Comparison of Renal Function and Other Health Outcomes in Vegetarians versus Omnivores in Taiwan

Renal disease is one of the top 10 leading causes of death, and the incidence of end-stage renal disease in Taiwan is the highest in the world. Many dietitians consider the diet of plant origin consumed by vegans to be ‘lighter’ and ‘more healthful’ than the diet of both plant and animal origin consumed by omnivores. Dietary protein has significant effects on renal functions. The study explored the effects of both the diets on renal functions. The study subjects included 102 Buddhist nun vegetarians and an equal number of matched control group (omnivores). A cross-sectional study was performed to investigate the effects of the diet of plant origin and the diet of both plant and animal origin on renal functions. There was no difference in the renal functions between the two groups. However, systolic blood pressure, blood urea nitrogen, serum sodium, glucose, cholesterol levels, and urinary specific gravity were lower in the vegetarian group. Although these results were compatible with general concepts regarding diet of plant origin, after adjusting for age, the duration of intake of this diet had no effect on the renal functions. Based on the findings, it is concluded that the renal functions, in terms of the estimated glomerular filtration rate, were not different between the vegetarians and the omnivores

MetaSquare: An integrated metadatabase of 16S rRNA gene amplicon for microbiome taxonomic classification

MOTIVATION: Taxonomic classification of 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon is an efficient and economic approach in microbiome analysis. 16S rRNA sequence databases like SILVA, RDP, EzBioCloud and HOMD used in downstream bioinformatic pipelines have limitations on either the sequence redundancy or the delay on new sequence recruitment. To improve the 16S rRNA gene-based taxonomic classification, we merged these widely used databases and a collection of novel sequences systemically into an integrated resource. RESULTS: MetaSquare version 1.0 is an integrated 16S rRNA sequence database. It is composed of more than 6 million sequences and improves taxonomic classification resolution on both long-read and short-read methods. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: Accessible at https://hub.docker.com/r/lsbnb/metasquare_db and https://github.com/lsbnb/MetaSquare. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online

Application and comparison of scoring indices to predict outcomes in patients with healthcare-associated pneumonia

Introduction: Healthcare-associated pneumonia HCAP is a relatively new category of pneumonia. It refers to infections that occur prior to hospital admission in patients with specific risk factors following contact or exposure to a healthcare environment. There is currently no scoring index to predict the outcomes of HCAP patients. We applied and compared different community acquired pneumonia CAP scoring indices to predict 30-day mortality and 3-day and 14-day intensive care unit ICU admission in patients with HCAP. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study based on an inpatient database from six medical centers, recruiting a total of 444 patients with HCAP between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2007. Pneumonia severity scoring indices including PSI pneumonia severity index, CURB 65 confusion, urea, respiratory rate, blood pressure , age 65, IDSA/ATS Infectious Diseases Society of America/American Thoracic Society, modified ATS rule, SCAP severe community acquired pneumonia, SMART-COP systolic blood pressure, multilobar involvement, albumin, respiratory rate, tachycardia, confusion, oxygenation, pH, SMRT- CO systolic blood pressure, multilobar involvement, respiratory rate, tachycardia, confusion, oxygenation, and SOAR systolic blood pressure, oxygenation, age, respiratory rate were calculated for each patient. Patient characteristics, co-morbidities, pneumonia pathogen culture results, length of hospital stay LOS, and length of ICU stay were also recorded. Results: PSI > 90 has the highest sensitivity in predicting mortality, followed by CURB-65 >= 2 and SCAP > 9 SCAP score area under the curve AUC: 0.71, PSI AUC: 0.70 and CURB-65 AUC: 0.66. Compared to PSI, modified ATS, IDSA/ATS, SCAP, and SMART-COP were easy to calculate. For predicting ICU admission Day 3 and Day 14, modified ATS AUC: 0.84, 0.82 , SMART-COP AUC: 0.84, 0.82, SCAP AUC: 0.82, 0.80 and IDSA/ ATS AUC: 0.80, 0 .79 performed better statistically significant difference than PSI, CURB- 65, SOAR and SMRT-CO. Conclusions: The utility of the scoring indices for risk assessment in patients with healthcare-associated pneumonia shows that the scoring indices originally designed for CAP can be applied to HCAP

Resveratrol retards progression of diabetic nephropathy through modulations of oxidative stress, proinflammatory cytokines, and AMP-activated protein kinase

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Diabetic nephropathy (DN) has been recognized as the leading cause of end-stage renal disease. Resveratrol (RSV), a polyphenolic compound, has been indicated to possess an insulin-like property in diabetes. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the renoprotective effects of RSV and delineate its underlying mechanism in early-stage DN.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The protective effects of RSV on DN were evaluated in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The plasma glucose, creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen were significantly elevated in STZ-induced diabetic rats. RSV treatment markedly ameliorated hyperglycemia and renal dysfunction in STZ-induced diabetic rats. The diabetes-induced superoxide anion and protein carbonyl levels were also significantly attenuated in RSV-treated diabetic kidney. The AMPK protein phosphorylation and expression levels were remarkably reduced in diabetic renal tissues. In contrast, RSV treatment significantly rescued the AMPK protein expression and phosphorylation compared to non-treated diabetic group. Additionally, hyperglycemia markedly enhanced renal production of proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β. RSV reduced IL-1β but increased TNF-α and IL-6 levels in the diabetic kidneys.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings suggest that RSV protects against oxidative stress, exhibits concurrent proinflammation and anti-inflammation, and up-regulates AMPK expression and activation, which may contribute to its beneficial effects on the early stage of DN.</p

