Publications by authors named "Tan V"

Background: Half of patients with heart failure are estimated to have sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). However, many are undiagnosed as they do not report typical symptoms. This study aims to evaluate the implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) sleep-disordered breathing algorithm in a cohort of multi-racial Asian patients for detection of SDB against polysomnography (PSG).

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The most distant galaxies detected were seen when the Universe was a scant 5% of its current age. At these times, progenitors of galaxies such as the Milky Way were about 10,000 times less massive. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) combined with magnification from gravitational lensing, these low-mass galaxies can not only be detected but also be studied in detail.

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Background: The aim of this study is to explore the practice experiences of new graduate nurses (NGNs) in publicly funded acute healthcare settings in the Greater Toronto Area, their perspectives on the determinants of their desire to stay or leave the nursing profession, and to identify action-oriented strategies to promote retention of NGNs.

Design: Qualitative, descriptive.

Methods: Fifteen NGNs participated in focus group sessions, where a semi-structured interview guide was created to generate discussion on NGNs' lived and professional experiences.

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Throughout existing transition programs for new nurses, few appear to include the participation of nurse managers in its activities. This qualitative study explores the perceptions of newly graduated nurses (N = 7) toward the participation of their nurse manager in a transition program through dedicated group discussion periods. Four interconnected themes emerged from the interviews.

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  • The study investigates the effectiveness and safety of pulsed field ablation (PFA) for treating atrial fibrillation (AF) in Asia, specifically focusing on its use for pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) and optional posterior wall ablation (PWA).
  • A total of 101 AF patients were analyzed, revealing a 1-year atrial arrhythmia recurrence rate of 10% for paroxysmal AF and 21% for persistent AF, with no significant differences in efficacy between PVI-only and PVI + PWA approaches.
  • The research concludes that PFA is a safe and effective method for AF ablation, with the additional PWA not leading to increased complications while maintaining procedural efficiency.*
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Purpose: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is increasingly used in breast cancer. Predictive modeling is useful in predicting pathologic complete response (pCR) to NAC. We test machine learning (ML) models to predict pCR in breast cancer and explore methods of handling missing data.

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Introduction: Remote monitoring (RM) for cardiac implantable electronic devices is on the rise and has been shown to reduce the burden of in-clinic follow-up visits. We aimed to investigate the long-term clinical outcomes of RM versus no RM.

Methods: This was a prospective, single-centre cohort study of consecutive patients with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or cardiac resynchronisation therapy-defibrillator (CRT-D) followed up from 2018 to 2023.

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Aim: Mammography is the mainstay of imaging surveillance after breast cancer (BC) treatment, but false negatives can occur. The objective of the study was to determine the factors that can predict poorer second breast cancer (SBC) mammogram detection of the ipsilateral and contralateral breast separately.

Methods: A multicentre retrospective review was performed on female patients with a previous history of treated BC who developed a second breast cancer (SBC) in the ipsilateral (ISBC) or contralateral breast (CSBC) within 10 years from the first BC.

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Background: The incidence of breast cancer among young Asian women is increasing, yet they remain underrepresented in global data. We analyzed the epidemiology and outcomes of Asian patients with breast cancer <40 years old across different subtypes to identify their clinical unmet needs.

Patients And Methods: Female patients aged ≥20 years diagnosed with early breast cancer were analyzed from the prospective cohort of the Asian Breast Cancer Cooperative Group (ABCCG).

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  • The primary goal of the study was to analyze how long patients used their cochlear implants (CIs) at 12 and 24 months after surgery for single-sided deafness (SSD), while also looking at factors influencing usage.
  • The study involved reviewing data from SSD patients who received CIs between January 2015 and March 2020, assessing their usage and correlating it with hearing loss duration, tinnitus scores, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at 12 months.
  • Results showed that 18.4% of patients were non-users at 24 months, with an average CI usage of 7.0 hours per day, and improved SNR scores were linked to greater CI usage, while
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  • There is growing awareness that differences in brain function among individuals can significantly impact the effectiveness of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatments for schizophrenia.
  • A study analyzed data from a clinical trial where participants received either active or sham rTMS targeting the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex while performing a working memory task.
  • The findings indicated that active rTMS increased brain activity in the left DLPFC and reduced individual variability in activation patterns, which was connected to better attention performance.
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Purpose: For early-stage non-small cell lung cancer, surgery is the preferred approach in operable patients, whereas SABR is preferred for patients who are medically inoperable. The combination of neoadjuvant SABR followed by surgery was tested in the Measuring the Integration of Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy Plus Surgery for Early-Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (MISSILE) phase 2 trial. We report long-term outcomes beyond 5 years of follow-up.

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  • The use of antibiotics for treating acute sore throats is linked to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), prompting a need for better diagnostic tools and reduced prescriptions to improve patient outcomes.
  • A panel of experts developed 10 consensus statements on managing sore throats, emphasizing the issues with improper antibiotic use, especially in viral cases, and recommending non-antibiotic pain relief methods.
  • The McIsaac score and point-of-care testing for group A strep can help guide appropriate antibiotic use, highlighting symptomatic treatment as the primary focus for effective management.
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Background And Purpose: Cochlear implant surgery is performed commonly through the facial recess via the round window (RW) approach. This study aims to evaluate the utility of reformatting the pre-operative CT temporal bone scan into a CT facial recess view in alerting surgeons to a potentially difficult surgery with poorly visualized round window.

