Digenean infections in snails (cercariae stage) in Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Foodborne zoonotic trematodiasis is a public health problem in many countries. A study on digenean larvae (cercariae stage) obtained from snails in all ten main small canals and two rice fields was carried out in Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam to identify the snail composition and digenean prevalence in snails. The snails were sampled in the dry season (January 2022) and the wet season (June 2022).

Safety Studies for a 44-Channel Suprachoroidal Retinal Prosthesis: A Chronic Passive Study.

Purpose: Following successful clinical outcomes of the prototype suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis, Bionic Vision Australia has developed an upgraded 44-channel suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis to provide a wider field of view and more phosphenes. The aim was to evaluate the preclinical passive safety characteristics of the upgraded electrode array.

Methods: Ten normal-sighted felines were unilaterally implanted with an array containing platinum electrodes (44 stimulating and 2 returns) on a silicone carrier near the area centralis.

Spatial Restriction of Neural Activation Using Focused Multipolar Stimulation With a Retinal Prosthesis.

Purpose: The resolution provided by present state-of-the-art retinal prostheses is severely limiting for recipients, partly due to the broad spread of activation in the retina in response to monopolar (MP) electrical stimulation. Focused multipolar (FMP) stimulation has been shown to restrict neural activation in the cochlea compared to MP stimulation. We extended the FMP stimulation technique to a two-dimensional electrode array and compared its efficacy to MP and hexapolar (HP) stimulation in the retina.

Two-year intervention trial to control of fish-borne zoonotic trematodes in giant gourami (Osphronemus goramy) and striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) in nursery ponds in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.

Fish-borne zoonotic trematode parasites (FZT) pose a food safety and public health problem in Vietnam. The transmission cycle is complex as domestic animals, especially dogs, cats, fish-eating birds and pigs together with humans serve as reservoir hosts and contribute to FZT egg contamination of aquaculture ponds and the environment. This intervention trial was conducted to determine the effectiveness of various on-farm interventions, including reduction in FZT egg contamination through treatment of infected people and domestic animals, reduction in snail density through mud removal from aquaculture ponds prior to fish stocking, and various other measures in reducing FZT infection in juvenile striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) and giant gourami (Osphronemus goramy).

Effect of pond water depth on snail populations and fish-borne zoonotic trematode transmission in juvenile giant gourami (Osphronemus goramy) aquaculture nurseries.

Infection with fish-borne zoonotic trematodes (FZT) is an important public health problem in many parts of Southeast Asia. People become infected with FZT when eating raw or undercooked fish that contain the infective stage (metacercariae) of FZT. The parasites require specific freshwater snails as first intermediate host and a variety of fish species, both wild caught and cultured, as second intermediate host.

Chronic electrical stimulation with a suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis: a preclinical safety and efficacy study.

Purpose: To assess the safety and efficacy of chronic electrical stimulation of the retina with a suprachoroidal visual prosthesis.

Methods: Seven normally-sighted feline subjects were implanted for 96-143 days with a suprachoroidal electrode array and six were chronically stimulated for 70-105 days at levels that activated the visual cortex. Charge balanced, biphasic, current pulses were delivered to platinum electrodes in a monopolar stimulation mode.

Incidence and renal survival of ESRD in the young Taiwanese population.

Background And Objectives: ESRD in the young represents a heavy burden to patients, families, and health care systems. This nationwide retrospective study characterized the incidence of ESRD and analyzed diagnoses associated with renal survival in the young population in Taiwan.

Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: Through use of Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, the population of young patients (age<30 years, including children and young adults) with ESRD between January 1998 and December 2009 were enrolled.

Identifying core herbal treatments for children with asthma: implication from a chinese herbal medicine database in taiwan.

Asthma is one of the most common allergic respiratory diseases around the world and places great burden on medical payment. Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is commonly used for Taiwanese children to control diseases. The aim of this study is to analyze the CHM prescriptions for asthmatic children by using a nationwide clinical database.

Pathogen chip for respiratory tract infections.

Determining the viral etiology of respiratory tract infections (RTI) has been limited for the most part to specific primer PCR-based methods due to their increased sensitivity and specificity compared to other methods, such as tissue culture. However, specific primer approaches have limited the ability to fully understand the diversity of infecting pathogens. A pathogen chip system (PathChip), developed at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), using a random-tagged PCR coupled to a chip with over 170,000 probes, has the potential to recognize all known human viral pathogens.

