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Aim: To compare the advantages and disadvantages of laparoscopic Nissen and Toupet fundoplication in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and their indications. Patients and Methods: From June 2001 to December 2011, 383 patients with GERD were randomized into two groups according to the last number in their hospitalization number. Overall, 215 patients underwent laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication, and 168 underwent laparoscopic Toupet fundoplication. Results: No conversions to laparotomy or deaths were observed, and the symptoms disappeared completely postoperatively in both groups. Average follow-up was 5.6 years. No recurrence of symptoms was observed in the Nissen group. Eighteen patients experienced recurrence of symptoms in the Toupet group and were administered acid-suppressing drugs. Esophageal manometry and acid reflux testing were performed 4 months postoperatively, with normal results in both groups. The cure rate of esophageal inflammation was 88.4% in the Nissen group and 67.7% in the Toupet group. Four days postoperatively, the incidences of dysphagia and abdominal distension were significantly higher in the Nissen group compared with the Toupet group (28.4% and 16.7%, respectively); the difference between the two groups significantly decreased 1 year postoperatively (1.5% and 0.8%, respectively). Conclusions: In the short term, the incidence of dysphagia was significantly lower after Toupet fundoplication, but the difference decreased significantly with extension of the postoperative recovery period. For patients with moderate to severe GERD, the laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication may be optimal; for elderly patients or for patients with significantly reduced esophageal peristalsis detected in preoperative examinations, the laparoscopic Toupet fundoplication should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To identify the optimal treatment for extrahepatic bile duct stones using endoscopy, laparoscopy, and the combination of the two in different conditions and to develop phasic treatment protocols for their minimally invasive treatment. Patients and Methods: Of 2718 cases of extrahepatic bile duct stones collected from June 2005 to December 2011, 50 were randomly selected to receive open bile duct exploration and T-tube drainage, serving as the control group. For the rest, a one-scope protocol, two-scope protocol (two-scope protocol A or two-scope protocol B), or three-scope protocol was adopted according to the specific conditions of stones and the endoscopic treatment results. The treatment outcomes and postoperative clinical indicators of the minimally invasive treatment protocols were analyzed and compared with those of the control group. Results: Among the 2668 cases of extrahepatic bile duct stones receiving the phasic minimally invasive treatment, the treatment success rate was 97.79%, and there were no severe postoperative complications. Compared with the control group, the minimally invasive treatment protocols had higher success rates, less trauma, and significantly shortened hospital stays. Conclusions: The protocols were applied step by step based on the different types and levels of extrahepatic bile duct stones, fully embodying the advantages of the combined minimally invasive treatment of endoscopy and laparoscopy, thus expanding the scope of minimally invasive surgical treatment for extrahepatic bile duct stones and improving treatment success rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports the initial experience with laparoendoscopic single-site (LESS) cholecystectomy and compares it with laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) through a randomized controlled trial. Sixty selective patients diagnosed with cholelithiasis or polyp lesion of the gallbladder (PLG) were randomly divided into two groups undergoing either LESS cholecystectomy or LC separately. The clinical data about operations and recovery of the two groups were compared. In the LESS group 28 of 30 patients underwent LESS cholecystectomy successfully and the remaining two (6.7%) were converted to standard laparoscopic surgery. LC was successfully performed in all patients in the control group. Mean operative time of LESS cholecystectomy group and LC group was 55.6 ± 25.7 versus 42.7 ± 18.6 ( p < 0.05). Mean postoperative hospital stay was 3.7 ± 1.3 versus 3.8 ± 0.8 days ( p < 0.05). Mean pain index was 2.8 ± 0.6 versus 3.7 ± 1.1 (p < 0.05). A questionnaire revealed that the mean scores of satisfaction with the operation were 8.9 ± 0.7 versus 8.1 ± 1.5 (p < 0.05). LESS cholecystectomy is safe, feasible, minimally invasive, and cosmetic. It is a reasonable alternative to selective patients with uncomplicated cholelithiasis and PLG. But larger controlled studies are still needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The preferred approach to the management of common bile duct (CBD) stones is uncertain, with single-stage laparoscopic cholecystectomy and CBD exploration vs. two-stage preoperative endoscopic CBD clearance followed by laparoscopic cholecystectomy being debated. To address this, a prospective randomized study which compared these two management strategies was undertaken. Methods: Between Jan 2002 and Dec 2005, patients with gallstones and common bile duct stones diagnosed by preoperative ultrasonography and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography were randomized to single-stage vs. two-stage treatment. In a single-stage group, laparoscopic cholecystectomy and CBD exploration were undertaken at the same operation, whereas in a two-stage group, endoscopic stone clearance was followed by laparoscopic cholecystectomy 2-5 days later. Early treatment success and complications and longer-term follow-up for the two groups were compared. Results: Two hundred twenty-one patients were enrolled in the trial, 110 in the single-stage group and 111 in the two-stage group. There was no significant difference in