Hearing Loss ; epidemiology ; Humans

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether there is an association between Parkinson’s disease (PD) and colorectal cancer in Taiwan. Methods: This was a case-control study using claim data of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program. There were 64,619 subjects aged 20-84 with newly diagnosed colorectal cancer as cases and 64,619 randomly selected subjects without colorectal cancer as controls from 2005 to 2011. Both cases and controls were matched by sex, age, comorbidities, and index year of diagnosing colorectal cancer. Subjects who were diagnosed with PD within 5 years of diagnosing colorectal cancer were excluded. The multivariable logistic regression model was used to estimate the adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for risk of colorectal cancer associated with PD. Results: After adjusting for confounding factors, the multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that the adjusted OR of colorectal cancer was 0.69 for subjects with PD more than 5 years before index date (95% CI 0.59, 0.81), as compared with subjects without PD. Conclusion: PD is associated with reduced odds of colorectal cancer. Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying our findings.

INTRODUCTIONColorectal cancer is the most common form of malignancy in Taiwan and the third leading cause of death from cancer, preceded only by lung and hepatic cancers. Colorectal cancer is typically treated by surgical intervention and/or chemotherapy and radiotherapy, if necessary. To date, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is the most commonly used anti-cancer chemotherapy drug. However, patients commonly experience resistance to the drug therefore limiting its efficiency. In this study, we measured the expression of rTSbeta in human colon cancer as a novel 5-FU resistance marker.

MATERIALS AND METHODSWe collected 172 colon cancer samples from 4 different hospitals (including 21 pairs of colon cancer biopsies and 151 pathologic slides of colon cancer). In vitro, we measured the cytotoxicity of 5-FU and 5-FU plus leucovorin in H630 and H630-1 colon cancer cell lines.

RESULTSThe results revealed that rTSbeta was expressed in 115 (66.9 %) pathology samples and that tumour expression was higher than in corresponding normal tissue. Survival rates of up to 5 years following treatment was significantly higher for patients without rTSbeta expression than for those with rTSbeta expression (P = 0.0023). In vitro, H630-1 (with rTSbeta overexpression) had significantly higher IC50 of 5-FU than did H630. IC50 of 5-FU decreased when leucovorin was added.

CONCLUSIONSResults indicate a close relationship between rTSbeta expression and resistance to the drug 5-FU in human colorectal cancer. These results provide further evidence for rTSbeta expression as a novel 5-FU resistance marker of colorectal cancer.

Biomarkers ; Cell Line, Tumor ; drug effects ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Cytological Techniques ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; physiology ; Fluorouracil ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Taiwan ; Thymidylate Synthase ; genetics ; metabolism

BACKGROUND:No studies currently focus on the measurement of daily water loss under certain physical activity level continuously and precisely.
OBJECTIVE:To provide evidence for daily water requirement in Chinese young men based on the measurement of the daily water loss in Chinese young men under moderate physical activity.
METHODS:Twenty male subjects were enroled, and 23-hour whole-body sweat loss and urine output were measured using high-precision body weighting scale in whole-room indirect calorimeter. The results were converted to daily (24-hour) water requirement to determine the daily water requirement. Daily whole-body sweat loss per unit body weight, daily whole-body sweat loss per unit fat free mass and daily whole-body sweat loss per unit surface area were calculated.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:In Chinese young men, daily water loss was (3 339.7±509.9) g, daily urine output was (1 982.9±449.5) g and daily whole-body sweat loss was (1 356.7±215.6) g. There was a linear correlation between water intake and water loss (r=0.616,P < 0.05). Daily whole-body sweat loss per unit body weight was (21.0±3.6) g/kg, daily whole-body sweat loss per unit fat free mass was (25.8±3.9) g/kg and daily whole-body sweat loss per unit surface area was (799.4±129.4) g/m2. Daily water requirement of Chinese young men under moderate physical activity is approximately 3 340g, and moreover, water loss increases with the increase of water intake.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a relationship between Parkinson’s disease and pancreatic cancer in Taiwan. Methods: This was a case-control study using claim data of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program. There were 13,861 subjects aged 20- 84 with newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer as cases and 55,444 randomly selected subjects without pancreatic cancer as controls from 1998 to 2011. Cases and controls were matched by sex, age and index year of diagnosing pancreatic cancer. The association of pancreatic cancer with Parkinson’s disease was evaluated by the multivariable logistic regression model to estimate the adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results: After adjusting for confounding factors including acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, diabetes mellitus, biliary stone, alcoholism, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, the multivariable logistic regression analysis showed the adjusted OR of pancreatic cancer was 0.82 for subjects with Parkinson’s disease (95% CI 0.55, 1.21), as compared with subjects without Parkinson’s disease. Conclusion: No association is detected between Parkinson’s disease and pancreatic cancer.
Parkinson Disease ; Pancreatic Neoplasms

