GnRH agonist (GnRHa) has been reported to have direct effects and functional roles in the endometrium and embryos. Several meta-analyses have shown that GnRHa administration in the luteal phase ...improved the live birth rate or pregnancy rate in both fresh and frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles. The aim of this study was to investigate whether luteal GnRHa administration could also improve in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes in patients undergoing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) cycles with GnRHa suppression.
The retrospective cohort study included a total of 350 patients undergoing GnRHa-HRT FET cycles. The study group included 179 patients receiving an additional single dose of GnRHa in the luteal phase following embryo transfer. A total of 171 patients in the control group did not receive luteal GnRHa. The baseline and cycle characteristics and reproductive outcomes were compared between the two groups.
Baseline and cycle characteristics were similar between the two groups, except lower AMH levels were found in the luteal GnRHa group than in the control group. The luteal GnRHa group had a significantly higher ongoing pregnancy rate and live birth rate than the control group. The multivariate analysis revealed that luteal GnRHa administration was positively associated with ongoing pregnancy (OR 2.04, 95% CI 1.20-3.47, P = 0.008) and live birth (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.20-3.45, P = 0.009). When the subgroup of patients with recurrent implantation failure was analyzed, the multivariate analysis also showed that luteal GnRHa administration had beneficial effects on ongoing pregnancy (OR 4.55, 95% CI 1.69-12.30, P = 0.003) and live birth (OR 4.30, 95% CI 1.59-11.65, P = 0.004).
Our data suggest that the addition of one luteal dose of GnRHa may improve the live birth rate in patients undergoing the GnRHa-HRT protocol.
Background
Total laparoscopic donor right hepatectomy (TLDRH) for adult living liver donors has been reported by a few experienced centers, but with limited cases, its safety and feasibility remain ...controversial. We report our experience initiating TLDRH using a stepwise approach to gradually convert laparoscopy-assisted donor right hepatectomy (LADRH) to TLDRH.
Methods
We retrospectively analyzed the data of 61 LADRHs, 56 conventional open donor right hepatectomies (CODRHs), and 3 TLDRHs performed between March 2014 and June 2018.
Results
There were no significant differences in perioperative outcomes between donors undergoing LADRH and CODRH, except for a slight elevations in the operative time (436.5 vs 392.9 min,
p
< 0.001) and the graft warm ischemic time (5.4 vs 4.0 min,
p
< 0.001) in the LADRH group. The recipients' posttransplant one-year survival rates in the LADRH and CODRH groups were also similar (93.2% and 94.6%,
p
= 0.384). For three donors in whom TLDRH was converted from LADRH in a stepwise manner, the average operative time and blood loss were 570 min and 316.7 ml, respectively. Donors were discharged on postoperative day 10 without any surgical complications.
Conclusions
LADRH can be performed routinely on liver living donors. A stepwise approach could be adopted to “covert” suitable donors from LADRH to a total laparoscopic procedure to maximize donor safety. This strategy is reliable and could be reproduced in most LDLT centers.
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is now widely used as an adjuvant for in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles in poor ovarian responders (PORs). Several studies showed that DHEA supplementation could ...improve IVF outcomes of PORs. However, most of the PORs do not respond to DHEA clinically. Therefore, the aim of this study is to confirm the beneficial effects of DHEA on IVF outcomes of PORs and to investigate which subgroups of PORs can best benefit from DHEA supplementation.
This retrospective cohort study was performed between January 2015 and December 2017. A total of 151 PORs who fulfilled the Bologna criteria and underwent IVF cycles with the gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist protocol were identified. The study group (n = 67) received 90 mg of DHEA daily for an average of 3 months before the IVF cycles. The control group (n = 84) underwent the IVF cycles without DHEA pretreatment. The basic and cycle characteristics and IVF outcomes between the two groups were compared using independent t-tests, Chi-Square tests and binary logistic regression.
The study and control groups did not show significant differences in terms of basic characteristics. The study group demonstrated a significantly greater number of retrieved oocytes, metaphase II oocytes, fertilized oocytes, day 3 embryos and top-quality embryos at day 3 and a higher clinical pregnancy rate, ongoing pregnancy rate and live birth rate than those measures in the control group. The multivariate analysis revealed that DHEA supplementation was positively associated with clinical pregnancy rate (OR = 4.93, 95% CI 1.68-14.43, p = 0.004). Additionally, in the study group, the multivariate analysis showed that serum dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S) levels < 180 μg/dl were significantly associated with a rate of retrieved oocytes > 3 (OR = 5.92, 95% CI 1.48-23.26, p = 0.012).
DHEA supplementation improves IVF outcomes of PORs. In PORs with DHEA pretreatment, women with lower DHEA-S level may have greater possibility of attaining more than 3 oocytes.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (anti-GAD) antibodies are associated with different types of syndromes. However, few studies have investigated the correlation between anti-GAD antibody titers with ...clinical severity and outcomes in children with encephalitis/encephalopathy. In this single-center retrospective cohort study, we consecutively enrolled hospitalized children who had encephalitis and/or encephalopathy with positive anti-GAD antibodies in serum and/or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from February 2010 to October 2021. Thirty-seven patients were included and divided into high-titer and low-titer groups. The patients with high anti-GAD antibody titers were associated with initial symptoms of language difficulty and ataxia. The level of titers was not associated with severity or outcomes. Anti-GAD antibody titers decreased after immunotherapy, however, the clinical response to immunotherapy was variable. A transient elevation in anti-GAD antibody titers during immunotherapy was noted. Further studies are warranted to investigate the role of anti-GAD antibodies in the pathogenesis and immune mechanisms of encephalitis/encephalopathy.
Ovarian cancer comprises one of the three major malignant tumor types in the female reproductive system. The mortality rate of this cancer is the highest among all gynecological tumors, with ovarian ...cancer metastasis constituting an important cause of death. Therefore, markers for disease prediction and prognosis are highly desirable for early diagnosis as well as for helping optimize and personalize treatment. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs), which consist of short-sequence RNAs that do not encode a protein, have emerged as new biomarkers in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer. By pairing with bases specific to the target messenger RNA (mRNA), miRNAs cause degradation of the target mRNA or inhibit its translation, thereby regulating various cellular processes including cell proliferation and adhesion. Increasing numbers of studies have shown that miRNA expression abnormality plays an important role in the development of ovarian cancer. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms of miRNA action, current research regarding their role in the suppression or promotion of ovarian cancer, and their use as markers for diagnosis of prognosis or as therapeutic targets for this disease. Finally, we present future perspectives regarding the clinical management of ovarian cancer and the role for miRNAs therein.
Abstract Objective Previous studies have demonstrated the association between Cushing’s syndrome (CS), obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and the risk factors for OSA, but rarely provided the evidence ...within a large population. Using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, we attempted to investigate the association between CS and OSA, and to provide persuading evidences. Methods In our study, 1612 patients with CS and 1612 age-, sex-, and comorbidities-matched controls were included, and followed up to the end of 2011. Cases of OSA were identified during the follow-up. Results Among patients with CS, 53 developed OSA (incidence: 4.11 per thousand person-year) compared with 22 in the control group (incidence: 1.70 per thousand person-year) during the follow-up ( p <.001). CS patients had a 2.82-fold higher risk of developing OSA (HR = 2.82; 95% CI: 1.67–4.77) in later life. Discussion Our study was the first longitudinal study to support the temporal association between CS and risk of OSA. Patients with CS were associated with an increased likelihood of OSA. Further studies would be required to investigate the exact underlying mechanisms between CS and OSA, and elucidate whether the prompt intervention for CS may reduce the risk of subsequent OSA.
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•SFE with peanut oil as modifier was used to extract tanshinones from danshen.•RSM was used to optimize parameters (flow rate, modifier and pressure).•Results of SFE with peanut oil ...surpassed that of traditional extractions.•Time of SFE was more efficient than Soxhlet and ultrasonic extraction.
Identifying an appropriate experimental design and modeling approach is key in achieving optimal extraction of dihydrotanshinone, cryptotanshinone, tanshinone I, and tanshinone IIA from danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza) through supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) with peanut oil as a modifier. Three factors and levels were evaluated, namely flow rate (2–6 L/min), modifier concentration (40%–80%), and pressure (35–45 MPa). High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was applied to quantify the four compounds, and accuracy and precision tests were conducted to verify the HPLC. The predicted optimal conditions were 3.23 L/min, 52.21%, and 38.50 MPa for flow rate, modifier concentration, and pressure, respectively; in total, 1.472, 3.690, 12.095, and 17.125 mg/g of dihydrotanshinone, cryptotanshinone, tanshinone I, and tanshinone IIA were obtained, respectively. The current results reveal SFE to be more efficient and (with a peanut oil as modifier) requiring a shorter extraction time than Soxhlet and ultrasonic extraction.
Data regarding the efficacy and tolerability of elbasvir/grazoprevir (EBR/GZR) for East-Asian hepatitis C virus genotype 1b (HCV GT1b) patients receiving hemodialysis were limited. We prospectively ...recruited 40 HCV GT1b hemodialysis patients who received EBR/GZR for 12 weeks at 6 academic centers in Taiwan. The efficacy endpoints were sustained virologic response 12 weeks off-therapy (SVR
) by intention-to-treat (ITT) modified ITT (mITT) analyses. Patients' baseline characteristics, early viral kinetics and HCV resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) at HCV non-structural 3 and 5 A (NS3 and NS5A) regions potentially affecting SVR
were analyzed. The tolerability for EBR/GZR was also assessed. The SVR
rates by ITT and mITT analyses were 95% (38 of 40 patients; 95% confidence interval (CI): 83.5-98.6%) and 100% (38 of 38 patients; 95% CI: 90.8-100%), respectively. Patients' baseline characteristics, on-treatment viral decline, and baseline HCV RASs did not affect SVR
. All patients tolerated treatment well. Among 5 patients who had serious adverse events (AEs) including one death due to on-treatment suicide and the other death due to off-therapy acute myocardial infarction, none of these events were judged related to EBR/GZR. The common AEs included upper respiratory tract infection (7.5%), fatigue (5.0%) and anorexia (5.0%). Nine (22.5%) and 8 (20.0%) patients had on-treatment hemoglobin levels of 9.0-10.0 g/dL and 7.0-9.0 g/dL. Three (7.5%) patients had on-treatment elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) quotient > 2.5, in whom one (2.5%) had EBR/GZR-induced late ALT elevation. No patients developed hyperbilirubinemia or hepatic decompensation. In conclusion, treatment with EBR/GZR is effective and well-tolerated for East-Asian HCV GT1b patients receiving hemodialysis.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) are the two most common forms of dementia. However, their neuropsychological and pathological features often overlap, making it difficult to ...distinguish between AD and VaD. In addition to clinical consultation and laboratory examinations, clinical dementia diagnosis in Taiwan will also include Tc-99m-ECD SPECT imaging examination. Through machine learning and deep learning technology, we explored the feasibility of using the above clinical practice data to distinguish AD and VaD. We used the physiological data (33 features) and Tc-99m-ECD SPECT images of 112 AD patients and 85 VaD patients in the Taiwanese Nuclear Medicine Brain Image Database to train the classification model. The results, after filtering by the number of SVM RFE 5-fold features, show that the average accuracy of physiological data in distinguishing AD/VaD is 81.22% and the AUC is 0.836; the average accuracy of training images using the Inception V3 model is 85% and the AUC is 0.95. Finally, Grad-CAM heatmap was used to visualize the areas of concern of the model and compared with the SPM analysis method to further understand the differences. This research method can quickly use machine learning and deep learning models to automatically extract image features based on a small amount of general clinical data to objectively distinguish AD and VaD.
To determine the incidence and risk of Parkinson disease (PD) in patients with Sjögren syndrome (SS) according to a nationwide population-based database.In total, 12,640 patients in the SS cohort and ...50,560 in the non-SS cohort were enrolled from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database from 2000 to 2010. We used the Cox multivariable proportional hazards model to determine the risk factors for PD in the SS cohort.We observed an increased incidence of PD in patients with SS, with a crude hazard ratio (HR) of 1.40 and an adjusted HR (aHR) of 1.23. The cumulative incidence of PD was 1.95% higher in the SS cohort than in the non-SS cohort. The SS cohort had an elevated HR under medication use, namely cevimeline and pilocarpine (crude HR, 1.28), hydroxychloroquine (crude HR, 1.43; aHR, 1.46), and methylprednisolone (crude HR, 2.21; aHR, 1.49). Patients receiving other non-hydroxychloroquine immunosuppressant therapies had a lower risk (aHR, 0.86) of PD. Furthermore, patients with SS aged 20 to 49 years had a 1.93-fold higher risk of PD than did those without SS (aHR, 1.93). The risk of PD was higher (aHR, 2.20) in patients with SS without comorbidities than in those with comorbidities. The aHR of PD significantly increased when the follow-up period exceeded 9 years (aHR, 1.93).We determined an increased risk of PD in patients with SS. Further investigation is warranted to determine the possible underlying mechanisms and the potential role of non-hydroxychloroquine immunosuppressants in ameliorating PD.
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