Publications by authors named "Zhunan Wang"
Background: This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of vibration therapy for improving upper extremity motor impairment, function, and disability recovery in people with stroke.
Design: We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library Database, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database, and Google Scholar were searched from inception to May 31, 2024.
Telemedicine facilitates medical care for hospitalized patients in quarantine.
J Formos Med Assoc
December 2024
Background/purpose: Telemedicine is an innovative medical care system that facilitates visual communication between patients and healthcare workers (HCWs), mainly in a community-based setting. We investigated the clinical effectiveness of in-patient telemedicine care for patients in quarantine for the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Methods: We conducted a prospective study to include patients with mild-to-moderate severity of COVID-19 and their primary-care HCWs.
Healthcare-associated infection (HAI) is the most common adverse medical event that affects patients. Internationally, healthcare workers (HCWs) are monitored for hand hygiene compliance to reduce HAI risk. While direct observation is considered the gold standard for monitoring, it has several disadvantages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Cerebral ischemic stroke is a leading cause of disability in adults, and previous studies showed that human Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stromal cells (WJ-MSCs) can help reduce neuronal damage in stroke models.
- This research explored the effects of WJ-MSC exosomes (Exo) in both cell and rat models of stroke, finding that Exo administration significantly protected neurons from glutamate-induced damage.
- Rats treated with Exo after a stroke showed improved motor function, reduced brain damage, and increased levels of neuroprotective and anti-apoptotic factors in their brains, indicating that WJ-MSC Exo could be a promising stroke treatment.
Article Synopsis
- * Results showed that a higher PRS was more strongly related to EGFR-positive LUAD cases (OR=8.63) than to EGFR-negative cases (OR=3.50), indicating a significant association based on mutation status.
- * These findings imply that genetic susceptibility to LUAD differs in never-smoking East Asian women depending on whether the cancer has specific mutations, which could affect public health strategies and clinical practices.*
Article Synopsis
- This study investigated the genetic links between schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BPD), focusing on how polygenic risks for these disorders relate to education and cognitive aging.
- Analyzing data from over 106,000 participants, researchers found that certain genetic scores positively correlated with educational achievement, while others had a negative impact.
- The findings indicate that SCZ and BPD have different genetic influences, affecting educational success and cognitive decline, suggesting that these disorders are not genetically the same.
Conformational changes in a transcription factor can significantly affect its transcriptional activity. The activated form of the FOXM1 transcription factor regulates the transcriptional network of genes essential for cell cycle progression and carcinogenesis. However, the mechanism and impact of FOXM1 conformational change on its transcriptional activity in vivo throughout the cell cycle progression remain unexplored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRIG-I-like receptors (RLRs) are cytosolic RNA sensors critical for antiviral immunity. RLR activation is regulated by polyubiquitination and oligomerization following RNA binding. Yet, little is known about how RLRs exploit subcellular organelles to facilitate their posttranslational modifications and activation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmbient fine particulate matter (PM), a vital environmental toxicant, not only adversely affects the cardiovascular and respiratory systems but also potentially exhibits an association with intestinal inflammation and colorectal cancer (CRC). The underlying molecular mechanisms of PM2.5 impacts on CRC are still unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Infections during pregnancy and early childhood are linked to a higher risk of neurodevelopmental disorders like ASD, ADHD, and MR, but familial factors may influence these associations.
- A large study with over 2.8 million individuals in Taiwan analyzed the effects of maternal and childhood infections, using sibling comparison to control for unmeasured familial influences.
- Results showed that maternal infections increased the risk for neurodevelopmental issues, but these associations diminished when comparing siblings; however, early childhood infections maintained significant links to disorders like ASD and MR.
Article Synopsis
- Psilocybin, a compound found in "magic mushrooms," has shown potential in protecting against brain damage caused by strokes in rat models by acting on the 5HT2A receptor.
- The study demonstrated that psilocybin treatment led to reduced neuronal loss and improved brain function post-stroke, specifically through the modulation of BDNF expression.
- These findings suggest a promising new therapeutic use for psilocybin in treating strokes, highlighting its ability to enhance recovery and minimize brain injury.
Article Synopsis
- Acoustic wave technology allows for real-time, nondestructive assessment of coal reservoir properties critical for evaluating coalbed methane (CBM) production potential.
