Clinical Efficacy and Post-Treatment Seromarkers Associated with the Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma among Chronic Hepatitis C Patients

This follow-up study enrolled chronic hepatitis C patients to evaluate the treatment efficacy and to identify post-treatment seromarkers associated with risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) among patients with a sustained virological response (SVR) or nonsustained virological response (NSVR). A total of 4639 patients who received pegylated interferon and ribavirin during 2004–2013 were followed until December 2014. HCC was confirmed through health examinations and data linkage with a national database. A total of 233 HCC cases were reported after 26,163 person-years of follow-up, indicating an incidence of 8.9 per 1000 person-years: 6.9 for SVR and 21.6 for NSVR per 1000 person-years. The associated risk of HCC in patients with SVR was 0.37 (0.22–0.63) for those without cirrhosis and 0.54 (0.31–0.92) for those with cirrhosis compared with their respective counterparts with NSVR. Among patients with SVR, advanced age, male gender, cirrhosis, decreased platelet count, and increased aspartate aminotransferase and α-fetoprotein levels were associated with HCC (p < 0.001). The treatment of chronic hepatitis C patients before they developed cirrhosis showed a higher efficacy than did the treatment of those who had already developed cirrhosis. Patients with SVR may still have a risk of HCC and need to be regularly monitored

Diagnostic Potential of Low Serum Platelet, Albumin and Prolong PT-INR for Overactive Bladder and Nocturia in Chronic Hepatitis-Related Liver Cirrhosis

Overactive bladder (OAB) is defined as urgency, usually with frequency, nocturia, and incontinence. Patients with liver cirrhosis often present with urinary complaints. The possible reason for this is fluid redistribution, which may induce OAB resulting from portal hypertension and ascites. We conducted this study to investigate predictors of OAB in cirrhotic patients. A total of 164 patients with chronic viral hepatitis-related liver cirrhosis were enrolled and 158 (96.3%) completed the Overactive Bladder Symptoms Score (OABSS) questionnaire. Age, severity of liver cirrhosis, comorbidities, serum sodium level, use of diuretics, body mass index and renal function were also recorded. In the study cohort, the prevalence of OAB was 31.01% and the prevalence of urge incontinence (OAB wet) was 18.3%. Patients with an urgency score ≥2 in OABSS had a significantly lower platelet level (p = 0.025) regardless of the use of diuretics. In addition, 98 patients (62%) with nocturia and 29 patients (18%) with urge incontinence had significantly lower levels of serum albumin (p = 0.028 and 0.044, respectively). In conclusion, patients with liver cirrhosis have a high prevalence of overactive bladder. A low platelet and low serum albumin level in these patients may be predictors for overactive bladder. And longer PT-INR is also a possible biomarker for nocturia

Copolymerization of carbon dioxide with cyclohexene oxide catalyzed by bimetallic dysprosium complexes containing hydrazine‐functionalized Schiff‐base derivatives

A series of dinuclear DyIII acetate complexes containing three different hydrazine‐functionalized Schiff‐base ligands (hmb, hmi, and hb) have been synthesized by one‐pot reaction with Dy(OAc)3·4H2O as the metal precursor. [Dy2(hmb)2(OAc)4]·MeCN (1·MeCN) and [Dy2(hmi)2(OAc)2(MeOH)2]·H2O (2·H2O) with keto and enol forms of the corresponding ligands, respectively, were shown the similar core structures but different ratio of DyIII to OAc–. Moreover, the different coordination environments of complex [Dy2(hb)2(μ‐OAc)2(OAc)2(H2O)2]·DMF·H2O (3·DMF·H2O) also offered an opportunity to understand the relationship between structural model and catalytic properties. Bimetallic dysprosium complexes 1–3 were demonstrated to be active catalysts for copolymerization of carbon dioxide (CO2) and cyclohexene oxide (CHO) without cocatalysts. To the best of our knowledge, well‐defined catalyst 2 appears to be the first example of an air‐stable bimetallic dysprosium complex that is effective for CO2/CHO copolymerization and the formation of the perfectly alternating poly(cyclohexenecarbonate) with a high molecular weight. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017, 55, 321–32

Maintenance bacillus Calmette–Guérin therapy prolongs recurrence-free survival in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer: A real-world experience

Objective: We studied the benefit of bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) maintenance therapy to determine the ideal maintenance therapy schedule. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients who underwent transurethral resection of bladder tumors and BCG instillation treatment at Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taiwan, from January 1997 to December 2009. All patients in the study had non-muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder or carcinoma in situ. We compared the recurrence-free rate of patients who received induction alone and with maintenance BCG therapy sessions. In addition, we analyzed the best number of maintenance therapy sessions that gave the lowest cancer recurrence. Results: This study included 427 patients with a mean age of 64 years. The median number of BCG treatments was 11, and the ratio of male to female was 3:1. Receiving an induction dose alone was a significant factor for tumor recurrence with a hazard ratio of 3.77. The recurrent risk rate of patient who received BCG therapy 13–15 times had lower recurrence rate than other groups. Conclusion: A maintenance dose gave patients a significant benefit over those who just received induction therapy. BCG maintenance therapy worked best if given 13–15 times in our study

Pore-Scale Modeling of Microporous Layer for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell: Effective Transport Properties

