A Panel Data Approach for Program Evaluation — Measuring the Benefits of Political and Economic Integration of Hong Kong with Mainland China

We propose a simple to implement panel data method to evaluate the impacts of social policy. The basic idea is to exploit the dependence among cross-sectional units to construct the counterfactuals. The cross-sectional correlations are attributed to the presence of some (unobserved) common factors. However, instead of trying to estimate the unobserved factors, we propose to use observed data. We use a panel of 24 countries to evaluate the impact of political and economic integration of Hong Kong (HK) with Mainland China. We find that the political integration hardly had any impact on the growth of the Hong Kong economy. However, the economic integration has raised HK’s annual real GDP by about 4%.

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Genotype and Peripheral Arterial Disease in Diabetic Patients

We investigated the effect of traditional risk factors (hypertension, dyslipidemia and smoking) on the association between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in 945 (454 men and 491 women) Taiwanese type 2 diabetic patients with a mean age of 63.5 (SD: 11.4) years. Among them, 81 (31 men and 50 women) had PAD (ankle-brachial index <0.9). The adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 2.48 (1.18–5.21), 1.69 (1.00–2.85) and 1.64 (1.12–2.39), respectively, for recessive (DD versus II + ID), dominant (DD + ID versus II) and additive (II = 0, ID = 1 and DD = 2) models. While analyzing the interaction between DD and the individual risk factor of hypertension, smoking and dyslipidemia, patients with the risk factor and with DD had the highest risk compared to referent patients without the risk factor and with II/ID. The respective adjusted odds ratios were 5.41 (2.05–14.31), 7.38 (1.87–29.06) and 4.64 (1.70–12.64). We did not find a significant interaction between DD and any of the risk factors under multiplicative or additive scale. In conclusion, traditional risk factors (hypertension, smoking and dyslipidemia) play an important role in the association between ACE genotypes and PAD. Patients with DD genotype and traditional risk factors are at the highest risk

Lactobacillus acidophilus ameliorates H. pylori-induced gastric inflammation by inactivating the Smad7 and NFκB pathways

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>H. pylori </it>infection may trigger Smad7 and NFκB expression in the stomach, whereas probiotics promote gastrointestinal health and improve intestinal inflammation caused by pathogens. This study examines if probiotics can improve <it>H. pylori</it>-induced gastric inflammation by inactivating the Smad7 and NFκB pathways.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Challenge with <it>H. pylori </it>increased IL-8 and TNF-α expressions but not TGF-β1 in MKN45 cells. The RNA levels of Smad7 in AGS cells increased after <it>H. pylori </it>infection in a dose-dependent manner. A higher dose (MOI 100) of <it>L. acidophilus </it>pre-treatment attenuated the <it>H. pylori</it>-induced IL-8 expressions, but not TGF-β1. Such anti-inflammatory effect was mediated via increased cytoplasmic IκBα and depletion of nuclear NFκB. <it>L. acidophilus </it>also inhibited <it>H. pylori</it>-induced Smad7 transcription by inactivating the Jak1 and Stat1 pathways, which might activate the TGF-β1/Smad pathway. <it>L. acidophilus </it>pre-treatment ameliorated IFN-γ-induced Smad7 translation level and subsequently reduced nuclear NF-κB production, as detected by western blotting.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>H. pylori </it>infection induces Smad7, NFκB, IL-8, and TNF-α production <it>in vitro</it>. Higher doses of <it>L. acidophilus </it>pre-treatment reduce <it>H. pylori</it>-induced inflammation through the inactivation of the Smad7 and NFκB pathways.</p

Cerebral hemorrhagic infarction following cranioplasty in a shunted patient with tension pneumocephalus resulting from depressed skull and craniodural defect

