Cushing's Syndrome is Associated with a Higher Risk of Cancer - A Nationwide Cohort Study.

Context: Patients with Cushing's syndrome (CS) have higher risk of obesity and diabetes, which are important risk factors of cancers. However, if patients with CS have a higher incidence of cancer remains unknown.

Objective: To investigate if endogenous CS is associated with increased cancer incidence.

Is the rating result reliable? A new approach to respond to a medical trainee's concerns about the reliability of Mini-CEX assessment.

Purpose: Whether the rating result of mini-clinical evaluation exercise (Mini-CEX) for rating clinical skills is reliable is of a medical trainee's great concerns. The objectives of this study were to analyze the test-retest reliability, interrater reliability and internal consistency reliability of Mini-CEX.

Methods: Three clinical scenarios, each played by a standardized patient and resident, were developed and videotaped.

Employer or Employee: Who is More Likely to Suffer From Burnout?

Objective: The aims of this study were to examine burnout among full-time workers and to investigate the effect of employment status on burnout.

Methods: The data of this cross-sectional study were derived from the 2015 Taiwan Social Change Survey. Burnout was measured by the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory's four core items.

Correlations of clinical parameters with quality of life in patients with acromegaly: Taiwan Acromegaly Registry.

Background/purpose: The objectives of this study were to evaluate the associations between clinical parameters and quality of life (QOL) of patients with acromegaly in Taiwan and to identify the impacts of hormone control, regimens, or co-morbidities on acromegalic patients' daily life.

Methods: From 2013 to 2015, subjects with acromegaly were recruited through five medical centers. Clinical data were recorded.

A registry of acromegaly patients and one year following up in Taiwan.

Background/purpose: The objectives of this study were to describe epidemiological data, treatment outcomes, and quality of life (QOL) of patients with acromegaly in Taiwan.

Methods: From 2013 to 2015, subjects with acromegaly were recruited through five medical centers. After enrollment, each patient was kept on observation for 1 year.

Gender and age disparity in the initiation of life-supporting treatments: a population-based cohort study.

Background: The relationships between age and the life-supporting treatments use, and between gender and the life-supporting treatments use are still controversial. Using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as an example of life-supporting treatments, the objectives of this study were: (1) to examine the relationship between age and the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use; (2) to examine the relationship between age and the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use; and (3) to deliberate the ethical and societal implications of age and gender disparities in the initiation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Methods: This is a population-based, retrospective cohort study.

Follicular thyroid carcinoma with NRAS Q61K and GNAS R201H mutations that had a good (131)I treatment response.

Unlabelled: We report a case of follicular thyroid carcinoma with concomitant NRAS p.Q61K and GNAS p.R201H mutations, which manifested as a 13.

An isodicentric X chromosome with gonadal dysgenesis in a lady without prominent somatic features of Turner's syndrome. A case report.

Isodicentric X chromosomes in general have phenotypes characteristic of the resultant X deletions. Gonadotropin levels in Turner's syndrome (TS) girls are high, but have a normal biphasic pattern. Here, we report a 21-year-old lady with primary amenorrhea.

The over-optimistic portrayal of life-supporting treatments in newspapers and on the Internet: a cross-sectional study using extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation as an example.

Background: Extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation has been introduced to clinical practice for several decades. It is unclear how internet and newspapers portray the use of extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation. This study were: (1) to quantify the coverage of extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation use in newspapers and on the Internet; (2) to describe the characteristics of extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation users presented in newspaper articles and the Internet web pages in comparison with those shown in extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation studies in Taiwan; and (3) to examine the survival rates of extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation users presented in newspaper articles and the Internet web pages in comparison with those in Taiwan and in the Extracorporeal Life Support Registry Report International Summary for January 2014.

Significant social events and increasing use of life-sustaining treatment: trend analysis using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as an example.

Background: Most studies have examined the outcomes of patients supported by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as a life-sustaining treatment. It is unclear whether significant social events are associated with the use of life-sustaining treatment. This study aimed to compare the trend of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use in Taiwan with that in the world, and to examine the influence of significant social events on the trend of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use in Taiwan.

To evaluate the effectiveness of health care ethics consultation based on the goals of health care ethics consultation: a prospective cohort study with randomization.

Background: The growing prevalence of health care ethics consultation (HCEC) services in the U.S. has been accompanied by an increase in calls for accountability and quality assurance, and for the debates surrounding why and how HCEC is evaluated.

Thyrotropin-secreting pituitary tumor presenting with congestive heart failure and good response to dopaminergic agonist cabergoline.

Hyperthyroidism is an important inducing factor in patients with atrial fibrillation, and may trigger heart failure. Thyrotropin (thyroid stimulating hormone, TSH)-secreting pituitary tumors are rare causes of hyperthyroidism. Here, we report a 66-year-old man with a pituitary TSH-secreting tumor who presented with hyperthyroidism and congestive heart failure.

Serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate concentration is lower in women with primary aldosteronism.

Objective: The objective of this article is to measure serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) concentration in both genders with primary aldosteronism (PA).

Materials And Methods: The study enrolled 78 subjects with normal controls, 46 subjects with essential hypertension and 85 subjects with PA from October 2007 to June 2011. Subjects with PA were divided into three subtype groups: aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA), bilateral idiopathic hyperplasia (IHA) and PA with negative imaging findings.

Does one size fit all? Building a framework for medical professionalism.

Purpose: Medical professionalism has gained global attention over the past decade, but there is a paucity of literature on the universal applicability of the dominant professionalism framework developed in the West. This study proposes an institutional approach to build a framework for medical professionalism that incorporates historical and sociocultural contexts.

Method: From 2008 to 2009, the authors adopted nominal group technique (NGT) to determine professional competencies valued by 91 critical stakeholders of medical education (divided into 12 discipline-specific groups) at their institution and in their native society, Taiwan.

Menstrual effects among women exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls and dibenzofurans.

Background: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and dibenzo-dioxins (PCDDs) may affect the female reproductive system in humans. A mass poisoning occurred in Taiwan due to PCBs/PCDFs-contaminated cooking oil, and was called the Yucheng (oil-disease in Chinese). We aimed to determine whether Yucheng women were affected in their menstruation.

Asymptomatic chronic hepatitis B virus infection does not increase the risk of diabetes mellitus: a ten-year observation.

Background And Aim: Chronic hepatitis C virus infection has been known to increase the risk of diabetes. Whether this association holds true for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains unclear. We thus conducted this study to investigate the influence of asymptomatic chronic HBV infection on the incidence of diabetes in a longitudinal cohort.

Sublesional spinal vertebral bone mineral density correlates with neurological level and body mass index in individuals with chronic complete spinal cord injuries.

Study Design: A cross-sectional study.

Objective: Our aim was to find out the factors influencing the bone mineral density (BMD) change of sublesional spinal vertebrae in spinal cord injury (SCI) individuals.

Summary Of Background Data: In individuals with SCI, the BMD of sublesional extremities dramatically decreases to fracture threshold because of unloading.

Low dose HIV-1 Tat improves the defective nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB activity of dendritic cells from persons with spinal cord injury.

Deficits of immune function may be involved in the infections associated with spinal cord injury (SCI). Previous report showed that the impaired maturation potential of dendritic cells (DCs) contributes to immune defect in persons with SCI, especially in those with tetraplegia. To evaluate the roles of cell signaling in the impaired maturation potential of DCs, we assessed the phenotypic and functional maturation potential of DCs in 20 subjects with trauma-induced stable SCI and their neurologically intact healthy control in the presence of DC stimulators, including HIV-1 Tat protein (Tat).

The relationships among serum glucose, albumin concentrations and carotid atherosclerosis in men with spinal cord injury.

Limited information is available that examines the interrelationships between glucose tolerance, serum albumin, subclinical inflammation, and carotid atherosclerosis (CA) in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). We prospectively recruited 110 male patients with traumatic SCI, 57 with SCI at thoracic level 6 or above (SCI-T6) and 53 with SCI at T7 or below (SCI-T7), and 62 age-matched able-bodied controls from the National Taiwan University Hospital. The associations among glucose levels after oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT), serum albumin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and CA in terms of the extracranial carotid artery (ECCA) plaque score and common carotid artery (CCA) intima-media thickness (IMT) were examined.

Synergistic anti-cancer effect of baicalein and silymarin on human hepatoma HepG2 Cells.

This study investigated the effect of baicalein, silymarin, and their combination, on two human liver-derived cell lines, HepG2 (hepatocellular carcinoma) and Chang liver (non-tumor liver cells). It was found that 6.75 microg/ml baicalein or 100 microg/ml silymarin alone significantly inhibited the growth of HepG2.

Thyroid carcinoma with bone metastases: a prognostic factor study.

Objective: Occult clinical presentations usually hinder the early detection and management of patients with bone metastases from thyroid carcinoma. We retrospectively investigated the clinical outcomes of such patients from 1993 to 2004 and analyzed the prognostic parameters.

Design: The basic demographic data and manifestations of 44 patients who had thyroid carcinoma with bone metastases were reviewed.

Circulating levels of markers of inflammation and endothelial activation are increased in men with chronic spinal cord injury.

Background/purpose: Accelerated atherogenesis is often seen in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI). However, the mechanisms contributing to this phenomenon remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate whether SCI per se is associated with a low-grade chronic inflammatory state and endothelial activation, both of which are well-documented prerequisites for atherogenesis.

Asymptomatic median mononeuropathy among men with chronic paraplegia.

Objectives: To compare electrophysiologic abnormalities of the median nerve in asymptomatic paraplegic subjects and able-bodied controls and to examine the influence of personal factors on these parameters.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: University hospital.