Background: Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) play an important role in pediatric diseases; however, there are limited data about LRTIs in Southern Taiwan. This study aimed to investigate the clinical and epidemiological data of LRTIs in this area.
Methods: Children aged under 5 years who were hospitalized at a medical center in Southern Taiwan with acute LRTIs from July 2010 to October 2010 (summer) and from March 2011 to May 2011 (spring) were prospectively enrolled. Nasopharyngeal aspirates were obtained and sent for viral cultures, multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and traditional quick tests. The clinical features, laboratory data, and imaging findings were recorded and analyzed.
Results: A total of 90 children were enrolled, 70 of whom had detectable pathogens. The positive rate of conventional viral and bacterial cultures was 25.6%, which increased to 77.77% after combining with the two multiplex PCR methods. Adenovirus and enterovirus were the most common viral etiologies identified (26.5% of cases) and Streptococcus pneumoniae was the leading bacterial etiology (46.4%). The seasonal trend of viral infections in Southern Taiwan was different from Northern Taiwan. There were no differences in demographic data, severity of disease, or hospital stay between single and mixed infections. A similar result was found between nonpneumococcal and pneumococcal infections.
Conclusion: Viral infections were the main etiologies of LRTIs in young children. Multiplex PCR methods are rapid assays that can increase the diagnostic yield rate. Mixed infections do not seem to affect the severity of disease. Early detection may aid clinicians in appropriate decision-making and treatment.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmii.2014.08.029 | DOI Listing |
Nat Genet
January 2025
Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
Genome-wide association studies have identified approximately 200 genetic risk loci for breast cancer, but the causal variants and target genes are mostly unknown. We sought to fine-map all known breast cancer risk loci using genome-wide association study data from 172,737 female breast cancer cases and 242,009 controls of African, Asian and European ancestry. We identified 332 independent association signals for breast cancer risk, including 131 signals not reported previously, and for 50 of them, we narrowed the credible causal variants down to a single variant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhys Rev Lett
December 2024
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.
High-energy nuclear collisions create a quark-gluon plasma, whose initial condition and subsequent expansion vary from event to event, impacting the distribution of the eventwise average transverse momentum [P([p_{T}])]. Disentangling the contributions from fluctuations in the nuclear overlap size (geometrical component) and other sources at a fixed size (intrinsic component) remains a challenge. This problem is addressed by measuring the mean, variance, and skewness of P([p_{T}]) in ^{208}Pb+^{208}Pb and ^{129}Xe+^{129}Xe collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Psychiatry, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan.
This cross-sectional, nationwide, population-based study aimed to elucidate sex differences in psychiatric comorbidities of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) across children, adolescents, and adults. We analyzed data from Taiwan's comprehensive healthcare database, including 112,225 individuals diagnosed with ADHD, categorized by age (0-12, 13-18, ≥18 years) and sex. Psychiatric comorbidities were assessed using ICD-9-CM codes, focusing on age and sex-specific prevalence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Plant Sci
December 2024
Collage of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China.
The diversity of liverworts in China is rich. It is of great significance to study the species distribution pattern of liverworts in China for the protection of liverworts diversity, flora research and biodiversity monitoring. On the basis of records from national and provincial liverwort lists, herbaria and online databases, a dataset of liverwort distributions was created to analyze the geographical distribution patterns of liverwort species diversity in China.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Cancer
January 2025
Department of Medical Research, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan.
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