Publications by authors named "Kun Ju Lin"

Introduction: We integrated plasma biomarkers from the Taiwan Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative and propose a workflow to identify individuals showing amyloid-positive positron emission tomography (PET) with low/intermediate tau burden based on [18F]Florzolotau PET-based quantification.

Methods: We assessed 361 participants across the Alzheimer's disease (AD) and non-AD continuum and measured plasma phosphorylated tau (p-tau)217, p-tau181, amyloid beta (Aβ)42/40 ratio, neurofilament light chain, and glial fibrillary acidic protein levels at two medical centers. We evaluated the diagnostic potential of these biomarkers.

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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly lethal cancer. Paclitaxel (PTX), typically administered intravenously (IV) as chemotherapy, shows promise for triggering immunogenic cell death (ICD) and may serve as a potential immunotherapy. This study introduces an oral PTX delivery method using an enteric-coated gelatin capsule containing capric acid oil and an effervescent agent, optionally with decylamine-conjugated β-glucans (DA-βGlus).

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Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by hippocampal volume reduction, impacting cognitive function. Inflammation, particularly elevated tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels, is consistently implicated in MDD pathophysiology. This study investigates the relationships between TNF-α levels, hippocampal volume, beta-amyloid (Aβ) burden, and cognitive abilities in MDD patients, aiming to illuminate the complex interplay among inflammatory markers, pathology indicators, structural brain alterations, and cognitive performance in non-demented MDD individuals.

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Amyloid plaques, implicated in Alzheimer's disease, exhibit a spatial propagation pattern through interconnected brain regions, suggesting network-driven dissemination. This study utilizes PET imaging to investigate these brain connections and introduces an innovative method for analyzing the amyloid network. A modified version of a previously established method is applied to explore distinctive patterns of connectivity alterations across cognitive performance domains.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate whether plasma biomarkers can help to diagnose, differentiate from Alzheimer disease (AD), and stage cognitive performance in patients with positron emission tomography (PET)-confirmed primary age-related tauopathy, termed tau-first cognitive proteinopathy (TCP) in this study. In this multi-center study, we enrolled 285 subjects with young-onset AD (YOAD; = 55), late-onset AD (LOAD; = 96), TCP ( = 44), and cognitively unimpaired controls (CTL; = 90) and analyzed plasma Aβ42/Aβ40, pTau181, neurofilament light (NFL), and total-tau using single-molecule assays. Amyloid and tau centiloids reflected pathological burden, and hippocampal volume reflected structural integrity.

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Background: Tau-first cognitive proteinopathy (TCP) denotes a clinical phenotype of Alzheimer disease (AD) showing Florzolotau(18F) positron emission tomography (PET) positivity but a negative amyloid status.

Aim: We explored the biological property of tau using longitudinal cognitive and neuroimaging data in TCP and compared with late-onset AD (LOAD).

Method: We enrolled 56 patients with LOAD, 34 patients with TCP, and 26 cognitive unimpaired controls.

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Background: Tau pathology plays a crucial role in neurodegeneration diseases including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and non-AD diseases such as progressive supranuclear palsy. Tau positron emission tomography (PET) is an in-vivo and non-invasive medical imaging technique for detecting and visualizing tau deposition within a human brain. In this work, we aim to investigate the biodistribution of the dosimetry in the whole body and various organs for the [F]Florzolotau tau-PET tracer.

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Background: Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a tauopathy that involves subcortical regions but also extends to cortical areas. The clinical impact of different tau protein sites and their influence on glymphatic dysfunction have not been investigated.

Patients And Methods: Participants (n = 55; 65.

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Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) are the two most common forms of dementia. However, their neuropsychological and pathological features often overlap, making it difficult to distinguish between AD and VaD. In addition to clinical consultation and laboratory examinations, clinical dementia diagnosis in Taiwan will also include Tc-99m-ECD SPECT imaging examination.

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The formulation of a drug using high-energy emulsification commonly causes drug deterioration. Exploiting the well-known Diet Coke-Mentos reaction (DCMR), a U-shaped tube reactor that can generate an eruption of bubbly flow that can serve as a low-energy emulsification platform, is proposed. The liquid in the U-tube reactor is a supersaturated solution of aqueous CO, which mimics Diet Coke.

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Introduction: Tau-targeted positron emission tomography (tau-PET) is a potential tool for the differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to clarify the distribution of tau deposition. In addition to the quantitative analysis of tau-PET scans, visual reading supports the assessment of tau loading for clinical diagnosis. This study aimed to propose a method for visually interpreting tau-PET using the [F] Florzolotau tracer and investigate the performance and utility of the visual reading.

