Survival benefit of sequential curative treatment for TACE suitable BCLC stage B HCC patients.

To clarify the survival benefit of sequential curative treatment post transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage B hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we retrospectively analyzed HCC patients at a hospital. From July 2017 to July 2020, 787 treatment-naïve HCC patients underwent initial treatment; 77 (9.8%) meeting inclusion criteria were enrolled.

Role of reimbursement and Physicians' awareness in the survival of sorafenib-eligible advanced hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

In 2008, sorafenib became the first approved systemic therapeutic agent for advanced HCC. Although its pharmacological efficacy has been established, reimbursement for such a new, high-cost drug, as well as physicians' awareness and prescription practice, likewise contribute to its clinical effectiveness. We therefore conducted a retrospective study using 38 sorafenib-eligible, advanced HCC patients when sorafenib was approved but not yet reimbursed as a control and 216 patients during the reimbursed era.

Association of Kinase-Insert-Domain-Containing Receptor Polymorphisms with Glioma Susceptibility in a Chinese Population: A Hospital-Based Case-Control Study.

Background: Gliomas are the most common malignant tumors of the central nervous system. However, the inherited genetic variation in gliomas is presently unclear. Therefore, this study investigated the association of the rs2071559 and rs2239702 gene polymorphisms with glioma susceptibility in Chinese patients.

ThermalProGAN: A sequence-based thermally stable protein generator trained using unpaired data.

Motivation: The synthesis of proteins with novel desired properties is challenging but sought after by the industry and academia. The dominating approach is based on trial-and-error inducing point mutations, assisted by structural information or predictive models built with paired data that are difficult to collect. This study proposes a sequence-based unpaired-sample of novel protein inventor (SUNI) to build ThermalProGAN for generating thermally stable proteins based on sequence information.

Above-Standard Survival of Hepatocellular Carcinoma as the Final Outcome of Comprehensive Hepatology Care Programs in a Remote HCV-Endemic Area.

Early detection and prompt linkage to care are critical for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) care. Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH) Yunlin branch, a local hospital in a rural area, undertakes health checkup programs in addition to its routine clinical service. Patients with HCC are referred to CGMH Chiayi branch, a tertiary referral hospital, for treatment.

The effect of with prebiotics on KPC-2-producing .

Objectives: This study investigated the inhibitory effect of spp. with prebiotics against carbapenemase-2 (KPC-2)-producing using both experiments and animal models.

Methods: Thirty-three spp.

[Cloning of transcription factor PcFBA-1 in Pogostemon cabin and its interaction with FPPS promoter].

Farnesyl diphosphate synthase(FPPS) is a key enzyme at the branch point of the sesquiterpene biosynthetic pathway, but there are no reports on the transcriptional regulation of FPPS promoter in Pogostemon cabin. In the early stage of this study, we obtained the binding protein PcFBA-1 of FPPS gene promoter in P. cabin.

Assessment of Myocardial Dysfunction by Three-Dimensional Echocardiography Combined With Myocardial Contrast Echocardiography in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

We aimed to explore the value of combining real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT-3DE) and myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) in the left ventricle (LV) evaluating myocardial dysfunction in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. A total of 58 T2DM patients and 32 healthy individuals were selected for this study. T2DM patients were further divided into T2DM without microvascular complications ( = 29) and T2DM with microvascular complications ( = 29) subgroups.

Antimicrobial ability and mechanism analysis of Lactobacillus species against carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae.

Background: This study aims to investigate the antimicrobial ability and mechanism analysis of Lactobacillus species against carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE).

Methods: Five Lactobacillus spp. strains and 18 CPE clinical isolates were collected.

Antimicrobial Activity of Species Against Carbapenem-Resistant .

Objective: This study aims to identify suitable lactobacilli that have anti-carbapenem-resistant (CRE) activity with tolerance to pepsin and bile salts.

Methods: Fifty-seven spp. strains encompassing nine species were collected for investigation.

Cadmium induces ovarian granulosa cell damage by activating PERK-eIF2α-ATF4 through endoplasmic reticulum stress.

This study aimed to investigate whether cadmium induces ovarian granulosa cell damage by activating protein kinase R-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK)-eIF2α-ATF4 through endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and to elucidate the underlying regulation mechanism. Two models of cadmium exposure were established. In one model, ovarian granulosa cells isolated from 21-day-old female Sprague Dawley rats were cultured in vitro for 36 h and exposed to CdCl2 (0, 5, 10, and 20 μM), and in another model, a human ovarian granulosa tumor cell line (COV434) was used to construct the binding immunoglobulin protein (BIP)-knockdown cell line sh-BIP and exposed to 0 and 20 μM CdCl2.

[Effects of aqueous extracts of gecko on stemness of hepatocellular carcinoma].

To explore the effects and mechanism of aqueous extracts of gecko on cancer stem cells properties of hepatocellular carcinoma. In vitro, MTT assay was used to detect the cells growth in Huh7 and Hep3B. Spheroid-forming assay and flow cytometry were performed to observe the the stemness of Huh7 and Hep3B cells.

The impact of inoculum size on the activity of cefoperazone-sulbactam against multidrug resistant organisms.

Objectives: This study aims to assess the in vitro activity of cefoperazone alone and different cefoperazone-sulbactam ratios against different inoculum sizes of multidrug resistant organisms.

Methods: Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of cefoperazone, cefoperazone-sulbactam at fixed ratio of 1:1 and 2:1 against a normal inoculum size of 5 × 10 CFU/ml and a high inoculum size of 5 × 10 CFU/ml were measured.

Results: Each 33 isolates of extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli, ESBL-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae, carbapenem-resistant E.

Tourette Syndrome as an Independent Risk Factor for Subsequent Sleep Disorders in Children: A Nationwide Population-Based Case-Control Study.

