Facile Synthesis of Ultramicroporous Organic-Linked Zincophosphate with High Thermal, Chemical and Water Stabilities.

The application of ultramicroporous materials for CO separation is limited by the rarity of materials exhibiting stability and rapid scale-up characteristics. In this study, we propose a rational approach to enhance the structural stability and durability of the pillared layer structure. Through the topotactic replacement of protons with metal ions in the parent 4,4'-bipyridine (bpy)-pillared zincophosphate, we observed the formation of edge-sharing dimers of ZnON and PO, as well as the insertion of (VOHO) into the zinc phosphate layers.

A phenomenological comparison of auditory hallucinations between borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia: A systematic review.

Objective: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) with auditory hallucinations (AHs) may inadvertently be misdiagnosed with a primary psychotic disorder, such as schizophrenia (SZ). This misidentification can lead to challenges in providing effective psychological treatment. This review therefore aims to identify the phenomenological characteristics of AHs in BPD in comparison to SZ, as well as psychological interventions that explicitly target AHs in BPD.

Multiplexed Antibody Glycosylation Profiling Using Dual Enzyme Digestion and Liquid Chromatography-Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry Method.

Antibody glycosylation plays a crucial role in the humoral immune response by regulating effector functions and influencing the binding affinity to immune cell receptors. Previous studies have focused mainly on the immunoglobulin G (IgG) isotype owing to the analytical challenges associated with other isotypes. Thus, the development of a sensitive and accurate analytical platform is necessary to characterize antibody glycosylation across multiple isotypes.

Risks after Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in Taiwanese Women: A Nationwide Retrospective Cohort Study.

Objective: An increasing trend in the prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has been reported in Taiwan. GDM has been linked to various adverse maternal outcomes over a long period, including cardiovascular disease (CVD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, evidence implies that the effects of GDM on the mid-term surrogate risk factors for these diseases are limited.

Effect of moxibustion on meridian in a warm needling model: A protocol for a prospective observational study.

Background: Warm needling is a type of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which uses burned moxa to generate warmth and exerts a therapeutic effect on human skin. Additionally, based on TCM theory, warm needling could improve deficiency-cold syndrome. Research has found that warm needling has analgesic effects as well as effects on the immune system, endocrine system, nervous system, and lower urinary tract symptoms.

Long-term exposure to particulate matter was associated with increased dementia risk using both traditional approaches and novel machine learning methods.

Air pollution exposure has been linked to various diseases, including dementia. However, a novel method for investigating the associations between air pollution exposure and disease is lacking. The objective of this study was to investigate whether long-term exposure to ambient particulate air pollution increases dementia risk using both the traditional Cox model approach and a novel machine learning (ML) with random forest (RF) method.

Meridian study on the response current affected by acupuncture needling direction.

Acupuncture manipulation with needling direction is important for the therapeutic effect based on traditional Chinese medicine theory. However, there is controversy over directional manipulation and therapeutic effect, despite some research showing that acupuncture manipulations may have something to do with therapeutic effect. Moreover, research usually focuses on the therapeutic effects on the acupoints and acupuncture time rather than exploring the manipulation method.

Correction: Lin et al. Grounding the Body Improves Sleep Quality in Patients with Mild Alzheimer's Disease: A Pilot Study. 2022, , 581.

The authors would like to make the following corrections to the published paper [...

Grounding the Body Improves Sleep Quality in Patients with Mild Alzheimer's Disease: A Pilot Study.

Background: Grounding refers to having direct contact with the Earth, such as by walking barefoot or lying on the ground. Research has found that grounding can improve inflammation, free radical damage, blood pressure, sleep quality, pain, stress, mood, and wound healing. However, there has been no research on the effect of utilizing grounding for patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Increasing trend in the prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus in Taiwan.

Aims/introduction: Maternal hyperglycemia leads to adverse pregnancy outcomes, and also subsequently affects both mothers and their offspring in later life. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus is increasing worldwide, and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is also believed to be increasing. More precise nationwide and up-to-date data on GDM are required.

Targeting HR Repair as a Synthetic Lethal Approach to Increase DNA Damage Sensitivity by a RAD52 Inhibitor in BRCA2-Deficient Cancer Cells.

BRCA mutation, one of the most common types of mutations in breast and ovarian cancer, has been suggested to be synthetically lethal with depletion of RAD52. Pharmacologically inhibiting RAD52 specifically eradicates BRCA-deficient cancer cells. In this study, we demonstrated that curcumin, a plant polyphenol, sensitizes BRCA2-deficient cells to CPT-11 by impairing RAD52 recombinase in MCF7 cells.

Chinese Herbal Products for Non-Motor Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease in Taiwan: A Population-Based Study.

Combinations of Chinese herbal products (CHPs) are widely used for Parkinson's disease (PD) in Taiwan. Thereby, we investigated the use of CHPs in patients with PD. This study was a population-based cohort study that analyzed the data of patients with PD from the National Health Insurance Research Database.

