Hepatitis and Hepatitis B Virus Reactivation in Everolimus-Treated Solid Tumor Patients: A Focus on HBV-Endemic Areas.

Background: Everolimus is approved for treating breast, renal, and pancreatic neuroendocrine cancers but carries the risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation (HBVr) and hepatitis. However, data on HBVr in everolimus-treated patients are limited. This study evaluates the risk of hepatitis and HBVr in cancer patients with current or past HBV infection.

Measuring Mobile Phone Application Usability for Anticoagulation from the Perspective of Patients, Caregivers, and Healthcare Professionals.

Oral anticoagulants (OAC) are recommended for preventing stroke and systemic embolism in atrial fibrillation. Proper use is imperative for maximizing anticoagulation therapy's effectiveness and safety. In preparation for the implementation of a smartphone-based SmartMed app (application) aiming to promote patient self-management, medication adherence, and data collection for patients on anticoagulation therapy, its usability assessment can ensure the value of OAC app development and adoption.

Predictors of Acute Kidney Disease Severity in Hospitalized Patients with Acute Kidney Injury.

Acute kidney disease (AKD) forms part of the continuum of acute kidney injury (AKI) and worsens clinical outcomes. Currently, the predictors of AKD severity have yet to be established. We conducted a retrospective investigation involving 310 hospitalized patients with AKI and stratified them based on the AKD stages defined by the Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative criteria.

Nephrotoxins and acute kidney injury - The consensus of the Taiwan acute kidney injury Task Force.

The Taiwan Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) Task Force conducted a review of data and developed a consensus regarding nephrotoxins and AKI. This consensus covers: (1) contrast-associated AKI; (2) drug-induced nephrotoxicity; (3) prevention of drug-associated AKI; (4) follow up after AKI; (5) re-initiation of medication after AKI. Strategies for the avoidance of contrast media related AKI, including peri-procedural hydration, sodium bicarbonate solutions, oral N-acetylcysteine, and iso-osmolar/low-osmolar non-ionic iodinated contrast media have been recommended, given the respective evidence levels.

Feature and impact of guideline-directed medication prescriptions for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction accompanied by chronic kidney disease.

With respect to total mortality and cardiovascular mortality, the feature and impact of guideline-directed medication (GDM) prescriptions for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are unknown. Therefore, we aimed to determine these aspects. GDM prescriptions and their impact on discharged patients with and without CKD were analyzed.

Development of flexible electrochemical impedance spectroscopy-based biosensing platform for rapid screening of SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) enters the cells through the binding of its spike protein (S-protein) to the cell surface-expressing angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Thus, inhibition of S-protein-ACE2 binding may impede SARS-CoV-2 cell entry and attenuate the progression of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, an electrochemical impedance spectroscopy-based biosensing platform consisting of a recombinant ACE2-coated palladium nano-thin-film electrode as the core sensing element was fabricated for the screening of potential inhibitors against S-protein-ACE2 binding.

Association of Statin and Its Lipophilicity With Cardiovascular Events in Patients Receiving Chronic Dialysis.

Lipophilicity of statins has been linked to extrahepatic cell penetration and inhibition of isoprenoid synthesis and coenzyme Q10, which may affect myocardial contraction. Whether statins' lipophilicity affects the risk of cardiovascular disease development in patients under dialysis is unclear. This population-based study included 114,929 patients undergoing chronic dialysis, retrieved from the Registry for Catastrophic Illness Patients from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan from 2000 to 2013.

MetaRank: a rank conversion scheme for comparative analysis of microbial community compositions.

Motivation: Metagenomics involves sampling and studying the genetic materials in microbial communities. Several statistical methods have been proposed for comparative analysis of microbial community compositions. Most of the methods are based on the estimated abundances of taxonomic units or functional groups from metagenomic samples.

The impact of normalization and phylogenetic information on estimating the distance for metagenomes.

Metagenomics enables the study of unculturable microorganisms in different environments directly. Discriminating between the compositional differences of metagenomes is an important and challenging problem. Several distance functions have been proposed to estimate the differences based on functional profiles or taxonomic distributions; however, the strengths and limitations of such functions are still unclear.

MetaABC--an integrated metagenomics platform for data adjustment, binning and clustering.

Summary: MetaABC is a metagenomic platform that integrates several binning tools coupled with methods for removing artifacts, analyzing unassigned reads and controlling sampling biases. It allows users to arrive at a better interpretation via series of distinct combinations of analysis tools. After execution, MetaABC provides outputs in various visual formats such as tables, pie and bar charts as well as clustering result diagrams.

Reanalyze unassigned reads in Sanger based metagenomic data using conserved gene adjacency.

Background: Investigation of metagenomes provides greater insight into uncultured microbial communities. The improvement in sequencing technology, which yields a large amount of sequence data, has led to major breakthroughs in the field. However, at present, taxonomic binning tools for metagenomes discard 30-40% of Sanger sequencing data due to the stringency of BLAST cut-offs.

Genome-wide analysis of the cis-regulatory modules of divergent gene pairs in yeast.

In budding yeast, approximately a quarter of adjacent genes are divergently transcribed (divergent gene pairs). Whether genes in a divergent pair share the same regulatory system is still unknown. By examining transcription factor (TF) knockout experiments, we found that most TF knockout only altered the expression of one gene in a divergent pair.

Surface modification of electrospun PLLA nanofibers by plasma treatment and cationized gelatin immobilization for cartilage tissue engineering.

Electrospun poly(lactic acid) (PLLA) nanofibers (NF) were modified with cationized gelatin (CG) to improve their compatibility with chondrocytes and to show in vitro and in vivo the potential applications of CG-grafted PLLA nanofibrous membranes (CG-PLLA NFM) as a cartilage tissue engineering scaffold. PLLA NF were first treated with oxygen plasma to introduce -COOH groups on the surface, followed by covalent grafting of CG molecules onto the fiber surface, using water-soluble carbodiimide as the coupling agent. The effects of CG grafting and properties of NFM were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, atomic force microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectra and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.