Publications by authors named "Chien-Hsu Chen"

Article Synopsis
  • This study investigates the use of serum inflammatory markers as prognostic indicators for survival in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs).
  • Data from two medical centers in Taiwan were analyzed, focusing on markers like neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), to assess their impact on overall and progression-free survival.
  • The findings suggest that specific inflammatory markers, along with other clinical factors, can effectively predict patient outcomes, emphasizing the need for reliable prognostic tools in mUC treatment.
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  • The study investigates what influences older adults and their families to adopt fall detection technology, aiming to improve emergency responses to falls.
  • Using qualitative interviews with 30 older adults and 29 family members, the research focuses on their views regarding the technology and its effectiveness.
  • The findings reveal seven key factors affecting adoption, including health issues, personal comfort, technology familiarity, financial concerns, and highlight the importance of creating user-friendly and cost-effective solutions to enhance safety for older adults.
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Background: Studies on the correlation between high body mass index (BMI) and extended survival among patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been made, although findings have shown variability. Our research explored the phenomenon of the "obesity paradox" in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) undergoing treatment with ICIs.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients diagnosed with mUC who received a minimum of one cycle of ICI treatment at two medical centers in Taiwan from September 2015 to January 2023.

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  • Patients with variant-type urothelial carcinoma (vUC) have limited effective treatment options compared to those with pure urothelial carcinoma (pUC), and the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in vUC is still uncertain.
  • A study involving 142 patients found that the overall response rate (ORR) to ICI was higher in pUC (34.5%) compared to vUC (23.1%), with no complete responses seen in vUC cases.
  • Despite similarities in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) between both groups, patients with pUC who received ICI as first-line treatment had significantly better OS compared to vUC patients, indicating ICI may be a viable
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Background And Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the 180-W GreenLight laser (GL) XPS™ plus bipolar transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) for the treatment of a prostate volume (PV) beyond 100 ml.

Study Design/materials And Methods: From January 2014 to December 2022, 79 patients with PV > 100 ml who underwent GL-XPS plus bipolar TURP were enrolled. The median follow-up time was 13.

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  • * It involved analyzing 4711 brain scan images from 99 subjects, utilizing methods like chi-squared tests and one-way ANOVA to compare demographic data and to evaluate the CNN models' performance through accuracy and loss functions.
  • * The results highlighted the effectiveness of transfer learning in classifying different levels of Alzheimer's disease, showing significant differences in cognitive scores between subjects with varying clinical dementia ratings.
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: Minimally invasive techniques for inguinal herniorrhaphy have focused on developing the laparoendoscopic single-site (LESS) procedure to improve cosmesis. Outcomes of total extraperitoneal (TEP) herniorrhaphy vary considerably because of being performed by different surgeons. We aimed to evaluate the perioperative characteristics and outcomes of patients undergoing the LESS-TEP approach for inguinal herniorrhaphy and to determine its overall safety and effectiveness.

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While radium (Ra)-223 is among the multiple, known life-prolonging treatments in bone-predominant metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), optimal treatment sequencing has not been determined, particularly in the Asia-Pacific context. Hence, we aimed to compare treatment outcomes of docetaxel-naïve and post-docetaxel mCRPC patients undergoing Ra-223 therapy in Taiwan. Using a single-center retrospective cohort design, we reviewed records of adult patients receiving Ra-223 for bone-metastatic mCRPC from 2018 to 2021.

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  • - Nanodiamonds (NDs) have great potential in biomedical applications such as imaging, drug delivery, and cancer treatment due to their unique magnetic and optical properties, which can be enhanced through selective doping.
  • - The study presents manganese-incorporated nanodiamonds (Mn-NDs) that have been modified through Mn ion implantation, improving their fluorescent properties and showing no cytotoxic effects on certain cell lines.
  • - Mn-NDs also exhibit significant advancements in MRI contrast enhancement and have been used successfully for in vivo imaging of liver tumors in mice, indicating their potential for cancer diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
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  • Detrusor underactivity/underactive bladder (DU/UAB) currently has no approved drug treatments, but extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) shows promise in improving tissue regeneration and bladder function based on preclinical research.
  • A phase 2 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted where patients received either ESWT or a placebo treatment, measuring the effectiveness through changes in postvoid residual urine and other bladder-related metrics over 12 weeks.
  • Results indicated that while there was a significant improvement in symptoms and quality of life scores in the ESWT group compared to placebo, the study's small sample size limited the robustness of the findings.
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We introduced a novel surgery that combines ultrasound guidance, miniaturization and Galdakao-modified supine Valdivia (GMSV) position in percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) and evaluated the safety and efficacy. This retrospective, single-center study retrospectively reviewed 150 patients who underwent ultrasound-guided mini-PCNL in the GMSV position from November 2019 to March 2022. All perioperative parameters were collected.

