Publications by authors named "Hung A"

Primary aldosteronism is characterised by the excessive production of aldosterone, which is a key regulator of salt metabolism, and is the most common cause of secondary hypertension. Studies have investigated the association between primary aldosteronism and genetic alterations, with pathogenic mutations being identified. This includes a glycine-to-arginine substitution at position 151 (G151R) of the G protein-activated inward rectifier potassium (K) channel 4 (GIRK4), which is encoded by the gene.

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Background Management of retroperitoneal liposarcoma (RPLPS) is challenging and recurrence rates remain high despite aggressive surgical resections. Preoperative radiation alone lacks definitive benefit, thus we sought to evaluate combined chemoradiotherapy with the potential to enhance local efficacy of radiation as well as control micrometastatic disease. We assessed the safety and tolerability of preoperative eribulin, a cytotoxic microtubule inhibitor approved for the treatment of advanced liposarcoma, in combination with radiation in patients with RPLPS.

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Introduction:: Surgical training is a constant exchange between trainers and trainees, and intraoperative surgical feedback is an integral part of learning. New technologies in robotic surgery allow for the delivery of visual aid and verbal feedback intraoperatively, but it has not yet been determined if feedback type affects the trainee learning process.

Methods:: 49 novice participants were recruited and randomized into four feedback groups: , , of verbal/visual, and no feedback ().

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Introduction: The inability to sense force applied to tissue is suggested as a limitation to robotic-assisted surgery (RAS). This pre-clinical study evaluated the impact of a novel force feedback (FFB) technology, integrated on a next-generation robotic system that allows surgeons to sense forces exerted at the instrument tips, on suturing performance by novice surgeons during RAS.

Methods: Twenty-nine novice surgeons (< 50 RAS cases in the last 5 years) were randomized into two groups with (n = 15) or without (n = 14) FFB sensing.

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Asphalt, widely used in infrastructure, emits complex chemical mixtures throughout its service life, posing significant risks to human health and the environment. This expanded understanding extends the concern from a construction-related hazard to a broader public health issue, especially affecting vulnerable populations like children who play on blacktop surfaces. Despite increased awareness, the specific mechanisms behind asphalt emissions, their impact on asphalt deterioration, and their effects on the human nervous system remain poorly understood.

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Introduction: Hyperuricemia (HUA) is a metabolic syndrome caused by purine metabolism disorders. (ZP) is a medicinal and food homologous plant, and its ripe peel is used to treat diseases and as a spice for cooking. Some studies have shown that ZP can inhibit the formation of xanthine oxidase and reduce the production of uric acid.

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Formative verbal feedback during live surgery is essential for adjusting trainee behavior and accelerating skill acquisition. Despite its importance, understanding optimal feedback is challenging due to the difficulty of capturing and categorizing feedback at scale. We propose a Human-AI Collaborative Refinement Process that uses unsupervised machine learning (Topic Modeling) with human refinement to discover feedback categories from surgical transcripts.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigated how combinations of specific signs and symptoms can identify individuals in the early stages of Parkinson's disease (PD), analyzing data from over 6,100 men for an average of 3.4 years.
  • Findings revealed that men with constipation, probable REM sleep behavior disorder (pRBD), and hyposmia had a significantly higher risk (23-fold) of developing PD compared to those without these symptoms, and similar high risks were associated with a calculated probability of prodromal PD.
  • The research suggests that these symptom combinations can be effective in predicting future PD and could be used in screening efforts for potential prevention trials.
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Background & Aims: Effective treatment for anterior drooling in children with neurological disorders can lead to improved social interactions, reduced physical complications such as perioral infections, and enhanced quality of life for both patients and their parents. Elastic therapeutic taping (ETT) has emerged a novel intervention for drooling, but its evidence was limited. This study systematically reviewed the effectiveness of ETT on reducing anterior drooling in children with neurological disorders.

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Multidrug resistance (MDR) to conventional antibiotics is one of the most urgent global health threats, necessitating the development of effective and biocompatible antimicrobial agents that are less inclined to provoke resistance. Structurally nanoengineered antimicrobial peptide polymers (SNAPPs) are a novel and promising class of such alternatives. These star-shaped polymers are made of a dendritic core with multiple arms made of copeptides with varying amino acid sequences.

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Current deep learning-based models typically analyze medical images in either 2D or 3D albeit disregarding volumetric information or suffering sub-optimal performance due to the anisotropic resolution of MR data. Furthermore, providing an accurate uncertainty estimation is beneficial to clinicians, as it indicates how confident a model is about its prediction. We propose a novel 2.

