Synergistic antiproliferative effects of an mTOR inhibitor (rad001) plus gemcitabine on cholangiocarcinoma by decreasing choline kinase activity.

Although gemcitabine plus cisplatin is the gold standard chemotherapy regimen for advanced cholangiocarcinoma, the response rate has been disappointing. This study aims to investigate a novel therapeutic regimen [gemcitabine plus everolimus (rad001), an mTOR inhibitor] for cholangiocarcinoma. Gemcitabine, oxaliplatin, cetuximab and rad001 in various combinations were first evaluated using six cholangiocarcinoma cell lines.

Partially threaded headless screw may benefit adequate interfragmentary compression and reduced driving torque for small bone fixation.

Headless compression screws (HCSs) are commonly used to fixate small bones and articular fractures. Understanding the biomechanical efficacy of different HCS designs can help surgeons make proper interfragmentary compression when a specific implant is chosen. HCSs with three different central shaft designs (unthreaded, fully threaded, and partially threaded) were studied: the Herbert-Whipple, Mini-Acutrak 2, and headless reduction (HLR).

Plasma Aβ analysis using magnetically-labeled immunoassays and PET F-florbetapir binding in non-demented patients with major depressive disorder.

An increased level of brain amyloid deposition and a decreased level of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) Aβ42 are currently considered reliable biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD); however, the usefulness of plasma Aβ levels are not well-established. This study investigated the relationships between plasma Aβ levels and cerebral amyloidosis in 36 non-demented patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). All participants underwent F-florbetapir PET imaging and provided a blood sample at the same time for immunomagnetic reduction assay to measure the plasma levels of Aβ40 and Aβ42.

Real world treatment patterns in chronic myeloid leukemia patients newly initiated on tyrosine kinase inhibitors in an U.S. integrated healthcare system.

Purpose To evaluate treatment patterns in patients diagnosed with incident chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) newly initiating therapy with imatinib, dasatinib, or nilotinib. Patients were followed to determine switching and discontinuation rates. Factors associated with switching or discontinuation from index TKI therapy, reasons for discontinuation based on electronic chart notes, and frequency of laboratory monitoring were assessed during the follow-up period.

Out-of-system Care and Recording of Patient Characteristics Critical for Comparative Effectiveness Research.

Background: It is unclear how out-of-system care or electronic health record (EHR) discontinuity (i.e., receiving care outside of an EHR system) may affect validity of comparative effectiveness research using these data.

Point-of-Care Devices Using Disease Biomarkers To Diagnose Neurodegenerative Disorders.

Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases are highly prevalent and immensely destructive to the health and well-being of individuals and their families across the globe. Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by the gradual loss of neural tissue in the central nervous system. Clearly, early diagnosis of the onset of neurodegeneration is vital and beneficial.

Positive and Negative Affects in Living Kidney Donors.

Objective: This study aimed to identify the factors influencing the positive and negative affects and the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of living kidney donors.

Methods: With the use of a cross-sectional study design and a structured questionnaire, information on the basic characteristics, positive affect, negative affect, and HRQOL of 41 living kidney donors were compared.

Results: The negative affect in living kidney donors was similar to that of the general population, but the positive affect was slightly lower.

[The clinical analysis of corneal interface fluid syndrome after Laser lamellar corneal refractive surgery].

To analysis, the clinical characteristics, refractive changes, and clinical treatment of interface fluid syndrome after laser lamellar corneal refractive surgery. During Dec. 2010 to Apr.

Prediction Score for Anticoagulation Control Quality Among Older Adults.

Background: Time in the therapeutic range (TTR) is associated with the effectiveness and safety of vitamin K antagonist (VKA) therapy. To optimize prescribing of VKA, we aimed to develop and validate a prediction model for TTR in older adults taking VKA for nonvalvular atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism.

Methods And Results: The study cohort comprised patients aged ≥65 years who were taking VKA for atrial fibrillation or venous thromboembolism and who were identified in the 2 US electronic health record databases linked with Medicare claims data from 2007 through 2014.

