Background: Few studies have assessed long-term effects of particulate matter (PM) with aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 mm (PM 2.5 ) on mortality for causes of cancer other than the lung; we assessed the effects on multiple causes. In Hong Kong, most people live and work in urban or suburban areas with high-rise buildings. This facilitates the estimation of PM 2.5 exposure of individuals, taking into account the height of residence above ground level for assessment of the long-term health effects with sufficient statistical power.Methods: We recruited 66,820 persons who were !65 in 1998 to 2001 and followed up for mortality outcomes until 2011. Annual concentrations of PM at their residential addresses were estimated using PM 2.5 concentrations measured at fixed-site monitors, horizontal-vertical locations, and satellite data. We

Introduction and Objectives The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected more than 5 million people globally. Data on the prevalence and degree of COVID-19 associated liver injury among patients with COVID-19 remain limited. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the prevalence and degree of liver injury between patients with severe and non-severe COVID-19. Methods We performed a systematic search of three electronic databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Library), from inception to 24 th April 2020. We included all adult human studies (>20 subjects) regardless of language, region or publication date or status. We assessed the pooled odds ratio (OR), mean difference (MD) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) using the random-effects model. Results Among 1543 citations, there were 24 studies (5961 subjects) which fulfilled our inclusion criteria. The pooled odds ratio for elevated ALT (OR = 2.5, 95%CI: 1.6-3.7, I 2 = 57%), AST (OR = 3.4, 95%CI: 2.3-5.0, I 2 = 56%), hyperbilirubinemia (OR = 1.7, 95%CI: 1.2-2.5, I 2 = 0%) and hypoalbuminemia (OR = 7.1, 95%CI: 2.1-24.1, I 2 = 71%) were higher subjects in critical COVID-19. Conclusion COVID-19 associated liver injury is more common in severe COVID-19 than non-severe COVID-19. Physicians should be aware of possible progression to severe disease in subjects with COVID-19-associated liver injury.

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Background: Antipsychotic drugs may lead to side effects such as obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular disease. The current systematic review and network meta-analysis analyzes and provides an update on the clinical performance of these add-ons in comparison to placebo on body weight and body mass index (BMI) reductions.Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed on electronic databases: PubMed (1946-), Embase (1974-), Cochrane library (1992-), and OpenGrey (2000-) until 31 July 2018. Network meta-analyses, comparing the body weight change, BMI change and withdrawn due to adverse events of different pharmacological add-ons, was performed using a multivariate meta-regression model with random-effects, adopting a frequentist approach. To rank the prognosis for all add-ons, we used surface under the cumulative ranking (SUCRA) values.Outcomes: From 614 potential studies identified, 27 eligible studies (n = 1,349 subjects) were included. All the studies demonstrated low to moderate risk of bias. For the analysis of body weight change, all add-ons except Ranitidine showed significant weight reductions comparing to placebo. The effectiveness rank based on SUCRA results from highest to lowest was Sibutramine, Topiramate, Metformin, Reboxetine, Ranitidine, and placebo. A similar pattern was seen for BMI change. The analysis of safety outcome did not detect significantly increased withdrawn number from the add-ons. Current evidence showed relatively good tolerance and safety of using the pharmacological add-ons.Interpretation: Topiramate and Metformin are effective add-on treatments in controlling antipsychotic-induced weight gain, comparing to placebo. They are well tolerated in short-term period. Although Sibutramine has the highest rank of the effectiveness, its license has been withdrawn in many countries due to its adverse effects. Hence, Sibutramine should not be adopted to treat antipsychotic-induced weight gain.

As of December 31, 2015, a total of 8,387 liver transplants have been performed in 67 institutions in Japan. There were 8,066 living-donor transplants and 321 cadaveric-donor transplants 318 from heart-beating donor and 3 from non-heart-beating donor. The annual total of liver transplants in 2015 was 448. The number of liver transplants from living-donor decreased to 391, from 419, in 2014, whereas the number of liver transplants from deceaseddonor exceeded 50 for the first time. The most frequent indication was cholestatic disease, followed by neoplastic disease. As for the graft liver in living-donor cases, right-lobe graft was the most popular 35% .