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Clin Microbiol Infect 2010; 16: 663–670 The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of the influenza vaccine among cancer patients in Taiwan. We determined the effect of immunization on the following outcomes of disease: hospitalizations, emergency department visits, hospital outpatient visits, physician office visits, and deaths. Cost-effectiveness was analysed from the perspectives of the healthcare system and society. A decision tree was used, with estimates of disease burden and costs based on data from published and unpublished sources. The model followed 34 112 cancer patients aged 20–64 years who were registered by the Taiwan National Cancer Registry in 2002. An influenza immunization programme for the cancer population would prevent 2555 cases of all types of influenza infection, 660 of which would be serious cases involving hospitalization, emergency department visits and death. From the perspective of the healthcare system, the programme would cost US$7.7 million, providing net savings of US$5.4 million. From a societal perspective, the programme would cost US$28.6 million, providing net savings of US$22.3 million. This corresponds to savings of US$2107 and US$6338 per case averted, from healthcare and societal perspectives, respectively, as well as 110 lives saved. Lesser disease burden, greater vaccine efficacy and lower cost of hospitalizations increased cost-effectiveness. Influenza immunization for cancer patients is cost-saving and cost-effective from a healthcare and societal perspective in Taiwan. We highly recommend annual influenza vaccinations for this patient group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies/article-withdrawal). < This article has been retracted at the request of the Co-Editor-in-Chief after a complaint was registered on the PubPeer webpage (https://pubpeer.com/publications/2460573E8B5707B48D70D73FF31E54). The article duplicates images from a figure, with a 90o rotation, from a paper that had already appeared in PLoS ONE (2015), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0143438 , also two panels in Fig 4C seem to be the same image. Several requests to the authors to resolve this went unanswered. One of the conditions of submission of a paper for publication is that authors declare explicitly that the paper has not been previously published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Re-use of any data should be appropriately cited. As such this article represents a misuse of the scientific publishing system. The scientific community takes a very strong view on this matter and apologies are offered to readers of the journal that this was not detected during the submission process.> [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clin Microbiol Infect 2010; 16: 761–763 An epidemiological investigation with Legionella and molecular subtyping was conducted to determine the source of a case of nosocomial Legionnaires’ disease (LD) who was hospitalized in three hospitals within a month. Legionella pneumophila serogroup 3, an uncommon serogroup for infection, was isolated from the patient’s sputum. Environmental surveillance revealed Legionella colonization in all three hospitals; the patient isolate matched the isolate from the first hospital by molecular typing. Culturing the hospital water supply for Legionella is a pro-active strategy for detection of nosocomial LD even in hospitals experiencing no previous cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This study evaluated customer attitudes, perceptions, and utilisation of a traffic-light food labelling (TFL) programme before and after the TFL was implemented in a worksite canteen in Taiwan. Study design A one-arm intervention was implemented in the canteen and buffet of a research park in Taiwan. Phase 1 consisted of dissemination of information regarding the TFL, targeting the customers (June–July, 2014); phase 2 consisted of implementation of the TFL in the buffet starting in August 2014. The TFL included red, yellow and green labels, indicating ‘unhealthy/stop’, ‘moderately unhealthy/wait’ and ‘healthy/go’, respectively. Methods The evaluation was based on two independent anonymous surveys in July 2014 (in phase 1) and April 2015 (in phase 2). Customers were invited to take a survey regarding the TFL programme, the food environment in the canteen, and their lunch choices. Logistic regression models examined the changes in customers' attention and attitudes towards the labelling and their food choices between the two surveys. Results The customers reported positive attitudes towards the TFL. The proportion of customers who reported choosing foods based on the recommendations increased from 38% to 50% (P < 0.01). The proportion of the buffet customers who chose green-light entrées and red-light entrées changed from 13% and 63% to 36% and 21%, respectively (P < 0.001). The availability of green-light entrées in the buffet increased as well. Conclusions This first report of a TFL intervention in an Asian worksite suggests that TFL is acceptable and well understood by this population and may assist customers in choosing healthier items when healthier choices are available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumor vessels are known to be abnormal, with typically aberrant, leaky and disordered vessels. Here, we investigated whether polarized macrophage phenotypes are involved in tumor abnormal angiogenesis and what is its mechanism. We found that there was no difference in chemotaxis of polarized M1 and M2 macrophages to lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells and that either M1 or M2 macrophage-conditioned media had no effect on LLC cell proliferation. Unexpectedly, the M2 but not M1 macrophage-conditioned media promoted the proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and simultaneously increased endothelial cell permeability in vitro and angiogenic index