Publications by authors named "Chou A"

The clinical signs and symptoms of acute respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are not pathogen specific. Highly sensitive and specific nucleic acid amplification tests have become the diagnostic reference standard for viruses, and translation of bacterial assays from basic research to routine clinical practice represents an exciting advance in respiratory medicine. Most recently, molecular diagnostics have played an essential role in the global health response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

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There is now evidence that gene fusions activating the MAPK pathway are relatively common in pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma with potentially actionable BRAF or RET fusions being found in ~30%. We sought to investigate the incidence of RAF1 fusions in pancreatic malignancies with acinar cell differentiation. FISH testing for RAF1 was undertaken on 30 tumors comprising 25 'pure' acinar cell carcinomas, 2 mixed pancreatic acinar-neuroendocrine carcinomas, 1 mixed acinar cell-low grade neuroendocrine tumor and 2 pancreatoblastomas.

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Background Surgery for tricuspid valve (TV) diseases is associated with poor prognosis, but few studies have described the long-term outcomes by comparing TV repair and replacement in isolated and concomitant TV surgeries separately. Methods and Results Between 2000 and 2013, adult patients who underwent TV repair or replacement surgeries were identified from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Outcomes of interest included all-cause mortality, composite outcome, and readmission attributable to any cause.

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Objectives: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is used for life support in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC). However, there have been no studies evaluating the outcome of ECMO support in patients with LC.

Methods: Using Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) database, we retrospectively evaluated patients with LC who received veno-venous or veno-arterial ECMO between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2013.

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The flow behind streamwise arrays of roughness elements was examined with a hot-wire probe. The roughness elements had heights of approximately 20% and 40% of the boundary layer thickness and different spacings and orientations of these roughness elements were tested. The circular roughness elements were spaced two diameters apart or four diameters apart from center to center.

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This Letter reports on a cavity haloscope search for dark matter axions in the Galactic halo in the mass range 2.81-3.31  μeV.

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The Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS) is currently the largest characterized superfamily of transmembrane secondary transport proteins. Its diverse members are found in essentially all organisms in the biosphere and function by uniport, symport, and/or antiport mechanisms. In 1993 we first named and described the MFS which then consisted of 5 previously known families that had not been known to be related, and by 2012 we had identified a total of 74 families, classified phylogenetically within the MFS, all of which included only transport proteins.

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Article Synopsis
  • Liver cirrhosis may lead to fewer coronary and cerebrovascular events in patients experiencing acute myocardial infarction (AMI), but these individuals face higher overall mortality rates due to complications related to liver disease and bleeding.
  • A study analyzed data from 3217 cirrhotic and 6434 non-cirrhotic patients from Taiwan between 2001 and 2013, indicating that cirrhotic patients had lower incidences of recurrent myocardial infarction and major cardiac events compared to their non-cirrhotic counterparts.
  • Despite having fewer cardiac events, cirrhotic patients with AMI showed significantly higher rates of liver-related complications and all-cause mortality, emphasizing the need for tailored medical management in these patients.
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Preparing for public health emergencies is an ongoing process and involves a variety of approaches and tools. Tabletop exercises are one of the tools designed to simulate the emergence of a public health emergency and address some or all of the phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.1 They typically are designed to include participation of stakeholders from diverse and complementary backgrounds, including command, operations, logistics, planning, and finance.

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Esculetin, a coumarin derivative from various natural plants, has an anti-inflammatory property. In the present study, we examined if esculetin has any salutary effects against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) in mice. Acute lung injury (ALI) was induced via the intratracheal administration of LPS, and esculetin (20 and 40 mg/kg) was given intraperitoneally 30 min before LPS challenge.

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Severe neurological complications following infective endocarditis remain a major problem with high mortality rate. The long-term neurological consequences following infective endocarditis remain uncertain. Otherwise, neurosurgeries could be performed after these complications; however, few clinical series have reported the results.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to explore the link between specific ADIPOQ gene variations and the risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) in the Taiwanese population.
  • Researchers analyzed genetic data from 362 CRC patients and 362 healthy individuals using a specific genetic analysis technique.
  • Findings indicate that the ADIPOQ rs266729 GG genotype and G allele are associated with a higher CRC risk, particularly in individuals with a body mass index (BMI) of 24 or higher, while no significant results were found for two other genetic variations tested.
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Autophagy, an important cellular homeostatic mechanism regulates cell survival under stress and protects against acute kidney injury. However, the role of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) in autophagy regulation in renal tubular cells (HK-2) is unclear. The study was aimed to understand the importance of lncRNA in hypoxia-induced autophagy in HK-2 cells.

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Background: Drug resistance is a major obstacle in cancer therapy. To elucidate the genetic factors that regulate sensitivity to anti-cancer drugs, we performed CRISPR-Cas9 knockout screens for resistance to a spectrum of drugs.

Results: In addition to known drug targets and resistance mechanisms, this study revealed novel insights into drug mechanisms of action, including cellular transporters, drug target effectors, and genes involved in target-relevant pathways.

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Purpose: Dexmedetomidine [DEX; (S)-4-[1-(2,3-dimethylphenyl)ethyl]-3H-imidazole] is a selective α-adrenergic receptor (α-AR) agonist that attenuates the liver damage associated with local or systemic inflammation. However, it remains unclear whether DEX has protective effects against acetaminophen (Paracetamol, PARA)-induced liver toxicity (PILT).

Methods: PILT mice were established by intraperitoneal administration of a hepatotoxic dose of acetaminophen (300 mg/kg).

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Stomatopod crustaceans possess tripartite compound eyes; upper and lower hemispheres are separated by an equatorial midband of several ommatidial rows. The organization of stomatopod retinas is well established, but their optic lobes have been studied less. We used histological staining, immunolabeling, and fluorescent tracer injections to compare optic lobes in two 6-row midband species, Neogonodactylus oerstedii and Pseudosquilla ciliata, to those in two 2-row midband species, Squilla empusa and Alima pacifica.

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NTRK gene rearrangements are important to identify as predictors of response to targeted therapy in many malignancies. Only 0.16-0.

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Opioid use, abuse, and associated mortality have reached an epidemic level. In some states, cannabis is being used to treat chronic pain. To examine the hypothesis that medical marijuana legislation may reduce adverse opioid-related outcomes if patients substitute cannabis for opioids for pain management, we conducted a clinical inquiry (Clin-IQ).

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Participating in research under the guidance of faculty mentors can increase undergraduate students' skills, knowledge, and confidence in conducting scientific research and pursing a scientific career. The Oklahoma IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (OK-INBRE) in the US state of Oklahoma has established an infrastructure to develop future researchers and healthcare professionals by providing students with summer internships. However, long-term benefits have not typically been well quantified, and most prior investigations examining benefits and outcomes of undergraduate summer research experiences have been descriptive and/or observational in nature.

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