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Taiwan produces large quantities of bananas in the southern area. Recently, due to the export quantity has been greatly reduced, in order to efficiently maintain the banana agriculture and economy, the development of alternate uses of bananas has become urgently in need. Bananas contain a fair amount of nutrients with low glycemic index. Currently, as the bread consumption is increasing, we tried to manufacture banana‐assorted breads. The desiccated powders of Musa sapientum var TC2‐425 Linn [(genomically, called as Musa (AAA) (MA)] and Musa basjoo "Nam Wa" (MB) were separately incorporated at 15%, 20%, and 25% (denoted as MA15‐MA25 and MB15‐MB25). Results indicated that MA exhibited higher contents of moisture, ash, crude protein, and lutein, while with lower crude fat, crude fibers, carbohydrate, sodium, total soluble sugars, and pectin. The contents of taste compounds (name, samples in decreasing order) were as follows: 5′‐CMP (MB25, MB20); 5′‐GMP (MA25, MA20); 5′‐AMP (MB25, MA15); 5′‐XMP (MA25, MA20); 5′‐IMP (MA25, MB20, MB25); and 5′‐UMP (MA20, MA25, MB20). Hedonic scoring (HS) indicated MA15, MA20, MB15, and MB20 were more acceptable. Textural profile analysis (TPA; for 0–6 days, only 0–4 days are shown) revealed that "flavor," "mouthfeel," "hardness," "gumminess," and "chewiness" were the determinant key roles. Conclusively, due to different chemical constituent of banana, different recipes must be considered. The bread acceptability is affected by the fermentative profile which in turn is governed by the contents of soluble sugars, pectin, taste compounds, and the overall activity of yeast cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with regional lymph node involvement were included, but patients with distant metastasis proven by imaging studies were ineligible. Irradiation dose of 45-50 Gy in 1.8-2 Gy daily was used for postoperative subclinical and microscopic disease; for unresectable gross tumors or postoperative residual tumors, a boost of 5-10 Gy to the gross tumor was used. Radical nephroureterectomy with removal of an ipsilateral bladder cuff is accepted as the curative therapy for non-metastatic UTUC, providing local tumor control and survival benefit. [Extracted from the article]

The vagus nerve plays an essential role in homeostasis and inflammation. Clinically, peptic ulcer patients without helicobacter pylori (HP) infection may provide a population for studying the effect of vagal hyperactivity. There were interests in the association of gastrointestinal disease and urogenital disorders. Herein, we try to investigate subsequent risk of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in non-HP infected peptic ulcer patients. We identified 17,672 peptic ulcer admission male patients newly diagnosed in 1998-2007 from Taiwan Health Insurance Database, and 17,672 male comparison without peptic ulcer, frequency matched by age, and index-year. We assessed subsequent incidence of BPH in each cohort by the end of 2013, and then compared the risk of developing BPH between individuals with and without peptic ulcer. In addition, peptic ulcer patients underwent surgery were also examined. There were 2954 peptic ulcer patients and 2291 comparisons noted with the occurrence of BPH (25.35 and 16.70 per 1000 person-years, respectively). Compared to comparisons, peptic ulcer patients had a 1.45- and 1.26-fold BPH risk in multivariable Cox model and Fine and Gray model (95% CI 1.37-1.54 and 1.19-1.34). In age-stratified analysis, the highest risk of BPH was in 45-59 years (interaction p < 0.05). Regarding surgery types, peptic ulcer patients who underwent simple suture surgery (i.e.: with integrated vagus nerve) had a significant higher BPH risk than comparison (HR 1.50 and 95% CI 1.33-1.74; SHR 1.26 and 95% CI 1.07-1.48), while patients underwent truncal vagotomy/pyloroplasty showed a lower incidence of BPH. In this study, non-HP-infected male peptic ulcer patients were found to have an increased risk of subsequent BPH. Indicating that there might be a role of vagus nerve. Based on the limitations of retrospective nature, further studies are required.

Background: Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is prevalent worldwide. Dysregulation of cell growth is a critical event of tumorigenesis and has not been assessed systemically in UC. We thus assessed the published transcriptome of urinary bladder urothelial carcinoma (UBUC) and identified insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-5 (IGFBP-5) as the most significantly upregulated gene associated with the regulation of cell growth. Moreover, validated by using public domain data set, IGFBP-5 expression also significantly predicted worse outcome. IGFBP-5 is one of the binding proteins that regulate insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and its significance has not been comprehensively evaluated in UCs., Methods: Using immunohistochemistry, we evaluated the IGFBP-5 expression status and its associations with clinicopathological features and survival in 340 cases of upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) and 295 cases of UBUC. Western blot analysis was used to evaluate IGFBP-5 protein expression in human urothelial cell (HUC) lines., Results: IGFBP-5 overexpression was significantly associated with advanced pT stage (p<0.001), high histological grade (UTUC, p<0.001; UBUC, p=0.035), lymph node metastasis (UTUC, p=0.006; UBUC, p=0.004), vascular invasion (UTUC, p<0.001; UBUC, p=0.003), perineural invasion (UTUC, p=0.034; UBUC, p=0.021) and frequent mitosis (UTUC, p<0.001; UBUC, p=0.023). IGFBP-5 overexpression also independently predicted poor disease-specific survival and metastasis-free survival in both groups of patients. Western blot analysis showed IGFBP-5 protein as overexpressed in human urothelial cancer cell lines and not in normal urothelial cancer cells., Conclusions: IGFBP-5 plays an important role in tumour progression in UC. Its overexpression is associated with advanced tumour stage and conferred poorer clinical outcome.

