Association between prior allergic rhinitis and Parkinson's disease.

Introduction: A growing body of evidence suggests that chronic inflammation may be a key contributor to Parkinson's disease (PD) pathogenesis. This study aimed to investigate whether a prior history of allergic rhinitis (AR) is associated with an elevated risk of developing PD by utilizing Taiwan's nationwide health insurance claims database.

Methods: We retrieved data for this case-control study from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2010.

AI-Assisted Detection Support for Middle Ear Diseases Using Multimodal Large Language Models.

Middle ear diseases, such as otitis media and middle ear effusion, are difficult to accurately detect in primary care. We developed an AI-powered system using Azure OpenAI's GPT-4 Vision, the first multimodal large language model (LLM) applied to analyze otoscopic images and detect ten middle ear conditions. Built with a Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, the system processes images in under 5 seconds and provides bilingual (English and Chinese) detection reports with confidence scores and treatment recommendations.

Low Efficiency of Homology-Independent Targeted Integration for CRISPR/Cas9 Correction in the Vicinity of the c.919-2A>G Variant.

Recessive variants of are a common cause of hereditary hearing impairment and are responsible for non-syndromic enlarged vestibular aqueducts and Pendred syndrome. Patients with bi-allelic variants often suffer from fluctuating hearing loss and recurrent vertigo, ultimately leading to severe to profound hearing impairment. However, there are currently no satisfactory prevention or treatment options for this condition.

High prevalence of diabetes mellitus among patients with Fabry disease in Taiwan: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in patients with Fabry disease using a nationwide population-based dataset. We hypothesised that patients with Fabry disease would have a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus compared with the general population.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Unraveling the complex genetic landscape of OTOF-related hearing loss: a deep dive into cryptic variants and haplotype phasing.

Background: Pathogenic variants in OTOF are a major cause of auditory synaptopathy. However, challenges remain in interpreting OTOF variants, including difficulties in confirming haplotype phasing using traditional short-read sequencing (SRS) due to the large gene size, the potential incomplete penetrance of certain variants, and difficulties in assessing variants at non-canonical splice sites. This study aims to revisit the genetic landscape of OTOF variants in a Taiwanese non-syndromic auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) cohort using a combination of sequencing technologies, predictive tools, and experimental validations.

Prior chronic periodontitis is associated with chronic rhinosinusitis: A population-based case-control study.

Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and chronic periodontitis (CP) are prevalent inflammatory conditions with significant impacts on health. Previous research has suggested a potential link between these diseases, primarily through odontogenic sources, but comprehensive population-based studies are scarce. This study aimed to explore the association of CRS with prior CP.

Impact of tinnitus on chirp-evoked auditory brainstem response recorded using maximum length sequences.

Tinnitus is considered a potential consequence of cochlear synaptopathy. While animal studies have shown that this neural deafferentation reduces wave I amplitudes of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) at suprathreshold levels, studies in humans with tinnitus have reported conflicting results. To enhance the sensitivity of ABRs in detecting neurophysiological conditions associated with tinnitus, this study aimed to examine chirp-evoked ABRs in normal-hearing individuals with tinnitus using the maximum length sequence (MLS) technique.

Association of peripheral vestibular disorder with human papillomavirus infections.

Purpose: Emerging research indicates that viral infections may contribute to the development of certain vestibular disorders. This study aimed to explore the association of peripheral vestibular disorders (PVDs) with human papillomavirus (HPV) using a comprehensive population-based dataset from Taiwan's Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2010.

Methods: We examined a cohort comprising 94,215 patients with a new diagnosis of PVDs and 471,075 propensity-score matched controls, utilizing propensity score matching.

Early Potentially Irreversible Cardiac Damage in Fabry Disease Precedes Gb3 Inclusion Body Formation.

Background: Fabry disease (FD) is a lysosomal storage disorder impacting multiple organs, including the heart. In this study we investigated whether early-stage globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) accumulation, occurring before the formation of inclusion bodies, could cause significant stress and potentially irreversible damage of the cardiac tissue in patients with FD.

Methods: Immunofluorescent staining and Western blotting were performed on fibroblasts from FD IVS4 patients and myocardial biopsies from G3Stg/GLAko mice as well as 3 IVS4 patients (aged 44, 37, and 41 years).

