Publications by authors named "Chong I"

The primary challenge in reporting cancer cases lies in the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of manually reviewing numerous reports. Current methods predominantly rely on rule-based approaches or custom-supervised learning models, which predict diagnostic codes based on a single pathology report per patient. Although these methods show promising evaluation results, their biased outcomes in controlled settings may hinder adaption to real-world reporting workflows.

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In many clinical and research settings, the scarcity of high-quality medical imaging datasets has hampered the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) clinical applications. This issue is particularly pronounced in less common conditions, underrepresented populations and emerging imaging modalities, where the availability of diverse and comprehensive datasets is often inadequate. To address this challenge, we introduce a unified medical image-text generative model called MINIM that is capable of synthesizing medical images of various organs across various imaging modalities based on textual instructions.

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Background: Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) has been widely adopted for lung cancer screening due to its proven ability to reduce lung cancer mortality, especially among high-risk populations.

Methods: This retrospective study aims to evaluate the impact of LDCT screening on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) staging at Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital (KMUH) from 2011 to 2020, following the introduction of LDCT in 2013. The study examines the correlation between LDCT screening volume and changes in the distribution of NSCLC stages, particularly early-stage (stages 0 and I) and late-stage (stage IV) diagnoses.

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Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of a novel contact lens sensor system (CLS) in detecting continuous intraocular pressure (IOP) variations following positional transitions, and to explore these IOP variation patterns among normal subjects, untreated glaucoma patients, and untreated ocular hypertension (OHT) subjects.

Methods: This prospective comparative study included 20 normal subjects, 14 high tension glaucoma (HTG) patients, 16 normal tension glaucoma (NTG) patients, and 14 OHT subjects. Participants wore the CLS for continuous IOP monitoring while undergoing sequential body position changes: from sitting to supine to a 10° head-down tilt (HDT), with each position maintained for ten minutes.

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Background: This study aimed to assess the diagnostic and prognostic value of Aspergillus-specific IgG (Asp-IgG) for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) in non-neutropenic non-hematologic patients.

Methods: Between November 2019 and February 2022, we recruited 40 non-neutropenic, non-hematologic IPA patients from Taiwan and measured serum Asp-IgG levels using Phadia, Thermofisher. A positive Asp-IgG test was defined as a level > 40 mgA/L.

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Article Synopsis
  • Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a severe lung disease with limited treatments, and pirfenidone has been approved for its treatment in Taiwan since 2016.
  • A study was conducted on 50 IPF patients in Taiwan to assess the real-world safety and effectiveness of pirfenidone, revealing that most patients showed no significant changes in lung function or walking distance after treatment, although pirfenidone did help stabilize cough symptoms.
  • The study found that while 62% of patients experienced side effects, with decreased appetite being most common, overall, pirfenidone was considered an effective and safe option for IPF treatment in this population.
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  • - Omicron, a variant of SARS-CoV-2, was first detected in Taiwan at the end of 2021, leading the government to end its strict "zero-COVID" policy in March 2022, after which COVID-19 outbreaks began.
  • - Researchers conducted a study using nasopharyngeal swabs and medical records from Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital to track Omicron subvariant replacements and identify factors affecting hospitalization risk.
  • - Findings indicated that older age, comorbidities, and male sex heightened the risk of hospitalization and mortality, while COVID-19-related cases and deaths generally decreased over time from August 2022 to October 2023.
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Purpose: Tissue-based next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis is highly recommended for patients with advanced/metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We investigated a specific patient population with NSCLC that required tissue-based NGS analysis.

Materials And Methods: We enrolled 500 patients with advanced/metastatic (1) epidermal growth factor receptor () mutations or anaplastic large-cell lymphoma kinase () rearrangement-positive NSCLC who had failed at minimum one line of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy, (2) -negative nonsquamous, and (3) non- or light-smoker patients with squamous NSCLC who were treatment-naïve or had failed at maximum two lines of systemic treatment.

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Purpose: To investigate the relationship between intraocular pressure (IOP) changes and corneal biomechanical properties, determine the quantitative relationship between IOP changes and corneal biomechanical properties in patients with glaucoma and observe the differences among different types of glaucoma when the effects of high-level IOP were excluded.

Design: Prospective clinical cohort study.

Methods: Setting: Institutional.

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Objectives: The weekly rifapentine plus isoniazid for 3 months (3HP) improves completion rate of latent tuberculosis infection treatment, but flu-like symptoms are common. The novel 1HP regimen, involving daily rifapentine plus isoniazid for 28 days, has demonstrated low toxicity in HIV-infected populations. We aimed to investigate whether 1HP has a lower incidence rate of systemic drug reaction (SDR) compared with 3HP during treatment in non-HIV populations.

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Importance: The use of evidence-based standardized outcome measures is increasingly recognized as key to guiding clinical decision-making in mental health. Implementation of these measures into clinical practice has been hampered by lack of clarity on what to measure and how to do this in a reliable and standardized way.

Objective: To develop a core set of outcome measures for specific neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), communication disorders, specific learning disorders, and motor disorders, that may be used across a range of geographic and cultural settings.

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Objectives: Predicting progression of nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease (NTM-LD) remains challenging. This study evaluated whether sputum bacterial microbiome diversity can be the biomarker and provide novel insights into related phenotypes and treatment timing.

