Large-Area Transfer of Nanometer-Thin C Films.

Fullerenes, with well-defined molecular structures and high scalability, hold promise as fundamental building blocks for creating a variety of carbon materials. The fabrication and transfer of large-area films with precisely controlled thicknesses and morphologies on desired surfaces are crucial for designing and developing fullerene-based materials and devices. In this work, we present strategies for solid-state transferring C molecular nanometer-thin films, with dimensions of centimeters in lateral size and thicknesses controlled in the range of 1-20 nm, onto various substrates.

Screening for Helicobacter pylori to Prevent Gastric Cancer: A Pragmatic Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Effects of screening for Helicobacter pylori on gastric cancer incidence and mortality are unknown.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of an invitation to screen for H pylori on gastric cancer incidence and mortality.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A pragmatic randomized clinical trial of residents aged 50 to 69 years in Changhua County, Taiwan, eligible for biennial fecal immunochemical tests (FIT) for colon cancer screening.

An investigation into the cognitive flexibility of undergraduate dental hygiene students at two dental schools in Asia.

Background/purpose: Cognitive flexibility is a personality trait, which can influence how effectively a healthcare professional can manage a challenging clinical situation. This study explored the cognitive flexibility of undergraduate dental hygiene students at two universities in Asia to gather baseline information in order to consider whether there was an educational need for pre-clinical students with regards to this personality factor.

Materials And Methods: Participants were all undergraduate dental hygiene students in the 2022 academic year at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU; n = 79) and Taipei Medical University (TMU; n = 88).

Kinetics of Viral Shedding for Outbreak Surveillance of Emerging Infectious Diseases: Modeling Approach to SARS-CoV-2 Alpha and Omicron Infection.

Background: Previous studies have highlighted the importance of viral shedding using cycle threshold (Ct) values obtained via reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction to understand the epidemic trajectories of SARS-CoV-2 infections. However, it is rare to elucidate the transition kinetics of Ct values from the asymptomatic or presymptomatic phase to the symptomatic phase before recovery using individual repeated Ct values.

Objective: This study proposes a novel Ct-enshrined compartment model to provide a series of quantitative measures for delineating the full trajectories of the dynamics of viral load from infection until recovery.

Assessing Excess Mortality of Baby Boomers from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Taiwan Omicron-naïve Cohort.

Background: Asia's elderly Baby Boomer demographic (born between 1946 and 1964) faced a huge problem during the COVID-19 pandemic due to increased all-cause mortality. We aimed to provide a unique Taiwan situation regarding the impact of Baby Boomers on excess mortalities from all causes relative to non-Baby Boomers throughout distinct times of SARS-CoV-2 mutations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We used the Poisson time series design with a Bayesian directed acyclic graphic approach to build the background mortality prior to the COVID-19 pandemic between 2015 and 2019.

Flexible fluorinated graphite foils with high contents of the (CF) phase for slow neutron reflectors.

In order to prepare self-standing and flexible slow neutron reflectors made of graphite fluoride (GF) with high contents of (CF) structural phase, graphite foils of different thicknesses were used as starting materials for gas (F)/solid fluorination. The maximal interlayer distance of GF was obtained with this phase thanks to the stacking sequence FCCF/FCCF; this is mandatory for the efficient reflection of slow neutrons. 71 and 77% of the (CF) phase were achieved for graphite foils with thicknesses of 1.

New insights into three trajectories of omicron-related all-cause death reduced by COVID-19 booster vaccination.

Background: The trajectories of all-cause deaths linked to omicron infections are rarely studied, especially in relation to the efficacy of booster shots. For assessing three epidemiological death trajectories, including dying from COVID-19, dying with COVID-19, and non-COVID-19 death, we offer a new COVID-19-and-death competing risk model that deals with the primary pathway (e.g.

Beneficial effect of repeated participation in breast cancer screening upon survival.

Objectives: The benefit of mammography screening in reducing population mortality from breast cancer is well established. In this paper, we estimate the effect of repeated participation at scheduled screens on case survival.

Methods: We analysed incidence and survival data on 37,079 women from nine Swedish counties who had at least one to five invitation(s) to screening prior to diagnosis, and were diagnosed with breast cancer between 1992 and 2016.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Personalized Hypertension Prevention.

Background: While a population-wide strategy involving lifestyle changes and a high-risk strategy involving pharmacological interventions have been described, the recently proposed personalized medicine approach combining both strategies for the prevention of hypertension has increasingly gained attention. However, a cost-effectiveness analysis has been hardly addressed. This study was set out to build a Markov analytical decision model with a variety of prevention strategies in order to conduct an economic analysis for tailored preventative methods.

Can ship travel contain COVID-19 outbreak after re-opening: a Bayesian meta-analysis.

Large gatherings of people on cruise ships and warships are often at high risk of COVID-19 infections. To assess the transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 on warships and cruise ships and to quantify the effectiveness of the containment measures, the transmission coefficient (β), basic reproductive number (R), and time to deploy containment measures were estimated by the Bayesian model. A meta-analysis was conducted to predict vaccine protection with or without non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs).

Double-contrast barium enema is no longer justified as a backup examination for colonoscopy in the population screening program: Population study in an organized fecal immunochemical test-based screening program.

Background And Aim: Currently, some countries still acknowledge double-contrast barium enema (DCBE) as a backup confirmatory examination when colonoscopy is not feasible or incomplete in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening programs. This study aims to compare the performance of colonoscopy and DCBE in terms of the risk of incident CRC after negative results in the fecal immunochemical test (FIT)-based Taiwan Colorectal Cancer Screening Program.

