The association between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) exposure and cancer incidence has been investigated; however, no epidemiological study has investigated the association between ...exposure to individual SSRIs and kidney cancer incidence. The aim of this study is to examine whether SSRI use affected the risk of kidney cancer. We conducted a population‐based retrospective cohort study using data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. After adjusting for sex, age, urbanization level, comorbidity and medication use through propensity score matching, we identified 222 024 SSRI users and 221 361 SSRI nonusers. A robust Cox proportional hazards model was used to examine the associations between use of individual SSRIs and the risk of kidney cancer with 1‐ and 2‐year induction periods. The result showed that SSRI users tended to be associated with a lower risk of kidney cancer with a 2‐year induction period than nonusers; however, the association was not statistically significant (adjusted hazards ratio aHR = 0.88, 95% confidence interval CI = 0.77‐1.01). We further examined the effects of individual SSRIs and observed a significantly lower risk of kidney cancer associated with the use of citalopram (aHR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.47‐0.96) and paroxetine (aHR = 0.75, 95% CI = 0.58‐0.97) with the 2‐year induction period. These findings support that SSRIs are associated with decreased kidney cancer risk and indicate that citalopram and paroxetine have protective effects in depressed patients with kidney cancer.
What's new?
Patients with kidney cancer may be at an increased risk of developing depression. In turn, depression is a risk factor for poor outcomes in kidney cancer. In addition to their antidepressant effects, serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) have been suggested to exhibit antineoplastic effects. This study is the first to demonstrate the effects of individual SSRIs on kidney cancer risk, showing that citalopram and paroxetine may play a role in reducing the risk of kidney cancer. The results suggest that citalopram and paroxetine should be preferentially considered for the management of depressed patients with a high risk of developing kidney cancer.
The different profiles of e-cigarette users in different age groups have seldom been investigated, particularly in populations facing a high prevalence of cigarette smoking. This study aims to ...examine the prevalence and correlates of e-cigarette use separately for adolescents and adults in nationally representative samples in Taiwan.
Among 17,837 participants in the 2014 National Survey of Substance Use in Taiwan, 4445 were aged 12 to 17 years and 13,392 were aged 18 to 64 years. Individuals' lifetime tobacco use was divided into four groups: non-use, exclusive e-cigarette use, exclusive cigarette use, and dual use. Questions on sociodemographic features, use and problematic use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs, and psychosocial distress, among others, were administered using a computer-assisted self-interview on tablet computers.
Among lifetime users of e-cigarette (2.2% for adults and 0.8% for adolescents), 4.5% for adults and 36.6% for adolescents were exclusive e-cigarette users. From use of exclusive e-cigarettes to use of exclusive cigarettes to dual use, those usage groups were related to an increasing trend of adjusted odds ratios for use of other psychoactive substances, particularly problematic use of alcohol or drugs, and with more depressive symptoms. Two correlates were specific to e-cigarette use: alcohol use had stronger relationships with e-cigarette use among adolescents, and younger adults (18-34) were more likely to try e-cigarettes compared to older adults.
These results provide essential information regarding e-cigarette use in the general population, and future prevention strategies should account for its specific correlates in young people.
ObjectivesThe majority of female immigrants who are married in Taiwan often face a variety of stresses, which may lead to physical or mental illness. Yet few studies have validated the impact of ...length of residency on physical and mental health using large-scale data. This study combined five nationwide databases and explored the impact of length of residency in Taiwan on the physical and mental health of female marriage immigrants.DesignThis is a retrospective cohort study.SettingTaiwan.ParticipantsA total of 168 202 female immigrants, who were registered in the national health insurance database from 2001 to 2017, were enrolled for analysis.MeasureThe length of residency was taken as the period from their first appearance in the national health insurance database to the end of 2017. Hypertension and diabetes were chosen as indices of physical health and depression as an index of mental health. Diagnosis standards were based on the International Classification of Disease, ninth or 10th Revision.ResultsThe physical and mental health of the immigrants deteriorated with increasing time of residence in Taiwan. Immigrants who had resided in Taiwan for 5–10 years or ≥10 years, respectively, had a 5.8-fold (95% CI: 3.46 to 9.74) or 6.29-fold (95% CI: 4.61 to 8.59) higher adjusted risk of developing hypertension; a 3.97-fold (95% CI: 2.54 to 6.21) or 9.18-fold (95% CI: 5.48 to 15.38) higher adjusted risk of developing diabetes; and a 5.01-fold (95% CI: 3.14 to 8.01) or 12.19-fold (95% CI: 8.65 to 17.18) higher adjusted risk of developing depression than their counterparts who had lived in Taiwan for ≤5 years.ConclusionThese findings suggest the time elapsed since migration can be a factor in the deterioration of both physical and mental health among female marriage immigrants in Taiwan.
Recovering a high dynamic range (HDR) image from a single low dynamic range (LDR) input image is challenging due to missing details in under-/over-exposed regions caused by quantization and ...saturation of camera sensors. In contrast to existing learning-based methods, our core idea is to incorporate the domain knowledge of the LDR image formation pipeline into our model. We model the HDR-to-LDR image formation pipeline as the (1) dynamic range clipping, (2) non-linear mapping from a camera response function, and (3) quantization. We then propose to learn three specialized CNNs to reverse these steps. By decomposing the problem into specific sub-tasks, we impose effective physical constraints to facilitate the training of individual sub-networks. Finally, we jointly fine-tune the entire model end-to-end to reduce error accumulation. With extensive quantitative and qualitative experiments on diverse image datasets, we demonstrate that the proposed method performs favorably against state-of-the-art single-image HDR reconstruction algorithms.
A novel avian influenza A (H7N9) virus causes severe human infections and was first identified in March 2013 in China. The H7N9 virus has exhibited two epidemiological peaks of infection, occurring ...in week 15 of 2013 and week 5 of 2014. Taiwan, which is geographically adjacent to China, faces a large risk of being affected by this virus. Through extensive surveillance, launched in April 2013, four laboratory-confirmed H7N9 cases imported from China have been identified in Taiwan. The H7N9 virus isolated from imported case 1 in May 2013 (during the first wave) was found to be closest genetically to a virus from wild birds and differed from the prototype virus, A/Anhui/1/2013, in the MP gene. The other three imported cases were detected in December 2013 and April 2014 (during the second wave). The viruses isolated from cases 2 and 4 were similar in the compositions of their 6 internal genes and distinct from A/Anhui/1/2013 in the PB2 and MP genes, whereas the virus isolated from case 3 exhibited a novel reassortment that has not been identified previously and was different from A/Anhui/1/2013 in the PB2, PA and MP genes. The four imported H7N9 viruses share similar antigenicity with A/Anhui/1/2013, and their HA and NA genes grouped together in their respective phylogenies. In contrast with the HA and NA genes, which exhibited a smaller degree of diversity, the internal genes were heterogeneous and provided potential distinctions between transmission sources in terms of both geography and hosts. It is important to strengthen surveillance of influenza and to share viral genetic data in real-time for reducing the threat of rapid and continuing evolution of H7N9 viruses.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Quantitative assessment of soil compaction is of great importance to construction work, precision agriculture, and geotechnical research. Currently, measurement of soil compaction is mainly performed ...through field measurements, and the accuracy is highly influenced by personnel experience. In addition, most of the current methods for soil compaction measurement are capable of real-time monitoring. This paper presents an exploratory study of using a piezoceramic-based active sensing approach coupled with wavelet packet analysis to quantitatively monitor soil compaction in real time. In the active sensing approach, a pair of smart aggregates (SA) consisting of piezoceramic transducers embedded inside a host material are embedded into soil. In the pair, one SA acts as transmitter to transmit a modulated stress wave towards the other SA, which acts as receiver. The attenuation ratio of the stress wave propagating energy in soil is governed by the degree of soil compaction, so that the received wave properties of the smart aggregate sensor can be further characterized by using wavelet packet as an index to evaluate the soil compaction in real time. Integrated with remote sensing technologies, the proposed method has potential to be utilized as a real-time remote-sensing technology, which can offer a solution in the monitoring the degree of soil compaction.
Purpose
Benzodiazepines are commonly prescribed globally. We hypothesize that gender stereotypes influence benzodiazepine prescriptions insofar as male prescribers are more likely to prescribe ...benzodiazepines to female patients.
Methods
Our nationwide cohort study included 2,127,441 patients with a psychiatric disorder (ICD-9 codes 290–319) and 38,932 prescribers as part of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (1997–2013). We evaluated the effects of patient and prescriber gender on the proportion of patients prescribed benzodiazepines and the cumulative dosage of benzodiazepine prescription (mg) using generalized estimating equation and general linear models.
