Search

Hypoxia is an important feature of the tumor microenvironment (TME) of most solid tumors, and it is closely linked to cancer cell proliferation, therapy resistance, and the tumor immune response. Herein, we describe a method for hypoxia-induced heterogeneous oxygen distribution in xenograft tumors based on phosphorescence imaging microscopy (PLIM) using intravascular and intracellular oxygen probes. We synthesized Ir(III) complexes with polyethylene glycol (PEG) units of different molecular weights into the ligand as intravascular oxygen probes, BTP-PEGm (m = 2000, 5000, 10000, 20000). BTP-PEGm showed red emission with relatively high emission quantum yield and high oxygen sensitivity in saline. Cellular and in vivo experiments using these complexes revealed that BTP-PEG10000 was the most suitable probe in terms of blood retention and ease of intravenous administration in mice. PLIM measurements of xenograft tumors in mice treated with BTP-PEG10000 allowed simultaneous imaging of the tumor microvasculature and quantification of oxygen partial pressures. From lifetime images using the red-emitting intracellular oxygen probe BTPDM1 and the green-emitting intravascular fluorescent probe FITC-dextran, we demonstrated hypoxic heterogeneity in the TME with a sparse vascular network and showed that the oxygen levels of tumor cells gradually decreased with vascular distance., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This study presents a comprehensive assessment of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the blubber of a stranded blue whale found on the coast of Taiwan. The analysis included polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), Hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The whale exhibited evident signs of emaciation, including low body weight, reduced blubber fat content, and thin blubber thickness. The dominant fatty acid type detected in the blubber was short-chain monounsaturated fatty acids (SC-MUFA), known to aid in thermoregulation. Stable isotope ratios indicated that the blue whale occupied a lower trophic position compared to a fin whale, suggesting its proximity to krill habitats in the Southern Ocean for feeding. The average concentrations of DDTs (1089.2 ± 4.7 ng/g lw; ΣDDT) and PCBs (1057.1 ± 49.8 ng/g lw) in the blubber were almost one order of magnitude higher than PAHs (41.7 ± 10.0 ng/g lw), HCB (70.6 ± 2. ng/g lw), and PBDEs (7.2 ± 1.2 ng/g lw). Pollutant concentrations in this individual blue whale were comparable to levels found in Norway, higher than those found in Chile, and notably lower than those found in Canada and Mexico. Calculating the biomagnification factor (BMF) for the POPs from krill (Euphausia superba) to the blue whale revealed significant bioaccumulation of pollutants in this particular whale. Additional research is imperative to achieve a thorough comprehension of bioaccumulation of POPs and their potential toxicological impacts on whale health., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Cognitive ability, as an early human capital, has always been an important research object in modern education and labor economics. Despite growing awareness of the importance of height in individual growth and development, there are few empirical studies on height and cognitive ability. Using the data from the China Education Panel Survey, this paper examined the impact of height on the cognitive ability of adolescents and explored the reasons behind the Chinese pursuit of height growth and the potential impact mechanism. In this paper, comprehensive analysis ability was taken as the representative of cognitive ability. The empirical results showed that height was positively correlated with cognitive ability. From the perspective of the influence mechanism, the hypothesis that height reflected self-esteem, health, non-cognitive ability, and other influences on cognitive ability was excluded. To correct the errors that endogenous problems may cause, we used the PSM method and "age at first menstruation " and "age at first wet dream" as instrumental variables to correct them. The results showed that height still affected cognitive ability, with taller people having higher cognitive ability., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

This study identified 11 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains that exhibited tolerance to heavy metal cadmium concentrations above 50 ppm for 48 h. Among these strains, T126-1 and T40-1 displayed the highest tolerance, enduring cadmium concentrations up to 500 ppm while still inhibiting bacterial growth by 50%. Moreover, the fermentation of banana peel using LAB significantly enhanced the clearance rate of cadmium ( p < 0.05) compared to nonfermented banana peel. Additionally, the LAB-fermented banana peel exhibited higher 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) and reduced power values. Strain T40-1 exhibited a significant improvement in its ability to chelate ferrous ions ( p < 0.05). Regarding antibiotic resistance, both the T40-1 and TH3 strains demonstrated high resistance with a third-level inhibition rate against ampicillin and tetracycline. Cell viability tests revealed that incubation with the T40-1 and TH3 strains for a duration of 24 h did not result in any cellular damage. Moreover, these LAB strains effectively mitigated oxidative stress markers, such as reactive oxygen species (ROS), glutathione (GSH), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), caused by 2 ppm cadmium on cells. Furthermore, the LAB strains were able to reduce the inflammatory response, as evidenced by a decrease in interleukin-8 (IL-8) levels ( p < 0.05). The use of Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy analysis provided valuable insight into the interaction between metal ions and the organic functional groups present on the cell wall of fermented banana peel. In summary, this study highlights the potential of the LAB strains T40-1 and TH3 in terms of their tolerance to the cadmium, ability to enhance cadmium clearance rates, and their beneficial effects on oxidative stress, inflammation, and cell viability.

The influence of the political system, and official mobility on the economy, finance, and environment has been confirmed by numerous studies, political cycle may bring a critical impact on the functioning of the economic system. Cities in China change their party secretaries every few years, providing a good context for our analysis. In this study, we analyze the impact of the political cycle on air pollution in 247 Chinese cities from the year 2002-2017. The main results indicate that the Chinese Communist Party Congress bring a significant effect. Air pollution has been significantly reduced in the year before and after the Party Congress, which means the political cycle plays an important role in current Chinese environmental protection or pollution control. In addition, the closer the city is to the capital, the stronger the pollution control, and the city's environmental pollution will be reduced., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Background: The effectiveness of arthroscopic treatment for knee osteoarthritis (OA) has been controversial. This study compares the clinical outcomes of the arthroscopic cartilage regeneration facilitating procedure (ACRFP) and conservative treatment., Methods: During the year of 2016, 524 patients (882 knees) who were older than 40 years of age and diagnosed with different stages of knee OA were scheduled for ACRFP under the protocol of knee health promotion option (KHPO) for knee OA. Of those, 259 patients (413 knees) eventually received ACRFP (the ACRFP group), and 265 patients (469 knees) didn't receive ACRFP but received conservative treatment (the non-ACRFP group). A telephone questionnaire was used to evaluate the subjective satisfaction and the incidence of receiving arthroplasty for these patients., Results: After the mean follow-up period of 61.6 months (SD 4.5), there were 220 patients (374 knees, 90.6%) in the ACRFP group and 246 patients (431 knees, 90.0%) in the non-ACRFP group completed the outcome study. The satisfactory rate was statistically higher for the ACRFP group (90.64%) than for the non-ACRFP group (70.3%) and the difference in subjective satisfaction was more obvious in patients with more advanced knee OA. As for the incidence of patients having subsequently received arthroplasty, it was higher (13.46%) in the non-ACRFP group than in the ACRFP group (4.28%)., Conclusion: Compared with conservative treatment, ACRFP could satisfy more patients with knee OA and modify their natural course by decreasing the incidence of subsequent arthroplasty.

