Appendicitis links to the afterward subsequent psoriatic disease occurrence in Taiwan national health insurance research database: A population-based cohort study: Appendicitis links to psoriatic diseases.

Objective: To investigate the psoriatic disease risk among patients with previous appendicitis.

Methods: This study was a nationwide population-based case-control study about the association between the psoriatic disease risk among patients with a history of appendicitis in Taiwan. The study population consisted of newly diagnosed psoriatic disease with at least two outpatient visits, and the control group included those patients without psoriatic disease at the same index date.

SRAM-Based CIM Architecture Design for Event Detection.

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) play a key role in deep learning applications. However, the high computational complexity and high-energy consumption of CNNs trammel their application in hardware accelerators. Computing-in-memory (CIM) is the technique of running calculations entirely in memory (in our design, we use SRAM).

Two-Dimensional Position Tracking Using Gradient Magnetic Fields.

In this work, a two-dimensional (2D) position-detection device using a single axis magnetic sensor combined with orthogonal gradient coils was designed and fabricated. The sensors used were an induction coil and a GMR spin-valve sensor GF807 from Sensitec Inc. The field profiles generated by the two orthogonal gradient coils were analyzed numerically to achieve the maximum linear range, which corresponded to the detection area of the tracking system.

A visually interpretable detection method combines 3-D ECG with a multi-VGG neural network for myocardial infarction identification.

Background And Objective: The automatic recognition of myocardial infarction (MI) by artificial intelligence (AI) has been an emerging topic of academic research and an existing classification method that can recognize conventional electrocardiogram (ECG) signals with high accuracy. However, they are employed to classify one-dimensional (1-D) ECG signals rather than three-dimensional (3-D) ECG images, and it is limited to provide physicians with significant recommendations to aid in diagnosis like highlighting abnormal leads. Other studies on 3-D ECG images either did not achieve high accuracy or did not employ an inter-patient classification scheme.

An Investigation on Design and Characterization of a Highly Selective LED Optical Sensor for Copper Ions in Aqueous Solutions.

The optical characteristics of copper ion detection, such as the photometric absorbance of specific wavelengths, exhibit significant intensity change upon incident light into the aqueous solutions with different concentrations of metal ions due to the electron transition in the orbit. In this study, we developed a low-cost, small-size and fast-response photoelectric sensing prototype as an optic sensor for copper (Cu) ions detection by utilizing the principle of optical absorption. We quantified the change of optical absorbance from infra-red (IR) light emitting diodes (LEDs) upon different concentrations of copper ions and the transmitted optical signals were transferred to the corresponding output voltage through a phototransistor and circuit integrated in the photoelectric sensing system.

Improving segmentation accuracy of CT kidney cancer images using adaptive active contour model.

In the present study, we retrospectively analyzed the records of surgical confirmed kidney cancer with renal cell carcinoma pathology in the database of the hospital. We evaluated the significance of cancer size by assessing the outcomes of proposed adaptive active contour model (ACM). The aim of our study was to develop an adaptive ACM method to measure the radiological size of kidney cancer on computed tomography in the hospital patients.

Efficacy validation of a lymphatic drainage device for lymphedema drainage in a rat model.

Background: Vascularized lymph node transfer (VLNT) is an effective surgery for extremity lymphedema. This study evaluated a lymphatic drainage device (LDD) for the drainage of accumulated fluid into the venous system.

Methods: Micropore filtering membranes with pore sizes of 5, 0.

The Comorbidity Between Premature Ejaculation and Erectile Dysfunction-A Cross-Sectional Internet Survey.

Introduction: The comorbidity between premature ejaculation (PE) and erectile dysfunction (ED) has not yet been clarified.

Aim: To assess the comorbidity between PE and ED.

Methods: Male members of a shopping club in Taiwan aged 20-60 years with stable sexual relationships were invited to complete an online questionnaire.

Quasi-Static Current Measurement with Field-Modulated Spin-Valve GMR Sensors.

A non-contact current measurement device comprised of a GMR sensor and a ferrite ring core was investigated. The sensor chip employed a high-sensitivity spin-valve full-bridge GMR sensor of which the direct output has non-negligible hysteresis and a limited linear range. By applying an AC modulation current to modulate the output of the GMR sensor, the hysteresis was reduced, and the linear range was over ±0.

Numerical simulation of nanopost-guided self-organization dendritic architectures using phase-field model.

Self-organized dendritic architecture is of fundamental importance and its application can be used in many natural and industrial processes. Nanopost arrays are usually used in the applications of reflecting grating and changing the material surface wettability. However, in recent research, it is found that nanopost arrays can be fabricated as passive components to induce the dendritic self-organizaed hierarchical architectures.

