Material decomposition using dual-energy CT with unsupervised learning.

Material decomposition (MD) is an application of dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) that decomposes DECT images into specific material images. However, the direct inversion method used in MD often amplifies noise in the decomposed material images, resulting in lower image quality. To address this issue, we propose an image-domain MD method based on the concept of deep image prior (DIP).

Prevalence and predictors of advance directive among terminally ill patients in Taiwan before enactment of Patient Right to Autonomy Act: a nationwide population-based study.

Background: Signing advance directives (ADs) ensures that terminally ill patients receive end-of-life care, according to their wishes, thereby promoting human dignity and sparing them from unnecessary suffering. Despite the enactment of the Hospice Palliative Care Act in Taiwan in 2000, the completion rates of ADs have been found to be low among patients with chronic illness conditions. To date, limited existing research is available regarding the factors associated with AD completion in terminally ill patients in Taiwan.

AKR1B1-Induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Mediated by RAGE-Oxidative Stress in Diabetic Cataract Lens.

Purpose: Cataracts are a major cause of visual acuity deterioration in diabetes mellitus (DM) in developed and developing countries. Studies have demonstrated that overproduction of AKR1B1 and receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) plays a major role in the pathogenesis of diabetic cataracts, but it is unclear whether the prevalence of diabetic cataracts is related to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in lens epithelial cells. This study aimed to analyze the role of EMT in cataract formation of DM patients.

High snail expression predicts a poor prognosis in breast invasive ductal carcinoma patients with HER2/EGFR-positive subtypes.

Background: High Snail expression is known as a poor prognostic factor in breast cancer. However, its prognostic impact for breast cancer with different molecular subtypes is still controversial.

Methods: Snail expression was examined by immunohistochemistry in tissue microarray slides of 85 corresponding tumor-adjacent normal (CTAN) and 247 breast invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) tissues.

Isocitrate dehydrogenase 1-snail axis dysfunction significantly correlates with breast cancer prognosis and regulates cell invasion ability.

Background: The isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) gene family expresses key functional metabolic enzymes in the Krebs cycle and mediates the epigenetic reprogramming, which serves as an important biomarker of breast cancer. However, the expression levels of the IDH protein and their biological function in human breast cancer remain largely unknown.

Methods: In this study, the clinical impact of IDH1 expression on the progression and prognosis of breast cancer was evaluated using immunohistochemistry assay (IHC) of the corresponding tumor-adjacent normal, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), and invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) tissues from 309 patients with breast ductal carcinoma.

Reduction of global 5-hydroxymethylcytosine is a poor prognostic factor in breast cancer patients, especially for an ER/PR-negative subtype.

DNA methylation at the 5 position of cytosine (5 mC) is an epigenetic hallmark in cancer. The 5 mC can be converted to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5 hmC) through a ten-eleven-translocation (TET). We investigated the impact of 5 mC, 5 hmC, TET1, and TET2 on tumorigenesis and prognosis of breast cancer.

A rare case of metachronous triple cancers involving the tympanic membrane.

Multiple primary malignancies are not rare. While metachronous triple cancers are rare and a triple tumor case involving maxillary sinus and tympanic membrane is exceptionally rare. We present such an extremely rare case with the index tumor of adenoid cystic carcinoma of the maxillary sinus and 14 years later esophageal cancer was observed as a metachronous tumor.

Developing a web 2.0 diabetes care support system with evaluation from care provider perspectives.

Diabetes is a life-long illness condition that many diabetic patients end up with related complications resulted largely from lacking of proper supports. The success of diabetes care relies mainly on patient's daily self-care activities and care providers' continuous support. However, the self-care activities are socially bounded with patient's everyday schedules that can easily be forgotten or neglected and the care support from providers has yet been fully implemented.

[Construction of the method for quantitative detection of epidermal growth factor receptor variant III by real-time polymerase chain reaction with TaqMan probe and its application].

Objective: To construct the recombinant plasmid and standard curve for detection of epidermal growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRv III) by real-time quantitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and establish the RT-PCR assay for accurate detection of EGFRv III.

Methods: To amplify the DNA sequences of exon 1 and exon 8 to exon 9 of EGFR separately and fuse the above sequences by overhang extension PCR. Then constructing the recombinant plasmid of EGFRv III by highly specific primers with the fused sequence as its template.