Publications by authors named "Kuan Y"

Background: Although various repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and theta burst stimulation (TBS) protocols are used, their comparative effectiveness for treating poststroke hemineglect remains unassessed.

Objective: To investigate rTMS and TBS effects on clinical outcomes in poststroke hemineglect through a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

Methods: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases up to March 7, 2024, for trials on rTMS or TBS in poststroke hemineglect.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare cancer originating from the adrenal cortex, with about half of the cases being functional and producing excess cortisol.
  • It is unusual for ACC to show high metanephrine levels, which are typically seen in pheochromocytoma.
  • A case study is presented of a large adrenal tumor displaying characteristics of both ACC and pheochromocytoma, ultimately diagnosed as metastatic ACC through biopsy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This meta-analysis investigated therapeautic effects of laser therapies in patients with Bell's palsy (BP). The authors performed the literature search in the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases using the following search terms: (facial paralysis OR Bell's palsy OR facial palsy OR idiopathic facial paralysis) AND (laser OR low-level laser OR photobiomodulation OR phototherapy). Relevant studies published before October 29th 2024 were identified.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation play significant roles in Japanese Encephalitis virus (JEV) infection, with the NMDA receptor contributing to these processes through excitatory neurotoxicity and inflammation.
  • Research showed that JEV infection in rat microglia leads to glutamate release, activating harmful signaling pathways that result in pro-inflammatory responses and neurodegeneration.
  • NMDA receptor antagonists, such as MK801 and memantine, were found to reduce the harmful effects of JEV infection on microglia and neurons, indicating their potential as therapeutic options to mitigate neuroinflammation and cell death.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may lead to difficulty maintaining postural stability and balance during locomotion. This heightened susceptibility to falls is particularly evident during tasks such as obstacle negotiation, which demands efficient motor planning and reallocation of attentional resources. This study proposed a multi-objective optimal control (MOOC) technique to assess the changes in motor control strategies during obstacle negotiation in older people affected by amnestic MCI.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) might lead to changes in slow-wave sleep activity, which could increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease; this study aimed to explore the relationship between OSA symptoms and neurochemical biomarkers related to Alzheimer's.
  • The study involved 42 individuals undergoing polysomnography to assess their sleep patterns and blood tests to measure levels of total tau (T-Tau) and amyloid beta-peptide 42 (Aβ), categorizing participants into low and high Alzheimer's risk groups.
  • Results indicated that high-risk individuals had worse sleep metrics and unusual slow-wave sleep patterns, suggesting that OSA symptoms could indirectly raise levels of neurochemical markers linked to Alzheimer's, but further research is needed to establish direct causal links.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Cellular senescence refers to the permanent halt of cell growth caused by factors like genetic mutations or damage, and it's linked to aging and diseases like diabetes and heart issues.
  • The study aimed to identify specific senescence biomarkers in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) using OLINK proteomics.
  • The proteins CKAP4 and PTX3 were found to be significantly elevated in AKI and CKD patients, suggesting they could serve as important indicators for kidney disease progression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Runx2 is a protein that might help predict how serious kidney cancer (RCC) is and how cancer cells grow and move.
  • Researchers found that stopping Runx2 in kidney cancer cells slowed their growth and movement without killing them, but made them more sensitive to a cancer treatment called ABT-737.
  • The study suggests that Runx2 affects other important proteins which help cancer cells survive and grow, but they still need to learn exactly how it does this.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Oxidative damage contributes to age-related macular degeneration. Irigenin possesses diverse pharmacologic properties, including antioxidative and antiapoptotic effects. Our in vivo experiments indicated that irigenin mitigates UVB-induced histopathologic changes and oxidative DNA damage.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Aromatherapy may help reduce behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) and improve functional abilities in patients with dementia, as shown in a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
  • The analysis included 15 trials involving 821 participants, revealing significant reductions in agitation and neuropsychiatric symptoms after 3 to 4 weeks of treatment with aromatherapy compared to control groups.
  • While some trials indicated improvements in depressive moods, the study concluded that aromatherapy is a safe non-drug option for managing BPSD, particularly when combined with massage therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a difficult condition to manage, especially when it is complicated by bacterial sepsis. Hibifolin, a flavonoid glycoside, has anti-inflammatory properties that make it a potential treatment for ALI. However, more research is needed to determine its effectiveness in LPS-induced ALI.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Studying planets and small bodies in our Solar System helps us understand Earth's formation and evolution, as well as other planets.
  • Current observational methods face limitations that hinder progress in this field, particularly in areas like sensitivity and spatial coverage.
  • The proposed Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST) aims to overcome these challenges by enabling detailed measurements of atmospheric dynamics, compositions of icy moon atmospheres, detection of important gases, and collaboration with interplanetary missions to enhance our understanding of planetary habitability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

