Mouth-controlled mouse for quadriplegic disabled people: System design and validation.

Disabled people with a high cervical cord injury or quadriplegia face difficulties when controlling a computer. This study presents a digital mouth-controlled mouse-control aid called the bite-press mouth-controlled mouse (BPMCM) to replace the traditional computer mouse. The BPMCM is equipped with a joystick and micro switch, and the disabled person uses neck and head movements to push the joystick and control the cursor position while the three mouse functions (i.

Association of retinopathy severity with cardiovascular and renal outcomes in patients with type 1 diabetes: a multi-state modeling analysis.

This study aimed to assess the impact of diabetic retinopathy (DR) severity on the incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in T1D patients. Patients diagnosed with T1D between 1999 and 2013 were identified from patient-level data of Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research database. A total of 1135 patients were included and classified into mild DR (n = 454), severe DR (n = 227), or non-DR (n = 454) by using propensity score matching.

The Biomechanical Properties of a High-Tensile Strength Tape for Tendon Graft Fixation Using the Krackow Configuration.

Purpose: To compare the biomechanical properties of a high-tensile strength suture with the high-tensile strength tape for tendon graft fixation.

Methods: A total of 24 porcine tendons were used and were randomly divided into 2 groups. Two kinds of suture materials, a braided nonabsorbable high-strength suture (group S) and a high-tensile strength tape (group T), were used to complete 3 pairs of Krackow stitches on the tendons.

Using Interconnected Knotless Anchor for Suprapectoral Biceps Tenodesis Could Offer Improved Biomechanical Properties in a Cadaveric Model.

Purpose: To compare the biomechanical characteristics of the interconnected knotless anchor (IKA) fixation with the double knotless anchor (DKA) and interference screw (IS) fixation in the suprapectoral biceps tenodesis.

Methods: In total, 24 fresh-frozen human cadaveric shoulders (mean age, 67.3 ± 6 years) were used for the study.

Testing of non-inferiority and superiority for three-arm clinical studies with multiple experimental treatments.

The purpose of a non-inferiority trial is to assert the efficacy of an experimental treatment compared with a reference treatment by showing that the experimental treatment retains a substantial proportion of the efficacy of the reference treatment. Statistical methods have been developed to test multiple experimental treatments in three-arm non-inferiority trials. In this paper, we report the development of procedures that simultaneously test the non-inferiority and the superiority of experimental treatments after the assay sensitivity has been established.

Application of flow cytometry for evaluating clinical prognosis and histopathological grade of human glioma.

Objectives: Flow cytometry was applied to predict the biological parameters of tumor behavior based on the DNA content distribution of tumors. We used flow cytometry to determine the number of cell cycles for the characterization of intracranial gliomas and its possible prognostic role.

Methods: Flow cytometric analysis of the DNA content was performed for 37 fresh operative glioma specimens.

Noninferiority studies with multiple reference treatments.

The increasing popularity of noninferiority trials reflects the ongoing efforts to replace existing treatments (reference treatments) with new treatments (experimental treatments) that retain a substantial fraction of the effect of the reference treatments. The adoption of any new treatment has to be vindicated by a demonstration of benefits that outweigh a possible clinically insignificant reduction in the reference treatment efficacy. Statistical methods have been developed to analyze data collected from noninferiority trials.

The application of flow cytometry for evaluating biological aggressiveness of intracranial meningiomas.

Background: Meningiomas have classically been considered to include benign and atypical/anaplastic tumors. Despite the availability of clinical and pathologic parameters for prognostic prediction prognosis, the behavior of each meningioma may be difficult to predict. Here, we used DNA flow-cytometric studies to predict biological tumor behaviors of intracranial meningiomas.

Noninferiority Studies with Multiple New Treatments and Heterogeneous Variances.

The objective of a noninferiority (NI) trial is to affirm the efficacy of a new treatment compared with an active control by verifying that the new treatment maintains a considerable portion of the treatment effect of the control. Compensation by benefits other than efficacy is usually the justification for using a new treatment, as long as the loss of efficacy is within an acceptable margin (NI margin) from the standard treatment. A popular approach is to express this margin in terms of the efficacy difference between the new treatment and the active control.

Trends and determinants of informal and formal caregiving in the community for disabled elderly people in Taiwan.

Although family caregiving for elderly people has been the backbone of long-term care in Taiwan, it is not clear whether informal help from family members has diminished in recent years due to changes in social structure and traditions. The objective of this study is to examine the trend and the factors influencing the use of informal and formal caregiving among disabled elders in the community of Taiwan. Data were drawn from three waves of the Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging (TLSA) (1999, 2003, and 2007) to examine the receipt of help with activities of daily living (ADLs) in a nationally representative sample of Taiwanese elderly people aged 65 and older.

Extension of three-arm non-inferiority studies to trials with multiple new treatments.

Non-inferiority (NI) trials are becoming increasingly popular. The main purpose of NI trials is to assert the efficacy of a new treatment compared with an active control by demonstrating that the new treatment maintains a substantial fraction of the treatment effect of the control. Most of the statistical testing procedures in this area have been developed for three-arm NI trials in which a new treatment is compared with an active control in the presence of a placebo.

Sample size determination in step-up testing procedures for multiple comparisons with a control.

Step-up procedures have been shown to be powerful testing methods in clinical trials for comparisons of several treatments with a control. In this paper, a determination of the optimal sample size for a step-up procedure that allows a pre-specified power level to be attained is discussed. Various definitions of power, such as all-pairs power, any-pair power, per-pair power and average power, in one- and two-sided tests are considered.

A longitudinal evaluation of residents' health outcomes in nursing homes and residential care homes in Taiwan.

Purpose: The role of nursing homes (NHs) and residential care homes (RHs) frequently overlaps in Taiwan, raising concerns about their level of care. This study aimed to investigate residents' health outcomes in NHs and RHs 1 year after admission.

Methods: This longitudinal study included four stages of face-to-face interviews with recruited residents.

Clinical effectiveness of International Team for Oral Implantology dental implant treatment in Taiwan: a seven-year longitudinal study.

Background: International Team for Oral Implantology (ITI) dental implant has been clinically tested for the most parts of the world, especially in Europe and America, and has not been conducted on Asian population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cumulative survival and success rates over 7 years of ITI dental implants.

Materials: The ITI dental implant system has been used in the Dental Department of Chi Mei Medical Center since August of 1997.

A preliminary study of a healthy-lifestyle-promoting program for nursing students in Taiwan.

This pilot study evaluated the effects of a healthy-lifestyle-promoting program, taught as part of an undergraduate community health nursing course, on the physical fitness and health choices of 42 Taiwanese nursing students. A convenience sample provided quantitative indexes of physical fitness and lifestyle before and after the course. Qualitative data, in the form of student diaries, were also analyzed.