Determinants of quality of life in frontline healthcare providers caring for COVID-19 patients.

Aims And Objectives: To investigate the factors affecting quality of life in healthcare providers who care for patients with COVID-19.

Background: Healthcare providers caring for COVID-19 patients during the pandemic suffered a deterioration in their quality of life. Several studies have explored their psychological impact of working with COVID patients, but none have examined the causes of this deterioration.

Nasogastric tube decompression is unnecessary in patients undergoing laparoscopic nephroureterectomy for localized upper tract urothelial carcinoma.

Background/purpose: This study investigates the safety and feasibility to perform laparoscopic nephroureterectomy (LNU) for upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) without routine nasogastric tube (NGT) decompression.

Methods: The hospital-based samples comprised of 100 consecutive UTUC patients receiving elective LNU performed by two experienced surgeons. The nationwide data was based on LHID2005 composed of one million beneficiaries randomly selected from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database to identify patients with the diagnoses of UTUCs receiving LNUs.

Risk of Uveitis Among People With Psoriasis: A Nationwide Cohort Study.

Importance: Uveitis has been associated with psoriatic arthritis, but to our knowledge, the relationship between uveitis and psoriasis is unsettled among researchers.

Objective: To evaluate the risk of incident uveitis among people with psoriasis.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This nationwide, retrospective cohort study conducted in Taiwan from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2012 included 147 954 people with psoriasis (including 10 107 with concomitant psoriatic arthritis and 137 847 without psoriatic arthritis) and 147 954 nonpsoriatic controls.

Stress, Sleep and Depressive Symptoms in Active Duty Military Personnel.

Background: The military is a unique occupational group and, because of this, military personnel face different kinds of stress than civilian populations. Sleep problems are an example. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between sleep problems, depression level and coping strategies among military personnel.

Factors Determining Physical and Mental Quality of Life of Living Kidney Donors in Taiwan.

Background: Living-donor kidney transplantation has a positive influence on recipients' life expectancy and improves quality of life for patients with end-stage renal disease compared with dialysis patients. Evaluation of the physical and mental quality of life for donors can promote positive perceptions about donation and help potential donors in their decision-making process. The aim of this study was to explore the predictive factors of quality of life for living kidney donors.

Therapeutic Effects of Procainamide on Endotoxin-Induced Rhabdomyolysis in Rats.

Overt systemic inflammatory response is a predisposing mechanism for infection-induced skeletal muscle damage and rhabdomyolysis. Aberrant DNA methylation plays a crucial role in the pathophysiology of excessive inflammatory response. The antiarrhythmic drug procainamide is a non-nucleoside inhibitor of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) used to alleviate DNA hypermethylation.

Scoliosis and the Subsequent Risk of Depression: A Nationwide Population-based Cohort Study in Taiwan.

Study Design: A retrospective cohort study by using the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD).

Objective: The purpose of this study is to conduct a large-scale cohort study to investigate the relationship between scoliosis and depression.

Summary Of Background Data: The association between scoliosis and depression has rarely been studied in Asian populations.

Peripheral arterial disease and atrial fibrillation and risk of stroke, heart failure hospitalization and cardiovascular death: A nationwide cohort study.

Background: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and atrial fibrillation (AF) share several comorbidities and contribute to similar cardiovascular (CV) outcomes. Only few studies have evaluated the correlation between PAD, AF, and their interaction effects on CV outcomes.

Methods: We included 597,164 adults from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database to conduct a cohort study to assess whether PAD was an independent risk factor of AF and vice versa.

The relationship between anthropometric indicators and walking distance in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Exercise intolerance is a major issue affecting many people with COPD. Six-minute walking distance (6MWD) is a widely used indicator of exercise capacity in patients with COPD. The process is strenuous and time-consuming, especially for patients who have muscle wasting.

Associations of prognostic awareness/acceptance with psychological distress, existential suffering, and quality of life in terminally ill cancer patients' last year of life.

Purpose: Whether prognostic awareness benefits terminally ill cancer patients' psychological-existential well-being and quality of life (QOL) is unclear because of lack of well-controlled longitudinal studies. This study longitudinally evaluated the associations of accurate prognostic awareness and prognostic acceptance with psychological distress, existential suffering, and QOL while comprehensively controlling for confounders in Taiwanese terminally ill cancer patients' last year of life.

Patients And Methods: A convenience sample of 325 cancer patients was followed until death.

Distinct Patterns of Wnt3a and Wnt5a Signaling Pathway in the Lung from Rats with Endotoxic Shock.

Septic shock is a syndrome with severe hypotension and multiple organ dysfunction caused by an imbalance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory response. The most common risk factor of acute lung injury is severe sepsis. Patients with sepsis-related acute respiratory distress syndrome have higher mortality.

How Does Culture Shape Roles and Relationships in Taiwanese Family Caregiving for an Adolescent With Cancer?

Background: Chinese culture plays a significant part in how Taiwanese families view life events. Caregivers envisage themselves as guardians of their children in all facets of family life, including wellness and strive to maintain harmonious relationships within the family. However, it remains unclear what impact caring for an adolescent with cancer has on family roles and relationships in Taiwanese families, nor are the processes for managing change in family roles and relationships associated with caregiving well understood.