mRNA vaccines were successfully developed and approved for emergency use to fight coronavirus disease 2019. However, the effect of DNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 is considerably lower than that of mRNA vaccines. A pyro-drive jet injector (PJI) efficiently delivers plasmid DNA intradermally into animal models.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Coronaviruses (CoV) are highly pathogenic single-strand RNA viruses. CoV infections cause fatal respiratory symptoms and lung injuries in humans and significant economic losses in livestock. Since the SARS-2 outbreak in 2019, the highly conserved main protease (M), also termed 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CL), has been considered an attractive drug target for treating CoV infections.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chlorpyrifos, widely used for pest control, is known to have various harmful effects, although its toxic effects in macrophages and the mechanisms underlying its toxicity remain unclear. The present study investigated the toxic effects of chlorypyrifos in a macrophage cell line. Here, we found that chlorpyrifos induced cytotoxicity and genotoxicity in RAW264.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Sleep disturbance and impulsivity are key components of mood vulnerability in bipolar disorder (BD), but few studies have assessed the association between these two symptoms among patients with BD.

Methods: Forty-seven euthymic patients with bipolar I disorder (BDI) or bipolar II disorder (BDII) and 58 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Trait impulsivity was measured using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Version 11 (BIS-11), which yielded 3 second-order factors: attention, motor, and non-planning.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pulmonary vascular remodeling is a key pathological process of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), characterized by uncontrolled proliferation and migration of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs). Bortezomib (BTZ) is the first Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved proteasome inhibitor for multiple myeloma treatment. Recently, there is emerging evidence showing its effect on reversing PAH, although its mechanisms are not well understood.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Local advanced rectal cancer (LARC) is challenging to treat due to its location and high rates of recurrence, making early detection essential; this study examines the potential of AI to analyze CT scans as a more efficient diagnostic tool compared to MRI.
  • The researchers analyzed CT images of 1070 rectal cancer patients using AI models trained on 739 cases, employing advanced techniques for image filtering and classification to identify positive circumferential resection margins (CRM), facilitating the diagnosis of LARC.
  • The AI models showed high accuracy with an AUC of 0.93 when using a soft voting system, indicating a better ability to predict poor clinical outcomes, including higher local recurrence rates and mortality trends among identified LARC cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

3-Bromofluoranthene (3-BrFlu) is the secondary metabolite of fluoranthene, which is classified as a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, through bromination and exists in the fine particulate matter of air pollutants. Endothelial dysfunction plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular and vascular diseases. Little is known about the molecular mechanism of 3-BrFlu on endothelial dysfunction in vivo and in vitro assay.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Divergent thinking is a critical creative cognitive process. Its neural mechanisms have been well-studied through structural and functional imaging in healthy individuals but are less explored in patients with bipolar disorder (BD). Because of the traditional link between creativity and BD, this study investigated the structural correlates of divergent thinking in patients with BD through surface-based morphometry.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Study Objectives: The gold standard for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is polysomnography (PSG). However, PSG is a time-consuming method with clinical limitations. This study aimed to create a wireless radar framework to screen the likelihood of 2 levels of OSA severity (ie, moderate-to-severe and severe OSA) in accordance with clinical practice standards.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

ALI is a grave medical ailment that manifests as abrupt inflammation of the lungs and diminished oxygen levels. It poses a considerable challenge to the medical fraternity, with elevated rates of morbidity and mortality. Our research endeavors to investigate the potential of hibifolin, a flavonoid glucuronide, imbued with potent antioxidant properties, and its molecular mechanism to combat LPS-induced ALI in mice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Biodiversity conservation is a top priority in the face of global environmental change, and the practical restoration of biodiversity has emerged as a key objective. Nevertheless, the question of how to effectively contribute to biodiversity restoration and identify suitable systems for such efforts continues to present major challenges. By using genome-wide SNP data, our study revealed that populations from different mountain ranges of the Formosan Long-Arm Scarab beetle, a flagship species that receives strict protection, exhibited a single genetic cluster with no subdivision.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cyclizine, an over-the-counter and prescription antihistamine, finds widespread application in the prevention and treatment of motion sickness, encompassing symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, along with its effectiveness in managing vertigo. However, the overuse or misuse of cyclizine may lead to hallucinations, confusion, tachycardia, and hypertension. The molecular mechanisms underlying cyclizine-induced cytotoxicity and apoptosis remain unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF