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Background: Hand dermatitis is a common, chronic relapsing skin disease, resulting from a variety of causes including endogenous predisposition and environmental exposures to irritants and allergens. Physical activities have been reported to be beneficial for patients with hand dermatitis., Objectives: We aim to evaluate the association between self-reported physical activities and hand dermatitis using the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database., Methods: Information regarding 2,688 participants aged 20 to 59 years from the 2003-2004 NHANES cycle were retrieved and analyzed. Diagnosis of hand dermatitis was based on standardized photographs of the hands read by two dermatologists. Physical activity during leisure time for the prior 30 days was assessed using standardized questionnaire. Based on the suggested MET scores provided for each response in the questionnaire section of the NHANES methodology, the MET scores for average level of physical activities, walking/bicycling, and performing tasks around home/yard for the past 30 days was calculated., Results: There were 42 (1.56%) diagnosed cases of active hand dermatitis among the 2,688 participants. Those who reported recent vigorous or moderate physical activities were less likely to have a diagnosis of active hand dermatitis (OR: 0.436, 95% CI: 0.200 to 0.947, P = 0.036 and OR: 0.489, 95% CI: 0.261 to 0.916, P = 0.025, respectively). This negative association remained statistically significant even after adjusting for age, gender, ethnic groups and atopic diathesis., Conclusions: Moderate and vigorous levels of physical activities appeared to be beneficial for hand dermatitis. Therefore, it is important to advise patients with active hand dermatitis to remain physically active. However, clinicians should also be cognizant of the fact that the heat and sweat generated from physical activities might also exacerbate the condition.

Zoster vaccine is recommended to reduce the incidence of herpes zoster and its complication of postherpetic neuralgia in older adults. However, there have been reports of autoimmune side effects post vaccination. We therefore aim to investigate the possible relationship of severe autoimmune adverse events (arthritis, vasculitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, thrombocytopenia, alopecia, Guillain-Barre syndrome, optic neuritis and multiple sclerosis) post zoster vaccination with a matched case-control study of reported events in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Our study showed no significantly increased risks of severe autoimmune adverse events, except arthritis and alopecia, after vaccination. Compared to the unexposed, patients with zoster vaccination had 2.2 and 2.7 times the odds of developing arthritis and alopecia, respectively (P<0.001 and P=0.015, respectively). However, almost none of these events was life threatening. Zoster vaccine is, therefore, relatively safe and unlikely to exacerbate or induce autoimmune diseases. Given its benefits and safety but low coverage, dermatologists and primary care physicians should encourage zoster vaccine use in elderly patients, including selected patients with autoimmune diseases.

In this work, we demonstrate sputtered amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide thin-film transistors (a-IGZO TFTs) with a record high effective field-effect mobility of 174 cm(2)/V s by incorporating silver nanowire (AgNW) arrays to channel electron transport. Compared to the reference counterpart without nanowires, the over 5-fold enhancement in the effective field-effect mobility exhibits clear dependence on the orientation as well as the surface coverage ratio of silver nanowires. Detailed material and device analyses reveal that during the room-temperature IGZO sputtering indium and oxygen diffuse into the nanowire matrix while the nanowire morphology and good contact between IGZO and nanowires are maintained. The unchanged morphology and good interfacial contact lead to high mobility and air-ambient-stable characteristics up to 3 months. Neither hysteresis nor degraded bias stress reliability is observed. The proposed AgNW-mediated a-IGZO TFTs are promising for development of large-scale, flexible, transparent electronics.

The monomeric title complex, [Zn(C14H12NOS)2]·2CHCl3 or L2Zn·2CHCl3, where L is the 2-({[2-(methyl-sulfan-yl)phen-yl]imino}-meth-yl)phenolate anion, may be obtained by the reaction of LZnEt with benzyl alcohol or by the reaction of two equivalents of LH with ZnEt2 in tetra-hydro-furan. The Zn atom, located on a twofold axis, is four-coordinated in a distorted tetra-hedral geometry by two O atoms [Zn-O = 1.9472 (19) Å] from the phenolate anions and two imine N atoms [Zn-N = 2.054 (2) Å].