Risk of incident chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease in patients with psoriasis: A nationwide population-based cohort study.

Background: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory dermatosis that has been associated with various cardiovascular and metabolic comorbidities, including myocardial infarction, stroke, and diabetes mellitus. Recently, there are studies reporting the association of psoriasis with renal diseases.

Objective: To evaluate the risk of incident chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in people with psoriasis.

Protein kinase C-dependent growth-associated protein 43 phosphorylation regulates gephyrin aggregation at developing GABAergic synapses.

Growth-associated protein 43 (GAP43) is known to regulate axon growth, but whether it also plays a role in synaptogenesis remains unclear. Here, we found that GAP43 regulates the aggregation of gephyrin, a pivotal protein for clustering postsynaptic GABA(A) receptors (GABA(A)Rs), in developing cortical neurons. Pharmacological blockade of either protein kinase C (PKC) or neuronal activity increased both GAP43-gephyrin association and gephyrin misfolding-induced aggregation, suggesting the importance of PKC-dependent regulation of GABAergic synapses.

The dopamine transporter gene may not contribute to susceptibility and the specific personality traits of amphetamine dependence.

Background: A substantial amount of evidence suggests that dysfunction of the dopamine transporter may be involved in the pathophysiology of amphetamine dependence (AD). The aim of this study was to examine whether the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1, SLC6A3) is associated with development of AD and whether this gene influences personality traits in patients with AD.

Methods: Eighteen polymorphisms of the DAT1 gene were analyzed in a case-control study that included 909 Han Chinese men (568 patients with AD and 341 control subjects).

[Saying goodbye to the newborn: the unease and actions of nursing professionals in handling stillbirth care].

Background: Facing the death of newborns is an inescapable part of the professional responsibilities of delivery room nurses. The meaning of the inner conflict of these nurses and their nursing experience in handling newborn death is poorly addressed in nursing practice.

Purpose: This research explores the stillbirth care experiences of delivery room nurses.

Randomized trial of a secondhand smoke exposure reduction intervention among hospital-based pregnant women.

Objective: This study sought to assess the effectiveness of a secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) prevention program based on an expanded Health Belief Model (HBM) incorporating self-efficacy among pregnant women in a hospital setting in Taiwan.

Methodology: This study utilized a two-group longitudinal randomized controlled trial design. Participants in the intervention group (n=50) enrolled in a SHS prevention program based on the HBM, while participants in the comparison group (n=50) received standard government-mandated counseling care.

Levosimendan attenuates multiple organ injury and improves survival in peritonitis-induced septic shock: studies in a rat model.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of levosimendan on rodent septic shock induced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP).

Methods: Three hours after peritonitis-induced sepsis, male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to receive an intravenous infusion of levosimendan (1.2 μg/kg/min for 10 min and then 0.

Adjuvant potential of selegiline in attenuating organ dysfunction in septic rats with peritonitis.

Selegiline, an anti-Parkinson drug, has antioxidant and anti-apoptotic effects. To explore the effect of selegiline on sepsis, we used a clinically relevant animal model of polymicrobial sepsis. Cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) or sham operation was performed in male rats under anesthesia.

Identification and characterization of novel associations in the CASP8/ALS2CR12 region on chromosome 2 with breast cancer risk.

Previous studies have suggested that polymorphisms in CASP8 on chromosome 2 are associated with breast cancer risk. To clarify the role of CASP8 in breast cancer susceptibility, we carried out dense genotyping of this region in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC). Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spanning a 1 Mb region around CASP8 were genotyped in 46 450 breast cancer cases and 42 600 controls of European origin from 41 studies participating in the BCAC as part of a custom genotyping array experiment (iCOGS).

Reactive heart rate variability in male patients with first-episode major depressive disorder.

Objective: The association between cardiovascular reactivity and major depressive disorder (MDD) remains unclear. This study aimed to examine this association via reactive heart rate variability (HRV) in a well-diagnosed first-episode MDD group and a control group.

Methods: A total of 160 physically healthy, drug-naive patients presenting with their first-episode MDD and 50 healthy controls were recruited.

A Chinese herbal medicine, jia-wei-xiao-yao-san, prevents dimethylnitrosamine-induced hepatic fibrosis in rats.

Jia-wei-xiao-yao-san (JWXYS) is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine that is widely used to treat neuropsychological disorders. Only a few of the hepatoprotective effects of JWXYS have been studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the hepatoprotective effects of JWXYS on dimethylnitrosamine- (DMN-) induced chronic hepatitis and hepatic fibrosis in rats and to clarify the mechanism through which JWXYS exerts these effects.

Perivascular adipose tissue inhibits endothelial function of rat aortas via caveolin-1.

Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT)-derived factors have been proposed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Caveolin-1 (Cav-1), occupying the calcium/calmodulin binding site of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) and then inhibiting nitric oxide (NO) production, is also involved in the development of atherosclerosis. Thus, we investigated whether PVAT regulated vascular tone via Cav-1 and/or endothelial NO pathways.