Effect of Antrodia

Antrodia camphorata is a rare Taiwanese medicinal mushroom. Antrodia camphorata extract has been reported to exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammation, antimetastasis, and anticancer activities and plays a role in liver fibrosis, vasorelaxation, and immunomodulation. Critical vascular inflammation leads to vascular dysfunction and cardiovascular diseases, including abdominal aortic aneurysms, hypertension, and atherosclerosis. Platelet activation plays a crucial role in intravascular thrombosis, which is involved in a wide variety of cardiovascular diseases. However, the effect of Antrodia camphorata on platelet activation remains unclear. We examined the effects of Antrodia camphorata on platelet activation. In the present study, Antrodia camphorata treatment (56–224 μg/mL) inhibited platelet aggregation induced by collagen, but not U46619, an analogue of thromboxane A2, thrombin, and arachidonic acid. Antrodia camphorata inhibited collagen-induced calcium (Ca2+) mobilization and phosphorylation of protein kinase C (PKC) and Akt. In addition, Antrodia camphorata significantly reduced the aggregation and phosphorylation of PKC in phorbol-12, 13-dibutyrate (PDBu) activated platelets. In conclusion, Antrodia camphorata may inhibit platelet activation by inhibiting of Ca2+ and PKC cascade and the Akt pathway. Our study suggests that Antrodia camphorata may be a potential therapeutic agent for preventing or treating thromboembolic disorders

[[alternative]]The Study of the Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior of Drug Abuse among Junior High School Students in Taipei City

[[abstract]]The main purpose of this study was to research the knowledge, attitude and behavior of drug abuse among junior high school students in Taipei City In addition, we also to predict these results by their demography, achievement in school, peer drug abuse and attitude, and family factors. The sample was selected by the proportionate probability sampling method. Six schools were included, with the total number of valid question-naires being 640. The data were collected via a group self-administration in December 1993. The main findings of this study were as followings: 1. The correct rate in the test about knowledge was 75.5%. 2. The most common sourceuof knowledge was the televesion programs which was followed by newspapers and teachers. 3. The mean scoring about the attitude of drug abuse was 5.37 which revealed that most of students disapproved to use addivtive drugs. 4. The rate of students who has been taken addictive drug was 0.6% 5. There was a positive relationship between knowledge and attitude about the drug abuse. (r=.39，P<.001). The result showed that the higher the score about knowledge, the less they agreed to use addictive drug. 6. We could predict the knowledge and attitude of the students via their demography, achievement in school, peer drug abuse and peer attitude, and family factor. 7. The predictive rate for knowledge was 6.8%; for attitude was 11.5%. We suggested the authority of education to set a good program for drug education and start experimental study inevery school. We also have to emphasize the dangerous of the addictive drug to phisical body and calrify the punishment of abuse in these programs. Furture research need more samples, indepednt variables and fruther clinical observation, urianalysis and sincerly talking to make the study more perfect.

The Study of Computerized Bone Age Cluster Assessment System Based on Hand Radiographs