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Stroke-related numbness and weakness (SRNW) are resultant disabilities following a stroke episode and may present with muscle weakness, numbness, tightness, spasticity, and pain in up to 85% of patients. Huangqi Guizhi Wuwu Decoction (HGWD) has been widely investigated to manage the sensorimotor deficiencies at the herb and formula level. However, detailed molecular mechanisms of its constituents are presently lacking.

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Article Synopsis
  • Aggregation of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) can increase their effectiveness against bacteria by disrupting their cell structures, presenting a potential solution to antibiotic resistance.
  • Researchers focused on the cephalopod Octopus bimaculoides, which lacks known AMP genes, and utilized artificial intelligence to identify four aggregation-prone peptides (Oct-P1 to Oct-P4), with Oct-P2 showing a 90% reduction in bacterial viability.
  • The study revealed that Oct-P2 not only penetrates bacterial cells but also interacts with DNA, hindering gene expression, thus illustrating its promise as a template for developing new antimicrobial therapies.
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The α-conotoxins (α-Ctxs) are short, disulfide-rich peptides derived from the venom of the Conus marine snails, primarily acting as antagonists of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). Specifically, α-Ctx Vc1.1, a 16-amino acid peptide from Conus victoriae, competitively antagonizes non-muscle nAChRs, inhibits nicotine-induced currents in bovine chromaffin cells, and alleviates neuropathic pain in rat models.

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Medical images often require rescaling to various spatial resolutions to ensure interpretations at different levels. Conventional deep learning-based image super-resolution (SR) enhances the fixed-scale resolution. Implicit neural representation (INR) is a promising way of achieving arbitrary-scale image SR.

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The rapid advancement of high-content, single-cell technologies like robotic confocal microscopy with multiplexed dyes (morphological profiling) can be leveraged to reveal fundamental biology, ranging from microbial and abiotic stress to organ development. Specifically, heterogeneous cell systems can be perturbed genetically or with chemical treatments to allow for inference of causal mechanisms. An exciting strategy to navigate the high-dimensional space of possible perturbation and cell type combinations is to use generative models as priors to anticipate high-content outcomes in order to design informative experiments.

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Background: The benefit of distal embolite penetration for middle meningeal artery (MMA) embolization in chronic subdural hematomas (cSDH) remains controversial.

Objective: To compare the use of diluted Onyx with undiluted Onyx in the management of cSDH.

Methods: This is a retrospective study of patients with cSDH who underwent MMA embolization using Onyx 18 at our institution.

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Purpose: Better understanding patient uptake of pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing may inform its implementation and maximize the benefits that such testing can confer. This study examined patient and provider factors associated with PGx test ordering in a national healthcare system where panel-based testing was implemented as part of routine care.

Methods: We used a retrospective matched cohort design and data from the Veterans Health Administration Corporate Data Warehouse.

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Objectives: Approximately 15% of patients with localized prostate cancer are at high risk for disease recurrence. Many clinical trials have evaluated the impact of neoadjuvant therapy before radical prostatectomy with mixed results (NCT00321698).

Methods: This phase I/II clinical trial evaluated the tolerability and preliminary efficacy of neoadjuvant radiation therapy and docetaxel before prostatectomy in 25 men with high-risk prostate cancer.

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Article Synopsis
  • Previous animal studies indicated concerns about salbutamol's effects on lung injury when exposed to ozone air pollution.
  • A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study involved 18 participants with exercise-induced bronchospasm (EIB) testing the impacts of salbutamol in both ozone and room air during exercise.
  • Results showed that salbutamol significantly improved lung function without increasing airway inflammation, suggesting it is safe for EIB patients to use the medication during high ozone conditions.
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  • This study examines how glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) may help protect kidneys, in addition to aiding in weight loss and blood sugar control.
  • Researchers analyzed data from over 353,000 veterans to see if genetic variations related to GLP-1R gene expression were linked to kidney disease progression.
  • The findings indicated that higher levels of genetic GLP-1R expression were associated with a reduced risk of kidney disease progression, suggesting potential nephroprotective benefits of GLP-1RAs.
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  • The study investigates the outcomes and risks associated with ruptured high-grade brain arteriovenous malformations (bAVMs), aiming to clarify decision-making in treating this rare condition.
  • It analyzes data from 84 patients treated from 1990 to 2020, focusing on annual hemorrhagic risks and treatment effectiveness, indicating different outcomes for surgery, radiosurgery, and embolization.
  • Results show that while surgery reduces the risk of future hemorrhages significantly, embolization increases the risk, with patient quality of life and mortality rates remaining similar across treatment methods.
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Diffusion models have achieved impressive performance on various image generation tasks, including image super-resolution. Despite their impressive performance, diffusion models suffer from high computational costs due to the large number of denoising steps. In this paper, we proposed a novel accelerated diffusion model, termed Partial Diffusion Models (PDMs), for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) super-resolution.

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