This study aims to evaluate the relationship between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and sleep disorders (SDs). We first initiated a questionnaire-based clinical survey to assess sleep problems in the ...early stage after a TBI, followed by a population-based cohort study to evaluate the long-term risk of SDs in TBI patients. For short-term clinical survey, mild (m)TBI patients and healthy controls were recruited to evaluate the sleep quality and daytime sleepiness using the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) within two weeks after a TBI. For long-term observation, a 5-year nationwide population-based cohort study that utilized a large administrative database was conducted. In the short-term survey, 236 mTBI patients and 223 controls were analyzed. Total scores of the PSQI and ESS were significantly higher in mTBI patients than in the controls. In the long-term cohort study, 6932 TBI cases and 34,660 matched controls were included. TBI cases had a 1.36-fold greater risk of SDs compared to the non-TBI controls during the 5-year follow-up period. Results showed that patients with TBI had a significantly higher risk of SDs than did controls both in the early stage and during a 5-year follow-up period.
Calcium nephrolithiasis is one of the most common causes of renal stones. While the prevalence of this disease has increased steadily over the last 3 decades, its pathogenesis is still unclear. ...Previous studies have indicated that a genetic polymorphism (rs17251221) in the calcium-sensing receptor gene (CASR) is associated with the total serum calcium levels. In this study, we collected DNA samples from 480 Taiwanese subjects (189 calcium nephrolithiasis patients and 291 controls) for genotyping the CASR gene. Our results indicated no significant association between the CASR polymorphism (rs17251221) and the susceptibility of calcium nephrolithiasis. However, we found a significant association between rs17251221 and stone multiplicity. The risk of stone multiplicity was higher in patients with the GG+GA genotype than in those with the AA genotype (chi-square test: P = 0.008; odds ratio = 4.79; 95% confidence interval, 1.44-15.92; Yates' correction for chi-square test: P = 0.013). In conclusion, our results provide evidence supporting the genetic effects of CASR on the pathogenesis of calcium nephrolithiasis.
The effect of comorbidities and the immune profiles of the kidney cancer microenvironment play a major role in patients’ prognosis and survival. Using the National Health Insurance Research Database ...(Taiwan), we identified patients aged >20 years with a first diagnosis of kidney cancer between 2005 and 2014. Differences in demographic characteristics and comorbidities were examined using the Pearson chi-squared test or the t test. The Cox regression model was used to construct the nomogram. RNA-seq data were applied from The Cancer Genome Atlas database, and correlations between immune metagenes and clinical characteristics were determined using a linear regression model. In this nationwide cohort study, including 5090 patients with kidney cancer, predictors in our prediction models included age, sex, chronic kidney disease, dialysis requirements, renal stones, cerebrovascular disease, and metastasis tumor. In the tumor tissue profiles, significant positive correlations between immune metagenes and clinical stage or overall survival were observed among Natural Killer (NK) cells (CD56−), CD4+ T-helper 2 (Th2) cells, and activated Dendritic Cell (aDC). A negative correlation was observed between expression level of Dendritic Cell (DC) and overall survival. Patients with kidney cancer exhibit high prevalence of comorbid disease, especially in older patients. Comorbid disease types exert unique effects, and a particular comorbidity can affect cancer mortality. Moreover, the expression of immune metagenes can be utilized as potentialbiomarkers especially for further study of molecular mechanisms as well as microenvironments in kidney cancer.
The association between liver cirrhosis (LC) and herpes zoster has rarely been studied. We investigated the hypothesis that LC, known as an immunodeficiency disease, may increase the risk of herpes ...zoster using a national health insurance database in Taiwan.
The study cohort included cirrhotic patients between 1998 and 2005 (n = 4667), and a ratio of 1:5 randomly sampled age- and gender-matched control patients (n = 23,335). All subjects were followed up for 5 years from the date of cohort entry to identify whether or not they had developed herpes zoster. Cox proportional-hazard regressions were performed to evaluate 5-year herpes zoster-free survival rates.
Of all patients, 523 patients developed herpes zoster during the 5-year follow-up period, among whom 82 were LC patients and 441 were in the comparison cohort. The adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) of herpes zoster in patients with LC was not higher (AHR: 0.77, 95% confidence interval: 0.59-1.01, p = 0.06) than that of the controls during the 5-year follow-up. No increased risk of herpes zoster was found in LC patients after stratification by age, gender, urbanization level, income, geographic region, and all comorbidities.
This large nationwide population-based cohort study suggests that there is no increased risk for herpes zoster among people who have LC compared to a matching population.
This work aims at optimizing the hardware implementation of the SubBytes and inverse SubBytes operations in the advanced encryption standard (AES). To this, the composite field arithmetic (CFA) is ...employed to optimize all building blocks in S-box (and inverse S-box) of SubBytes (and inverse SubBytes) transformation. A joint design of S-box and inverse S-box is also proposed to further enhance the area efficiency. Specifically, the area of multiplier in the Galois composite field, GF<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">((2^{2})^{2}) </tex-math></inline-formula>, is reduced. The squaring and multiplication with constant <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\lambda </tex-math></inline-formula> in GF<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">((2^{2})^{2}) </tex-math></inline-formula> are combined and optimized as well. Moreover, the multiplicative inversion in GF<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">((2^{2})^{2}) </tex-math></inline-formula> is manually optimized. Furthermore, the S-box and inverse S-box are combined and optimized using the pre_processing and post_processing modules. To increase the throughput, a balanced and pipelined architecture is derived. Using the proposed architecture, a throughput of 5.79 Gbps for the S-box can be achieved on Virtex-6 XC6VLX240T and 10% better than the conventional work. According to the ASIC implementation result, the proposed design can still achieve the highest area efficiency and approximately 30% better than conventional works using TSMC 90nm process.