in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). The treatment with M2 but not M1 macrophage-conditioned media increased autophagosomes as well as microtubule-associated protein light chain 3B (LC3-B) expression (a robust marker of autophagosomes) but decreased p62 protein expression (a selective autophagy substrate) in HUVECs, the treatment with chloroquine that blocked autophagy abrogated the abnormal angiogenic efficacy of M2 macrophage-conditioned media. These results were confirmed in urethane-induced lung carcinogenic progression. Urethane-induced lung carcinogenesis led to more M2 macrophage phenotype and increased abnormal angiogenesis concomitant with the upregulation of LC3-B and the downregulation of p62. Clodronate liposome-induced macrophage depletion, chloroquine-induced autophagic prevention or salvianolic acid B-induced vascular protection decreased abnormal angiogenesis and lung carcinogenesis. In addition, we found that the tendency of age-related M2 macrophage polarization also promoted vascular permeability and carcinogenesis in urethane carcinogenic progression. These findings indicate that the M2 macrophages induce autophagic vascular disorder to promote lung cancer progression, and the autophagy improvement represents an efficacious strategy for abnormal angiogenesis and cancer prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resistance mutations A2058G and A2059G, within the 23S rRNA gene of Treponema pallidum, have been reported to cause treatment failures in patients receiving azithromycin for syphilis. Genotyping of T. pallidum strains sequentially isolated from patients with recurrent syphilis is rarely performed. From September 2009 to August 2013, we collected 658 clinical specimens from 375 patients who presented with syphilis for genotyping to examine the number of 60-bp repeats in the acidic repeat protein ( arp) gene, T. pallidum repeat ( tpr) polymorphism, and tp0548 gene, and to detect A2058G and A2059G point mutations by restriction fragment length polymorphism. Treponemal DNA was identified in 45.2% ( n = 298) of the specimens that were collected from 216 (57.6%) patients; 268 (40.7%) specimens tested positive for the 23S rRNA gene, and were examined for macrolide resistance. Two isolates (0.7%) harboured the A2058G mutation, and no A2059G mutation was identified. A total of 14 strains of T. pallidum were identified, with 14f/f (57.5%) and 14b/c (10.0%) being the two predominant strains. Forty patients who presented with recurrent episodes of syphilis had T. pallidum DNA identified from the initial and subsequent episodes, with five cases showing strain discrepancies. One patient had two strains identified from different clinical specimens collected in the same episode. Our findings show that 14f/f is the most common T. pallidum strain in Taiwan, where the prevalence of T. pallidum strains that show A2058G or A2059G mutation remains low. Different genotypes of T. pallidum can be identified in patients with recurrent episodes of syphilis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computational methods for predicting compounds of specific pharmacodynamic and ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity) property are useful for facilitating drug discovery and evaluation. Recently, machine learning methods such as neural networks and support vector machines have been explored for predicting inhibitors, antagonists, blockers, agonists, activators and substrates of proteins related to specific therapeutic and ADMET property. These methods are particularly useful for compounds of diverse structures to complement QSAR methods, and for cases of unavailable receptor 3D structure to complement structure-based methods. A number of studies have demonstrated the potential of these methods for predicting such compounds as substrates of P-glycoprotein and cytochrome P450 CYP isoenzymes, inhibitors of protein kinases and CYP isoenzymes, and agonists of serotonin receptor and estrogen receptor. This article is intended to review the strategies, current progresses and underlying difficulties in using machine learning methods for predicting these protein binders and as potential virtual screening tools. Algorithms for proper representation of the structural and physicochemical properties of compounds are also evaluated. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 96: 2838–2860, 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This retrospective study investigated the clinical significance and impact of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia bacteraemia in 49 haematology and oncology patients at a tertiary referral medical centre in Taipei between July 1999 and December 2003. Sixteen patients had 24 episodes of central venous catheter (CVC)-related bacteraemia, with the main clinical characteristics being a nosocomial bacteraemia (100%), preceding antibiotic therapy (94%), bacteraemia developed in a general ward (87%), immunosuppressive therapy (75%), in-situ CVC-related bacteraemia (75%), and neutropenia (63%). Only four (25%) patients had inflammatory signs at the CVC site following diagnosis of bacteraemia. Five patients had recurrent bacteraemia, with risk-factors being long-lasting (>10 days) neutropenia (p 0.036) and an initial failure to remove the CVC (p 0.001). These cases did not involve re-infection, as the same S. maltophilia strain was identified following random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis of the initial and subsequent isolates. However, relapses could occur after long latency periods (maximum, 200 days). Most patients were cured after removal of the CVC, even without appropriate antibiotic treatment. Physicians should have a high index of suspicion for CVC-related bacteraemia with haematology and oncology patients with CVCs and S. maltophilia bacteraemia. In addition to appropriate antibiotic therapy, removal of the CVC is crucial for successful treatment of CVC-related