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View Article and Find Full Text PDFCosmetic tattoos are difficult to remove, and their response to picosecond laser treatment has seldom been investigated. We compared the efficacy and adverse effects of picosecond versus Q-switched lasers for the removal of cosmetic tattoos. White, flesh-colored, and brown inks were irradiated using 532/1064 nm picosecond and Q-switched Nd:YAG lasers, and their absorption spectra before and after laser irradiation were analyzed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe International Symposium on the Future ICT (Future-ICT 2019) in conjunction with the 4th International Symposium on Mobile Internet Security (MobiSec 2019) has been held on 17-19 October 2019 in Taichung, Taiwan [...
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElectrocardiogram (ECG) as one of the best methods to measure irregular heartbeats is a dispensable method for doctor to diagnose Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) patients. Most medical centers in Taiwan implement the reduction of Door to Balloon (D2B) time, which is defined as the time interval starting when an Acute-Myocardial-Infarction patient arrives at the Emergency Department, and ending when a catheter guide wire crosses the culprit lesion as the acute-myocardial-infarction treatment on the patient in the cardiac catheterization room. Generally, when a patient with acute-chest pain is sent into a hospital (always to Emergency Department), the hospital will collect his/her ECG which needs to be evaluated by a cardiologist to ensure that the patient really has Acute Myocardial Infarction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe mechanisms responsible for variable responses of cosmetic tattoos to Q-switched laser removal treatment remain unclear. We sought to investigate the properties of tattoo inks that may affect the efficacy of laser-assisted tattoo removal. The absorption of white, brown, and black inks before and after Q-switched neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser irradiation were analyzed by a reflectance measurement system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNanotitanium dioxide particle (nTiO2) inhalation has been reported to induce lung parenchymal injury. After inhalation of nTiO2, we monitored changes in 5-lipoxygenase, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA in rat lung tissue. Lung function parameters include specific airway resistance (SRaw), peak expiratory flow rate (PEF), functional residual capacity (FRC), and lung compliance (Cchord); blood white blood cell count (WBC), nitric oxide (NO), hydrogen peroxide, and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH); and lung lavage leukotriene C4, interleukin 6 (IL6), tumor necrotic factor α (TNFα), hydroxyl radicals, and NO.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMelatonin is a free radical scavenger and broad-spectrum antioxidant with immunomodulatory effects. We studied the effects of melatonin on changes in lung function, oxidative/nitrosative stress, and inflammatory cell sequestration in an acute pancreatitis (AP)-associated lung inflammation model. Acute pancreatitis was induced by injection of 5% sodium taurocholate into the pancreatic duct of rats.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objective: Cosmetic tattoos are difficult to treat using Q-switched lasers. We introduce a novel method for the treatment of cosmetic tattoos using a nonablative fractional laser and investigate the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms in an animal model.
Study Design/materials And Methods: Ten rats were tattooed on their backs with white and flesh-colored pigments.
Background: Treating cosmetic tattoos using quality-switched lasers is difficult.
Objective: We used carbon dioxide ablative fractional resurfacing (CO2 AFR) to remove cosmetic tattoos and examined the pathophysiologic mechanisms involved in this technique in an animal model.
Methods And Materials: Twelve rats were tattooed on their backs with white and flesh-colored pigments.
Purpose: The present study was designed to elucidate the role of endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase (eNOS), inducible NOS (iNOS)-derived NO and heat-shock protein (Hsp70) in a rat model of whole-body hyperthermia (WBH)-induced liver injury.
Materials And Methods: Real-time polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry and western blot were used to observe the mRNA and protein expression of eNOS, iNOS and Hsp70. Rats were exposed to hyperthermia by immersion for 60 min at a conscious state in a water bath maintained at 41°C.
Background: Cosmetic tattoos contain titanium and ferric oxide and darken through reduction after Q-switched laser irradiation. The optimal treatment for removing these pigments remains unknown.
Objective: To compare the effects of two Q-switched lasers and a short-pulse erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (SP Er:YAG) laser to remove cosmetic tattoos in an animal model.
Objectives: The extracellular loop 2 (ECL2) ectodomain of the G protein-coupled receptor class A is thought to function like an inactivation "lid." We created polyclonal somatostatin receptor ECL2 (anti-SSTR ECL2) antibodies to target this lid and to examine if these antibodies can selectively activate the SSTR.
Methods: Western blots and live-cell immunofluorescence microscopy determined anti-SSTR ECL2 antibody receptor binding selectivity.
Objective: Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) of the rat liver can induce liver injury through mechanisms involving oxidative and nitrosative stresses. In this study we examined the effects of antioxidants Lycium barbarum (LB) and ascorbic acid on I/R-induced liver injury in rats.
Methods: Liver ischemia was induced by clamping the common hepatic artery and portal vein of rats for 40 minutes.
