DIABETES AS A RISK FACTOR

Diabetes is associated with a twofold to threefold increase in the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), regardless of the presence of other major risk factors. Researchers in the USA used information from a Medicare linked database to identify over 2000 patients and 6000 controls, whose files were searched for diagnostic codes indicative of diabetes, hepatitis C virus, hepatitis B virus, alcoholic liver disease, and haemochromatosis. The results show that the proportion of HCC patients with diabetes (43%) was significantly greater than the non-cancer controls (19%), suggesting diabetes is an independent risk factor for HCC. (

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INDIAN VISION FUNCTION

The functional and psychological impacts of vision impairment to Indian people are similar to those reported in other population settings. Researchers set up 46 focus groups in three regions of India, with the aim of facilitating conversation and discussion about the problems that the participants faced that were caused by their visual impairment. Almost 5000 problem statements were collected, an average of 15 per participant, and the most important problem areas—accounting for over 50% of all statements—were ambulation, household or occupational activities, vision …