A Preliminary Qualitative Exploration of the Lived Experiences of Presenteeism Among Taiwanese Nursing Staff.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of presenteeism among Taiwanese nursing staffs.

Background: Presenteeism is a subjective and multifaceted experience, but nurses have rarely been invited to provide their own views of presenteeism.

Methods: A qualitative study based on content analysis was conducted.

Clinical outcomes and cost-utility analysis of GKRS plus TKIs versus TKIs in patients with EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma and brain metastases: a Markov decision model.

Objective: This study focuses on epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated lung adenocarcinoma, known for frequent brain metastasis. It aimed to compare the clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness of combining Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS) with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) (GKRS+TKI group) versus TKIs alone (TKI group) for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed brain metastasis in this condition.

Methods: Study characteristics of the two groups were matched using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW).

FASN inhibition shows the potential for enhancing radiotherapy outcomes by targeting glycolysis, AKT, and ERK pathways in breast cancer.

Purpose: Breast cancer ranks as the most prevalent cancer in women, characterized by heightened fatty acid synthesis and glycolytic activity. Fatty acid synthase (FASN) is prominently expressed in breast cancer cells, regulating fatty acid synthesis, thereby enhancing tumor growth and migration, and leading to radioresistance. This study aims to investigate how FASN inhibition affects cell proliferation, migration, and radioresistance in breast cancer, as well as the mechanisms involved.

Large enhancement of ferroelectric properties of perovskite oxides via nitrogen incorporation.

Perovskite oxides have a wide variety of physical properties that make them promising candidates for versatile technological applications including nonvolatile memory and logic devices. Chemical tuning of those properties has been achieved, to the greatest extent, by cation-site substitution, while anion substitution is much less explored due to the difficulty in synthesizing high-quality, mixed-anion compounds. Here, nitrogen-incorporated BaTiO thin films have been synthesized by reactive pulsed-laser deposition in a nitrogen growth atmosphere.

A comparison of the clinicopathological features and genetic alterations in stage II/III gastric cancer with no recurrence, early recurrence and late recurrence after curative surgery.

Background: Few studies have explored the genetic changes and clinicopathological features of stage II/III gastric cancer (GC) patients with no tumor recurrence, early recurrence, or late recurrence after curative surgery.

Methods: In this study, 376 patients who underwent curative surgery for stage II/III GC were analyzed. The clinical and genetic features of patients with no recurrence, early recurrence (<2 years), and late recurrence (≥2 years) were compared.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells in Humans Exhibit Resistance to Suberoylanilide Hydroxamic Acid (SAHA) Owing to the Diminished Level of Hsa-miR-125a-5p.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) presents an escalating public health challenge globally. However, drug resistance has emerged as a major impediment to successful HCC treatment, limiting the efficacy of curative interventions. Despite numerous investigations into the diverse impacts of hsa-miR-125a-5p on tumor growth across different cancer types, its specific involvement in chemotherapy resistance in HCC remains elusive.

Multifunctional Nanoparticles as Radiosensitizers to Overcome Hypoxia-Associated Resistance in Cancer Radiotherapy.

Hypoxia, a phenomenon that occurs when the oxygen level in tissues is lower than average, is commonly observed in human solid tumors. For oncological treatment, the hypoxic environment often results in radioresistance and chemoresistance. In this study, a new multifunctional oxygen carrier, carboxymethyl hexanoyl chitosan (CHC) nanodroplets decorated with perfluorohexane (PFH) and superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanodroplets (SPIO@PFH-CHC), was developed and investigated.

Pregnancy among thyroid cancer survivors: do thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine matter?

Background: Thyroid cancer primarily affects young women and raises concerns about future fertility due to treatments of thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy. This study investigated the effects of these treatments on pregnancy probability in young female patients post-diagnosis.

Methods: A nationwide, population-based study using data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (2000-2017) examined pregnancy likelihood in women ≤45 years with thyroid cancer.