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  • - Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are effective as a first treatment for patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma who cannot receive cisplatin, but it's unclear whether they work better alone or with chemotherapy.
  • - A study analyzing 130 patients revealed that those receiving ICI alone had a median overall survival of 19.5 months, compared to 9.7 months for those receiving ICIs with chemotherapy.
  • - Patients with tumors expressing high levels of programmed cell death ligand-1 showed even better outcomes with ICI monotherapy, suggesting that combining ICI with noncisplatin chemotherapy does not enhance results.
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  • This study investigates how the location of tumors (renal pelvis vs. ureter) affects cancer outcomes for patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) who underwent radical surgery between 2005 and 2019.
  • A total of 302 patients were analyzed, focusing on outcomes like recurrence and survival rates, with findings indicating that ureteral tumors correlated with worse rates of local recurrence.
  • The research concludes that tumor location is a significant factor in prognosis for UTUC, suggesting the need for further studies to explore underlying biological reasons for these disparities.
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We retrospectively enrolled 102 patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) who underwent radical nephroureterectomy to examine the prognostic value of Ki-67 and programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1). Then, we performed PD-L1 and Ki-67 immunohistochemical staining on whole tissue sections. The cut-off value of PD-L1 positivity was a combined positive score (CPS) ≥10 and the Ki-67 overexpression was 20%.

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Preserving renal function and controlling oncological outcomes are pertinent when managing renal neoplasms. Cryoablation is the recommended treatment only for clinical T1a stage renal tumour. Here, we compared the outcomes of robot-assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (RaPN) and laparoscopic cryoablation (LCA) in the treatment of patients with localised T1-T2 renal tumours.

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  • * The study investigates how intergenerational relationships and filial piety affect the sedentary lifestyle of older individuals, based on interviews with younger adults who regularly interact with them.
  • * Findings suggest that the dominant family figure plays a crucial role in communication, which could facilitate healthier aging by integrating technology like the Internet of Healthy Things (IoHT) to engage the elderly more actively.
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Purpose: Upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is relatively rare in Western countries. The impact of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression on UTUC remains unclear because previous studies have focused on bladder UC. We investigated the association of PD-L1 expression with clinicopathological features and prognosis in patients with UTUC.

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As technology advanced, new e-health solutions are evolved to empower people to manage their care at home. This study explored the needs for disease management in activity tracking using photo diary through older adults' subjective perspective. It further aimed to suggest which lifestyle measures, symptoms and behaviours would be meaningful to include in such a digital diseases care management program for technology design.

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This work presents a fall detection system that is worn on the head, where the acceleration and posture are stable such that everyday movement can be identified without disturbing the wearer. Falling movements are recognized by comparing the acceleration and orientation of a wearer's head using prespecified thresholds. The proposed system consists of a triaxial accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer; as such, a Madgwick's filter is adopted to improve the accuracy of the estimation of orientation.

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A compact beam-position monitor was constructed using a linear contact image sensor attached to a plastic scintillator and tested using a 230 MeV proton beam. The results indicate that the beam position can be obtained in real-time, and the beam position with a precision of up to 0.03 mm.

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Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/ CPPS) has a negative impact on the quality of life, and its etiology still remains unknown. Although many treatment protocols have been evaluated in CP/CPPS, the outcomes have usually been disappointing. Botulinum neurotoxin A (BoNT-A), produced from , has been widely used to lower urinary tract dysfunctions such as detrusor sphincter dyssynergia, refractory overactive bladder, interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndromes, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and CP/ CPPS in urology.

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Background: Anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) as induction therapy in renal transplantation is facing the dilemma of reducing the incidence of acute rejection (AR) and delayed graft function (DGF) or increasing risks of infection and malignancy. The purpose of this study was to delineate the safety and efficiency of the optimal ATG dosage.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 91 deceased donor kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) in our institution between March 2011 and January 2019.

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Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are widely considered to be an attractive cell source for regenerative therapies, but maintaining multipotency and self-renewal in cultured MSCs is especially challenging. Hence, the development and mechanistic description of strategies that help promote multipotency in MSCs will be vital to future clinical use. Here, using an array of techniques and approaches, including cell biology, RT-quantitative PCR, immunoblotting, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, and ChIP assays, we show that the extracellular domain of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) (EpEX) significantly increases the levels of pluripotency factors through a signaling cascade that includes epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), and Lin-28 homolog A (LIN28) and enhances the proliferation of human bone marrow MSCs.

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We demonstrate fluorescent Fe embedded magnetic nanodiamonds by ion implantation and two-step annealing. The diamond characteristics with a highly ordered core and a graphite surface layer are maintained after the implantation process. After the two-step annealing process, a bright red fluorescence associated with nitrogen-vacancy centers is observed.

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The impact of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) on survival was confirmed in various cancer types. Our study aims to investigate the prognostic role of TILs on survival in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) receiving platinum based chemotherapy. Patients who were diagnosed to have pathologically proved mUC between 1997 and 2016 and received palliative chemotherapy with platinum based regimen were recruited into our study.

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