A novel CMOS transducer for giant magnetoresistance sensors.

In this work, an ASIC (application specific integrated circuits) transducer circuit for field modulated giant magnetoresistance (GMR) sensors was designed and fabricated using a 0.18-μm CMOS process. The transducer circuits consist of a frequency divider, a digital phase shifter, an instrument amplifier, and an analog mixer.

Associations between interventions for urolithiasis and urinary tract cancer among patients in Taiwan: The effect of early intervention.

The aim of this study was to investigate cancer risk in patients with a history of urolithiasis and to determine whether intervention for calculi attenuated the risk of subsequent urinary tract cancer (UTC).Using data from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan, we performed a nationwide cohort study enrolling participants (n = 42,732) aged > 30 years who were diagnosed with urinary tract calculi between 2000 and 2009. Age- and gender-matched insured individuals (n = 213,660) found in the health service records over the same period were recruited as the control group.

Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor of Prostate: A Rare Case Report and Literature Review.

A mid-aged male presented with progressive lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) for years. Huge prostate with low serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level was detected. The specimen from transurethral resection revealed surprising pathology finding as malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST).

A Novel Scheme and Evaluations on a Long-Term and Continuous Biosensor Platform Integrated with a Dental Implant Fixture and Its Prosthetic Abutment.

A miniature intra-oral dental implant system including a built-in biosensor device is proposed in this article. The dental implant system, or platform, is replaced over maxilla and allows relatively non-invasive procedures for a novel biosensing scheme for human blood analysis. Due to placement of the implant fixture, periodontal ligaments and the pulp structure, which are regarded as the main origin of pain, are thus removed, and long-term, continuous blood analysis and management through maxillary bone marrow becomes achievable through the dental implant platform.

Genetically diverse serotypes III and VI substitute major clonal disseminated serotypes Ib and V as prevalent serotypes of Streptococcus agalactiae from 2007 to 2012.

Background: Streptococcus agalactiae [group B Streptococcus (GBS)] has become more prevalent in nonpregnant women, the elderly, and people who are immunocompromised. We investigated the serotype and genomic changes of GBS human isolates from different hospitals from 2007 to 2012.

Methods: The serotype and genotype of 658 GBS human isolates were determined with multiplex polymerase chain reaction and pulsed field gel electrophoresis analysis.

A 3-Axis Miniature Magnetic Sensor Based on a Planar Fluxgate Magnetometer with an Orthogonal Fluxguide.

A new class of tri-axial miniature magnetometer consisting of a planar fluxgate structure with an orthogonal ferromagnetic fluxguide centrally situated over the magnetic cores is presented. The magnetic sensor possesses a cruciform ferromagnetic core placed diagonally upon the square excitation coil under which two pairs of pick-up coils for in-plane field detection are allocated. Effective principles and analysis of the magnetometer for 3-D field vectors are described and verified by numerically electromagnetic simulation for the excitation and magnetization of the ferromagnetic cores.

Robot-Assisted Retroperitoneoscopic Surgery for Synchronous Contralateral Ureteral Metastasis of Renal-Cell Carcinoma.

Renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) with synchronous metastasis to contralateral ureter is extremely rare with only four cases reported in the literature. We report a case of synchronous metastatic RCC to the contralateral ureter with effective robot-assisted retroperitoneoscopic nephron-sparing surgery that leads to favorable oncologic and functional outcome.

High-sensitivity low-noise miniature fluxgate magnetometers using a flip chip conceptual design.

This paper presents a novel class of miniature fluxgate magnetometers fabricated on a print circuit board (PCB) substrate and electrically connected to each other similar to the current "flip chip" concept in semiconductor package. This sensor is soldered together by reversely flipping a 5 cm × 3 cm PCB substrate to the other identical one which includes dual magnetic cores, planar pick-up coils, and 3-D excitation coils constructed by planar Cu interconnections patterned on PCB substrates. Principles and analysis of the fluxgate sensor are introduced first, and followed by FEA electromagnetic modeling and simulation for the proposed sensor.

Volume-outcome associations after major hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma: a nationwide Taiwan study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore volume-outcome associations after major hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: This population-based cohort study retrospectively analyzed 23,107 major hepatectomies for HCC patients from 1998 to 2009. Relationships between hospital/surgeon volume and patient outcome were analyzed by propensity score matching (PSM).

Prostatic relaxation induced by loperamide is reduced in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

This paper shows a new finding about the decrease of relaxative response to loperamide in prostate of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) as compare to normal rats (WKY). Authors demonstrated the reduction of ATP-sensitive potassium channels is responsible for this change using immunoblotting analysis and the decrease of action induced by diazoxide. This view is not mentioned before and is the first one reporting this result.