Worldwide, some 240 million people have chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV), with the highest rates of infection in Africa and Asia. Our understanding of the natural history of HBV infection and the potential for therapy of the resultant disease is continuously improving. New data have become available since the previous APASL guidelines for management of HBV infection were published in 2012. The objective of this manuscript is to update the recommendations for the optimal management of chronic HBV infection. The 2015 guidelines were developed by a panel of Asian experts chosen by the APASL. The clinical practice guidelines are based on evidence from existing publications or, if evidence was unavailable, on the experts’ personal experience and opinion after deliberations. Manuscripts and abstracts of important meetings published through January 2015 have been evaluated. This guideline covers the full spectrum of care of patients infected with hepatitis B, including new terminology, natural history, screening, vaccination, counseling, diagnosis, assessment of the stage of liver disease, the indications, timing, choice and duration of single or combination of antiviral drugs, screening for HCC, management in special situations like childhood, pregnancy, coinfections, renal impairment and pre- and post-liver transplant, and policy guidelines. However, areas of uncertainty still exist, and clinicians, patients, and public health authorities must therefore continue to make choices on the basis of the evolving evidence. The final clinical practice guidelines and recommendations are presented here, along with the relevant background information.

The objective of this study was to examine multiple risk factors and correlated malignant neoplasms of blackfoot disease (BFD), a unique peripheral vascular disease related to continuous exposure to high-arsenic artesian well water. A total of 241 BFD cases, Including 169 with spontaneous or surgical amputations of affected extremities, and 759 age-sex-resldence-matched healthy community controls were studied to explore the risk factors of BFD. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that artesian well water consumption, arsenic poisoning, familial history of BFD, and undernourishment were significantly associated with the development of BFD. The life-table method used to analyze cancer mortality of 789 BFD patients followed for 15 years showed a significantly higher mortality from cardiovascular diseases, peripheral vascular diseases, and cancers of bladder, skin, lung, and liver among BFD patients as compared with the general population In Taiwan 1 Clinically the disease starts with numbness or coldness of one or more extremities and intermittent claudication which progress to black discoloration, ulceration, and gangrene. In trie end stages of the disease, spontaneous or surgical amputations of distal parts of affected extremities are common.2 Extensive pathological study showed that 30% of BFD patients had histological lesions compatible with thromboangiitis obliterans and 70% showed changes of arteriosclerosis obliterans.3 BFD has long been related to the drinking water derived from artesian wells in the endemic area; 4 -7 however, the etiology of this disease still remains unclear. While artesian well water was commonly used in the BFD-endemic area, the prevalence of the disease was only 8.9 per 1000 at most. 7 The lifetime cumulative incidence rate of BFD was estimated to be less than 10% among those who drank artesian well water.8 It is important to explore the reason why most residents who consumed artesian well water were free of the disease. Both fishermen and salt-field workers had significantly higher

Background: We examined cervical cancer incidence before and after nationwide cervical cancer screening was initiated in Taiwan in mid-1995. Results: The invasive cancer incidence decreased by 47.8% during 1995–2006. The carcinoma in situ incidence increased 1.7-fold during 1995–2000, and decreased by 19.6% during 2000–2006. Conclusion: The Taiwan national programme has significantly decreased invasive cervical cancer.