We conducted Passerini-type multicomponent polymerizations (P-MCPs) with various monomers and afforded a series of functional poly(carbamoyl ester)s (PCEs). We demonstrated an efficient, diverse, and facile approach through P-MCPs to produce these novel PCEs with dual-cleavable linkages of ester and disulfide groups and the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogen tetraphenylethylene (TPE).

The effectiveness of arthroscopic treatment for knee osteoarthritis (OA) has always been a subject of debate. This study presents an innovative concept for the arthroscopic management of knee OA and investigates its clinical outcomes. An arthroscopic cartilage regeneration facilitating procedure (ACRFP) was performed on 693 knees of 411 patients with knee OA, with a mean age of 60 years (34-90 years), to eliminate the medial abrasion phenomenon (MAP) and decompress the patellofemoral joints. The Knee Society Score (KSS) and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) were used to determine the subjective outcome. Roentgenographic changes in all cases and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) variations in 20 randomly selected cases were evaluated for objective outcomes. We evaluated 634 knees in 369 patients (93.7%) with more than 3 years of follow-up (mean, 40 months; SD, 9) and found that the overall subjective satisfaction rate was 91.1%. Scores for KSS and all KOOS subscales improved statistically. Reversal of cartilage degeneration was observed in 80.1% of the entire series (radiographic outcome study) and 72.2% of the 18 randomly selected cases (1-year MRI outcome study). We found significant association between gender and OA severity, with regards to the subjective outcomes. Age, body mass index, pre-operative hyaluronic acid injection, OA severity, and type and severity of the medial plica were found to be important predictors of radiographic outcomes. An analysis of failed cases reaffirmed the need for early ACRFP and skilled post-operative care. ACRFP is an effective treatment for knee OA. It can benefit most patients and modify their degeneration processes if performed in time. However, further investigations are needed to confirm our concept of treatment., Competing Interests: The authors have no funding and conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

This study examined whether emotion responses during reading are co-constituted by lexical items and the preceding context. Event-related potentials to coherent emotion and neutral words finishing sentences with or without strong constraint for the incoming valence were analyzed. Typical frontal P200 and posterior late positive component (LPC) emotion responses were seen to emotion words relative to neutral words in the neutral context, indicating heightened attention allocation and further valence analysis induced by word-level emotionality. With emotional bias in the context, words elicited reduced N400 responses, indicating facilitated semantic processing. Critically, we obtained evidence for contextualized emotion responses during coherent sentence comprehension. With active anticipation of the incoming emotionality (evidenced by the frontal positivity to plausible emotionally unpredicted words), enhanced P200 and LPC responses were seen to neutral words in emotional contexts. These findings demonstrated that, like word emotionality, emotion-constraining contexts could similarly engage motivational circuits and attention resources, affecting early perception and later further affective evaluation of the incoming information, even for emotionally neutral words. Despite the seeming similarity, multiple routes may be involved for giving rise to these neurophysiological reactions during emotion processing - while lexically driven LPCs were significantly correlated with empathy, contextually driven LPCs were not. Together, these findings provide support for contextualized emotion responses during congruent sentence reading when explicit emotional judgment on the materials is not required. These findings also provide an initial understanding about how these responses are mediated by empathy - an important aspect of human ability to perceive emotion.

The structure of agricultural industries at Cross-Strait differs as climate change is considered. In fact, its influence on their agriculture and other industries vary when the impact produced by natural disasters due to climate change are faced. To estimate direct and indirect losses caused by natural disasters, this study applies Inter-Country Input-Output (ICIO) analysis developed by Miller and Blair (2009) to discuss the development among Cross-Strait industries as they face disaster losses. The data sources used in this article are from Lin (2013), Cross-Strait ICIO table, and the statistics of agriculture in the periods 2005-2017 for Taiwan and Mainland China. The main results from our ICIO analysis are as follows: the value-added losses caused by natural disasters mainly involve agriculture, forestry, fishery, wholesale and retail trade, animal feed, and chemical fertilizer industries. These sectors account for 87.4% in Mainland China and 94.6% in Taiwan of total separately.

Background: Limited data exist on factors predicting prolonged survival in left ventricular assist device (LVAD) recipients. We sought to identify patient characteristics and complications associated with prolonged survival., Methods: We conducted retrospective review of the Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (INTERMACS) database, including primary continuous-flow LVAD recipients, between May 2012 and March 2013. Patients were identified as having survived with a device in place after 3 years or not, conditional on having initially survived 6 months. Patients who received a transplant, underwent explant due to recovery, or were lost to follow-up before 3 years were excluded. Multivariate logistic regression evaluated perioperative factors and adverse events within 6 months associated with long survival., Results: Of 1,116 patients who survived past the initial 6 months, 725 (65%) survived beyond 3 years. On univariate analysis, long-term survivors were significantly younger, were less likely to be white, supported for destination therapy, have diabetes, solid-organ cancer, or take amiodarone. On multivariate analysis, factors associated with increased odds of death at 3 years included diabetes, amiodarone use, and developing stroke, gastrointestinal bleeding, hemolysis, or pump thrombosis within 6 months of implantation., Conclusions: Preoperative diabetes and amiodarone use were associated with poor long-term survival in LVAD recipients. Development of early complications of stroke, gastrointestinal bleeding, hemolysis, or pump thrombosis was also associated with poor long-term survival. Early diagnosis and treatment of these complications may improve survival in LVAD recipients., (Copyright © 2019 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Coxsackievirus (CV)-B5 is a common human enterovirus reported worldwide; swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV) is a porcine variant of CV-B5. To clarify the transmission dynamics and molecular basis of host switching between CV-B5 and SVDV, we analysed and compared the VP1 and partial 3D pol gene regions of these two viruses. Spatiotemporal dynamics of viral transmission were estimated using a Bayesian statistical inference framework. The detected selection events were used to analyse the key molecules associated with host switching. Analyses of VP1 sequences revealed six CV-B5 genotypes (A1-A4 and B1-B2) and three SVDV genotypes (I-III). Analyses of partial 3D pol revealed five clusters (A-E). The genotypes evolved sequentially over different periods, albeit with some overlap. The major hub of CV-B5 transmission was in China whereas the major hubs of SVDV transmission were in Italy. Network analysis based on deduced amino acid sequences showed a diverse extension of the VP1 structural protein, whereas most sequences were clustered into two haplotypes in the partial 3D pol region. Residue 178 of VP1 showed four epistatic interactions with residues known to play essential roles in viral host tropism, cell entry, and viral decoating.

