Background: Somatic mutations of Janus kinase 2 (JAK2V617F), calreticulin (CALR), and myeloproliferative leukemia virus oncogene (MPL) are the major clonal molecules that drive the pathogenesis of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). It is well recognized that MPN patients carry an excessive risk of thrombohemorrhagic complications. However, little is known about the prevalence of these clonal markers in patients with cerebral vascular disease. Keywords: Ischemic stroke, genetic association studies, myeloproliferative neoplasms, JAK2V617F, stroke, patients, ET, PMF.
Sera collected in East Africa, Hong Kong, India, and France from patients with head and neck neoplasms, patients with nonneoplastic disease, and donors in apparently good health were titrated for antibodies to the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) by the indirect immunofluorescence technique. The results were correlated with the clinical and histological diagnoses which, as a rule, became available only after performance of the tests. Of 235 East African and Chinese patients who were classified as cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), 84% had high anti-EBV liters (≧ 1:160) and the geometric mean level was 1:348. The histopathology, whether described as anaplastic carcinoma or not, poorly or moderately well-differentiated, squamous or epidermoid carcinoma, seemed irrelevant. When the NPC patients from Hong Kong were grouped according to the stage of their disease, the incidence of high anti-EBV titers increased successively from 45% in stage I to ultimately 100% in stage V. The geometric mean titers rose correspondingly from 1:103 in the initial to 1:788 in the final stages. In contrast, patients with neoplasms (mainly carcinomas) arising in sites of the head and neck other than the nasopharnyx revealed a sixfold lower incidence of high titers (13%) and a nearly tenfold lower geometric mean level (1:36). Assortment of these patients as to the sites and types of their neoplasms revealed no significant differences in the distribution of anti-EBV levels among the groups so obtained. The incidence of high tilers and the geometric mean level among controls resembled those in patients with neoplasms other than NPC. The significance and implications of these findings are discussed.
Background Mothers and children in families with one immigrant parent have been reported to be healthier than those in native families; however, the health of the fathers in these families has rarely been discussed in literature. Objective We aimed to comprehensively compare the health of all the family members between families with one immigrant parent (native fathers, immigrant mothers, and their children) and native families (native fathers, native mothers, and their children). Methods We conducted a cohort study by using the Taiwan Maternal and Child Health Database to recruit live-born children and their parents from 2004 to 2016. Overall, we identified 90,670 fathers, 91,270 mothers, and 132,457 children in families with one immigrant parent and 1,666,775 fathers, 1,734,104 mothers, and 2,637,191 children in native families and followed up with them from 2004 to 2017. The outcomes comprised common physical and mental disorders, catastrophic illnesses, mortality, and child adversities and accidents. The covariates comprised the child’s year of birth, parental age, low-income status, and physical or mental disorder status. Logistic regression was performed to compare the risks of the outcomes between families with one immigrant parent and native families. Results The parents in families with one immigrant parent were more likely to be of low-income status and were older than the parents in native families. After adjusting for the covariates, fathers in families with one immigrant parent were found to have higher risks of physical and mental disorders, catastrophic illness, and mortality than fathers in native families. Conversely, mothers in families with one immigrant parent had lower risks of physical and mental disorders, catastrophic illness, and mortality than mothers in native families. Finally, the children in families with one immigrant parent generally had better physical and mental health but higher risks for leukemia, liver diseases, autism spectrum disorder, and road traffic accidents than children in native families. Conclusions The health status of the members of families with one immigrant parent was nonhomogeneous, and the poorer general health of fathers in such families suggests health inequalities in families with one immigrant parent.
Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disease that causes sudden hair loss. Although few studies have reported the association between AA and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the impact of methylphenidate (MPH) on AA has not been examined. This study examined whether AA risk is higher in children with ADHD than in those without ADHD as well as the impact of MPH use on AA risk in children with ADHD. From the Taiwan Maternal and Child Health Database, we enrolled all 1,750,456 newborns from 2004 to 2017 in Taiwan. Of them, 90,016 children received a diagnosis of ADHD whereas the remaining 1,660,440 did not. To compare AA risk in ADHD and the impact of MPH treatment on it, multiple Cox regression with adjustments for covariates (i.e., age, sex, and psychiatric comorbidities) was performed. The results indicated that 88 (0.098%) children with ADHD and 1191 (0.072%) children without ADHD had AA. Nevertheless, after adjustment for the covariates, AA risk was higher in children with ADHD than in those without ADHD (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 1.30, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04–1.64). Our data indicated a considerable reduction in AA risk (aHR: 0.64) among children with ADHD who received MPH than among those who did not receive MPH; however, this difference was nonsignificant, indicated by a wide 95% CI (0.32–1.25). In conclusion, ADHD and AA may share some underlying mechanisms.
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