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

Female ; Heart Atria ; pathology ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Pleural Effusion ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Radiography ; Rheumatic Heart Disease ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging

OBJECTIVETo study cardiac troponin T (TNNT2) gene mutations in Chinese patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and analyze the correlation between the genotype and phenotype.

METHODSNinety-five unrelated Chinese patients with HCM and 120 control individuals were screened for TNNT2 gene mutations. Seven exons (8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, and 16) in the functional regions of TNNT2 gene were amplified using PCR and the products were sequenced. The patients with positive results underwent further family screening.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONThis study did not find any HCM-caused mutations in TNNT2 gene, a result different from the reported rates of TNNT2 gene mutation ranging from 10% to 20% in other nations, suggesting that TNNT2 gene is not a susceptible gene for HCM in Chinese population.

Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; genetics ; Case-Control Studies ; Humans ; Mutation ; Troponin T ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo study the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence of residents living in a village located in rural region of central China where the paid blood donors used to be popular.

METHODSAll residents of one village "ZY" were asked to participate in HIV serologic screening test. Those over the age of 16 and participated in HIV serologic test was followed to undergo an indoor interview a week later, to finish a questionnaire, which including information on demography, marital status, smoking and drinking habits, history of blood donation, sexual behavior and history of drug use. Names on those either died from AIDS or having HIV serologic testing before were collected from local hospitals and the Center of Disease Control and Prevention.

RESULTSThere were in total 2364 residents in 527 households in "ZY" village including 1551 residents participated in the HIV serologic screening test, and 926 completed questionnaires. A total of 115 HIV seropositive residents were found in the HIV screening. 5 had been undergone HIV screening tests before, and 24 died of AIDS. The HIV prevalence of the whole population was 9.1% (CI: 7.7% - 10.6%). There were 19.6% households had at least one member living with HIV, out of which 25% had over two HIV seropositive members. No significant difference was found between genders with respect to HIV prevalence. 40 - 50 years old group had the highest HIV prevalence, significantly differed from other age groups. The HIV prevalence among former paid blood donors was 22.4%. The proportions of getting HIV infection through routes of blood transfusion, sex and mother-to-child, were 0.9%, 9.6% and 5.2% respectively among 115 HIV seropositive residents.

CONCLUSIONSome villages in the rural regions of central China showed high HIV prevalence. Former paid blood donation was responsible for the main transmission route in these villages. However, sexual transmission and mother-to-child transmission were becoming dominant routes in general population which called for effective action be taken to contain the spread of HIV.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Blood Donors ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; HIV Seropositivity ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; HIV Seroprevalence ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Middle Aged ; Rural Population

Sepsis is a common clinical critical disease, which is one of the main causes of septic shock and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). Since traditional clinical interventions are simple and limited, the mortality of sepsis remains high and is also one of the main causes of death of intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Nicotinamide has a wide range of cytoprotective effects. A large number of studies have shown that nicotinamide can play an important role in infection and sepsis by repairing mitochondrial function to restore adenosine triphosphate (ATP) level, inhibiting poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) activation, inhibiting proinflammatory mediators and antioxidant damage. This article reviews the pathogenesis of sepsis and the role of nicotinamide in sepsis treatment, aiming to provide references for exploring new therapeutic directions and effective therapeutic measures for sepsis.

Compounds from Lingzhi has been demonstrated the ability for inhibiting tyrosinase (a key enzyme in melanogenesis) activity. In this study, we investigated the anti-melanogenic activity from the submerged mycelial culture of Ganoderma weberianum and elucidated the skin lightening mechanism by B16-F10 murine melanoma cells. From the cellular context, several fractionated mycelium samples exhibited anti-melanogenic activity by reducing more than 40% extracellular melanin content of B16-F10 melanoma cells. In particular, the fractionated chloroform extract (CF-F3) inhibited both secreted and intracellular melanin with the lowest dosage (25 ppm). Further analysis demonstrated that CF-F3 inhibited cellular tyrosinase activity without altering its protein expression. Taken together, our study has demonstrated that the chemical extracts from submerged mycelial culture of G. weberianum have the potential to serve as an alternative anti-melanogenic agent.
Chloroform ; Ganoderma ; Melanins ; Melanoma ; Monophenol Monooxygenase ; Mycelium ; Reishi ; Skin