This study tested the effect of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inhibition on Vibrio parahaemolyticus BCRC (Bioresource Collection and Research Center) 10806 and BCRC 12865 in a food model. MTT [3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assays indicated that Caco-2 cells were not damaged after a two-hour treatment with lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and V. parahaemolyticus . The LAB cell culture and supernatant effectively inhibited the growth of V. parahaemolyticus in a food model. ELISA (Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) results indicated the significant inhibition of TNF-α; IL-1β; and IL-6; but Lactobacillus plantarum PM 222 and L. plantarum LP 735 did not significantly affect IL-8 levels. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results indicated that LAB could inhibit the mRNA expression of proinflammatory cytokines IL-8; IL-6; and TNF-α; which were induced by V. parahaemolyticus . After rat-received LAB; the expression levels of TNF-α; IL-6; and IL-8 in the serum decreased significantly. In intestinal histology; the rat that received L. plantarum PM 222 and L. plantarum LP 010 was able to alleviate the intestinal villi damage caused by V. parahaemolyticus ; which also helped reduce cell apoptosis. In conclusion; our results indicate that LAB can inhibit inflammatory responses caused by V. parahaemolyticus and can effectively inhibit the growth of V. parahaemolyticus in food products.

Background: Sarcopenia involves age-related decreases in muscle strength and muscle mass, leading to frailty and disability in elderly people. When combined with obesity, it is defined as sarcopenic obesity (SO), which can result in more functional limitations and metabolic disorders than either disorder alone., Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate body composition changes after elastic band resistance training in elderly women with SO., Design: Randomized single-blinded (assessor blinded) controlled pilot trial., Setting: Academic medical center., Population: Thirty-five elderly (>60 years old) women with SO., Methods: This pilot randomized controlled trial focused on elderly women with SO. The study group underwent progressive elastic band resistance training for 12 weeks (3 times per week). The control group received only a 40-minute lesson about the exercise concept. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was performed before and after intervention to evaluate body composition. Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to analyze the differences within and between these groups., Results: In total, 35 elderly women with SO were enrolled and divided into study (N.=18) and control groups (N.=17). No difference was observed in age, biochemical parameters, or Body Mass Index between both groups. After the intervention, the fat proportion of body composition in the right upper extremity (P=0.03), left upper extremity (P=0.04), total fat (P=0.035), and fat percentage (P=0.012) had decreased, and bone mineral density (BMD) (P=0.026), T-score (P=0.028), and Z-score (P=0.021) had increased in the study group. Besides, statistical difference was observed in outcome measurements of right upper extremity (P=0.013), total fat (P=0.023), and fat percentage (P=0.012) between the groups., Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that progressive elastic band resistance exercise can reduce fat mass and increase BMD in elderly women with SO, and that this exercise program is feasible for this demographic. Additional studies with larger sample sizes and longer intervention periods should be conducted., Clinical Rehabilitation Impact: Twelve weeks of progressive elastic band resistance exercise program is safe and effective for SO elder women.

Background: Sarcopenia is associated with loss of muscle mass and an increased risk of physical disability in elderly people. However, the prevalence of sarcopenia has increased in obese elderly populations. The purpose of this study was to identify the clinical efficacy of elastic resistance exercise training (RET) in patients with sarcopenic obesity., Methods: This study was conducted at the rehabilitation center of a university-based teaching hospital and was designed as a prospective and randomized controlled trial with an intention-to-treat analysis. A total of 46 women aged 67.3 (5.2) years were randomly assigned to an experimental group (EG) and control group (CG). The EG underwent elastic RET for 12 weeks, and the CG received no RET intervention. All outcome measures were assessed at the baseline and posttest, including body composition measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, muscle quality (MQ) defined as a ratio of muscular strength to muscle mass, and physical capacity assessed using functional mobility tests. One-way analysis of covariance and Pearson correlation were used to compare outcomes between the 2 groups and to identify the relationship between changes in body composition and physical outcomes, respectively. A chi-square test was performed to identify differences in qualitative data between the 2 groups., Results: At the posttest, a significant between-group difference was observed in fat-free mass, MQ, and physical capacity (all P < .05); and a significant correlation was found between leg-lean-mass change and gait speed (r = 0.36; P < .05). After 12 weeks of elastic RET intervention, the EG had significantly fewer patients exhibiting sarcopenia (P < .05) and experiencing physical difficulty (P < .001) than the CG., Conclusion: The present data suggest that elastic resistance exercise exerted benefits on the body composition, MQ, and physical function in patients with sarcopenic obesity. Regular exercise incorporating elastic RET should be used to attenuate muscle mass loss and prevent physical difficulty in obese older adults with sarcopenia on reconditioning therapy., Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR-IPR-15006069.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) can cause physical disability and psychological distress; however, whether SCI is a risk factor for dementia is unclear. This study evaluated the incidence of dementia in patients with SCI. Study participants were recruited from a nationwide cohort during 2004-2007 and categorized into SCI (patients diagnosed with SCI; n = 941) and non-SCI (age- and sex-matched controls; n = 5060) cohorts. Each participant was followed for 7 years until diagnosis of dementia or December 31, 2010, whichever occurred first. Data were subjected to Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. The incidence of dementia was significantly higher in the SCI cohort (1106 per 100,000 person-years) than in the non-SCI cohort (p < 0.001). Patients with SCI had a significantly higher risk of dementia than did those without SCI (crude hazard ratio [HR] = 2.14, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.57-2.92, p < 0.001 vs. adjusted HR = 1.95, 95% CI, 1.43-2.67, p < 0.001). Further analysis found that there is no statistical significance of higher risk for developing Alzheimer's disease among SCI patients, but that SCI patients were at higher risk of developing other types of dementia than the control cohort (crude HR = 1.88, 95% CI, 1.33-2.63, p < 0.001 vs. adjusted HR = 1.90, 95% CI, 1.35-2.68, p < 0.001). In conclusion, patients with SCI are at high risk of dementia, and effective dementia prevention strategies are recommended for comprehensive SCI care.