the success rate of CBD clearance (93.6 vs. 94.6 %, p = 0.76) or the complication rates (3.6 vs. 5.1 %, p = 0.527) between the groups. However, at longer-term follow-up, recurrent CBD stones were seen more often in the two-stage group (9.5 vs. 2.1 %, p = 0.037). Conclusion: The single-stage and two-stage approaches were equally effective in achieving initial clearance of CBD stones. However, recurrent CBD stones occurred more commonly in patients who had undergone two-stage treatment with initial endoscopic stone clearance, followed by laparoscopic cholecystectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Hepatitis virus B and C (HBV and HCV) are suggested to be risk factors for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), but whether they are risk factors for extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ECC) is disputed. To test the biomarkers in patients with ECC and further elucidate the relationship of HBV or HCV infection with ECC risk, we conducted a retrospective survey on hepatitis virus markers in patients with ECC. Methods: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted to review prior infection with hepatitis virus and the seroprevalence of hepatitis virus markers in the patients with ECC or with benign biliary disease (BBD). HBV X antigen (HBxAg) was detected in the tissues by immunohistochemical staining. Results: A total of 305 patients with ECC and 480 with BBD were enrolled in this study. Compared with BBD patients, ECC patients had a higher prevalence of prior infection with HBV (6.2 vs 2.3%) and chronic HBV infection (9 vs 1.9%). The overall seropositive rate for HBV markers in the two groups was 22.6 versus 6% ( P < 0.01) and for HBxAg detection it was 75 versus 26% ( P < 0.001). The seroprevalence of anti-HCV was 4.3% in the EEC patients and 5.6% in BBD patients with no significant difference between them. Conclusion: The high prevalence of HBV biomarkers in ECC strongly supports the notion that HBV infection may be a risk factor for ECC. The high frequency of HBxAg expression suggests its important role in the pathogenesis of bile duct neoplasm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several studies have investigated the associations between ambient temperature and years of life lost (YLLs), but few focused on the difference of life loss attributable to temperature among different socioeconomic development levels.Objectives: We investigated the disparity in temperature-YLL rate relationships and life loss per death attributable to nonoptimal temperature in regions with various development levels.Methods: Three hundred sixty-four Chinese counties or districts were classified into 92 high-development regions (HDRs) and 272 low-development regions (LDRs) according to socioeconomic factors of each location using K-means clustering approach. We used distributed lag non-linear models (DLNM) and multivariate meta-analysis to estimate the temperature-YLL rate relationships. We calculated attributable fraction (AF) of YLL and temperature-related average life loss per death to compare mortality burden of temperature between HDRs and LDRs. Stratified analyses were conducted by region, age, sex and cause of death.Results: We found that non-optimal temperatures increased YLL rates in both HDRs and LDRs, but all subgroups in LDRs were more vulnerable. The disparity of cold effects between HDRs and LDRs was significant, while the difference in heat effect was insignificant. The overall AF of non-optimal temperature in LDRs [AF = 12.2, 95% empirical confidence interval (eCI):11.0-13.5%] was higher than that in HDRs (AF = 8.9, 95% eCI: 8.3-9.5%). Subgroups analyses found that most groups in LDRs had greater AFs than that in HDRs. The average life loss per death due to non-optimal temperature in LDRs (1.91 years, 95% eCI: 1.72-2.10) was also higher than that in HDRs (1.32 years, 95% eCI: 1.23-1.41). Most of AFs and life loss per death were caused by moderate cold in both HDRs and LDRs.Conclusions: Mortality burden caused by temperature was more significant in LDRs than that in HDRs, which means that more attention should be paid to vulnerable populations in LDRs in planning adaptive strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is inconsistent evidence of associations between socioeconomic status ( SES) and lung cancer stage in non-Chinese populations up to now. We set out to determine how SES affects stage at diagnosis at both individual and area levels, from a hospital-based multicenter 10-year (2005-2014) retrospective clinical epidemiological study of 7184 primary lung cancer patients in mainland China. Individual-level SES data were measured based on two indicators from case report forms of the study: an individual's education and occupation. Seven census indicator variables were used as surrogates for the area-level SES with principal component analysis ( PCA). Multivariate analysis was undertaken using binary logistic regressions and multinomial logit model to describe the association and explore the effect across tertiles on stage after adjusting for demographic variables. There was a significant stepwise gradient of effect across different stages in the highest tertile of area-level SES, comparing with the lowest tertile of area-level SES ( ORs, 0.77, 0.67, and 0.29 for stage II, III, and IV). Patients with higher education were less likely to have stage IV lung cancer, comparing with the illiterate group ( ORs, 0.52, 0.63, 0.71, 0.64 for primary school, middle school, high school, college degree or above subgroup, respectively). Findings suggest that the most socioeconomically deprived areas may be associated with a higher risk of advanced-stage lung cancer, and increasing educational level may be correlated with a lower risk to be diagnosed at advanced stage in both men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • This study provides the joint mortality effect of hot and humidity in China. • Compared to wet-hot events, the mortality risk was greater during dry-hot events. • Female, the elderly and people