Toll-like receptor and matrix metalloproteinase single-nucleotide polymorphisms, haplotypes, and polygenic risk score differentiated between tuberculosis disease and infection.

Objectives: The association of toll-like receptors (TLRs) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among latent tuberculosis (TB) infection and active TB remained less studied.

Methods: We recruited participants with TB disease (active TB) (n = 400) and TB infection (latent TB infection) (n = 203) in this study. We genotyped SNPs in TLR1, TLR2, TLR4, MMP1, MMP8, MMP9, MMP12, and tissue inhibitor of MMP2.

PeakPCO combined with FEV1/FVC predicts vasodilator-responsive patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing and pulmonary function test are important methods for detecting human cardio-pulmonary function. Whether they could screen vasoresponsiveness in idiopathic pulmonary artery hypertension (IPAH) patients remains undefined. One hundred thirty-two IPAH patients with complete data were retrospectively enrolled.

Evaluating the efficacy of endoscopic sphincterotomy on biliary-type sphincter of Oddi dysfunction: A retrospective clinical trial.

Background: Although endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST) has a positive therapeutic effect on biliary-type sphincter of Oddi dysfunction (SOD), some patients still have little relief after EST, which implies that other functional abdominal pain may also be present with biliary-type SOD and interfere with the diagnosis and treatment of it.

Aim: To retrospectively assess EST as a treatment for biliary-type SOD and analyze the importance of functional gastrointestinal disorder (FGID) in guiding endoscopic treatment of SOD.

Methods: Clinical data of 79 patients with biliary-type SOD (type I and type II) treated with EST at Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University from January 2014 to January 2019 were retrospectively collected to evaluate the clinical therapeutic effect of EST.

Association of changes in NT-proBNP, hsTnT and uric acid levels with haemodynamic changes after targeted medical therapies in patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Background: During pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)-targeted therapies for patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH), regular follow up to evaluate treatment efficacy is essential. Serum biomarkers can reflect various pathobiological processes in IPAH and have the advantages of being non-invasive, simple to carry out and low cost. The aim of our study was to evaluate whether serum biomarkers could serve as non-invasive markers to reflect haemodynamic changes after PAH-targeted therapies in patients with IPAH.

Sjögren's syndrome with nodular pulmonary amyloidosis.

We report a case of Sjögren's syndrome with nodular pulmonary amyloidosis. Amyloidosis is a heterogeneous group of diseases caused by aggregation of autologous protein and its extracellular deposition as fibrils. Most cases of nodular pulmonary amyloidosis are the result of an underlying disorder such as mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma, rheumatoid arthritis, or multiple myeloma.

Successful Management of a -Rearranged Pulmonary Pleomorphic Carcinoma Using Serial Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors.

Pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma (PPC) generally lacks actionable driver mutations such as epidermal growth factor receptor mutations or anaplastic lymphoma kinase or c-ros oncogene 1 () rearrangements. The response to crizotinib, ceritinib, brigatinib, and lorlatinib in -positive advanced non-small cell lung carcinoma is well established; however, there is little mention of their successful administration in pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma cases. We report a case of a stage II PPC with recurrence after surgical resection and developed multiple distant metastasis.

Kinetics of oxygen uptake during unassisted breathing trials in prolonged mechanical ventilation: a prospective pilot study.

Few studies have investigated the measurement of oxygen uptake ([Formula: see text]O) in tracheostomized patients undergoing unassisted breathing trials (UBTs) for liberation from mechanical ventilation (MV). Using an open-circuit, breath-to-breath method, we continuously measured [Formula: see text]O and relevant parameters during 120-min UBTs via a T-tube in 49 tracheostomized patients with prolonged MV, and calculated mean values in the first and last 5-min periods. Forty-one (84%) patients successfully completed the UBTs.

[Association of oxygen uptake efficiency in exercise test with exercise capacity in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease].

Objective: To explore the characteristics of oxygen uptake efficiency (OUE) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and to analyze the relationship between OUE and the exercise capacity.