This study estimates the risk of stroke within 5 years of newly diagnosed dementia among elderly persons aged 65 and above. We examined the relationship between antipsychotic usage and development of ...stroke in patients with dementia.
We conducted a nationwide 5-year population-based study using data retrieved from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005 (LHID2005) in Taiwan. The study cohort comprised 2243 patients with dementia aged ≥65 years who had at least one inpatient service claim or at least 2 ambulatory care claims, whereas the comparison cohort consisted of 6714 randomly selected subjects (3 for every dementia patient) and were matched with the study group according to sex, age, and index year. We further classified dementia patients into 2 groups based on their history of antipsychotic usage. A total of 1450 patients were classified into the antipsychotic usage group and the remaining 793 patients were classified into the non-antipsychotic usage group. Cox proportional-hazards regressions were performed to compute the 5-year stroke-free survival rates after adjusting for potentially confounding factors.
The dementia patients have a 2-fold greater risk of developing stroke within 5 years of diagnosis compared to non-dementia age- and sex-matched subjects, after adjusting for other risk factors (95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.58-3.08; P<.001). Antipsychotic usage among patients with dementia increases risk of stroke 1.17-fold compared to patients without antipsychotic treatment (95% CI = 1.01-1.40; P<.05).
Dementia may be an independent risk factor for stroke, and the use of antipsychotics may further increase the risk of stroke in dementia patients.
More recently, transient liquid phase bonding was widely considered to be a potential bonding method in 3D-IC technology as the full intermetallic compounds (IMCs) joints were characterized by ...superior bonding strength and reliable high temperature service. Nevertheless, preferred grain orientation and coarsening grains have been the shortcoming for traditional Cu/Sn/Cu transient liquid-phase bumps in heterogeneous integration. To alleviate such issues, Ni/Sn/Cu system was adopted to improve mechanical properties. Moreover, the thickness of joints was reduced to 5 μm for staying ahead of the trends of the miniaturization of electronic products. In this research, the microstructure of Cu/Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu/Cu, Cu/Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu/Ni, and Ni/Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu/Cu micro-bumps after transient liquid-phase bonding was investigated. With dissolution of Ni from substrate, the intermetallic compounds have diverse texture and refined grain. The distinct correlation between intermetallic compounds structure and Ni content was investigated on Ni substrate being in hot end or cold end. After shear testing, as compared to Cu/Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu/Cu, Ni/Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu/Cu showed extremely outstanding strength via replacing Cu substrate by Ni substrate. As compared to conventional Cu/solder/Cu full intermetallic structure, the shear strength increased 103.28% as Ni at the cold end. In this study, microstructure, grain analysis, and the fracture path observation after shear test were carried out to clarify the strengthening mechanisms of Ni.
•The mean of the annual incidence rates of HNC was 93.9 per 100,000 population.•Males had higher annual incidence than females for cancer of the oral cavity.•The annual incidence rates for HNC showed ...a gradual decline from 2010 to 2018.•There was an increase in the incidence on thyroid cancer over the study period.
This study aimed to demonstrate the temporal trend in incidence of head and neck cancer (HNC) in Taiwan.
Patients with a HNC were retrieved from the Taiwan’s Health Insurance Database. We identified 16,894 patients aged ≥20 years who had received a first-time diagnosis of cancer of the oral cavity, oropharynx, larynx, hypopharynx, nasopharynx, sinonasal, salivary gland or thyroid gland between 2010 and 2018. We calculated the annual incidence rate per 100,000 population, overall, and classified by gender and cancer type. We also used the annual percent change (APC) to characterize trends in head and neck cancer rates over time.
The incidence rate showed a gradual decline during this period from 2010 to 2018 with an APC of −2.81% (p < 0.001). Within gender groups, the decline was not statistically significant among females (APC = −1.69, 95% CI = −3.58 ∼ 0.23, p = 0.080). Within cancer types, strikingly high magnitude and statistically significant declines were observed in respect of cancer of the nasopharynx (APC = −7.89%, 95% CI = −9.43%∼−6.31%, p < 0.001), sinonasal cancer (APC = −10.08%, 95% CI = −16.66%∼−2.99%, p = 0.012) and oropharyneal cancer (APC = −9.47%, 95% CI = −15.15%∼−3.42%, p = 0.013) over the study period. In contrast, there was a statistically significant increase in incidence on thyroid cancer over the study period with an APC of 4.75% (95% CI = −2.81%∼6.75%, p < 0.001).
HNCs in Taiwan are showing a decreasing trend, led by the upper respiratory and oropharyngeal cancers. However, there was a concurrent increasing trend of the incidence on thyroid cancer. These trends may be attributable to changing lifestyles and behavioral choices in Taiwan.
Background: Osteoporosis and periodontitis are both considered global health issues that threaten postmenopausal women and the older population. However, the correlation between osteoporosis and ...periodontitis is still unclear.
Methods: Using a nationwide Taiwanese population‐based database, data from patients with osteoporosis (2003 to 2005; n = 2,527) and 7,575 individuals who were matched to each patient by age and sex were analyzed. All participants were tracked for 5 years from the date of enrollment to observe the percentage of patients who developed periodontitis. Cox proportional hazard regressions were performed to evaluate 5‐year periodontitis‐free survival rates.
Results: Among the total sample, 3,060 individuals were diagnosed with periodontitis during the 5‐year follow‐up period: 792 in the study cohort and 2,268 in the comparison cohort. The adjusted hazard ratio for periodontitis in patients with osteoporosis compared with individuals without osteoporosis during the 5‐year follow‐up was 1.14 (95% confidence interval = 1.05 to 1.24, P <0.01).
Conclusion: This population‐based study indicated that patients with osteoporosis may have an increased risk of periodontitis.
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