Proposing a Conceptual Framework: Social Media Infodemic Listening for Public Health Behaviors.

Various communication and behavioral theories have been adopted to address health infodemics. However, there is no framework specially designed for social listening studies using social media data, machine learning, and natural language processing techniques. We aimed to propose a novel yet theory-based conceptual framework for infodemic research.

CD44-hyaluronan mediating endocytosis of iron-platinum alloy nanoparticles induces ferroptotic cell death in mesenchymal-state lung cancer cells with tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance.

While tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance in cancer is a critical issue in the medical field, it is important for clinical testing as well, since it affects the ultimate outcome of cancer therapy. Yet, no effective solutions have been implemented till date. Clinical observations after tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment reveal that acquired resistance inevitably limits the curative effects of non-small cell lung cancer treatment because of mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor gene, which are accompanied by epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

Public Attitudes Towards Vaccine Passports in Alberta During the "Pandemic of the Unvaccinated": A Qualitative Analysis of Reddit Posts.

The goal of this study is to understand the attitudes and beliefs towards mandatory vaccination policies in Alberta, Canada in September 2021, during the fourth wave of COVID-19. 9400 posts between 1st September and 30th September 2021 were collected from the subreddit r/Alberta with Pushshift.io.

Monkeypox: a review of epidemiological modelling studies and how modelling has led to mechanistic insight.

Human monkeypox (mpox) virus is a viral zoonosis that belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus of the Poxviridae family, which presents with similar symptoms as those seen in human smallpox patients. Mpox is an increasing concern globally, with over 80,000 cases in non-endemic countries as of December 2022. In this review, we provide a brief history and ecology of mpox, its basic virology, and the key differences in mpox viral fitness traits before and after 2022.

Digital Disease Surveillance for Emerging Infectious Diseases: An Early Warning System Using the Internet and Social Media Data for COVID-19 Forecasting in Canada.

Background: Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) are a significant threat to population health globally. We aimed to examine the relationship between internet search engine queries and social media data on COVID-19 and determine if they can predict COVID-19 cases in Canada.

Methods: We analyzed Google Trends (GT) and Twitter data from 1/1/2020 to 3/31/2020 in Canada and used various signal-processing techniques to remove noise from the data.

Investigating Canadian Public Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates with a Nested Analysis Framework.

Background: Social media is an important medium for studying public attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Canada, and Reddit network communities are a good source for this.

Methods: This study applied a "nested analysis" framework. We collected 20378 Reddit comments via the Pushshift API and developed a BERT-based binary classification model to screen for relevance to COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Exploring the dynamic transitions of polysubstance use patterns among Canadian youth using Latent Markov Models on COMPASS data.

Background: Understanding what factors lead to youth polysubstance use (PSU) patterns and how the transitions between use patterns can inform the design and implementation of PSU prevention programs. We explore the dynamics of PSU patterns from a large cohort of Canadian secondary school students using machine learning techniques.

Methods: We employed a multivariate latent Markov model (LMM) on COMPASS data, with a linked sample (N = 8824) of three-annual waves, Wave I (W, 2016-17, as baseline), Wave II (W, 2017-18), and Wave III (W, 2018-19).

Service process factors affecting patients' and clinicians' experiences on rapid teleconsultation implementation in out-patient neurology services during COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review.

Background: The adoption of teleconsultation for outpatient neurology services was limited until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic which forced many outpatient neurology services to rapidly switch to virtual models. However, it remains unclear how this change has impacted patients' and clinicians' perceptions of service quality. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify process factors that influence patients' and clinicians' experiences of outpatient teleconsultation services during COVID-19.

Risk Management for Radiation-Induced Cardiovascular Disease (RICVD): The 2022 Consensus Statement of the Taiwan Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (TASTRO) and Taiwan Society of Cardiology (TSOC).

