Statin Monotherapy Not Inferior to Aspirin or Combined Aspirin and Statins Reducing the Incidences of Cirrhosis, HCC, and Mortality in MAFLD/MASH Patients: A Population Cohort Study.

Purpose: Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) pose significant risks for liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Daily aspirin and statins could reduce HCC in patients with MAFLD/MASH. We aimed to clarify whether combined aspirin and statins exert a synergistic effect on prevention of cirrhosis and HCC in patients with MAFLD/MASH.

Risk of Uveitis in Dengue Fever Patients: A Population-Based Cohort Study in Taiwan.

Dengue-related ocular complications were considered rare, but recent evidence points to a broader spectrum of manifestations, including uveitis. This study utilized the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) to investigate the incidence of uveitis in dengue patients, aiming to fill this research gap. This population-based, retrospective cohort study utilized the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) and included patients with and without Dengue fever.

The Impact of Pay-for-Performance Care on the Mortality and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Older Adults with Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study.

Objectives: To evaluate the long-term effects of pay-for-performance (P4P) care in the geriatric population with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Design: Retrospective longitudinal cohort study.

Setting And Participants: A total of 6607 propensity score-matched pairs of patients with newly diagnosed T2D who received either P4P care or standard care as identified from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2019.

Correlation between the utilization of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and the risk of dementia: a nationwide population-based study in Taiwan.

The impact of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SLGT2i) usage on reducing the risk of dementia remains uncertain. Our research seeks to establish the association between dementia risk and SLGT2 inhibitors among individuals with diabetes. This study relied on data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database (NHIRD), which was established in 1995 coinciding with the launch of the National Health Insurance (NHI) program by the Taiwanese government.

Sodium valproate ablates ferroptosis in kainic acid-induced epileptic seizure via suppressing lysyl oxidase.

The objective of this study is to explore whether sodium valproate (VPA) alleviates epileptic seizures via suppressing lysyl oxidase (Lox)-mediated ferroptosis. Epileptic seizure mouse model was prepared via intrahippocampal injection of kainic acid (250 ng/μl). After treatment with kainic acid, VPA was injected intraperitoneally by the dose of 250 mg/kg twice daily for 4 days.

The association between antiglaucomatous agents and Alzheimer's disease.

Objectives: To estimate the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) associated with long-term use of topical glaucoma medications among middle-aged and older glaucoma patients, and compare the AD risk among various glaucoma subtypes.

Methods: This nationwide population-based cohort study utilized insurance claims data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database between 2008 and 2019. Participants were adults aged 45 years or older either with a diagnosis of glaucoma or without.

Latent Semantic and Disentangled Attention.

Sequential learning using transformer has achieved state-of-the-art performance in natural language tasks and many others. The key to this success is the multi-head self attention which encodes and gathers the features from individual tokens of an input sequence. The mapping or decoding is performed to produce an output sequence via cross attention.

The risk of herpes zoster is positively associated with obesity, especially morbid obesity.

This study aimed to investigate the association between obesity and herpes zoster (HZ) occurrence. This study used data covering 2 million people in Taiwan in 2000, which were obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database. The cohort study observed aged 20-100 years with obesity from 2000 to 2017 (tracking to 2018).

[Changes and influence factors of soil matrix infiltration in Chinese fir plantations with different stand ages in northern Guangxi].

Soil matrix infiltration is an important pathway for plantations to obtain water, which affects ecological benefits and water conservation function of plantations. The changes of soil matrix infiltration and its influencing factors in different growth stages of Chinese fir plantations remain unclear. We measured soil matrix infiltration process using a tension infiltrometer in Chinese fir plantations (5, 8, 11, and 15 years old) of Beijiang River Forest Farm in Rongshui, Guangxi, and analyzed soil basic physicochemical properties to identify the dominant factors influencing soil matrix infiltration.

Effect of spectacle correction on hyperopic children.

Hyperopia is a significant refractive error in children, often leading to vision impairment. This study aimed to investigate whether partial or full spectacle correction is benefit for hyperopia in preschool-aged children. A retrospective study was conducted on hyperopic children visited to teaching medical center outpatient clinic between October 2011 and October 2018, and were categorized into three groups: full correction, overcorrection, and undercorrection.

Association of tea and coffee consumption and biliary tract cancer risk: The Biliary Tract Cancers Pooling Project.

Background And Aims: Tea and coffee are widely consumed beverages worldwide. We evaluated their association with biliary tract cancer (BTC) incidence.

Approach And Results: We pooled data from 15 studies in the Biliary Tract Cancers Pooling Project to evaluate associations between tea and coffee consumption and biliary tract cancer development.

Chronic stress increases metastasis via neutrophil-mediated changes to the microenvironment.