Secure Adaptive Topology Control for Wireless Ad-Hoc Sensor Networks

This paper presents a secure decentralized clustering algorithm for wireless ad-hoc sensor networks. The algorithm operates without a centralized controller, operates asynchronously, and does not require that the location of the sensors be known a priori. Based on the cluster-based topology, secure hierarchical communication protocols and dynamic quarantine strategies are introduced to defend against spam attacks, since this type of attacks can exhaust the energy of sensor nodes and will shorten the lifetime of a sensor network drastically. By adjusting the threshold of infected percentage of the cluster coverage, our scheme can dynamically coordinate the proportion of the quarantine region and adaptively achieve the cluster control and the neighborhood control of attacks. Simulation results show that the proposed approach is feasible and cost effective for wireless sensor networks

Computational analysis of a novel mutation in ETFDH gene highlights its long-range effects on the FAD-binding motif

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Multiple acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency (MADD) is an autosomal recessive disease caused by the defects in the mitochondrial electron transfer system and the metabolism of fatty acids. Recently, mutations in electron transfer flavoprotein dehydrogenase (<it>ETFDH</it>) gene, encoding electron transfer flavoprotein:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (ETF:QO) have been reported to be the major causes of riboflavin-responsive MADD. To date, no studies have been performed to explore the functional impact of these mutations or their mechanism of disrupting enzyme activity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>High resolution melting (HRM) analysis and sequencing of the entire <it>ETFDH </it>gene revealed a novel mutation (p.Phe128Ser) and the hotspot mutation (p.Ala84Thr) from a patient with MADD. According to the predicted 3D structure of ETF:QO, the two mutations are located within the flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) binding domain; however, the two residues do not have direct interactions with the FAD ligand. Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and normal mode analysis (NMA), we found that the p.Ala84Thr and p.Phe128Ser mutations are most likely to alter the protein structure near the FAD binding site as well as disrupt the stability of the FAD binding required for the activation of ETF:QO. Intriguingly, NMA revealed that several reported disease-causing mutations in the ETF:QO protein show highly correlated motions with the FAD-binding site.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Based on the present findings, we conclude that the changes made to the amino acids in ETF:QO are likely to influence the FAD-binding stability.</p

Protective effects of Scoparia dulcis L. extract on high glucose-induced injury in human retinal pigment epithelial cells

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a major cause of vision loss in diabetic patients. Hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress and the accumulation of inflammatory factors result in blood-retinal barrier dysfunction and the pathogenesis of DR. Scoparia dulcis L. extract (SDE), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been recently recognized for its various pharmacological effects, including anti-diabetic, anti-hyperlipidemia, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidative activities. However, there is no relevant research on the protective effect of SDE in DR. In this study, we treated high glucose (50 mM) in human retinal epithelial cells (ARPE-19) with different concentrations of SDE and analyzed cell viability, apoptosis, and ROS production. Moreover, we analyzed the expression of Akt, Nrf2, catalase, and HO-1, which showed that SDE dose-dependently reduced ROS production and attenuated ARPE-19 cell apoptosis in a high-glucose environment. Briefly, we demonstrated that SDE exhibited an anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory ability in protecting retinal cells from high-glucose (HG) treatment. Moreover, we also investigated the involvement of the Akt/Nrf2/HO-1 pathway in SDE-mediated protective effects. The results suggest SDE as a nutritional supplement that could benefit patients with DR

Survival rate in nasopharyngeal carcinoma improved by high caseload volume: a nationwide population-based study in Taiwan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Positive correlation between caseload and outcome has previously been validated for several procedures and cancer treatments. However, there is no information linking caseload and outcome of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treatment. We used nationwide population-based data to examine the association between physician case volume and survival rates of patients with NPC.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Between 1998 and 2000, a total of 1225 patients were identified from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Survival analysis, the Cox proportional hazards model, and propensity score were used to assess the relationship between 10-year survival rates and physician caseloads.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>As the caseload of individual physicians increased, unadjusted 10-year survival rates increased (<it>p </it>< 0.001). Using a Cox proportional hazard model, patients with NPC treated by high-volume physicians (caseload ≥ 35) had better survival rates (<it>p </it>= 0.001) after adjusting for comorbidities, hospital, and treatment modality. When analyzed by propensity score, the adjusted 10-year survival rate differed significantly between patients treated by high-volume physicians and patients treated by low/medium-volume physicians (75% <it>vs</it>. 61%; <it>p </it>< 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data confirm a positive volume-outcome relationship for NPC. After adjusting for differences in the case mix, our analysis found treatment of NPC by high-volume physicians improved 10-year survival rate.</p