Transcriptome analysis of grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) after challenge with Lactococcus garvieae

Grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) is an economically important fish species in Taiwan mariculture industry. Moreover, grey mullet are common hosts of a bacterial infection by Lactococcus garvieae. However, until now the information related to the immune system of grey mullet is unclear. Therefore, to understand the molecular basis underlying the host immune response to L.\ua0garvieae infection, Illumina HiSeq™ 2000 was used to analyse the head kidney and spleen transcriptome of infected grey mullet. De novo assembly of paired-end reads yielded 55,203 unigenes. Comparative analysis of the expression profiles between bacterial challenge fish and control fish identified a total of 7192 from head kidney and 7280 in spleen differentially expressed genes (P\ua

Epidemiological Features of Infantile Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis in Taiwanese Children: A Nation-Wide Analysis of Cases during 1997–2007

OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiological characteristics of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS) in ethnic Chinese children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the National Health Insurance claims database and analyzed data from children less than one year of age who had been diagnosed with IHPS (ICD-9-CM 750.5) and had undergone pyloromyotomy (ICD-9-CM 43.3). We analyzed the incidence, gender, age at diagnosis, length of hospital stay, seasonal variation and cost of IHPS from data collected between January 1997 and December 2007. RESULTS: A total of 1,077 infants met inclusion criteria, including 889 boys and 188 girls. The annual incidence of IHPS ranged from 0.30 to 0.47 per 1,000 live births with a mean incidence of 0.39 per 1,000 live births. Between 2002 and 2007, the incidence showed a declining trend (P = 0.025) with coincidentally increasing trends for both exclusive breastfeeding (P = 0.014) and breastfeeding plus bottle feeding (P = 0.004). The male-to-female rate ratio was dynamic and increased from 3.03 during the first two weeks of life to 8.94 during the 8(th) through 10th weeks of life. The overall male-to-female rate ratio was 4.30. The mean age at diagnosis was 43.1 ± 2.4 days. After analyzing the months of birth and hospital admission, no seasonal variation associated with IHPS was detected. The mean length of hospital stay was 8.28 ± 7.10 days. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of IHPS in Taiwan, a country with a majority ethnic Chinese population, was lower than observed incidences in Caucasian populations living in Western countries. Breastfeeding campaigns and low maternal smoking rates may contribute to the lower incidence of IHPS in Taiwan. However, additional studies with longer follow-up periods are needed

Medical diagnosis decision module- example of the Hirschsprung disease

[[abstract]]Clinician should be done the right medical decision under the limited of medical resource and prospect the patient?s rights and interests on recently. In deed, what?s clinical condition of a patient need to receive a medical examination or test is very difficult to decide it. If we can propose a medical diagnosis decision module under researched by evidence base to provide the clinician to make a right medical decision. It is not only to help the financial affairs of national insurance but also can give a good health system for the people in Taiwan. So the purpose of our research is to propose a medical diagnosis decision module via investigate the Hirschsprung disease. Hirschsprung disease is one kind of congenital gastrointestinal disease and it is very rare. The incidence was about one baby in five thousand live newborns. The disease is a congenital abnormality with an absence of parasympathetic ganglion cells in the affected segment of the rectum, recto-sigmoid, or other colon. The clinical manifestations are variable and common, such as abdominal distended, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, or growth delay. How to diagnosis the disease is very difficult. Lower the sensitivity and specificity were noted in lower gastrointestinal radiography to diagnose the Hirschsprung disease. So far, the golden treatment for almost patient of Hirschsprung disease is surgery. So we evaluate the specificity and sensitivity of lower gastrointestinal radiograph to diagnosis of Hirschsprung Disease, and provide physician to make medical decision via the method of cost and effectiveness. This paper is a retrospective study. We enrolled 167 patients in this study and completed the questionnaire are 151 patients, those who consist of 62 male and 89 female and the competition rate is 89.92%. Those patients received the clinical diagnosis processing such as lower gastrointestinal radiography, rectal biopsy and long-term clinical follow up, than 26 patients were diagnosed of Hirschsprung disease. The sensitivity of lower gastrointestinal radiography is 0.769 and specificity is 0.464. From processing of medical decision and statistic logistic regression, we got tow formulas of logistic regression. R1-score=0.7717*the ratio of the largest colon?s diameter to the first vertebrae body+1.3251*transitional zone+1.8676*micro-colon - 0.375*age over 2 years old, R2score=0.7791* the ratio of the largest colon?s diameter to the first vertebrae body +1.2915*transitional zone+2.0064*micrcolon-0.2757* age over 2 years old -0.5603*radiography taken 24 hours after the study. We develop ROC curve of lower gastrointestinal radiography, can calculate the specificity and sensitivity from the operating point of the curve that can provide the clinician or radiologist to judge the examination. The likelihood ratio and the prevalence of the Hirschsprung disease are used to calculate the cost the benefit ratio at the operating point. Thus, knowledge of the costs and benefits of the lower gastrointestinal radiography can be used in conjunction with the results of a predictive value analysis to calculate the appropriate operating point for a test. We can get the result of sensitivity and specificity from that operating point. So gastroenterologist and radiologist can got a positive or negative diagnosis when the R1 or R2 value over the value of the threshold which is introduce the characters of lower gastrointestinal radiography into the formula R1 or R2. Additional they can know the sensitivity and the specificity of the lower gastrointestinal radiography when they use this method to diagnose the disease. This medical diagnosis module can provide clinician to do the right medical decision making for those suspect Hirschsprung disease

