ABSTRACT
Purpose@#This study aimed to compare the ability of B-mode ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to predict the repairability of large-to-massive rotator cuff tears (RCTs). @*Methods@#This cross-sectional study included participants with large-to-massive RCTs who underwent arthroscopic repair. B-mode ultrasonography and MRI were conducted prior to arthroscopic repair. B-mode ultrasonography was used to evaluate the echogenicity of the rotator cuff muscle using the Heckmatt scale. Intra-rater and inter-rater reliabilities were examined for two independent physicians. MRI was used to evaluate the degrees of tendon retraction, fatty infiltration of rotator cuff muscles, and muscle atrophy. Finally, two experienced orthopedic surgeons performed surgery and decided whether the torn stump could be completely repaired intraoperatively. @*Results@#Fifty participants were included, and 32 complete repairs and 18 partial repairs were performed. B-mode ultrasonography showed good intra-rater reliability and inter-rater reliability for assessment of the muscle echogenicity of the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles. The correlation coefficients between B-mode ultrasound findings and MRI findings showed medium to large effect sizes (r=0.4-0.8). The Goutallier classification of the infraspinatus muscles was the MRI predictor with the best discriminative power for surgical reparability (area under the curve [AUC], 0.89; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.81 to 0.98), while the Heckmatt scale for infraspinatus muscles was the most accurate ultrasound predictor (AUC, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.96). No significant differences in AUCs among the MRI and ultrasound predictors were found. @*Conclusion@#B-mode ultrasonography was a reliable examination tool and had a similar ability to predict surgical reparability to that of MRI among patients with large-to-massive RCTs.
ABSTRACT
Objective@#The Schizophrenia Cognition Rating Scale (SCoRS) is an interview-based assessment tool for evaluating the cognitive deficit and daily functioning of patients with schizophrenia. @*Methods@#Sixty-eight patients with schizophrenia and 68 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals were recruited to validate the Chinese version of SCoRS in this study. All participants underwent cognitive assessment using the SCoRS, which was verified by the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS), and the UCSD Performance-based Skills Assessment, Brief Version (UPSA-B). Patients with schizophrenia were additionally assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). @*Results@#SCoRS ratings reported by patients (SCoRS-S), those reported by the interviewer (SCoRS-I), and SCoRS global scores (SCoRS-G) showed significant correlation with all subscales of the BACS and the UPSA-B. On receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, SCoRS-S, SCoRS-I, and SCoRS-G significantly differentiated patients with schizophrenia from healthy controls. Moreover, SCoRS-S and SCoRS-I ratings showed positive correlation with the negative symptoms and general symptoms of PANSS. @*Conclusion@#The Chinese version of SCoRS showed good discriminant, concurrent, and external validity, suggesting that it is a useful and convenient tool for assessment of cognitive function among Mandarin-speaking patients with schizophrenia in clinical practice.
ABSTRACT
Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy. Patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancers, such as papillary and follicular cancers, have a favorable prognosis. However, poorly differentiated thyroid cancers, such as medullary, squamous and anaplastic advanced thyroid cancers, are very aggressive and insensitive to radioiodine treatment. Thus, novel therapies that attenuate metastasis are urgently needed. We found that both PDGFC and PDGFRA are predominantly expressed in thyroid cancers and that the survival rate is significantly lower in patients with high PDGFRA expression. This finding indicates the important role of PDGF/PDGFR signaling in thyroid cancer development. Next, we established a SW579 squamous thyroid cancer cell line with 95.6% PDGFRA gene insertion and deletions (indels) through CRISPR/Cas9. Protein and invasion analysis showed a dramatic loss in EMT marker expression and metastatic ability. Furthermore, xenograft tumors derived from PDGFRA geneedited SW579 cells exhibited a minor decrease in tumor growth. However, distant lung metastasis was completely abolished upon PDGFRA gene editing, implying that PDGFRA could be an effective target to inhibit distant metastasis in advanced thyroid cancers. To translate this finding to the clinic, we used the most relevant multikinase inhibitor, imatinib, to inhibit PDGFRA signaling. The results showed that imatinib significantly suppressed cell growth, induced cell cycle arrest and cell death in SW579 cells. Our developed noninvasive apoptosis detection sensor (NIADS) indicated that imatinib induced cell apoptosis through caspase-3 activation. In conclusion, we believe that developing a specific and selective targeted therapy for PDGFRA would effectively suppress PDGFRA-mediated cancer aggressiveness in advanced thyroid cancers.
