Summary
Background Nationwide data on the epidemiology of dermatomyositis (DM) and polymyositis (PM) were limited.
Objectives This study was to estimate the incidence, occurrence of cancer and ...mortality of DM and PM in Taiwan.
Methods Both the register of critical illness of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Dataset and the National Death Registry of Taiwan were used to calculate estimates of the incidence, cancer association, and mortality of DM and PM between 2003 and 2007.
Results A total of 803 DM and 500 PM cases were identified between 2003 and 2007. Mean age at diagnosis was 44·0 ± 18·3 years for DM and 49·2 ± 15·9 years for PM. The overall annual incidences of DM and PM were 7·1 (95% CI 6·6–7·6) and 4·4 (95% CI 4·0–4·8) cases per million population. The incidence of both DM and PM increased with age and reached a peak at age 50–59 years. One hundred and eleven (13·8%) patients with DM and 31 (6·2%) patients with PM had cancers. The diagnosis of most cancers was made after the diagnoses of DM (n = 71; 64·0%) and PM (n = 21; 67·7%). Overall, the standardized incidence ratios (SIR) for cancer were 5·36 (4·12–6·87) and 1·80 (1·10–2·79) among patients with DM and PM; however, during the first year, SIRs for cancer were 24·55 (95% CI 18·62–31·79) and 9·17 (95% CI 14·82–15·93) in patients with DM and PM, respectively. The most common types of cancer were nasopharyngeal cancer for men and breast cancer for women. Patients with DM and PM had standardized mortality ratios of 7·68 (6·41–9·01) and 5·29 (4·28–6·48).
Conclusion This study reports robust estimates of important aspects of the epidemiology of both DM and PM in Taiwan. This highlights the rarity of these diseases, and their associated cancer risks and increased mortality.
Despite evidence of inhibitory control and visual processing impairment in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), knowledge about its corresponding alterations in the brain is still ...evolving. The current study used counting Stroop functional MRI and the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) to investigate if brain activation of inhibitory control and visual processing would differ in youths with ADHD relative to neurotypical youths.
We assessed 25 youths with ADHD mean age 10.9 (s.d.=2.2) years and 23 age-, gender- and IQ-matched neurotypical youths mean age 11.2 (s.d.=2.9) years. The participants were assessed by using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, third edition, and two tests from the CANTAB: rapid visual information processing (RVP) and pattern recognition memory (PRM) outside the scanner.
Youths with ADHD showed more activation than neurotypical youths in the right inferior frontal gyrus Brodmann area (BA) 45 and anterior cingulate cortex, which were correlated with poorer performance on the RVP test in the CANTAB. In contrast, youths with ADHD showed less activation than neurotypical youths in the left superior parietal lobule (BA 5/7), which was correlated with the percentage of correct responses on the PRM test in the CANTAB.
Our findings suggest that youths with ADHD might need more inhibitory control to suppress interference between number and meaning and may involve less visual processing to process the numbers in the counting Stroop task than neurotypical youths.
This study presents a model for the early identification of students who are likely to fail in an academic course. To enhance predictive accuracy, sentiment analysis is used to identify affective ...information from text‐based self‐evaluated comments written by students. Experimental results demonstrated that adding extracted sentiment information from student self‐evaluations yields a significant improvement in early‐stage prediction quality. The results also indicate the limited early‐stage predictive value of structured data, such as homework completion, attendance, and exam grades, due to data sparseness at the beginning of the course. Thus, applying sentiment analysis to unstructured data (e.g., self‐evaluation comments) can play an important role in improving the accuracy of early‐stage predictions. The findings present educators with an opportunity to provide students with real‐time feedback and support to help students become self‐regulated learners. Using the exploring results for improvement in teaching and learning initiatives is important to maintain students' performances and the effectiveness of the learning process.
Lay Description
What is already known about this topic:
The impact of emotional state on academic performance
Early intervention is a key factor in preventing academic failure by at‐risk students.
What this paper adds:
Apply sentiment analysis to enhance predictive accuracy in early stage.