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the risk of stroke in patients with cerebral palsy (CP), based on nationwide data in Taiwan., Method: This prospective cohort study was comprised of patients recorded on the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005 (LHID2005) who had a diagnosis of CP (n=1975) in records between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2007. A comparison group (1:5) drawn from the same database was matched for age and sex (n=9875). Each patient was tracked by data until the development of stroke or the end of 2008. Cox proportional-hazards regression analysis was used to evaluate the hazard ratios after adjusting for potential confounding factors., Results: Patients with CP were more likely to suffer stroke than the comparison population, after adjusting for potential confounding factors (adjusted hazard ratio: 2.17; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.74-2.69). The hazard ratio of stroke was 4.78 (95% CI: 3.18-7.17) and 1.57 (95% CI: 1.20-2.05) for patients with CP aged 50 years and under, and over 50 years respectively., Interpretation: Cerebral palsy is a risk factor or marker for stroke that is independent of traditional stroke risk factors. Further research in this area is warranted., (© 2016 Mac Keith Press.)

Objective: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic autoimmune disorder characterized by varied clinical symptoms and can be comorbid with neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the association between SLE and dementia risk in patients with SLE remains unclear. In this study, we evaluated the incidence of dementia in patients with SLE., Methods: Patients were recruited from a nationwide cohort in 2004-2008 and categorized as SLE (n = 1,074; patients diagnosed with SLE) or non-SLE (n = 5,370; age- and sex-matched controls). Each patient was followed for up to 7 years, until either receiving a diagnosis of dementia or until December 31, 2010. Data were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis., Results: The incidence rate of dementia was higher in the SLE cohort (357 per 100,000 person-years) than in the non-SLE cohort (180 per 100,000 person-years). Patients with SLE had a higher risk of dementia than did those without SLE (crude hazard ratio [HR] 1.92; P < 0.05). Cox regression analysis revealed an adjusted HR for dementia in the SLE cohort of 2.14 (P < 0.001), after adjustment for other comorbid diseases and variables., Conclusion: Patients with SLE have a higher risk of dementia., (© 2016, American College of Rheumatology.)

A graphene quantum dot (GQD) used as the photosensitizer with high two-photon absorption in the near-infrared region, a large absolute cross section of two-photon excitation (TPE), strong two-photon luminescence, and impressive two-photon stability could be used for dual modality two-photon photodynamic therapy (PDT) and two-photon bioimaging with an ultrashot pulse laser (or defined as TPE). In this study, a GQD efficiently generated reactive oxygen species coupled with TPE, which highly increased the effective PDT ability of both Gram-positive and -negative bacteria, with ultralow energy and an extremely short photoexcitation time generated by TPE. Because of its two-photon properties, a GQD could serve as a promising two-photon contrast agent for observing specimens in depth in three-dimensional biological environments while simultaneously proceeding with PDT action to eliminate bacteria, particularly in multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains. This procedure would provide an efficient alternative approach to easily cope with MDR bacteria.

Background: Rotator cuff tears are the most common cause of shoulder disability in people older than 50years, and surgical intervention is usually required for restoring functioning. However, in patients undergoing rotator cuff repair surgery, patients with DM had poorer functional outcomes than those without DM, and hence, DM is one of the possible risks factor for rotator cut off tear. The aim of this population-based study was to investigate the relationship between DM and the risk of rotator cuff tear in patients receiving rotator cuff repair surgery., Methods: In this retrospective longitudinal population-based 7-year cohort study, we investigated the risk of rotator cuff repair surgery in patients with DM. We performed a case-control matched analysis by using data from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005. Patients were enrolled on the basis of the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnostic codes for DM between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2007. The prevalence and the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of a rotator cuff repair surgery in patients with and without DM were estimated according to the Cox proportional hazard regression analysis using the frailty model., Results: The DM and non-DM cohorts comprised 58,652 patients with DM and 117,304 (1:2) patients without DM after matching for age and sex. The incidence of rotator cuff repair surgery was 41 per 100,000 and 26 per 100,000 person-years in the DM and non-DM cohorts, respectively. The HR of rotator cuff repair surgery during the follow-up period was 1.56 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.25-1.93, p<0.001) for patients with DM. After adjustment for covariates, the adjusted HR of rotator cuff repair surgery was 1.33 (95% CI, 1.05-1.68, p<0.001) in the DM cohort., Conclusion: DM is an independent risk factor for rotator cuff tear repair surgery., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Few studies have investigated the two-photon properties of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and GQD-conjugated polymers. The results of the present study revealed that conjugated polymers containing nitrogen and sulfur atoms caused higher quantum confinement of emissive energy to be trapped on the surface of nanomaterials, resulting in a high-photoluminescence quantum yield and notable two-photon properties. Additionally, the nanomaterials generated no reactive oxygen species-dependent oxidative stress on cells and served as promising two-photon contrast probes.

Recent phylodynamic studies have focused on using tree topology patterns to elucidate interactions among the epidemiological, evolutionary, and demographic characteristics of infectious agents. However, because studies of viral phylodynamics tend to focus on epidemic outbreaks, tree topology signatures of tissue-tropism pathogens might not be clearly identified. Therefore, this study used a novel Bayesian evolutionary approach to analyze the A24 variant of coxsackievirus (CV-A24v), an ocular-tropism agent of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis. Analyses of the 915-nucleotide VP1 and 690-nt 3Dpol regions of 21 strains isolated in Taiwan and worldwide during 1985-2010 revealed a clear chronological trend in both the VP1 and 3Dpol phylogenetic trees: the emergence of a single dominant cluster in each outbreak. The VP1 sequences included three genotypes: GI (prototype), GIII (isolated 1985-1999), and GIV (isolated after 2000); no VP1 sequences from GII strains have been deposited in GenBank. Another five genotypes identified in the 3Dpol region had support values >0.9. Geographic and demographic transitions among CV-A24v clusters were clearly identified by Bayes algorithm. The transmission route was mapped from India to China and then to Taiwan, and each prevalent viral population declined before new clusters emerged. Notably, the VP1 and 3Dpol genes had high nucleotide sequence similarities (94.1% and 95.2%, respectively). The lack of co-circulating lineages and narrow tissue tropism affected the CV-A24v gene pool.

Heavy metals can be removed from the sludge using bioleaching technologies at thermophilic condition, thereby providing an option for biotreatment of wasted sludge generated from wastewater treatment. The purposes of this study were to establish a molecular biology technique, real-time PCR, for the detection and enumeration of the sulfur-oxidizing bacteria during the thermophilic sludge bioleaching. The 16S rRNA gene for real-time PCR quantification targeted the bioleaching bacteria: Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans, Sulfobacillus acidophilus, and Acidithiobacillus caldus. The specificity and stringency for thermophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria were tested before the experiments of monitoring the bacterial community, bacterial number during the thermophilic sludge bioleaching and the future application on testing various environmental samples. The results showed that S. acidophilus was identified as the dominant sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, while A. caldus and S. thermosulfidooxidans occurred in relatively low numbers. The total number of the sulfur-oxidizing bacteria increased during the thermophilic bioleaching process. Meanwhile, the decrease of pH, production of sulfate, degradation of SS/VSS, and solubilization of heavy metal were found to correlate well with the population of thermophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria during the bioleaching process. The real-time PCR used in this study is a suitable method to monitor numbers of thermophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria during the bioleaching process.