ABSTRACT
Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy. Patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancers, such as papillary and follicular cancers, have a favorable prognosis. However, poorly differentiated thyroid cancers, such as medullary, squamous and anaplastic advanced thyroid cancers, are very aggressive and insensitive to radioiodine treatment. Thus, novel therapies that attenuate metastasis are urgently needed. We found that both PDGFC and PDGFRA are predominantly expressed in thyroid cancers and that the survival rate is significantly lower in patients with high PDGFRA expression. This finding indicates the important role of PDGF/PDGFR signaling in thyroid cancer development. Next, we established a SW579 squamous thyroid cancer cell line with 95.6% PDGFRA gene insertion and deletions (indels) through CRISPR/Cas9. Protein and invasion analysis showed a dramatic loss in EMT marker expression and metastatic ability. Furthermore, xenograft tumors derived from PDGFRA geneedited SW579 cells exhibited a minor decrease in tumor growth. However, distant lung metastasis was completely abolished upon PDGFRA gene editing, implying that PDGFRA could be an effective target to inhibit distant metastasis in advanced thyroid cancers. To translate this finding to the clinic, we used the most relevant multikinase inhibitor, imatinib, to inhibit PDGFRA signaling. The results showed that imatinib significantly suppressed cell growth, induced cell cycle arrest and cell death in SW579 cells. Our developed noninvasive apoptosis detection sensor (NIADS) indicated that imatinib induced cell apoptosis through caspase-3 activation. In conclusion, we believe that developing a specific and selective targeted therapy for PDGFRA would effectively suppress PDGFRA-mediated cancer aggressiveness in advanced thyroid cancers.
ABSTRACT
Background/Aims@#Direct‐acting antivirals (DAAs) have been approved for hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on hemodialysis. Nevertheless, the complicated comedications and their potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs) with DAAs might limit clinical practice in this special population. @*Methods@#The number, class, and characteristics of comedications and their potential DDIs with five DAA regimens were analyzed among HCV-viremic patients from 23 hemodialysis centers in Taiwan. @*Results@#Of 2,015 hemodialysis patients screened in 2019, 169 patients seropositive for HCV RNA were enrolled (mean age, 65.6 years; median duration of hemodialysis, 5.8 years). All patients received at least one comedication (median number, 6; mean class number, 3.4). The most common comedication classes were ESRD-associated medications (94.1%), cardiovascular drugs (69.8%) and antidiabetic drugs (43.2%). ESRD-associated medications were excluded from DDI analysis. Sofosbuvir/velpatasvir/voxilaprevir had the highest frequency of potential contraindicated DDIs (red, 5.6%), followed by glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (4.0%), sofosbuvir/ledipasvir (1.3%), sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (1.3%), and elbasvir/grazoprevir (0.3%). For potentially significant DDIs (orange, requiring close monitoring or dose adjustments), sofosbuvir/velpatasvir/voxilaprevir had the highest frequency (19.9%), followed by sofosbuvir/ledipasvir (18.2%), glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (12.6%), sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (12.6%), and elbasvir/grazoprevir (7.3%). Overall, lipid-lowering agents were the most common comedication class with red-category DDIs to all DAA regimens (n=62), followed by cardiovascular agents (n=15), and central nervous system agents (n=10). @*Conclusions@#HCV-viremic patients on hemodialysis had a very high prevalence of comedications with a broad spectrum, which had varied DDIs with currently available DAA regimens. Elbasvir/grazoprevir had the fewest potential DDIs, and sofosbuvir/velpatasvir/voxilaprevir had the most potential DDIs.