Built a Chinese affective resource with valence ratings for each affective word, and use it to automatically extract emotions from self‐evaluation comments.
Implications for practice and/or policy:
Point out the limited early‐stage predictive ability of structured data and using unstructured data to bridge the gap.
Using information visualization to build self‐regulated system by structured and unstructured data. For educators, easy to recognize students' emotion during the class; for students, easy to understand how well they are performing in a class in a timely manner.
Macrophages have a key role in tumor-associated pulmonary inflammation that supports the proliferation of tumor cells and promotes lung tumor growth. Although increased numbers of tumor-associated ...macrophages are linked to poor prognosis in lung cancer patients, little is known regarding the transcriptional mechanisms controlling recruitment of macrophages during lung tumorigenesis. Forkhead Box m1 (Foxm1) transcription factor is induced in multiple cell types within tumor lesions and its increased expression is associated with poor prognosis in patients with lung adenocarcinomas. To determine the role of Foxm1 in recruitment of tumor-associated macrophages, a mouse line with macrophage-specific Foxm1 deletion was generated (macFoxm1(-/-)). Lung tumorigenesis was induced using a 3-methylcholanthrene/butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT; 3,5-di-t-butyl-4-hydroxytoluene) tumor initiation/promotion protocol. Ablation of Foxm1 in macrophages reduced the number and size of lung tumors in macFoxm1(-/-) mice. Decreased tumorigenesis was associated with diminished proliferation of tumor cells and decreased recruitment of macrophages during the early stages of tumor formation. The expression levels of the pro-inflammatory genes iNOS, Cox-2, interleukin-1b (IL-1b) and IL-6, as well as the migration-related genes macrophage inflammatory protein-1 (MIP-1α), MIP-2 and MMP-12, were decreased in macrophages isolated from macFoxm1(-/-) mice. Migration of Foxm1-deficient macrophages was reduced in vitro. The chemokine receptors responsible for monocyte recruitment to the lung, CX(3)CR1 and CXCR4, were decreased in Foxm1-deficient monocytes. In co-transfection experiments, Foxm1 directly bound to and transcriptionally activated the CX(3)CR1 promoter. Adoptive transfer of wild-type monocytes to macFoxm1(-/-) mice restored BHT-induced pulmonary inflammation to the levels observed in control mice. Expression of Foxm1 in macrophages is required for pulmonary inflammation, recruitment of macrophages into tumor sites and lung tumor growth.
Background: Alcohol abuse and dependence can be disabling disorders, but accurate information is lacking on the prevalence of current DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence and how this has changed over ...the past decade. The purpose of this study was to present nationally representative data on the prevalence of 12-month DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence in 2001–2002 and, for the first time, to examine trends in alcohol abuse and dependence between 1991–1992 and 2001–2002.
Methods: Prevalences and trends of alcohol abuse and dependence in the United States were derived from face-to-face interviews in the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s (NIAAA) 2001–2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC:
n=43,093) and NIAAA’s 1991–1992 National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey (NLAES:
n=42,862).
Results: Prevalences of DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence in 2001–2002 were 4.65 and 3.81%. Abuse and dependence were more common among males and among younger respondents. The prevalence of abuse was greater among Whites than among Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics. The prevalence of dependence was higher in Whites, Native Americans, and Hispanics than Asians. Between 1991–1992 and 2001–2002, abuse increased while dependence declined. Increases in alcohol abuse were observed among males, females, and young Black and Hispanic minorities, while the rates of dependence rose among males, young Black females and Asian males.
Conclusions: This study underscores the need to continue monitoring prevalence and trends and to design culturally sensitive prevention and intervention programs.
Essentials
Sinus thrombosis may play a crucial role in development of dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF).
Little is known about the association between gene polymorphism and the development of DAVF.
...MMP‐2‐1306 C/T showed a higher prevalence rate in DAVF cases with sinus thrombosis.
MMP‐2‐1306C/T polymorphism is likely a potential risk factor for sinus thrombosis in DAVF.