本論文提出了基於掌骨X光影像中骨骺/幹骺切割技術以及其對電腦化骨齡群集估測之相關研究。主要貢獻如下︰(1)基於X光片中複雜及不規則的背景及不論手掌在X光片中是否定位，提出一個全自動且有效的骨骺/幹骺特徵區域擷取方法。(2)提出一個以空間統計為基礎的distance approach adaptive two-means影像切割方法，其骨骺/幹骺區域的切割結果之準確度遠高於基於機率分佈的adaptive two-mean方法，同時亦大幅地降低了整個演算法的迭代次數及運算時間。(3)進一步地，我們考量不論是何種adaptive two-means的方法，其最終分類結果往往取決於初始分類的好壞，而初始分類又受到不同指節的特徵區域影像特性之影響。因此，為了更精進整個演算法對於的骨骺/幹骺區域切割的精準度及效率，我們針對不同指節提出兩個影像切割方法。針對遠端及中間指節，提出一個不考慮背景的影像切割方法，克服了在大部分影像切割分法如Sobel, two-means, Canny edge-detection 及 watershed中，因含背景導致所得到初始分類之精確度將嚴重影響最終切割結果的問題。針對近端指節，提出一個基於α-gamma equalization enhanced的影像切割方法，解決了在近端指節特徵區域影像中，因骨組織及軟組織之灰度階對比低而影響初始分類的問題。實驗結果顯示，上述我們提出的兩個方法，其最終得到之骨骺/幹骺區域切割的準確度均遠高於影像切割常用到之GVF的方法。(4)依據上述方法所得到的切割結果，萃取出各指節骨骺/幹骺區域之直徑比值作為特徵，提出一個基於模糊類神經網路系統之掌骨X光影像骨齡群集之估測系統，並重新定義出不同於傳統骨骼發展階段(前期及後期)的四個階段，以及建議各階段所對應的ROI處理及特徵選取方法。本系統最主要解決了以往骨齡估測必須依賴先驗知識(a priori knowledge)預先決定骨骼發展階段，據以作為選擇適當特徵項目及分類器的問題。實驗結果證明，我們提出的系統除了可以說明上述四個新定義骨骼發展階段之合理性之外，並可準確地估測掌骨X光影像之骨齡群集，使得整個電腦化骨齡估測系統更具彈性與可靠度。This dissertation is focused on the study of segmentation for epiphyseal/metaphyseal regions of interest (EMROI) and bone age cluster assessment system using fuzzy neural network (FNN) based on phalangeal image segmentation. The contributions are illustrated as follows. (1)An automated ROI extraction with normalization is proposed to automatically select ROIs no matter whether the hand position is in upright or not. (2)A distance approach adaptive two-means clustering scheme is proposed to get a more precise segmentation on ROI and greatly reduce the processing time by comparing the probability approach adaptive two-means clustering method. (3) Furthermore, the performance of any above-mentioned segmentation techniques relies on the precisian of a given initial segmentation. In general, the initial segmentation is given by random or manual choices. Thus, two modification methods for optimum reliability, robustness and computational efficiency according to the properties of phalangeal ROIs are presented. For the distal and middle phalange, an excluding background initial segmentation method is proposed to overcome the initial segmentation problem for the bony structure segmentation. Experimental results verify that using this method can provide a better initial segmentation than other methods, such as Sobel, two-means, Canny edge-detection and watershed. An α-gamma equalization enhanced image segmentation scheme for proximal phalange is given to solve the problem of poor intensity contrast between soft tissues and bony tissues. The comparative experimental results show that these two methods really promote the performance and achieve a more accurate and robust epiphyseal/metaphyseal segmentation against GVF snake. (4) A bone age cluster assessment system using fuzzy neural network (FNN) based on phalangeal image segmentation is presented. This could avoid taking an a priori knowledge for bone age stage and provide a more flexible and reliable BAA system. Experimental results reveal that the presented FNN system provides a very well ability to assign the hand radiograph to an appropriate bone age cluster. The rationality of our four new defined stages which are different from the traditional skeletal development stages (the early and later stage). Furthermore, the related feature clustering analysis for various stages is discussed to obtain an accurate quantitative evaluation of specific features for the final BAA. Finally, it can provide a more flexible and reliable BAA system.摘 要 I Abstract II List of Figures VI List of Tables IX Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Motivation 1 1.2 Review of Segmentation Methods for Epiphyseal/Metaphyseal Regions 3 1.3 Review of CABAA system 5 1.4 Dissertation Organization 7 Chapter 2 Preliminaries 8 2.1 Finding Maximum Connected Component 8 2.2 Bilinear Interpolation 9 2.3 Adaptive Lee Filter 10 2.4 Some Image Segmentation and Edge Detection Methods 11 2.5 Measure of Errors (MOE) for image Segmentation 19 2.6 Some Classification Methods 21 Chapter 3 26 Automated ROI Extraction with Normalization 26 3.1 Background Removal 27 3.2 Hand Object Extraction 28 3.3 Hand Normalization 30 3.4 Finger Normalization and EMROI Extraction 34 Chapter 4 38 Distance Approach Adaptive Two-means Clustering Scheme 38 4.1 The Image Preprocessing 39 4.2 The Distance Approach Adaptive Two-means Clustering Algorithm 41 4.3 The Comparison of Probability Approach and Distance Approach Scheme 47 4.4 Experimental Results 49 Chapter 5 57 Two Segmentation Schemes Based on the Property of Different EMROIs 57 5.1 Excluding Background Initial Segmentation Scheme 57 5.2 An α-Gamma Equalization Enhanced Image Segmentation Scheme 63 Chapter 6 74 Bone Age Cluster Assessment and Feature Clustering Analysis 74 6.1 Stage and Feature Analysis 76 6.2 The Bone Age Cluster Assessment Using the Fuzzy Neural Network 83 6.3 Performance Analysis 91 Chapter 7 96 Conclusions and Further Researches 96 7.1 Conclusions 96 7.2 Further Researches 99 Bibliography 10

