Self-organization, quality control, and preclinical studies of human iPSC-derived retinal sheets for tissue-transplantation therapy.

Three-dimensional retinal organoids (3D-retinas) are a promising graft source for transplantation therapy. We previously developed self-organizing culture for 3D-retina generation from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). Here we present a quality control method and preclinical studies for tissue-sheet transplantation.

Diabetes-Related Complications and Mortality in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation Receiving Different Oral Anticoagulants : A Nationwide Analysis.

Background: Evidence about the association between types of oral anticoagulants and hazards of diabetes complications is limited in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and diabetes mellitus (DM).

Objective: To compare the hazards of diabetes complications and mortality between patients with AF and DM receiving non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) and those receiving warfarin.

Design: A retrospective cohort study.

Month of birth and the risk of narcolepsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Study Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between the month of birth (MOB) and the risk of narcolepsy.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the electronic databases PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane CENTRAL from their inception to September 30, 2021. We also added data on narcolepsy from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan.

Genotype-Guided Dosing of Warfarin in Chinese Adults: A Multicenter Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Warfarin is an effective treatment for thromboembolic disease but has a narrow therapeutic index; optimal anticoagulation dosage can differ tremendously among individuals. We aimed to evaluate whether genotype-guided warfarin dosing is superior to routine clinical dosing for the outcomes of interest in Chinese patients.

Methods: We conducted a multicenter, randomized, single-blind, parallel-controlled trial from September 2014 to April 2017 in 15 hospitals in China.

Phenotypically Silent Bone Morphogenetic Protein Receptor 2 Mutations Predispose Rats to Inflammation-Induced Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension by Enhancing the Risk for Neointimal Transformation.

Background: (bone morphogenetic protein receptor 2) mutations are critical risk factors for hereditary pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) with approximately 20% of carriers developing disease. There is an unmet medical need to understand how environmental factors, such as inflammation, render mutants susceptible to PAH. Overexpressing 5-LO (5-lipoxygenase) provokes lung inflammation and transient PAH in mice.

Risk of Infective Endocarditis After Invasive Dental Treatments: Case-Only Study.

Background: Invasive dental treatments (IDTs) can yield temporary bacteremia and have therefore been considered a potential risk factor of infective endocarditis (IE). It is hypothesized that, through the trauma caused by IDTs, bacteria gain entry to the bloodstream and may attach to abnormal heart valves or damaged heart tissue, giving rise to IE. However, the association between IDTs and IE remains controversial.

Mycobacterium abscessus Osteomyelitis of the Calcaneus Presenting as Tumor-Mimicking Lesions: A Case Report.

Case: We present the case of a 51-year-old immunocompetent man with refractory heel pain who initially had been treated for plantar fasciitis. However, the pain was proven to be caused by a Mycobacterium abscessus infection of the calcaneus. The process of diagnosis and treatment is described.

Addressing the identification problem in age-period-cohort analysis: a tutorial on the use of partial least squares and principal components analysis.

In the analysis of trends in health outcomes, an ongoing issue is how to separate and estimate the effects of age, period, and cohort. As these 3 variables are perfectly collinear by definition, regression coefficients in a general linear model are not unique. In this tutorial, we review why identification is a problem, and how this problem may be tackled using partial least squares and principal components regression analyses.

A Bayesian network meta-analysis on comparisons of enamel matrix derivatives, guided tissue regeneration and their combination therapies.

Aims: Guided tissue regeneration (GTR) and enamel matrix derivatives (EMD) are two popular regenerative treatments for periodontal infrabony lesions. Both have been used in conjunction with other regenerative materials. We conducted a Bayesian network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials on treatment effects of GTR, EMD and their combination therapies.

Unravelling the effects of age, period and cohort on metabolic syndrome components in a Taiwanese population using partial least squares regression.

Background: We investigate whether the changing environment caused by rapid economic growth yielded differential effects for successive Taiwanese generations on 8 components of metabolic syndrome (MetS): body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and uric acid (UA).

Methods: To assess the impact of age, birth year and year of examination on MetS components, we used partial least squares regression to analyze data collected by Mei-Jaw clinics in Taiwan in years 1996 and 2006. Confounders, such as the number of years in formal education, alcohol intake, smoking history status, and betel-nut chewing were adjusted for.

A new approach to age-period-cohort analysis using partial least squares regression: the trend in blood pressure in the Glasgow Alumni cohort.

Due to a problem of identification, how to estimate the distinct effects of age, time period and cohort has been a controversial issue in the analysis of trends in health outcomes in epidemiology. In this study, we propose a novel approach, partial least squares (PLS) analysis, to separate the effects of age, period, and cohort. Our example for illustration is taken from the Glasgow Alumni cohort.

Latent variable approach to correct errors in radiographic measurements.