Objective:(1)To explore the distribution features of ablation target of premature ventricular complex(PVC) origi‐nated from right ventricular outflow tract(RVOT) and ventricular tachycardia(VT) and its voltage characteristics .(2)To ex‐plore the relationship between ventricular arrhythmia originated from RVOT and regional low voltage of ROVT .Methods:A to‐tal of 97 patients ,who were indicated as ventricular arrhythmia originated from RVOT by electrocardiogram ,underwent radio‐frequency catheter ablation (RFCA) .During the operation ,99 morphologies of PVC and 6 morphologies of VT were recorded . Detailed three‐dimensional electroanatomical voltage mapping were performed prior to the RFCA .The voltage on bipolar elec‐trogram was defined as follows:amplitude < 0 .5 mV as“low‐voltage zone ,” amplitude between 0 .5 and 1 .5 mV as “transi‐tional‐voltage zone ,” and amplitude >1 .5 mV as “normal‐voltage zone .” Results:Successful ablation was acquired in 87 pa‐tients .Ablation was failed in 10 patients .Two patients’ ventricular arrhythmia originated from Valsava sinus and the others o‐riginated from RVOT .Among the patients with PVC originated from RVOT ,there were 8 targets in the low‐voltage zone ,59 targets in the transitional‐voltage zone ,and 30 targets in the normal‐voltage zone .Among the patients with abnormal voltage at target ,there were 3 ablation targets located in the low‐voltage and transitional‐voltage zone below the pulmonary valve and 34 ablation targets located in the regional low‐voltage and transitional‐voltage zone .Conclusions:The majority of successful abla‐tion targets of RFCA performed for ventricular arrhythmia originated from RVOT were located in the transitional‐voltage zone . The myocardial sleeve below pulmonary valve and regional fibrofatty myocardial tissue may be one the main pathogensis of ven‐tricular arrhythmia originated from RVOT .

Objective:To investigate the learning curve,radiation exposure,operation time and complications of 3D mapping system (Carto Univu) in radiofrequency ablation in treatment of patients with atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT).Methods:The total radiation dose,total operation time,and surgical complications of radiofrequency ablation under the guide of Carto Univu (the Carto Univu group) in 70 patients with AVNRT were recorded during 6 months,and were compared with those of radiofrequency ablation under the guide of two-dimensional mapping technique (the 2D group).Results:There was no significant difference in the total operation time between the two groups.The total radiation dose in the Carto Univu group decreased compared with the two-dimensional group (P ＜ 0.05).The radiation time and radiation dose of the last 10 cases in the Carto Univu group were lower than the first 10 cases (P＜0.05).There were no operation complications in the both two groups.Conclusions:In AVNRT,fluoroscopy integrated 3D mapping contributes to a dramatic reduction in learning curve and radiation exposure without prolonging operation time or increasing complications.

OBJECTIVE: Loneliness is a specific risk factor for depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior. The present study examined whether the serum oxytocin level would interact with social support and buffers loneliness and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis activity in drug-naïve patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: Twenty-six patients with MDD (male:female = 3:23; mean age, 45.54 ± 12.97 years) were recruited. The 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale and self-reported Measurement of Support Function Questionnaire were administered. Serum oxytocin and cortisol levels were assessed using a commercial immunoassay kits. RESULTS: In MDD patients, a negative association was found between degrees of social support and loneliness (β = −0.39, p = 0.04). The interaction between social support and serum oxytocin level was negatively associated with loneliness (β = −0.50, p = 0.017) and serum cortisol level (β = −0.55, p = 0.020) after adjusting for age. Follow-up analyses showed that the association between higher social support and lower loneliness was observed only in the higher-oxytocin group (r = −0.75, p = 0.003) but not in the lower group (r = −0.19, p = 0.53). The significance remained after further adjusting for sex and depression severity. CONCLUSION: Low oxytocin level is a vulnerability factor for the buffering effect of social support for loneliness and aberrant HPA-axis activity in MDD patients.
Buffers ; Depression ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; Immunoassay ; Loneliness ; Oxytocin ; Risk Factors