A microporous layer (MPL) is a transition layer with a porous material structure, located between the gas diffusion layer (GDL) and catalyst layer (CL) in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). It not only significantly improves electron transfer and heat conduction in membrane electrode assembly, but also effectively manages liquid water transport to enhance the fuel cell performance. The MPL is usually coated on one side of the GDL. The fragile nature of MPL makes it challenging to characterize the effective transport properties using experimental methods. In this study, a stochastic numerical method is implemented to reconstruct the three-dimensional microstructure of an MPL consisting of carbon particles and PTFE. The reliability of the MPL reconstructed model is validated using experimental data. The relationship between the effective transport properties and the compression strain is obtained using the Pore Scale Model (PSM), while the relationship between the liquid water saturation and capillary pressure is solved by Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM). The effective transport properties in the MPL are then imported into the two-phase flow fuel cell model. It is found that the effective transport parameters in MPL obtained by PSM and LBM can improve the accuracy of the model calculation. This study provides an effective method to reconstruct the microstructure of MPL that can generate precise MPL transport parameters for utilization in various PEMFC performance prediction models

Pore-Scale Modeling of Microporous Layer for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell: Effective Transport Properties

A microporous layer (MPL) is a transition layer with a porous material structure, located between the gas diffusion layer (GDL) and catalyst layer (CL) in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). It not only significantly improves electron transfer and heat conduction in membrane electrode assembly, but also effectively manages liquid water transport to enhance the fuel cell performance. The MPL is usually coated on one side of the GDL. The fragile nature of MPL makes it challenging to characterize the effective transport properties using experimental methods. In this study, a stochastic numerical method is implemented to reconstruct the three-dimensional microstructure of an MPL consisting of carbon particles and PTFE. The reliability of the MPL reconstructed model is validated using experimental data. The relationship between the effective transport properties and the compression strain is obtained using the Pore Scale Model (PSM), while the relationship between the liquid water saturation and capillary pressure is solved by Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM). The effective transport properties in the MPL are then imported into the two-phase flow fuel cell model. It is found that the effective transport parameters in MPL obtained by PSM and LBM can improve the accuracy of the model calculation. This study provides an effective method to reconstruct the microstructure of MPL that can generate precise MPL transport parameters for utilization in various PEMFC performance prediction models

Structurally diverse dysprosium and yttrium complexes containing an amine-bis(benzotriazole phenolate) ligand: Synthesis, characterization and catalysis for lactide polymerization

The syntheses, structures and catalytic properties for lactones polymerization of six new dysprosium and yttrium complexes containing an amine-bis(benzotriazole phenolate) (C1NNBiBTP) ligand with different protonated/deprotonated forms of ligands are reported. Complexes [M(C1NNBiBTP-H3)(NO3)4] (M: Dy(1) and Y(2)) were obtained from the reaction of the C1NNBiBTP-H2 proligand with M(NO3)3·6H2O without an additional base in a dichloromethane (DCM)/acetonitrile (MeCN) mixer. Applying trimethylamine (Et3N) to deprotonate the proligand, bis-nitrate complexes [M(C1NNBiBTP-H)(NO3)2(H2O)]·THF (M: Dy(3·THF) and Y(4·THF)) were obtained from a mixture solution of with tetrahydrofuran (THF) and DCM. Further tuning base-to-proligand ratio followed by MeOH solution yielded mono-nitrate complexes [M(C1NNBiBTP)(NO3)(MeOH)2] (M: Dy(5) and Y(6)). Air-stable BiBTP-ligated complexes 1–6 were demonstrated to be active catalysts for lactide (LA) polymerization, and the catalytic performance for these complexes was compared. Particularly, yttrium complex 6 with two coordinating methanol molecules was found to effectively catalyze bulk polymerization of LA in a controlled character due to the presence of alcohol initiators

Depression Negatively Impacts Survival of Patients with Metastatic Prostate Cancer

The prevalence of depression in patients with cancer is high, especially for patients with advanced cancer. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence of depression in prostate cancer patients in Taiwan and the association between depression and mortality in prostate cancer. This study included 1101 newly diagnosed patients with prostate cancer. We tracked the medical information of these patients from diagnosis until the end of 2012. Patients were divided into two groups according to presence or absence of depression diagnosis, and were further divided into three stages by initial treatments: localized or locally advanced, metastatic, and castration-resistant prostate cancer. Of 1101 participants, 267 (24.3%) had depression. By the end of the follow-up period (M = 8.30 &plusmn; 3.12 years), 77 (28.8%) patients in the depression group and 194 (23.3%) in the non-depressed group died. Depression was associated with higher mortality risk, (aHR 1.37; 95% CI [ 1.04&ndash;1.80]; p value 0.01). Patients in the metastatic prostate cancer group with depression had a significantly higher mortality risk compared to the non-depressed group, (aHR, 1.49; 95% CI [1.05&ndash;2.11]; p value 0.02). The impact of depression on mortality risk was not significant in either the localized or locally advanced or the castration-resistant prostate cancer groups. Our study showed that depression is related to an increased mortality risk for patients with prostate cancer, especially for metastatic prostate cancer. These results indicate that urologists should pay attention to the mood and psychiatric disorders of patients with prostate cancer