Applications of three-dimensional imaging techniques in craniomaxillofacial surgery: A literature review

Three-dimensional (3D) imaging technologies are increasingly used in craniomaxillofacial (CMF) surgery, especially to enable clinicians to get an effective approach and obtain better treatment results during different preoperative and postoperative phases, namely during image acquisition and diagnosis, virtual surgical planning (VSP), actual surgery, and treatment outcome assessment. The article presents an overview of 3D imaging technologies used in the aforementioned phases of the most common CMF surgery. We searched for relevant studies on 3D imaging applications in CMF surgery published over the past 10 years in the PubMed, ProQuest (Medline), Web of Science, Science Direct, Clinical Key, and Embase databases. A total of 2094 articles were found, of which 712 were relevant. An additional 26 manually searched articles were included in the analysis. The findings of the review demonstrated that 3D imaging technology is becoming increasingly popular in clinical practice and an essential tool for plastic surgeons. This review provides information that will help for researchers and clinicians consider the use of 3D imaging techniques in CMF surgery to improve the quality of surgical procedures and achieve satisfactory treatment outcomes

Three-dimensional computer-assisted surgical simulation and intraoperative navigation in orthognathic surgery: A literature review

By incorporating three-dimensional (3D) imaging and computer-aided design and manufacturing techniques, 3D computer-assisted technology has been applied widely to provide accurate guidance for assessment and treatment planning in clinical practice. This technology has recently been used in orthognathic surgery to improve surgical planning and outcome. The modality will gradually become popular. This study reviewed the literature concerning the use of computer-assisted techniques in orthognathic surgery including surgical planning, simulation, intraoperative translation of the virtual surgery, and postoperative evaluation. A Medline, PubMed, ProQuest, and ScienceDirect search was performed to find relevant articles with regard to 3D computer-assisted orthognathic surgery in the past 10 years. A total of 460 articles were revealed, out of which 174 were publications addressed the topic of this study. The purpose of this article is to present an overview of the state-of-art methods for 3D computer-assisted technology in orthognathic surgery. From the review we can conclude that the use of computer-assisted technique in orthognathic surgery provides the benefit of optimal functional and aesthetic results, patient satisfaction, precise translation of the treatment plan, and facilitating intraoperative manipulation

The Osteoblastogenesis Potential of Adipose Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Myeloma Patients Who Had Received Intensive Therapy

Multiple myeloma (MM) is characterized by advanced osteolytic lesions resulting from the activation of osteoclasts (OCs) and inhibition of osteoblasts (OBs). OBs are derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from the bone marrow (BM), however the pool and function of BMMSCs in MM patients (MM-BMMSCs) are reduced by myeloma cells (MCs) and cytokines secreted from MCs and related anti-MM treatment. Such reduction in MM-BMMSCs currently cannot be restored by any means. Recently, genetic aberrations of MM-BMMSCs have been noted, which further impaired their differentiation toward OBs. We hypothesize that the MSCs derived from adipose tissue (ADMSCs) can be used as alternative MSC sources to enhance the pool and function of OBs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the osteogenesis ability of paired ADMSCs and BMMSCs in MM patients who had completed intensive therapy. Fifteen MM patients who had received bortezomib-based induction and autologous transplantation were enrolled. At the third month after the transplant, the paired ADMSCs and BMMSCs were obtained and cultured. Compared with the BMMSCs, the ADMSCs exhibited a significantly higher expansion capacity (100% vs 13%, respectively; P=.001) and shorter doubling time (28 hours vs 115 hours, respectively; P=.019). After inducing osteogenic differentiation, although the ALP activity did not differ between the ADMSCs and BMMSCs (0.78 U/mu g vs 0.74+/-0.14 U/mg, respectively; P=.834), the ADMSCs still exhibited higher calcium mineralization, which was determined using Alizarin red S (1029 nmole vs 341 nmole, respectively; P=.001) and von Kossa staining (2.6 E+05 mu m(2) vs 5 E+04 mu m(2), respectively; P=.042), than the BMMSCs did. Our results suggested that ADMSCs are a feasible MSC source for enhancing the pool and function of OBs in MM patients who have received intensive therapy

