Is asthma a protective factor for dengue fever? In vitro experiment and nationwide population-based cohort analysis.

Background: Dengue fever (DF) is the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease. Practical vaccines or specific therapeutics are still expected. Environmental factors and genetic factors affect the susceptibility of Dengue virus (DV) infection.

Increased ischemic stroke risk in patients with Behçet's disease: A nationwide population-based cohort study.

Background: Behçet's disease (BD) is a recurrent, multisystemic, inflammatory disorder that mainly affects blood vessels. Because recurrent inflammation of blood vessels in the brain plays a crucial role in the development of ischemic stroke, we hypothesized that patients with BD might have an elevated risk of ischemic stroke. This potential association has been suggested in a few case reports, but not epidemiological studies.

Quantitative comorbidity risk assessment of dementia in Taiwan: A population-based cohort study.

Dementia is one of the most burdensome illnesses in elderly populations worldwide. However, the literature about multiple risk factors for dementia is scant.To develop a simple, rapid, and appropriate predictive tool for the clinical quantitative assessment of multiple risk factors for dementia.

A Bayesian Approach to Identifying New Risk Factors for Dementia: A Nationwide Population-Based Study.

Dementia is one of the most disabling and burdensome health conditions worldwide. In this study, we identified new potential risk factors for dementia from nationwide longitudinal population-based data by using Bayesian statistics.We first tested the consistency of the results obtained using Bayesian statistics with those obtained using classical frequentist probability for 4 recognized risk factors for dementia, namely severe head injury, depression, diabetes mellitus, and vascular diseases.

Analysis of ciprofloxacin by a simple high-performance liquid chromatography method.

A simple and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method is described for the quantitative analysis of ciprofloxacin in pharmaceuticals and human plasma. The method employs reversed-phase chromatography using an RP-C18 column with an isocratic mobile phase of acetonitrile-2% acetic acid aqueous solution (16:84, v/v), umbelliferone as an internal standard, and a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min.

Highly sensitive analysis of cholesterol and sitosterol in foods and human biosamples by liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.

A simple and sensitive method is described for the quantitative analysis of important animal and plant sterols (cholesterol and sitosterol) by liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection. The method is based on the derivatization of cholesterol and sitosterol with a fluorescent reagent (naproxen acyl chloride) in toluene. The resulting derivatives were isocratically separated on a C(8) column with a mixed solvent of methanol-isopropanol-water (90:5:5, v/v) as a mobile phase and monitored with a fluorimetric detector (excitation 231 nm and emission 352 nm).