Radiographic outcomes are important for the diagnosis and treatment of periodontal diseases. However, the assessment of radiographic measurements is affected by many factors, and it is therefore difficult to ascertain changes in radiographic outcomes. In this study, we proposed a latent variable approach to correct for the distortion in the radiographic measurements in pairs of periapical radiographs taken before and after periodontal treatment.

Trends in the association between blood pressure and obesity in a Taiwanese population between 1996 and 2006.

In the last decades, the prevalence of obesity has increased in the Taiwanese population. This has the potential to impact on the risks of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. This study investigated trends in the changes in several indices of obesity in the last decade, and the relationship between blood pressure (BP) and these obesity indices available in Mei-Jaw Corporation health-screening data from 1996/1998 to 2006.

Assessing the impact of body size in childhood and adolescence on blood pressure: an application of partial least squares regression.

Background: Recent studies have found that postnatal catch-up growth might have a stronger impact than birth size on health in later life. Because growth is a continuing process, the challenge is to tease out the impact of body size at different critical phases. Ordinary least squares regression cannot differentiate the effects of birth size, growth, and current body size simultaneously, because growth is generally defined as the difference between birth size and current size, giving rise to perfect collinearity.

Do bone grafts or barrier membranes provide additional treatment effects for infrabony lesions treated with enamel matrix derivatives? A network meta-analysis of randomized-controlled trials.

Background/aim: Network meta-analyses of randomized-controlled trials were undertaken to investigate whether enamel matrix derivatives (EMD) in conjunction with other regenerative materials yield better treatment outcomes than EMD alone in the treatment of infrabony defects > or =3 mm.

Material And Methods: A literature search was conducted using the Medline, EMBASE, LILACS and CENTRAL databases up to and including December 2008. Treatment outcomes were changes in probing pocket depth (PPD), clinical attachment level (CAL) and infrabony defect depth.

Partial least squares path modelling for relations between baseline factors and treatment outcomes in periodontal regeneration.

Background: Some clinical outcome variables in periodontal research are mathematically coupled, and it is not feasible to include all the mathematically coupled variables in an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis. The simplest solution to this problem is to drop at least one of the mathematically coupled variables. However, this solution is not satisfactory when the mathematically coupled variables have distinctive clinical implications.

An introduction to latent growth curve modelling for longitudinal continuous data in dental research.

Many studies in dental research are based on repeated measurements of several continuous variables. Statistical analyses of such data require advanced methods to explore the complexity of information within the data. Currently, the most frequently adopted approach is to undertake multiple univariate tests.

Ratio index variables or ANCOVA? Fisher's cats revisited.

Over 60 years ago Ronald Fisher demonstrated a number of potential pitfalls with statistical analyses using ratio variables. Nonetheless, these pitfalls are largely overlooked in contemporary clinical and epidemiological research, which routinely uses ratio variables in statistical analyses. This article aims to demonstrate how very different findings can be generated as a result of less than perfect correlations among the data used to generate ratio variables.

Direct and indirect effects of interdental hygiene in a clinical trial.

Many randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in dental research test the efficacy of interventions on more than one outcome variable. Univariate methods, such as the t test or analysis of covariance, cannot evaluate the efficacy of interventions on multiple outcomes simultaneously. The aim of this study was to use structural equation modeling (SEM) to re-analyze a RCT, comparing the effects of pre-curved interdental brushes and flossing on probing pocket depth (PPD), plaque indices, and bleeding on probing (BOP) measured at baseline, intermediate, and final examinations.

A structural equation modelling approach to the analysis of change.

Analysis of change is probably the most commonly adopted study design in medical and dental research when comparing the efficacy of two or more treatment modalities. The most commonly used methods for testing the difference in treatment efficacy are the two-sample t-test and the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). It has been suggested that ancova should be used in the analysis of change for data from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as a result of its greater statistical power.

Simpson's Paradox, Lord's Paradox, and Suppression Effects are the same phenomenon--the reversal paradox.

This article discusses three statistical paradoxes that pervade epidemiological research: Simpson's paradox, Lord's paradox, and suppression. These paradoxes have important implications for the interpretation of evidence from observational studies. This article uses hypothetical scenarios to illustrate how the three paradoxes are different manifestations of one phenomenon--the reversal paradox--depending on whether the outcome and explanatory variables are categorical, continuous or a combination of both; this renders the issues and remedies for any one to be similar for all three.

Is there a temporal trend in the reported treatment efficacy of periodontal regeneration? A meta-analysis of randomized-controlled trials.

Background/aim: The aim of study was to conduct a meta-analysis to investigate whether or not there was a temporal trend in the treatment efficacy reported in the randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) on guided tissue regeneration (GTR) or enamel matrix protein derivatives (EMD) in the treatment of infrabony defects.

Material And Methods: The treatment outcomes were changes in probing pocket depth (PPD) and clinical attachment level (CAL). Weighted multilevel and ordinary regression analyses were performed to test the temporal relationship between treatment effect difference or treatment effectiveness and publication years.