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Background and Aim: With the changes in diet structure and lifestyle, the incidence of fatty liver disease is increasing in China, especially in cities. The goal of the present study was to accurately determine the prevalence and risk factors of fatty liver disease in Beijing residents, China., Methods: By using random multistage stratification and cluster sampling, residents aged > 20 years in Dongcheng District and Tongzhou District were recruited, and questionnaire survey, physical examination, detection of fasting glucose, blood lipids and liver biochemistry, and ultrasonography of the liver, gallbladder, and spleen were carried out. Database EpiData 3.0 was employed for data input, followed by statistical analysis with SPSS version 11.0., Results: A total of 3762 residents were included in the present study including 2328 males and 1434 females with a mean age of 46.37 ± 14.28 years (range 20-92 years). Ultrasonography revealed fatty liver in 1486 residents with a prevalence of 39.5%. Moreover, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcoholic fatty liver disease were found in 1177 (31.3%) and 309 (8.2%) residents, respectively. After adjustment of prevalence based on the age and gender constituents of Beijing residents, the standardized prevalence of overall fatty liver disease, NAFLD, and alcoholic fatty liver disease was 35.1%, 31.0%, and 4.1%, respectively. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed waist-to-hip ratio, diastolic pressure, fasting blood glucose, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low density lipoprotein cholesterol were closely related to NAFLD., Conclusions: The Beijing residents have a high prevalence of fatty liver disease as much as 35.1%, which is characterized by NAFLD. Obesity, and glucose and lipid metabolism disorders are the main risk factors of fatty liver disease., (© 2013 Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.)

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and investigate the influencing factors of the interferon (IFN) retreatment for patients with chronic hepatitis C relapsed after a previous IFN treatment., Methods: A retrospective study was designed to analyze the retreatment with IFN of 60 relapsed chronic hepatitis C patients. All patients were from a randomized, opened and multi-center clinical trial about the efficacy and security of PEG-IFNalpha-2a compared to CIFNalpha-2a in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in China. There were 35 patients treated with PEG-IFNalpha-2a and 25 with CIFNalpha-2a. The main parameter to evaluate the efficacy was sustained viral response (SVR) rate. The influence of viral concentration in serum, genotype and drug categories on the responses to IFN were analyzed., Results: For all the patients, the end of treatment virus response (ETVR) and SVR rates were 55.00% and 35.00% respectively. ETVR rate of PEG-IFNalpha-2a was significantly higher than that of CIFNalpha-2a (74.29% and 28.00% respectively, P < 0.01). SVR rate of PEG-IFNalpha-2a was also markedly higher than that of CIFNalpha-2a (45.71% and 20.00% respectively, P < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the high and low viral load groups. Among the patients with genotype 1, ETVR and SVR rates of PEG-IFNalpha-2a (75.00%, 45.83%) were significantly higher than those of CIFNalpha-2a (22.22%, 11.11%), (P < 0.01, P < 0.05 respectively), but in patients with genotype non-1, there were no such differences between the two groups., Conclusion: Some relapsed patients were not responsive to the IFN retreatment. The efficacy of PEG-IFNalpha-2a was superior to CIFNalpha-2a. The conventional IFN was not suggested to be used in the relapsed cases with genotype 1. The viral load was not associated with the efficacy of IFN retreatment.

Objective: To investigate the HCV genotypes distribution in northern and southern cities in China and the difference between patients infected with HCV by transfusion and non-transfusion routes., Methods: The HCV genotypes of the patients with chronic hepatitis C from 9 cities belonging to different regions were genotyped by the PCR products of 5 prime untranslated region NTR digested with restriction endonucleases, and the HCV genotypes distribution among different cities or between the patients infected with HCV through transfusion and other routes was analyzed., Results: The HCV genotypes of 214 in 219 cases were determined; 197 patients were infected with monogenotype HCV. The major epidemic genotypes of HCV isolates in China were 1b (76.64%) and 2a (18.22%), but 5.14% of patients were infected with HCV belonging to genotype 3b and this was the first report that there is genotype 4a in China. The HCV genotype distribution was not different in northern and southern areas, but was significantly different between patients infected with HCV through transfusion and non-transfusion routes (P=0.036). In patients infected trough transfusion, the rates of monogenotype HCV infection and genotype 1b were 93.88% and 76.87%, respectively, which were higher than those (86.57% and 58.21%) in the patients infected with HCV through non-transfusion routes. The rate of patient infected with mixed genotype HCV strains in non-transfusion group was 13.43%, which was higher than that (6.12%) of patients in transfusion group., Conclusion: The HCV genotype distribution in northern and southern regions were similar, but was significantly different between the patients infected through transfusion and other routes.

Objective: To investigate the significance of detecting specific serum IgG antibodies in clinical diagnosis of SARS as well as affecting factors., Methods: Enzyme-linked immunoassay kit for SARS coronavirus antibodies developed by HuaDa Biological Company was applied to detect specific serum IgG from SARS patients and the production of SARS specific antibodies among patients of different age groups, sex and with or without steroid treatment were statistically compared., Results: Out of 121 patients studied, 71.1% were SARS specific IgG positive. Patients younger than 15 years, between 15 to 59 years, older than 59 years had positive rates of 60.0%, 70.2%, and 85.7%, respectively with no statistically significance (P=0.766); patients with or without steroid treatment showed positive rates of 70.6% and 72.4%, respectively (P=0.84); patients exhibiting either severe or light syndromes showed positive rates of 78.1% and 67.4%, respectively (P=0.493); both male and female patients showed the same positive rate of 71.1%., Conclusion: The sensitivity of the SARS specific IgG kit utilized needs to be further improved. The production of SARS IgG is not notably correlated with sex, age, seriousness of symptoms, and steroid treatment.