Increased risk of subsequent antiphospholipid syndrome in patients with endometriosis.

Background: Although autoimmune abnormalities are common in patients with endometriosis, it is unknown whether patients with endometriosis have a higher risk of developing antiphospholipid syndrome (APS).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study by using the multi-institutional research network TriNetX from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2021. A total of 13 131 782 women aged 20-60 years from networks within the USA were included.

Enhancing Dysarthric Voice Conversion with Fuzzy Expectation Maximization in Diffusion Models for Phoneme Prediction.

Dysarthria, a motor speech disorder caused by neurological damage, significantly hampers speech intelligibility, creating communication barriers for affected individuals. Voice conversion (VC) systems have been developed to address this, yet accurately predicting phonemes in dysarthric speech remains a challenge due to its variability. This study proposes a novel approach that integrates Fuzzy Expectation Maximization (FEM) with diffusion models for enhanced phoneme prediction, aiming to improve the quality of dysarthric voice conversion.

Consensus on COVID-19 vaccine recommendations: Challenges and strategies for high-risk populations in Taiwan.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact globally, particularly in high-risk populations such as those with underlying health conditions. In response to the evolving pandemic landscape and the recent surge in confirmed cases in Taiwan, the Taiwan Association of Family Medicine (TAFM) established a consensus on COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for vulnerable groups through a comprehensive literature review, expert panel discussions, and a practice-oriented formulation procedure to develop evidence-based guidance. Its key findings highlight the increased risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes among individuals with disorders such as diabetes, obesity, chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory illness.

Benefits and drawbacks of radiofrequency ablation percutaneous or minimally invasive surgery for treating hepatocellular carcinoma.

The management of early stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) presents significant challenges. While radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has shown safety and effectiveness in treating HCC, with lower mortality rates and shorter hospital stays, its high recurrence rate remains a significant impediment. Consequently, achieving improved survival solely through RFA is challenging, particularly in retrospective studies with inherent biases.

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.

Risk of all-cause mortality in patients with knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.

Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the risk of all-cause mortality in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Design: Comprehensive searches were conducted in PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library on September 01, 2024. The review included cohort studies reporting risk estimates of all-cause mortality in knee OA patients compared to those without knee OA.

A Rare Case of Dual Primary Supratentorial Glioma and Infratentorial Meningioma.

 Gliomas and meningiomas are two common primary brain tumors, but occurring simultaneously in the same patient is a rare entity. The authors would like to report a case of coexistence of a superior parietal lobule diffuse glioma, IDH-wild type, histologically CNS WHO grade 3 and a left posterior fossa transitional meningioma, WHO grade 1; both the tumors were successfully removed in one-stage operation.  A 68-year-old female having hypertension, who presented to us with the chief complaints of involuntary shaking of her left lower limb associated with her left upper limb tingle, dizziness, and neck soreness.

Clinical Characteristics, Management, and Outcomes of Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer and the Comparison With Sporadic Colorectal Cancer in Taiwan.

Introduction: We explored the clinical characteristics, treatment, and outcomes of colitis-associated colorectal cancer (CAC) and compared with sporadic colorectal cancer in Taiwan.

Methods: In this retrospective study spanning 1987-2022, CACs diagnosed according to endoscopic and pathological reports from 14 tertiary centers were reported to our cohort. Clinical demographics, endoscopic findings, histological results, treatment modalities, and outcomes were analyzed.

The moral distress, protective factors, and resilience: the role of ethical decision-making competence among student nurses.

In previous studies, nursing students have reported experiencing moral distress during practice. However, it is unclear whether student nurses who experience ethical decision-making competence in their clinical internships have a protective effect against moral distress, resilience-protective factors, and resilience. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effects of ethical decision-making competence on moral distress, resilience, and protective factors among nursing students.

Predisposing factors for poor outcomes after intense pulsed light treatment for dry eye disease: A retrospective case-control study.

To evaluate the potential risk factors for poor dry eye disease (DED) outcomes after intense pulse light (IPL) treatment. A retrospective case-control study was conducted, and patients who received IPL were enrolled. A total of 63 eyes were included in the present study after exclusion and were divided into a fair outcome group and a poor outcome group according to posttreatment improvements in DED-related signs and symptoms.

The refractive accuracy between topographic keratometry and biometric keratometry for extended depth-of-focus intraocular lens implantation.

To investigate the influence of different keratometry (K) measurements on the postoperative outcomes of cataract surgery with extended depth-of-focus (EDOF) intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. A retrospective cohort study was conducted, and patients who received cataract surgery and one type of EDOF IOL implantation were included. The patients were then categorized according to K measurements, and 70 and 30 eyes were included in the biometric-K and topographic-K groups, respectively.

Doxorubicin synergizes bortezomib-induced multiple myeloma cell death by inhibiting aggresome formation and augmenting endoplasmic reticulum/Golgi stress and apoptosis.

Background: Bortezomib is a standard treatment for multiple myeloma (MM), working by the accumulation of toxic misfolded proteins in cancer cells. However, a significant clinical challenge arises from the development of resistance to bortezomib in MM treatment. Aggresome, a subcellular structure enclosed within Vimentin, forms in response to proteasome inhibitors and sequesters misfolded proteins that are transported by histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) and Dynein for degradation via autophagy, thereby reducing bortezomib's cytotoxic effects.

Risk Factors for Gout in Taiwan Biobank: A Machine Learning Approach.

Purpose: We assessed the risk of gout in the Taiwan Biobank population by applying various machine learning algorithms. The study aimed to identify crucial risk factors and evaluate the performance of different models in gout prediction.

Patients And Methods: This study analyzed data from 88,210 individuals in the Taiwan Biobank, identifying 19,338 cases of gout and 68,872 controls.