Multikink quantile regression for longitudinal data with application to progesterone data analysis.

Motivated by investigating the relationship between progesterone and the days in a menstrual cycle in a longitudinal study, we propose a multikink quantile regression model for longitudinal data analysis. It relaxes the linearity condition and assumes different regression forms in different regions of the domain of the threshold covariate. In this paper, we first propose a multikink quantile regression for longitudinal data.

Ledipasvir/Sofosbuvir for Patients Coinfected With Chronic Hepatitis C and Hepatitis B in Taiwan: Follow-up at 108 Weeks Posttreatment.

Background: For patients coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV), HCV treatment with direct-acting antivirals can lead to HBV reactivation. We evaluated HBV reactivation during ledipasvir/sofosbuvir treatment and 108-week follow-up.

Methods: In Taiwan, 111 patients with HCV genotype 1 or 2 and HBV received ledipasvir/sofosbuvir (90mg/400mg) once daily for 12 weeks.

Flagella hook protein FlgE is a novel vaccine candidate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa identified by a genomic approach.

Infections due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) are becoming a serious threat to patients in intensive care units. A PA vaccine is a practical and economical solution to solve the problems caused by PA infection successfully. In recent years, several antigen candidates have been tested in animal and human clinical trials, but none of them has been approved to date.

Development of a Chimeric Vaccine Against Based on the Th17-Stimulating Epitopes of PcrV and AmpC.

Pulmonary infection caused by (PA) has created an urgent need for an efficient vaccine, but the protection induced by current candidates is limited, partially because of the high variability of the PA genome. Antigens targeting pulmonary Th17 responses are able to provide antibody-independent and broad-spectrum protection; however, little information about Th17-stimulating antigens in PA is available. Herein, we identified two novel PA antigens that effectively induce Th17-dependent protection, namely, PcrV (PA1706) and AmpC (PA4110).

Prophylactic and therapeutic protection of human IgG purified from sera containing anti-exotoxin A titers against pneumonia caused by .

Antibodies are effective alternative tools to combat infections caused by (PA), especially multi-drug-resistant PA. Thus, to solve the urgent need for an anti-PA antibody drug, we hypothesized that anti-PA intravenous immunoglobulins could be a practical attempt. Exotoxin A (ETA) is one of the most important factors for PA infection and is also a critical target for the development of immune interventions.

Rational Design of a Chimeric Derivative of PcrV as a Subunit Vaccine Against .

(PA) is a major cause of nosocomial infections, which remain an unsolved problem in the clinic despite conventional antibiotic treatment. A PA vaccine could be both an effective and economical strategy to address this issue. Many studies have shown that PcrV, a structural protein of the type 3 secretion system (T3SS) from PA, is an ideal target for immune prevention and therapy.

Diagnosis of icteric-type hepatocellular carcinoma by fine needle aspiration: a case report.

Background: Bile duct invasion is very rare in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). It usually presents difficult problems with the clinical differential diagnosis. Moreover, another difficulty might arise when an obstructive jaundice patient is found to have past history of 2 separate malignancies.

Clinical significance of TT virus (TTV) infection in chronic hepatitis C patients with high dose interferon-alpha therapy in Taiwan: re-evaluated by using new set of TTV primers.

BACKGROUND: The clinical significance of TT virus (TTV) coinfection in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients and influence of TTV viremia on hepatitis C virus (HCV) response to high dose interferon-alpha therapy in Taiwan were investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Total 102 HCV RNA-positive CHC patients were enrolled. TTV DNA (using polymerase chain reaction primers derived from 5' non-coding region and open reading frame 2), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), GB virus-C/hepatitis G virus (GBV-C/HGV) RNA, anti-E2 antibody, genotype and RNA levels of HCV were tested.