in central China were vulnerable population. • High temperature and low humidity may have synergistic effect on mortality. Although many studies have reported the mortality effect of temperature, there were few studies on the mortality risk of humidity, let alone the joint effect of temperature and humidity. This study aimed to investigate the joint and interaction effect of high temperature and relative humidity on mortality in China, which will deepen understanding the health risk of mixture climate exposure. The mortality and meteorological data were collected from 353 locations in China (2013–2017 in Jilin, Hunan, Guangdong and Yunnan provinces, 2009–2017 in Zhejiang province, and 2006–2011 in other Provinces). We defined location-specific daily mean temperature ≥ 75th percentile of distribution as high temperature, while minimum mortality relative humidity as the threshold of high relative humidity. A time-series model with a distributed lag non-linear model was first employed to estimate the location-specific associations between humid-hot events and mortality, then we conducted meta-analysis to pool the mortality effect of humid-hot events. Finally, an additive interaction model was used to examine the interactive effect between high temperature and relative humidity. The excess rate (ER) of non-accidental mortality attributed to dry-hot events was 10.18% (95% confidence interval (CI): 8.93%, 11.45%), which was higher than that of wet-hot events (ER = 3.21%, 95% CI: 0.59%, 5.89%). The attributable fraction (AF) of mortality attributed to dry-hot events was 10.00% (95% CI: 9.50%, 10.72%) with higher burden for females, older people, central China, cardiovascular diseases and urban city. While for wet-hot events, AF was much lower (3.31%, 95% CI: 2.60%, 4.30%). We also found that high temperature and low relative humidity had synergistic additive interaction on mortality risk. Dry-hot events may have a higher risk of mortality than wet-hot events, and the joint effect of high temperature and low relative humidity may be greater than the sum of their individual effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age-specific discrepancy of mortality burden attributed to temperature, measured as years of life lost (YLL), has been rarely investigated. We investigated age-specific temperature-YLL rates (per 100,000) relationships and quantified YLL per death caused by non-optimal temperature in China. We collected daily meteorological data, population data and daily death counts from 364 locations in China during 2006–2017. YLL was divided into three age groups (0–64 years, 65–74 years, and ≥75 years). A distributed lag non-linear model was first employed to estimate the associations of temperature with age-specific YLL rates in each location. Then we pooled the associations using a multivariate meta-analysis. Finally, we calculated age-specific average YLL per death caused by temperature by cause of death and region. We observed greater effects of cold and hot temperature on YLL rates for the elderly compared with the young population by region or cause of death. However, YLL per death due to non-optimal temperature for different regions or causes of death decreased with age, with 2.0 (95 % CI:1.5, 2.5), 1.2 (1.1, 1.4) and 1.0 years (0.9, 1.2) life loss per death for populations aged 0–64 years, 65–74 years and over 75 years, respectively. Most life loss per death results from moderate temperature, especially moderate cold for all age groups. The effect of non-optimal temperature on YLL rates is smaller for younger populations than older ones, while the temperature-related life loss per death was more prominent for younger populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the effect of ambient temperature on cardiovascular disease (CVDs) has been well explored, studies using years of life lost (YLLs) as the outcome especially evaluating the average life loss per death attributable to temperatures were rare. We examine the associations between ambient temperature and YLLs of CVDs, and further quantify temperature-related life loss per death. Daily YLL rates were calculated using death data from 364 locations across China during 2006–2017, and meteorological data were collected for the same period. A distributed-lag nonlinear model and meta-regression were applied to examine the relationships between temperature and YLL rates of CVDs. Subgroup analyses by age, gender, region, and cause-specific CVDs were investigated. The total YLLs and average YLLs per death attributable to temperature were further quantified to assess life loss caused by non-optimal temperature. Both high and low temperatures significantly increased YLL rates of CVDs, with greater effects for cold than heat. Cerebrovascular diseases (CEDs) account for the largest proportion (47.17%) of total YLLs of CVDs attributable to non-optimal temperature. On average, life loss per CVD death attributable to non-optimal temperatures was 1.51 (95% eCI: 1.33, 1.69) years, with 1.07 (95% eCI: 1.00, 1.15) years from moderate cold. Average life losses per death were observed higher for males (1.71, 95% eCI: 1.43, 1.99), younger population (3.82, 95% eCI: 2.86, 4.75), central China (1.62; 95% eCI: 1.41, 1.83) and hemorrhagic stroke (2.86, 95% eCI: 2.63, 3.10) than their correspondents. We found that non-optimal temperature significantly aggravated premature death of CVD, with CEDs being the most affected, and most of temperature-related life loss of CVD was attributed to moderate cold. Our findings imply that peoples with CEDs in moderate cold days are vulnerable populations, which may contribute to a better understanding the adverse effects and pathogenesis of temperature on CVDs. Unlabelled Image • This study examines the health effects of non-optimal temperature, and quantify temperature-related life loss per death. • Life loss per CVD death attributable to non-optimal temperatures was 1.51. • Most of temperature-related life loss of CVD was attributed to moderate cold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]