Publications by authors named "Isaac Lam"

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common type of cancer in women and the number of new cases in the US is still increasing each year. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which comprises 15-20% of all breast cancer, is a heterogeneous disease and is considered the most aggressive type of breast cancer due to the lack of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) expressions for treatments. Traditional chemotherapy is the standard protocol for the treatment of TNBC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A unique case report details an unusual occurrence where fluid flowed backward from the nasopharynx to the eye area during surgery while the patient was under general anesthesia and in a specific body position.
  • The patient had no prior medical issues related to sinuses or eye ducts, highlighting the rarity of the incident.
  • This situation emphasizes the need for careful monitoring during surgery to prevent potential complications, even when no immediate problems arise.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Vasopressor infusions are essential in treating and preventing intraoperative hypotension. Closed-loop vasopressor therapy outperforms clinicians when the target is set at a mean arterial pressure (MAP) baseline, but little is known on the performance metrics of closed-loop vasopressor infusions when systolic arterial pressure (SAP) is the controlled variable. Methods: Patients undergoing intermediate- to high-risk abdominal surgery were included in this prospective cohort feasibility study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Calorie restriction (CR), referred to as a reduction in dietary calorie intake without malnutrition, has been demonstrated to be a safe way to extend longevity of yeast, worms, and laboratory animals, and to decrease the risk factors in age-related diseases including cancer in humans. Pre-clinical studies in animal models demonstrated that CR may enhance the efficacy of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy during breast cancer treatment. Reduced calorie intake ameliorates risk factors and delays the onset of cancer by altering metabolism and fostering health-enhancing characteristics including increased autophagy and insulin sensitivity, and decreased blood glucose levels, inflammation, angiogenesis, and growth factor signaling.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unlabelled: COVID-19 is a new communicable disease with a widespread outbreak that affects all populations worldwide triggering a rush of scientific interest in coronavirus research globally. In silico molecular docking experiment was utilized to determine interactions of available compounds with SARS-CoV-2 and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) complex. Chimera and AutoDock Vina were used for protein-ligand interaction structural analysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, can increase infection risks after surgery, leading to guidelines recommending caution in immunocompromised patients.
  • A 79-year-old woman on multiple DMARDs developed inflammatory reactions in her back after an epidural steroid injection (ESI), resulting in complications like fluid accumulations, despite negative cultures for infections.
  • This case highlights the need for further research on managing patients on DMARDs and emphasizes the importance of collaboration between healthcare providers when making treatment decisions involving these medications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This report presents the synthesis and folate receptor target-specificity of amino-functionalized polyacrylamide nanoparticles (AFPAA NPs) for near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging of cancer. For the synthesis of desired nano-constructs, the AFPAA NPs (hereafter referred to as NPs) were reacted with a NIR cyanine dye (CD) bearing carboxylic acid functionality by following our previously reported approach, and the resulting conjugate (NP-CD) on further reaction with folic acid (FA) resulted in a new nano-construct, FA-NP-CD, which demonstrated significantly higher uptake in folate receptor-positive breast cancer cells (KB+) and in folate receptor over-expressed tumors in vivo. The target-specificity of these nanoparticles was further confirmed by inhibition assay in folate receptor-positive (KB+) and -negative (HT-1080) cell lines.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Adult men with autoimmune conditions are commonly prescribed anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) agents; however, there is a paucity of quality evidence as to their effect on male fertility (e.g. semen parameters and sperm quality).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Phototoxicity response of synthesized vitamin-chlorin conjugates and their zinc and indium complexes was determined in the human PC-3 prostate cancer cell line, which was previously demonstrated to overexpress vitamin receptors on the cell surface. Pantothenic acid (Vit B5) and lipoic acid (or thioctic acid) were covalently linked to methyl pheophorbide (a chlorophyll derivative) and subsequently metallated with zinc and indium. Cell survival assay indicated that the vitamin-chlorin conjugates have better photodynamic activity against the PC-3 prostate cancer line at the nanomolar concentration range than the commercially available starting precursor methyl pheophorbide.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To determine the percentage of laboratories in the United States that have adopted the World Health Organization 2010 (WHO 5) semen analysis (SA) reference values 6years after their publication.

Methods: Laboratories were identified via 3 approaches: using the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) website, the CDC's 2015 Assisted Reproductive Technology Fertility Clinical Success Rate Report, and automated web searches. Laboratories were contacted by phone or email to obtain de-identified SA reports and reference ranges.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sea turtles are globally endangered and face daily anthropogenic threats, including pollution. However, there is a lack of ecotoxicological information on sea turtles, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. This study aims to determine pollutant levels of foraging green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in South China, including Hong Kong, Guangdong and Taiwan, as a basis for their conservation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The synthesis and characterization of biotinylated chlorin photosensitizer and the corresponding zinc and indium complexes are described for potential applications in photodynamic therapy (PDT) for cancer. Phototoxicity of the biotin-chlorin conjugate and the metallated complexes was determined in colon carcinoma CT26 cell lines known to overexpress biotin (Vit B₇) receptors. Cell survival assay indicated that the biotinylated chlorin and indium complex showed increased cell growth inhibition than the zinc complex and the starting chlorin (methyl pheophorbide).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are a promising tool for cartilage regeneration in arthritic joints. hMSC labeling with iron oxide nanoparticles enables non-invasive in vivo monitoring of transplanted cells in cartilage defects with MR imaging. Since graft failure leads to macrophage phagocytosis of apoptotic cells, we evaluated in vitro and in vivo whether nanoparticle-labeled hMSCs show distinct MR signal characteristics before and after phagocytosis by macrophages.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We examined transgenerational retention and maternal transfer of selenium (Se) in three consecutive generations (F0, F1, and F2) of Daphnia magna. The F0 generation was exposed to dietary selenium (as selenite) only, and the F1 and F2 generations received only the maternally derived selenium from F0 and F1, respectively. Algal food Scenedesmus obilquus was radiolabeled with 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The dissolved uptake, dietary assimilation, and efflux of Ag in a freshwater cladoceran, Daphnia magna, were measured under different laboratory conditions. The dissolved uptake rate of Ag was proportional to the ambient Ag concentration, but the accumulation was highly variable due to the sorption of Ag onto the daphnid bodies. The ambient Na(+) but not the ambient K(+) concentration significantly decreased the dissolved uptake of Ag, suggesting a competitive uptake of Ag(+) with Na(+).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: fopen(/var/lib/php/sessions/ci_sessiona8h72ji3sli8brli79bdps219ur529ft): Failed to open stream: No space left on device

Filename: drivers/Session_files_driver.php

Line Number: 177

Backtrace:

File: /var/www/html/index.php
Line: 316
Function: require_once

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: session_start(): Failed to read session data: user (path: /var/lib/php/sessions)

Filename: Session/Session.php

Line Number: 137

Backtrace:

File: /var/www/html/index.php
Line: 316
Function: require_once