- A study of 48 coal samples from Xinjiang, China, revealed that coal's acoustic wave characteristics, including velocity and dynamic elastic modulus, vary with bedding orientation and are influenced by factors like apparent density, porosity, and fractures.
- The findings showed that perpendicular bedding coal samples have higher acoustic wave velocity and dynamic elastic modulus, while higher porosity and fractures decrease these values, leading to the development of regression equations to relate physical properties to acoustic wave behavior.
Article Synopsis
- Coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16) is a major cause of hand, foot, and mouth disease in children, but developing a vaccine has faced issues like poor virus replication and weak immune responses.
- This study created a DNA-launched infectious clone of CVA16 to improve vaccine efficacy by using a more stable viral strain and better production methods through specific cell lines.
- Additionally, combining inactivated EV-A71 antigens with CVA16 particles could enhance immune response, suggesting a potential bivalent vaccine approach for effective HFMD prevention.
Introduction: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common type of leukemia in the Western countries and is very rare in Asia.
Methods: Peripheral blood or bone marrow mononuclear cells obtained at initial diagnosis from 215 patients with CLL were analyzed by using next-generation sequencing to investigate the ethnic differences in genetic abnormalities.
Results: Whole-genome sequencing and whole-exome sequencing analyses on 30 cases showed that 9 genes, including IGLL5, MYD88, TCHH, DSCAM, AXDND1, BICRA, KMT2D, MYT1L, and RBM43, were more frequently mutated in our Taiwanese cohort compared with those of the Western cohorts.
Nitrosamines and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) are carcinogenic contaminants in water and biological matrices. Conventional analytical methods often struggle to detect trace concentrations due to poor extraction efficacies. This study presents a novel, low-cost, in-syringe-assisted fast extraction cum cleanup technique coupled with GC-FID for monitoring four nitrosamines and two SVOCs in drinking water and human urine samples to measure the contamination and exposure levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- - The study aimed to explore how inflammation contributes to the link between obesity and cancer incidence among over 350,000 participants over an average of 8.2 years.
- - It found that higher levels of inflammation markers like C-reactive protein and globulin increased cancer risk, while lower levels of hemoglobin, albumin, and platelets were also associated with higher risk.
- - The results indicate that systemic inflammation is a significant factor in increased cancer risk, particularly related to obesity, and that inflammation biomarkers partly mediate this relationship.
Article Synopsis
- * The guidelines address various aspects of ASCVD, including chronic coronary syndrome and cerebrovascular diseases, while promoting health education and the management of clinical risk factors like diet, exercise, and smoking.
- * A catchy slogan and a memorable acronym were proposed to reinforce lifestyle changes related to modifiable risk factors, emphasizing the importance of healthy eating, physical activity, and overall well-being for ASCVD prevention.
Background: It has been proposed that having a psychiatric disorder could increase the risk of developing a gastrointestinal disorder, and vice versa. The role of familial coaggregation and shared genetic loading between psychiatric and gastrointestinal disorders remains unclear.
Methods: This study used the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database; 4,504,612 individuals born 1970-1999 with parental information, 51,664 same-sex twins, and 3,322,959 persons with full-sibling(s) were enrolled.
Article Synopsis
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can hurt connections in the brain, making it hard for people to move and feel properly. CCL5 is a protein that may help protect the brain and support healing.
- Scientists tested CCL5 on mice with mild brain injuries to see if it could improve their movement and feeling abilities.
- The results showed that using CCL5 helped the injured mice's brains recover better, fixing important connections and supporting growth in their brain cells.
Objectives: This study employed a national longitudinal cohort to assess expected years of life lost (EYLL) in newly diagnosed psychiatric patients.
Methods: Data from Taiwan's National Death Registry and Health Insurance Research Database were scrutinized to identify patients with various psychiatric disorders. Disorders were ranked hierarchically, and age groups were categorized as young, middle-aged, and older adults.
Associations of Polygenic Risk for Depression, Traditional Chinese Medicine Constitution, and Depression: A Population-Based Study in Taiwan.
Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet
January 2025
To comprehensively investigate the risk factors associated with depression, traditional Chinese medicine constitution (TCMC) has been found to be related to depression. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study examined the association between the concept of unbalanced TCMCs and major depressive disorder (MDD), investigated the overlapping polygenic risks between unbalanced TCMC and MDD, and performed a mediation test to establish potential pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF