Use of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors is associated with lower risk of severe renal outcomes in pre-dialysis patients with Type 2 diabetes.

Objectives: Patients with diabetes and Stage 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD) not on dialysis are susceptible to renal replacement therapy and severe complications. Among limited antidiabetic options in this vulnerable population, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors (DPP-4i) are widely used; however, supporting evidence is scant. This study assessed severe renal outcomes associated with DPP-4i in diabetic and pre-dialysis patients.

Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibitors and Risk of Heart Failure in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and End-Stage Renal Disease Requiring Dialysis.

Introduction: Evidence on the safety of antidiabetic agents in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients requiring dialysis, a group often excluded from randomized controlled trials, is scant. Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i), widely used for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) management in this group, have raised concerns regarding the risk of heart failure (HF). However, real-world evidence on HF risk with DPP-4i in dialysis-dependent diabetic patients is limited.

Weakly Supervised Breast Ultrasound Image Segmentation Based on Image Selection.

Automatic segmentation in Breast Ultrasound (BUS) imaging is vital to BUS computer-aided diagnostic systems. Fully supervised learning approaches can attain high accuracy, yet they depend on pixel-level annotations that are challenging to obtain. As an alternative, weakly supervised learning methods offer a way to lessen the dependency on extensive annotation requirements.

Comparative effectiveness and safety of escalating to triple therapy versus switching to dual bronchodilators after discontinuing LABA/ICS in patients with COPD: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: The latest guidelines discourage the use of long-acting beta-agonists/inhaled corticosteroids (LABA/ICS) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, there is a lack of evidence regarding the optimal subsequent treatment after discontinuing LABA/ICS.

Objectives: To compare the effectiveness and safety of switching from LABA/ICS to triple therapy (LABA/long-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMA)/ICS) or to dual bronchodilators (LABA/LAMA) in COPD patients.

Development of the Low-Temperature Inducible System for Recombinant Protein Production in Nissle 1917.

The pET system is commonly used for producing foreign proteins in , but its reliance on the costly and metabolically demanding inducer IPTG limits its industrial use. This study engineered a low-temperature inducible system (LTIS) in Nissle 1917 (EcN) by combining the T7 expression system with the thermal inducible mechanism CI857-λPP to generate the new LTIS strain, ENL7P. The strain ENL7P-sfGFP-Km underwent overnight culture at 37 °C for 14-16 h, followed by subculturing at 30 °C for 24 h.

Effects of Chitosan on Chondrocytes Derived from Human Nasal Septal Cartilage.

Background/aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of chitosan on the growth of nasal septal chondrocytes (NSCs). The final goal was to establish a novel methodology to enhance nasal septal cartilage regeneration.

Materials And Methods: Human NSCs were isolated and their morphology was examined using Alcian blue staining and observed by light microscopy.

Integration of Multiple Phage Attachment Sites System to Create the Chromosomal T7 System for Protein Production in Nissle 1917.

Nissle 1917 (EcN) is a probiotic used to treat gastrointestinal diseases. The probiotic and endotoxin-free characteristics of EcN support its potential to be developed into a microbial expression system. With this aim, in this study, the powerful T7 expression system was constructed in the cryptic plasmid-free EcN (EcNP) to generate the T7 expression host ENL6P.

Robust State/Fault Estimation and Fault-Tolerant Control in Discrete-Time T-S Fuzzy Systems: An Embedded Smoothing Signal Model Approach.

This study investigates a simple design method of the robust state/fault estimation and fault-tolerant control (FTC) of discrete-time Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy systems. To avoid the corruption of the fault signal on state estimation, a novel smoothing signal model of fault signal is embedded in the T-S fuzzy model for the robust H state/fault estimation of the discrete-time nonlinear system with external disturbance by the traditional fuzzy observer. When the component and sensor faults are generated from different fault sources, two smoothing signal models for component and sensor faults are both embedded in the T-S fuzzy system for robust state/fault estimation.

Design and In Vivo Verification of a CMOS Bone-Guided Cochlear Implant Microsystem.

Objective: To develop and verify a CMOS bone-guided cochlear implant (BGCI) microsystem with electrodes placed on the bone surface of the cochlea and the outside of round window for treating high-frequency hearing loss.

Methods: The BGCI microsystem consists of an external unit and an implanted unit. The external system-on-chip is designed to process acoustic signals through an acquisition circuit and an acoustic DSP processor to generate stimulation patterns and commands that are transmitted to the implanted unit through a 13.

Quantitative observation of focused-ultrasound-induced vascular leakage and deformation via fluorescein angiography and optical coherence tomography.

Focused ultrasound (FUS) is a recently discovered noninvasive technique for local and temporal enhancement of vascular permeability, which facilitates drug delivery from the vessels into the surrounding tissue. However, exposure to FUS at a high intensity may cause permanent damage. To investigate the effects of the FUS treatment on blood vessels, we propose to use fluorescein angiography (FA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) for real-time observation of the diffusion of fluorescence dye from blood vessels and to evaluate the morphological changes of the vessels in vivo.

Clinical correlation of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in a Chinese taxi drivers population in Taiwan: Experience at a teaching hospital.

Background: To explore any gender-related differences in the prevalence of conditions-associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among Taiwanese taxi drivers in Taipei, Taiwan.

Methods: We studied 1635 healthy taxi drivers (1541 males and 94 females) who volunteered for physical check-ups in 2006. Blood samples and ultrasound fatty liver sonography results were collected.