Host Genetic Factors and Clinical Comorbidities Associated With Tuberculosis Risk.

HLA influence the immune response, shaping genetic susceptibility or resistance to tuberculosis (TB). This study aimed to investigate the associations of host genetics and comorbidities with TB infection in Taiwanese populations. This retrospective case-control study utilised data from the Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative.

The Association Between the Surgical Timing for Congenital Malformation of Lung and Asthma Prevalence-A Nationwide Cohort Study.

Introduction: Congenital lung malformations (CLMs) is a rare disorder with the increasing incidence of approximately 1 out of every 30,000 pregnancies during recent decade, which was attributed to advanced prenatal screening test. Some studies have discovered the possible association between asthma and CLMs, which was currently lack of investigation. This study aims to clarify the link between asthma and CLMs or age at surgery.

Association between high polygenic risk scores and long-term exposure to air pollution in asthma development: a hospital-based case-control study.

Background: Air pollution is widely associated with allergic diseases, including asthma. Although previous studies have suggested an epidemiological link between air pollution and asthma, the combined effects of air pollutants and polygenic risk scores (PRSs) on asthma risk remain incompletely understood. This study aimed to examine the impact of air pollutants and PRS on asthma risk among patients in a Taiwan medical institution.

Clinical impact of pharmacogenetic risk variants in a large chinese cohort.

Incorporating pharmacogenetics into clinical practice promises to improve therapeutic outcomes by optimizing drug selection and dosage based on genetic factors affecting drug response. A key advantage of PGx-guided therapy is to decrease the likelihood of adverse events. To evaluate the clinical impact of PGx risk variants, we performed a retrospective study using genetic and clinical data from the largest Han Chinese cohort, comprising 486,956 individuals, assembled by the Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative.

Illicit substance exposure in pregnancy and infant mortality risk: a nationwide Taiwan study.

Background: To investigate the association between prenatal illicit substance exposure and infant mortality, addressing the unclear links between specific and multiple substances and increased mortality.

Methods: This 16-year retrospective cohort study used Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, the Taiwan Maternal and Child Health dataset, and the Integrated Illegal Drug Database, including 1 937 301 pregnant women who delivered from 2004 to 2019. Among them, 11 477 used illicit drugs during pregnancy, with a matched control group of 45 908 non-users based on maternal age, income, and childbirth year.

Associations of cystatin C with incident chronic kidney disease and all-cause mortality in patients with normal glucose tolerance and prediabetes.

We investigated the association of cystatin C with incident chronic kidney disease (CKD), defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 60 mL/min/1.73 m. We enrolled patients with an eGFR ≥ 60 mL/min/1.

Prenatal exposure to air pollution and pediatric acute leukemia: A nationwide study.

Introduction: Childhood cancer, particularly leukemia, remains a leading cause of mortality among children, with unclear etiologies. Epidemiological studies suggest that air pollution could be a credible factor in triggering genotoxic effects, oxidative stress, and mutagenic characteristics. This article investigated the impact of prenatal air pollution exposure on childhood leukemia occurrences in Taiwan.

Use of SGLT2 Inhibitors Versus DPP-4 Inhibitors and Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Patients WithType 2 Diabetes: A Multinational Cohort Study.

Purpose: To compare the impact of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) and dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitors on age-related macular degeneration (AMD) risk among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods: This multinational, retrospective cohort study used electronic medical records from healthcare institutions across 21 countries. Adults 50 years or older with T2DM who had a prior prescription of metformin and initiated SGLT2 or DPP-4 inhibitors from 2013 to 2023 were included.

Risk of Retinal Vein Occlusion between Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists and Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibitors in Type 2 Diabetes: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Objective: To evaluate whether glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) are associated with reduced retinal vein occlusion (RVO) risk compared with dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Design: A multinational, retrospective cohort study.

Participants: Adults with T2DM newly prescribed GLP-1RAs or DPP-4 inhibitors between 2006 and 2023 were included in our analysis.

Association of antidiabetic medications with depression risk and All-Cause mortality in type 2 Diabetes: A TriNetX-Based cohort study.

Aims: Individuals with type 2 diabetes face elevated risks of depression and all-cause mortality. This study aimed to compare the associations of different glucose-lowering drugs-metformin, GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA), DPP-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i), and SGLT-2 inhibitors (SGLT-2i)-with these risks.

Methods: Using TriNetX, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of 359,787 patients with type 2 diabetes receiving monotherapy with the aforementioned drugs.

SGLT2i and Cardiovascular Events in Patients With Concomitant Atrial Fibrillation and Diabetes: A TriNetX Cohort Study.

Aims: Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) enhance cardiovascular outcomes in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Whether such effects also occur in T2DM patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) remains unknown. We aimed to investigate SGLT2i use on cardiovascular outcomes in patients with concomitant AF and T2DM.

Utilizing 12-lead electrocardiogram and machine learning to retrospectively estimate and prospectively predict atrial fibrillation and stroke risk.