Aldosterone is a mineralocorticoid hormone produced by the adrenal cortex, which acts on receptors in the distal and collecting tubules of the nephron, causing reabsorption of sodium and secretion of potassium. Aldosterone can promote inflammatory response and lead to myocardial remodeling and fibrosis. Aldosterone acts through mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), which is mainly expressed in heart, kidney and blood vessels. Excessive activation of MR can cause endothelial dysfunction, fibrinolysis disorder, oxidative stress, cardiovascular and renal fibrosis, and eventually lead to organ injury, dysfunction and even organ failure. Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) can achieve cardiorenal protection by inhibiting inflammation and fibrosis caused by MR activation. The novel nonsteroidal MRA fenneridone can effectively block MR with its high selectivity and bring definite cardiac and renal protective effects.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate Insertion/Deletion (InDel) polymorphism on the X chromosome and to screen 18 InDel loci for the Chinese Han population as a forensic DNA typing system auxiliary. METHODS: Eighteen X-InDel markers were selected using the Human Genome Browser and dbSNP database. Multiplex PCR primer pairs of selected X-InDel markers were designed using Primer 3 software and divided into 3 groups according to the amplified fragment length, labeled by FAM, HEX and TAMRA fluorescence dye, respectively. The population genetics research and comparative analysis of Chinese Han nationality and 4 main minorities, the Hui, Wei, Mongol, and Tibetan nationalities, were investigated with the system. RESULTS: A new multiplex genotyping system, named InDel X-18PLEX, was successfully developed and validated, consisted of 18 X-InDel markers on the X chromosome and 1 Amelogenin gender marker. No deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium expectations was detected in the distribution of genotypes in the 5 investigated ethnic groups. However, there was significant difference between their distributions. From the investigation of Han nationality, high female (0.9999994) and male (0.999 88) overall discrimination power values were obtained, as well as high overall mean exclusion chance values in trios (0.999 992) and in duos (0.99). CONCLUSION InDel X-18PLEX meets the requirements as a forensic DNA complementary kit, providing effective supplementary analytical tools for difficult cases.
Amelogenin/genetics* ; Asian People ; DNA Fingerprinting ; DNA Primers ; Ethnicity ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genetics, Population ; Genome, Human ; Genotype ; Humans ; INDEL Mutation ; Male ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods* ; Polymorphism, Genetic

ObjectiveTo explore the effect of musicotherapy on agitation behaviors in patients with aged dementia (AD).Methods22 AD patients were treated with different musicotherapies, and examined with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) and self made sociality psychological inventory before and after treatment.ResultsAfter musicotherapy, the incidence rate of agitation behaviors of AD patients decreased significantly ( P<0.001). The incidence rates of agitation behaviors among patients with low, middle and high MMSE scores were significantly different ( P<0.001). After musicotherapy, both depressions of patients' cognitive function and scores of agitation behaviors were significant different compared with that before treatment (P<0.01). Effectual rates of musicotherapy on sociality psychological emotion, communication, language and intercourse of this group patients were 86.36%, 90.91%, 72.73% and 77.27%, respectively.ConclusionMusicotherapy can effectively alleviate the symptoms of agitation behaviors in AD patients.

Adenine ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Drug Resistance, Viral ; Hepatitis B virus ; drug effects ; Humans ; Organophosphonates ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo seek for an effective therapy for abducent paralysis.

METHODSSeventy-six cases of abducent paralysis were randomly divided into an acupoint-injection group and a western medicine group. The acupoint-injection group were treated by point-injection therapy, with Jingming (BL 1), Yangbai (GB 14), Sibai (ST 2), Tongziliao (GB 1) on the affected side, and bilateral Ganshu (BL 18) used as basic points and compound Danggui Injection as the principal injected medicine, and in combination with corresponding acupoints and injected medicine according to different syndrome types. The western medicine group were treated with routine western medicine therapy. After treatment for 36 days, the therapeutic effects were recorded and analyzed statistically.

RESULTSThe total effective rate was 94.7% in the acupoint-injection group and 76.3% in the western medicine group with a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05); there was a significant difference between the two groups in eyeball moving rate and restoration of cateral rectus (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONChinese drug acupoint-injection therapy has a definite therapeutic effect on acquired abducent paralysis, which is better than that of routine western medicine.

Abducens Nerve ; Acupuncture Points ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Ophthalmoplegia ; therapy