This is the first meta-analysis to compare the treatment effects and safety of administering donepezil alone versus a combination of memantine and donepezil to treat patients with moderate to severe ...Alzheimer Disease, particularly regarding cognitive functions, behavioral and psychological symptoms in dementia (BPSD), and global functions.
PubMed, Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, and Cochrane databases were used to search for English and non-English articles for inclusion in the meta-analysis to evaluate the effect size and incidence of adverse drug reactions of different treatments.
Compared with patients who received donepezil alone, those who received donepezil in combination with memantine exhibited limited improvements in cognitive functions (g = 0.378, p < .001), BPSD (g = -0.878, p < .001) and global functions (g = -0.585, p = .004). Gradual titration of memantine plus a fixed dose and gradual titration of donepezil as well as a fixed dose and gradual titration of memantine resulted in limited improvements in cognitive functions(g = 0.371, p = .005), BPSD(g = -0.913, p = .001), and global functions(g = -0.371, p = .001).
Both in the 24th week and at the final evaluation point, the combination of donepezil and memantine led to greater improvement in cognitive functions, BPSD, and global functions than did donepezil alone in patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer Disease.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In recent years, aluminum matrix composites (AMCs) have attracted attention due to their promising properties. However, the presence of ceramic particles in the aluminum matrix renders AMCs a high ...corrosion rate and makes it challenging to use traditional corrosion protection methods. In this study, atomic layer deposition (ALD) techniques were used to deposit HfO2, ZrO2, TiO2, and Al2O3 thin films on AMC reinforced with 20 vol.% SiC particles. Our results indicate that the presence of micro-cracks between the Al matrix and SiC particles leads to severe micro-crack-induced corrosion in Al-SiC composites. The ALD-deposited films effectively enhance the corrosion resistance of these composites by mitigating this micro-crack-induced corrosion. Among these four atomic-layer deposited films, the HfO2 film exhibits the most effective reduction in the corrosion current density of Al-SiC composites in a 1.5 wt% NaCl solution from 1.27 × 10−6 A/cm2 to 5.89 × 10−11 A/cm2. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) investigation shows that HfO2 deposited on Al-SiC composites has the largest Rp value of 2.0 × 1016. The HfO2 film on Al-SiC composites also exhibits effective inhibition of pitting corrosion, remaining at grade 10 even after 96 h of a salt spray test.
Potato common scab, which is caused by soil-borne Streptomyces species, is a severe plant disease that results in a significant reduction in the economic value of potatoes worldwide. Due to the lack ...of efficacious pesticides, crop rotations, and resistant potato cultivars against the disease, we investigated whether biological control can serve as an alternative approach. In this study, multiple Bacillus species were isolated from healthy potato tubers, and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Ba01 was chosen for further analyses based on its potency against the potato common scab pathogen Streptomyces scabies. Ba01 inhibited the growth and sporulation of S. scabies and secreted secondary metabolites such as surfactin, iturin A, and fengycin with potential activity against S. scabies as determined by imaging mass spectrometry. In pot assays, the disease severity of potato common scab decreased from 55.6 ± 11.1% (inoculated with S. scabies only) to 4.2 ± 1.4% (inoculated with S. scabies and Ba01). In the field trial, the disease severity of potato common scab was reduced from 14.4 ± 2.9% (naturally occurring) to 5.6 ± 1.1% after Ba01 treatment, representing evidence that Bacillus species control potato common scab in nature.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Introduction
This study investigated the differential trajectories and relevant determinants of depressive symptoms in adolescents by following cohorts that included junior, senior, and vocational ...high school adolescents, over a 3‐year period in Taiwan.
Methods
Longitudinal data were obtained from 575 adolescents who participated in the Taiwan Adolescent to Adult Longitudinal Study. Data analysis included latent class growth with time‐varying covariate, univariate, and multivariate analysis.
Results
A three‐class (“low but increasing trajectory,” “moderate and stable trajectory,” and “high but decreasing trajectory”) model fit the data of the cohort. Our findings indicated that 29%, 38%, and 33% of the adolescents were in the low but increasing, moderate and stable, and high but decreasing trajectories, respectively. After confounders were controlled for, bullying experiences were identified as a risk factor for depressive symptoms. The protective factors against depressive symptoms included resilience and peer and social support.
Conclusions
The transitions between different educational stages critically influence the depressive symptoms of adolescents, and the adolescents follow different depressive trajectories, that have different etiology. Therefore, identifying adolescents at high risk for depression and designing student‐centered intervention programs through individualized and multidimensional assessment of depressive symptoms are crucial for adolescents.
•TiO2 film was deposited on surface of Ni50Ti50 substrate using atomic layer deposition techniques.•TiO2 film thickness, surface roughness, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility were ...investigated.•TiO2 film thickness is directly proportional with number of ALD cycles.•The maximum corrosion resistance, excellent surface morphology and Cell proliferation was achieved after 200 ALD cycles.
