Search

Pulmonary mucormycosis (PM) is a rare, life‐threatening fungal infection usually affecting immunocompromised patients. Its incidence is rising, with a recent outbreak associated with COVID‐19 co‐infection. Amphotericin B along with early surgery are considered the standard treatment. Recurrence has been reported in patients without adequate treatment and without permanent reversal of predisposing factors. We report a case of late recurrence of PM in a renal transplant recipient. In 2012, he was diagnosed with PM. Imaging at the time showed a lingular mass. He was treated with antifungal for 1 year until complete radiological resolution. Surgical intervention was considered but no further follow‐up action was taken. In 2020, he presented with fever and haemoptysis. Imaging again showed a lingular mass, which was confirmed to be PM by bronchoscopic lung biopsy. This case highlights the importance of secondary antifungal prophylaxis for PM if permanent reversal of immunosuppression is not possible., We report the first case of late recurrence of pulmonary mucormycosis (PM) and highlight the importance of secondary antifungal prophylaxis for PM if permanent reversal of immunosuppression is not possible.

As students' sense of school belonging (SOSB) is essential for their psychosocial well-being and academic success, developing precise measures of SOSB is critical for assessing it properly. After an unrelated item was deleted, the SOSB scale showed good psychometric properties, based on Rasch analysis of data from 36,963 students in Grade 4 or Grade 8 from four East Asian societies. While no items showed gender differential item functioning (DIF), two items showed substantial society DIF, and two items showed grade DIF in Japan and South Korea. Concurrent equating created a common measurement scale for the four societies for future comparisons. The multigroup random slope two-level analysis of the concurrent SOSB measures showed that SOSB is higher among girls than boys. From Grade 4 to Grade 8, SOSBs dropped substantially, especially for South Korea, and gender gaps decreased in Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. Hence, studies of interventions to improve SOSB, especially for boys and students in later grades, are vital.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The incidence and disease burden of colorectal cancer (CRC) in young adults were increasing. However, there was a dearth of advice on how to identify young population at risk for neoplastic colonic polyps (NCPs) and CRC. We aimed to identify risk factors for NCPs and CRC in young adults presenting with bloody stool. METHODS A total of 1496 subjects younger than 40 years old who underwent colonoscopy due to bloody stool from 2005 to 2014 were enrolled in this retrospective study as the study group, and 1481 age-matched and gender-matched asymptomatic subjects who underwent colonoscopy for health checkup from 2011 to 2016 were enrolled as the control group at a tertiary center hospital. RESULTS Multivariate analysis results showed that increasing age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.11, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.07-1.15, P 32 years old), higher BMI (> 24.8 kg/m2 ), diabetes mellitus, and positive family history of CRC had a higher detection rate of NCPs and CRC.

There are randomized controlled study data showing that endobronchial one‐way valves (EBV) are useful for bronchoscopic lung volume reduction (BLVR). There is also case series data showing EBV to be effective in stopping persistent air leaks complicating pneumothoraces. We describe a 66‐year‐old man with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who failed assessments for BLVR because of the inability to perform the carbon monoxide diffusion test but subsequently had EBV deployed to his right upper lobe bronchi for persistent air leak complicating a spontaneous pneumothorax. Afterwards, there was subjective improvement in breathlessness, exercise capacity, and reduced frequency of exacerbations requiring hospitalization. Lung function parameters showed marked improvement. This case suggests that patients with compatible spirometric lung volume and computed tomography findings should proceed with BLVR. In addition, one should be aware of the possibility of improved lung function in patients with pulmonary emphysema following implantation of EBV for persistent air leak.

Primary intracranial malignant melanoma is a rare disease, and the imaging findings usually mimic meningioma. Diagnosis is based on histology. Here, we report a case of primary intracranial malignant melanoma in a Chinese patient. A 27-year-old man presented with a 1-month history of headache. Magnetic resonance imaging findings resembled features of a meningioma. Craniotomy with tumour excision was done and confirmed to be S100 and human melanoma black 45-negative primary intracranial malignant melanoma. There was no extracranial involvement. The 9-month follow up was reported. To our knowledge, this is the first reported S100 and human melanoma black 45-negative primary intracranial amelanotic malignant melanoma.