Summary
Background
Dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF) is a rare but important cerebrovascular disorder in adults. Little is known about the molecular genetic pathogenesis underlying DAVF development.
Objectives
To investigate the associations of gene polymorphisms and DAVF.
Materials and Methods
By the use of real‐time PCR genotyping, seven single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of angiogenesis‐related genes were analyzed in 72 DAVF patients. Pertinent clinical and imaging data were subgrouped on the basis of location (cavernous sinus versus lateral sinus), lesions (single versus multiple), cerebral venous reflux (CVR) grading (Borden I versus Borden II/III), and sinus thrombosis (with versus without).
Results
We found that individuals carrying the polymorphic allele of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)‐2‐1306 C/T (rs243865) had a significantly increased risk of sinus thrombosis in DAVF (odds ratio 6.2; 95% confidence interval 1.7–22.9). There was a weak difference in associations of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)‐2 (rs2277698) gene polymorphism and DAVF patients subgrouped by CVR grading.
Conclusions
These preliminary results indicate that MMP‐2‐1306 C/T, but not MMP‐9, TIMP‐1, TIMP‐2, and vascular endothelial growth factor A SNP variants, is a risk factor for the development of sinus thrombosis in DAVF patients.
To assess the associations between serum uric acid (SUA) level and mortality.
The study included 354 110 subjects without a history of gout and whose SUA levels were tested at Chang Gung Memorial ...Hospital in Taiwan. Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios and 95% CIs for mortality in six predefined SUA strata (≤0.17, 0.18-0.29, 0.30-0.41, 0.42-0.53, 0.54-0.65 and ≥0.66 mmol/l), after adjusting for age, sex, SUA stratum, estimated glomerular filtration rate, fasting glucose, total cholesterol and history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure or chronic kidney disease.
There were 33 562 all-cause deaths during the study period. Crude all-cause mortality rates across the SUA strata were 52.5, 19.7, 17.4, 20.0, 28.0 and 41.1 deaths per 1000 person-years. Using the stratum 3 of SUA as a reference, the age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratios (95% CIs) across SUA strata were 2.79 (2.62, 2.96), 1.32 (1.28, 1.36), 1.00, 1.10 (1.07, 1.14), 1.42 (1.37, 1.48) and 2.12 (2.01, 2.23) for all-cause mortality; 2.24 (1.93, 2.59), 1.18 (1.10, 1.27), 1.00, 1.21 (1.14, 1.29), 1.74 (1.60, 1.88) and 2.53 (2.28, 2.81) for cardiovascular mortality and 3.41 (3.11, 3.73), 1.48 (1.42, 1.55), 1.00, 0.88 (0.84, 0.92), 0.91 (0.85, 0.98) and 1.23 (1.11, 1.36) for cancer-related mortality.
Individuals with SUA levels at either extremes are at higher risk for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. SUA levels of 0.30-0.41 mmol/l were associated with the lowest mortality rate and should be regarded as optimal.
Organ chips can recapitulate organ-level (patho)physiology, yet pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analyses require multi-organ systems linked by vascular perfusion. Here, we describe an ...'interrogator' that employs liquid-handling robotics, custom software and an integrated mobile microscope for the automated culture, perfusion, medium addition, fluidic linking, sample collection and in situ microscopy imaging of up to ten organ chips inside a standard tissue-culture incubator. The robotic interrogator maintained the viability and organ-specific functions of eight vascularized, two-channel organ chips (intestine, liver, kidney, heart, lung, skin, blood-brain barrier and brain) for 3 weeks in culture when intermittently fluidically coupled via a common blood substitute through their reservoirs of medium and endothelium-lined vascular channels. We used the robotic interrogator and a physiological multicompartmental reduced-order model of the experimental system to quantitatively predict the distribution of an inulin tracer perfused through the multi-organ human-body-on-chips. The automated culture system enables the imaging of cells in the organ chips and the repeated sampling of both the vascular and interstitial compartments without compromising fluidic coupling.
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