Unlocking Colchicine's Untapped Potential: A Paradigm Shift in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Prevention.

Liver cancer and notably hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), results in significantly high mortality rates worldwide. Chronic hepatitis and fatty liver, recognized precursors, underscore the imperative need for effective preventive strategies. This study explores colchicine, traditionally acknowledged for its anti-inflammatory properties and investigates its potential in liver cancer prevention.

Patient-derived tumor organoids as a platform of precision treatment for malignant brain tumors.

Malignant brain tumors consist of malignancies originated primarily within the brain and the metastatic lesions disseminated from other organs. In spite of intensive studies, malignant brain tumors remain to be a medical challenge. Patient-derived organoid (PDO) can recapitulate the biological features of the primary tumor it was derived from and has emerged as a promising drug-screening model for precision therapy.

Unmet Supportive Care Needs of Survival Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

This study examined unmet supportive care needs for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients by cancer stage and treatment phase, as well as the factors associated with these unmet needs. At a cancer center in central Taiwan, information on consultations and services patients received at the resource center was described in the service chart. We extracted data available for NPC patients to evaluate their unmet supportive care needs (health information, patient care, treatment, nutritional, psychosocial, and economic) and their association with sex, age, cancer stage, and treatment phase.

Unmet supportive care needs of survival patients with breast cancer in different cancer stages and treatment phases.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the differences between patients with breast cancer (BC) at different cancer stages and treatment phases in terms of unmet supportive care needs as well as to predict the critical factors that influence the unmet needs of such patients.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective study was conducted by collecting data from the case consultation and service records of a cancer center in central Taiwan. Information extracted from the case consultation and service records included patients' age, treatment phase, cancer stage, and unmet need domains.

Long-Term Follow-up in Patients with Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage Treated With or Without Surgical Intervention: a Large-Scale Retrospective Study.

Debates regarding the most beneficial medical or surgical procedures for patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH) are still ongoing. We aimed to evaluate the risk of subsequent vascular disease and mortality in patients with sICH treated with and without surgical intervention, in a large-scale Asian population. Patients hospitalized within 2000 to 2013 who were newly diagnosed with sICH were identified using the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan.

Risk of subsequent stroke, with or without extracranial-intracranial bypass surgery: a nationwide, retrospective, population-based study.

Objective: Although no benefits of extracranial-intracranial (EC-IC) bypass surgery in preventing secondary stroke have been identified previously, the outcomes of initial symptomatic ischemic stroke and stenosis and/or occlusion among the Asian population in patients with or without bypass intervention have yet to be discussed. The authors aimed to evaluate the subsequent risk of secondary vascular disease and cardiac events in patients with and without a history of this intervention.

Methods: This retrospective nationwide population-based Taiwanese registry study included 205,991 patients with initial symptomatic ischemic stroke and stenosis and/or occlusion, with imaging data obtained between 2001 and 2010.

PG2 for patients with acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study.

PG2 is an infusible polysaccharide extracted from Astragalus membranaceus, which is a Chinese herb traditionally used for stroke treatment. We investigated the effect of PG2 on patients with spontaneous acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). A total of 61 patients with acute spontaneous ICH were randomized to either the treatment group (TG, 30 patients), which received 3 doses of PG2 (500 mg, IV) per week for 2 weeks, or the control group (CG, 31 patients), which received PG2 placebo.

Toll-like receptor 9 SNPs are susceptible to the development and progression of membranous glomerulonephritis: 27 years follow-up in Taiwan.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether toll-like receptors 9 (TLR9) gene polymorphisms (rs352139 and rs352140) were markers of susceptibility to the development and progression of membranous nephropathy (MGN) in Taiwanese patients. The polymorphisms were investigated by polymerase chain reaction in 397 Taiwanese individuals (134 MGN patients and 263 controls). Patients with malignancy, chronic infectious diseases, lupus nephritis, or drug-induced secondary MGN were excluded from the study.

Cerebrolysin enhances cognitive recovery of mild traumatic brain injury patients: double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study.

In adults, mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) frequently results in impairments of cognitive functions which would lead to psychological consequences in the future. Cerebrolysin is a nootropic drug, and can significantly improve cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer's disease and stroke. The purpose of this study was to investigate how Cerebrolysin therapy enhances cognitive recovery for mild traumatic brain injury patients using a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized phase II pilot study.

Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome with IgA nephropathy: a case report and literature review.

The pathogenesis of renal involvement in Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) is unclear and renal outcome is generally poor in such situations. Here we present the case of an 8-year-old boy with WAS who developed hematuria, proteinuria, and declining renal function that did not improve with the combined use of immunosuppressive agents and angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitor. Renal pathology revealed IgA nephropathy (IgAN).