Background: Previously, we reported the use of an International Classification of Functioning (ICF) core set that can provide a holistic framework for evaluating the risk factors of falls; however, data on the feasibility of applying this core set are lacking., Aim: To investigate the feasibility of applying the fall-related ICF risk-factor core set in the case of patients in an acute-rehabilitation setting., Design: A cross-sectional and descriptive correlational design., Setting: Acute-rehabilitation ward., Population: A total of 273 patients who experienced fall at acute-rehabilitation ward., Methods: The data on falls were collected from the hospital's Nursing Information System (NIS) and the fall-reporting system (Adverse Event Reporting System, AERS) between 2010 and 2013. The relationship of both systems to the fall-related ICF core set was analyzed to assess the feasibility of their clinical application. We evaluated the feasibility of using the fall-related ICF risk-factor core set by using the frequency and the percentage of the fall patients in of the listed categories., Results: The fall-related ICF risk-factor core set category b735 (muscle tone functions) exhibited a high feasibility (85.95%) for clinical application, and the category b730 (muscle power functions) covered 77.11% of the patients. The feasibility of application of the category d410 (change basic body position) was also high in the case of all fall patients (81.69%)., Conclusions: In the acute-rehabilitation setting, the feasibility of application of the fall-related ICF risk-factor core set is high., Clinical Rehabilitation Impact: The fall-related ICF risk-factor core set can help multidisciplinary teams develop fall-prevention strategies in acute rehabilitation wards.

Hip fractures can lead to functional disability and high mortality rates among elderly patients. The aim of this study was to investigate whether chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a risk factor for hip fracture. A retrospective population-based 4-year cohort study was conducted using case-control matched analysis of data from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005 (LHID2005). Patients with a diagnosis of COPD between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2007 were enrolled. A 2-stage approach and data from the National Health Interview Survey 2005 were applied to adjust for missing confounders in the LHID2005 cohort. Hazard ratios (HRs) and adjusted HRs were estimated hip fracture risk for the COPD. We enrolled 16,239 patients in the COPD cohort and 48,747 (1:3) patients in non-COPD cohort. The hip fracture incidences were 649 per 100,000 person-years in the study cohort and 369 per 100,000 person-years in non-COPD cohort. The hip fracture HR during the follow-up period was 1.78 (P < 0.001) and the adjusted hip fracture HR was 1.57 (P < 0.001) after adjustment for covariates by using the 2-stage approach method. Patients with COPD were at hip fracture risk and fracture-prevention strategies are essential for better quality of care.

Objectives: To appraise existing evidence of autologous blood injection in treating lateral epicondylosis., Design: Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials., Setting: A comprehensive search of the PubMed, Cochrane, SCOPUS, and CINAHL databases was performed to identify randomized controlled trials that reported the efficacy of autologous blood injection in treating lateral epicondylosis. The selected studies were subjected to a meta-analysis and risk of bias assessment., Participants: Patients with lateral epicondylosis., Main Outcome Measures: Pain-related measurement in each selected randomized controlled trial was pooled into meta-analysis., Results: Nine randomized controlled trials were included in the analysis. The results of the meta-analysis including the pain scores indicated that autologous blood injection is more effective compared with corticosteroid injection (standard mean difference: -0.75; 95% confidence interval: -1.14 to -0.37) but not more effective compared with platelet-rich plasma injection (standard mean difference: 0.09; 95% confidence interval: -0.66 to 0.84). The risk of bias assessment indicated that all the included trials exhibited a moderate to high risk of bias., Conclusion: Autologous blood injection is more effective than corticosteroid injection but not more effective than platelet-rich plasma injection in treating lateral epicondylosis. However, this evidence is limited by the potential risk of bias., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Direct coupling of a hydrophobic drug and a hydrophilic natural product via an ester bond produced an amphiphilic adduct that formed liposomes. Liposomes of resveratrol-norcantharidin adduct are capable of forming a tadpole-like nanoparticle and exhibited high toxicity in zebrafish embryos to give the better transportation and the effective concentration into cells. Using fluorescent chromophore showed the liposome in the stomach and intestinal villi rather than in the skin and muscle. This result may provide an insight into the mechanism of action of traditional Chinese medicines, which often contain a significant amount of flavonoids and polyphenol analogs., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This article using the database of Taiwanese land property lawsuits studies the economic effects of rainfalls on land property lawsuits during the period of Japanese colonial rule (1920-1941). The results obtained from basic ordinary least squares indicate that it shows no significant influences. However, an interesting result is that, when we adopt the approach of two stage least squares and use the variables of temperature and evaporation as the instrument variables of rainfalls, we find that there are highly significant influences on the lawsuits of land property. If 1 year comes with low average rainfalls, it means that the costs of productive inputs increase, because the available natural resource will decrease, and brings the distorted using of land property.

Background: Studies regarding coxsackievirus (CV) tend to focus on epidemic outbreaks, an imbalanced topology is considered to be an indication of acute infection with partial cross-immunity. In enteroviruses, a clear understanding of the characteristics of tree topology, transmission, and its demographic dynamics in viral succession and circulation are essential for identifying prevalence trends in endemic pathogens such as coxsackievirus B2 (CV-B2). This study applied a novel Bayesian evolutionary approach to elucidate the phylodynamic characteristics of CV-B2. A dataset containing 51 VP1 sequences and a dataset containing 34 partial 3D(pol) sequencing were analyzed, where each dataset included Taiwan sequences isolated during 1988-2013., Results: Four and five genotypes were determined based on the 846-nucleotide VP1 and 441-nucleotide 3D(pol) (6641-7087) regions, respectively, with spatiotemporally structured topologies in both trees. Some strains with tree discordance indicated the occurrence of recombination in the region between the VP1 and 3D(pol) genes. The similarities of VP1 and 3D(pol) gene were 80.0%-96.8% and 74.7%-91.9%, respectively. Analyses of population dynamics using VP1 dataset indicated that the endemic CV-B2 has a small effective population size. The balance indices, high similarity, and low evolutionary rate in the VP1 region indicated mild herd immunity selection in the major capsid region., Conclusions: Phylodynamic analysis can reveal demographic trends and herd immunity in endemic pathogens.

