Exploring the behavioural determinants of compliance in resilient high-caries-risk patients who improved caries severity.

Background: The caries severity in childhood may predict caries conditions in the future and even in adulthood in caries risk models. Nevertheless, the rate of recurrent caries after treatment of severe early childhood caries is high and correlated with behavioural factors, rather than clinical indicators. Compliance with the caries control programme has been demonstrated to prevent root caries development in head and neck cancer patients, suggesting that compliance with treatment protocols is a more important key to bringing about successful outcomes than treatment protocols themselves.

The Effectiveness of an Upper Limb Rehabilitation Program on Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Patients after Mastectomy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of an upper limb rehabilitation program on the quality of life in patients who had been first diagnosed breast cancer and subsequently underwent mastectomy.

Data Sources: This randomized controlled trial enrolled 48 breast cancer patients who underwent mastectomy at a medical center in Taiwan. The patients were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n = 24) or control group (n = 24).

Comparison of two preserved cartilage iliac crest cortical-cancellous bone blocks graft harvesting techniques in children: A prospective, double-blind, randomized clinical trial.

Purpose: To compare donor-site morbidity for alveolar bone grafting results following cartilage-preserving outer and inner cortico-cancellous iliac crest (OCIC and ICIC) bone block grafting in children.

Materials And Methods: Patients were randomly divided into two groups and prospectively reviewed. In the OCIC and ICIC groups, cortico-cancellous bone blocks were harvested at outer and inner iliac crest respectively.

Dissolved and particulate nitrogen species partitioning and distribution in the Danshuei River estuary, northern Taiwan.

Danshuei River Estuary (DRE) total and inorganic nitrogen in the dissolved (TDN, DIN) and particulate (TPN, PIN) phases were analyzed to study their distribution and partitioning. The carbon contents in particles were also analyzed. The upper estuary contained higher ammonium concentration (304-557 μM), leading to TDN completely dominating (>95%) the total N (TDN + TPN) pool within the DRE.

Copper-Mediated Nucleophilic Addition/Cascade Cyclization of Aryl Diynes.

Treatment of diyne substrates with sulfinate salts under the action of copper(II) triflate results in a cascade cyclization reaction. The reaction involves nucleophilic addition of the sulfinate and formation of two new C-C bonds with concomitant cleavage of an aryl C-H bond. The reaction proceeds in good yields with a range of diyne precursors and sulfinate salts.

Nummular headache and pituitary lesion: A case report and literature review.

Nummular headache (NH) is a newly categorized headache disorder characterized by a consistent clinicographics in each attack. Currently, it is considered as a primary headache disorder due to epicranial neuralgia but the pathomechanism is still unknown. We report a woman, whose recurrent NH subsided after trans-sphenoidal surgery for her pituitary oncocytoma.

Factors that regulate the conformation of m-benziporphodimethene complexes: agostic metal-arene interaction, hydrogen bonding, and η2,π coordination.

Group 12 and silver(I) tetramethyl-m-benziporphodimethene (TMBPDM) complexes with phenyl, methylbenzoate, or nitrophenyl groups as meso substituents were synthesized and fully characterized. The dimeric silver(I) complex displays an unusual η(2),π coordination from the β-pyrrolic C=C bond to the silver ion. All of the complexes displayed a close contact between the metal ion and the inner C(22)-H(22) on the m-phenylene ring.

Cheiro-oral syndrome: a clinical analysis and review of literature.

Purpose: After a century, cheiro-oral syndrome (COS) was harangued and emphasized for its localizing value and benign course in recent two decades. However, an expanding body of case series challenged when COS may arise from an involvement of ascending sensory pathways between cortex and pons and terminate into poor outcome occasionally.

Materials And Methods: To analyze the location, underlying etiologies and prognosis in 76 patients presented with COS collected between 1989 and 2007.

Hyperhomocysteinemia relates to the subtype of antiphospholipid antibodies in non-SLE patients.

Abnormal increases of antiphospholipid antibody and plasma homocysteine levels are recently emerging as nonlipidic risk factors for cerebral atherogenesis and thrombosis. Both antiphospholipid antibody and homocysteine share many similar bioeffects in hemostasis, but their interaction is still inconsistent. In this study, we examined the relation between the plasma homocysteine level and lupus anticoagulant, anticardiolipin antibody, and anti-beta2-glycoprotein I antibody in patients with noncardiac cerebral ischemia.

Type II cryoglobulinemia and brain hemorrhage.

By virtue of an understanding of hemostasis and coagulopathy using modern techniques, the exact role of individual serum protein in vascular thrombosis or hemorrhage becomes more apparent. Cryoglobulin causes vasculitude and thrombosis in various vascular beds, but its role in brain hemorrhage is unknown. We encountered a cryoglobulinemic patient to have cryoglobulinemia, hypocomplementia, and cerebellar hemorrhage during a reactivation of cytomegalovirus infection.

