Publications by authors named "John Kuo"

Sepsis is a critical medical condition associated with high mortality for patients. Current pharmacological strategies for sepsis management or prevention had not achieved satisfactory results. The omega-3 fatty acids, with anti-inflammatory benefits, are considered to be promising agents for sepsis management/prevention.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Migraine affects 9% to 18% of the global population, and existing preventative medications often show low effectiveness (40%-50% response rates) and have safety concerns.
  • - Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are emerging as promising alternatives for migraine prevention, and a meta-analysis evaluated their efficacy compared to other FDA-approved treatments.
  • - The analysis of 40 studies revealed that high-dose EPA/DHA significantly reduces migraine frequency and severity, and shows the best acceptability compared to other interventions, suggesting it could be a top choice for prophylactic treatment.
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ChatGPT has sparked extensive discussions within the healthcare community since its November 2022 release. However, potential applications in the field of psychiatry have received limited attention. Deep learning has proven beneficial to psychiatry, and GPT is a powerful deep learning-based language model with immense potential for this field.

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Sarcopenia frequently occurs with aging and leads to major adverse impacts on activities of daily living and quality of life in elderly individuals. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (omega-3 PUFAs) supplements are considered promising therapeutic agents for sarcopenia management; however, the evidence remains inconsistent. We reviewed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about omega-3 PUFA supplementation in patients with sarcopenia or in those at high risk for sarcopenia.

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  • Alzheimer's dementia (AD) is a key cause of global disability, and there is currently no effective treatment to slow its progression; neuro-inflammation is considered a potential cause.
  • A network meta-analysis of 52 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) found that long-term high-dose omega-3 fatty acids, specifically eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), showed significant potential in improving cognitive function in AD patients compared to other treatments.
  • The study noted similar acceptability and safety profiles for omega-3 supplements compared to placebo, and recommends future research on varying dosages of EPA to further assess its effects on cognitive decline.
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Background And Purpose: Hippocampal avoidance whole brain radiotherapy (HA-WBRT) is effective for controlling disease and preserving neuro-cognitive function for brain metastases. However, contouring and planning of HA-WBRT is complex and time-consuming. We designed and evaluated a pipeline using deep learning tools for a fully automated treatment planning workflow to generate HA-WBRT radiotherapy plans.

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Objectives: In an effort to exploit the elevated need for phospholipids displayed by cancer cells relative to normal cells, we have developed tumor-targeted alkylphosphocholines (APCs) as broad-spectrum cancer imaging and therapy agents. Radioactive APC analogs have exhibited selective uptake and prolonged tumor retention in over 50 cancer types in preclinical models, as well as over 15 cancer types in over a dozen clinical trials. To push the structural limits of this platform, we recently added a chelating moiety capable of binding gadolinium and many other metals for cancer-targeted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography imaging, and targeted radionuclide therapy.

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Extracellular matrix (ECM) is a rich mixture of proteins and glycans secreted by cells. This includes typical ECM structures such as collagen and heparin as well as glycosylated, secreted proteins such as growth factors and peptidases. Certain components of ECM are ubiquitous among all tissue; however, each biological tissue also displays unique variations that can be identified using biopanning techniques.

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Functional resonance magnetic imaging (fMRI) allows for identification of eloquent cortex in pre-treatment planning. Previous studies have shown a correlation among lesion to activation distance (LAD) measures and morbidity and mortality. This study investigates the relationship between LAD, well-established language centers (Wernicke's and Broca's), and language performance measures.

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Glioblastoma (GB) is highly invasive and resistant to multimodal treatment partly due to distorted vasculature and exacerbated inflammation. The aggressiveness of brain tumors may be attributed to the dysregulated release of angiogenic and inflammatory factors. The glycoprotein pentraxin-3 (PTX3) is correlated with the severity of some cancers.

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Malignant brain tumors are among the most intractable cancers, including malignancies such as glioblastoma, diffuse midline glioma, medulloblastoma, and ependymoma. Unfortunately, treatment options for these brain tumors have been inadequate and complex, leading to poor prognoses and creating a need for new treatment modalities. Aberrant epigenetics define these types of tumors, with underlying changes in DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin structure and noncoding RNAs.