Objective: To evaluate whether balance training after total knee replacement surgery improves functional outcomes and to determine whether postoperative balance is associated with mobility., Design: A prospective intervention study and randomized controlled trial with an intention-to-treat analysis., Setting: The rehabilitation center of a university-based teaching hospital., Participants: A total of 130 patients with knee osteoarthritis who had undergone total knee replacement surgery were recruited to attend an outpatient rehabilitation program. They were randomly allocated to additional balance rehabilitation and functional rehabilitation groups., Interventions: During the eight-week outpatient rehabilitation program, both groups received general functional training. Patients in the balance rehabilitation group received an additional balance-based rehabilitation program., Primary Outcome Measures: The functional reach test, single-leg stance test, 10-m walk test, Timed Up and Go Test, timed chair-stand test, stair-climb test, and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index were measured at baseline, eight weeks (T(1)), and 32 weeks (T(2))., Results: The balance rehabilitation group patients demonstrated significant improvement in the results of the functional reach test at T(1) (37.6 ±7.8 cm) and T(2) (39.3 ±9.7 cm) compared with the baseline assessment (11.5 ±2.9 cm) and Timed Up and Go Test at T(1) (8.9 ±1.2 seconds) and T(2) (8.0 ±1.9 seconds) compared with the baseline assessment (12.5 ±1.8 seconds). Moreover, the balance rehabilitation group patients exhibited significantly greater improvements in balance and mobility than did the functional rehabilitation group patients (all P < 0.001). Furthermore, improved balance was significantly associated with improved mobility at T(2)., Conclusion: Postoperative outpatient rehabilitation with balance training improves the balance, mobility, and functional outcomes in patients with knee osteoarthritis after total knee replacement., (© The Author(s) 2014.)

The photostability, photodestructive efficacy, two-photon excitation cross section, and two-photon fluorescence of gold nanoparticles conjugated with a hydrophilic photosensitizer, indocyanine green, via multiphoton laser exhibited an increased size effect in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and A549 cancer cells that was dependent on the size of multifunctional gold nanomaterials, but the effect only occurred when nanomaterials within 100 nm in diameter were used. Besides, the enhanced effectiveness of photodestruction, photostability, and contrast probe indicated an additive effect in the therapeutic and imaging efficiency of multifunctional gold nanomaterials. Consequently, the preparation of the multifunctional gold nanomaterials and their use in biomedical applications via multiphoton laser is an alternative and potential therapeutic approach for killing bacteria and for ablating cancer cells.

Osteoarthritis (OA) and dementia are prevalent causes of disability in geriatric patients. To date, information on the temporal correlation between these progressive diseases and the risk of dementia in patients with OA is limited. This retrospective population-based 4-year cohort study investigated the risk of dementia in patients with OA. We performed a case-control matched analysis by using the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005. Patients were selected on the basis of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes for OA between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2007. The prevalence and the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of dementia in patients with and without OA were estimated. The OA cohort comprised 35,149 patients and the non-OA cohort (comparison cohort) comprised 70,298 patients (1:2). The incidence of dementia was 21.7 per 10,000 person-years in the OA cohort and 14.7 per 10,000 person-years in the non-OA cohort. The HR for dementia during the follow-up period was 1.33 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.17-1.50, P < 0.001) for patients with OA. The adjusted HR for dementia was 1.25 (95% CI, 1.10-1.43, P < 0.001) for patients with OA. The results of this study indicated that OA is an independent risk factor for dementia.

Roche modified the COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) test version 1.0 (CAP/CTM v1.0), resulting in the COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 test version 2.0 (CAP/CTM v2.0). The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of the CAP/CTM v2.0 and to compare this performance with that of the CAP/CTM v1.0. The study was conducted in a small local study group in Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A total of 86 plasma samples from HIV-1-seropositive patients were tested using the two assays. The correlation and concordance of results between the two assays were calculated. The CAP/CTM v2.0 generated higher values than did the CAP/CTM v1.0, and five samples (5.8%) yielded a difference of > 1 log10 copies/mL. In addition, our data show that CAP/CTM v1.0 and CAP/CTM v2.0 yielded relatively consistent values for 23 samples with low viral loads (< 200 copies/mL). Furthermore, when viral loads were in a medium range (2-5 log10 copies/mL), the results of the two assays were more compatible. This study shows a good correlation between CAP/CTM v1.0 and v2.0 in HIV-1 viral load measurement. Further attention must be paid to those cases in which measured viral loads present larger differences between the two assays., (Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Taiwan.)

Background and Purpose: 4-Phenylquinolin-2(1H)-one (4-PQ) derivatives can induce cancer cell apoptosis. Additional new 4-PQ analogs were investigated as more effective, less toxic antitumour agents., Experimental Approach: Forty-five 6,7,8-substituted 4-substituted benzyloxyquinolin-2(1H)-one derivatives were synthesized. Antiproliferative activities were evaluated using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazoliun bromide assay and structure-activity relationship correlations were established. Compounds 9b, 9c, 9e and 11e were also evaluated against the National Cancer Institute-60 human cancer cell line panel. Hoechst 33258 and Annexin V-FITC/PI staining assays were used to detect apoptosis, while inhibition of microtubule polymerization was assayed by fluorescence microscopy. Effects on the cell cycle were assessed by flow cytometry and on apoptosis-related proteins (active caspase-3, -8 and -9, procaspase-3, -8, -9, PARP, Bid, Bcl-xL and Bcl-2) by Western blotting., Key Results: Nine 6,7,8-substituted 4-substituted benzyloxyquinolin-2(1H)-one derivatives (7e, 8e, 9b, 9c, 9e, 10c, 10e, 11c and 11e) displayed high potency against HL-60, Hep3B, H460, and COLO 205 cancer cells (IC₅₀ < 1 μM) without affecting Detroit 551 normal human cells (IC₅₀ > 50 μM). Particularly, compound 11e exhibited nanomolar potency against COLO 205 cancer cells. Mechanistic studies indicated that compound 11e disrupted microtubule assembly and induced G2/M arrest, polyploidy and apoptosis via the intrinsic and extrinsic signalling pathways. Activation of JNK could play a role in TRAIL-induced COLO 205 apoptosis., Conclusion and Implications: New quinolone derivatives were identified as potential pro-apoptotic agents. Compound 11e could be a promising lead compound for future antitumour agent development., (© 2014 The British Pharmacological Society.)

