Summary
Background
Lipid‐lowering effect was observed during treatment with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) for chronic hepatitis B (CHB). However, the metabolic features in patients switching ...from TDF to tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) remain unclear.
Aims
To compare the impacts of switching from TDF to TAF or from entecavir to TAF on body weight and metabolic features in patients with CHB.
Methods
This was a multi‐centre, prospective, observational study in patients with CHB on TDF or entecavir who switched to TAF. Baseline characteristics, lipid profile and sugar profile were determined. This study received IRB approval from each hospital.
Results
We enrolled 177 patients on TDF (99) or entecavir (78) and followed them for 48 weeks after the switch to TAF. At baseline, TDF‐experienced patients had lower serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol than entecavir‐experienced patients. The switch from TDF to TAF significantly increased body weight, triglyceride, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, fasting glucose, glycaemic haemoglobin, insulin and insulin resistance. The switch from entecavir to TAF did not affect these measures. There was no significant difference in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk scores between groups.
Conclusions
The switch from TDF to TAF was associated with weight gain, derangements of lipid profile, and increased insulin resistance in patients with CHB. Long‐term effects on these metabolic features need further investigation.
Body weight increase and metabolic derangements after TDF switch to TAF in patients with chronic hepatitis B.
Electrical conductivity properties of Ge {100}, {110}, {111}, and {211} facets have been measured by breaking Ge (100) and (111) wafers to expose {110} and {211} surfaces and contacting the different ...facets with tungsten probes. Ge {111} and {211} faces are far more conductive than the already conductive Ge {100} and {110} faces, matching with recent density functional theory (DFT) predictions. Asymmetric I–V curves resembling those of p‐n junctions have been collected for the {110}/{111} and {110}/{211} facet combinations. The current‐rectifying effects stem from different degrees of surface band bending for the highly and less conductive faces and the direction of current flow. This work demonstrates that germanium wafers also possess facet‐dependent electrical conductivity responses that can be utilized in the fabrication of novel fin field‐effect transistors (finFET).
Band bending: Tungsten probes are used to make contacts to the {100}, {110}, {111}, and {211} surfaces of Ge wafers and facet‐dependent electrical conductivity properties of Ge are revealed. Furthermore, asymmetrical I–V curves have been obtained for the {110}/{111} and {110}/{211} facet combinations, suggesting that a novel field‐effect transistor design is possible.
Background
Childhood pneumonia is a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Growing evidence suggests that lung ultrasound (LUS) may be a reliable diagnostic alternative to chest x‐ray for childhood ...pneumonia. However, it is unclear whether sonographer experience affects the diagnostic accuracy of LUS. We summarize the diagnostic accuracy of LUS for pneumonia and compare the performance between novice and advanced sonographers with a systematic review and meta‐analysis.
Methods
We searched PubMed and EMBASE from inception to February 2018 for eligible studies that evaluated the utility of LUS in children suspected of having pneumonia against the reference standard of either imaging results alone or a combination of clinical, laboratory, and imaging results. We reported the study using the Preferred Reporting Items for a Systematic Review and Meta‐analysis of Diagnostic Test Accuracy Studies. We used QUADAS‐2 to appraise the included studies’ methodologic quality. We employed a random‐effect bivariate model and a hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic curve to evaluate LUS's performance characteristics. We conducted subgroup analyses and meta‐regression based on level of sonographer training to summarize and compare LUS's diagnostic accuracy for pneumonia between novice (training ≤ 7 days) and advanced sonographers.
Results
Twenty‐five studies (n = 3,353) were included in the meta‐analysis. For diagnosing pneumonia, LUS demonstrated an overall sensitivity of 0.94 (95% confidence interval CI = 0.89 to 0.97), specificity of 0.92 (95% CI = 0.78 to 0.98), positive likelihood ratio of 12.40 (95% CI = 4.00 to 38.10), and negative likelihood ratio of 0.07 (95% CI = 0.04 to 0.12), with an area under ROC curve of 0.97 (95% CI = 0.95 to 0.98). Meta‐regression revealed a significant difference in the diagnostic accuracy for pneumonia for LUS between novice and advanced sonographers (p < 0.01).
Conclusion
LUS can accurately diagnose pneumonia in children. However, this test demonstrates operator‐dependent variability, with more experienced sonographers having higher diagnostic accuracy. Further work on evidence‐based educational methods to train novice sonographers in LUS is required.
Background
The early stage of the COVID‐19 pandemic was a critical time for increasing loneliness, especially for older people. However, there is insufficient existing research on associated ...interventions and their effectiveness.
Aim
This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of an 8‐week online interactive course on the loneliness, depression, social support, and quality of life (QOL) of older adults in the community during the COVID‐19 pandemic.
Methods
A single‐blind randomized controlled trial was conducted to collect data from a community in Taiwan. Eighty‐nine participants recruited from long‐term care institutions were randomly divided into an experimental group (n = 44) and a control group (n = 45). Participants in the experimental group received an 8‐week (Monday to Friday) intensive online interactive course, whereas those in the control group watched 8 weeks (Monday to Friday) of unidirectional online video programs.
Results
Significant differences were observed in the UCLA Loneliness Scale and in both the psychological health and social relationship domains of the WHO Quality of Life‐BREF Scale. In other words, compared with those in the control group, participants in the experimental group experienced more significant improvements in the state of their loneliness as well as QOL in the psychological health and social relationship domains (without the physical health/environment domains) after taking the online interactive course.
Conclusions
The results of this study showed that the 8‐week online interactive course could effectively improve the loneliness, the psychological health domain, and the social relationship domain of the QOL of the older adults of a particular community during the ongoing pandemic. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2023; 23: 91–97.
•Bidirectional interactive activities have a better efficacy in reducing loneliness and improving quality of life.
•Online social support may help to alleviate loneliness and isolation, making it an appropriate solution in this ongoing pandemic situation.
•The 8‐week intensive online interactive course successfully improved loneliness and improved quality of life during the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic.
Relying on physiological or behavioral traits for identity recognition, biometric technologies offer several advantages over conventional possession- and knowledge-based approaches and are now widely ...used in diverse applications. However, as most biometrics (e.g., fingerprints, irises, etc.) in use are extrinsic, susceptible to replay attacks, and could result in the disclosure of individuals' physiological and pathological conditions, security and privacy concerns must be considered. In this paper, several electrocardiogram (ECG)-based cancelable biometric schemes are proposed to mitigate such concerns. The intrinsic and dynamic nature of ECGs and their inherent indication of life make them extremely difficult to steal or counterfeit. Using the concept of "signal subspace collapsing," distinct biometric templates associated with an individual's ECGs can be constructed such that it is possible to revoke a compromised template like a password. By incorporating different strategies for common subspace suppression, the well-known multiple signal classification method can effectively determine the identity of any individual just via his/her ECGs. Unlike existing cancelable biometrics, the recognition can be accomplished without knowledge of the distortion transformation, which further increases the difficulty of recovering the original ECGs from their templates. Various experiments with real ECGs from 285 subjects are conducted to illustrate the efficacy of the proposed schemes.
Data regarding the real-world effectiveness and safety of sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (SOF/VEL) with or without low-dose ribavirin (RBV) in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and ...severe renal impairment (RI) are limited. We evaluated the performance of SOF/VEL with or without low-dose RBV in HCV-infected patients with chronic kidney disease stage 4 or 5.
191 patients with compensated (n=181) and decompensated (n=10) liver diseases receiving SOF/VEL (400/100 mg/day) alone and SOF/VEL with low-dose RBV (200 mg/day) for 12 weeks were retrospectively recruited at 15 academic centres in Taiwan. The effectiveness was determined by sustained virological response at off-treatment week 12 (SVR
) in evaluable (EP) and per-protocol populations (PP). The safety profiles were assessed.
The SVR
rates by EP and PP analyses were 94.8% (95% CI 90.6% to 97.1%) and 100% (95% CI 97.9% to 100%). In patients with compensated liver disease, the SVR
rates were 95.0% and 100% by EP and PP analyses. In patients with decompensated liver disease, the SVR
rates were 90.0% and 100% by EP and PP analyses. Ten patients who failed to achieve SVR
were attributed to non-virological failures. Among the 20 serious adverse events (AEs), none were judged related to SOF/VEL or RBV. The AEs occurring in ≥10% included fatigue (14.7%), headache (14.1%), nausea (12.6%), insomnia (12.0%) and pruritus (10.5%). None had ≥grade 3 total bilirubin or alanine aminotransferase elevations.
SOF/VEL with or without low-dose RBV is effective and well-tolerated in HCV-infected patients with severe RI.
Deep cutaneous fungal infections (DCFI) are cutaneous and subcutaneous infectious diseases caused by fungi. Multiple genera of pathogenic fungi have been reported to cause DCFI. Herein, we report ...three rare cases of Pleosporales deep cutaneous infection in a southern Taiwan medical center. We evaluated the clinical manifestations, histopathological findings, pathogens, treatments and outcomes. The patients were a 77‐year‐old woman, a 78‐year‐old woman and an 81‐year‐old man, who lived in rural tropical areas. The lesions were erythematous noduloplaques with dark spots located on the upper extremities. Sequence‐based identification showed three different fungi of the order Pleosporales, namely Nigrograna mackinnonii, Medicopsis romeroi and Parathyridaria percutanea. All three cases received 200 mg of oral itraconazole daily for 10, 2 and 8 months, respectively. Two of them are free of diseases to date, and one improved partially but did not complete the treatment. Molecular tools are helpful for the identification of DCFI to exact species, which is key to successful treatment.
