The Triglyceride-Glucose Index as a Biomarker for Insulin Resistance Following Hepatitis C Virus Eradication: A Prospective Cohort Study.

The triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index has emerged as a novel surrogate marker of insulin resistance, but its changes after hepatitis C virus (HCV) eradication remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate changes in the TyG index following direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment. HCV-infected patients achieving sustained virological response 12 weeks post-treatment (SVR12) were prospectively enrolled from May 2015 to June 2023.

Rezivertinib versus gefitinib as first-line therapy for patients with EGFR-mutated locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (REZOR): a multicentre, double-blind, randomised, phase 3 study.

Background: This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of rezivertinib (BPI-7711) and gefitinib as first-line therapies in patients with EGFR-mutated locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: This multicentre, double-blind, randomised, phase 3 study (REZOR) included eligible patients from 50 hospitals across China. Those who had been histologically or cytologically confirmed as having NSCLC with EGFR exon 19 deletion or exon 21 Leu858Arg mutation by central laboratory were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive once daily either rezivertinib 180 mg or gefitinib 250 mg, until unacceptable toxicity occurred, disease progression, or other treatment discontinuation criteria were met.

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.

Impact of baseline dietary quality on the efficacy of a dietitian-guided weight reduction program.

Aim: This pre-post intervention study aimed to assess the relationship between baseline dietary quality and the efficacy of a dietitian-guided weight reduction program, which has not been thoroughly documented to date.

Methods: Ninety-two consecutive obese or overweight patients visiting a tertiary center clinic for weight reduction were enrolled in this study. Participants received a dietitian-guided weight reduction education program aimed at reducing daily caloric intake by 500 kcal and improving adherence to the Mediterranean diet for 3 months.

Characteristics of Cancer in Subjects Carrying Lynch Syndrome-Associated Gene Variants in Taiwanese Population: A Hospital-Based Study in Taiwan.

Lynch syndrome (LS) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by increased risks of colorectal and endometrial cancers. LS is defined by pathogenic variants in mismatch repair (MMR) genes, including MLH1, MSH2, and MSH6. Data on the prevalence and associated cancer risks of LS in the Han Chinese population remain limited.

Gefitinib (an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor) plus anlotinib (an multikinase inhibitor) for untreated, EGFR-mutated, advanced non-small cell lung cancer (FL-ALTER): a multicenter phase III trial.

Dual inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathways offers the prospect of improving the effectiveness of EFGR-targeted therapy. In this phase 3 study (ClinicalTrial.gov: NCT04028778), 315 patients with treatment-naïve, EGFR-mutated, advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were randomized (1:1) to receive anlotinib or placebo plus gefitinib once daily on days 1-14 per a 3-week cycle.

EGFR kinase domain duplication in lung adenocarcinoma with systemic and intracranial response to a double-dose of furmonertinib: a case report and literature review.

Background: EGFR kinase domain duplication (EGFR-KDD) is an infrequent oncogenic driver mutation in lung adenocarcinoma. It may be a potential target benefit from EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) treatment.

Case Presentation: A 66-year-old Chinese male was diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma in stage IVb with brain metastases.

MorphBungee: A 65-nm 7.2-mm 27-µJ/Image Digital Edge Neuromorphic Chip With on-Chip 802-Frame/s Multi-Layer Spiking Neural Network Learning.

This paper presents a digital edge neuromorphic spiking neural network (SNN) processor chip for a variety of edge intelligent cognitive applications. This processor allows high-speed, high-accuracy and fully on-chip spike-timing-based multi-layer SNN learning. It is characteristic of hierarchical multi-core architecture, event-driven processing paradigm, meta-crossbar for efficient spike communication, and hybrid and reconfigurable parallelism.

Polygenic Risk Score Predicts Earlier-Onset Adult Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and First-Year Renal Diseases in a Taiwanese Cohort.

Objectives: This study aimed to develop a predictive model using polygenic risk score (PRS) to forecast renal outcomes for adult systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in a Taiwanese population.