Methods: We analyzed 126 sputum microbiomes of 126 patients with newly diagnosed NTM-LD due to Mycobacterium avium complex, M.

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Data curation for a hospital-based cancer registry heavily relies on the labor-intensive manual abstraction process by cancer registrars to identify cancer-related information from free-text electronic health records. To streamline this process, a natural language processing system incorporating a hybrid of deep learning-based and rule-based approaches for identifying lung cancer registry-related concepts, along with a symbolic expert system that generates registry coding based on weighted rules, was developed. The system is integrated with the hospital information system at a medical center to provide cancer registrars with a patient journey visualization platform.

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Article Synopsis
  • Combining EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) with anti-VEGF agents, like bevacizumab or ramucirumab, is a treatment option for advanced lung adenocarcinoma with specific EGFR mutations.
  • A study involving 47 patients showed that the effectiveness, in terms of response rates and survival, was similar for both bevacizumab and ramucirumab when combined with EGFR-TKIs.
  • However, patients on ramucirumab experienced significantly higher rates of high-grade hypertension, and additional factors like poor performance status and brain metastasis were linked to worse progression-free survival.
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Introduction: Even lightly compromised skin may impact self-esteem and social behaviour. After intradermal infiltration, natural-origin Polynucleotides High Purification Technology (PN HPT) promote new collagen and extracellular matrix production, translating into a physiological correction of the ageing skin. The study aimed to explore the benefits of intradermal PN HPT on the four perceptual skin quality categories "Skin Tone Evenness", "Skin Surface Evenness", "Skin Firmness", and "Skin Glow" in a representative sample of 30 Asian subjects (mean age 40.

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Aims: To investigate the physiological nyctohemeral intraocular pressure (IOP) rhythms of normal Chinese adults using a novel contact lens sensor system (CLS) that can output IOP in millimetres of mercury (mm Hg) continuously.

Methods: Fifty-nine eyes of 59 normal Chinese adults completed 24-hour IOP monitoring using the novel CLS. A descriptive analysis was conducted on the 24-hour IOP mean, peak and acrophase, trough and bathyphase, fluctuation, and mean amplitude of intraocular pressure excursion (MAPE).

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Article Synopsis
  • In Taiwan, a study called TALENT is examining the effectiveness of low-dose CT (LDCT) screening for lung cancer in never-smokers who have other risk factors, as nearly 60% of such patients are diagnosed at advanced stages.
  • The study involved 17 medical centers and included individuals aged 55-75 who met specific eligibility criteria, like having never smoked or having a very limited smoking history, and certain risk factors for lung cancer.
  • Preliminary results from a 1-year follow-up after the initial LDCT screenings were analyzed, focusing on the detection rates of lung cancer and using various statistical methods to evaluate the outcomes.
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Gastric cancer (GC) organoids are frequently used to examine cell proliferation and death as well as cancer development. Invasion/migration assay, xenotransplantation, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production were used to examine the effects of antioxidant drugs, including perillaldehyde (PEA), cinnamaldehyde (CA), and sulforaphane (SFN), on GC. PEA and CA repressed the proliferation of human GC organoids, whereas SFN enhanced it.

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Our study evaluated whether an MRI reporting system highlighting areas of contiguous and discontinuous extramural venous invasion (EMVI) can improve the accuracy of gross tumour volume (GTV) delineation. Initially, 27 consecutive patients with locally advanced rectal cancer treated between 2012 and 2014 were evaluated. We used an MRI reporting proforma that documented the position of the primary tumour, lymph nodes and EMVI.

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Purpose: To address the contentious data sharing across hospitals, this study adopted a novel approach, federated learning (FL), to establish an aggregate model for acute kidney injury (AKI) prediction in critically ill patients in Taiwan.

Methods: This study used data from the Critical Care Database of Taichung Veterans General Hospital (TCVGH) from 2015 to 2020 and electrical medical records of the intensive care units (ICUs) between 2018 and 2020 of four referral centers in different areas across Taiwan. AKI prediction models were trained and validated thereupon.

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Article Synopsis
  • The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, noticed first in October 2021, had many mutations and led to a significant COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan between January and September 2022, primarily driven by the BA.2.3.7 subvariant.
  • This subvariant, detected in March 2022, showed increased severity and was correlated with higher risks for older patients and those with comorbidities during the outbreak.
  • Despite the outbreaks, Taiwan’s case fatality rate (CFR) dropped to 0.16% during this period, lower than the global average, thanks to improved public health measures, vaccination drives, and effective antiviral treatments.
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Objectives: The purpose of this study was to understand current research on the utilization of mobile health (mHealth) technologies for college students with disabilities.

Methods: We conducted a bibliometric analysis to understand the longitudinal research trends and dominant topics in mHealth research for college students. Next, we performed a scoping review to gain a more in-depth understanding of the current research on the use of mobile technologies for college students with disabilities.

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Objective: This study aims to develop and evaluate a non-imaging clinical data-based nomogram for predicting the risk of vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy (VTDR) in diabetes mellitus type 2 (T2DM) patients.

Methods: Based on the baseline data of the Guangdong Shaoguan Diabetes Cohort Study conducted by the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC) in 2019, 2294 complete data of T2DM patients were randomly divided into a training set (n=1605) and a testing set (n=689). Independent risk factors were selected through univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis on the training dataset, and a nomogram was constructed for predicting the risk of VTDR in T2DM patients.

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