Identifying Patients With High Data Completeness to Improve Validity of Comparative Effectiveness Research in Electronic Health Records Data.

Electronic health record (EHR)-discontinuity, i.e., having medical information recorded outside of the study EHR system, is associated with substantial information bias in EHR-based comparative effectiveness research (CER).

Higher body weight and distant metastasis are associated with higher radiation exposure to the household environment from patients with thyroid cancer after radioactive iodine therapy.

There were insufficient data regarding radiation exposure to the household environment from patients with thyroid cancer who received radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy in Asia; we therefore performed the present study at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Keelung, Taiwan.Patients with papillary or follicular thyroid cancer who received 3.7 GBq (100 mCi) RAI were enrolled in this prospective hospital-based study.

Role of urodynamics in management of urethral diverticulum in females.

Background: Few studies have focused on the urodynamic findings of urethral diverticula (UD). We characterized the symptoms and urodynamic findings in women with UD.

Methods: A retrospective review of all women in a single center having surgical treatment for symptomatic UD between May 2004 and September 2014 was done.

Early-phase 18F-AV-45 PET Imaging can Detect Crossed Cerebellar Diaschisis Following Carotid Artery Stenosis and Cerebral Hypoperfusion.

Background: Carotid artery stenosis (CAS) may induce cerebral hypoperfusion. Early-phase 18F-Florbetapir (AV-45/Amyvid, 18F-AV-45) positron emission tomography (PET) imaging can provide perfusion-like property (pAV-45) for the estimation of cerebral blood flow (CBF). Supra-tentorial lesions may cause decreased blood flow and metabolism in the contralateral cerebellum known as crossed cerebellar diaschisis (CCD).

Green synthesis of carbon quantum dots embedded onto titanium dioxide nanowires for enhancing photocurrent.

The green synthesis of nanowired photocatalyst composed of carbon quantum dots-titanium hybrid-semiconductors, CQDs/TiO, are reported. Where graphite-based CQDs with a size less than 5 nm are directly synthesized in pure water electrolyte by a one-step electrochemistry approach and subsequently electrodeposited onto as-prepared TiO nanowires through a voltage-driven reduction process. Electron paramagnetic resonance studies show that the CQDs can generate singlet oxygen and/or oxygen radicals to decompose the kinetic HO intermediate species upon UV light illumination.

Morphometric Analysis of the Clavicles in Chinese Population.

The clavicle has a complex geometry that makes plate fixation technically difficult. . One hundred clavicles were analyzed.

Everyday cognition scales are related to cognitive function in the early stage of probable Alzheimer's disease and FDG-PET findings.

We applied the Everyday Cognition (ECog) scale in normal aging adults and patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) to investigate associations between neuropsychological tests and neuroimaging markers. A total of 160 normal aging adults and 40 patients with the early stage of probable AD were included. Neuropsychological performance was assessed using the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (CERAD-NAB).

ECG Data Encryption Then Compression Using Singular Value Decomposition.

Electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring systems are widely used in healthcare. ECG data must be compressed for transmission and storage. Furthermore, there is a need to be able to directly process biomedical signals in encrypted domains to ensure the protection of patients' privacy.

[F]FP-(+)-DTBZ PET study in a lactacystin-treated rat model of Parkinson disease.

Objective: Lactacystin has been used to establish rodent models of Parkinson disease (PD), with cerebral α-synuclein inclusions. This study evaluated the uptake of [F]9-fluoropropyl-(+)-dihydrotetrabenazine ([F]FP-(+)-DTBZ), a vesicular monoamine transporter type 2 (VMAT2)-targeting radiotracer, through positron emission tomography (PET) in lactacystin-treated rat brains.

Methods: Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly treated with a single intracranial dose of lactacystin (2 or 5 μg) or saline (served as the sham control) into the left medial forebrain bundle.