S. maltophilia bacteraemia and prevention of relapses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Data mining from a published transcriptome of urinary bladder urothelial carcinomas (GSE32894), PTP4A3 was identified as the most significantly upregulated gene among those related to prenylated protein tyrosine phosphatase activity (GO: 0004727). We therefore analysed PTP4A3 transcript and protein expression and their clinicopathological and prognostic significance in our well-characterised cohort of urothelial carcinomas. Methods: PTP4A3 transcript level was assessed in 23 samples of urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder with laser capture microdissection coupled with real-time qRT-PCR. PTP4A3 protein expression was determined by immunohistochemistry and evaluated by using H-score in 296 urinary bladder urothelial carcinomas and 340 upper urinary tract urothelial carcinomas, respectively. Both transcript and protein expression statuses were further correlated with clinicopathological features and protein expression was tested for disease-specific survival (DSS) and metastasis-free survival (MeFS). Findings: PTP4A3 transcripts were markedly upregulated in deeply invasive urothelial carcinomas (p<0.001). For both urinary tract and urinary bladder urothelial carcinomas, PTP4A3 protein overexpression was significantly associated with advanced pT status (both p<0.001), nodal metastasis (both p<0.001), and vascular invasion (both p<0.001). PTP4A3 overexpression not only predicted worse DSS (both p<0.0001) and MeFS (upper urinary tract, p<0.0001; urinary bladder, p=0.0005) at univariate analysis, but also inferior DSS (upper urinary tract, p=0.001; urinary bladder, p<0.001) and MeFS (upper urinary tract, p=0.001; urinary bladder, p=0.007) in multivariate analysis. Interpretation: PTP4A3 overexpression is an independent prognosticator for urothelial carcinoma, suggesting its potential prognostic and therapeutic value in urothelial carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Through data mining of a published transcriptomic database of urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder (GSE32894), colony stimulating factor 2 (CSF2) was identified as the most significant gene showing stepwise upregulation related to positive regulation of tyrosine phosphorylation of STAT5 (GO:0042523). We therefore analysed CSF2 transcript and protein expression and their association with clinicopathological factors and survival in our well-characterised cohort of urothelial carcinomas. Methods: Laser capture microdissection coupled with real-time qRT-PCR was used to detect CSF2 transcript level in 24 urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder and six non-tumour urothelium samples. Immunohistochemistry evaluated by using H-score was used to determine CSF2 protein expression in 296 urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder and 340 urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract. Protein expression was correlated with clinicopathological features and disease-specific survival (DSS) and metastasis-free survival (MeFS). Findings: CSF2 transcripts were detected exclusively in tumour lesions (p=0.010) with stepwise upregulation. CSF2 protein overexpression was significantly associated with advanced pT status (urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract, p=0.011; urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder, p<0.001), and perineural invasion (urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract, p=0.002; urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder, p= 0.001) in both groups of urothelial carcinoma. CSF2 overexpression not only predicted worse DSS (urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract, p=0.0001; urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder, p<0.0001) and MeFS (urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract, p=0.0001; urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder, p=0.0002) at univariate analysis, but also inferior DSS (urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract, p=0.015; urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder, p=0.004) and MeFS (urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract, p=0.008; urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder, p=0.027) in multivariate analysis. Interpretation: CSF2 overexpression is associated with advanced clinical features for both patients with urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract and urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder, suggesting it may serve as a potential prognostic and a novel therapeutic target of urothelial carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Through data mining from a published transcriptomic database of urinary bladder urothelial carcinomas (GSE32894), MMP11 was identified as the most significant gene showing stepwise upregulation among those associated with the regulation of metalloendopeptidase activity. We therefore analysed MMP11 protein expression and its association with clinicopathological factors and survival in our well-characterised cohort of urothelial cancers. Methods: Immunohistochemistry evaluated by using H-score was used to determine MMP11 protein expression in 295 urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder and 340 urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract, respectively. The medical records of these patients were reviewed retrospectively. The MMP11 expression status was further correlated with clinicopathological features as well as disease-specific survival (DSS) and metastasis-free survival (MeFS). Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were performed to evaluate the prognostic predictors. Findings: MMP11 protein overexpression was significantly associated with advanced pT status (upper urinary tract, p< 0.001; urinary bladder, p<0.001), nodal metastasis (upper urinary tract, p<0.001; urinary bladder, p=0.012), vascular invasion (upper urinary tract, p<0.001; urinary bladder, p<0.001), and perineural invasion (upper urinary tract, p=0.002; urinary bladder, p=0.006) in both groups of urothelial carcinomas. MMP11 overexpression not only predicted worse DSS (upper urinary tract, p<0.0001; urinary bladder, p<0.0001) and MeFS (upper urinary tract, p<0.0001; urinary bladder, p<0.0001) at univariate analysis, but also inferior DSS (upper urinary tract, p=0.005; urinary bladder, p=0.010) and MeFS (upper urinary tract, p=0.018; urinary bladder, p=0.026) in multivariate analysis. Interpretation: MMP11 overexpression is associated with more aggressive tumour phenotype and poor prognosis for patients with urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract and urinary bladder, suggesting it may serve as a potential prognostic and a novel therapeutic target of urothelial carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4), also known as CD26, is an enzyme that cleaves a diversity of protein that contains proline or analine, including chemokines, growth factors, and neuropeptide. Different DPP4 expression status has been observed in malignant tumours, including colon, renal, and ovarian carcinoma. Data mining of the published dataset (GSE31684) identified that DPP4 is significantly upregulated in urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder. We therefore analysed the association of DPP4 expression and outcome in our well-characterised cohort of urothelial carcinoma. Methods: Laser capture microdissection coupled with real-time qRT-PCR was used to evaluate DPP4 transcript level in 20 urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder. DPP4 immunostaining was done on 340 cases of urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract and 295 cases of urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder. The expression status of DPP4 was then correlated with various clincopathological factors, disease-specific survival (DSS), and metastasis-free survival (MeFS). Findings: DPP4 mRNA expression was significantly increased in urothelial carcinomas with higher pT status (p<0.001). In both groups of urothelial carcinomas, increment of DPP4 immunoexpression was significantly associated with advanced pT stage (both p<0.001), high histological grade (urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract, p=0.019), lymph node metastasis (urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract, p<0.001; urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder, p=0.033), vascular invasion (both p<0.001), perineurial invasion (urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder, p=0.021) and frequent mitosis (urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract, p=0.003). DPP4 overexpression independently predicted poor DSS (urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract, p=0.028; urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder, p<0.0001) and MeFS (urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract, p=0.031; urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder, p<0.0001) in both groups of patients. Interpretation: Our study shows that overexpression of DPP4 is significantly associated with aggressive tumour behaviour and poor outcome. DPP4 may have an important role in tumorigenesis of urothelial carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Alpha-methylacyl CoA racemase (AMACR) is essential for catabolism of branched-chain fatty acids, allowing their subsequent β-oxidation to generate energy. However, its significance has not been assessed in urothelial carcinoma. We therefore analysed the clinicopathological and biological significance of AMACR expression in urothelial carcinoma. Methods: Laser capture microdissection coupled with real-time qRT-PCR was used to detect AMACR transcript level in 22 urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder. Immunohistochemistry evaluated by using H-score was used to determine AMACR protein expression in 295 urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder and 340 urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract. mRNA and protein expression were correlated with clinicopathological features. AMACR protein expression was further evaluated for associations with disease-specific survival (DSS) and metastasis-free survival (MeFS). In vitro, AMACR overexpressing urothelial carcinoma cell lines (BFTC905 and RTCC-1) were evaluated for its biological function using RNA interference. Findings: Increments of AMACR transcript level was associated with higher pT status (p=0.017). AMACR protein overexpression was significantly associated with advanced pT status (both p<0.001), nodal metastasis (both p≼0.001), high histological grade (both p≼0.001), vascular invasion (urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract, p<0.001; urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder, p=0.003), frequent mitoses (urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract, p=0.007; urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder, p<0.001) in both groups of urothelial carcinomas. AMACR overexpression not only predicted worse DSS and MeFS at univariate analysis, but was also associated with inferior DSS (urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract, p=0.025; urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder, p=0.001) and MeFS (urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract, p=0.028; urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder, p=0.019) in multivariate analysis. In both urothelial carcinoma cell lines, stable AMACR knockdown resulted in impaired cell proliferation, as well as migration/invasion capabilities. Interpretation: AMACR overexpression is associated with advanced clinical features for patients with urothelial carcinoma and may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker and a novel therapeutic target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]