OBJECTIVE: To investigate the nutritional status of children with cerebral palsy (CP) and the clinical effectiveness of Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment (SGNA) in nutritional assessment of hospitalized children with CP. METHODS: A total of 208 children with CP, aged 1-5 years, who were hospitalized from April to October 2019 were enrolled as subjects. SGNA was used to investigate nutritional status, and the Z-score method recommended by the World Health Organization was used as a reference standard to validate the clinical effectiveness of SGNA. RESULTS: The detection rate of malnutrition in children with CP was 42.3% by SGNA and 39.4% by the Z-score method (P>0.05). The application of SGNA showed high consistency between different evaluators (κ=0.621, P<0.001). With the Z-score method as the reference standard, SGNA had a sensitivity of 80.5%, a specificity of 82.5%, a positive predictive value of 75.0%, and a negative predictive value of 86.7%, and high consistency was observed between the two evaluation methods (κ=0.622, P<0.001). SGNA was moderately consistent with weight-for-age Z-score and height-for-age Z-score (κ=0.495 and 0.478 respectively, P<0.001) and was poorly consistent with weight-for-height Z-score (κ=0.197, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS There is a relatively high incidence rate of malnutrition in children with CP. SGNA can be used as a tool to assess the nutritional status of children with CP.
Cerebral Palsy ; Child ; Child, Hospitalized ; Child, Preschool ; Humans ; Infant ; Malnutrition ; Nutrition Assessment ; Nutritional Status ; Treatment Outcome

Atrial Fibrillation ; pathology ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; pathology ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial ; pathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Veins ; pathology ; Vena Cava, Superior ; pathology

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the progression risk of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) with different clinical managements. METHODS: Women with their first diagnosis of ASCUS cytology were retrieved from the national cervical cancer screening database and linked to the national health insurance research database to identify the management of these women. The incidences of developing cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 and invasive cervical cancer (CIN3+) were calculated, and the hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated using a Cox proportional hazards model. This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the National Taiwan University Hospital and is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT02063152). RESULTS: There were total 69,741 women included. Various management strategies including colposcopy, cervical biopsies and/or endocervical curettage, and cryotherapy, failed to reduce the risk of subsequent CIN3+ compared with repeat cervical smears. Loop electrosurgical excision procedure/conization significantly decreased risk of subsequent CIN3+ lesions (HR=0.22; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.07–0.68; p=0.010). Women in their 40s–50s had an approximately 30% risk reduction compared to other age groups. Women with a previous screening history >5 years from the present ASCUS diagnosis were at increased risk for CIN3+ (HR=1.24; 95% CI=1.03–1.49; p=0.020). CONCLUSION: In women of first-time ASCUS cytology, a program of repeat cytology can be an acceptable clinical option in low-resource settings. Caution should be taken especially in women with remote cervical screening history more than 5 years.
Atypical Squamous Cells of the Cervix* ; Biopsy ; Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia* ; Cohort Studies* ; Colposcopy ; Cryotherapy ; Curettage ; Diagnosis ; Ethics Committees, Research ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mass Screening ; National Health Programs ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Risk Reduction Behavior ; Taiwan ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; Vaginal Smears

OBJECTIVE: Adjuvant chemotherapy was introduced in patients with early-stage ovarian cancer (OC). The benefit of standard chemotherapeutic regimens including taxane has not been established. METHODS: Patients with early-stage OC from the National Health Insurance Research database of Taiwan who received platinum plus cyclophosphamide (CP) or platinum plus paclitaxel (PT) for 3–6 cycles were recruited, and the disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were determined. RESULTS: A total of 1,510 early-stage OC patients, including 841 who received CP regimen and 699 who received PT regimen, were included. The 2 groups had a similar estimated probability of 5-year DFS (PT vs. CP, 79.0% vs. 77.6%; p=0.410) and OS (84.6% vs. 84.3%; p=0.691). Patients >50 years of age who received the CP regimen had a lower 5-year DFS than the patients ≤50 years of age who received the CP (p<0.001) or PT regimens (p=0.001). Additionally, patients >50 years of age who received the CP regimen had a worse 5-year OS compared with the other 3 groups (p=0.019) (p=0.179 for patients >50 years of age in the PT group; p=0.002 for patients ≤50 years of age in the CP group; and p=0.061 for patients ≤50 years of age in the PT group). Patients with the CP or PT regimen for 3–5 cycles had a similar 5-year DFS and OS compared to 6 cycles (p>0.050). CONCLUSION: Chemotherapeutic regimens with taxane could be recommended for early-stage OC patients >50 years of age.
Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Cyclophosphamide ; Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; National Health Programs ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Paclitaxel ; Platinum ; Taiwan

Objective To explore the relationship between human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DRB gene polymorphism and allergic reaction of anti-tuberculosis drugs in Chinese Han population.Methods HLA-DRB alleles in 35 patients with allergic reaction and 42 patients with no allergic reaction were analyzed using sequence-specific primer-polymerase chain reaction (PCR-SSP) method.Results The frequency of DR7 gene in allergy group was significantly higher than that in patients without allergic reaction group (10.0％ vs 1.2％,RR =10.25,P ＜0.05).Conclusion DR7 may be a susceptible gene for allergic reactions to anti-tuberculosis drugs.

Objective To explore the correlation between the genetic polymorphisms of organic anion-transporting polypeptide (OATP1B1),steady-state trough concentrations of rifampicin and the occurrence of hepatotoxicity induced by rifampicin.Methods Ninety tuberculosis (TB) patients were continuously administrated equal doses of rifampicin,34 cases developed drug-induced liver injury (DILI),while 56 had non drug-induced liver injury (non-DILI).Then trough concentrations of rifampicin in these subjects were determined by LC-MS/MS,and OATP1B1 388A ＞ G genotyping was obtained by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP-PCR) methods.Finally,the correlations analysis were undertaken between the genetic polymorphisms of OATP1B1,steady-state trough concentrations of rifampicin and incidence of hepatotoxicity induced by rifampicin.Results There were 68 patients carrying wild-type genotypes and 22 carrying mutant genotypes in 90 subjects,with mutation rate of 24.44％.In which,mutant genotypes rates were 8.82％ (3 cases/34 cases) and 33.93％ (19 cases/56 cases) in DILI group and non-DILI group.Rifampicin trough concentration of patients with mutant genotypes was (5.63 ±4.16) ng· mL-1,3.43 times that of wild-type genotypes,which was (1.64 ±4.81) ng · mL-1.Likewise,concentration of rifampicin in non-DILI group was (3.82 ± 5.80) ng · mL-1,5.97 times that of DILI group,which was (0.64 ± 1.85) ng · mL-1.Mutation rate of OATP1B1 388A ＞ G in non-DILI group was 33.93％,3.85 times that in DILI group.The incidence of hepatotoxicity in patients carrying wild-type genotype was 45.59％,amounting to 3.34 times that of mutant genotypes.Conclusion Genetic polymorphisms of OATP1B1 may have significant impacts on steady-state trough concentration of rifampicin in Chinese patients and the occurrence of hepatotoxicity.