Unlabelled: The aim of this study was to investigate the association of human oxoguanine glycosylase (hOGG1) and xeroderma pigmentosum group D (XPD) polymorphisms with urothelial carcinoma (UC) in Taiwan., Patients and Methods: This hospital-based case-control study included 460 UC cases and 540 cancer-free controls, who had been frequency matched by age and gender, between August 2006 and October 2009. The joint effects of cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption and risk genotypes of the hOGG1 and XPD genes on UC risk was estimated using an unconditional logistic regression., Results: Individuals carrying both the hOGG1 (C/G or G/G) and XPD (A/C or C/C) risk genotypes had a significantly higher UC risk (OR=1.8, 95% CI=1.01-3.0) than the hOGG1 (C/C) and XPD (A/A) reference group. Those who had a history of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption carrying both the hOGG1 and XPD risk genotypes had the highest UC risk (OR=9.9, 95% CI= 4.5-21.8). The UC cases carrying both the hOGG1 and XPD risk genotypes had a significantly increased risk (OR=5.2, 95% CI=1.2-22.3) of high grade tumor., Conclusion: A significant joint effect of cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption and both hOGG1 and XPD risk genotypes increases UC risk and UC cases carrying both hOGG1 and XPD risk genotypes have a significantly greater risk of high grade tumor.

Aims: In our previous studies, comparative proteomics and immunohistochemistry (IHC) demonstrated that annexin-I (ANXA1) is up-regulated in high grade urinary bladder urothelial carcinoma (UBUC) as compared to non-high grade carcinomas. However, the small sample size prohibited further correlation of ANXA1 expression to tumour progression. Therefore, in the present study, 81 primary localised UBUC specimens of various grades and primary tumour (pT) status were examined for ANXA1 expression to further confirm the proteomics data and to clarify the relevance of ANXA1 expression level to the prognosis of UBUC., Methods: IHC was implemented to investigate ANXA1 protein expression in 81 primary localised UBUC specimens. The association of ANXA1 expression with tumour progression and prognosis was analysed., Results: Our data demonstrated that the ANXA1 expression level was strongly associated with an escalated pT status (p < 0.001) and a higher histological grade (p < 0.001), suggesting that ANXA1 might be related to tumour progression. Moreover, at the univariate level, ANXA1 overexpression, along with higher pT status and histological grade, significantly predicted disease-specific survival (DSS) and metastasis-free survival (MFS). More importantly, multivariate analyses revealed that the association of ANXA1 overexpression and prognosis remained significant for both DSS and MFS., Conclusion: The above results reinforced the comparative proteomics results and confirmed the prognostic role of ANXA1 in UBUC.

Objectives: Trace elements are essential components of biological structures, but they can be toxic at concentrations beyond those necessary for their biological functions., Methods: A study group of 30 patients with bladder cancer and a control group of 30 healthy volunteers were measured for trace elements using a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer., Results: Urinary zinc and selenium levels in patients were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than those in controls, but urinary copper, arsenic, and lead were not significantly different., Conclusion: This case-control study suggests that zinc and selenium concentrations are associated with the proliferation of bladder cancer cells because zinc and selenium are excreted in the urine of bladder cancer patients., (Copyright 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Study Objectives: This follow-up study examined the major complications among 4307 operative gynecologic laparoscopies. The overall complication rate and each individual category were compared with those of our previous study period. The clinical outcome and salvage procedures were correlated with the time of recognition and the severity of initial procedures in the individual injury type., Design: Retrospective, comparative study based on medical record reviewing (Canadian Task Force classification II-3)., Setting: Tertiary teaching hospital, Chi Mei Foundation Hospital in southern Taiwan., Patients: Records of women (n = 4307) aged 40.5 +/- 11.7 years (mean +/- SD [95% CI 40.1-40.5]) who underwent operative gynecologic laparoscopies from January 2000 through February 2006 were reviewed in this study. The complications were compared with those of our previous study based on 1507 laparoscopies performed between December 1992 and November 1999 for follow-up comparison., Interventions: Gynecologic laparoscopic surgeries., Measurements and Main Results: Thirty-four complications occurred in 31 patients requiring repair procedures, 3 of whom had multiple complications, with an overall complication rate of 0.72% (31/4307). There were 13 bladder injuries (0.30%), 7 bowel injuries (0.16%), 3 cases of internal bleeding (0.07%), 4 vaginal stump hematomas or abscesses (0.09%), 3 ureteral injuries (0.07%), 3 major vessel injuries (0.07%), and 1 trocar site hematoma (0.02%). In addition, there were 125 (2.88%) postoperative blood transfusions without additional operative intervention. The major complication rate decreased compared with that of the previous study (0.72% [95% CI 0.51%-1.02%] vs 1.59% [95% CI 1.07%-2.36%]; p = .005). The overall complication rates were not significantly different between laparoscopic hysterectomy (LH) group and non-LH group. However, bladder injury happened more frequently in the LH group, whereas bowel injury was more common in the non-LH group. In addition, the severity of the original injury, timing of recognition, and accompanying salvage procedures correlated with the clinical outcomes., Conclusion: The significantly decreased major complication rate, as compared with that of our previous study period, confirms the importance of experience accumulation and use of preventive maneuvers in reducing the complication rate. There were no significant differences among the individual injury category during these 2 study periods. The manifestations of bowel injury were highly variable and individualized. The accumulation of surgical experience with the aid of preventive maneuvers is helpful to reduce the complication rate significantly.