Simultaneously Evaluating the Effects of One-week Fluticasone Propionate Inhalation Therapy on Lung Ventilation and Permeability in Children with Asthma

[[abstract]]This study evaluated the effects of fluticasone propionate inhalation therapy on lung ventilation and alveolar permeability by quantitative Tc-99m DTPA radioaerosol inhalation lung scintigraphy in 15 children with asthma. Lung ventilation was evaluated as the distribution percentage (D%) of Tc-99m DTPA radioaerosols in the central, intermediate and peripheral regions of the right lung. Alveolar permeability was measured by the rate of Tc-99m DTPA radioaerosol clearance curve from the peripheral alveoli of the right lung and represented as slope. The D% and slopes were calculated before and after one-week inhalation therapy (100 ?g fluticasone propionate two times daily for one-week) to evaluate the effects of inhalation therapy on lung ventilation and alveolar permeability. The preliminary results revealed statistically significantly improved lung ventilation but no significant change of alveolar permeability in the right lung after one-week fluticasone propionate inhalation therapy in children with asthma. We suggest that the widely available and noninvasive Tc-99m DTPA radioaerosol inhalation lung scintigraphy can simultaneously evaluate lung ventilation and alveolar permeability in one study and should contribute to any disorder involving both alveoli and airways

Drug-Induced Esophageal Ulcer in Adolescent Population: Experience at a Single Medical Center in Central Taiwan

Background and Objectives: Drug-induced esophageal ulcer is caused by focal drug stimulation. It may occur in adults and children. Limited research is available in pediatric patients with drug-induced esophageal ulcer; therefore, we designed this study to determine the characteristics of this disease in this population. Materials and Methods: Thirty-two pediatric patients diagnosed with drug-induced esophageal ulcers from a hospital database of upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopies were included. After treatment, patients were followed for 2 months after upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Results: Female patients were predominant (56.2%/43.8%). The mean age of patients was 15.6 years (median, 16 years; interquartile range, 2 years). Doxycycline was administered in most cases (56.3%); other drugs were dicloxacillin, amoxicillin, clindamycin, L-arginine, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Doxycycline was associated with kissing ulcers. Esophageal ulcers induced by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were more often associated with gastric or duodenal ulcers. The most common location was the middle-third of the esophagus (78.1%). Patients were treated with proton pump inhibitors, sucralfate, or H2-blockers. The mean duration for which symptoms lasted was 9.2 days. No esophageal stricture was found in 24 patients who were followed for 2 months after upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Conclusions: The authors suggest informing patients to take medicine with enough water (approximately 100 mL) and enough time (15–30 min) before recumbency, especially high-risk drugs, such as doxycycline or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.</jats:p

Drug-Induced Esophageal Ulcer in Adolescent Population: Experience at a Single Medical Center in Central Taiwan

Background and Objectives: Drug-induced esophageal ulcer is caused by focal drug stimulation. It may occur in adults and children. Limited research is available in pediatric patients with drug-induced esophageal ulcer; therefore, we designed this study to determine the characteristics of this disease in this population. Materials and Methods: Thirty-two pediatric patients diagnosed with drug-induced esophageal ulcers from a hospital database of upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopies were included. After treatment, patients were followed for 2 months after upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Results: Female patients were predominant (56.2%/43.8%). The mean age of patients was 15.6 years (median, 16 years; interquartile range, 2 years). Doxycycline was administered in most cases (56.3%); other drugs were dicloxacillin, amoxicillin, clindamycin, L-arginine, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Doxycycline was associated with kissing ulcers. Esophageal ulcers induced by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were more often associated with gastric or duodenal ulcers. The most common location was the middle-third of the esophagus (78.1%). Patients were treated with proton pump inhibitors, sucralfate, or H2-blockers. The mean duration for which symptoms lasted was 9.2 days. No esophageal stricture was found in 24 patients who were followed for 2 months after upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Conclusions: The authors suggest informing patients to take medicine with enough water (approximately 100 mL) and enough time (15&ndash;30 min) before recumbency, especially high-risk drugs, such as doxycycline or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs