Clinical Features and Vaccination Effects among Children with Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 in Taiwan.

Background: Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) affects patients after recovering from acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study investigates the impact of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination on PASC symptoms in children in Taiwan during the Omicron pandemic.

Methods: We enrolled children under 18 years with PASC symptoms persisting for more than 4 weeks.

Reducing Domain Density Enhances Conversion Efficiency in GeTe.

Incorporating dilute doping and controlled synthesis provides a means to modulate the microstructure, defect density, and transport properties. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and geometric phase analysis (GPA) have revealed that hot-pressing can increase defect density, which redistributes strain and helps prevent unwanted Ge precipitates formation. An alloy of GeTe with a minute amount of indium added has shown remarkable TE properties compared to its undoped counterpart.

Develop and Validate a Prognostic Index With Laboratory Tests to Predict Mortality in Middle-Aged and Older Adults Using Machine Learning Models: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Prognostic indices can enhance personalized predictions of health burdens. However, a simple, practical, and reproducible tool is lacking for clinical use. This study aimed to develop a machine learning-based prognostic index for predicting all-cause mortality in community-dwelling older individuals.

Association between antenatal corticosteroid treatment and severe adverse events in pregnant women.

Background: Antenatal corticosteroids are considered the standard of care for pregnant women at risk for preterm birth, but studies examining their potential risks are scarce. We aimed to estimate the associations of antenatal corticosteroids with three severe adverse events: sepsis, heart failure, and gastrointestinal bleeding, in pregnant women.

Methods: Of 2,157,321 pregnant women, 52,119 at 24 weeks 0/7 days to 36 weeks 6/7 days of gestation were included in this self-controlled case series study during the study period of 2009-2018.

Prevalence and prescribing patterns of oral corticosteroids in the United States, Taiwan, and Denmark, 2009-2018.

Oral corticosteroids (OCS) are commonly prescribed for acute, self-limited conditions, despite studies demonstrating toxicity. Studies evaluating longitudinal OCS prescribing in the general population are scarce and do not compare use across countries. This study investigated and compared OCS prescription patterns from 2009 to 2018 in the general populations of the United States, Taiwan, and Denmark.

Association between antenatal corticosteroids and risk of serious infection in children: nationwide cohort study.

Objective: To investigate the associations between exposure to antenatal corticosteroids and serious infection in children during the first three, six, and 12 months of life.

Design: Nationwide cohort study.

Setting: National Health Insurance Research Database, Birth Reporting Database, and Maternal and Child Health Database, 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2019, to identify all pregnant individuals and their offspring in Taiwan.

Association between prenatal and neonatal risk factors and development of bronchiolitis in early life.

Unlabelled: Bronchiolitis is the most common seasonal viral respiratory disorder in infants. However, risk factors for the development of bronchiolitis, particularly during pregnancy, remain unclear.

Methods: A questionnaire was administered to the parents of the hospitalized infants with acute bronchiolitis to obtain information regarding patients' medical, family, and prenatal exposure history.

Exploring the Promise of Multifunctional "Zintl-Phase-Forming" Electrolytes for Si-Based Full Cells.

Li-M-Si ternary Zintl phases have gained attention recently due to their high structural stability, which can improve the cycling stability compared to a bulk Si electrode. Adding multivalent cation salts (such as Mg and Ca) in the electrolyte was proven to be a simple way to form Li-M-Si ternary phases in Si-based Li-ion cells. To explore the promise of Zintl-phase-forming electrolytes, we systematically investigated their application in pouch cells via electrochemical and multiscale postmortem analysis.

The role of S100A9 in the interaction between pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells and stromal cells.

Background: A major feature of the microenvironment in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the significant amount of extracellular matrix produced by pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs), which have been reported to enhance the invasiveness of pancreatic cancer cells and negatively impact the prognosis.

Methods: We analyzed the data from two publicly available microarray datasets deposited in the Gene Expression Omnibus and found candidate genes that were differentially expressed in PDAC cells with metastatic potential and PDAC cells cocultured with PSCs. We studied the interaction between PDAC cells and PSCs in vitro and verified our finding with the survival data of patients with PDAC from the website of The Human Protein Atlas.