Sox2 interacts with Atoh1 and Huwe1 loci to regulate Atoh1 transcription and stability during hair cell differentiation.

Stem cell pluripotency gene Sox2 stimulates expression of proneural basic-helix-loop-helix transcription factor Atoh1. Sox2 is necessary for the development of cochlear hair cells and binds to the Atoh1 3' enhancer to stimulate Atoh1 expression. We show here that Sox2 deletion in late embryogenesis results in the formation of extra hair cells, in contrast to the absence of hair cell development obtained after Sox2 knockout early in gestation.

Establishment of reference audiometric norms for the elderly population: A community-based study on mean and median hearing thresholds.

Background: This investigation quantifies the mean and median hearing thresholds and assesses the prevalence of age-related hearing loss within the senior population of Taipei.

Methods: In a substantive geriatric assessment supported by government initiative, 1696 individuals from a community hospital partook in this cross-sectional study (2016-2018). Detailed audiometric evaluations logged pure-tone thresholds across critical frequencies (0.

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated exon skipping to restore premature translation termination in a DFNB4 mouse model.

SLC26A4 encodes pendrin, a crucial anion exchanger essential for maintaining hearing function. Mutations in SLC26A4, including the prevalent c.919-2 A > G splice-site mutation among East Asian individuals, can disrupt inner ear electrolyte balance, leading to syndromic and non-syndromic hearing loss, such as Pendred syndrome and DFNB4.

Association of Young-Onset Dementia with Pre-Existing Peripheral Vestibular Disorders.

Background: The relationship between young-onset dementia and peripheral vestibular disorders remained largely unknown although this association was observed in the older population.

Objective: This case-control study aims to investigate the association of young-onset dementia with a pre-existing diagnosis of peripheral vestibular disorders using a population-based data from Taiwan's Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2010.

Methods: This study included 989 patients with young-onset dementia and 2967 propensity-score-matching controls.

Uncovering the microbiome landscape in sashimi delicacies.

It is widely believed that a significant portion of the gut microbiota, which play crucial roles in overall health and disease, originates from the food we consume. Sashimi is a type of popular raw seafood cuisine. Its microbiome, however, remained to be thoroughly explored.

Increased prevalence of peripheral vestibular disorder among patients with Fabry disease.

Background: Although peripheral vestibular disorder is a non-fatal complication of Fabry disease, fatalities have been reported in some case reports and case series. To date, no studies have examined the relative risk of peripheral vestibular disorder in patients with Fabry disease compared to the general population without the condition. Due to the high prevalence of Fabry disease in East Asia and the potential shared pathogenic pathways between Fabry disease and vasculopathy, we conducted a study using a nationwide population-based dataset to compare the prevalence of peripheral vestibular disorder between patients with Fabry disease and matched comparison patients.

Increased prevalence of hearing loss, tinnitus and sudden deafness among patients with Sjögren's syndrome.

Background: This study aimed to provide an updated prevalence of hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo and sudden deafness on patients with Sjögren's syndrome and matched comparison patients.

Methods: Data for this study were retrieved from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database and Taiwan's registered catastrophic illness dataset. This study included 20 266 patients with Sjögren's syndrome as the study group and 60 798 propensity score-matched comparison patients as the comparison group.

Association of thyroid cancer with human papillomavirus infections.

While Human Papillomavirus (HPV) particles have been detected in a small proportion of benign thyroid nodules or thyroid cancer cases, a role of HPV in these thyroid conditions has not been established. This study aims to investigate the association of HPV infection with thyroid cancer (TC) using a nationwide population-based study. We retrieved data for this case-control study from Taiwan's Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2010.

Optimizing age-related hearing risk predictions: an advanced machine learning integration with HHIE-S.

Objectives: The elderly are disproportionately affected by age-related hearing loss (ARHL). Despite being a well-known tool for ARHL evaluation, the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly Screening version (HHIE-S) has only traditionally been used for direct screening using self-reported outcomes. This work uses a novel integration of machine learning approaches to improve the predicted accuracy of the HHIE-S tool for ARHL in older adults.