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This randomized controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of a 3‐month‐long Chan‐Chuang qigong program on patients' physical performance and quality of life while excluding the influence caused by the progression of their cognitive impairment. Patients with mild to moderate cognitive impairment were recruited from two dementia daycare centers in Taiwan. The control group (n = 41) received the standardized plan of treatment, and the qigong group (n = 39) received the standardized plan of treatment plus the Chan‐Chuang qigong program. The outcomes were muscle strength, muscle endurance, exercise capacity, and quality of life. After controlling for the progression of cognitive impairment, the qigong group showed significant improvements over the control group and baseline in muscle strength and exercise capacity at Months 2 and 3 (p < 0.05) and in muscle endurance at Months 1, 2, and 3 (p < 0.05). The Cognitron test scores were significantly associated with muscle strength (p = 0.03), whereas the Corsi block‐tapping test scores were significantly associated with exercise capacity (p = 0.001). Furthermore, a significant between‐group difference was detected in the physical (p = 0.01), not mental (p = 0.83), component of quality of life. The 3‐month Chan‐Chuang qigong program can be applied for patients with mild to moderate cognitive impairment as complementary therapy to improve their muscle strength, muscle endurance, exercise capacity, and physical quality of life. This program should be practiced for at least 2 months to achieve satisfactory results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a 16-year survey on mortality from uveal melanoma treated by enucleation in Taiwan. The study shows that at a median of 5.0 months, all patients with metastasis died after detection of dissemination. Moreover, it cites that the survival rate at 3 years after enucleation was 68% and 53% at 5 years.

Purpose: To investigate age-related trends in refractive, corneal, and internal astigmatism and to assess the association between internal astigmatism and lens opacity in an elderly Chinese population., Methods: A population-based study was conducted among 1360 inhabitants aged 65 years and older in Taipei, Taiwan. Participants underwent measurements of refraction, corneal dioptric power, and slit lamp biomicroscopy with lens grading. A total of 2084 eyes were included in power vector analyses of Cartesian astigmatism (J(0)) and oblique astigmatism (J(45)) components of refractive, corneal, and internal astigmatism., Results: The crude prevalence of refractive astigmatism (defined as ≥0.75 diopters) was 73.0% based on the right eyes and 76.4% based on the left eyes. The vector values in both refractive J(0) and corneal J(0) tended to be more negative with increasing age (P < 0.001), indicating the trend toward against-the-rule (ATR) astigmatism. Corneal J(0) alone accounted for 54% of the variability in refractive J(0). Refractive J(45) increased with age in the right eyes (P < 0.001) and decreased slightly with age in the left eyes (P = 0.012). Cortical opacity was associated with internal J(0) (P = 0.025), but the association was weak., Conclusions: Astigmatism affects approximately three quarters of the Chinese population aged 65 years and older in Taiwan. With increasing age, the prevalence of astigmatism increases, and refractive and corneal astigmatism shift toward ATR. Continuous corneal changes appear to be responsible for the age trend in refractive astigmatism. The severity of lens opacity plays only a minor role in the change of internal astigmatism.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most common cancers in geographic regions where betel quid (BQ) chewing is prevalent; OSCC is an extremely malignant neoplasm whose prognostic factors are multiple and complex. The purpose of this study was to assess clinicopathological prognostic factors and treatment outcomes in 698 consecutive OSCC patients who had undergone surgery as the primary treatment in an area with a high prevalence of both betel quid chewing and tobacco smoking. The prognostic factors were predicted using Cox's proportional-hazards regression model, and the survival rate was calculated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. The median followup for all patients was 44 months. The 5-year cumulative overall, disease-specific, and locoregional control survival rates were 61%, 62%, and 46%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that the lower level of nodal metastasis, advanced stage, tumor thickness >7 mm, and treatment failures were independent risk factors of overall survival. Furthermore, history of alcohol drinking, lower level of nodal metastasis, advanced stage, poor cell differentiation, and treatment failures were independent predictors of poor disease-specific survival. However, we did not find any significant factor that affected locoregional recurrence. Due to the high frequencies of locoregional recurrence and second primary cancer, our findings emphasize that aggressive surgical excision, adjuvant treatments according to clinicopathological prognostic factors and close surveillance are important to the survival of OSCC patients in an area with a high prevalence of betel quid chewing and tobacco smoking., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)