The vascularization of subchondral bone plays a significant role in the progression of knee osteoarthritis (OA). Treatment with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has positive effects on cartilage lesions. ...However, PRP's efficacy for subchondral bone marrow lesions and the relationship of these lesions to cartilage are still undiscovered. Therefore, our aims were first to longitudinally investigate the change in subchondral flow by dynamic contrast enhanced MRI and degeneration of cartilage by MRI T2∗ in an anterior cruciate transection rodent (ACLT) model, and second to examine changes in parameters after intra-articular PRP injection.
A 32-week investigation in 18 rats allocated to sham-control, ACLT with normal saline injection (ACLT + NS), and ACLT with PRP injection groups ended with histological evaluation. Another rat was used as a donor of allogenic PRP.
Compared to the sham-control group, the ACLT + NS group had higher subchondral blood volume A (0.051, 95% confidence interval: 0.009, 0.092) and lower venous washout kel (−0.030: −0.055, −0.005) from week 4; lower permeability kep from week 18 (−0.954: −1.339, −0.569); higher cartilage T2∗ values (1.803: 1.504, 2.102) reflecting collagen loss beginning at week 10. For the PRP treatment group, subchondral bone marrow A and cartilage T2∗ decreased from week 10. Histological results confirmed and were correlated with the MRI findings.
Subchondral hyper-perfusion plays a vital role in the pathogenesis of OA and was associated with cartilage degeneration. The efficacy of PRP can be observed from reduced perfusion and MRI T2∗ values.
Abstract
Background
The role of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in the development of colorectal neoplasia has been a matter of scientific debate with controversial findings.
Aims
This ...study examined the association between H. pylori infection and colorectal cancer (CRC) in a nationwide population-based Chinese cohort study.
Methods
A total of approximately 3936 individuals with newly diagnosed H. pylori infection (the H. pylori-infected cohort) and 15 744 age- and sex-matched patients with diagnoses absence of H. pylori infection (the comparison cohort) from 2000 to 2005 were identified from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database. The Kaplan–Meier method was used for measuring the cumulative incidence of CRC in each cohort. Cox proportional hazards models were used to compute hazard ratios (HRs) and accompanying 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the estimation of the association between H. pylori infection and CRC.
Results
The cumulative incidence of CRC was higher in H. pylori-infected cohort than that in the comparison cohort (log-rank test, P < 0.001). After adjustment for potential confounders, H. pylori infection was associated with a significantly increased risk of CRC (adjusted HR 1.87; 95% CI 1.37–2.57). In addition, the HR of CRC appeared to increase with increasing frequency of clinical visits for H. pylori infection.
Conclusions
Our study demonstrated that H. pylori infection was associated with an increased risk of CRC, which warrants confirmation and exploration of the underlying biologic mechanisms by future studies.
The 3D vertical ferroelectric tunneling junction (FTJ) of bilayer antiferroelectric (AFE) Hf 1-x Zr x O 2 (HZO) and Al 2 O 3 has been demonstrated for NAND-compatible feasibility. A bilayer-type FTJ ...is explored for the designs of the dielectric interlayer Al 2 O 3 0 nm to 4 nm and the ferroelectric type, while the current mechanism is revealed. The multilevel AFE-FTJ is exhibited for both the Program and Erase operations and realizes a synaptic device. High-density emerging memory and computing-in-memory (CiM) are in high demanded for the future era and can be feasible by the proposed vertical FTJ.
Summary
Background Bullous pemphigoid (BP) has been associated with neurological and psychiatric diseases; however, large‐scale population‐based study of different comorbid diseases in patients with ...BP is quite limited.
Objectives We sought to analyse the prevalence of neurological, psychiatric, autoimmune and inflammatory skin diseases prior to the diagnosis of BP and their associations with BP among patients with BP from a nationwide database in Taiwan.
Methods A total of 3485 patients with BP and 17 425 matching controls were identified from the National Health Insurance Database in Taiwan from 1997 to 2008. Conditional logistic regression analyses for a nested case–control study were performed to examine the prevalence of comorbidities prior to the diagnosis of BP between these two groups.
Results Overall, our results showed that stroke odds ratio (OR) 3·30; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 3·03–3·60, dementia (OR 4·81; 95% CI 4·26–5·42), Parkinson disease (OR 3·49; 95% CI 3·05–3·98), epilepsy (OR 3·97; 95% CI 3·28–4·81), schizophrenia (OR 2·56; 95% CI 1·52–4·30) and psoriasis (OR 2·02; 95% CI 1·54–2·66) were significantly associated with BP. Among them, the association with schizophrenia and psoriasis was predominant in female and male patients, respectively, with BP. It remains for all these comorbid diseases to be independently associated with BP by multivariate analysis.
