Hormone replacement therapy and lung cancer risk in Chinese.

Background: The association between hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and a reduced lung cancer risk has been reported in previous studies. There is a high female to male ratio in Chinese lung cancer patients, and female patients have different clinicopathological characteristics compared with Western patient populations. The authors investigated whether HRT may reduce lung cancer risk in Taiwan.

Identification of trophinin as an enhancer for cell invasion and a prognostic factor for early stage lung cancer.

The explosion of microarray studies has promised to shed light on the identification of disease markers. To find novel prognostic factors, we used the expression profile of a poor prognostic factor of lung cancer, survivin (BIRC5), as a template to search for and compare transcriptome expression profiles in a lung adenocarcinoma microarray dataset. Trophinin (TRO) was identified as one of the best-correlated genes.

Length-dependent toxicity of untranslated CUG repeats on Caenorhabditis elegans.

Expansion of CTG repeat within the 3'-untranslated region of the DMPK gene causes the most common neuromuscular disorder, myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), through a RNA trans-dominant mechanism. Here, we explore Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system to investigate the repeat size-dependent toxic effect by expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) transcripts with various lengths of untranslatable CUG repeats (CUG5, CUG30, CUG83, CUG125, and CUG213) in body wall muscles. CUG213 animals died during embryogenesis or showed retarded growth at larval stages due to defective muscle development.

Precursor binding to an 880-kDa Toc complex as an early step during active import of protein into chloroplasts.

The import of protein into chloroplasts is mediated by translocon components located in the chloroplast outer (the Toc proteins) and inner (the Tic proteins) envelope membranes. To identify intermediate steps during active import, we used sucrose density gradient centrifugation and blue-native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (BN-PAGE) to identify complexes of translocon components associated with precursor proteins under active import conditions instead of arrested binding conditions. Importing precursor proteins in solubilized chloroplast membranes formed a two-peak distribution in the sucrose density gradient.

Acute renal failure in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Background And Purpose: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is caused by a new coronavirus, and results in respiratory failure. Acute renal failure (ARF) may also occur and/or complicate the disease course, however, its incidence, causes and impact in SARS patients are not known.

Methods: ARF patients were identified from a total of 78 (33 men and 45 women) probable SARS cases admitted to a single hospital.

Severe community-acquired pneumonia due to Legionella pneumophila Serogroup 6.

Legionella pneumophila is a common cause of sporadic community-acquired pneumonia, but culture-proven legionellosis is rarely diagnosed. There is no laboratory test for Legionnaires' disease that can detect all patients with the disease. Culture is the standard diagnostic method and should be initiated as soon as possible in suspected cases.

Polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene affects the outcome of acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Objective: There has been increasing evidence that angiotensin II may play an important role in the pathogenesis and in the evolution of acute lung injury. It was therefore hypothesized that polymorphisms of the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene affects the risk and outcome of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Design: Prospective, observational study.

Spontaneous bilateral bacterial empyema in a patient with nephrotic syndrome.

Spontaneous bacterial empyema (SBEM), a rare infectious complication among liver cirrhosis patients, is characterized by infection in the presence of pleural effusion without evidence of pre-existing pneumonia. The prevalence of SBEM in cirrhotic patients with hydrothorax is about 13%. However, it has previously not been reported in medical literature in patients with nephrotic syndrome.

Elevation of telomerase activity positively correlates to poor prognosis of patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Increased telomerase activity has been found in various types of human malignancies, including lung cancer. However, the correlation between the level of telomerase activity and the clinical characteristics of lung cancer patients remains unclear. The levels of telomerase activity in lung cancer specimens and adjacent non-neoplastic tissues obtained from 68 patients who underwent surgery were measured by using a non-radioactive quantitative method.

Epidermal growth factor receptor mutations in needle biopsy/aspiration samples predict response to gefitinib therapy and survival of patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer.

Recently, mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients were reported to correlate with gefitinib response. Less than 30% of NSCLC patients are surgically resectable; however, molecular analysis has to rely on nonsurgical diagnostic tissue samples. The objective of this study is to investigate EGFR mutation analysis on needle biopsy/aspiration samples and its correlations with gefitinib response and patients' survival.