Methods: Subjects who had positive FITs and received confirmatory exams, either colonoscopy or DCBE, without the findings of neoplastic lesions from 2004 to 2013 in the screening program comprised the study cohort.

Assessing overdiagnosis of fecal immunological test screening for colorectal cancer with a digital twin approach.

Evaluating the magnitude of overdiagnosis associated with stool-based service screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) beyond a randomized controlled trial is often intractable and understudied. We aim to estimate the proportion of overdiagnosis in population-based service screening programs for CRC with the fecal immunochemical test (FIT). The natural process of overdiagnosis-embedded disease was first built up to learn transition parameters that quantify the pathway of non-progressive and progressive screen-detected cases calibrated with sensitivity, while also taking competing mortality into account.

Lipid Nanoparticle and Liposome Reference Materials: Assessment of Size Homogeneity and Long-Term -70 °C and 4 °C Storage Stability.

With recent advances and anticipated proliferation of lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-delivered vaccines and therapeutics, there is a need for the availability of internationally recognized reference materials of LNP systems. Accordingly, we developed six LNP and liposome (anionic, neutral, and cationic each) candidate reference material formulations and thoroughly characterized by dynamic light scattering their particle hydrodynamic size (Z-avr) and polydispersity. We also evaluated the particle size homogeneity and long-term -70 °C and 4 °C storage stability using multiple large sets of randomly selected vials for each formulation.

The impact of active community-based survey on dementia detection ratio in Taiwan: A cohort study with historical control.

Background: Although early dementia detection is crucial to optimize the treatment outcomes and the management of associated symptoms, the published literature is scarce regarding the effectiveness of active screening protocols in enhancing dementia awareness and increasing the rate of early detection. The present study compared the detection ratio of an active community-based survey for dementia detection with the detection ratio of passive screening during routine clinical practice. Data for passive screening were obtained from the National Health Insurance (NHI) system, which was prospectively collected during the period from 2000 to 2003.

The Preventive Role of mRNA Vaccines in Reducing Death among Moderate Omicron-Infected Patients: A Follow-Up Study.

Very few studies have been conducted to assess the potential preventive role of vaccines, particularly mRNA vaccines, in the improvement of survival among moderate and severe hospitalized patients with COVID-19. After community-acquired outbreaks of the Omicron variant from 18 March until 31 May 2022, occurred in Taiwan, this retrospective cohort of 4090 moderate and 1378 severe patients admitted to hospital was classified according to whether they were administered an mRNA-based vaccine, and followed up to ascertain rates of death in both the vaccinated (≥2 doses) and unvaccinated (no or 1 dose) groups. The age-adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of less than 1 was used to assess the preventive role of mRNA vaccines in reducing deaths among moderate and severe Omicron-infected patients.

Lipid-Nanoparticle-Mediated Delivery of Docetaxel Prodrug for Exploiting Full Potential of Gold Nanoparticles in the Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer.

Current chemoradiation therapy suffers from normal tissue toxicity. Thus, we are proposing incorporating gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and docetaxel (DTX), as they have shown very promising synergetic radiosensitization effects. Here, we explored the effect of a DTX prodrug encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles (LNP) on GNP uptake in pancreatic cancer models in vitro and in vivo.

Primary and booster vaccination in reducing severe clinical outcomes associated with Omicron Naïve infection.

Background: Little is known about long-term effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine in reducing severity and deaths associated with Omicron VOC not perturbed by prior infection and independent of oral anti-viral therapy and non-pharmaceutical (NPI).

Methods: A retrospective observational cohort study was applied to Taiwan community during the unprecedent large-scale outbreaks of Omicron BA.2 between April and August, 2022.

Development of lipid nanoparticles and liposomes reference materials (II): cytotoxic profiles.

Lipid based nanocarriers are one of the most effective drug delivery systems that is evident from the recent COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. The main objective of this study was to evaluate toxicity of six lipid based formulations with three surface charges-anionic, neutral or cationic, to establish certified reference materials (CRMs) for liposomes and siRNA loaded lipid nanoparticles (LNP-siRNA). Cytotoxicity was assessed by a proliferation assay in adherent and non-adherent cell lines.

New Surveillance Metrics for Alerting Community-Acquired Outbreaks of Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants Using Imported Case Data: Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo Approach.

Background: Global transmission from imported cases to domestic cluster infections is often the origin of local community-acquired outbreaks when facing emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Objective: We aimed to develop new surveillance metrics for alerting emerging community-acquired outbreaks arising from new strains by monitoring the risk of small domestic cluster infections originating from few imported cases of emerging variants.

Methods: We used Taiwanese COVID-19 weekly data on imported cases, domestic cluster infections, and community-acquired outbreaks.

A new approach to modeling pre-symptomatic incidence and transmission time of imported COVID-19 cases evolving with SARS-CoV-2 variants.

There is paucity of the statistical model that is specified for data on imported COVID-19 cases with the unique global information on infectious properties of SARS-CoV-2 variant different from local outbreak data used for estimating transmission and infectiousness parameters via the established epidemic models. To this end, a new approach with a four-state stochastic model was proposed to formulate these well-established infectious parameters with three new parameters, including the pre-symptomatic incidence rate, the median of pre-symptomatic transmission time (MPTT) to symptomatic state, and the incidence (proportion) of asymptomatic cases using imported COVID-19 data. We fitted the proposed stochastic model to empirical data on imported COVID-19 cases from D614G to Omicron with the corresponding calendar periods according to the classification GISAID information on the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variant between March 2020 and Jan 2022 in Taiwan.