We present a new double-sided, single-chip monolithic integration scheme to integrate the CMOS circuits and MEMS structures by using through-silicon-via (TSV). Neural sensing applications were chosen as the implementation example. The proposed heterogeneous device integrates standard 0.18 μm CMOS technology, TSV and neural probe array into a compact single chip device. The neural probe array on the back-side of the chip is connected to the CMOS circuits on the front-side of the chip by using low-parasitic TSVs through the chip. Successful fabrication results and detailed characterization demonstrate the feasibility and performance of the neural probe array, TSV and readout circuitry. The fabricated device is 5 × 5 mm(2) in area, with 16 channels of 150 μm-in-length neural probe array on the back-side, 200 μm-deep TSV through the chip and CMOS circuits on the front-side. Each channel consists of a 5 × 6 probe array, 3 × 14 TSV array and a differential-difference amplifier (DDA) based analog front-end circuitry with 1.8 V supply, 21.88 μW power consumption, 108 dB CMRR and 2.56 μVrms input referred noise. In-vivo long term implantation demonstrated the feasibility of presented integration scheme after 7 and 58 days of implantation. We expect the conceptual realization can be extended for higher density recording array by using the proposed method.

To develop new anticancer drug candidates from 2-arylnaphthyridin-4-one (AN), we have designed and synthesized a series of 3'-hydroxy and 6-hydroxy derivatives of AN. The results of cytotoxicity screening indicated that the replacement of the 3'-methoxy moiety on the C-ring phenyl group of AN (6a-e) with 3'-hydroxy (7a-e) made no significant effect on the inhibitory activity against HL-60, Hep3B and NCI-H460 cancer cell lines. On the other hand, replacing the 6-methoxy group on the A-ring of AN (6g-i) with a 6-hydroxy group (7g-i) resulted in reduced inhibitory activity against the above three cancer cell lines. Among the above-mentioned target compounds, 2-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-5-methyl-1,8-naphthyridin-4(1H)-one (7a) demonstrated the greatest potency and the best selectivity toward tumorigenic cancer cell lines. In a 7a preliminary mechanism of action study in Hep3B hepatoma cells, 7a showed the effects on microtubules followed by cell cycle arrest and sequentially led to apoptosis. In addition, a phosphate prodrug (11) of 7a exhibited significant antitumor activity when tested in a Hep3B xenograft nude mice model. Since compound 11 has demonstrated good development potential, it is recommended for further preclinical studies., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Heterogeneously integrated and miniaturized neural sensing microsystems are crucial for brain function investigation. In this paper, a 2.5D heterogeneously integrated bio-sensing microsystem with μ-probes and embedded through-silicon-via (TSVs) is presented for high-density neural sensing applications. This microsystem is composed of μ-probes with embedded TSVs, 4 dies and a silicon interposer. For capturing 16-channel neural signals, a 24 × 24 μ-probe array with embedded TSVs is fabricated on a 5×5 mm(2) chip and bonded on the back side of the interposer. Thus, each channel contains 6 × 6 μ -probes with embedded TSVs. Additionally, the 4 dies are bonded on the front side of the interposer and designed for biopotential acquisition, feature extraction and classification via low-power analog front-end (AFE) circuits, area-power-efficient analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), configurable discrete wavelet transforms (DWTs), filters, and a MCU. An on-interposer bus ( μ-SPI) is designed for transferring data on the interposer. Finally, the successful in-vivo test demonstrated the proposed 2.5D heterogeneously integrated bio-sensing microsystem. The overall power of this microsystem is only 676.3 μW for 16-channel neural sensing.

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of ambient temperatures on carcass characteristics of lambs fed concentrate diets with or without NaHCO3 supplementation. A slaughter study was carried on 12 male Black Belly Barbados lambs randomly drawn from a growth trial (35 weeks). The lambs were divided into four equal groups and allotted in a 2×2 factorial design. The lambs were allotted at random to two dietary treatments of a basal diet (35:65 roughage:concentrate) or basal diet supplemented with 4% NaHCO3 at different ambient temperatures (20°C and 30°C) in an environment controlled chamber for 10 days. Lambs were slaughtered for carcass evaluation at about 262 days of age (245 days of growth trial, 7 days adaptation and 10 days of experimental period). Ambient temperature had significant (p<0.05, p<0.05, p<0.01, and p<0.001) effects on meat color from the ribeye area (REA), fat, leg and longissimus dorsi muscles with higher values recorded for lambs in the lower temperature group than those from the higher ambient temperature group. Significant differences (p<0.05) in shear force value (kg/cm(2)) recorded on the leg muscles showed higher values (5.32 vs 4.16) in lambs under the lower ambient temperature group compared to the other group. Dietary treatments had significant (p<0.01, p<0.01, and p<0.05) effects on meat color from the REA, fat, and REA fat depth (cm(2)) with higher values recorded for lambs in the NaHCO3 supplementation group than the non supplemented group. Similarly, dietary treatments had significant differences (p<0.05) in shear force value (kg/cm(2)) of the leg muscles with the NaHCO3 groups recording higher (5.30 vs 4.60) values than those from the other group. Neither ambient temperature nor dietary treatments had any significant (p>0.05) effects on pH, and water holding capacity on both muscles. These results indicated that NaHCO3 supplementation at low ambient temperatures had caused an increase in carcass characteristics leading to significant effect on meat quality.

Three new clerodane diterpenes, (4→2)-abeo-cleroda-2,13E-dien-2,14-dioic acid (1), (4→2)-abeo-2,13-diformyl-cleroda-2,13E-dien-14-oic acid (2), and 16(R&S)- methoxycleroda-4(18),13-dien-15,16-olide (3), were isolated from the unripe fruit of Polyalthia longifolia var. pendula (Annonaceae) together with five known compounds (4-8). The structures of all isolates were determined by spectroscopic analysis. The anti-inflammatory activity of the isolates was evaluated by testing their inhibitory effect on NO production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. Among the isolated compounds, 16-hydroxycleroda-3,13-dien-15,16-olide (6) and 16-oxocleroda-3,13-dien-15-oic acid (7) showed promising NO inhibitory activity at 10 µg/mL, with 81.1% and 86.3%, inhibition, respectively.

