Long-term ketogenic diet causes hyperlipidemia, liver dysfunction, and glucose intolerance from impaired insulin trafficking and secretion in mice.

A ketogenic diet (KD) is a very low-carbohydrate, very high-fat diet proposed to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes. While KD grows in popularity, its effects on metabolic health are understudied. Here we show that, in male and female mice, while KD protects against weight gain and induces weight loss, over long-term, mice develop hyperlipidemia, hepatic steatosis, and severe glucose intolerance.

Early Seizure Prophylaxis in Mild and Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Importance: Guidelines recommend seizure prophylaxis for early posttraumatic seizures (PTS) after severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Use of antiseizure medications for early seizure prophylaxis after mild or moderate TBI remains controversial.

Objective: To determine the association between seizure prophylaxis and risk reduction for early PTS in mild and moderate TBI.

In-situ growth of MOF-derived CoS@MoS heterostructured electrocatalyst for the detection of furazolidone.

The over-exploitation of antibiotics in food and farming industries ruined the environmental and human health. Consequently, electrochemical sensors offer significant advantages in monitoring these compounds with high accuracy. Herein, MOF-derived hollow CoS@MoS (CS@MS) heterostructure has been prepared hydrothermally and applied to fabricate an electrochemical sensor to monitor nitrofuran class antibiotic drug.

Cimetidine Attenuates Therapeutic Effect of Anti-PD-1 and Anti-PD-L1 and Modulates Tumor Microenvironment in Colon Cancer.

Histamine modulates immunity by binding to histamine receptor 2 (H2R). Cimetidine, an H2R antagonist that inhibits gastric acid secretion and treats gastrointestinal ulcers, interferes with histamine-mediated immunomodulation and may have anticancer activity. This study examined cimetidine's effect on the anticancer effect of anti-PD-L1 in colon cancer.

Effect of an automated dispensing cabinet system on drug distribution effectiveness in a surgical unit.

The use of the automated dispensing cabinet (ADC) for drug distribution in hospitals has become increasingly common and has numerous benefits. This retrospective study assessed the effectiveness of an ADC that uses integrated information technology in the drug distribution process in a surgical unit as part of a smart medical process improvement project at Taichung Veterans General Hospital in 2019. The outcomes include medicine delivery time, working time of healthcare professionals, transportation manpower, dispensing errors, and satisfaction of nursing staff with the medication distribution process.

Gender survival differences in hepatocellular carcinoma: Is it all due to adherence to surveillance? A study of 1716 patients over three decades.

Background And Aims: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the commonest causes of cancer-related death worldwide. Whether gender is an independent factor for HCC survival is debatable. We studied the influence of gender on the clinical characteristics of HCC and on survival.

Health Disparities in Lapses in Diabetic Retinopathy Care.

Objective: To develop a novel methodology to identify lapses in diabetic retinopathy care in electronic health records (EHRs) and evaluate health disparities by race and ethnicity.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Subjects: Adult patients with diabetes mellitus who were evaluated at the Wilmer Eye Institute from January 1, 2013 to April 2, 2022.

AAV-based gene therapy prevents and halts the progression of dilated cardiomyopathy in a mouse model of phosphoglucomutase 1 deficiency (PGM1-CDG).

Phosphoglucomutase 1 (PGM1) deficiency is recognized as the third most common N-linked congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) in humans. Affected individuals present with liver, musculoskeletal, endocrine, and coagulation symptoms; however, the most life-threatening complication is the early onset of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Recently, we discovered that oral D-galactose supplementation improved liver disease, endocrine, and coagulation abnormalities, but does not alleviate the fatal cardiomyopathy and the associated myopathy.

Fern Spores-"Ready-to-Use" Standards for Plant Genome Size Estimation Using a Flow Cytometric Approach.

Spores and pollen of plants were used as flow cytometric materials to efficiently infer genome sizes. Given this advantage, they hold great potential for various flow cytometric applications, particularly as plant genome size standards. To develop such novel standards, we investigated conditions of pretreatment (bead vortex), buffer, and reliable genome sizes of three fern spore collections- "", "", and "".

The effects of an augmented reality application developed for paediatric first aid training on the knowledge and skill levels of nursing students: An experimental controlled study.

Background: The purpose of the present research was to develop an augmented reality paediatric first aid training system to investigate the effects of such a system on the knowledge, skill levels, and self-confidence of nursing students in first-aid practices.

Objective: This controlled experiment was conducted at a junior college. Ninety-five fourth-year nursing students participated in this study; 46 in the experimental group and 49 in the control group.

Development and Application of AR-Based Assessment System for Infant Airway Obstruction First Aid Training.

Airway obstruction refers to suffocation caused by blockage of the airway due to a foreign body and is a common cause of accidental death in infants below one year of age. However, the current infant CPR manikins used for training in first aid for foreign body airway obstruction can only be applied to one single scenario. Furthermore, trainees' first aid skills cannot be recorded and quantified with a digital system and, consequently, assessment of their skills is difficult to conduct.