The itemization difference of patient-reported outcome (PRO) in hepatitis patients with different etiologies remains elusive in Asia. We aimed to assess the characteristics and the difference of ...health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in chronic hepatitis B (CHB), chronic hepatitis C (CHC), and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients.
We conducted the study in an outpatient setting. The 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) was completed by the patients upon the initial diagnosis and recruitment for a long-term follow-up purpose. The PRO results were also assessed by disease severity.
There were 244 patients (198 males) of CHB, 54 patients (29 males) of CHC, and 129 patients (85 males) of NAFLD, respectively. CHC patient had the mean score of 67.1 ± 23.3 in physical component summary (PCS) of the SF-36 health survey, which was significantly lower than CHB patients (76.4 ± 19.5), and NAFLD patients (77.5 ± 13.7), respectively (p = 0.001). The significantly lower performance of PCS in CHC patients was mainly attributed to the lower performance in physical functioning and bodily pain components. Higher fibrosis 4 index scores were significantly associated with lower PCS scores in all patient groups. There was no significant difference of mean mental component summary (MCS) between groups. However, NAFLD patients had significantly lower mental health scores than other groups (p = 0.02).
The significant difference of HRQoL exists in hepatitis patients with different etiologies. Disease severity leads to a lower PCS performance.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Over 40% of Taiwanese College students experience sleep problems that not only impair their quality of life but also contribute to psychosomatic disorders. Of all the factors affecting the sleep ...quality, internet surfing is among one of the most prevalent. Female college students are more vulnerable to internet-associated sleep disorders than their male counterparts. Therefore, this study aims to investigate (1) the relationship between internet addiction and sleep quality, and (2) whether significant variations in sleep quality exist among students with different degrees of internet use.
This structured questionnaire-based cross-sectional study enrolled students from a technical institute in southern Taiwan. The questionnaire collected information on the following three aspects: (1) demography, (2) sleep quality with Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and (3) severity of internet addiction using a 20-item Internet Addiction Test (IAT). Multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the correlation between PSQI and IAT scores among the participants. Logistic analysis was used to determine the significance of association between PSQI and IAT scores.
In total, 503 female students were recruited (mean age 17.05 ± 1.34). After controlling for age, body mass index, smoking and drinking habits, religion, and habitual use of smartphone before sleep, internet addiction was found to be significantly associated with subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep disturbance, use of sleep medication, and daytime dysfunction. Worse quality of sleep as reflected by PSQI was noted in students with moderate and severe degrees of internet addiction compared to those with mild or no internet addiction. Logistic regression analysis of the association between scores on IAT and sleep quality, demonstrated significant correlations between quality of sleep and total IAT scores (odds ratio = 1.05:1.03 ∼ 1.06,
< 0.01).
The results of this study demonstrated significant negative association between the degree of internet addiction and sleep quality, providing reference for educational institutes to minimize adverse effects associated with internet use and improve students' sleep quality.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a long-term degenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that primarily affects the motor system. So far there is no effective treatment for PD, only some ...drugs, surgery, and comprehensive treatment can alleviate the symptoms of PD. Stem cells derived from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED), mesenchymal stem cells derived from dental pulp, may have promising potential in regenerative medicine. In this study, we examine the therapeutic effect of SHED-derived conditioned medium (SHED-CM) in a rotenone-induced PD rat model. Intravenous administration of SHED-CM generated by standardized procedures significantly improved the PD symptoms accompanied with increased tyrosine hydroxylase amounts in the striatum, and decreased α-synuclein levels in both the nigra and striatum, from rotenone-treated rats. In addition, this SHED-CM treatment decreased both Iba-1 and CD4 levels in these brain areas. Gene ontology analysis indicated that the biological process of genes affected by SHED-CM was primarily implicated in neurodevelopment and nerve regeneration. The major constituents of SHED-CM included insulin-like growth factor binding protein-6 (IGFBP-6), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-2, TIMP-1, and transforming growth factor 1 (TGF-1). RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) revealed that these factors may ameliorate PD symptoms through modulating the cholinergic synapses, calcium signaling pathways, serotoninergic synapses, and axon guidance. In conclusion, our data indicate that SHED-CM contains active constituents that may have promising efficacy to alleviate PD.
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