Aims: To assess postnatal kidney volume development and to compare the intrauterine and extrauterine kidney growth curves of premature infants., Methods: One hundred neonates were enrolled in this study, and all infants had their kidney volumes measured by renal ultrasound examination. Group GA consisted of 44 neonates who were evaluated within 48 h after birth, and their gestational ages were used in the analysis. Group CA included 56 premature infants born before 34 weeks of gestation and was evaluated 14-96 days after birth, and their conceptional ages were used in the analysis. Left kidney volume, body weight, body height and age were used in the correlation analysis., Results: There was a better kidney growth rate for Group GA infants than for Group CA infants (P = 0.001). Kidney volumes in Group CA infants were thus apparently larger than those of the Group GA infants before 31 weeks of age, but they were smaller after 31 weeks of age. Group GA infants had a significantly faster growth in body weight (P = 0.001) and body height (P < 0.001). However, a larger kidney volume was noted in Group CA infants with the same body weight (P < 0.001)., Conclusion: A chart is presented of the postnatal growth of normal kidney volume before 40 weeks conceptional age in premature infants. These data suggest that intrauterine growth may have a regulatory influence on kidney growth, and the reduced kidney volume in premature infants may result from the early extrauterine period.

Objectives: To compare mortalities in patients with sepsis due to biliary tract infections (BTIs) and due to infections from other sources, and to identify independent predictors of mortality in these patients., Methods: This study was part of a community-acquired bloodstream infection (BSI) study that prospectively collected comprehensive clinical, laboratory, and outcome data from 937 consecutive patients with microbiologically documented BSI in the emergency department. BTI was the confirmed source of 145 of the 937 BSIs. We determined the independent prognostic factors by evaluating the correlation between 30-day mortality and various factors, for example, comorbidity, clinical severity, related hepatobiliary complication, and decompressive procedures., Results: Patients with biliary sepsis had a high percentage of Gram-negative (88.3%), polymicrobial (26.9%), and anaerobic infections (6.9%). The 30-day overall mortality was 11.7%. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis disclosed five significant independent predictors: acute renal failure (hazard ratio, 95% confidence interval: 6.86, 6.02-25.5), septic shock (5.83, 4.36-15.64), malignant obstruction (4.35, 1.89-12.96), direct type hyperbilirubinemia (1.26, 1.1-1.42), and Charlson score > or =6 (1.57, 1.12-2.22). Compared with the remaining 792 patients in the source population, patients with bacteremic BTI had significantly better prognosis (log-rank test, P= 0.007). Adjusting for age, comorbidity, and clinical severity, BTI was still independently associated with better 30-day survival (0.25-0.76)., Conclusions: Though the mortality rate in patients with bacteremic BTI is substantial, survival is better than in those with bacteremia from other sources. The main prognostic factors identified in this study may help clinicians recognize patients at high risk for early mortality so that they can give prompt, appropriate treatment.

The heat shock protein HSP90 serves as a chaperone for receptor protein kinases, steroid receptors, and other intracellular signaling molecules. Targeting HSP90 with ansamycin antibiotics disrupts the normal processing of clients of the HSP90 complex. The platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRalpha) is a tyrosine kinase receptor up-regulated and activated in several malignancies. Here we show that the PDGFRalpha forms a complex with HSP90 and the co-chaperone cdc37 in ovarian, glioblastoma, and lung cancer cells. Treatment of cancer cell lines expressing the PDGFRalpha with the HSP90 inhibitor 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG) promotes degradation of the receptor. Likewise, phospho-Akt, a downstream target, is degraded after treatment with 17-AAG. In contrast, PDGFRalpha expression is not affected by 17-AAG in normal human smooth muscle cells or 3T3 fibroblasts. PDGFRalpha degradation by 17-AAG is inhibited by the proteasome inhibitor MG132. High molecular weight, ubiquitinated forms of the receptor are detected in cells treated with 17-AAG and MG132. Degradation of the receptor is also inhibited by a specific neutralizing antibody to the PDGFRalpha but not by a neutralizing antibody to PDGF or by imatinib mesylate (Gleevec). Ultimately, PDGFRalpha-mediated cell proliferation is inhibited by 17-AAG. These results show that 17-AAG promotes PDGFRalpha degradation selectively in transformed cells. Thus, not only mutated tyrosine kinases but also overexpressed receptors in cancer cells can be targeted by 17-AAG.

