Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) is the method most commonly used to assess patients with suspected coronary artery disease for the presence of myocardial ischemia and risk of subsequent adverse ...cardiac events. Studies are limited on the incidence of major adverse cardiac event (MACE) in patients with normal MPI results.
The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence and risk factors of MACE in patients with normal or near-normal MPI results.
In this single-center retrospective chart review study, patients who had received MPI tests at a nuclear medicine department of a medical center in 2017 were consecutively enrolled. All of the participants in this study were patients with normal or near-normal MPI results, and were followed for two years to assess the incidence of MACE (death, hospitalized for percutaneous coronary intervention; CABG, heart failure and stroke). Participants with or without MACE were compared to determine whether demographic, comorbidity, and MPI data were significant risk facto
Work-related stress (WS) can result in considerable and extensive changes in physiological and psychological performance. WS beyond the optimal levels induces anxiety, confusion, exhaustion, and ...burnout. Chronic WS affects neurocognitive performance, particularly attention and visuospatial memory. Essence of chicken (EC) has been reported to improve neurocognitive function after mental stress.To investigate the beneficial effects of EC in improving neurocognitive performance under WS, we conducted a randomized, double blind trial. Total 102 young workers in New Taipei City with high WS, evaluated using the Individual Subjective Perception Job Stress Scale scores (>36 for job leaders and 33 for nonleaders) were recruited. Fifty-one participants received 70 mL of EC and 51 received a placebo daily for 2 weeks. Blood tests and neurocognitive assessment were performed before treatment, at the end of treatment, and 2 weeks after treatment.EC improved the performance of participants with high depression scores in the form-color associative memory test, used for assessing short-term memory. Although creatinine and glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (GPT) levels increased in week 2, but the levels returned to the baseline in week 4. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels decreased in week 4.EC significantly improved short-term memory in participants with high WS and concomitant depressive mood, although it slightly increased GPT and creatinine levels and reduced BUN levels. The long-term treatment effects of EC warrant further investigation.
AbstractThe velocity characteristics of a solitary wave shoaling in the prebreaking zone and near the breaking point are investigated experimentally. The study focuses on the near-bottom and boundary ...layer flows on a 1:10 slope, with the incident wave steepness varying from 0.133 to 0.384. Both a flow visualization technique (FVT) with thin-layered dye as well as particle image velocimetry (PIV) with a high-speed camera were used. Results from FVT reveal that laminar boundary layer flow occurs not only in the prebreaking zone during the shoaling phases, but also in the postbreaking zone during the run-up and run-down phases. However, the laminar boundary layer disappears soon after breaking but before the run-up motion, and immediately after the flow separation followed by hydraulic jump during the later stage of the run-down motion. Results from the PIV measurement show that the maximum horizontal velocity appears under the wave crest and increases during the shoaling process. Flow reversal is observed after the passage of the wave crest. Three unique similarity profiles are then obtained for the velocity distributions in the acceleration phases and in the layers of flow reversal with overshooting, as well as for the maximum onshore and offshore velocities in the boundary layer. In addition, the nondimensional time for the beginning of flow reversal at each measuring section is found to be exponentially proportional to the dimensionless distance to the slope origin, but nearly independent of the incident wave steepness. This study also investigates the lead-time effects of the horizontal velocity at different heights in the boundary layer and at different measuring sections along the slope. The maximum value of the nondimensional lead time, occurring very close to the sloping bottom, decreases linearly with the dimensionless distance to the toe of the slope.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is among the most lethal human malignancies, and curative therapy is not an option for most patients. There is growing interest in the potential benefit of combining ...targeted therapies with radiation therapy (RT). This study aimed to characterize the efficacy and mechanism of an investigational drug, dovitinib, used in combination with RT.
HCC cell lines (PLC5, Hep3B, SK-Hep1, HA59T, and Huh-7) were treated with dovitinib, RT, or both, and apoptosis and signal transduction were analyzed.
Dovitinib treatment resulted in Src homology region 2 (SH2) domain-containing phosphatase 1 (SHP-1)-mediated downregulation of p-STAT3 and promoted potent apoptosis of HCC cells. Ectopic expression of STAT3, or inhibition of SHP-1, diminished the effects of dovitinib on HCC cells. By ectopic expression and purified recombinant proteins of various mutant forms of SHP-1, the N-SH2 domain of SHP-1 was found to be required for dovitinib treatment. Overexpression of STAT3 or catalytic-dead mutant SHP-1 restored RT-induced reduction of HCC cell survival. Conversely, ectopic expression of SHP-1 or activation of SHP-1 by dovitinib enhanced the effects of RT against HCC in vitro and in vivo.