Association of Oral Corticosteroid Bursts With Severe Adverse Events in Children.

Importance: The adverse effects from the long-term use of oral corticosteroids are known, but, to our knowledge, few studies have reported the risk of corticosteroid bursts, particularly among children.

Objective: To quantify the associations of corticosteroid bursts with severe adverse events, including gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, sepsis, pneumonia, and glaucoma, in children.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This study used data derived from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2017, on children younger than 18 years of age and used a self-controlled case series design.

Compositional Fluctuations Locked by Athermal Transformation Yielding High Thermoelectric Performance in GeTe.

Phase transition in thermoelectric (TE) material is a double-edged sword-it is undesired for device operation in applications, but the fluctuations near an electronic instability are favorable. Here, Sb doping is used to elicit a spontaneous composition fluctuation showing uphill diffusion in GeTe that is otherwise suspended by diffusionless athermal cubic-to-rhombohedral phase transition at around 700 K. The interplay between these two phase transitions yields exquisite composition fluctuations and a coexistence of cubic and rhombohedral phases in favor of exceptional figures-of-merit zT.

Cardiometabolic disorder reduces survival prospects more than suboptimal body mass index irrespective of age or gender: a longitudinal study of 377,929 adults in Taiwan.

Background: The effect of cardio-metabolic profile on the relationship of body mass index (BMI) with mortality is unclear. The aim of this study was to explore association between BMI and mortality at all ages, taking account of cardio-metabolic disorders.

Methods: We followed 377,929 individuals (≥ 20 years), who registered for health checkups in 1996-2007, until 2008 and found 9490 deaths.

Criterion-Referenced Values of Grip Strength and Usual Gait Speed Using Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Disability as the Criterion.

Background And Purpose: Current evidence suggests that grip strength and usual gait speed (UGS) are important predictors of instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) disability. Knowing the optimum cut points of these tests for discriminating people with and without IADL disability could help clinicians or researchers to better interpret the test results and make medical decisions. The purpose of this study was to determine the cutoff values of grip strength and UGS for best discriminating community-dwelling older adults with and without IADL disability, separately for men and women, and to investigate their association with IADL disability.

Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Promotes Proliferation, Differentiation, and Migration of Neural Stem Cells via BDNF Upregulation.

Patients who suffer from subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) usually have long-term neurological impairments. Endogenous neurogenesis might play a potential role in functional recovery after SAH; however, the underlying neurogenesis mechanism is still unclear. We assessed the extent of neurogenesis in the subventricular zone (SVZ) to better understand the neurogenesis mechanism after SAH.

Association between dietary fiber intake and physical performance in older adults: a nationwide study in Taiwan.

Background: Physical performance is a major determinant of health in older adults, and is related to lifestyle factors. Dietary fiber has multiple health benefits. It remains unclear whether fiber intake is independently linked to superior physical performance.

Vascular protection with less activation evoked by progressive thermal preconditioning in adrenergic receptor-mediated hypertension and tachycardia.

Thermal preconditioning may afford cardiovascular protection against oxidative injuries. However, hypertension and taychardia by sympathetic stimulation frequently occur during 420C whole body thermal preconditioning (TP). We aimed to develop a modified TP to achieve cardiovascular protection with to reduced cardiovascular stimulation in the rat.

Development and fast screening of salbutamol residues in swine serum by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in Taiwan.

The analysis of salbutamol in swine serum is the more practical basis for large scale surveillance programs in Taiwan. Objectives of the study were to develop a new assay and to compare with a commercially available kit in field test screens. A simple and reliable enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to monitor the presence of beta-agonist, salbutamol, in 1,358 field samples of swine serum that were collected from local meat markets was described.

Automatic MRI meningioma segmentation using estimation maximization.

With the advancement of the imaging facility and image processing technique, computer assisted surgical planning and image guided technology have become increasingly used in neurosurgery. For MRI has the characteristic of multi-spectral image data., so knowledge-base techniques is widely used in brain MRI segmentation.