Background: The stroke risk in patients with subclinical atrial fibrillation (AF) is underestimated. By identifying patients at high risk of embolic stroke, health-care professionals can make more informed decisions regarding anticoagulation treatment to prevent stroke. The main aim of this study was to forecast the risk of AF both retrospectively and prospectively.

Unlocking precision medicine: clinical applications of integrating health records, genetics, and immunology through artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force in precision medicine, revolutionizing the integration and analysis of health records, genetics, and immunology data. This comprehensive review explores the clinical applications of AI-driven analytics in unlocking personalized insights for patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases. Through the synergistic approach of integrating AI across diverse data sets, clinicians gain a holistic view of patient health and potential risks.

Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes in Patients with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome with Pre-Conceptional Hyperandrogenism: A Multi-Institutional Registry-Based Retrospective Cohort Study.

: Women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) are at higher risk for pregnancy complications. The PCOS population is heterogeneous, with different phenotypes linked to varying risks of adverse outcomes. However, literature on pre-conceptional hyperandrogenism is limited and based on small sample sizes.

The added value of anosmic subtype on motor subtype in Parkinson's disease: a pilot study.

This study investigates whether incorporating olfactory dysfunction into motor subtypes of Parkinson's disease (PD) improves associations with clinical outcomes. PD is commonly divided into motor subtypes, such as postural instability and gait disturbance (PIGD) and tremor-dominant PD (TDPD), but non-motor symptoms like olfactory dysfunction remain underexplored. We assessed 157 participants with PD using the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT), Movement Disorder Society-Sponsored Revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (M-UPDRS), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire Summary Index (PDQ-39 SI), and 99mTc-TRODAT-1 imaging.

Rhythm Control Better Prevents Stroke than Rate Control in Patients with Concomitant Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and Atrial Fibrillation: A Nationwide Population Based Cohort Study with Long-Term Follow-Up.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) increases the risks of stroke and mortality. It remains unclear whether rhythm control reduces the risk of stroke in patients with AF concomitant with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

Methods: We identified AF patients with HCM who were ≥ 18 years old in the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database.

A multitask deep learning model utilizing electrocardiograms for major cardiovascular adverse events prediction.

Deep learning analysis of electrocardiography (ECG) may predict cardiovascular outcomes. We present a novel multi-task deep learning model, the ECG-MACE, which predicts the one-year first-ever major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) using 2,821,889 standard 12-lead ECGs, including training (n = 984,895), validation (n = 422,061), and test (n = 1,414,933) sets, from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital database in Taiwan. Data from another independent medical center (n = 113,224) was retrieved for external validation.

Universal representations in cardiovascular ECG assessment: A self-supervised learning approach.

Background: The 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) is an established modality for cardiovascular assessment. While deep learning algorithms have shown promising results for analyzing ECG data, the limited availability of labeled datasets hinders broader applications. Self-supervised learning can learn meaningful representations from the unlabeled data and transfer the knowledge to downstream tasks.

A new birth weight chart and optimal birth weight percentiles for predicting infant mortality.

Prescriptive BW charts can facilitate discrimination between normal and abnormal birthweight. This study aimed to develop a prescriptive BW chart specific to Asian populations and assess its utility in predicting infant mortality. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database and National Birth Reporting Database.

Enhancing systematic review efficiency in hand surgery using artificial intelligence (natural language processing) for abstract screening.

The aim of the present study was to train a natural language processing model to recognize key text elements from research abstracts related to hand surgery, enhancing the efficiency of systematic review screening. A sample of 1600 abstracts from a systematic review of distal radial fracture treatment outcomes was annotated to train the natural language processing model. To assess time-saving potential, 200 abstracts were processed by the trained models in two experiments, where reviewers accessed natural language processing predictions to include or exclude articles.

Association between Semaglutide and Nonarteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy: A Multinational Population-Based Study.

Purpose: To investigate whether semaglutide increases the risk of nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) in the general population.

Design: This retrospective cohort study used a deidentified global electronic medical records database. The enrollment period was extended from January 2017 to August 2023, with observations concluding in August 2024.

Tinnitus and dementia risk: a nationwide population-based case-control study.

Objective: This study aimed to determine if a history of tinnitus is associated with the risk of developing dementia.

Method: A nationwide population-based case-control study including all eligible adults in Taiwan.

Results: A total of 15 686 patients were included in the study, with 7843 individuals making up each of the case and control groups.

Glycemic variability's impact on painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy in type 2 diabetes patients.

Hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes leads to diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) and neuropathic pain, yet the association between glycemic variability and painful DPN remains insufficiently evidenced. To address this, we conducted a prospective longitudinal cohort study involving adult type 2 diabetes patients at a medical center. DPN was identified using the Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI), and neuropathic pain was assessed with the Taiwan version of the Douleur Neuropathique 4 (DN4-T) questionnaire.