Gender Different Impacts of Muscle Mass and Adipose Tissue on Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma Undergoing Surgical Resection.

Background & Aims: Body composition is an objective assessment reflecting nutritional status and is highly gender different. Surgical resection, the standard treatment for early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), is an energy-consuming major operation that would affect body composition. However, the impacts of body composition on the post-operative prognosis of HCC are still uncertain.

Potential beneficial impacts of tadalafil on cardiovascular diseases.

Tadalafil is a selective phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitor commonly used for the treatment of erectile dysfunction and benign prostatic hyperplasia. Its mechanism of action involves the inhibition of PDE5, leading to increased levels of nitric oxide and cyclic guanosine monophosphate in the corpus cavernosum, which facilitates smooth muscle relaxation. This article reviews studies using tadalafil in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases and emphasizes its potential advantages in conditions such as pulmonary arterial hypertension, atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, heart failure, stroke, diabetic ulcers, and cardiomyopathy.

Decreasing hepatitis B seroprevalence in pregnant women in Taiwan between 2016 and 2021: a claim-based cohort study.

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen (HBsAg) seroprevalence was high before the national vaccine policy was introduced in Taiwan, indicating significant HBV infection rates. The success of the HBV immunization program and other preventive measures likely led to decreased HBsAg prevalence among pregnant women. This study reports on the HBV seroprevalence among pregnant women in Taiwan from 2016 to 2021, including those potentially affected by the universal hepatitis B vaccination at birth.

Revisiting human language and speech production network: a meta-analytic connectivity modeling study.

In recent decades, converging evidence has reached a consensus that human speech production is carried out by large-scale hierarchical network comprising both language-selective and domain-general systems. However, it remains unclear how these systems interact during speech production and the specific contributions of their component regions. By utilizing a series of meta-analytic approaches based on various language tasks, we dissociated four major systems in this study: domain-general, high-level language, motor-perception, and speech-control systems in this study.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Interactive Robot-Assisted Virtual Health Coaching for Health Literacy and Disease Knowledge of Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease: Quasiexperimental Study.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) imposes a significant global health and economic burden, impacting millions globally. Despite its high prevalence, public awareness and understanding of CKD remain limited, leading to delayed diagnosis and suboptimal management. Traditional patient education methods, such as 1-on-1 verbal instruction or printed brochures, are often insufficient, especially considering the shortage of nursing staff.

Effect of Occupational Noise on Employee Health: A Longitudinal Study.

Objective: This study investigated the long-term health risks associated with occupational noise exposure. By using 9 years of health examination data from a major manufacturing company in Taiwan, this study compared the health indices of employees in noise-intensive and non-noise-intensive work environments.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 6278 health examination reports spanning 9 years was conducted to compare 20 health indices among 166 employees evenly distributed between noise-intensive and non-noise-intensive workgroups.

Selection of the apposite vacuum extractor during operative delivery: A biomechanical study.

Background: Operative delivery is a technique used during vaginal or cesarean birth to facilitate the patient's labor course through the assistance of a vacuum extractor. This method is increasingly used compared with forceps. This study aimed to investigate the forced effects of vacuum extractors comprising vacuum cups with different thicknesses on the fetal head and the vacuum extractor during vacuum-assisted delivery and to determine the optimal thickness for reducing the failure rate and minimizing neonatal and maternal morbidity.

Incidence and influential factors of postoperative pruritus in morphine-based intravenous patient-controlled analgesia.

Background: Pruritus is a distressing symptom of systemic opioid analgesia that responds poorly to conventional antipruritus treatments. This study aimed to determine the incidence and risk factors for postoperative pruritus using intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA).

Methods: Opioid-naïve patients who underwent morphine-based IV-PCA for postoperative pain at a tertiary center between January 1, 2020, and June 30, 2023, were included retrospectively.

StackDILI: Enhancing Drug-Induced Liver Injury Prediction through Stacking Strategy with Effective Molecular Representations.