The dual effect of the ubiquitous inflammatory cytokine transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF beta) on cellular proliferation and tumor metastasis is intriguing but complex. In epithelial cell- and neural cell-derived tumors, TGF beta serves as a growth inhibitor at the beginning of tumor development but later becomes a growth accelerator for transformed tumors. The somatostatin (SST) signaling pathway is a well-established antiproliferation signal, and in this report, we explore the interplay between the SST and TGF beta signaling pathways in the human neuroendocrine tumor cell line BON.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: We evaluated the cardiovascular injury induced by ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) of the liver by measuring changes in blood levels of cardiac troponin I (cTNI), an index of cardiovascular injury, as well as levels of selected indicators of an inflammatory response.
Materials And Methods: Ischemia was induced in the rat liver by clamping the common hepatic artery and portal vein for 40 minutes, after which flow was restored, and the liver reperfused for 90 minutes. Blood samples were collected prior to ischemia and after reperfusion.
Unlabelled: Our objective was to investigate the potential protective effects of insulin on the liver injury induced in three ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) models.
Methods: Three I/R models were used: (1) I/R of the liver was produced in isolated, perfused rat livers; (2) in in situ I/R of the liver in rats, ischemia was induced by clamping off the hepatic artery and portal vein for 40 minutes, the flow then restored, and the liver reperfused for 90 minutes; (3) in in situ I/R of the liver in mice, ischemia was induced by clamping off the hepatic artery for 15 minutes, the flow then restored, and the liver reperfused for 45 minutes. In all three cases, blood samples collected before ischemia and after reperfusion were analyzed for sGOT.
Unlabelled: Our objective was to investigate the mRNA and protein expressions of eNOS and iNOS in the mesenteric vascular bed after ischemia and reperfusion of the rat superior mesenteric artery (SMA) and the role of nitric oxide (NO) in the response of the vascular bed to vasoconstrictors following reperfusion of the SMA.
Methods: Real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry were used to monitor the mRNA and protein expression of eNOS and iNOS after I/R challenge to the rat SMA. Ischemia was induced by clamping the SMA for 40 minutes, after which the flow was restored and the vessels were reperfused for 300 minutes.
Transplant Proc
December 2005
Many pathological processes involve the breakdown and remodeling of the extracellular matrix, which is mediated by the family of important enzymes known as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). One such process is warm ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, the most important cause of dysfunction of liver allografts. We monitored protein expression of MMP-9 by Western blotting in rat liver after I/R.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Paediatr Taiwan
June 2006
Polythelia and polymastia usually occur along the embryonic milk lines extending from the axilla to the groin. Polymastia in female patients has been reported to manifest during pregnancy or lactation. We report a 14-year-old adolescent with axillary supernumerary breasts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report a case of an extremely-low-birth-weight premature infant with Trichomonas vaginalis infection of the vagina and urinary tract. Her mother is also infected with Trichomonas vaginalis but is asymptomatic. The patient's illness started as an asymptomatic pyuria and later on at early infancy developed profuse malodorous vaginal discharge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: To analyze the expression of retinoic acid receptor responder 3 (RARRES3) protein in paraffin-embedded tissues of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CC), and the correlation of RARRES3 production with tumor differentiation.
Methods: Expression of RARRES3 in tissues from 21 CC (10 well-, 7 moderately- and 4 poorly-differentiated) and 32 HCC was determined by immunohistochemistry.
Results: Among 21 CC tissues, RARRES3 was detected in 8 (80%) of 10 well-differentiated tumors.
The aim of this study was to investigate the role of nitric oxide (NO) in hepatic ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats. Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the protein expression of endothelial and inducible nitric oxide synthases (eNOS, iNOS) and nitrotyrosine after I/R challenges to the liver, and blood levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), lactic dehydrogenase (LDH), hydroxyl radical and NO were measured before ischemia and after reperfusion. Ischemia was induced by occlusion of the common hepatic artery and portal vein for 40 min, followed by reperfusion for 90 min.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEstrogen causes breast cancer by triggering proliferation via an estrogen receptor (ER)-mediated mechanism. However, paradoxically, ER alpha, one of the two known ER subtypes, and the proliferation marker, Ki67, are not usually expressed in the same breast tumor. To explore whether ER alpha-positive tumors and proliferating (Ki67-positive) tumors have different tumorigenic characteristics, we performed an immunohistochemical study on 74 early-onset infiltrating ductal carcinomas of the breast.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe role of the DNA double-strand-break (DSB) checkpoint/repair genes, ATM, BRCA1 and TP53, in sporadic breast cancer requires clarification, since ATM and BRCA1 mutations are rare in sporadic tumours. In an attempt to explain this phenomenon, we postulated that (i) in addition to genetic deletion, abnormal expression of DSB checkpoint/repair proteins might abolish the function of these genes and (ii) there might be a combined effect of individual defective genes during breast cancer pathogenesis. Using a largely homogenous group of 74 specimens of early-onset (< or =35 years of age) infiltrating ductal carcinomas, we examined associations between pathological grade and genetic deletion and/or abnormal protein expression of ATM, BRCA1 and TP53.
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