Early prediction of mortality upon intensive care unit admission.

Background: We aimed to develop and validate models for predicting intensive care unit (ICU) mortality of critically ill adult patients as early as upon ICU admission.

Methods: Combined data of 79,657 admissions from two teaching hospitals' ICU databases were used to train and validate the machine learning models to predict ICU mortality upon ICU admission and at 24 h after ICU admission by using logistic regression, gradient boosted trees (GBT), and deep learning algorithms.

Results: In the testing dataset for the admission models, the ICU mortality rate was 7%, and 38.

Early prediction of mortality at sepsis diagnosis time in critically ill patients by using interpretable machine learning.

This study applied machine learning for the early prediction of 30-day mortality at sepsis diagnosis time in critically ill patients. Retrospective study using data collected from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV database. The data of the patient cohort was divided on the basis of the year of hospitalization, into training (2008-2013), validation (2014-2016), and testing (2017-2019) datasets.

The outcomes and prognostic factors of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and Child-Turcotte-Pugh class B.

Background: The Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) score is widely used for assessing the liver's functional reserve in patients with advanced chronic liver disease (ACLD) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aims to explore the outcomes of patients with HCC and CTP class B and to investigate the prognostic accuracy of prediction models for ACLD in these patients.

Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 1143 patients with HCC and CTP class B between 2007 and 2022.

Early prediction of delirium upon intensive care unit admission: Model development, validation, and deployment.

Study Objective: To develop, validate, and deploy models for predicting delirium in critically ill adult patients as early as upon intensive care unit (ICU) admission.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Single university teaching hospital in Taipei, Taiwan.

The outcomes and prognostic factors of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and normal serum alpha fetoprotein levels.

Background: Alpha fetoprotein (AFP) is the most widely used tumor marker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Nevertheless, few studies have investigated the prognostic factors of HCC patients with normal serum AFP levels.

Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 2198 patients with HCC and normal serum AFP levels (<20 ng/mL) from 2007 to 2020.

Differential prognoses among male and female patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is significantly higher in men than women. Nonetheless, the impact of sex disparities on HCC outcomes remains unclear. We aimed to compare the clinical manifestations and prognoses between male and female patients with HCC.

Inhibitory effect of Malaysian coastal plants on banana ( colla "Lakatan"), ginger ( Roscoe) and sweet potato () polyphenol oxidase.

Undesired browning reaction catalyzed by polyphenol oxidase (PPO) has reduced the nutritional quality and customer acceptance of the products. The inhibitory effects of six coastal plants including and on PPO in banana, sweet potato and ginger were studied based on oxidation of pyrocatechol. Banana exhibited the highest PPO activity (141,600 U), followed by sweet potato (43,440 U) and ginger (26,880 U).

The role of albumin-bilirubin grade in determining the outcomes of patients with very early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and with a single tumor <2 cm in size are classified as having Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage 0 HCC. We aimed to investigate the role of the albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade in predicting outcomes in patients with BCLC stage 0 HCC.

Methods: We retrospectively enrolled patients with BCLC stage 0 HCC in Taipei Veterans General Hospital from 2007 to 2015.

Appropriate locations of fixed bearings of continuous beams considering rail-bridge thermal interaction.

Due to the rail-bridge thermal interaction, the high additional axial force in continuously welded rails on continuous bridges may lead to rail buckling or breaking. However, there is little research on the influence of the location of the fixed bearing of continuous beam on the additional force of rail. In order to study the influence of bridge bearing arrangement on the additional longitudinal force of CWR, the thermal interaction model is established for rail, and simple and continuous beams considering nonlinear stiffness and the methods are proposed to determine the locations of fixed bearings of continuous beams corresponding to the maximum additional forces in rail reaching minimum values.

The development an artificial intelligence algorithm for early sepsis diagnosis in the intensive care unit.

Background: Severe sepsis and septic shock are still the leading causes of death in Intensive Care Units (ICUs), and timely diagnosis is crucial for treatment outcomes. The progression of electronic medical records (EMR) offers the possibility of storing a large quantity of clinical data that can facilitate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine. However, several difficulties, such as poor structure and heterogenicity of the raw EMR data, are encountered when introducing AI with ICU data.

Modulation of optical focusing by using optimized zone plate structures.

The focusing properties of the optimized zone plate structures which have upper and lower zones with different thicknesses are studied by the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. Two kinds of materials are chosen, including silver representing metal and BK7 glass representing dielectric. An optimization algorithm is applied to tune the parameters of zone plate structures.

The influence of propagating and evanescent waves on the focusing properties of zone plate structures.

The field properties of Fresnel zone plates with wavelength-scale focal distances were numerically investigated using the finite-difference time-domain method. The fields in the focal planes are analyzed using the angular spectrum representation, and the components of the propagating and evanescent waves are reconstructed. It was found that, in the focal plane of silver zone plates, there were more evanescent waves and the propagating waves occurred at higher spatial frequencies relative to glass zone plates.

Medulloblastoma-derived tumor stem-like cells acquired resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis and radiosensitivity.

Objects: Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most malignant primary brain tumor in early childhood that contains cellular and functional heterogeneity. Recent evidence has demonstrated that the tumor stem cells (TSC) may explain the radiochemoresistance of brain tumors, including MB. The aim of the present study is to investigate the possible role of TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) in viability and tumorigenicity of MB cells and MB-derived TSC.