Hiyori Takahashi | Search PubMed

PubMed2026

Seafood and polyunsaturated fatty acid intake and age-related hearing loss: a cross-sectional study conducted in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is a common condition associated with dementia, social isolation, and reduced quality of life. N-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (N-3 PUFAs), mainly derived from seafood, have been hypothesized to protect against ARHL through anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. However, evidence remains inconsistent. This cross-sectional study examined the association of seafood and dietary fatty acid intakes with ARHL in a Japanese population with high seafood consumption. METHODS: A total of 13,908 adults aged 50-79 years from the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Cohort Study were included. Hearing thresholds were measured by pure-tone audiometry at 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000 Hz. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Seafood, N-3 PUFA, and saturated fatty acid (SFA) intakes were categorized into quartiles. Multivariable linear regression was used to estimate adjusted mean differences in hearing thresholds. RESULTS: In men, higher SFA intake was significantly associated with lower hearing thresholds at 1,000 Hz (Q4 vs. Q1: β = -2.23 dB HL, 95% CI: -3.437 to -1.023) and for pure-tone average (β = -1.704 dB HL; 95% CI, -2.872 to -0.536). Seafood and N-3 PUFA intakes were not significantly associated with hearing thresholds. In women, no significant associations were observed. CONCLUSION: In this population with high seafood consumption, seafood and N-3 PUFA intakes were not associated with hearing thresholds. Low SFA intake may be associated with higher hearing thresholds in Japanese men, suggesting that the relationship between dietary fatty acids and ARHL may be complex and may differ by sex.

Age-related hearing loss↗

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Interferon therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma patients with low HCV-RNA levels.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Interferon-alfa is widely used for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C, and has been thought to have a preventive effect on the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatocellular carcinoma develops from chronic liver diseases such as chronic hepatitis C or liver cirrhosis. We studied the effect of interferon for liver cirrhosis with hepatocellular carcinoma after treating hepatocellular carcinoma itself. METHODOLOGY: To evaluate the preventive effect of this drug on local recurrence and/or new development of primary tumor after clearance of hepatitis C virus, 46 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma with low HCV-RNA level were randomized to receive recombinant interferon-alfa 2b (n = 22) or not (n = 24) after being treated by transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and percutaneous ethanol injection therapy. In the interferon-treated group, patients received 3 million international units of interferon-alfa 2b intramuscularly three times a week for 4 months. In both groups, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization followed by percutaneous ethanol injection therapy was performed as an initial treatment and these therapies were repeated every 4-6 months. Serum HCV-RNA levels of all 46 patients were under 0.5 Meq/mL by branched DNA probe assay. RESULTS: In the interferon-treated group, 11 of the 22 (50%) patients were HCV-RNA negative at the 6 months after completing the course of interferon therapy. HCV-RNA was undetectable during the observation period in 2 of the 24 (9.5%) patients in the untreated group. The survival rate in the interferon-treated group was significantly higher than that in the untreated group (P = 0.01 by the log-rank test). Though there was no significant difference in the incidence of local recurrence in both groups, the incidence of secondary hepatocellular carcinoma was significantly lower in the interferon-treated group than that in the untreated group. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis validated interferon treatment as an independent predictor of hepatocellular carcinoma prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that, if HCV-RNA level is low, interferon may be a therapy of choice in combination with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and percutaneous ethanol injection therapy for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

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