Post-transplantation lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is a life-threatening complication of organ transplantation. PTLD can occur in every kind of organ transplantation. From July 1992 to July 2004, five patients were diagnosed at our transplantation center with PTLD after pediatric liver transplantation. During this period, there were 52 pediatric patients (<18 yr) receiving an orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) at our center. All five patients had transmural gastrointestinal (GI) PTLD, which occurred mostly in the stomach and duodenum. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in situ was demonstrated in each case. EBV viral load was noted to be an important risk factor. Treatment included dose reduction of immunosuppressants and anti-CD20 antibody infusion. Chemotherapy, including cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone, was given to three patients. Four patients have survived more than 10 months until now after treatment. The one who was unresponsive to chemotherapy and anti-CD20 antibody had diffuse metastasis and died of systemic candidiasis. In our series, each PTLD involved the GI tract. The mechanism of this phenomenon is unclear, but these five cases indicate the high incidence of PTLD in pediatric solid organ transplantation.

Background: Tissue kallikrein regulates blood circulation. Low urinary kallikrein excretion was associated with hypertension and renal disease in blacks. The polymorphic KLK1 promoter includes -130 GN coupled with multiple single base substitutions. The -130 G12 allele in the KLK1 promoter was associated with lower transcriptional activity and hypertensive end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in blacks. Transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) regulates matrix production, and induces fibrosis in a variety of tissues. High circulating TGF-beta1 levels mediating renal fibrosis and loss of function in transgenic mice. The -509 T allele in the TGF-beta1 promoter showed marginally higher transcriptional activity, and was associated with increased TGF-beta1 production in humans. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the tissue KLK1 promoter and TGF-beta1 polymorphism are involved in primary vesicoureteric reflux (VUR) with renal progression in children., Methods: Seventy-four primary VUR children were studied with regular annual follow-up for more than 18 years, all of them more than grade II (diagnosed by voiding cystourethroradiography). All of them were born before 1984. Patients were classified into two groups according to the renal function with progressive deterioration or not. Patients with baseline creatinine clearance (CCr) less than 25 mL/min were defined as having chronic renal insufficiency (CRI). The TGF-beta1 -509 T-C polymorphism was analyzed by Bsu36I restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In KLK1 promoter, the -130 GN length polymorphism and multiple single base substitutions were analyzed by electrophoresis of fluoresced PCR products in sequencing gels, single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), allele-specific PCR, and DNA sequencing. Patients' TGF-beta1 and KLK1 promoter polymorphisms were evaluated for association with VUR susceptibility and progression in Taiwanese children. Annual echocardiography study was used to evaluate left ventricular mass index (LVMI)., Results: Four alleles were identified in the complex KLK1 promoter: A (-130 G10), B (-130 G2CG7), H (-130 G11), and K (-130 G12). The polymorphic KLK1 promoter showed no association with VUR susceptibility. However, the frequency distribution of KLK1 promoter among VUR patients with or without CRI (A, 50.0% and 67.5%; B, 17.9% and 8.3%; H, 14.3% and 18.3%; K, 17.9% and 5.8%, respectively) was statistically different (P = 0.008). Significantly higher K allele frequency was present in primary VUR with CRI children, as it was in the renal survival curve study. A significant increase of LVMI was also found in the A allele group compared with the non-A allele group of KLK1 promoter gene at the age of 18 years old with renal progression. The TGF-beta1 gene polymorphism was determined, and we found significant over-representation of the TT genotype in primary VUR patients with CRI compared with normal renal function (P= 0.0035)., Conclusion: The K allele of KLK1 promoter and TT genotype of TGF-beta1 may be a genetic KLK1 -130 GN and -128 G-C, and the susceptibility factor contributing to progressive renal deterioration in Taiwanese primary VUR children.