Hospitalized osteoporotic vertebral fracture increases the risk of stroke: a population-based cohort study.

The association between osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases has been demonstrated. Higher cardiovascular risk has also been correlated with vertebral fractures. However, the association between osteoporotic vertebral fracture and the possibly higher risk of stroke remains uncertain.

Age, sex, and socio-economic status affect the incidence of pediatric spinal cord injury: an eleven-year national cohort study.

Background: Few studies focus on pediatric spinal cord injury (SCI) and there is little information regarding the cause, anatomic level, and high risk population of SCI in children. This study aims to investigate the incidence and risk factors of pediatric SCI.

Methods: A nationwide cohort of 8.

Lumbar spine fusion surgery and stroke: a national cohort study.

Purpose: To investigate the incidence and risk of stroke after lumbar spinal fusion surgery.

Method: Study subjects were identified from a nationwide cohort of 1 million people from 2000 to 2005 and were divided into the lumbar spinal fusion group (n = 2,015), who received posterior lumbar spinal fusion surgery, and the comparison group (n = 16,120) composed of age-, sex-, and propensity score-matched control subjects. The matching process was intended to adjust for demographics, comorbidities, and other immeasurable covariates to minimize selection bias.

The risk of stroke after spinal fusion surgery: a national cohort study.

Background Context: Postoperative stroke is a rare complication of spinal fusion surgery, but its relevant risk and incidence remain unclear.

Purpose: To investigate the incidence and risk of stroke after spinal fusion surgery.

Study Design: Cohort study.

Characteristics of pediatric traditional Chinese medicine users in Taiwan: a nationwide cohort study.

Background And Objectives: Traditional chinese medicine (TCM) is one of the most commonly used complementary and alternative medicines. However, there is a paucity of epidemiologic reports on features of pediatric TCM users. As TCM services are fully reimbursed by National Health Insurance in Taiwan, this study used a nationwide cohort database to investigate demographics, diseases patterns, and parents' characteristics of pediatric TCM users.

Younger boys have a higher risk of inguinal hernia after ventriculo-peritoneal shunt: a 13-year nationwide cohort study.

Background: Few studies associate ventriculo-peritoneal shunt (VPS) in children with higher incidence of inguinal hernia (IH). These institutional-based data have small numbers and provided little information about the effects of age and sex. This study aims to examine the incidences and risk factors of IH in children with hydrocephalus treated with VPS.

Conservatively treated ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament increases the risk of spinal cord injury: a nationwide cohort study.

The optimal treatment strategy for ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) depends on symptoms and is uncertain. Whether the risk of spinal cord injury (SCI) is increased in patients with cervical spinal stenosis or myelopathy caused by OPLL remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of SCI in patients with OPLL of the cervical spine when managed with conservative treatment (no surgery).

RIG-I, MDA5 and TLR3 synergistically play an important role in restriction of dengue virus infection.

Dengue virus (DV) infection is one of the most common mosquito-borne viral diseases in the world. The innate immune system is important for the early detection of virus and for mounting a cascade of defense measures which include the production of type 1 interferon (IFN). Hence, a thorough understanding of the innate immune response during DV infection would be essential for our understanding of the DV pathogenesis.

Large-scale evolutionary surveillance of the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus using resequencing arrays.

In April 2009, a new influenza A (H1N1 2009) virus emerged that rapidly spread around the world. While current variants of this virus have caused widespread disease, particularly in vulnerable groups, there remains the possibility that future variants may cause increased virulence, drug resistance or vaccine escape. Early detection of these virus variants may offer the chance for increased containment and potentially prevention of the virus spread.

Responsiveness of progressive optic pathway tumors to cisplatin-based chemotherapy in children.

Background: Though the pathology of optic pathway tumor is mostly pilocytic astrocytoma, the benign tumor behaves like malignant tumor because total resection is not feasible. Adjuvant chemotherapy might be a reasonable strategy for management of these low grade tumors which keep growing. We evaluate the responsiveness of optic pathway tumor to cisplatin-based chemotherapy.

Harlequin ichthyosis: report of one case.

Harlequin ichthyosis (HI) is the most devastating form of skin disorder, which is inherited as autosomal recessive trait related to consanguineous marriage. Although prenatal examination has become scheduled and convenient throughout Taiwan, an unexpected case of HI in a male premature infant born at 32 weeks of gestation was presented. The parents were healthy, neither relatives nor having history of congenital abnormality.