine accessibility and hygiene-promotion activities would be useful for preventing future outbreaks.

Aim To investigate the effects of DAP on human rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts(RA-FLS)and its relationship with endoplasmic reticulum stress(ERS)PERK/ATF4/CHOP signaling pathway.Methods RA-FLS cells were cultured and identified by immunofluorescence assay for Vimentin and CD68.CCK-8 detected(0,5,10,20,30,40,50,60,70)mg·L-1 DAP on the proliferation activity of RA-FLS cells.According to the proliferation activity,the experiment was divided into blank group(Blank),low dose group(L-DAP),medium dose group(M-DAP),high dose group(H-DAP)and high dose+specific inhibitor 4-PBA group(H-DAP+4-PBA).The levels of TNF-α and IL-6 were detected by ELISA.Cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry.The invasion and migration of cells were detected by Transwell and scratches assays,and the expressions of endoplasmic reticulum stress-related proteins GRP78,PERK,P-PERK,ATF4,CHOP,Caspase-12,C-Caspase-12 and Bcl-2 were assessed by Western blot.Results CCK-8 results showed that compared with 0 mg·L-1 DAP group,the proliferation activity of each group in 20-70 mg·L-1 DAP group was significantly different(P<0.05),and the proliferation rate corresponding to 0,20,40 and 60 mg·L-1 DAP group was significantly different(P<0.05).This concentration was used as the basis for blank,low-dose,medium-dose,high-dose groups and high-dose+4-PBA experimental grouping.DAP could inhibit the release of inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α from RA-FLS cells in concentration,reduce the invasion ability of cells,promote apoptosis,upregulate the expression of PERK,P-PERK,ATF4,GRP78,CHOP,Caspase-12, C-caspase-12 proteins and decrease the expression level of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2.Another set of experiments demonstrated that high dose DAP+4-PBA could up-regulate the expression of IL-6 and TNF-α,as well as the invasion of cells,and inhibit the expression of apoptosis and ERs-related proteins.Conclusions Daphresin regulates the secretion of inflammatory factors by activating the PERK/ATF4/CHOP signaling pathway,inhibits the proliferation and invasion of RA-FLS cells,and induces apoptosis,which is expected to be a potential therapeutic pathway for RA.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to compare the image quality and adverse events between Iopamidol 250 and Ioversol 320 usage during transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medical records and hepatic angiography from 113 patients who underwent TACE with Iopamidol 250 (44 patients) and Ioversol 320 (69 patients) were retrospectively reviewed. Vessel perception on hepatic angiography was graded into three categories by two radiologists for hepatic subsegmental arteries, the right gastroepiploic artery, right gastric artery, and pancreaticoduodenal artery. Imaging concordance was assessed by comparing the number of detected HCCs on hepatic angiography and CT. The adverse events before and after hepatic angiography were evaluated. RESULTS: The mean vessel perception scores were 2.92 and 2.94 for Iopamidol 250 and Ioversol 320, respectively. The imaging concordance was 31 (70.5%) and 46 (66.7%) patients for Iopamidol 250 and Ioversol 320, respectively. There were no statistical differences in vessel perception or imaging concordance (p > 0.05). One and six patients experienced nausea for Iopamidol 250 and Ioversol 320, respectively. There was no statistical difference in adverse events (p = 0.24). CONCLUSION Iopamidol 250 can be used in hepatic angiography for TACE without significant difference in image quality or occurrence of adverse events from Ioversol 320.

Sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor has been recently reported of diabetic ketoacidosis due to accumulation of ketone bodies in patients with severe dehydration caused from such like diarrhea even though the patient had normal glucose level. This is a case of ketoacidosis in normal glucose level as production of ketone bodies is stimulated in liver with increased secretion of glucagon by stimulation of α cells in pancreas due to increase of lipolysis caused from reducing insulin and by SGLT2 inhibitor among patients who are under concurrent insulin and SGLT2 inhibitor. Thus, insulin dosage reduction requires caution in order to control blood glucose level on combined treatment of SGLT2 inhibitor in a patient who is administering insulin because the patient may be caused ketoacidosis in normal blood glucose level.
Blood Glucose ; Dehydration ; Diabetic Ketoacidosis* ; Diarrhea ; Glucagon ; Glucose* ; Humans ; Insulin* ; Ketone Bodies ; Ketosis ; Lipolysis ; Liver ; Pancreas ; Sodium*

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a group of genetic disorders characterized by bone fragility and connective tissue manifestations. We report a successful liver transplantation (LT) in an 8-month-old boy with OI and cholestatic biliary cirrhosis. After 4 cycles of intravenous pamidronate, LT was performed under intravenous anesthesia using a left lateral section from his mother without mechanical retractors. The operation time was 420 min and estimated blood loss was 520 mL requiring one unit of RBC transfusion. He was discharged without surgical complications. Therefore, LT should be considered for patients with end stage liver disease and OI under organic multidisciplinary cooperation.
Bone Density ; Bone Density Conservation Agents/therapeutic use ; Cholestasis, Intrahepatic/*diagnosis ; Diphosphonates/therapeutic use ; Fractures, Bone/drug therapy/etiology/radiography ; Humans ; Infant ; *Liver Transplantation ; Living Donors ; Male ; Osteogenesis Imperfecta/complications/*surgery

Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a main parameter for arterial stiffness. In patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), PWV is known to be associated with increased mortality. But factors related to the increased PWV in ESRD patients are not well defined. In addition, the carotid-femoral PWV (cfPWV) measurement, which traditionally has been used to evaluate arterial stiffness, has low reproducibility. Recently, brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV) measurement, which can be performed more easily than cfPWV measurement, has become available as a means of measuring PWV. The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical factors associated with increased baPWV in ESRD patients. BaPWV was examined for 65 ESRD patients on maintenance hemodialysis during the period between the 7th to the 11th of February in 2005 using VP-1000. The clinical factors included age, sex, smoking history, blood pressure, diabetes, body mass index, interdialytic weight gain, duration of dialysis, lipid profile, uric acid, albumin, creatinine, C-reactive protein, calcium, phosphate, intact parathyroid hormone, and hematocrit were analyzed regarding associations (or to determine associations) with baPWV. The median age was 53.8+/-12.0, 31 males and 34 females. BaPWV was 18.9+/-5.2 m/s and there was no significant difference between gender (18.1+/-4.4 m/s vs 19.4+/-5.9 m/s, p=NS). In multiple regression models, age, predialysis systolic blood pressure, and diabetes were independent variables. In conclusion, age, systolic blood pressure, and diabetes were correlated with baPWV in ESRD patients. Thus baPWV measured by simple, noninvasive methods may become available for screening high risk groups in ESRD patients, although further longitudinal studies are necessary.
Atherosclerosis ; Blood Pressure ; Body Mass Index ; C-Reactive Protein ; Calcium ; Creatinine ; Dialysis ; Female ; Hematocrit ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Parathyroid Hormone ; Pulse Wave Analysis ; Renal Dialysis ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Uric Acid ; Vascular Stiffness ; Weight Gain

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The traditional indexes of heart rate (HR) variability may lack the ability to detect subtle, but important changes in HR behavior. Nonlinear heart rate variability (HRV) analysis methods that are based on chaos theory can reveal subtle abnormalities in the HR dynamics of patients with cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, we tested the validity of nonlinear analysis methods as markers to differentiate normal and abnormal HR dynamics in the cardiovascular disease state. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: One-hundred patients were studied: 70 patients with left ventricular dysfunction (LVD), including 40 post-myocardial infarct patients (PMI) and 30 dilated cardiomyopahty patients (DCM), and 30 age and gender-matched controls. One-hour, 6-hours (day and night each) and 24 hours of R-R interval data from 24-hour Holter recordings were subjected to the conventional time and frequency-domain analysis. The ApEn, short-term (alpha1) and long-term (alpha2) scaling exponents of the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) and the power-law exponent (beta) were also measured. RESULTS: Conventional linear measures did not show a significant difference except for the VLF, lnLF and the LF/HF ratio between the controls and the LVD patients. Among the analyzed parameters, beta, beta2 and alpha1 were the most powerful discriminators. The beta of the normal and LVD patients was -1.10+/-0.29 and -0.70+/-0.40, respectively (p<0.001), and the alpha1 was 1.08+/-0.23 and 0.81+/-0.28, respectively (p<0.001). The beta, beta2 and alpha1 can discriminate the etiologic cause of LVD. The length of the R-R interval data did not affect the result, and a significant correlation was observed. The individual values of the fractal and complexity measures were more stable than those of the conventional linear measures. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the measures derived from fractal and complexity methods are useful for detecting altered HR dynamics of LVD and for improving the shortcomings of the conventional measures.
Cardiovascular Diseases ; Fractals* ; Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Humans ; Nonlinear Dynamics ; Risk Assessment ; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left*

PURPOSE: The anastomosis of hepatic artery to recipient vessel has a major role in a liver transplantation, so its occlusion is the most important cause of failure of liver transplantations. We made the study to reveal the peculiarities in pediatric liver transplantations compared with adult cases. METHODS: From January 1999 to September 2005, we performed 99 cases of pediatric liver transplantation. The mean age at operation was 4.17 years of age. The hepatic vein and portal vein are anastomosed by the general surgeons and then the hepatic artery is anastomosed by the plastic surgeons. The Doppler ultrasonography and computed tomography were used for postoperative checkup for hepatic artery patency. RESULTS: There were no immediate complications, but hepatic arterial occlusion was developed in 3 cases (2.8%). In pediatric patients, the anastomosis of hepatic artery is more difficult than adults because of the rapid respiratory and pulse rate, the small vascular diameter, and the large gap of diameter difference between the recipient and the donor vessels. CONCLUSION: We could confirm that pediatric liver transplantations are relatively safe but long learning curve was needed.
Adult ; Child* ; Heart Rate ; Hepatic Artery* ; Hepatic Veins ; Humans ; Learning Curve ; Liver Transplantation* ; Liver* ; Portal Vein ; Tissue Donors ; Ultrasonography, Doppler

OBJECTIVES: In order to search for new parameters for the evaluation of the adequacy of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) the authors performed a non-linear analysis of electroencepha-logram(EEG)recorded during the course of electroconvulsive therapy(ECT)in a single female patient with depression. METHODS: Digitized EEG recordings from two ECT sessions spaced one week were analyzed at five different stages; pretreatment stable, postanesthetic-preictal, ictal, postictal suppression and posttreatment stable stages. RESULTS: Our analysis showed that 1)EEG signals had low dimensional (below 10 dimensions) deterministic characteristics 2) although EEG was nonstationary signal, non-linear parameters could reliably differentiate between various stages we examined. 3)the deterministic property of ictal EEG increased according to the progression of sessions and 4)the primary Lyapunov exponent(PLE)and correlation dimension of pre- and post-treatment stable stage EEG increased according to the progression of sessions. CONCLUSION: In this single case study, results of various non-linear analyses suggested that non-linear variables extracted from EEG recordings during ECT may have utilities as tools for the quantitative evaluation of ECT.
Depression ; Electroconvulsive Therapy* ; Electroencephalography* ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Female ; Humans ; Nonlinear Dynamics