Aim The biologics used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with a catastrophic illness certificate have been free without co-payment since 2003 in Taiwan. The purpose of this study was to explore the trend of health care expenditures and the cost of biologics for the treatment of RA patients between 1999 and 2009. Methods This study used a specially requested nation-wide RA patient claim dataset from National Health Insurance program. We identified all patients by both the primary diagnosis code ICD-9-CM 714.0 and the catastrophic illness certificate for RA. A total of 30 013 patients were recorded in the treated RA cohort from 1999 to 2009.The growth rates before and after introducing biologics were compared and tested. Results We found that from 1999 to 2009 the adjusted incidence rate for RA stably increased. Drug costs accounted for 53.2–70.3% of the total medical cost during the study period. There was a significant increase in biologics cost, climbing rapidly from 2.8% in 2003 to 60.4% of the total drug cost in 2009. The growth rate of outpatient drug costs was much higher after the introduction of biologics (2003–2009), which was 207.8% versus 42.0% as compared to the earlier period (1999–2002). Biologics such as etanercept, adalimumab and rituximab, were the crucial factors responsible for this increase in drug cost. Conclusions The financial impact of adopting new biologics on healthcare costs is a critical issue that needs to be addressed by the National Health Insurance.

Participating in online social, cultural, and political activities requires digital skill and knowledge. This study investigates how sustained student engagement in game design and social media use can attenuate the relations between socioeconomic factors and digital inequality among youth. This study of 242 middle and high school students participating in the Globaloria project shows that participation eliminates gender effects, and reduces parent education effects in home computer use. Further, students from schools with lower parent education show greater increases in frequency of school technology engagement. Globaloria participation also weakens the link between prior school achievement and advanced technology activities. Results offer evidence that school-based digital literacy programs can attenuate digital divide effects known to occur cross-sectionally in the general U.S. population.

A parallel 2D axisymmetric plasma fluid modeling for an inductively coupled plasma source with tetrafluoromethane precursor is reported. In total, 32 species with 96 gas-phase and 27 surface reactions with site-balance equations are considered. The predicted results of major species densities are in reasonable agreement with reported experiments. The etching products, e.g. SiFx and O2, are found to be appreciable (� 10%) compared to the precursor near the substrate. The predicted density trends, such as CFx þ and CFx (x ¼1‐3), are also consistent with reported experiments. Finally, the predicted etching rate on the SiO2 substrate is presented and discussed in detail.

The combination of the tangent analysis method (TAM) and the root of the discriminator equation can easily be used to find the bifurcation start point and to avoid steady-state multiplicity for non-adiabatic reaction systems. However, its limitation is that it can only be applied to the systems, whose orders of characteristic equations are equal to or less than 3. In this paper, we extend the root of the discriminator equation to a fourth order characteristic equation and derive a clear and explicit formula to overcome the flaw of the combined method. An operating strategy to reach a single steady state with a high reaction conversion is proposed. An example of a non-adiabatic agitated batch gas–solid catalytic reactor with a two species-reaction is demonstrated.

The relation of rapid automatised naming (RAN) to word recognition may depend on the phonological regularity of the orthography. This study examined differential contributions of RAN to reading and writing in Korean alphabetic Hangul, logographic Hanja (Chinese) and English as a second language among 73 fifth graders in Korea across 1 year. RAN was differentially associated between reading and writing in Hangul and English. After statistically controlling for age, gender, morphological awareness, vocabulary and phonological awareness, RAN was uniquely predictive of Hangul word writing but not Hangul word recognition, and it uniquely accounted for English word recognition but not English word writing. Meanwhile, RAN explained both reading and writing in Hanja. Findings were discussed in terms of their orthography characteristics and different levels of proficiency.