Methods: Patients with SLE (n=2782) and matched non-SLE controls (n=11 128) were genotyped using Genome-Wide TWB 2.0 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array.

Effectiveness of Huddles in Improving the Patient Safety Attitudes Among Clinical Team Members.

Background And Objectives: Huddles among members of interdisciplinary medical teams involve short stand-up sessions and allow team members to focus on existing or emerging patient safety issues, thereby facilitating team communication. Hospital managers are able to recognize the current situation of the organization through patient safety attitudes, strengthen team members' awareness of patient safety, and improve the quality of health care. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of huddles on improving team members' attitudes toward patient safety.

Association between HNF4A rs1800961 polymorphisms and gallstones in a Taiwanese population.

Background And Aim: A large genetic effect of a novel gallstone-associated genetic variant, the hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4A) rs1800961 polymorphism, has been identified through recent genome-wide association studies. However, this effect has not been validated in Asian populations. We investigated the association between the rs1800961 variant and gallstones among a Taiwanese population.

Impacts of Huddle Intervention on the Patient Safety Culture of Medical Team Members in Medical Ward: One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design.

Objective: A huddle is a short, regular meetings to discuss existing or emerging patient safety issues. Hospital administrators can encourage healthcare staff to voluntarily examine the potential occurrence and severity of risks, thereby enhancing awareness of patient safety. The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of huddle intervention on patient safety culture among medical team members and related factors.

Multi-Scale FPGA-Based Infrared Image Enhancement by Using RGF and CLAHE.

Infrared sensors capture thermal radiation emitted by objects. They can operate in all weather conditions and are thus employed in fields such as military surveillance, autonomous driving, and medical diagnostics. However, infrared imagery poses challenges such as low contrast and indistinct textures due to the long wavelength of infrared radiation and susceptibility to interference.

Image Enhancement via Special Functions and Its Application for Near Infrared Imaging.

Image enhancement is important given that it can be used to highlight the area of interest in the images. This article designs four filters via special function for realizing image enhancement. Firstly, a filter based on the exponential function is designed.

Central nervous system efficacy of rezivertinib (BPI-7711) in advanced NSCLC patients with EGFR T790M mutation: A pooled analysis of two clinical studies.

Background: Rezivertinib (BPI-7711) is a novel third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) which revealed the systematic and central nervous system (CNS) antitumor activities for EGFR T790M-mutated advanced NSCLC in previous clinical studies and is further analyzed here.

Methods: Eligible patients from the previous phase I and phase IIb studies of rezivertinib were included for pooled analysis. Post-progressive patients who received a prescribed dosage (≥180 mg) of rezivertinib orally once daily were included in full analysis set (FAS), while those with stable, asymptomatic CNS lesions, including measurable and non-measurable ones at baseline were included in CNS full analysis set (cFAS).

Distal Mean Nocturnal Baseline Impedance Predicts Pathological Reflux of Isolated Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Symptoms.

Background/aims: Diagnosis of isolated laryngopharyngeal reflux symptoms (ILPRS), ie, without concomitant typical reflux symptoms (CTRS), remains difficult. Mean nocturnal baseline impedance (MNBI) reflects impaired mucosal integrity. We determined whether esophageal MNBI could predict pathological esophagopharyngeal reflux (pH+) in patients with ILPRS.

The rs223114 polymorphism and the risk of nephrolithiasis: A case-control study from the Taiwan biobank.

Background: Hyperuricemia and gout are risk factors of nephrolithiasis. However, it is unclear whether the gene contributes to the development of nephrolithiasis. We aimed to investigate the interaction between the rs2231142 variant and incident nephrolithiasis in the Taiwanese population.

Molecular Biomarker Exploration of Rituximab plus CHOP Therapy in Real-World Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients.

Background: Presently, several classification methods are based on diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), but its clinical application has not yet been testified in Asian populations.

Methods: Twenty-five DLBCL patients were subjected to second-generation gene sequencing (NGS), and retrospective analysis of clinical features of the patients was to explore genotyping and survival prognosis biomarkers.

