Antiviral treatment standards for hepatitis B: An urgent need for expansion

The present letter to the editor is related to the review with the title "Past, present, and future of long-term treatment for hepatitis B virus." Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) represents an important and pressing public health concern. Timely identification and effective antiviral therapy hold the potential to reduce liver-related mortality attributable to chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) substantially. However, the current global treatment rates for CHB remain conspicuously low, with the excessively stringent treatment criteria advocated by national CHB guidelines being a contributing factor to these low rates. Nevertheless, recent strides in comprehending this malady and the emergence of novel antiviral agents prompt the imperative re-evaluation of treatment standards to extend the sphere of potential beneficiaries. An impending need arises for a novel paradigm for the classification of patients with CHB, the expansion of antiviral treatment eligibility for HBV-infected individuals, and even the streamlining of the diagnostic process for CHB to amplify cost-effectiveness and augment survival prospects.

Acute or chronic inflammation role in gastrointestinal oncology

The following letter to the editor highlights the review titled “Inflammatory bowel disease-related colorectal cancer: Past, present and future perspectives” in World J Gastrointest Oncol 2022 March 15; 14(3): 547-567. It is necessary to explore the role of inflammation in promoting tumorigenesis and development of gastrointestinal cancers.

Letter to editor ‘Gastroenteropathy in gastric cancer patients concurrent with diabetes mellitus’

The present letter to the editor is related to the study titled “Diabetic gastroenteropathy: An underdiagnosed complication”. Diabetic gastroenteropathy contributes to a decline in quality of life. In addition, gastroenteropathy is generally observed in patients with concurrent gastric cancer and diabetes mellitus before surgery, and the occurrence of the symptoms might be due not only to cancer but also to the complications of diabetes mellitus.

[Narrative Argumentation in Political Letters to the Editor]

How and why are narratives used for argumentation in contemporary political letters to the editor? In order to find answers to this question, I examine about 50 letters to the editor from Swiss and German daily newspapers, all of which are related to COVID-19. In all letters, the writer presents an argument by telling a story. It turns out that the story usually serves as a premise for an argument from example in an argumentation with an evaluative standpoint. For the writers, unfolding such a premise as a narrative has the advantage that they can successively convey an evaluation together with the exemplary event. A socio-cultural benefit of such narrative arguments from example might be that they can easily connect the social micro-level with the societal macro-level in political debates.

In response to the December 2016 article entitled "Vegetarian diet and all-cause mortality: Evidence from a large population-based Australian cohort - the 45 and Up Study"

In response to the December 2016 article entitled "Vegetarian diet and all-cause mortality: Evidence from a large population-based Australian cohort - the 45 and Up Study". A brief analysis of the article with suggestions for interpretation and considerations for future research.