Biological and Preclinical Evaluations of Designed Optically Guided Medical Devices with Light Scattering Modules for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment and Surgical Procedure

A novel technique and product applied to carpal tunnel microscopic surgical procedures through the designed medical devices were prepared and studied. The novel design of the medical device could be developed and applied for new carpal tunnel microscopic surgical procedures instead of the traditional carpal tunnel surgical procedures. Also, a new medical device with optical LLLT module was designed for wound healing in carpal tunnel syndrome treatments. Furthermore, assistive surgical healing dressings for carpal tunnel syndrome treatments via minimally invasive surgery (MIS) such as air-foam soft cleaning sponges and hydrogel surgical dressings with polymeric films were designed for more comfortable treatments. Biological and clinical evaluations of carpal tunnel surgical procedure using the new designed medical devices are studied. For commercialized reasons, guidance such as ISO 10993-1:2009(E) for biological evaluation of medical devices must be considered. Furthermore, the clinical evaluation of modified medical devices would be carried out

社会的再認記憶における海馬CA3の役割

早大学位記番号:新7840早稲田大

Focusing On The High-End Or Low-End? Local Attacking With Network Externality

Network externality can encourage adoption when a network is growing in size. Network externality, however, can also encourage abandoning when a network is getting small. Therefore, the challenger’s action focusing on persuading a part of the market can eventually affect the whole market when network externality is at work. This paper discusses two local attacking strategies, namely, “focusing on the high-end” and “focusing on the low-end”, and compares their effects. The conclusions show that the former strategy generally exhibits stronger eventual effects than the latter. Although direct effects are local, the eventual effects could be global when network externality is strong and/or consumers have small differences in their reservation prices. Based on our results, the incumbent should set a price keeping all installed users away from being stranded. If any installed user gives up the incumbent’s technology, he or she may be the fuse to trigger the chain reaction. Thus, a better approach is to “make the fuse wet”. To the challenger, local attacking strategies work better when network externality is strong and/or reservation prices of installed users are nearly the same

Development of a DSS to Estimate the Sales for the Retailing Industry in Taiwan

An algorithm is constructed in this study to estimate the market sizes of daily commodity in Taiwan based on the sampled sales information provided by retailer chains. Though retailer chains provide sampled sales information from only small portions of their retailing stores, they expect to receive more valuable processed information from that. As result of this research, a DSS is proposed to compute value-added information from this joint sales information database, namely the estimation information. Through certain public accessible data such number of stores by each chain and retailers’ financial reports, the sampled sales information can be transferred to the market size information of each item in Taiwan. Two similar algorithms are constructed for convenient stores and supermarkets/hypermarkets separately. A simple integration method is used to combine these results. Finally, a DSS is built based on these estimation algorithms and is implemented successfull

Critical success factors in digital publishing technology using an ANP approach

Digital publishing technology (DPT) has been recognized as one of the most important technologies for economic development. The purpose of the study is to develop an evaluation model based on analytic network process (ANP) approach to explore the critical success factors (CSFs) for the successful implementation of DPT. It can objectively identify related criteria of DPT, and then prioritize improvement criteria to the success of promoting DPT for government. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach, the Taiwan’s DPT is conducted. The results of this study could serve as a new method and offer insights to policy makers to indentify and prioritize CSFs for DPT implementations systematically. First published online: 03 Nov 201

Well-differentiated gall bladder hepatoid carcinoma producing alpha-fetoprotein: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Gall bladder carcinoma is rare, and metastatic gall bladder carcinoma from hepatocellular carcinoma has been reported in only a few patients.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present a 73-year-old man with a history of hepatitis B virus-related liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. He received transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, and was diagnosed to have an alpha-fetoprotein producing gall bladder tumor with intraluminal growth. Open cholecystectomy was performed. Pathologic examination of the lesion revealed a well-differentiated hepatoid carcinoma. The lesion was thought most likely to be a metastatic lesion from previous hepatocellular carcinoma. His alpha-fetoprotein level dropped to normal levels five months after the surgery.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This unusual intraluminal growing tumor proved to be a well-differentiated hepatoid carcinoma, most likely a metastatic lesion from previous hepatocellular carcinoma. This case reminds clinicians that in looking for likely hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence, when no detectable hepatic lesion can account for an elevated alpha-fetoprotein level, the gall bladder should be included in the search for the site of metastasis.</p

Role of fibronectin deposition in cystogenesis of Madin-Darby canine kidney cells

Role of fibronectin deposition in cystogenesis of Madin-Darby canine kidney cells.BackgroundMadin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells cultured within collagen I gel exhibit clonal growth and form spherical multicellular cysts. The cyst-lining epithelial cells are polarized with the basolateral surface in contact with the collagen gel and the apical surface facing the lumen. To understand whether MDCK cysts construct the basal lamina, we characterized the composition of the extracellular matrix deposited by MDCK cysts. The cyst-lining cells produced an apparently incomplete basal lamina containing a discontinuous laminin substratum. In addition, the basal cell surface of the cyst was surrounded by a thick layer of fibronectin. This study was conducted to delineate the role of fibronectin deposition in cystogenesis.MethodsMDCK cells cultured in collagen gel were employed. We first used Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) peptides containing disintegrin rhodostomin to disturb the interaction between fibronectin and the cell surface integrin. We then established several stable transfectants expressing the fibronectin antisense RNA and with which to directly examine the role of fibronectin in cystogenesis.ResultsRhodostomin markedly decreased the growth rates of the MDCK cyst, suggesting the importance of a normal interaction between fibronectin and integrins. The stable transfectants overexpressing the fibronectin antisense RNA exhibited relatively lower levels of fibronectin and markedly lower cyst growth rates than the control clone. The lower growth rate was correlated with an increase in collagen gel-induced apoptosis.ConclusionsThe results indicate that the deposition of fibronectin underlying the cyst-lining epithelium serves to prevent apoptosis induced by three-dimensional collagen gel cultures, and hence facilitates cyst growth of MDCK cells

