First-degree relatives of patients with HBV-related HCC appear to be at increased risk of HCC and should be considered in the formulation of HCC-screening programs.

Limited follow-up studies are available as to whether special job-types, such as day-night rotating shift work, contribute to the progression of metabolic syndrome among female industrial employees. A retrospective cohort study on the development of metabolic syndrome was conducted by utilizing health examination records for a five-year interval. The records of 387 female employees without metabolic syndrome at baseline were used for the analysis. Data analyzed included age, metabolic syndrome components, insulin resistance status, lifestyle factors, and job-types. The initial mean age of subjects was 32.8 yrs. Abnormal rates at baseline, including metabolic syndrome components and insulin resistance, were all significantly higher among the 34 female workers with metabolic syndrome outcome. Also, the persistent rotating shift-work exposure rates and five-year change of metabolic syndrome component measurements were significantly unfavorable for subjects with metabolic syndrome outcome. After controlling for the potential confounders, significant raised risks were found in the female worker with persistent rotating shift-work exposure (odds ratio [OR], 3.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-9.0 vs. day workers) and in smokers (OR, 5.4; 95% CI, 1.1-25.8 vs. non-smokers). At the same time, the female workers initially with one or two metabolic syndrome components had a 4.6-fold (95% CI, 1.3-17.0) and 12.7-fold (95% CI, 3.2-50.1), respectively, increased risk of progressing to metabolic syndrome within five years. In conclusion, persistent day-night rotating shift work, smoking, and baseline metabolic syndrome components associate with the progression toward metabolic syndrome for middle-aged female workers.

No abstract

The relationship between obesity and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs5443 (C825T), in the guanine nucleotide binding protein beta polypeptide 3 (GNB3) gene is currently inconsistent. In this study, we aimed to reassess whether the GNB3 rs5443 SNP could influence obesity and obesity-related metabolic traits in a Taiwanese population. A total of 983 Taiwanese subjects with general health examinations were genotyped. Based on the criteria defined by the Department of Health in Taiwan, the terms ''overweight'' and ''obesity'' are defined as 24 2 BMI \ 27 and BMI 3 27, respectively. Compared to the carrier of the combined CT ? TT genotypes of the GNB3 rs5443 polymorphism, triglyceride was significantly higher for the carrier of CC genotype in the complete sample population (128.2 ± 93.2 vs. 114.3 ± 79.1 mg/dl; P = 0.041). In addition, the carriers of CC variant had a higher total cholesterol than those with the combined CT ? TT variants (194.5 ± 36.8 vs. 187.9 ± 33.0 mg/dl; P = 0.019) in the complete sample population. In the normal controls, both triglyceride (P = 0.018) and total cholesterol (P = 0.011) were also significantly higher in the CC homozygotes than in the combined CT ? TT genotypes. However, the GNB3 rs5443 SNP did not exhibit any significant association with obesity or overweight among the subjects. Our study indicates that the CC genotype of the GNB3 rs5443 SNP may predict higher obesity-related metabolic traits such as triglyceride and total cholesterol in non-obese Taiwanese subjects (but not in obese subjects).