NiTi shape memory alloys (SMAs) have been widely applied in biomedical fields due to their excellent shape memory effect, super-elasticity, and biocompatibility. In this study, the plasma- enhanced atomic layer deposition was applied to deposit TiO2 film on the surface of Ni50Ti50 substrate. The characterization and surface properties of TiO2 film, bending strain test, corrosion resistance, nickel release and in vitro biocompatibility were studied to evaluate the performance of ALD-TiO2 film. The results show that the ALD-TiO2 film is uniform and exhibits an amorphous structure. The ALD-TiO2 films are less hydrophilic than the Ni50Ti50 substrate. As the deposition cycle increases, the water contact angle of ALD-TiO2 film only changes slightly. The ALD-TiO2 film exhibits an adequate adhesion to the Ni50Ti50 substrate and can withstand proper bending strain. ALD-TiO2 film can effectively inhibit the release of nickel ions. After being immersed in the simulated body fluid for 30 days, the amount of nickel ions released decreases from 60 ppb for Ni50Ti50 substrate to 20–20 ppb for Ni50Ti50 with 200-cycle ALD-TiO2 film. Meanwhile, Ni50Ti50 with ALD-TiO2 films have better corrosion resistance than the Ni50Ti50 substrate. In vitro biocompatibility reveals that the ALD-TiO2 film can enhance cell adhesion, promote cell proliferation and reduce cytotoxicity. After 5 days of culture, the 200-cycle ALD-TiO2 film can enhance the cell proliferation by 2.7 times and reduce the cytotoxicity from 48% for Ni50Ti50 substrate to 37% for Ni50Ti50 with 200-cycle ALD-TiO2 film. These results indicate that the TiO2 films deposited by PE-ALD technique can effectively improve the biocompatibility of NiTi SMAs.
Accurate mapping of air pollutants is essential for epidemiological studies and environmental risk assessments. Concentrations measured by air quality monitoring stations (AQMS) have primarily been ...used to assess the exposure of PM2.5. However, the low coverage and amount of monitoring stations affect the errors of spatial interpolation or geostatistical estimates. In contrast to other integrated approaches developed for improved air pollution estimates, this study utilizes data from low-cost microsensors densely deployed in Taiwan to improve the popular spatial interpolation approach called inverse distance weighting (IDW). A large dataset from thousands of low-cost sensors could improve spatial interpolation by describing the distribution of PM2.5 in detail. Therefore, this study presents a clustering-based method to assess the distribution of PM2.5. Then, a smarter IDW is performed based on correlated observations from the selected air quality stations. The publicly available data chosen for this investigation pertained to Taiwan, which has deployed 74 monitoring stations and more than 11,000 low-cost sensors since December 2020. The results of leave-one-out cross-validation indicate that there are fewer PM2.5 estimation errors in the developed approach than in estimations that use kriging across almost all of the months and sampled dates of 2019 and 2020, particularly those with higher PM2.5 spatial heterogeneities. Spatial heterogeneities could result in more significant estimation errors in mainstream approaches. The root mean square error of the monthly average estimate for PM2.5 ranged from 1.17 to 3.86 μg/m3. We also found that the clustering of one month characterizing the pattern of PM2.5 distribution could perform well in spatial interpolations based on historical data from monitoring stations. According to the information on the openaq platform, low-cost sensors are in demand in cities and areas. This trend might pave the way for the application of the proposed approach in other areas for superior exposure assessments.
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•Spatial clustering of thousands of microsensors improve PM2.5 spatial interpolation.•Our approach is more accurate than kriging and IDW for almost all the tested months.•Improvement is more significant in the months of higher PM2.5 spatial heterogeneity.•In the study area, 5.6 microsensors/100 km2 is enough for accurate PM2.5 estimation.•A clustering capturing the PM2.5 spatial patterns applies to other months' mapping.
Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) may experience chronic microvascular complications such as diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic nephropathy (DN) during their lifetime. In clinical ...studies, serum uric acid concentration has been found to be associated with DR and DN. The goal of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the increases in serum uric acid level and the severity of DR and albuminuria in Taiwanese patients with type 2 DM. We recorded serum uric acid concentration, the severity of DR, and the severity of albuminuria by calculating urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) in 385 patients with type 2 DM. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, a high uric acid concentration was a risk factor for albuminuria (odds ratio (OR), 1.227; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.015-1.482; p = 0.034) and DR (OR, 1.264; 95% CI = 1.084-1.473; p = 0.003). We also demonstrated that there was a higher concentration of serum uric acid in the patients with more severe albuminuria and DR. In conclusion, an increased serum uric acid level was significantly correlated with the severity of albuminuria and DR in Taiwanese patients with type 2 DM.
Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a fatal illness caused by a mutated feline coronavirus (FCoV). This disease is characterized by its complexity, resulting from systemic infection, ...antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), and challenges in accessing effective therapeutics. Extract derived from
(L.) R. Wilczek (VRE) exhibits various pharmacological effects, including antiviral activity. This study aimed to investigate the antiviral potential of VRE against FCoV, addressing the urgent need to advance the treatment of FIP. We explored the anti-FCoV activity, antiviral mechanism, and combinational application of VRE by means of
antiviral assays. Our findings reveal that VRE effectively inhibited the cytopathic effect induced by FCoV, reduced viral proliferation, and downregulated spike protein expression. Moreover, VRE blocked FCoV in the early and late infection stages and was effective under
ADE infection. Notably, when combined with VRE, the polymerase inhibitor GS-441524 or protease inhibitor GC376 suppressed FCoV more effectively than monotherapy. In conclusion, this study characterizes the antiviral property of VRE against FCoV
, and VRE possesses therapeutic potential for FCoV treatment.
CEMIP is a novel risk factor of various cancers through activating Wnt/β-catenin /epithelial-mesenchymal transition between epithelial cells and stroma. The chronic fibrosis commonly contributes ...renal carcinogenesis in patients with obesity. As there have very few choices of medicines targeting CEMIP. This study intended to design therapeutic DNA vaccines for nephropathy in obesity, through diminishing the CEMIP/Wnt1/β-catenin pathway.
In an 8-week experiment, plasmid-encoding CEMIP was vaccinated into high-fat diet (HFD) or obesity mice in the first 4 weeks, and then vaccination was stopped for at least 4 weeks. Then, plasma and spleens were harvested to evaluate anti-CEMIP antibody synthesis and T-helper type 1 and 2 activation after vaccination. Kidneys were collected to investigate efficacy of CEMIP DNA vaccine on inhibiting HFD and obesity-induced fibrosis and Wnt1/β-catenin pathway. To confirm that CEMIP crucially contributed towards fibrotic formation, CEMIP gene or siRNA transfection was performed in HK-2 cells under VLDL stimulation, or not.
At the end point, anti-CEMIP antibody was successfully produced in the pcDNA 3.1-CEMIP vaccinated group, while Wnt1/β-catenin signaling and fibrosis was inactive. Through VLDL stimulation and CEMIP overexpression, Wnt1/β-catenin signaling and fibrosis significantly presented in vitro. Otherwise, anti-sera of CEMIP-vaccinated mice could inhibit the VLDL-induced Wnt1/β-catenin/fibrosis pathway in HK-2 cells. Similarly, the silencing of CEMIP by siRNA ameliorated the Wnt1/β-catenin pathway and fibrogenesis under VLDL stimulation.
DNA vaccine targeting CEMIP/Wnt1/β-catenin pathway plays a novel strategy in nephropathy.
Immune therapy might provide a new therapeutic option on nephropathy of obesity.
•CEMIP DNA vaccine can prevent high fat diet or obesity-caused renal fibrosis.•CEMIP DNA vaccine efficiently induces humoral immunity for repressing renal fibrosis.•VLDL/CEMIP/Wnt1/β-catenin signaling is a novel pathological pathway in obesity-related chronic kidney diseases (CKD).
BACKGROUNDWestern mothers with breast cancer find themselves struggling with parenting responsibilities. Because parenting is culturally shaped, literature on ill mothersʼ experiences of parenting ...young children from a collectivist culture is limited.
OBJECTIVEThe aim of this study was to examine Taiwanese mothersʼ experiences of and cultural practices embedded in parenting young children while in treatment for breast cancer.
METHODSSixteen mothers with at least 1 child younger than 12 years were recruited from a breast cancer organization in Taiwan. Data were collected from November 2016 to June 2017 via a semistructured individual interview and analyzed using a content analysis technique.
RESULTSFive themes, namely, “maternal limited disclosure, complementary with childrenʼs tacit knowledge,” “the scar is no longer a scar but a symbol for intimate bonding,” “issues of maternal absence for young children and school-aged children,” “the power of ‘We are a family’,” and “to live a simple life and to live for oneʼs self,” elucidate how cultural beliefs and practices shape maternal parenting experiences during treatment of breast cancer.
CONCLUSIONSThe findings illustrate how Taiwanese mothers interpret their illness, contextualize illness-related messages in daily life, and maintain family ties while coping with breast cancer. The will to maintain the familyʼs integrity, including the extended family, can empower mothers throughout the trajectory.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICEIll mothers may benefit from nursesʼ guidance on daily routines and cultural practices that they can exploit to frame illness messages for their children. Maternal efforts to change their outlook on life, vocalize their needs, and become more assertive should be acknowledged and supported.
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