SummaryA 34-year-old female sustained a severe traumatic brain injury that was treated with decompressive craniectomy and subsequent cranioplasty, then with ventriculoperitoneal shunt about 10 years previously. However, the skull flap was found to be depressed ever since. She was admitted to our hospital for a headache and left hemiparesis with sudden onset. The computed tomography scan displayed tension pneumocephalus in the right frontoparietal region. First, she underwent emergency burr hole drainage and placement of a subdural drain with external ventricular drainage tube. Then her symptoms improved considerably. Unfortunately, 6 months later she was admitted again to our hospital because of headache and left hemiparesis with sudden onset, and the brain computed tomography showed tension pneumocephalus in the right frontoparietal region. She underwent craniectomy to remove the previous depressed skull and simultaneous cranioplasty with Ti-Mesh. On the day of her operation, generalized seizure occurred and her consciousness deteriorated. The magnetic resonance imaging showed hemorrhagic infarction on both sides of the thalamus and the right parieto-occipital region. We think it probable that a sudden increase of cerebral blood flow in the cerebral hemisphere where the cranioplasty had been performed caused reperfusion injury and resulted in hemorrhagic infarction

Etiology and Treatment of Childhood Peptic Ulcer Disease in Taiwan: A Single Center 9-Year Experience

Background/PurposePeptic ulcer disease (PUD) in children is relatively rare as compared with adults. This study aimed to assess the etiology, clinical and histological characteristics, and treatment of PUD in children.MethodsAll children aged < 18 years with an endoscopic diagnosis of PUD were enrolled in a tertiary referral center. The demographic data, clinical, endoscopic, and histological findings were compared between patients with different causes of PUD.ResultsFrom 1234 endoscopic examinations, 67 (5.4%) children (median age, 11.4 years) with gastric ulcer (GU; n = 27) or duodenal ulcer (DU; n = 40) were included. Thirty-two (47.7%) of them had Helicobacter pylori infection and 11 (16.5%) had previous use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Non-H. pylori, non-NSAID PUD was found in 24 (35.8%) patients. Children with H. pylori-related PUD had a significantly higher mean age, antral chronic inflammatory score, rate of familial PUD, and presence of DU and nodular gastritis than those with NSAID-related and non-H. pylori, non-NSAID PUD (p < 0.01). In contrast, children with NSAID-related PUD had a higher rate of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, associated with acute febrile disease, than those with H. pylori-related and non-H. pylori, non-NSAID PUD (p < 0.05). All but two patients with non-H. pylori, non-NSAID PUD were disease free after H. pylori eradication and proton pump inhibitor treatment for 1–2 months.ConclusionIn children, H. pylori-related PUD is associated with familial peptic ulcer and the presence of DU. However, short-term NSAID use is correlated highly with GU. The outcome of childhood PUD is good

Bacteremic pneumonia caused by Nocardia veterana in an HIV-infected patient

SummaryDisseminated Nocardia veterana infection has rarely been reported. We describe the first reported case of N. veterana bacteremic pneumonia in an HIV-infected patient. The isolate was confirmed by 16S rRNA sequencing analysis. The patient initially responded well to trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole treatment (minimum inhibitory concentration 0.25μg/ml), but died of ventilator-associated pneumonia

Ultrasound sonication with microbubbles disrupts blood vessels and enhances tumor treatments of anticancer nanodrug

Ultrasound (US) sonication with microbubbles (MBs) has the potential to disrupt blood vessels and enhance the delivery of drugs into the sonicated tissues. In this study, mouse ear tumors were employed to investigate the therapeutic effects of US, MBs, and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) on tumors. Tumors started to receive treatments when they grew up to about 15 mm3 (early stage) with injection of PLD 10 mg/kg, or up to 50 mm3 (medium stage) with PLD 6 (or 4) mg/kg. Experiments included the control, PLD alone, PLD + MBs + US, US alone, and MBs + US groups. The procedure for the PLD + MBs + US group was that PLD was injected first, MB (SonoVue) injection followed, and then US was immediately sonicated on the tumor. The results showed that: (1) US sonication with MBs was always able to produce a further hindrance to tumor growth for both early and medium-stage tumors; (2) for the medium-stage tumors, 6 mg/kg PLD alone was able to inhibit their growth, while it did not work for 4 mg/kg PLD alone; (3) with the application of MBs + US, 4 mg/kg PLD was able to inhibit the growth of medium-stage tumors; (4) for early stage tumors after the first treatment with a high dose of PLD alone (10 mg/kg), the tumor size still increased for several days and then decreased (a biphasic pattern); (5) MBs + US alone was able to hinder the growth of early stage tumors, but unable to hinder that of medium stage tumors. The results of histological examinations and blood perfusion measurements indicated that the application of MBs + US disrupts the tumor blood vessels and enhances the delivery of PLD into tumors to significantly inhibit tumor growth