Results
The proportion of patients prescribed benzodiazepines was higher among male (vs. female) prescribers odds ratio (OR) = 1.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.05–1.07 and among female (vs. male) patients (OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.08–1.09). Similarly, male prescriber gender (
β
= 10,292.2, SE = 1265.5,
p
< 0.001) and female patient gender (
β
= 7913.7, SE = 627.1,
p
< 0.001) predicted higher cumulative dosages of benzodiazepine prescription. Mean cumulative dosage was highest among female patients seen by male prescribers (
β
= 4283.7, SE = 717.6,
p
< 0.001). The results were consistent in sensitivity analyses of patients with anxiety disorder (
n
= 1,632,363), major depression (
n
= 1,122,796), or chronic administration (
n
= 1,981,819), and prescribers with psychiatrists (
n
= 1276), and non-psychiatrists (
n
= 33,268).
Conclusions
Male prescribers were more likely to prescribe benzodiazepines to female patients relative to male patients. This gender bias in prescription is significant and warrants careful attention at point of care. We hypothesize that internalized societal biases and stereotypes affect benzodiazepine prescribing behaviour.
•Patients with CVD with MDD are more likely to experience a cardiovascular complication requiring intervention than CVD patients without MDD.•Antidepressant use has a tendency to associate with ...reduced in-hospital mortality.•Clinicians must pay attention to the need to prevention of cardiovascular complication in patients with CVD and MDD.
: To evaluate the likelihood of a future cardiovascular event (i.e., in-hospital mortality or cardiovascular disease CVD complications/interventions) among patients with CVD and major depressive disorder (MDD) compared to those without MDD, and the antidepressant use on future cardiovascular events between the two groups.
This is a retrospective cohort with propensity score matching with 8941 patients with CVD and MDD, and 8941 non-MDD patients using data from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database from 1999 to 2013 in Taiwan. The outcome was in-hospital mortality and the incidence of revascularization (i.e., percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty PTCA and coronary artery bypass graft surgery CABG).
: Patients with CVD and MDD were more likely to need revascularization (an adjusted hazard ratio aHR: 1.26 and 95% CI: 1.12-1.43) than those without MDD, regardless of whether PTCA (aHR: 1.23 and 95% CI: 1.07-1.40) or CABG (aHR: 1.60 and 95% CI: 1.16-2.21) had occurred. Antidepressant use was associated with a tendency of reduced risk of mortality (aHR: 0.92 and 95% CI: 0.84-1.00). Although the magnitude of aHR ranged from 0.92 to 0.95 with revascularization, they did not reach significant levels.
Some covariates could not be controlled because they were not included in the national register dataset, and the causality is limited in an observational study.
Patients with CVD with MDD are more likely to experience a cardiovascular complication requiring intervention than CVD patients without MDD. Antidepressant use is associated with reduced in-hospital mortality.
Amine-terminated self-assembled monolayers are molecular nanolayers, typically formed via wet-chemical solution on specific substrates for precision surface engineering or interface modification. ...However, homogeneous assembling of a highly ordered monolayer by the facile, wet method is rather tricky because it involves process parameters, such as solvent type, molecular concentration, soaking time and temperature, and humidity level. Here, we select 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTMS) as a model molecule of aminosilane for the silanization of nanoporous carbon-doped organosilicate (p-SiOCH) under tightly controlled process environments. Surface mean roughness (R a) and the water contact angle (θ) of the p-SiOCH layers upon silanization at a 10% humidity-controlled environment behave similarly and follow a three-stage evolution: a leap to a maximum at 15 min for R a (from 0.227 to 0.411 nm) and θ (from 25 to 86°), followed by a gradual decrease to 0.225 nm and 69o, finally leveling off at the above values (>60 min). The −NH3 + fraction indicating monolayer disorientation evolves in a similar fashion. The fully grown monolayer is highly oriented yielding an unprecedented low −NH3 + fraction of 0.08 (and 0.92 of upright −NH2 groups). However, while having a similar thickness of approximately 1.4 ± 0.1 nm, the molecular layers grown at 30% relative humidity exhibit a significantly elevated −NH3 + fraction of 0.42, indicating that controlling the humidity is vital to the fabrication of highly oriented APTMS molecular layers. A bonding-structure evolution model, as distinct from those offered previously, is proposed and discussed.
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