Methods: Pulmonary function test and cardiopulmonary exercise test were performed in 59 patients with stable COPD (grade I, n = 15; grade II, n = 16; grade III, n = 19; grade IV, n = 9) and 29 healthy volunteers of the same age. Their successive breathing respiratory exchange parameters were collected and analyzed.

Development of NTU standard Chinese Brain Template: morphologic and functional comparison with MNI template using magnetic resonance imaging.

Background And Purpose: The brain structure mismatch between western and eastern people may lead to an inappropriate interpretation of neurocognitive studies. To minimize this interracial misinterpretation, we developed the National Taiwan University Chinese Brain Template (NTU-CBT).

Methods: 102 (M/F = 55/47) healthy Chinese subjects were recruited and received 3T MR brain scans.

Brain activation in patients with idiopathic hyperacusis.

The neural network associated with idiopathic hyperacusis is still not well known. We studied the brain activation of 3 middle-aged patients with mild to moderate hyperacusis by functional magnetic resonance imaging while they were listening to white noise binaurally. In addition to the temporal lobes, in all patients, sound elicited activation in the frontal lobes (superior, middle, or inferior frontal gyri) and occipital lobes (precuneus, cuneus, superior occipital gyrus, lingual gyrus, or fusiform gyrus).

Protein preparation, crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of N-acetylglutamate kinase from Streptococcus mutans.

The N-acetylglutamate kinase from Streptococcus mutans was expressed in Escherichia coli in soluble form and purified to homogeneity. Crystals suitable for X-ray diffraction were obtained by hanging-drop vapor diffusion method and diffracted to 2.06 A.

Brain activation in patients with congenital bilateral hearing impairment.

Twelve patients with idiopathic, congenital, symmetric, moderate-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss participated in this study. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed while speech sounds were presented to each patient monaurally. Notable blood oxygenation level-dependent responses were clustered mainly in the superior temporal gyrus and transverse temporal gyrus of both hemispheres during right and left ear stimulation.

Aging effects on the activation of the auditory cortex during binaural speech listening in white noise: an fMRI study.

The functional significance of age-related pathology of the auditory cortex is not well established. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the activation pattern of the auditory cortex in aged subjects in response to speech signals. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 12 elderly subjects with normal hearing acuity during selective listening with both ears to speech sounds in quiet and in white noise.

Changes in activation of the auditory cortex following long-term amplification: an fMRI study.

Conclusion: Speech-elicited activation decreased after monaural amplification bilaterally during unaided or aided ear stimulation, but tended to recover later at the contralateral hemisphere during aided ear stimulation.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in the activation pattern of auditory cortex following long-term monoaural amplification.

Patients And Methods: Serial functional magnetic resonance images were obtained while speech sounds were presented to the aided (right) and unaided (left) ears of eight hearing-impaired subjects before, 3 months, and 9 months after beginning the use of a single hearing aid.

Dissociated roles of the middle frontal gyri in the processing of Chinese characters.

The present study examined a hypothesis that the right middle frontal gyrus participates in processing orthography of Chinese characters, while the left middle frontal gyrus mediates access to phonology and semantics. Brain activation during three character tasks, which required processing orthography, phonology, or semantics of Chinese characters, respectively, was measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Comparable neural activity in the right middle frontal gyrus was observed in all three character tasks that always demand orthographical processing.

The effects of masking on the activation of auditory-associated cortex during speech listening in white noise.

Conclusions: Noise-induced masking has different effects on the two hemispheres during speech listening. Auditory-associated cortices in the left hemisphere were more affected by masking than the right side. However, activation of primary and secondary auditory cortices was not affected in both sides under the masking with high signal to noise ratio.

Hemispheric difference in activation patterns of human auditory-associated cortex: an FMRI study.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate interhemispheric differences in activation patterns of the auditory-associated cortex elicited by a series of sounds. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed while different sounds were presented binaurally to 10 healthy subjects with normal hearing. Characteristic activation patterns were elicited although variability was shown between subjects.