Dual-phase F-florbetapir positron emission tomography in patients with primary progressive aphasia, Alzheimer's disease, and healthy controls: A preliminary study.

Background/purpose: To determine whether dual-phase F-florbetapir positron emission tomography imaging with perfusion-like and amyloid deposition information can distinguish among primary progressive aphasia (PPA), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and healthy controls (HCs).

Methods: Patients diagnosed with PPA, including four semantic dementia (SD) and two progressive nonfluent aphasia (PNFA), as well as one logopenic variant (LV) of PPA, were studied. All PPA patients, and age-/sex-matched patients with probable AD (n=8) and HCs (n=8) were subjected to dual-phase F-florbetapir imaging.

Primary Nonadherence to Overactive Bladder Medications in an Integrated Managed Care Health Care System.

Background: Treatment for overactive bladder (OAB) remains suboptimal, in part because of patient nonadherence to medications. Primary nonadherence is when patients fail to pick up their initial prescriptions.

Objective: To measure primary nonadherence to OAB medications within 30 days of a first OAB prescription order using electronic medical records from a U.

Biodistribution and Radiation Dosimetry for the Tau Tracer F-THK-5351 in Healthy Human Subjects.

F-THK-5351 is a novel radiotracer that demonstrates high binding selectivity and affinity for tau pathology and exhibits better pharmacokinetics in the living brain than previous THK tau probes. The aim of the present study was to estimate the radiation dose of F-THK-5351 in humans and to compare the clinical radiation dosimetry results to estimations published previously with preclinical data. Serial whole-body PET/CT imaging was performed for 240 min on 12 healthy volunteers after injecting F-THK-5351 (mean administered activity, 377.

Beta-amyloid deposition in patients with major depressive disorder with differing levels of treatment resistance: a pilot study.

Background: Lack of treatment response in patients with late-life depression is common. The role of brain beta-amyloid (Aβ) deposition in treatment outcome in subjects with late-life depression remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate brain Aβ deposition in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) with differing treatment outcomes in vivo using F-florbetapir imaging.

Quantitative analysis of the therapeutic effect of magnolol on MPTP-induced mouse model of Parkinson's disease using in vivo 18F-9-fluoropropyl-(+)-dihydrotetrabenazine PET imaging.

18F-9-Fluoropropyl-(+)-dihydrotetrabenazine [18F-FP-(+)-DTBZ] positron emission tomography (PET) has been shown to detect dopaminergic neuron loss associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) in human and neurotoxin-induced animal models. A polyphenol compound, magnolol, was recently proposed as having a potentially restorative effect in 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)- or 6-hydroxydopamine-treated animal models. In this study, 18F-FP-(+)-DTBZ PET was used to determine the therapeutic efficacy of magnolol in an MPTP-PD mouse model that was prepared by giving an intraperitoneally (i.

Plasmon-Enhanced Photocurrent using Gold Nanoparticles on a Three-Dimensional TiO Nanowire-Web Electrode.

In this study, an anatase/rutile mixed-phase titanium dioxide (TiO) hierarchical network deposited with Au nanoparticles (Au/TiO ARHN) was synthesized using a facile hydrothermal method followed by a simple calcination step. Such a unique structure was designed for improving the light harvest, charge transportation/separation, and the performance of photo-electro-chemical (PEC) cells. The properties of the as-synthesized Au/TiO ARHN in PEC cells were investigated by electrochemical measurements using a three-electrode system in a 1 M NaOH electrolyte.

Safety and efficacy of self-assembling bubble carriers stabilized with sodium dodecyl sulfate for oral delivery of therapeutic proteins.

Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) is generally regarded as a potent permeability enhancer in oral formulations; however, one concern related to the use of any permeation enhancer is its possible absorption of unwanted toxins during the period of epithelial permeability enhancement. In this work, the safety and efficacy of an SDS-containing bubble carrier system that is developed from an orally administered enteric-coated capsule are evaluated. The bubble carriers comprise diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) dianhydride, sodium bicarbonate (SBC), SDS, and insulin.