Poisoning is one of the most common reasons for visiting the emergency department in many countries, and the pattern varies from countries to countries and time to time. To compare the etiology and outcome of poisoning patients in different gender and age groups, we conducted a prospective study at the emergency departments of two medical centers in southern Taiwan between January 2001 and December 2002. All cases of poisoning, excluding patients diagnosed as cases of alcohol or food poisoning, were included, and relevant information was collected. There were 1512 cases of poisoning observed with a male to female ratio of 1:1.2 (684/828). Overall, drugs (49.9%) were the main agents involved, and a suicidal attempt (66.1%) was the predominant etiology. A total of 63 fatalities (4.2%) were observed and pesticides, especially paraquat, resulted in most fatalities. Patients aged 19–30 years constituted the most cases, and significant differences in exposure agents, causes, and fatality rates were found among different age and gender groups. The results are compatible with the trend reported by other Asian countries. This study also shows important differences existing in poisoning patients of different age and gender groups. Therefore, different poisoning-prevention strategies should be applied to different groups.

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Background:Recent research has shown that the G protein-coupled receptor 110 (GPR110) is an oncogene. The evidence mainly based on high expression of GPR110 in numerous cancer types; and knockdown GPR110 can reduced the cell migration, invasion, and proliferation. GPR110 is, however, mostly expressed in the liver of healthy individuals. The function of GPR110 in liver has not been revealed. Interestingly, expression level of hepatic GPR110 is dramatically decreased in obese subjects. Here, we examined whether GPR110 has a role in liver metabolism.Methods:We used recombinant adeno-associated virus-mediated gene delivery system and antisense oligonucleotide to manipulate the hepatic GPR110 expression level in diet-induced obese mice to investigate the role of GPR110 in hepatic steatosis. The clinical relevance was examined using transcriptome profiling and archived biopsy specimens of liver tissues from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients with different degree of fatty liver.Results:The expression of GPR110 in the liver was directly correlated to fat content in the livers of both obese mice and NAFLD patients. Stearoyl-coA desaturase 1 (SCD1), a crucial enzyme in hepatic de novo lipogenesis, was identified as a downstream target of GPR110 by RNA-sequencing analysis. Treatment with the liver-specific SCD1 inhibitor MK8245 and specific shRNAs against SCD1 in primary hepatocytes improved the hepatic steatosis of GPR110-overexpressing mice and lipid profile of hepatocytes, respectively.Conclusions:These results indicate GPR110 regulates hepatic lipid metabolism through controlling the expression of SCD1. Down-regulation of GPR110 expression can potentially serve as a protective mechanism to stop the over-accumulation of fat in the liver in obese subjects. Overall, our findings not only reveal a new mechanism regulation the progression of NALFD, but also proposed a novel therapeutic approach to combat NAFLD by targeting GPR110.Fundings: This work was supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China 81870586 (CMW), 82270941 and 81974117 (JS), Area of Excellence AoE/M-707/18 (AX and CMW), and General Research Fund 15101520 (CMW).

Background:Recent research has shown that the adhesion G protein-coupled receptor F1 (Adgrf1; also known as GPR110; PGR19; KPG_012; hGPCR36) is an oncogene. The evidence is mainly based on high expression of Adgrf1 in numerous cancer types, and knockdown Adgrf1 can reduce the cell migration, invasion, and proliferation. Adgrf1 is, however, mostly expressed in the liver of healthy individuals. The function of Adgrf1 in liver has not been revealed. Interestingly, expression level of hepatic Adgrf1 is dramatically decreased in obese subjects. Here, the research examined whether Adgrf1 has a role in liver metabolism.Methods:We used recombinant adeno-associated virus-mediated gene delivery system, and antisense oligonucleotide was used to manipulate the hepatic Adgrf1 expression level in diet-induced obese mice to investigate the role of Adgrf1 in hepatic steatosis. The clinical relevance was examined using transcriptome profiling and archived biopsy specimens of liver tissues from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients with different degree of fatty liver.Results:The expression of Adgrf1 in the liver was directly correlated to fat content in the livers of both obese mice and NAFLD patients. Stearoyl-coA desaturase 1 (Scd1), a crucial enzyme in hepatic de novo lipogenesis, was identified as a downstream target of Adgrf1 by RNA-sequencing analysis. Treatment with the liver-specific Scd1 inhibitor MK8245 and specific shRNAs against Scd1 in primary hepatocytes improved the hepatic steatosis of Adgrf1-overexpressing mice and lipid profile of hepatocytes, respectively.Conclusions:These results indicate Adgrf1 regulates hepatic lipid metabolism through controlling the expression of Scd1. Downregulation of Adgrf1 expression can potentially serve as a protective mechanism to stop the overaccumulation of fat in the liver in obese subjects. Overall, the above findings not only reveal a new mechanism regulating the progression of NAFLD, but also proposed a novel therapeutic approach to combat NAFLD by targeting Adgrf1.Funding:This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81870586), Area of Excellence (AoE/M-707/18), and General Research Fund (15101520) to CMW, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82270941, 81974117) to SJ.

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