Conclusions Patients with BP are more likely to have various neurological diseases, schizophrenia and psoriasis prior to the diagnosis of BP, supporting associations found in other studies. Further research is required to elucidate the tentative causal association with BP.
This study investigated the in vitro susceptibilities of methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA) to nine antimicrobial agents in Taiwan. A total of 1,725 isolates were obtained from 20 ...hospitals throughout Taiwan from 2006 to 2010. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the nine agents were determined by the agar dilution method. The MICs of mupirocin and tyrothricin were determined for 223 MRSA isolates collected from 2009 to 2010. For vancomycin, 99.7 % were susceptible; however, 30.0 % (
n
= 517) exhibited MICs of 2 μg/ml and 0.3 % (
n
= 6) demonstrated intermediate susceptibility (MICs of 4 μg/ml). Nearly all isolates (≥99.9 %) were susceptible to teicoplanin, linezolid, and daptomycin. The MIC
90
values were 2 μg/ml for ceftobiprole and 1 μg/ml for nemonoxacin. The MIC
90
values of mupirocin and tyrothricin were 0.12 and 4 μg/ml, respectively. MIC creep was noted for daptomycin during this period, but not for vancomycin, teicoplanin, linezolid, or tigecycline. For isolates with vancomycin MICs of 2 μg/ml, the MIC
90
values were 2 μg/ml for teicoplanin, 0.5 μg/ml for daptomycin, and 0.5 μg/ml for tigecycline. Those values were four- to eight-fold higher than those among isolates with vancomycin MICs of 0.5 μg/ml (2, 0.06, and 0.12 μg/ml, respectively). Of the nine MRSA isolates exhibiting non-susceptibility to vancomycin (
n
= 6), teicoplanin (
n
= 1), daptomycin (
n
= 2), or tigecycline (
n
= 1), all had different pulsotypes, indicating the absence of intra-hospital or inter-hospital spread. The presence of a high proportion of MRSA isolates with elevated MICs (2 μg/ml) and MIC creep of daptomycin might alert clinicians on the therapy for serious MRSA infections in Taiwan.
Summary
Background
Data are limited regarding the effectiveness and safety of generic velpatasvir plus sofosbuvir (VEL/SOF) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) in patients with or without human ...immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection.
Aim
To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of generic VEL/SOF‐based therapy for HCV infection in patients with or without HIV coinfection in Taiwan.
Methods
Sixty‐nine HIV/HCV‐coinfected and 159 HCV‐monoinfected patients receiving 12 weeks of generic VEL/SOF with or without ribavirin (RBV) for HCV were prospectively enrolled. The anti‐viral responses and the adverse events (AEs) were compared between the two groups. The characteristics potentially related to sustained virological response 12 weeks off therapy (SVR12) were analysed.
Results
The SVR12 was achieved in 67 HIV/HCV‐coinfected patients (97.1%; 95% CI: 90.0%‐99.2%) and in 156 HCV‐monoinfected patients (98.1%; 95% CI: 94.6%‐99.4%) receiving VEL/SOF‐based therapy, respectively. The SVR12 rates were comparable between HIV/HCV‐coinfected and HCV‐monoinfected patients, regardless of pre‐specified baseline characteristics. One hundred twenty‐two (53.5%) and seven (3.1%) patients had baseline resistance‐associated substitutions (RASs) in HCV NS5A and NS5B regions, but the SVR12 rates were not affected by the presence or absence of RASs. One (1.4%) and five (3.1%) patients in the HIV/HCV‐coinfected and HCV‐monoinfected groups had serious AEs. No patient died or discontinued treatment due to AEs. The eGFR remained stable throughout the course of treatment in HIV/HCV‐coinfected patients receiving anti‐retroviral therapy containing tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF).
Conclusions
Generic VEL/SOF‐based therapy is well‐tolerated and provides comparably high SVR12 rates for HCV infection in patients with and without HIV coinfection.
This study aims at investigating the effects of MSW incinerator fly ash (FA) and bottom ash (BA) on the anaerobic co-digestion of OFMSW with FA or BA. It also simulates the biogas production from ...various dosed and control bioreactors. Results showed that suitable ashes addition (FA/MSW 10 and 20
g
L
−1 and BA/MSW 100
g
L
−1) could improve the MSW anaerobic digestion and enhance the biogas production rates. FA/MSW 20
g
L
−1 bioreactor had the higher biogas production and rate implying the potential option for MSW anaerobic co-digestion. Modeling studies showed that exponential plot simulated better for FA/MSW 10
g
L
−1 and control bioreactors while Gaussian plot was applicable for FA/MSW 20
g
L
−1 one. Linear and exponential plot of descending limb both simulated better for BA/MSW 100
g
L
−1 bioreactor. Modified Gompertz plot showed higher correlation of biogas accumulation than exponential rise to maximum plot for all bioreactors.
PDF