Hepatitis B virus infection among pregnant women in Taiwan: Comparison between women born in Taiwan and other southeast countries

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Taiwan's national vaccination program has successfully decreased the prevalence of hepatitis B infection after twenty years of implementation and might be indirectly beneficial to the second generation. In this study, we compared the hepatitis B infection status of two groups: pregnant Taiwanese women and other Southeast Asian women, who because they had immigrated later in life to Taiwan by marriage to a Taiwanese man, had not been exposed to that vaccination program to evaluate the effect of hepatitis vaccination program on women of child-bearing age and further explored the potential impact of immigration on the hepatitis B public health policy in Taiwan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data was collected from 10,327 women born in Taiwan and 1,418 women born in other Southeast Asian countries, both groups receiving prenatal examinations at Fooyin University Hospital between 1996 and 2005. The results of serum hepatitis B s-Antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B e-Antigen (HBeAg) tests and other demographic data were obtained by medical chart review.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The pregnant women from Taiwan had a higher HBsAg positive rate (15.5%) but lower HBeAg(+)/HBsAg(+) ratio (32.1%) than the women from other countries (8.9% and 52.4%). For those born before July, 1984, the period of no national vaccination program, Taiwanese women had a higher HBsAg positive rate than other Southeast Asian women (15.7% vs. 8.4%), but for women born after that day and before June 1986, the period of vaccination for high risk newborns, the HBsAg positive rates found to be slightly lower for Taiwanese women than for other Southeast Asian women (11.4% vs. 12.3%) and the difference was more significant (3.1% vs. 28.6%) after June 1986, the period of vaccination for all newborns. While the HBeAg(+)/HBsAg(+) ratios decreased with age in both groups, they were consistently higher in women from other Southeast Asian countries than in women born in Taiwan after age 20.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In Taiwan, the neonatal vaccination program that was implemented in 1984 has successfully reduced hepatitis B infection among pregnant women in present day, and is likely to indirectly prevent hepatitis B infection in the next generation. However, the increasing number of pregnant women from other Southeast Asian countries without a national neonatal vaccination program or with a program that was introduced later than the one in Taiwan will likely lessen the positive impact of this program and should be further assessed.</p

Human parvovirus B19 nonstructural protein NS1 enhanced the expression of cleavage of 70 kDa U1-snRNP autoantigen

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human parvovirus B19 (B19) is known to induce apoptosis that has been associated with a variety of autoimmune disorders. Although we have previously reported that B19 non-structural protein (NS1) induces mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis in COS-7 cells, the precise mechanism of B19-NS1 in developing autoimmunity is still obscure.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To further examine the effect of B19-NS1 in presence of autoantigens, COS-7 cells were transfected with pEGFP, pEGFP-B19-NS1 and pEGFP-NS1K334E, a mutant form of B19-NS1, and detected the expressions of autoantigens by various autoantibodies against Sm, U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (U1-snRNP), SSA/Ro, SSB/La, Scl-70, Jo-1, Ku, and centromere protein (CENP) A/B by using Immunoblotting.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Significantly increased apoptosis was detected in COS-7 cells transfected with pEGFP-B19-NS1 compared to those transfected with pEGFP. Meanwhile, the apoptotic 70 kDa U1-snRNP protein in COS-7 cells transfected with pEGFP-B19-NS1 is cleaved by caspase-3 and converted into a specific 40 kDa product, which were recognized by anti-U1-snRNP autoantibody. In contrast, significantly decreased apoptosis and cleaved 40 kDa product were observed in COS-7 cells transfected with pEGFP-NS1K334E compared to those transfected with pEGFP-B19-NS1.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These findings suggested crucial association of B19-NS1 in development of autoimmunity by inducing apoptosis and specific cleavage of 70 kDa U1-snRNP.</p

Metabolic classification of microbial genomes using functional probes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Microorganisms able to grow under artificial culture conditions comprise only a small proportion of the biosphere's total microbial community. Until recently, scientists have been unable to perform thorough analyses of difficult-to-culture microorganisms due to limitations in sequencing technology. As modern techniques have dramatically increased sequencing rates and rapidly expanded the number of sequenced genomes, in addition to traditional taxonomic classifications which focus on the evolutionary relationships of organisms, classifications of the genomes based on alternative points of view may help advance our understanding of the delicate relationships of organisms.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have developed a proteome-based method for classifying microbial species. This classification method uses a set of probes comprising short, highly conserved amino acid sequences. For each genome, <it>in silico </it>translation is performed to obtained its proteome, based on which a probe-set frequency pattern is generated. Then, the probe-set frequency patterns are used to cluster the proteomes/genomes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Features of the proposed method include a high running speed in challenge of a large number of genomes, and high applicability for classifying organisms with incomplete genome sequences. Moreover, the probe-set clustering method is sensitive to the metabolic phenotypic similarities/differences among species and is thus supposed potential for the classification or differentiation of closely-related organisms.</p