Visit-to-Visit Variations in Fasting Plasma Glucose and HbA Associated With an Increased Risk of Alzheimer Disease: Taiwan Diabetes Study.

Objective: The relationship between glycemic variability and the incidence of Alzheimer disease (AD) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine visit-to-visit variations in fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and glycated hemoglobin (HbA) represented by the coefficient of variation (CV) and to determine whether they were independently associated with AD, irrespective of HbA and other traditional risk factors in such patients.

Research Design And Methods: Patients with T2DM enrolled in the National Diabetes Care Management Program, age ≥60 years, and without diagnosis of AD ( = 16,706) were included in the study.

Associations of mid-pregnancy HbA1c with gestational diabetes and risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in high-risk Taiwanese women.

Background: The objective of this study was to investigate the associations among the mid-pregnancy glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level, gestational diabetes (GDM), and risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in women without overt diabetes and with positive 50-g, 1-h glucose challenge test (GCT) results (140 mg/dL or greater).

Methods: This prospective study enrolled 1,989 pregnant Taiwanese women. A two-step approach, including a 50-g, 1-h GCT and 100-g, 3-h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), was employed for the diagnosis of GDM at weeks 23-32.

Oxidative stress markers in type 2 diabetes patients with diabetic nephropathy.

Background: Epidemiological studies show that 5-40 % of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients have diabetic nephropathy, and oxidative stress is one of several underlying mechanisms. We investigated associations between oxidative stress markers and severity of diabetic nephropathy.

Methods: Fifty-nine T2DM patients from the endocrinology outpatient department were included, and their levels of oxidative stress markers were measured.

SH3-like motif-containing C-terminal domain of staphylococcal teichoic acid transporter suggests possible function.

The negatively charged bacterial polysaccharides-wall teichoic acids (WTAs) are synthesized intracellularly and exported by a two-component transporter, TagGH, comprising a transmembrane subunit TagG and an ATPase subunit TagH. We determined the crystal structure of the C-terminal domain of TagH (TagH-C) to investigate its function. The structure shows an N-terminal SH3-like subdomain wrapped by a C-terminal subdomain with an anti-parallel β-sheet and an outer shell of α-helices.

Risk factors associated with diabetic retinopathy onset and progression in diabetes patients: a Taiwanese cohort study.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a common complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the leading cause of adult blindness. This study aimed to clarify the risk factors associated with DR onset and progression in patients with T2DM in Taiwan. This retrospective analysis enrolled 743 T2DM patients, including 170 with DR and 573 without DR at baseline who were enrolled in the Diabetes Shared-Care Program.

Structure and mechanism of an antibiotics-synthesizing 3-hydroxykynurenine C-methyltransferase.

Streptosporangium sibiricum SibL catalyzes the methyl transfer from S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) to 3-hydroxykynurenine (3-HK) to produce S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) and 3-hydroxy-4-methyl-kynurenine for sibiromycin biosynthesis. Here, we present the crystal structures of apo-form Ss-SibL, Ss-SibL/SAH binary complex and Ss-SibL/SAH/3-HK ternary complex. Ss-SibL is a homodimer.

Association of inflammation and oxidative stress with obstructive sleep apnea in ischemic stroke patients.

Objective: The role of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in the mortality and further cardiovascular risk in subjects with ischemic stroke remains a contentious issue. Oxidative stress and inflammatory reaction due to OSA have seldom been studied in stable ischemic stroke patients.

Patients/methods: This cross-sectional, prospective study involved 92 consecutive ischemic stroke patients who were admitted to the Rehabilitation ward.

EGCG-rich green tea extract stimulates sRAGE secretion to inhibit S100A12-RAGE axis through ADAM10-mediated ectodomain shedding of extracellular RAGE in type 2 diabetes.

The receptor for advanced glycation of end products (RAGE) plays a critical role in the progression of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Soluble RAGE (sRAGE) is one of the RAGE variants, which acts as a decoy domain receptor and competes with RAGE, thus contributing to prevention of T2D. In this study, we conducted clinical trials of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) rich green tea extract (300-900 mg/day) to investigate the effect of EGCG on relationship between S100A12 RAGE ligand and diverse sRAGE in T2D.

Quantification of skeletal muscle fibrosis at different healing stages using sonography: a morphologic and histologic study in an animal model.

Objectives: This study attempted to quantify the degree of muscle fibrosis on sonograms of injured gastrocnemius muscles at different healing stages in a rat model. Correlations between the quantifications and histologic assessments of the injured muscles were also determined.

Methods: Sonograms and histologic findings of gastrocnemius muscle fibrosis were obtained during the second, third, and fourth weeks after surgically induced lesions in the right gastrocnemius muscles of 15 Wistar rats.

Relationship between several surrogate estimates of insulin sensitivity in non-diabetic patients with coronary artery disease.

Background And Purpose: Insulin resistance plays an important role in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease (CAD). Thus, there is a need for accurate and accessible tools for measurement of insulin sensitivity in patients with this disease. This study explored the relationship between several surrogate estimates of insulin sensitivity in non-diabetic patients with angiographic evidence of CAD.