SHP-1/STAT3 signaling is critically associated with the radiosensitivity of HCC cells. Combination therapy with RT and the SHP-1 agonist, such as dovitinib, resulted in enhanced in vitro and in vivo anti-HCC effects.
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GEOZS, IJS, NUK, OILJ, UL, UM, UPUK
Super short channel control (sub-threshold swing = 95 mV/dec) in Ge n-type Fin Field-Effect Transistors (n-FinFETs) is achieved through the promising gate stack characteristics of gate leakage ...(Jg)-equivalent-oxide-thickness (EOT) and ultra-high k-value (∼312) with the implement of the magnetic gate stack scheme. On the other hand, the negative capacitance effect is also observed in the magnetic Ge n-FinFETs by the extraction of the body factor (m = 0.47) at low temperature measurement. The proposed magnetic gate stack scheme (tetragonal-phase BaTiO3 as the dielectric layer and magnetic FePt film as the metal gate) in the Ge n-FinFETs has super Jg-EOT characteristics, negative capacitance phenomenon, and promising transistor performance. It provides the useful solution for the future low power mobile devices designed on the high mobility (Ge) material.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
The feature of this BCD180 process is flexible to plug-in varied high voltage devices based on fundamental 1.8V/5V BCD process, and we present the plug-in LDMOS reach to 150V operation voltage in ...this paper.
Membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN) is viewed as an immune-mediated glomerular disease, with immunologic expression occurring in genetically susceptible persons. The cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) ...gene polymorphism is known to impair intracellular signaling pathways following adaptive immune response. Our study gauged the effects of IL-6 C-572G (rs1800796) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on MGN among Taiwan's Han Chinese population, as analyzed in 265 controls and 106 MGN patients. Genotyping for IL-6 C-572G SNP was performed by restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. Data showed stark differences in genotype and allele frequency distributions at IL-6 C-572G SNP between MGN patients and controls (p = 1.6E-04 and 1.7E-04, respectively). People with C allele or with CC genotype at IL-6 C-572G SNP showed higher risk of MGN (odds ratio = 2.42 and 2.71, respectively; 95% confidence interval = 1.51-3.87 and 1.60-4.60, respectively). These point to IL-6 C-572G polymorphism as the underlying cause of MGN; polymorphism merits further investigation.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We report here the development of a probe-based ultraweak chemiluminescence (uwCL) method capable of detecting a panel of four oxygen-derived free radicals (ODFRs) including superoxide (O2 -), ...hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), hydroxyl radical (•OH), and peroxyl radical (ROO•) using different probes specific for these radicals performed by the same uwCL analyzer. The selected radical-generating systems and their corresponding uwCL-probing emitters were validated. These ODFR-detecting systems were subsequently utilized by us to assess the radical-scavenging ability (RSA) of a variety of extracts and purified constituents derived from foods and herbal preparations. Our approach for assessing RSA for these constituents is based on the suppression of uwCL generated by each ODFR, and the degrees of inhibition have been shown to be dose-dependent. For this reason, the estimation of IC50 for each testing compound can be obtained from the curve constructed based on the percent of inhibitions of uwCL versus the concentrations of the compound tested. To illustrate the practical applications of our devised methodology, data for comparative studies of RSA activities of fermented extracts of Cordeceps sinensis, purified methylgallate isolated from Toona sinesis, resveratrol purified from grape seeds, plus epimedin C from the aerial part of the Epimedium plant (yinyanghuo) are to be presented. Keywords: Probe-based free radical detection; radical-scavenging ability; food extracts; herbal constituents
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM, UPUK
We report the central nervous system manifestations, neuropsychological studies and brain magnetic resonance image (MRI) findings of two patients with acute thallium intoxication. Neurologically the ...patients suffered from confusion, disorientation, and hallucination in the acute stage, followed by anxiety, depression, lack of attention, and memory impairment, in addition to peripheral neuropathy. Neuropsychological tests revealed an impairment of memory function, including reversed digital span, memory registration, memory recall, memory recognition, similarity, proverb reasoning, and verbal fluency. High concentrations of thallium were found in the urine, blood, and drinking water of these two patients. Brain MRI showed lesions in the corpus striatum in one patient. During the follow-up periods, the clinical manifestations and neuropsychological studies showed a slowly progressive improvement, and a follow-up brain MRI 1.5 months later demonstrated a resolution of the lesions.
We conclude that thallium intoxication might induce encephalopathy, and brain MRI studies demonstrated the acute-stage brain lesions in a severe intoxicated patient. In addition, neuropsychological tests also confirmed memory deficits, although the brain lesions in the corpus striatum might resolve.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
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