Valproic acid (VPA) is the primary mood-stabilizing drug to exert neuroprotective effects and to treat bipolar disorder in clinic. Fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1) has been shown to regulate cell proliferation, cell division, and neurogenesis. Human FGF1 gene 1B promoter (-540 to +31)-driven green fluorescence (F1BGFP) has been shown to recapitulate endogenous FGF1 gene expression and facilitates the isolation of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) from developing and adult mouse brains. In this study, we provide several lines of evidence to demonstrate the underlying mechanisms of VPA in activating FGF-1B promoter activity: (i) VPA significantly increased the FGF-1B mRNA expression and the percentage of F1BGFP(+) cells; (ii) the increase of F1BGFP expression by VPA involves changes of regulatory factor X (RFX) 1-3 transcriptional complexes and the increase of histone H3 acetylation on the 18-bp cis-element of FGF-1B promoter; (iii) treatments of other histone deacetylases (HDAC) inhibitors, sodium butyrate and trichostatin A, significantly increased the expression levels of FGF-1B, RFX2, and RFX3 transcripts; (iv) treatments of glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3) inhibitor, lithium, or GSK-3 siRNAs also significantly activated FGF-1B promoter; (v) VPA specifically enhanced neuronal differentiation in F1BGFP(+) embryonic stem cells and NSPCs rather than GFP(-) cells. This study suggested, for the first time, that VPA activates human FGF1 gene promoter through inhibiting HDAC and GSK-3 activities.

The high/low refractive index organic/inorganic antireflective (AR) hybrid polymers were formed using the sol–gel process, in which TiO2/2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (2-HEMA) (high refractive index hybrid polymer) and SiO2/2-HEMA (low refractive index hybrid polymer) two-layer thin films were formed on a hard coating deposited poly(methyl methacrylate) (HC-PMMA) substrate by both spin coating and dip coating. The relationship between the process parameters and the optical properties, thickness, porosity, surface morphology, and adhesion was determined. The results show that the reflectance of the two-layer thin films on HC-PMMA substrate is less than 0.21% (λ = 550 nm), with good adhesion (5B) and a hardness of up to 4H. In addition, the thickness, porosity, and roughness of the films affect refractive index and the antireflection properties of the AR two-layered thin film. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013

Developing reading behaviours in early childhood is essential for later reading comprehension. This study explored how peer buddy reading could potentially support emergent readers’ engagement with reading behaviours. Across 40 buddy-reading events, 14 preschoolers (ages 4.0–5.5 years) produced 1,359 conversation turns, which were coded for a variety of reading behaviours including comprehension, thematic vocabulary use and concepts about print. Using statistical discourse analysis, we examined how children's engagement with reading behaviours was related to their buddies’ engagement with reading behaviours in subsequent conversation turns during buddy-reading events. Findings suggest that some of preschoolers’ reading behaviours, such as literal text representation, inferential text interpretation, character development and comprehension monitoring were related to their buddies’ engagement with reading behaviours; others, such as vocabulary and concepts about print, were not. Implications include that buddy reading can be used to support preschoolers’ engagement with some reading behaviours, such as certain aspects of comprehension.

Aim: This study assessed the effectiveness of blended essential oils on menstrual cramps for outpatients with primary dysmenorrhea and explored the analgesic ingredients in the essential oils. Material and Methods: A randomized, double-blind clinical trial was conducted. Forty-eight outpatients were diagnosed with primary dysmenorrhea by a gynecologist and had 10-point numeric rating scales that were more than 5. The patients were randomly assigned to an essential oil group (n = 24) and a synthetic fragrance group (n = 24). Essential oils blended with lavender (Lavandula officinalis), clary sage (Salvia sclarea) and marjoram (Origanum majorana) in a 2:1:1 ratio was diluted in unscented cream at 3% concentration for the essential oil group. All outpatients used the cream daily to massage their lower abdomen from the end of the last menstruation continuing to the beginning of the next menstruation. Results: Both the numeric rating scale and the verbal rating scale significantly decreased (P

We examine herding behavior of domestic and foreign investors in the Indonesian stock market. We document that both domestic and foreign investors from a particular brokerage firm tend to herd. The foreign investors exhibit a greater propensity to herd than domestic investors. However, when examining investor trading across brokerage firms, we find only weak evidence of herding by domestic investors and no herding by foreign investors. Our overall findings suggest a strong brokerage firm effect on herding but a weak marketwide effect. Moreover, we find evidence that the strong brokerage effect on herding is likely driven by acting on common information.