Advances in cancer management have significantly improved survival in patients with cancers. Cardiovascular complications of cancer treatment are becoming significant competing causes of death in these patients. Radiotherapy is an indispensable component of cancer treatment, and irradiation of the heart and vasculature during cancer radiotherapy is now recognized as a new risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Afatinib, Erlotinib, and Gefitinib as First-Line Treatments for EGFR Mutation-Positive Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer in Ontario, Canada.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the cost effectiveness of first-line epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer.

Methods: This study used Ontario Cancer Registry-linked administrative data to identify patients with a primary diagnosis of lung cancer who received EGFR-TKIs as first-line treatment between 1 January, 2014 and 31 August, 2019. A net benefit regression approach accounting for baseline covariates and propensity scores was used to estimate incremental net benefits and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios.

Factors affecting treatment selection and overall survival for first-line EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy in non-small-cell lung cancer.

To investigate the factors associated with treatment selection and overall survival for first-line EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) therapy among patients with non-small-cell lung cancer. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of linked administrative health databases in Ontario, Canada. A total of 1011 patients received an EGFR-TKI as first-line therapy.

Real-world effectiveness of nivolumab in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The effectiveness of immunotherapies for non-small-cell lung cancer under real-world clinical settings remains uncertain. Systematic searches of PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science were conducted. Random-effects models were used to estimate pooled median overall survival and progression-free survival estimates.

A new concordant partial AUC and partial c statistic for imbalanced data in the evaluation of machine learning algorithms.

Background: In classification and diagnostic testing, the receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) plot and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) describe how an adjustable threshold causes changes in two types of error: false positives and false negatives. Only part of the ROC curve and AUC are informative however when they are used with imbalanced data. Hence, alternatives to the AUC have been proposed, such as the partial AUC and the area under the precision-recall curve.

Heterologous protein-DNA interactions lead to biased allelic expression of circadian clock genes in interspecific hybrids.

Genomic interactions in allopolyploids create expression variation of homoeologous alleles through protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions. However, the molecular basis for this is largely unknown. Here we investigated the protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions among homoeologous transcription factors in the circadian-clock feedback loop, consisting of CCA1 HIKING EXPEDITION (CHE), CIRCADIAN CLOCK ASSOCIATED1 (CCA1), and TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION1 (TOC1), plus the interaction with a chromatin factor, HISTONE DEACETYLASE1 (HD1).

Argininosuccinate synthetase 1 (ASS1) is a common metabolic marker of chemosensitivity for targeted arginine- and glutamine-starvation therapy.

Argininosuccinate synthetase 1 (ASS1) is the rate-limiting enzyme that catalyzes the biosynthesis of arginine (Arg). Many malignant human tumors are auxotrophic for Arg because ASS1 is silenced. ASS1 has been established as a sensor of Arg auxotrophic response and a chemosensitivity marker for Arg starvation therapy.

Cisplatin-induced synthetic lethality to arginine-starvation therapy by transcriptional suppression of ASS1 is regulated by DEC1, HIF-1α, and c-Myc transcription network and is independent of ASS1 promoter DNA methylation.

Many human tumors require extracellular arginine (Arg) for growth because the key enzyme for de novo biosynthesis of Arg, argininosuccinate synthetase 1 (ASS1), is silenced. These tumors are sensitive to Arg-starvation therapy using pegylated arginine deiminase (ADI-PEG20) which digests extracellular Arg. Many previous studies reported that ASS1 silencing is due to epigenetic inactivation of ASS1 expression by DNA methylation, and that the demethylation agent 5-aza-deoxycytidine (Aza-dC) can induce ASS1 expression.

Cost effectiveness of cancer treatment in Taiwan.

Background/purpose: This study aims to examine the cost effectiveness of treating major cancers compared with other major illnesses in Taiwan.

Methods: We collected data on 395,330 patients with cancer, 125,277 patients with end-stage renal disease, and 50,481 patients under prolonged mechanical ventilation during 1998-2007. They were followed for 10-13 years to estimate lifetime survival functions using a semiparametric method.