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Gut microbiota (GM) are involved in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and might correlate to the machinery of the gut-brain axis. Alteration of the GM profiles becomes a potential therapy strategy in AD. Here, we found that plasmon-activated water (PAW) therapy altered GM profile and reduced AD symptoms in APPswe/PS1dE9 transgenic mice (AD mice).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the relationship between the ALPS-index, a model of the glymphatic system, and cognitive outcomes in young-onset Alzheimer's disease (YOAD) patients compared to age-matched controls.
  • The research involved 130 YOAD patients and 137 controls, utilizing MRI and cognitive tests to assess the connection between brain tissue integrity and cognitive performance.
  • Findings indicate that lower ALPS-index in YOAD patients correlates with atrophy in specific brain regions and suggests that the integrity of these regions is a key mediator in linking the glymphatic system to cognitive performance.
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Background: A substantial proportion of individuals with late-life major depression could be classified as having a suspected non-Alzheimer disease pathophysiology (SNAP), as indicated by a negative test for the biomarker β-amyloid (Aβ-) but a positive test for neurodegeneration (ND+). This study investigated the clinical features, characteristic patterns of brain atrophy and hypometabolism, and implications regarding pathology in this population.

Methods: Forty-six amyloid-negative patients with late-life major depressive disorder (MDD) patients, including 23 SNAP (Aβ-/ND+) and 23 Aβ-/ND- MDD subjects, and 22 Aβ-/ND-healthy control subjects were included in this study.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the glymphatic system's role in clearing amyloid and tau proteins from the brain in Alzheimer's disease (AD), as previous research primarily focused on animal models without clear human evidence.
  • A sample of 50 participants with AD and normal controls underwent various imaging and neuropsychological assessments, revealing that glymphatic activity negatively correlated with amyloid and tau deposits and positively correlated with cognitive function.
  • Findings suggest that glymphatic system activity could mediates cognitive dysfunction in AD, indicating its potential as a biomarker for disease progression or treatment effects.
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Cerebral amyloid-β (Aβ) depositions in depression in old age are controversial. A substantial proportion of individuals with late-life major depressive disorder (MDD) could be classified as having suspected non-Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology (SNAP) by a negative test for the biomarker amyloid-β (Aβ-) but positive neurodegeneration (ND+). This study aimed to evaluate subthreshold Aβ loads in amyloid-negative MDD, particularly in SNAP MDD patients.

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  • A biomaterial-based scaffold made of radially aligned mineralized collagen fibers with nanosilicon (RA-MC/nSi) is proposed to address large bone defects that cannot heal on their own.
  • In studies using a mouse model, this scaffold effectively promotes the movement and growth of reparative cells toward the defect site, enhancing bone healing.
  • The scaffold releases gaseous hydrogen and silicic acid, helping to control inflammation and boost the regeneration of bone tissue by promoting cell growth and differentiation.
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  • The study investigates the prevalence of amyloid aggregation, a key feature of Alzheimer's disease, in individuals with varying cognitive statuses, including those with normal cognition and who have clinical AD dementia.
  • It analyzes how factors like age, sex, educational background, and the method of detecting amyloid (CSF or PET scans) influence the prevalence estimates.
  • Data were collected from 85 study cohorts between 2013 and 2020, using a systematic approach to categorize amyloid measurements as normal or abnormal.
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Background: this study was designed to compare the long-term survival outcomes of patients prepared for radioiodine (RAI) therapy using either thyroid hormone withdrawal (THW) or recombinant human thyrotropin (rhTSH) stimulation, by specifically focusing on cases with distant metastases from papillary thyroid cancer (PTC).

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 88 patients with distant metastases from PTC. Fifty-one and thirty-seven patients were prepared for RAI treatment by either THW or rhTSH stimulation, respectively.

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: Neurodegeneration and vascular burden are the two most common causes of post-stroke cognitive impairment. However, the interrelationship between the plasma beta-amyloid (Aβ) and tau protein, cortical atrophy and brain amyloid accumulation on PET imaging in stroke patients is undetermined. We aimed to explore: (1) the relationships of cortical thickness and amyloid burden on PET with plasma Aβ40, Aβ42, tau protein and their composite scores in stroke patients; and (2) the associations of post-stroke cognitive presentations with these plasma and neuroimaging biomarkers.

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The correct differential diagnosis of dementia has an important impact on patient treatment and follow-up care strategies. Tc-99m-ECD SPECT imaging, which is low cost and accessible in general clinics, is used to identify the two common types of dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Lewy body dementia (LBD). Two-stage transfer learning technology and reducing model complexity based on the ResNet-50 model were performed using the ImageNet data set and ADNI database.

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Parkinson's disease (PD) and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning demonstrate parkinsonian features related to presynaptic dopaminergic deficits. However, their clinical features and treatment responses are different, indicating other roles of neurotransmitters in symptomatic modulation. In this study, we used F-FP-(+)-DTBZ PET to explore vesicular monoamine transporter type 2 (VMAT2) distributions in 31 patients with PD, 39 patients with CO poisoning and parkinsonian features (n = 39), and 24 age-matched controls.

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