This study examines how emotional intelligence (EI), personality, and social problem-solving skills were linked to depression and life dissatisfaction in 144 Chinese undergraduate students in Hong Kong. Factor analyses of questionnaire responses yielded 3 separate dimensions of depression (affective, somative, and cognitive). Structural equation modeling showed that EI (self-emotions appraisal and use of emotion) was linked to somatic and cognitive symptoms of depression, after controlling for personality. Also, social problem solving was linked to psychological distress, and moderated its links with personality and EI. These results underscore the differences among the links between the components of EI and of psychological health, and support the possibility of promoting people's psychological health through EI and social problem-solving interventions.

In this study, we prepared nanocomposites comprising multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and polybenzoxazine (PBZ). The MWCNTs were purified through microwave digestion to remove most of the amorphous carbon and metal impurities. After purification, MWCNTs were treated with H2SO4/HNO3 (3 : 1) to introduce hydroxyl and carboxyl groups onto their surfaces. Raman spectroscopy revealed the percentage of nanotube content improved after prolonged microwave treatment, as evidenced by the decrease in the ratio of the D (1328 cm−1) and G (1583 cm−1) bands. For the untreated MWCNTs, the ID/IG ratio was 0.56. After microwave treatment for 40 min, the value decreased to 0.29, indicating that the percentage of nanotube content improved. Dynamic mechanical analyses (DMAs) revealed that the storage moduli and the Tgs of the MWCNTs/PBZ nanocomposites were higher than that of the pristine PBZ. This is due to the nanometer-scale MWCNTs restricting the motion of the macromolecular chains in the nanocomposites. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image revealed that the MWCNTs were well dispersed within the PBZ matrix on the nanoscale when the MWCNT content was less than 2.0 phr. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the nanocomposites decreased on increasing the MWCNTs content. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011

Neurotrophic factors such as the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) promote nerve cell survival and regeneration, but their efficacy in repairing a longer gap defect of rat sciatic nerve (15 mm) has not been established. In this study, two recombinant mammalian vectors containing either rat GDNF gene or BDNF gene were constructed and each was transfected into neural stem cells (NSCs). It was found that the transfection of GDNF or BDNF gene into NSCs led to significantly enhanced expression of GDNF or BDNF mRNA. The amount of GDNF or BDNF protein secreted from the transfected NSCs showed a 3.3-fold or 2.5-fold increase than that from nontransfected NSCs, respectively. The regeneration capacity of rat sciatic nerve in a poly(D,L-lactide) conduit seeded with GDNF or BDNF-transfected NSCs was evaluated by the histology, functional gait, and electrophysiology after 8 weeks of implantation. It was observed that the degree of myelination and the size of regenerated tissue in the conduits seeded with GDNF- and BDNF-transfected NSCs were higher than those seeded with the nontransfected NSCs. Conduits seeded with GDNF-transfected NSCs had the greatest number of blood vessels. The functional recovery assessed by the functional gait and electrophysiology was significantly improved for conduits seeded with GDNF or BDNF-transfected NSCs. It was concluded that the genetically modified NSCs may have potential applications in promoting nerve regeneration and functional recovery.

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is associated with an inflammatory response in the gastric mucosa, leading to chronic gastritis, peptic ulcers, and gastric cancer. Increased T-cell infiltration is found at sites of H. pylori infection. The CCR6+ subset of CD4+ regulatory T cells (Tregs), a newly characterized subset of Tregs, has been reported to contribute to local immune inhibition. However, whether CCR6+ Tregs are present in H. pylori gastritis, and what their relationship is to disease prognosis, remains to be elucidated. In this study, gastric infiltrating lymphocytes were isolated from endoscopic biopsy specimens of H. pylori gastritis patients and analyzed. We found that in gastric infiltrating lymphocytes, CCR6+ CD4+ CD25high Tregs, which express high levels of CD45RO, are positively associated with more severe inflammation in gastric mucosa during H. pylori infection. Furthermore, the frequency of CCR6+ Tregs in gastric infiltrating lymphocytes, but not CCR6- Tregs, is significantly increased in inflamed gastric tissues, which is inversely correlated with significantly lower expression of IFN-γ+ CD8+ T cells. We also found that the frequency of CCR6+ Tregs is positively correlated with the frequency of CD4+ IFN-γ+ T cells. In addition, the frequency of CCR6+ Tregs, but not that of CCR6- Tregs, is significantly correlated with increased inflammation in H. pylori gastritis. This study demonstrates that immunosuppression in H. pylori gastritis might be related to the activity of CCR6+ Tregs, which could influence disease prognosis.