Materials And Methods: This is a retrospective study of 41 patients (43 ears), who had undergone cochlear implant surgery.

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  • Clinical genetic testing helps find cancer risks by identifying gene changes, but some of these changes are confusing because we don't know what they mean (called VUS).
  • Researchers studied a huge number of breast cancer patients and healthy people to understand these confusing gene changes better.
  • They found that their method of analyzing data closely matches what other experts say about which gene changes are harmless or harmful, giving more information about 785 unclear changes.
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Background: Autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) both feature atypical social cognition. Despite evidence for comparable group-level performance in lower-level emotion processing and higher-level mentalizing, limited research has examined the neural basis of social cognition across these conditions. Our goal was to compare the neural correlates of social cognition in autism, SSDs, and typically developing controls (TDCs).

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This study assessed the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on academic productivity in oncology, measured by conference abstracts, journal publications and individual authorship trends, using a reference time frame of 2018 to 2022. To assess overall academic productivity, data was obtained on the number of abstracts and articles submitted and published from a selection of oncology conferences and journals. To assess individual authorship patterns, 200 articles were randomly selected from 2018, and for the first or last authors, publications were tracked over subsequent years.

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Introduction: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to review evidence and pool outcomes to assess the effectiveness of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) in patients treated for oligoprogressive metastases.

Methods And Materials: A search was conducted January 2010 to January 2023 in five bibliographic databases for studies of patients with oligoprogressive disease treated with SABR to all lesions. Clinical outcomes included PFS (progression-free survival), OS (overall survival) and CST (change in systemic therapy).

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Background: BAL cellular analysis is often recommended during the initial diagnostic evaluation of fibrotic interstitial lung disease (ILD). Despite recommendation for its use, between-center heterogeneity exists and supportive data concerning the clinical utility and correlation of BAL findings with radiologic features or patterns remain sparse.

Research Question: In patients with fibrotic ILD, are BAL findings associated with radiologic features, patterns, and clinical diagnoses?

Study Design And Methods: Patients with fibrotic ILD who underwent BAL for diagnostic evaluation and who were enrolled in the prospective Canadian Registry for Pulmonary Fibrosis were re-reviewed in a standardized multidisciplinary discussion (MDD).

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  • - The study assessed how age affects clinical outcomes and the performance of conduction system pacing (CSP) versus right ventricular pacing (RVP) in patients receiving pacemakers for bradycardia, focusing on those aged 85 or older compared to younger patients.
  • - The main finding revealed that CSP is linked to a lower risk of heart failure hospitalizations and other severe outcomes compared to RVP, regardless of whether patients were younger or older than 85.
  • - Additionally, age did not significantly influence the success rates or performance metrics of CSP, indicating that CSP is safe and effective for patients across all age groups, including those very elderly.
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  • Phyllodes tumors (PT) are rare types of breast tumors classified as benign, borderline, or malignant, with malignant ones (MPTs) being aggressive and capable of metastasis in 10%-15% of cases.
  • A 62-year-old woman diagnosed with an MPT featuring rare rhabdomyosarcomatous differentiation faced a difficult disease progression, developing metastases within months of diagnosis.
  • Despite receiving palliative radiation and chemotherapy, she sadly passed away 10 months after diagnosis, contributing to the limited research on this rare tumor variation and treatment strategies.
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Introduction: Post-trauma patients are at risk of developing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression. The primary goal of this study is to estimate the prevalence of PTSD and depression symptoms in patients who have been hospitalised for the treatment of physical trauma. Additionally, we wanted to compare the prevalence of PTSD or depression symptoms alone versus PTSD associated with depression symptoms, in orthopaedic post-trauma patients.

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Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3/Machado-Joseph disease (SCA3/MJD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by the CAG repeat expansion. Preimplantation genetic testing for monogenic disorders (PGT-M) of SCA3/MJD should include reliable repeat expansion detection coupled with high-risk allele determination using informative linked markers. One couple underwent SCA3/MJD PGT-M combining (CAG) triplet-primed PCR (TP-PCR) with customized linkage-based risk allele genotyping on whole-genome-amplified trophectoderm cells.

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Background: The management of the axilla in breast cancer patients with isolated chest wall recurrence (CWR) after mastectomy remains controversial. Although sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for restaging is feasible, its role is unclear. We aimed to determine if the omission of axillary restaging surgery in female patients with operable presumably isolated CWRs could result in an increased risk of second recurrences.

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G-quadruplexes (G4s) formed by guanine-rich nucleic acids induce genome instability through impeding DNA replication fork progression. G4s are stable DNA structures, the unfolding of which require the functions of DNA helicases. Pif1 helicase binds preferentially to G4 DNA and plays multiple roles in maintaining genome stability, but the mechanism by which Pif1 unfolds G4s is poorly understood.

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