Community-acquired thoracic empyema in older people.

Objectives: To compare the clinical characteristics of community-acquired thoracic empyema in older and younger patients and to analyze the effect of various factors on outcome.

Design: A retrospective, comparative observational study.

Setting: A university-affiliated tertiary medical center.

Pulmonary sequelae in convalescent patients after severe acute respiratory syndrome: evaluation with thin-section CT.

Purpose: To prospectively evaluate lung parenchyma on paired inspiration-expiration thin-section computed tomographic (CT) scans in patients recovering from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Materials And Methods: After the institutional review board approved the study and written consent was obtained from patients, 40 patients (25 female, 15 male; mean age, 42.8 years +/- 12.

Outcome and prognostic factors in critically ill patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a retrospective study.

Introduction: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an archetypal autoimmune disease, involving multiple organ systems with varying course and prognosis. However, there is a paucity of clinical data regarding prognostic factors in SLE patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: From January 1992 to December 2000, all patients admitted to the ICU with a diagnosis of SLE were included.

Distribution according to histologic type and outcome by gender and age group in Taiwanese patients with lung carcinoma.

Background: The results from previous studies suggested that the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with lung carcinoma vary between gender and age groups. The objective of the current study was to assess the trend in the evolution of the histologic types in Taiwan and to compare the outcomes of patients with lung carcinoma between different gender and age groups.

Methods: Patients with primary lung carcinoma were identified through the cancer registry system.

Changing bacteriology of adult community-acquired lung abscess in Taiwan: Klebsiella pneumoniae versus anaerobes.

Background: Most literature regarding lung abscess focuses on anaerobic bacterial lung abscess, and aerobic gram-negative bacillary infection is less frequently discussed. This study was conducted to investigate the bacteriology of community-acquired lung abscess and to improve the empirical therapeutic strategy for adults with community-acquired lung abscess.

Methods: We reviewed and analyzed data on 90 consecutive adult cases of bacteriologically confirmed community-acquired lung abscess treated during 1995-2003 at a tertiary university hospital in Taiwan.

Timing of tracheostomy as a determinant of weaning success in critically ill patients: a retrospective study.

Introduction: Tracheostomy is frequently performed in critically ill patients for prolonged intubation. However, the optimal timing of tracheostomy, and its impact on weaning from mechanical ventilation and outcomes in critically ill patients who require mechanical ventilation remain controversial.

Methods: The medical records of patients who underwent tracheostomy in the medical intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary medical centre from July 1998 to June 2001 were reviewed.

Structural isomers and binding sites of guanine-rich quadruplexes investigated by induced circular dichroism of thionin: loops and tails.

Induced circular dichroism has been used to study the binding of thionin molecule to twelve guanine-rich quadruplexes. Substituting the base in the loops and varying the length of the tails could substantial change the induced circular dichroism spectra, which allow us to distinguish structural isomers and to determine the binding sites of quadruplexes. Our results show that external stacking on the end surface of the G-quartet associated with electrostatic interaction with the loops or tails is the major binding mode of thionin with these G-quadruplexes.

Changes of heart rate variability during ventilator weaning.

Study Objectives: Despite the recognition that ventilator weaning is associated with a change in autonomic nervous system activity, there has not been any report concerning the change of heart rate variability (HRV), a reliable method to detect autonomic nervous system activity, in patients during weaning. The aim of this study was to investigate the change of autonomic nervous system activity during ventilator weaning by HRV analysis.

Design: Prospective study.

Outcome and prognostic factors for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer and severe radiation pneumonitis.

Purpose: Radiation pneumonitis is a serious complication that develops after thoracic irradiation. The purpose of this study was to identify prognostic factors for severe radiation pneumonitis in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.

Methods And Materials: The medical records of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer and severe radiation pneumonitis were reviewed.

Pneumothorax in the ICU: patient outcomes and prognostic factors.

Study Objective: To identify the prognostic factors for pneumothorax in patients in the ICU.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: ICU at a university-based teaching hospital.