Effects of Cu(II) and cisplatin on the stability of Specific protein 1 (Sp1)-DNA binding: Insights into the regulation of copper homeostasis and platinum drug transport.

The human high-affinity copper transporter 1 (hCtr1) transports both Cu(I) and cisplatin (cDDP). Because Cu deficiency is lethal yet Cu overload is poisonous, hCtr1 expression is transcriptionally upregulated in response to Cu deficiency but is downregulated under Cu replete conditions in controlling Cu homeostasis. The up- and down-regulation of hCtr1 is regulated by Specific protein 1 (Sp1), which itself is also correspondingly regulated under these Cu conditions.

Targeting drug transport mechanisms for improving platinum-based cancer chemotherapy.

Introduction: Platinum (Pt)-based antitumor agents remain important chemotherapeutic agents for treating many human malignancies. Elevated expression of the human high-affinity copper transporter 1 (hCtr1), resulting in enhanced Pt drug transport into cells, has been shown to be associated with improved treatment efficacy. Thus, targeting hCtr1 upregulation is an attractive strategy for improving the treatment efficacy of Pt-based cancer chemotherapy.

A new Mercer sigmoid kernel for clinical data classification.

In classification with Support Vector Machines, only Mercer kernels, i.e. valid kernels, such as the Gaussian RBF kernel, are widely accepted and thus suitable for clinical data.

Comparison of expected health impacts for major cancers: integration of incidence rate and loss of quality-adjusted life expectancy.

Purpose: The study aims to quantify the expected impacts of different cancers through multiplying the incidence rate by loss-of-QALE (quality-adjusted life expectancy), with QALY (quality-adjusted life year) as the common unit, to aid prevention policy decisions.

Methods: 464,722 patients with pathologically verified cancer registered in the Taiwan Cancer Registry during 1998-2009 were used to estimate lifetime survival through Kaplan-Meier estimation combined with a semi-parametric method. A convenience sample for measuring the utility value with EQ-5D was conducted with 11,453 cancer patients, with the results then multiplied by the survival functions to estimate QALE.

Estimation of loss of quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) for patients with operable versus inoperable lung cancer: adjusting quality-of-life and lead-time bias for utility of surgery.

Objectives: This study attempts to quantify the difference in loss of quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) for patients with operable and inoperable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Patients And Methods: A cohort consisting of 1652 pathologically verified NSCLC patients with performance status 0-1 was monitored for 7 years (2005-2011) to obtain the survival function. This was further extrapolated to lifetime, based on the survival ratios between patients and age- and sex-matched referents simulated from the life tables of the National Vital Statistics of Taiwan.

Inhibiting glucosylceramide synthase facilitates the radiosensitizing effects of vinorelbine in lung adenocarcinoma cells.

The standard treatment regimen for patients diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with locally advanced stage III disease is concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). This study investigated the molecular effects of vinca alkaloid vinorelbine (VNR)-based CCRT. We reviewed the records of 68 patients with stage III NSCLC: 42 patients received VNR-based CCRT, and 26 were treated with radiation alone.

Estimating the lifelong health impact and financial burdens of different types of lung cancer.

Background: Owing to the high mortality and rapidly growing costs related to lung cancer, it is worth examining the health benefits of prevention for major types of lung cancer. This study attempts to quantify the quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE), loss-of-QALE, and lifetime healthcare expenditures of patients with different pathological types of lung cancer.

Methods: A national cohort consisting of 66,535 patients with pathologically verified lung cancer was followed for 13 years (1998-2010) to obtain the survival function, which was further extrapolated to lifetime.

Regulation of the high-affinity copper transporter (hCtr1) expression by cisplatin and heavy metals.

Platinum-based antitumor agents have been the mainstay in cancer chemotherapy for many human malignancies. Drug resistance is an important obstacle to achieving the maximal therapeutic efficacy of these drugs. Understanding how platinum drugs enter cells is of great importance in improving therapeutic efficacy.