Chronic stress is associated with increased risk of metastasis and poor survival in cancer patients, yet the reasons are unclear. We show that chronic stress increases lung metastasis from disseminated cancer cells 2- to 4-fold in mice. Chronic stress significantly alters the lung microenvironment, with fibronectin accumulation, reduced T cell infiltration, and increased neutrophil infiltration.

Comparative effectiveness of tenofovir versus entecavir in patients with hepatitis B virus-related cirrhosis in Taiwan: a retrospective cohort study.

Tenofovir and entecavir demonstrated substantial effectiveness in the reversion of fibrosis and reversed cirrhosis in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related cirrhosis. However, there has not been a definitive conclusion regarding the association between entecavir and tenofovir on the risk of cirrhosis-related complications. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the comparative effectiveness between tenofovir and entecavir in HBV-related cirrhosis patients.

Catalase Expression Is an Independent Prognostic Marker in Lung Adenocarcinoma.

Background/aim: Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the deadliest cancer, and approximately 20% of stage I LUAD cases recur after surgical resection due to its high intratumor heterogeneity. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been detected in LUAD and are involved in carcinogenesis and tumor progression. Here, a comprehensive analysis was performed to evaluate the effects of antioxidants on the prognosis of LUAD.

Molecular detection of bornavirus in parrots imported to China in 2022.

Background: Avian bornavirus (ABV) is a neurotropic virus, it has been established as the primary causative agent of proventricular dilatation disease (PDD). However, substantial international trade and transnational trafficking of wild birds occur, potentially enabling these birds to harbor and transmit pathogens to domestic poultry, adversely affecting their well-being. Real-time RT-PCR was employed to detect the presence of PaBV-4 in parrots imported to China in 2022.

Influenza vaccination is associated with lower risk of renal cell carcinoma among chronic kidney disease patients: a population-based cohort study.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients possess a higher risk for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) possibly because of related underlying inflammation and immune dysregulation. In the current population-based cohort study, we evaluate the effects of influenza vaccination on RCC among CKD patients.

Methods: We analysed the vaccinated and unvaccinated CKD patients (≥55 years of age) identified from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database.

Using the Neuromuscular Junction Cellular Response to Predict Functional Recovery after Nerve Grafting in a Mouse Experimental Model.

Background: Functional recovery following peripheral nerve injury worsens with increasing time of denervation before repair. Denervated muscle undergoes progressive atrophy that limits the extent to which motor endplates can be reinnervated. The aims of this study were to assess nerve injuries reconstructed at different time points and to identify various neural and muscle-based markers to predict functional outcome, including an in-depth look at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ).

Src-FAK Signaling Mediates Interleukin 6-Induced HCT116 Colorectal Cancer Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most prevalent and lethal malignancies, affecting approximately 900,000 individuals each year worldwide. Patients with colorectal cancer are found with elevated serum interleukin-6 (IL-6), which is associated with advanced tumor grades and is related to their poor survival outcomes. Although IL-6 is recognized as a potent inducer of colorectal cancer progression, the detail mechanisms underlying IL-6-induced colorectal cancer epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), one of the major process of tumor metastasis, remain unclear.

Association of periodontal disease with migraine: A large-scale community-based cross-sectional study.

Background: Periodontal disease may drive a systemic inflammatory response that triggers migraine; however, the association between periodontal disease and migraine has rarely been investigated in a community-based setting.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 66,109 participants aged 30 to 70 years from Taiwan Biobank (TWB). A structured questionnaire was administered to participants, who were also subjected to whole-genome single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping using the customized Axiom-TWB array.

Histone demethylase KDM2A is a selective vulnerability of cancers relying on alternative telomere maintenance.

Telomere length maintenance is essential for cellular immortalization and tumorigenesis. 5% - 10% of human cancers rely on a recombination-based mechanism termed alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) to sustain their replicative immortality, yet there are currently no targeted therapies. Through CRISPR/Cas9-based genetic screens in an ALT-immortalized isogenic cellular model, here we identify histone lysine demethylase KDM2A as a molecular vulnerability selectively for cells contingent on ALT-dependent telomere maintenance.

Molecular Characteristics and Pathogenicity of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) 1 in Taiwan during 2019-2020.

Two variants of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), PRRSV 1 and PRRSV 2, have caused abortion in pregnant sows and respiratory distress in nursery pigs worldwide. PRRSV 2 has been thoroughly researched in Taiwan since 1993; however, the first case of PRRSV 1 was not reported until late 2018. To decipher the genetic characteristics of PRRSV 1 in Taiwan, open reading frame 5 (ORF5) genes of PRRSV 1 strains collected from 11 individual pig farms in 2019-2020 were successfully sequenced.

Genetic Susceptibility to Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis Virus Infection.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths globally. The risk factors for HCC include chronic hepatitis B and C virus infections, excessive alcohol consumption, obesity, metabolic disease, and aflatoxin exposure. In addition to these viral and environmental risk factors, individual genetic predisposition is a major determinant of HCC risk.