Factors Affecting the Compliance of Curative-Intent Treatment in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer.

This study aims to investigate the factors that lead to poor compliance in initiating the treatment in patients with newly diagnosed head and neck cancers. A total of 193 patients from the head and neck cancer database dated from January 1, 2018 to September 30, 2020, were analyzed. Variables analyzed included age, gender, primary cancer site, T stage, N stage, M stage, overall stage (I-IV), patient's residential distance, and the impact of COVID-19.

Comparative Effectiveness of Combined and Single Neurostimulation and Traditional Dysphagia Therapies for Post-Stroke Dysphagia: A Network Meta-Analysis.

Background: Comparative therapeutic benefits of combined and single neurostimulation therapies including neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES), pharyngeal electrical stimulation (PES), repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), and traditional dysphagia therapy (TDT) remain unknown in post-stroke dysphagia (PSD) rehabilitation. Therefore, we performed the first network meta-analysis (NMA) to determine comparative effectiveness of combined and single neurostimulation and traditional dysphagia therapies for PSD.

Methods: A frequentist NMA model was performed with therapy effect sizes presented as standardized mean differences (SMD) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for therapy comparisons while netrank function ranked the therapies in R-Software.

Simple Advanced Preparation Method for Improving the Thickness Stability of Powder Thickening Agents in Dysphagia Management.

Texture modification of foods by using thickening agents is a routine practice for assessing and treating dysphagic patients. However, a powder-thickened fluid's viscosity might change over time, and little has been proposed to overcome this inconsistency. This study aimed to evaluate variations in the thickness of a fluid thickened with a common xanthan gum-based powder and to explore the feasibility of a simple advanced preparation method for thickened liquids to improve thickness stability.

Dose-response analysis of toxic effect from palm oil mill effluent (POME) by-products on biohydrogen producing bacteria - A preliminary study on microbial density and determination of EC.

The stimulant and toxicity effects of reported organic (acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, formic acid, oil & grease) and inorganic (copper) by-products presented in palm oil mill effluent on anaerobic bacterial population were examined in this paper. The toxicity test had shown that acetic, propionic and butyric acids tend to stimulate the bacterial density level (survival rate more than 50%), while formic acid, copper, oil and grease were shown to have suppressed the density level (survival rate less than 50%). The highest biomass recorded was 1.

Safety Assessment of the Auto Manipulation Device for Acupuncture in Sprague-Dawley Rats: Preclinical Evaluation of the Prototype.

Background: The Auto Manipulation Device for Acupuncture (AMDA) is designed for providing stable, quantified effects and higher frequency when doing lifting and thrusting manipulation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the safety of manipulation by AMDA in different frequency and duration in healthy rats.

Methods: The study was divided into two parts: single intervention and once a day for a week.

Synthesis of Titanium Dioxide by Microwave Plasma Torch.

In this study, TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized from titanium tetraisopropanol (TTIP) using a microwave plasma torch (MPT) and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). The visible light photocatalysis was studied by the decomposition of methylene blue. MB present in the aqueous solution could be almost completely (> 70%) decomposed within about 720 min of reaction time under visible light irradiation.

Development of Automatic Manipulation Device for Acupuncture (AMDA).

Needle lifting and thrusting manipulation is one of common skills in acupuncture. However, there exists artificial error in frequency and amplitude due to individual difference when performing lifting and thrusting during acupuncture. For providing stable and quantified effects and higher frequency when doing lifting and thrusting manipulation, a well controlled device is needed.

The neural generators of the mismatch responses to Mandarin lexical tones: an MEG study.

The present magnetoencephalography study used the cortically constrained minimum-norm estimates of human brain activity to elucidate functional roles of neural generators for detecting different magnitudes of lexical tones changes. A multiple-deviant oddball paradigm was used in which the syllable "yi" with a low-dipping tone (T3) was the common standard sound and the same syllable with a high-level tone (T1) or a high-rising tone (T2) were the large and small deviant sounds, respectively. The data revealed a larger magnetic mismatch field (MMNm) for large deviant in the left hemisphere.

Responses to booster hepatitis B vaccination are significantly correlated with genotypes of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DPB1 in neonatally vaccinated adolescents.

Genome-wide association studies have identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near the human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DP loci that were significantly correlated with outcomes of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. We performed a case-control study nested in a well-characterized cohort of booster recipients to assess whether genetic variants of HLA-DPB1 are also associated with response to hepatitis B (HB) vaccination. The cases and controls were 171 and 510 booster recipients whose post-booster titers of antibodies against HBV surface antigen (anti-HBs) were undetectable and detectable, respectively.

HLA and response to booster hepatitis B vaccination in anti-HBs-seronegative adolescents who had received primary infantile vaccination.

To explore contemporarily genetic and non-genetic determinants of long-term immunological memory to hepatitis B (HB) vaccination, we conducted a case-control study nested in an adolescent cohort of booster recipients who had received primary infantile HB vaccination but with residual anti-HBs titers <10 mIU/mL at 15-18 years of age. High-resolution phenotypes of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A, -B, and -DRB1 loci were determined by sequence-specific oligonucleotide probe hybridization. After controlling for pre-booster anti-HBs levels, the absences of HLA-A*02 and -DRB1*08, simply expressed as A*02(-) and -DRB1*08(-), and the presence of B*15 were significantly associated with elevated risks of non-response (post-booster anti-HBs titers<10 mIU/mL) to booster vaccination.

Limited feasibility of routinely analyzing fetal cells from maternal blood by using magnetic activated cell sorting and polymerase chain reaction for prenatal diagnosis.

Background: To assess the feasibility of analyzing fetal cells from maternal circulation by using magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for prenatal diagnosis.

Methods: Thirty-one high-risk (either advanced maternal age or abnormal serum Down screening) pregnant women (14-22 weeks) were enrolled. Twenty ml of venous blood from each woman after amniocentesis were pretreated with density gradient centrifugation and sorted by MACS with monoclonal antibodies: anti-CD71 (n = 26) or anti-GPA (n = 5).