ABSTRACT
To study the salivary cortisol level, and to analyze the correlation between salivary cortisol and peri-abortion depression in the women suffering termination of pregnancy for fetal anomaly. Methods: Comparing the difference in salivary cortisol level between the women with and without depression when they underwent termination of pregnancy for fetal anomaly in a prospective cohort study. Analyzing the correlation between salivary cortisol and peri-abortion depression through logistics regression analysis. Results: The salivary cortisol awakening response was lower in women with depression than women without depression. Based on the logistics regression analysis, the salivary cortisol awakening response showed a negative correlation with pre-abortion (OR=0.063, 95% CI 0.005 to 0.754) and post-abortion (OR=0.002, 95% CI 0.000 to 0.061) depression. Conclusion: Cortisol awakening response possesses a negative correlation with peri-abortion depression, and it is a predictive factor for post-abortion depression.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Pregnancy , Depression , Depressive Disorder , Metabolism , Hydrocortisone , Metabolism , Prospective Studies , Saliva , MetabolismABSTRACT
Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), including embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced PSCs (iPSCs), represent potentially unlimited cell sources for clinical applications. Previous studies have suggested that hPSCs may benefit from immune privilege and limited immunogenicity, as reflected by the reduced expression of major histocompatibility complex class-related molecules. Here we investigated the global immune-related gene expression profiles of human ESCs, hiPSCs and somatic cells and identified candidate immune-related genes that may alter their immunogenicity. The expression levels of global immune-related genes were determined by comparing undifferentiated and differentiated stem cells and three types of human somatic cells: dermal papilla cells, ovarian granulosa cells and foreskin fibroblast cells. We identified the differentially expressed genes CD24, GATA3, PROM1, THBS2, LY96, IFIT3, CXCR4, IL1R1, FGFR3, IDO1 and KDR, which overlapped with selected immune-related gene lists. In further analyses, mammalian target of rapamycin complex (mTOR) signaling was investigated in the differentiated stem cells following treatment with rapamycin and lentiviral transduction with specific short-hairpin RNAs. We found that the inhibition of mTOR signal pathways significantly downregulated the immunogenicity of differentiated stem cells. We also tested the immune responses induced in differentiated stem cells by mixed lymphocyte reactions. We found that CD24- and GATA3-deficient differentiated stem cells including neural lineage cells had limited abilities to activate human lymphocytes. By analyzing the transcriptome signature of immune-related genes, we observed a tendency of the hPSCs to differentiate toward an immune cell phenotype. Taken together, these data identify candidate immune-related genes that might constitute valuable targets for clinical applications.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Embryonic Stem Cells , Fibroblasts , Foreskin , Granulosa Cells , Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells , Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed , Lymphocytes , Major Histocompatibility Complex , Phenotype , Pluripotent Stem Cells , RNA , Signal Transduction , Sirolimus , Stem Cells , TranscriptomeABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Urinary catheterization is a common technique in clinical practice. There is, however, no consensus on management prior to removal of the indwelling catheter for short-term patients. This systematic review examined the necessity of clamping before removal of an indwelling urinary catheter in short-term patients. METHODS: A systematic literature review was conducted using eight databases and predetermined keywords-guided searches. Some 2,515 studies were evaluated. Ten studies that met the inclusion criteria were selected. RESULTS: The quality of the studies was assessed using the Jadad scoring system. Only 40.0% of studies were rated as high quality. This review found that catheter clamping prior to removal was not necessary for the short-term patient. When made a comparison with the unclamping group, there was no significant difference in recatheterization risk, risk of urine retention, patients' subjective perceptions and rate of urinary tract infection. CONCLUSIONS: This review indicated that bladder training by clamping prior to removal of urinary catheters is not necessary in short-term catheter patients. In addition, clamping carries the risk of complications such as prolonging urinary catheter retention and urinary tract injury. Further investigation requires higher quality methodologies and more diverse study designs.
Subject(s)
Humans , Attitude to Health , Catheters, Indwelling , Constriction , Device Removal , Patient Education as Topic/methods , Perception , Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic , Retreatment , Urinary Catheterization/methods , Urinary Catheters , Urinary Retention/psychology , Urinary Tract Infections/therapy , Urination/physiologyABSTRACT
Bolivian sex workers were more likely than other employed women to report tuberculosis screening only if they reported HIV screening. Of all women with household tuberculosis exposure, <40% reported screening for themselves or their children. Coupling tuberculosis screening with sex workers' m and atory HIV screenings may be a cost-efficient disease-control strategy.
ABSTRACT
To establish a relation between an protein amino acid sequence and its tendencies to generate antibody response, and to investigate an improved in silico method for linear B-cell epitope (LBE) prediction. We present a sequence-based LBE predictor developed using deep maxout network (DMN) with dropout training techniques. A graphics processing unit (GPU) was used to reduce the training time of the model. A 10-fold cross-validation test on a large, non-redundant and experimentally verified dataset (Lbtope_Fixed_ non_redundant) was performed to evaluate the performance. DMN-LBE achieved an accuracy of 68.33% and an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.743, outperforming other prediction methods in the field. A web server, DMN-LBE, of the improved prediction model has been provided for public free use. We anticipate that DMN-LBE will be beneficial to vaccine development, antibody production, disease diagnosis, and therapy.