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a major challenge in drug development, often leading to clinical trial failures and market withdrawals due to liver toxicity. This study presents StackDILI, a computational framework designed to accelerate toxicity assessment by predicting DILI risk. StackDILI integrates multiple molecular descriptors to extract structural and physicochemical features, including the constitution, pharmacophore, MACCS, and E-state descriptors.

The Different Associations Between Dimensions of Daytime Sleepiness and Subjective Well-Being in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: The Yilan Study, Taiwan.

This study aimed to examine the associations between the different constructs of daytime sleepiness and subjective well-being (SWB), and to investigate whether physical disability moderated these associations in community-dwelling older adults. We examined daytime sleepiness using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and SWB was evaluated in terms of self-rated health and happiness. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to determine latent constructs of ESS, yielding two primary factors, which were designated as active and passive factors.

Improving the Thermal Stability of Indium Oxide n-Type Field-Effect Transistors by Enhancing Crystallinity through Ultrahigh-Temperature Rapid Thermal Annealing.

Ultrathin indium oxide films show great potential as channel materials of complementary metal oxide semiconductor back-end-of-line transistors due to their high carrier mobility, smooth surface, and low leakage current. However, it has severe thermal stability problems (unstable and negative threshold voltage shifts at high temperatures). In this paper, we clarified how the improved crystallinity of indium oxide by using ultrahigh-temperature rapid thermal O annealing could reduce donor-like defects and suppress thermal-induced defects, drastically enhancing thermal stability.

The Impact of Body Mass Index and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia on Bone Health of Middle-Aged and Older Men.

Objective: Osteoporosis significantly affects older adults by reducing bone mass and increasing fracture risk, thereby impacting morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between bone mineral density (BMD), body mass index (BMI), and trabecular bone score (TBS) among middle-aged and older men with or without benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted using health examination data from male participants aged 50-98 years collected at a regional hospital in southern Taiwan.

Short-term outcomes after robot-assisted versus open radical cystectomy for bladder cancer in patients with diabetes mellitus: an analysis of the United States Nationwide Inpatient Sample of 2005-2018.

: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with worse surgical outcomes, and is a risk factor for bladder cancer and subsequent oncological outcomes. This study evaluated outcomes robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) compared to open radical cystectomy (ORC) in patients with DM. : Data of adults ≥ 18 years old with DM who underwent radical cystectomy were extracted from the United States National Inpatient Sample database 2005-2018.

Uncovering the Role of in Prostate Cancer: Insights from Genetic and Expression Analyses.

Biochemical recurrence (BCR) is a critical concern in prostate cancer management; however, its underlying genetic determinants remain poorly understood. The () gene family is involved in cellular detoxification and biosynthetic processes and has been implicated in various cancers. This study investigated the association between the family members and prostate cancer recurrence.

Gold nanomaterials capped with bovine serum albumin for cell and extracellular vesicle imaging.

Bovine serum albumin-capped gold nanoclusters (AuNC@BSA) are ionic, ultra-small, and eco-friendly nanomaterials that exhibit red fluorescence emission. Upon modification, these nanomaterials can serve as imaging probes with multimodal functionality. Owing to their nanoscale properties, AuNC@BSA-based nanomaterials can be readily endocytosed by cells for imaging.

Intraovarian platelet-rich plasma injection significantly improves blastocyst yield and quality in IVF patients.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of intraovarian platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection in improving ovarian response and embryo quality in IVF patients with poor embryo quality in previous controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) cycles. 74 patients participated, with 30 in the control group and 44 in the PRP group. PRP was injected during the follicular phase for the PRP group.

Paracentesis exceeding three liters increases risks of acute kidney injury even in cirrhotic patients with albumin infused refractory ascites.

Background: Cirrhotic patients with refractory ascites exhibit severe portal hypertension and hemodynamic disturbances. The risks associated modest-volume paracentesis (<5 L) for refractory ascites remains unclear. We aimed to explore the impact of modest-volume paracentesis in refractory ascites.