The Effect of Secretory 24p3 Protein on Endometrial Carcinoma Cell Line

在哺乳動物系統中，疏水性結合蛋白的生物功能與作用尚未完全清楚，由於小白鼠24p3蛋白與人類NGAL胺基酸序列、蛋白質結構相似性高，被認為是不同物種的相似性蛋白，為瞭解本實驗室由小白鼠子宮液純化所得之子宮分泌性24p3蛋白在生殖系統的功能，因此我們利用人類子宮內膜癌細胞株RL95-2作為體外 (In vitro) 實驗時的標的細胞研究24p3蛋白的生理功能。以0.75The biological functions and reaction pathways of lipocalins in mammalian system were sought. Mouse uterine 24p3 protein is a secreted lipocalin from mouse uterus and it was human NGAL homologus protein. To evaluate the effect of uterine 24p3 protein on the reproductive system, human endometrial carcinoma cell line (RL95-2) was an experimental target for achieving the in vitro study. The cells were treated with 0.75口試委員會審定書 I 謝辭 II 中文摘要 III ABSTRACT IV 縮寫表 6 第一章 緒論 9 一、 疏水性分子結合蛋白家族 (LIPOCALIN SUPERFAMILY) 9 二、 24P3蛋白 --- 源起 9 三、24P3蛋白 --- 急性反應蛋白 11 四、子宮動情週期與生殖系統 12 五、24P3蛋白與子宮動情週期 14 六、子宮內膜週期性變化與細胞凋亡 15 七、24P3蛋白與細胞凋亡 16 八、細胞內活性氧與細胞凋亡 18 九、本研究目的與方向 19 第二章 實驗材料與方法 21 一、材料 21 二、藥品、試劑組 21 三、儀器 23 四、實驗方法 24 1. 人類子宮內膜癌細胞株(ATCC CRL1671, RL95-2 )細胞培養 24 2. 小白鼠子宮液中24p3蛋白質純化 25 3. 蛋白質定量 -- BCA (Bicinchoninic acid Protein Assay) 28 4. 24p3蛋白標記 29 5. 24p3蛋白與RL95-2細胞株之結合 30 6. 24p3蛋白的內吞作用 (Endocytosis) 30 7. 十二酯硫酸鈉-聚丙烯醯胺膠體電泳 (SDS-Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis) 31 8. 蛋白質染色 -- Coomassie BlueG250染色 33 9. RL95-2細胞總體蛋白萃取 (Total Protein Extraction) 33 10. 細胞總體核糖核酸 (Total RNA) 分析 34 11. 即時定量聚合酶連鎖反應 (Quantitative Real Time PCR) 37 12. Propidium iodide - Annexin V染色法判別細胞死亡 38 13. Caspase活性偵測 (PhiPhiLux/ CaspaLux kit) 39 14. 西方墨點法 (Western blot) 39 15. 細胞粒線體膜電位 (Mitochondrial membrane potential) 變化之偵測 40 16. 粒線體膜細胞色素c的釋放 42 17. 三明治免疫色法染細胞激素陣列膜 43 18. 錐蟲藍 (Trypan Blue) 染色法 43 19. 細胞內活性氧 (intracellular reactive oxygen species，ROS) 測定 43 20. NF