Delayed catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome after massive cerebral infarction.

Introduction: Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome (CAPS) is a life-threatening disorder urgent for aggressive treatment, and its characterized systemic thromboses and coagulopathy prompt for a rapid diagnosis.

Case Report: A woman fell into unconsciousness two weeks after a stable course of massive cerebral ischemia was identified due to CAPS with Sjogren syndrome. Her thrombocyte count and coagulation times were was normal at initial.

The increase of blood anticardiolipin antibody depends on the underlying etiology in cerebral ischemia.

Although anticardiolipin antibody (aCL) has been suggested to be a potent risk factor for thrombosis and atherosclerosis in multiple arterial beds, conflicting results exist between aCL and cerebral ischemia in the general stroke population. To elucidate if this discrepancy relates to the heterogeneity of underlying etiologies, the blood beta(2)-glycoprotein I dependent-aCL in 432 Taiwanese adults was examined. The associated cerebral ischemia in these patients was classified into five subtypes according to the cause of cerebral ischemia.

Tetrodotoxication with nassauris glans: a possibility of tetrodotoxin spreading in marine products near Pratas Island.

Tetrodotoxication was observed in six patients who ate gastropods from the South China Sea near Pratas Island. The pathogenic gastropod was Nassauris glans, which had not been previously mentioned in human tetrodotoxication. An extremely high level of tetrodotoxin was found in the causative gastropods, and a variety of clinical signs were observed in the survivors.

Parasagittal hemangioma associates with unilateral cheiro-oral-pedal syndrome.

Cortical lesion might elicit restricted acral sensory deficit but a disparity of topographies in cheiro-oral-pedal syndrome is very rare. We report the first case of cheiro-oral-pedal syndrome due to a contralateral parasagittal hemangioma involving the supplement sensory area in parietal lobe. This unusual link between neuroanatomy and neurological feature is discussed.

Cortical cheiro-oral syndrome: a revisit of clinical significance and pathogenesis.

Objectives: A restricted neurological deficit is not uncommon in patients with cortical lesions. However, in cheiro-oral syndrome (COS) associated with cortical involvement, the topographic disparity of the cheiral and oral representation area is hardly explained by the restricted sensorium at the homolateral mouth angle/lip and finger/hand, with sparing of the facial structures.

Patients And Methods: In order to elucidate the factors of clinical significance and pathogenesis in cortical COS, 11 patients with COS associated with contralateral cortical lesions were analyzed, and the cases of similar patients described in the literature were reviewed.

Chondrosarcoma, lupus anticoagulant and cerebral ischaemia.

Chondrosarcoma is a malignant disease of cartilage. Systemic embolisation usually arises from cancerous invasion of pulmonary vessels or the left atrium but cerebral embolisation or ischaemia is rarely recognised. We report a man with left leg amputation for tibial myxoid chondrosarcoma who suffered multiple cerebral embolisms one year later.

Inhibition of transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations by electrical acupoint stimulation.

Acupuncture has been shown to modulate visceral sensation and function. Traditionally, stimulation at the Neiguan (pericardial meridian) has been used to treat upper gastrointestinal symptoms. Some of the effects of acupuncture may be mediated through release of endogenous opioids and are reversed by naloxone.

The increase of blood anticardiolipin antibody depends on the underlying etiology in cerebral ischemia.

Although anticardiolipin antibody (aCL) has been suggested to be a potent risk factor for thrombosis and atherosclerosis in multiple arterial beds, conflicting results still exist between aCL and cerebral ischemia in the general stroke population. To elucidate if this discrepancy relates to the heterogeneity of underlying etiologies, blood beta(2)-glycoprotein I dependent-aCL was evaluated in 432 Taiwanese adults associated with cerebral ischemia who were classified into five subtypes according to their causes of cerebral ischemia. The results were compared with those in 100 healthy controls.

An increase of blood anti-beta2-glycoprotein I antibody in Japanese encephalitis associated with cerebral ischemia.

The role of humoral autoimmunity in virus-induced vascular thrombosis is still not clear. We encountered a patient who experienced cerebral ischemia in his early course of Japanese encephalitis. At the beginning, an increase of blood immunoglobulin G isotype of anti-beta2-glycoprotein I antibody, a prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time and thrombocytopenia resembling antiphospholipid antibody syndrome were found, and these abnormalities disappeared when the patient recovered later.

Anti-beta2-Glycoprotein I antibody and hypertension in cerebral ischemia.

Hypertension is known as a cause of endothelial cell damage and it activates humoral immunity. Therefore, it may modulate the anti-beta2-glycoprotein I antibody (abetaGPI) to commit for thrombosis. To elucidate the relation between abetaGPI and hypertension in cerebral ischemia, the blood abetaGPI level was examined in healthy subjects, hypertensive subjects, and patients with cerebral ischemia with and without hypertension, respectively.