Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) may experience chronic microvascular complications such as diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic nephropathy (DN) during their lifetime. In clinical studies, serum uric acid concentration has been found to be associated with DR and DN. The goal of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the increases in serum uric acid level and the severity of DR and albuminuria in Taiwanese patients with type 2 DM. We recorded serum uric acid concentration, the severity of DR, and the severity of albuminuria by calculating urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) in 385 patients with type 2 DM. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, a high uric acid concentration was a risk factor for albuminuria (odds ratio (OR), 1.227; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.015–1.482; p = 0.034) and DR (OR, 1.264; 95% CI = 1.084–1.473; p = 0.003). We also demonstrated that there was a higher concentration of serum uric acid in the patients with more severe albuminuria and DR. In conclusion, an increased serum uric acid level was significantly correlated with the severity of albuminuria and DR in Taiwanese patients with type 2 DM.

This study evaluated the prevalence of clinical multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) and analyzed correlations between MDROs and patient characteristics in a regional teaching hospital of Taiwan. A retrospective comparative case-control study was conducted from January 2016 to August 2018 by collecting data from 486 hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients (M = 286, F = 200), including patient gender and age, microbial species, and antibiotic susceptibility. The results indicated that at least one MDRO was isolated from 5.3–6.3% of patients (p < 0.05), with an average age of 61.08 years. Of the MDROs strains, vancomycin-resistant enterococcus and carbapenem-resistant acinetobacter baumannii increased annually (p < 0.002 and p < 0.012, respectively). Three factors of age (over 60 years), treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU), and specimen category were statistically significant (p < 0.039, p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively) and indicated that elderly patients in an ICU have a higher risk of being infected by MDROs. The outpatients infected by methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were more frequent than inpatients, implying the existence of community-acquired MRSA strains. The results of this study could provide valuable information for the detection and colonization of multidrug-resistant organisms in hospital infection control systems.

Prediabetes increased risk of diabetes and diabetes-related macrovascular and microvascular complication. Glycohemoglobin (HbA 1c ) is clinically used as the gold standard for glycemic control of diabetes. Glycated albumin (GA) is an early Amadori-type glycation protein between glucose and serum albumin, which changes in a shorter period of time than HbA 1c and is superior to HbA 1c in reflecting fluctuations in blood glucose. In this study, we aim to assess the predictive value of GA and glycohemoglobin (HbA1c) on a progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in prediabetic patients in Taiwan. This study was conducted at the outpatient department of a regional hospital in Southern Taiwan, and recruited 291 patients with prediabetes from January 2016 to February 2017. Blood and urine samples were obtained from all patients after fasting for 12 hours within 1 month of enrollment. The mean age is 62.5 ± 13.0 years and there are 161 males and 130 females. A total of 24.1% of patients have DR. The average value of GA and HbA1c are 14.6% ± 2.8% and 6.0% ± 0.4%, respectively. Old age, male, high systolic blood pressure, high HbA 1C , and low total cholesterol are significantly associated with DR in patients with pre-DM. Therefore, in the prediabetic populations, high HbA 1C, but not GA nor GA/HbA 1C ratio, is significantly associated with DR. K E Y W O R D Sglycated albumin, HbA1c, prediabetes, retinopathy

Prediabetes should be viewed as an increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In this study, we investigated its prevalence among the relatives and spouses of patients with type 2 diabetes or risk factors for prediabetes, insulin resistance, and β-cell function. A total of 175 individuals were included and stratified into three groups: controls, and relatives and spouses of type 2 diabetic patients. We compared clinical characteristics consisting of a homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and beta cell function (HOMA-β), a quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI), and triglyceride glucose (TyG) index. After a multivariable linear regression analysis, the relative group was independently correlated with high fasting glucose, a high TyG index, and low β-cell function; the relatives and spouses were independently associated with a low QUICKI. The relatives and spouses equally had a higher prevalence of prediabetes. These study also indicated that the relatives had multiple factors predicting the development of diabetes mellitus, and that the spouses may share a number of common environmental factors associated with low insulin sensitivity.

The public in southwestern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung City have expressed concern over risk of arsenic (As) to people living in six villages of that city nearby a coastal heavy-industrial area. To investigate, we first analyzed urinary total As (TAs) levels in 328 adult subjects from the Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan in 2005-2008 (NAHSIT 2005-8). We found the top three highest median urinary TAs levels in residents from the Penghu islands (150.90 µg/L, n = 21) and the upper northern region (78.04 µg/L, n = 56) and the southern region (75.21 µg/L, n = 33) of Taiwan. Then, urinary TAs levels in 1,801 and 1,695 voluntary adult residents of the above-mentioned six villages in 2016 and 2018 respectively were compared with those from the top three highest TAs levels of NAHSIT 2005-8. Median urinary As levels were 84.60 µg/L in 2016 and 73.40 µg/L in 2018, similar to those in the southern region of Taiwan, but far below those in the Penghu islands (p &lt; 0.05). Finally, in 2020, we interviewed 116 healthy adult residents from the same six villages and analyzed one-spot urine samples of total inorganic-related As (TiAs), a summation of As3+, As5+, monomethylarsonic acid, and dimethylarsinic acid. Subjects consuming seafood 2 days before urine sampling (n = 15) were significantly higher TiAs levels than those not (n = 101, p = 0.028). These findings suggest that seafood consumption is probably the main source of urinary TAs and TiAs in people residing close to that coastal heavy-industrial area.