Three lactic acid bacterial strains, Lactobacillus plantarum, HK006, and HK109, and Pediococcus pentosaceus PP31 exhibit probiotic potential as antiallergy agents, both in vitro and in vivo. However, the safety of these new strains requires evaluation when isolated from infant faeces or pickled cabbage. Multiple strains (HK006, HK109, and PP31) were subject to a bacterial reverse mutation assay and a short-term oral toxicity study. The powder product exhibited mutagenic potential in Salmonella Typhimurium strains TA98 and TA1535 (with or without metabolic activation). In the short-term oral toxicity study, rats received a normal dosage of 390 mg/kg/d (approximately 9 × 10(9) CFU/kg/d) or a high dosage of 1950 mg/kg/d (approximately 4.5 × 10(10) CFU/kg/d) for 28 d. No adverse effects were observed regarding the general condition, behaviour, growth, feed and water consumption, haematology, clinical chemistry indices, organ weights, or histopathologic analysis of the rats. These studies have demonstrated that the consumption of multiple bacterial strains is not associated with any signs of mutagenicity of S. Typhimurium or toxicity in Wistar rats, even after consuming large quantities of bacteria.

Purpose: This study systemically reviewed the published literature on the ICF core set., Method: A computer search of the MEDLINE, PubMed and SCOPUS databases was conducted between 2001 and December 2012. Articles reporting on the development of a set or sets of ICF categories for specific disease or health conditions were selected for a systematic review., Results: The analysis included 116 articles from 36 journals, with the majority of papers having been published in 2011 and 2012. In these studies, spinal cord injury was the most frequently reported disease. The majority of the experts involved in the consensus process were physicians and physical therapists., Conclusion: This systematic review of studies on ICF core sets provided background information on the current developmental status of ICF core sets. Our findings also highlight possible directions for future research.

HER2 has become a solicitous therapeutic target in metastatic and clinical drug-resistant cancer. Here, we evaluated whether or not 1-benzyl-3-(5-hydroxymethyl-2-furyl)indazole (YC-1) and its furopyrazole and thienopyrazole analogues repress the expression of the HER2 protein. Among the test compounds, (1-benzyl-3-(p-hydroxymethylphenyl)-5-methylfuro[3,2-c]pyrazol) (CLC604), an isosteric analogue of YC-1, significantly suppressed the expression of HER2, and preferentially inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in HER2-overexpressing cancer cells. Our results revealed that CLC604 reduced HER2 expression through a post-transcriptional mechanism and involvement of proteasomal activity. CLC604 disrupted the association of 90-kDa heat shock protein (Hsp90) with HER2 resulting from the inhibition of Hsp90 ATPase activity. Moreover, we found that CLC604 significantly enhanced the antitumor efficacy of clinical drugs against HER2-overexpressing tumors and efficiently reduced HER2-induced drug resistance in vitro and in vivo. These findings suggest that CLC604 should be developed further as a novel antitumor drug candidate for the treatment of drug-resistant cancer.

We synthesized and evaluated a series of 2,4-disubstituted furo[3,2-b]indole derivatives for anticancer activity and established the structure-activity relationships (SARs) of these compounds. Among all tested compounds, we found (5-((2-(hydroxymethyl)-4H-furo[3,2-b]indol-4-yl)methyl)furan-2-yl)methanol (10a) to be the most promising agent. In screening against NCI-60 human tumor cell lines, 10a exhibited highly selective anticancer activity and significant inhibitory activity against A498 renal cancer cells. Our COMPARE analysis results suggest that the 10a fingerprint is similar to that of NSC-754549, which is an isostere of YC-1. We further confirmed the significant antitumor activity of compound 10a with tests in the A498 xenograft nude mice model. Therefore, compound 10a should be further developed as a new drug candidate for treating renal cancer., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

The transcription factor pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1 (PDX1) plays an essential role in pancreatic development and in maintaining proper islet function via target gene regulation. Few intestinal PDX1 targets, however, have been described. We sought to define novel PDX1-regulated intestinal genes. Caco-2 human intestinal epithelial cells were engineered to overexpress PDX1 and gene expression profiles relative to control cells were assessed. Expression of 80 genes significantly increased while that of 49 genes significantly decreased more than 4-fold following PDX1 overexpression in differentiated Caco-2 cells. Analysis of the differentially regulated genes with known functional annotations revealed genes encoding transcription factors, growth factors, kinases, digestive glycosidases, nutrient transporters, nutrient binding proteins, and structural components. The gene for fatty acid binding protein 1, liver, FABP1, is repressed by PDX1 in Caco-2 cells. PDX1 overexpression in Caco-2 cells also results in repression of promoter activity driven by the 0.6kb FABP1 promoter. PDX1 regulation of promoter activity is consistent with the decrease in FABP1 RNA abundance resulting from PDX1 overexpression and identifies FABP1 as a candidate PDX1 target. PDX1 repression of FABP1, LCT, and SI suggests a role for PDX1 in patterning anterior intestinal development., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Motivation: Gene regulation involves complicated mechanisms such as cooperativity between a set of transcription factors (TFs). Previous studies have used target genes shared by two TFs as a clue to infer TF-TF interactions. However, this task remains challenging because the target genes with low binding affinity are frequently omitted by experimental data, especially when a single strict threshold is employed. This article aims at improving the accuracy of inferring TF-TF interactions by incorporating motif discovery as a fundamental step when detecting overlapping targets of TFs based on ChIP-chip data., Results: The proposed method, simTFBS, outperforms three naïve methods that adopt fixed thresholds when inferring TF-TF interactions based on ChIP-chip data. In addition, simTFBS is compared with two advanced methods and demonstrates its advantages in predicting TF-TF interactions. By comparing simTFBS with predictions based on the set of available annotated yeast TF binding motifs, we demonstrate that the good performance of simTFBS is indeed coming from the additional motifs found by the proposed procedures., Supplementary Information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Background: Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), which is secreted by preantral and small antral follicles, has been found to be a valuable marker of ovarian reserve. The purpose of this study was to determine age-related changes in AMH levels that occur in Taiwanese women and to determine whether measuring AMH is a highly sensitive and specific tool for diagnosing polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) in Taiwanese women., Methods: A group of 59 healthy, fertile, regularly cycling women, a second group of seven patients with premature ovarian failure or menopause, and a third group of 45 PCOS patients were enrolled. Serum AMH concentrations were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay., Results: AMH levels in healthy fertile women with regular menstrual cycles demonstrated an age-related decline, with a rapid drop between 30-40 years of age that was followed by a slow decrease after 40 years old. All patients with premature ovarian failure and menopause had undetectable AMH levels. AMH levels in PCOS patients were found to be significantly higher than those measured in healthy fertile controls. The sensitivity and specificity of AMH for detecting PCOS in patients aged 29-38 years were calculated to be 74% and 79%, respectively, using an AMH cut-off value of 3.5 ng/mL., Conclusion: Here, we provide data on Taiwanese women that demonstrate age-related decline in AMH levels and establish an AMH-based method for detecting PCOS, which may be used as reference data for future AMH studies on Taiwanese women., (Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier B.V.)