BACKGROUND Low serum amylase levels may reflect impaired exocrine-endocrine relationship in the pancreas. However, few clinical studies have addressed this issue. Therefore, in this epidemiological study, we investigated whether low serum amylase was associated with the pathogenesis of impaired insulin action: metabolic syndrome (MetS) and diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Serum amylase, ...

BACKGROUND Infection with Helicobacter pylori is an established risk factor for gastric cancer. Results from two studies suggest that it may also be a risk factor for pancreatic cancer. METHODS We conducted a nested case control study among 128,992 adult subscribers to the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program who had been enrolled in a multiphasic health checkup from 1964 to 1969. Serum col...

The new diagnostic threshold of hemoglobin A(1c) was made based on evidence from cross-sectional studies, and no longitudinal study supports its validity. To examine whether hemoglobin A(1c) of 6.5% or higher defines a threshold for elevated risk of incident retinopathy, we analyzed longitudinal data of 19,897 Japanese adults who underwent a health checkup in 2006 and were followed up 3 years l...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) program in terms of infrastructure of Anganwadi centers, inputs, process, coverage and utilization of services, and issues related to program operation in twelve districts of Gujarat, India. DESIGN Facility (Anganwadi) based study. SETTING Twelve districts of Gujarat, India (April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013). PARTICIPANTS I...

BACKGROUND The Checklist for the Reporting of Updated Guidelines (CheckUp) was recently developed. However, so far, no systematic assessment of the reporting of updated clinical guidelines (CGs) exists. We aimed to examine (1) the completeness of reporting the updating process in CGs and (2) the inter-observer reliability of CheckUp. METHODS We conducted a systematic assessment of the reporti...