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Focused ultrasound (FUS) in the presence of microbubbles can transiently open the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to increase therapeutic agent penetration at the targeted brain site to benefit recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM) treatment. This study is a dose-escalating pilot trial using a device combining neuronavigation and a manually operated frameless FUS system to treat rGBM patients. The safety and feasibility were established, while a dose-dependent BBB-opening effect was observed, which reverted to baseline within 24 hours after treatment.

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Recent research has highlighted the importance of key tumor microenvironment features, notably the collagen-rich extracellular matrix (ECM) in characterizing tumor invasion and progression. This led to great interest from both basic researchers and clinicians, including pathologists, to include collagen fiber evaluation as part of the investigation of cancer development and progression. Fibrillar collagen is the most abundant in the normal extracellular matrix, and was revealed to be upregulated in many cancers.

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Background: Alagille syndrome is a rare genetic syndrome, which arises due to defects in the Notch signaling pathway, resulting in liver, cardiopulmonary, renal, skeletal, and ophthalmologic problems, among others. Epidermoid cysts are rare congenital benign lesions that develop from ectopic ectodermal cell rests formed during neurulation.

Case Description: A 24-year-old Alagille syndrome patient presented with hearing loss and was found to have a sizable posterior fossa mass.

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The seagrass genus Thouars has more than twenty described species and is predominately distributed over a wide geographic range along the tropical and the warm temperate coastlines in the Indo-West Pacific Oceans. A brief history of the taxonomic development is presented. Based on reproductive and vegetative morphology, the genus is divided into eight sections including three new sections: section Australes, section Stipulaceae and section Decipientes.

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Solereder has long been treated as a synonym of (Forrsk.) Asch., although it was named more than a century ago.

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Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most aggressive and most frequently diagnosed malignant human glioma. Despite the best available standard of care (surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy), the median survival of GBM patients is less than 2 years. Many recent studies have indicated that microRNAs (miRNAs) are important for promoting or reducing/limiting GBM growth.

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The brain vasculature maintains brain homeostasis by tightly regulating ionic, molecular, and cellular transport between the blood and the brain parenchyma. These blood-brain barrier (BBB) properties are impediments to brain drug delivery, and brain vascular dysfunction accompanies many neurological disorders. The molecular constituents of brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) and pericytes, which share a basement membrane and comprise the microvessel structure, remain incompletely characterized, particularly in humans.

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Background: Immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) alone is not efficacious for a large number of patients with melanoma brain metastases. We previously established an in situ vaccination (ISV) regimen combining radiation and immunocytokine to enhance response to ICIs. Here, we tested whether ISV inhibits the development of brain metastases in a murine melanoma model.

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Background: Blood-brain barrier (BBB) limits over 95% of drugs' penetration into brain, which has been a major obstacle in treating patients with glioblastoma. Transient BBB opening in glioblastoma (GBM) is feasible by combining focused ultrasound (FUS) with systemic infusion of microbubbles (MB). NaviFUS, a novel device that integrates neuronavigation and FUS-MB system, is able to intraoperatively direct the ultrasound energy precisely and repeatedly at targeted CNS areas.

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New drugs are needed for glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumor with a dismal prognosis. We recently reported that gallium maltolate (GaM) retards the growth of glioblastoma in a rat orthotopic brain tumor model by inhibiting mitochondrial function and iron-dependent ribonucleotide reductase (RR). However, GaM's mechanism of action at the mitochondrial level is not known.

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Significance: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most frequently diagnosed adult primary brain malignancy with poor patient prognosis. GBM can recur despite aggressive treatment due to therapeutically resistant glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) that may exhibit metabolic plasticity.

Aim: Intrinsic nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) fluorescence can be acquired with fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) to examine its bound and free metabolic states in GSC and GBM tissues.

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Background: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a presurgical planning technique used to localize functional cortex so as to maximize resection of diseased tissue and avoid viable tissue. In this retrospective study, we examined differences in morbidity and mortality of brain tumor patients who received preoperative fMRI in comparison to those who did not.

Methods: Brain tumor patients (=206) were selected from a retrospective review of neurosurgical case logs from 2001-2009 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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