Study Objectives: Tourette syndrome (TS) is associated with a variety of neuropsychiatric comorbidities. However, the relationship between TS and sleep disorders in children is less investigated. This nationwide population-based case-control study aimed to determine the correlation of TS and sleep disorders in children.

SCMBYK: prediction and characterization of bacterial tyrosine-kinases based on propensity scores of dipeptides.

Background: Bacterial tyrosine-kinases (BY-kinases), which play an important role in numerous cellular processes, are characterized as a separate class of enzymes and share no structural similarity with their eukaryotic counterparts. However, in silico methods for predicting BY-kinases have not been developed yet. Since these enzymes are involved in key regulatory processes, and are promising targets for anti-bacterial drug design, it is desirable to develop a simple and easily interpretable predictor to gain new insights into bacterial tyrosine phosphorylation.

Estimating survival time of patients with glioblastoma multiforme and characterization of the identified microRNA signatures.

Background: Though glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most frequently occurring brain malignancy in adults, clinical treatment still faces challenges due to poor prognoses and tumor relapses. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been extensively used with the aim of developing accurate molecular therapies, because of their emerging role in the regulation of cancer-related genes. This work aims to identify the miRNA signatures related to survival of GBM patients for developing molecular therapies.

A hydrophobic spine stabilizes a surface-exposed α-helix according to analysis of the solvent-accessible surface area.

Background: Most of hydrophilic and hydrophobic residues are thought to be exposed and buried in proteins, respectively. In contrast to the majority of the existing studies on protein folding characteristics using protein structures, in this study, our aim was to design predictors for estimating relative solvent accessibility (RSA) of amino acid residues to discover protein folding characteristics from sequences.

Methods: The proposed 20 real-value RSA predictors were designed on the basis of the support vector regression method with a set of informative physicochemical properties (PCPs) obtained by means of an optimal feature selection algorithm.

ESA-UbiSite: accurate prediction of human ubiquitination sites by identifying a set of effective negatives.

Motivation: Numerous ubiquitination sites remain undiscovered because of the limitations of mass spectrometry-based methods. Existing prediction methods use randomly selected non-validated sites as non-ubiquitination sites to train ubiquitination site prediction models.

Results: We propose an evolutionary screening algorithm (ESA) to select effective negatives among non-validated sites and an ESA-based prediction method, ESA-UbiSite, to identify human ubiquitination sites.

Clinical Experience of Patients Receiving Doripenem-Containing Regimens for the Treatment of Healthcare-Associated Infections.

In this study, we retrospectively reviewed the clinical experience of patients receiving doripenem-containing regimens for the treatment of healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) in a tertiary care center and assessed the clinical usefulness of doripenem therapy in this clinical setting. In this retrospective study, the medical records of all adult patients who had ever received doripenem-containing therapy for the treatment of HCAIs were reviewed between September 1, 2012 and August 31, 2014, and the following data were extracted: age, gender, type of infection, disease severity, underlying comorbidities or conditions, and laboratory results. Additionally, we also extracted data regarding the rates of mortality and clinical and microbiological response.

The role of doxycycline in the therapy of multidrug-resistant E. coli - an in vitro study.

This study assessed the in vitro antibacterial activity of combinations of amikacin and doxycycline or tigecycline against multidrug-resistant E. coli isolates. Twenty-four different pulsotypes, including 10 extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-, 10 carbapenem-resistant, 2 New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM)- and 2 Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-E.

Using Model of Clinic Care Classification in Clinical Nursing Information System.

This article provides an example of the how to choose and use standardized nursing terminologies to build clinical nursing information system in the nursing process. In addition to describing the implement and apply clinic care classification (CCC) system, Evidence-based practice (EBP) and Clinical decision support systems (CDSS), by the nursing action automatic output nursing document.

Decision Support System in the Nursing Instruction Information System.

The purpose of this study is to explore the usage frequency of the decision support instruction in the nursing information system, and to survey the technology acceptance among nurses in one hospital. The results indicated that the usage frequency of the care instruction was increased from 191.3 to 1308.

Social support and the self-rated health of older people: A comparative study in Tainan Taiwan and Fuzhou Fujian province.

The lack of social support in elderly populations incurs real societal costs and can lead to their poor health. The aim of this study is to investigate the self-rated health (SRH) and social support among older people as well as its associated factors.We conducted a cross-sectional study among 312 urban community-dwelling elderly aged 65 to 90 years in Tainan Taiwan and Fuzhou Fujian Province from March 2012 to October 2012.

The Immunotyping Distribution of Serum Monoclonal Paraprotein and Environmental Impact on Multiple Myeloma (MM) and Monoclonal Gammopathy of Uncertain Significance (MGUS) in Taiwan: A Medical Center-Based Experience.

Background: Whether ambient exposure to environmental pollutants leads to hematopoietic malignancies such as multiple myeloma (MM) remains to be ascertained. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the immunotyping distribution of serum monoclonal paraprotein and the environmental influence on MM and monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance (MGUS) in the Taiwanese population.

Materials And Methods: Serum protein electrophoresis with immunosubtraction by the capillary zone electrophoresis method was performed as primary screening for MM and MGUS.

Is Zolpidem Associated with Increased Risk of Fractures in the Elderly with Sleep Disorders? A Nationwide Case Cross-Over Study in Taiwan.

Background: We conducted a study using a case-crossover design to clarify the risk of acute effects of zolpidem and benzodiazepine on all-sites of fractures in the elderly.

Design Of Study: Case-crossover design.

Methods And Materials: Elderly enrollees (n = 6010) in Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database with zolpidem or benzodiazepine use were analyzed for the risk of developing fractures.