Publications by authors named "CT Liu"

Ordered intermetallic alloys are renowned for their impressive mechanical, chemical, and physical properties, making them appealing for various fields. However, practical applications of them have long been severely hindered due to their severe brittleness and poor fabricability. It is difficult to fabricate such materials into components with complex geometries through traditional subtractive manufacturing methods.

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Background/purpose: Spacing between teeth is a common trait across different stages of dentition. With the tide of the digital impression, the scanning trueness of the intraoral scanner (IOS) is a hot subject. This study aimed to determine the correlation between the level of the spaced dentition and trueness of the intraoral scanning.

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Background/purpose: SimEx-Plus (EPED. Inc) was already a mature augmented reality (AR) dental training simulator that allowed students to have a high quality dental education practice. Now the EPCAD software has been further developed into a comprehensive computer-aided design software.

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The strength-ductility trade-off exists ubiquitously, especially in brittle intermetallic-containing multiple principal element alloys (MPEAs), where the intermetallic phases often induce premature failure leading to severe ductility reduction. Hierarchical heterogeneities represent a promising microstructural solution to achieve simultaneous strength-ductility enhancement. However, it remains fundamentally challenging to tailor hierarchical heterostructures using conventional methods, which often rely on costly and time-consuming processing.

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  • Everolimus, a drug for treating certain cancers, poses a risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation and hepatitis, particularly in patients with current or past HBV infection.
  • A study involving 377 patients on everolimus found that 28.75% of those with active HBV (HBsAg-positive) and 17.85% of those without (HBsAg-negative) developed hepatitis, with higher risks associated with specific treatments and lack of prophylaxis.
  • The research emphasizes the need for HBV screening and careful liver function monitoring for patients receiving everolimus, especially in regions where HBV is common.
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Background And Aims: Individuals with steatotic liver disease (SLD) are at high cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, but approaches to characterise and mitigate this risk are limited. By investigating relations, and shared metabolic pathways, of hepatic steatosis/fibrosis and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), we sought to identify new avenues for CVD risk reduction in SLD.

Methods: In Framingham Heart Study (FHS) participants (N = 2722, age 54 ± 9 years, 53% women), vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) was performed between 2016-2019 to assess hepatic steatosis (continuous attenuation parameter [CAP]) and fibrosis (liver fibrosis measure [LSM]).

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Background: Mixed evidence exists regarding stroke rates when comparing self-expanding valves (SEVs) to balloon-expandable valves (BEVs) in transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). This study investigates the debris captured by the SENTINEL cerebral protection system (CPS) during TAVR.

Methods: Seventy-five consecutive patients who underwent TAVR with CPS from March to December 2023 were recruited.

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  • A study explored how different biological factors (like proteins and metabolites) can help identify distinct groups of people with obesity who have varying risks for heart and metabolic diseases.
  • Using data from 243 participants, researchers found two groups: one (iCluster1) with favorable cholesterol levels and another (iCluster2) with higher BMI and inflammation levels.
  • The findings suggest these groups could reflect different stages of obesity-related issues, potentially influenced by factors like diet and behavior, despite similar ages across the groups.
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This study aimed to evaluate the effect of Astragalus polysaccharides (PG2) on reducing chemotherapy-induced fatigue (CIF) and toxicity, thereby encouraging compliance to chemotherapy. This was a randomized, placebo-controlled, phase 2 study. Patients with stage II/III early breast cancer planning to undergo adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy were randomly assigned to receive PG2 500 mg or placebo on days 1, 3, and 8 every 21 days.

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Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has diverse pathological subtypes, most of which have a poor prognosis. Patients with advanced RCC require systemic therapies for disease control. Although targeted therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors have shown therapeutic efficacy, patients eventually succumb to disease progression.