Two pictorial tools for assessing the attitudes of Taiwanese male high school students with intellectual disabilities toward sexually offensive behavior.

The purpose of this study was to develop two pictorial tools for assessing the attitudes of Taiwanese male senior high school students with intellectual disabilities toward sexually offensive behavior, focusing on cognitive distortion and victim empathy. A total of 181 male high school students at special education schools participated in this study. The validity and reliability were examined using exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha coefficient.

A longitudinal study to explore unmet care needs, social support, and hope of women with gynecological cancer.

The experience of a life-threatening illness, such as cancer, can have an array of health impacts and social and psychological well-being can be compromised. This study compared differences in unmet care needs, social support, and hope of Taiwanese women with either newly diagnosed (n = 72) or recurring (n = 39) gynecological cancer at baseline (T0) and three follow-up surveys every 2 months (T1; T2; T3). Sociodemographic questions and three standardized self-administered questionnaires were used.

A clinical observational study of effectiveness of a solid coupling medium in extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy.

This study aimed to investigate clinical effectiveness of stone disintegration by using isolation coupling pad ("icPad") as coupling medium to reduce trapped air pockets during extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL). Patients underwent ESWL between Oct. 2017 and May 2018 were enrolled in this clinical observational study.

The effects of a pharmacist-led medication review in a nursing home: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: In this study, an intensive review of pharmaceutical care for elderly patients was conducted in a Veterans Administration nursing home in Taiwan and its effects were evaluated.

Methods: One hundred participants were enrolled in this randomized controlled study with even distribution. The inclusion criteria were age 65 years or older, prescriptions for at least 5 oral medicines daily, and ≥2 chronic diseases, for the period May 2013 to October 2014.

TRF2 promotes dynamic and stepwise looping of POT1 bound telomeric overhang.

Human telomeres are protected by shelterin proteins, but how telomeres maintain a dynamic structure remains elusive. Here, we report an unexpected activity of POT1 in imparting conformational dynamics of the telomere overhang, even at a monomer level. Strikingly, such POT1-induced overhang dynamics is greatly enhanced when TRF2 engages with the telomere duplex.

Glycemic control was associated with nonprostate cancer and overall mortalities in diabetic patients with prostate cancer.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) can worsen the prognosis or survival in prostate cancer (PC) patients. We investigated whether glycemic control impacts mortality in PC patients with existing diabetes.

Methods: All PC patients with or without preexisting DM were enrolled from 2006 to 2017.

Newly designed solid coupling medium for reducing trapped air pockets during extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy_ a phantom study.

Introduction: Air pockets between the lithotripter head and body surface are almost inevitably generated when applying a handful of gel onto the contact portion of the treatment head and that on the patient's skin during coupling procedure. These air pockets can compromise the transmission of acoustic energy of shock wave and may significantly affect efficacy of stone disintegration. Comparing to conventional gel, this study aims to investigate efficacy of stone disintegration by using a proprietary isolation-coupling pad ("icPad") as the coupling medium to reduce trapped air pockets during ESWL procedure.

First Report of 16SrII-V Peanut Witches' Broom Phytoplasma in Snake Gourd ( L.) in Taiwan.

Snake gourd ( L.), an annual climbing plant belonging to the family of Cucurbitaceae, is native to Southeast Asia countries, e.g.

Overexpression of wild type or a Q311E mutant MB21D2 promotes a pro-oncogenic phenotype in HNSCC.

Cadherin-mediated cell-cell contacts regulated by intracellular binders play critical roles in tissue homeostasis and tumorigenesis. Here, we screened mutational profiles of 312 annotated genes involved in cadherin binding in human squamous cell carcinomas and found MB21D2 to carry a unique recurrent Q311E mutation. MB21D2 overexpression was also frequently found in head and neck cancer (HNSCC) and was associated with poor clinical outcomes.

Efficacy of second-line regimens for eradication treatment: a systemic review and network meta-analysis.

Background: Current guidelines recommend bismuth-containing quadruple therapy (BQT) and quinolone-containing therapy after failure of first-line eradication therapy. However, the optimum regimen of second-line eradication therapy remains elusive. We conducted a network meta-analysis to compare the relative efficacy of 16 second-line eradication regimens.

Preventing epilepsy after traumatic brain injury: A propensity score analysis.

Background: Due to the potential consequences of post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) exacerbating secondary injury following traumatic brain injury (TBI), the use of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) is an accepted option for seizure prophylaxis. However, there is only a paucity of data that can be found regarding outcomes surrounding the use of AEDs. The purpose of this retrospective study is to evaluate whether the prophylactic administration of AEDs significantly decreased the incidence of PTE, when considering the severity of TBI.