Subject(s)
Amino Acid Sequence , Computational Biology , Methods , Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte , Chemistry , Allergy and Immunology , ROC CurveABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate effects of Tongnao Huoluo acupuncture therapy (THAT) on Bcl-2 and Caspase-3 rats with acute cerebral infarction (ACI).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 264 SD rats were randomly divided into 5 groups, i.e. the THAT group (n =72), the thrombolysis group (n =72), the body acupuncture group (n =72), the ischemia control group (n =24), and the sham-operation group (n =24). Successfully modeled rats were recruited in all groups except the sham-operation group. Rats in the THAT group, the thrombolysis group, and the body acupuncture group were divided into 3 subgroups according to the disease occurrence time, i.e., < or = 1.5 h THAT group, 1.5+ -2 h THAT group, and 2+ -3 h THAT group. The neuroethological scores were assessed at 6, 24, and 72 h after treatment. The expressions of Bcl-2 and Caspase-3 were detected using immunohistochemical staining at 24 and 72 h respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In aspect of improving scores of neurological functions: At 6 h after treatment within 2 h after the disease occurrence, the neuroethological scores were lowered more obviously in the thrombolysis group than in the THAT group (P <0.05). There was statistical difference at 24 and 72 h within 2 - 3 h after the,disease occurrence between the THAT group and the thrombolysis group (P <0.05). Compared with before treatment, there was statistical difference at 24 and 72 h within 3 h after the disease occurrence (P <0. 05, P <0.01). In aspect of lowering the expression of Caspase-3 and elevating the expression of Bcl-2: There was statistical difference in lowering the expression of Caspase-3 and elevating the expression of Bcl-2 between the THAT group and the thrombolysis group at 72 h within 2 -3 after the disease occurrence (P <0.05, P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>THAT showed favorable effects in lowering neuroethological scores, lowering expression of Caspase-3, and elevating the expression of Bcl-2 of ACI rats.</p>
Subject(s)
Animals , Male , Rats , Acupuncture Therapy , Caspase 3 , Metabolism , Cerebral Infarction , Metabolism , Therapeutics , Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 , Metabolism , Rats, Sprague-DawleyABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the effect of partial splenic embolization (PSE) in prevention of gastroesophageal variceal rebleeding.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty-two patients with recent gastroesophageal variceal bleeding were treated by PSE with Seldinger technique. All the patients were followed-up for 12 months. The data including peripheral blood cell count, liver function, plasma prothrombin time (PT), portal vein diameter, and appearance of gastroesophageal varices under gastroscopy were collected before and after embolization for statistical analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Five days after the operation, the numbers of leucocytes and platelets were significantly increased (P<0.05), and PT was significantly shortened (P<0.05). All the patients showed a good response after PSE with reduced internal diameter of the portal vein and blood flow (P<0.05). Gastroesophageal varices were relieved in all the patients. Rebleeding occurred in 11 patients during the follow-up.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>PSE can be effective in preventing gastroesophageal variceal rebleeding.</p>
Subject(s)
Adult , Aged , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Embolization, Therapeutic , Methods , Esophageal and Gastric Varices , General Surgery , Follow-Up Studies , Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage , Gastroscopy , Splenic ArteryABSTRACT
Primary leiomyosarcoma of the nipple-areola complex is extremely rare. Less than ten such cases have been reported in English literature so far. Herein we describe a 52-year-old female presenting with a 1.5 cmx1.1 cmx0.7 cm nodular lesion over her left nipple, and leiomyosarcoma was proved by pathological examination of the excised specimen. Positron emitted tomogram (PET) revealed no abnormal signal other than the primary site. Microscopically, this poorly circumscribed tumor was composed of interlacing bundles of smooth muscle cells with bizarre and pleomorphic nuclei, as well as prominent nucleoli. Its mitotic count was up to 7 mitoses per 10 high power fields (HPF). Immunohistochemical study of tumor cells revealed positive stain for alpha-smooth muscle actin and vimentin; and negative for cytokeratin, CD34 and S-100. Left simple mastectomy was undertaken and no residual mass lesion was noted on the resected specimen. Related literatures about the diagnosis and treatment for breast leiomyosarcoma will be presented here.