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  • The study investigates how rare non-coding genetic variations affect complex traits, specifically focusing on human height by analyzing data from over 333,100 individuals across three large datasets.
  • Researchers found 29 significant rare variants linked to height, with impacts ranging from a decrease of 7 cm to an increase of 4.7 cm, after considering previously known variants.
  • The team also identified specific non-coding variants near key genes associated with height, demonstrating a new method for understanding the effects of rare variants in regulatory regions using whole-genome sequencing.
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  • * We found 17 genetic loci associated with sleep duration impacting lipid levels, with 10 of them being newly identified and linked to sleep-related disturbances in lipid metabolism.
  • * The research points to potential drug targets that could lead to new treatments for lipid-related issues in individuals with sleep problems, highlighting the connection between sleep patterns and cardiovascular health.
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  • Genome-wide association studies have found numerous genetic loci linked to glycemic traits, but connecting these loci to specific genes and biological pathways remains a challenge.
  • Researchers conducted meta-analyses of exome-array studies across four glycemic traits, analyzing data from over 144,000 participants, which led to the identification of coding variant associations in more than 60 genes.
  • The study revealed significant pathways related to insulin secretion, zinc transport, and fatty acid metabolism, enhancing understanding of glycemic regulation and making data available for further research.
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Background: The association between Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) and the risk of developing major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in patients with dialysis hypotension is unclear and has not yet been investigated. This study aimed to determine whether CMH intervention could reduce the risk of MACEs in patients with dialysis hypotension.

Methods: The study data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database were analyzed to clarify this association.

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Objective: A metabolism score for visceral fat (METS-VF) is an innovative method to access abdominal fat and visceral fat. So far, the relationship between the METS-VF index and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has remained unclear. We investigated the relationship between the METS-VF index and COPD prevalence utilizing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-2018.

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Background: The present study aimed to investigate whether proper sizing can improve the procedural and clinical outcomes of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) with new-generation self-expanding valves (SEVs) and balloon-expandable valves (BEVs) for treating bicuspid aortic stenosis (BAS).

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated consecutive patients who underwent TAVR with Sapien 3 valves (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA) or Evolut R/PRO valves (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN) for severe BAS from 2017 to 2022. The primary endpoints were device success rate and major adverse cardiac and cerebral events (MACCEs), including mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction or disabling stroke, transcatheter heart valve failure, or clinically relevant valve thrombosis during follow-up.

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Intermetallic alloys have traditionally been characterized by their inherent brittleness due to their lack of sufficient slip systems and absence of strain hardening. However, here we developed a single-phase B2 high-entropy intermetallic alloy that is both strong and plastic. Unlike conventional intermetallics, this high-entropy alloy features a highly distorted crystalline lattice with complex chemical order, leading to multiple slip systems and high flow stress.

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Functional and pathological recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) is often incomplete due to the limited regenerative capacity of the central nervous system (CNS), which is further impaired by several mechanisms that sustain tissue damage. Among these, the chronic activation of immune cells can cause a persistent state of local CNS inflammation and damage. However, the mechanisms that sustain this persistent maladaptive immune response in SCI have not been fully clarified yet.

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Although both short and long sleep duration are associated with elevated hypertension risk, our understanding of their interplay with biological pathways governing blood pressure remains limited. To address this, we carried out genome-wide cross-population gene-by-short-sleep and long-sleep duration interaction analyses for three blood pressure traits (systolic, diastolic, and pulse pressure) in 811,405 individuals from diverse population groups. We discover 22 novel gene-sleep duration interaction loci for blood pressure, mapped to 23 genes.

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  • This study explored the effectiveness of medical chitosan injections for treating knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and examined lipid metabolism in synovial tissue.
  • Sixty KOA patients were divided into two groups: one receiving chitosan injections (CSI group) and one without (OA group), with various functional scoring assessments conducted to gauge outcomes.
  • Results indicated that the CSI group had a longer time before needing knee surgery compared to the OA group, and there were notable differences in lipid profiles, especially lower levels of triacylglycerides in the CSI group.
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Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous body mass index (BMI) loci. However, most underlying mechanisms from risk locus to BMI remain unknown. Leveraging omics data through integrative analyses could provide more comprehensive views of biological pathways on BMI.

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Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most prevalent and lethal primary central nervous system malignancies. GBM is notorious for its high rates of recurrence and therapy resistance and the PI3K/Akt pathway plays a pivotal role in its malignant behavior. Crebanine (CB), an alkaloid capable of penetrating the blood-brain barrier (BBB), has been shown to have inhibitory effects on proinflammatory molecules and multiple cancer cell lines via pathways such as PI3K/Akt.

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Eutectic alloys (EAs) with superior fluidity are known to be the easiest to cast into high-quality ingots, making them the alloys of choice for making large-sized structural parts. However, conventional EAs (CEAs) have never reached strength-ductility combinations on par with the best in other alloy categories. Via thermomechanical processing of cast Ni-32.

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