Nutritional therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent primary liver cancer and presents together with cirrhosis in most cases. In addition to commonly recognized risk factors for HCC development, such as hepatitis B virus/hepatitis C virus infection, age and alcohol/tobacco consumption, there are nutritional risk factors also related to HCC development including high intake of saturated fats derived from red meat, type of cooking (generation of heterocyclic amines) and contamination of foods with aflatoxins. On the contrary, protective nutritional factors include diets rich in fiber, fruits and vegetables, n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and coffee. While the patient is being evaluated for staging and treatment of HCC, special attention should be paid to nutritional support, including proper nutritional assessment and therapy by a multidisciplinary team. It must be considered that these patients usually develop HCC on top of long-lasting cirrhosis, and therefore they could present with severe malnutrition. Cirrhosis-related complications should be properly addressed and considered for nutritional care. In addition to traditional methods, functional testing, phase angle and computed tomography scan derived skeletal muscle index-L3 are among the most useful tools for nutritional assessment. Nutritional therapy should be centered on providing enough energy and protein to manage the increased requirements of both cirrhosis and cancer. Supplementation with branched-chain amino acids is also recommended as it improves response to treatment, nutritional status and survival, and finally physical exercise must be encouraged and adapted to individual needs.     

Menstrual and reproductive characteristics and breast cancer risk by hormone receptor status and ethnicity: The Breast Cancer Etiology in Minorities study

We pooled multiethnic data from four population-based studies and examined associations of menstrual and reproductive characteristics with breast cancer (BC) risk by tumor hormone receptor (HR) status [defined by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR)]. We estimated odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals using multivariable logistic regression, stratified by age (<50, ≥50 years) and ethnicity, for 5,186 HR+ (ER+ or PR+) cases, 1,365 HR− (ER− and PR−) cases and 7,480 controls. For HR+ BC, later menarche and earlier menopause were associated with lower risk in non-Hispanic whites (NHWs) and Hispanics, and higher parity and longer breast-feeding were associated with lower risk in Hispanics and Asian Americans, and suggestively in NHWs. Positive associations with later first full-term pregnancy (FTP), longer interval between menarche and first FTP and shorter time since last FTP were limited to younger Hispanics and Asian Americans. Except for nulliparity, reproductive characteristics were not associated with risk in African Americans. For HR− BC, lower risk was associated with later menarche, except in African Americans and older Asian Americans and with longer breast-feeding in Hispanics and Asian Americans only. In younger African Americans, HR− BC risk associated with higher parity (≥3 vs. 1 FTP) was increased fourfold in women who never breast-fed, but not in those with a breast-feeding history, suggesting that breast-feeding may mitigate the adverse effect of higher parity in younger African American women. Further work needs to evaluate why menstrual and reproductive risk factors vary in importance according to age and ethnicity.     

The difficulty of diagnosing NCSE in clinical practice; external validation of the Salzburg criteria

To improve the diagnostic accuracy of electroencephalography (EEG) criteria for nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE), external validation of the recently proposed Salzburg criteria is paramount. We performed an external, retrospective, diagnostic accuracy study of the Salzburg criteria, using EEG recordings from patients with and without a clinical suspicion of having NCSE. Of the 191 EEG recordings, 12 (12%) was classified as an NCSE according to the reference standard. In the validation cohort, sensitivity was 67% and specificity was 89%. The positive predictive value was 47% and the negative predictive value was 95%. Ten patients in the control group (n = 93) were false positive, resulting in a specificity of 89.2%. The interrater agreement between the reference standards and between the scorers of the Salzburg criteria was moderate; disagreement occurred mainly in patients with an epileptic encephalopathy. The Salzburg criteria showed a lower diagnostic accuracy in our external validation study than in the original design, suggesting that they cannot replace the current practice of careful weighing of both clinical and EEG information on an individual basis.     

四种大宗常用中药饮片中黄曲霉毒素污染状况分布比较研究

目的 测定不同来源的4种大宗常用中药饮片中黄曲霉毒素（AFB₁、AFB₂、AFG₁和AFG₂）的含量，比较不同基质中药饮片中黄曲霉毒素的分布状况。方法 基于免疫亲和柱净化-高效液相色谱分离-荧光检测器（IAC-HPLC-FLD）方法，分析不同产地共75批中药样品。结果 柏子仁、薏苡仁、决明子及党参共计75批中药饮片中，阳性检出：26批柏子仁（AFs 1.22-46.67 μg·kg^-1，AFB₁ 1.22-31.40 μg·kg^-1）、4批薏苡仁（AFs 1.97-41.13 μg·kg^-1，AFB₁ 1.97-36.40 μg·kg^-1）、1批决明子（AFs 13.65 μg·kg^-1，AFB₁ 12.60 μg·kg^-1），阳性率41%，超标率15%。阳性样品经 LC-MS/MS确证，排除假阳性。4种大宗常用中药饮片柏子仁、薏苡仁、决明子、党参中黄曲霉毒素的污染水平依次降低，阳性检出率分别为77%、29%、7%、0%，表明中药材中黄曲霉毒素的污染状况与药材基质密切相关。结论 针对易污染AFs的中药品种，需进一步加强其污染状况的全面检测分析，为黄曲霉毒素的有效防控以及完善中药的质量标准提供科学依据，从而保障中药用药安全。     

八段锦对视神经脊髓炎谱系疾病恢复情况的研究

[目的]评估规律性八段锦运动对视神经脊髓炎谱系疾病患者残疾状态及日常生活能力恢复情况的影响。[方法]选取视神经脊髓炎谱系疾病患者58例,随机分成试验组和对照组,每组29例,分别给予常规药物治疗+基础训练+八段锦干预、常规药物治疗+基础训练,疗程12周。比较两组扩展残疾状态量表(EDSS)评分、Barthel指数、Ashworth评分和疲劳严重度量表(FSS)评分的变化情况。[结果]试验组中,患者的EDSS评分、Barthel指数、Ashworth评分和FSS评分较干预前明显改善,差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);与对照组比较,EDSS评分和Barthel指数改善具有统计学意义(P0.05)。对照组中,患者Barthel指数、Ashworth评分和FSS评分较干预前明显改善(P0.05)。两组这4项指标的改善程度比较中,与对照组比较,试验组在EDSS评分、Barthel指数、Ashworth评分和FSS评分的改善程度更明显(P0.05)。[结论]规律的八段锦干预能明显改善视神经脊髓炎谱系疾病患者残疾状态、日常生活能力、肢体痉挛程度和疲劳状态,适合临床推广应用。