It is well known that the Routh stability criterion (RSC) is a powerful method for analyzing control system stability. A new RSC finding that can aid the tangent analysis method (TAM) to determine the necessary conditions for multiplicity is presented. Adding RSC to TAM can find the bifurcation start point which cannot be obtained using TAM alone. To the author's knowledge, the above new RSC application has not been discussed in past literatures. Our results are helpful for chemical reactor design. We used two examples of the binary reaction in a non-adiabatic CSTR to demonstrate the merit of our methods. Il est bien connu que le critere de stabilite de Routh (RSC) est une methode puissante pour l'analyse de la stabilite des systemes de controle. On presente un nouveau resultat de RSC pouvant aider la methode d'analyse des tangentes (TAM) a determiner les conditions necessaires pour la multiplicite. L'ajout de RSC a TAM permet de trouver le point de depart de la bifurcation qui ne peut pas etre obtenu uniquement avec TAM. A la connaissance de l'auteur, cette nouvelle application RSC n'a pas ete examinee dans la litterature scientifique anterieure. Nos resultats sont utiles pour la conception des reacteurs chimiques. Nous utilisons deux exemples de reaction binaire dans un CSTR non adiabatique pour demontrer le merite de nos methodes.

Fabrication process was successfully used to embed carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in a polylactic acid (PLA) matrix, forming a composite nanostructure. For the composites, nanoindentation is often used to characterize their mechanical properties (e.g., hardness and Young's moduli). In this experiment, the varied concentrations of CNTs in PLA were analyzed in their mechanical perform- ance. The distribution and conformation of CNTs in the PLA were studied by X-ray diffraction. Then, electrical characterization was performed by four-probe method. Thermal properties were checked by TGA and DSC. Fur- thermore, the CNTs/PLA nanocomposites were observed by SEM. According to the experimental result, purified CNTs showed better dispersing and properties in the CNTs PLA nanocomposites. 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 108: 3024-3030, 2008

Summary Ex vivo expansion of haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in cytokine combinations is effective in promoting differentiation and proliferation of multilineage progenitor cells, but often results in reduction of self-renewable stem cells. This study investigated the effect of a mannose-binding lectin, NTL, purified from Narcissus tazetta var. chinensis, on prolonged maintenance and expansion of cord blood CD34+ cells. Our results showed that the presence of NTL or Flt-3 ligand (FL) significantly preserved a population of early stem/progenitor cells in a serum- and cytokine-free culture for 35 d. The effect of NTL on the ex vivo expansion of CD34+ cells in the presence of stem cell factor, thrombopoietin (TPO) and FL was also investigated. NTL-enhanced expansion of early progenitors (CD34+, CD34+CD38−, mixed colony-forming units and CFU-GEMM) and committed progenitor cells (granulocyte CFU, erythroid burst-forming units/CFU and megakayocyte CFU) after 8 and 12 d of culture. Six weeks after transplanting 12 d-expanded cells to non-obese diabetic severe combined immunodeficient mice, increased engraftment of human CD45+ cells was observed in the bone marrow of animals that received NTL-treated cells. The dual functions of NTL on long-term preservation and expansion of early stem/multilineage progenitor cells could be developed for applications in various cell therapy strategies, such as the clinical expansion of CD34+ cells for transplantation.

The reduction of selenious ions to its elemental state has been found to be a function of selenious ion concentration, solution acidity, gas flow rate and temperature. The rate equation can be written as: where α = −1/2, β = 1, γ = 0.9, E = −53 411 kJ kg−1mol−1, R = 8314 kJ kg−1 mol−1 K−1 and k0 = 194. The reaction temperature starts to decrease when the conversion rate reaches a maximum. This observation can be used to determine the end of the reaction.