Results: The prevalent mutant genes in DLBCL patients cover myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) (40%), TP53 (32%), B-cell translocation gene 2 (BTG2) (28%), PIM1 (28%), and CREB-binding protein (CREBBP) (24%) in this study.

Validation of Pharyngeal Acid Reflux Episodes Using Hypopharyngeal Multichannel Intraluminal Impedance-pH.

Background/aims: Hypopharyngeal multichannel intraluminal impedance-pH (HMII-pH) technology incorporating 2 trans-upper esophageal sphincter impedance channels has been developed to detect pharyngeal reflux. We used the HMII-pH technique to validate the candidate pharyngeal acid reflux (PAR) episodes based on the dual-pH tracings and determined the interobserver reproducibility.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in tertiary centers in Taiwan.

A Real-Time FPGA Implementation of Infrared and Visible Image Fusion Using Guided Filter and Saliency Detection.

Taking advantage of the functional complementarity between infrared and visible light sensors imaging, pixel-level real-time image fusion based on infrared and visible light images of different resolutions is a promising strategy for visual enhancement, which has demonstrated tremendous potential for autonomous driving, military reconnaissance, video surveillance, etc. Great progress has been made in this field in recent years, but the fusion speed and quality of visual enhancement are still not satisfactory. Herein, we propose a multi-scale FPGA-based image fusion technology with substantially enhanced visual enhancement capability and fusion speed.

Anti-depressive-like and cognitive impairment alleviation effects of Gastrodia elata Blume water extract is related to gut microbiome remodeling in ApoE mice exposed to unpredictable chronic mild stress.

Ethnopharmacology Relevance: Gastrodia elata Blume (GE) is a traditional Chinese dietary therapy used to treat neurological disorders. Gastrodia elata Blume water extract (WGE) has been shown to ameliorate inflammation and improve social frustration in mice in a chronic social defeat model. However, studies on the anti-depressive-like effects and cognitive impairment alleviation related to the impact of WGE on the gut microbiome of ApoE mice remain elusive.

Comprehensive analyses of genomic features and mutational signatures in adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung.

Adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC) of the lung is a relatively rare tumor with strong aggressiveness and poor prognosis. The analysis of mutational signatures is becoming routine in cancer genomics and has implications for pathogenesis, classification, and prognosis. However, the distribution of mutational signatures in ASC patients has not been evaluated.

Lung adenocarcinoma with EGFR 19Del and an ALK rearrangement benefits from alectinib instead of an EGFR-TKI: A case report.

Rationale: A remarkable concurrence of an EGFR mutation and an EML4-ALK fusion (double positive) occasionally occurs within a narrow number of patients. Previous studies using targeted therapy on EGFR/ALK co-mutated patients have commonly focused on single tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) or on the sequential use of EGFR-TKIs and ALK-TKIs. At present, no consensus exists regarding the treatment of patients with double positive mutations.

Efficacy and Safety of Rezivertinib (BPI-7711) in Patients With Locally Advanced or Metastatic/Recurrent EGFR T790M-Mutated NSCLC: A Phase 2b Study.

Introduction: Rezivertinib (BPI-7711) is a novel third-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) targeting both EGFR-sensitizing mutations and EGFR T790M mutation. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of rezivertinib in patients with locally advanced or metastatic/recurrent EGFR T790M-mutated NSCLC.

Methods: Patients with locally advanced or metastatic/recurrent NSCLC with confirmed EGFR T790M mutation who progressed after first-/second-generation EGFR TKI therapy or primary EGFR T790M mutation were enrolled.

Endoscopic features and clinical course of patients with asymptomatic cecal ulcers.

Background: Cecal ulcers are sometimes encountered in asymptomatic individuals. Their clinical outcomes and management recommendations remain uncertain.

Methods: Asymptomatic patients who underwent a colonoscopic exam for colon cancer screening were retrospectively reviewed from July 2009 to November 2016.