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

Design of FIR Fractional Delay Filter Based on Maximum Signal-to-Noise Ratio Criterion

Abstract-In this paper, a new approach to the design of digital FIR fractional delay filter with consideration of noise attenuation is presented. The design is based on the maximization of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the output of the fractional delay filter under the constraint that actual frequency response and ideal response have several same derivatives at the prescribed frequency point. The optimal filter coefficients are obtained from the generalized eigenvector associate with maximum eigenvalue of a pair of matrices. Numerical examples are demonstrated to show the proposed method provides higher SNR than the conventional FIR fractional delay filter design methods without considering the noise attenuation

A Smartphone APP for Health and Tourism Promotion

The main purpose of this study is to develop an APP by integrating GPS to provide the digitized information of local cultural spots to guide tourists for tourism promotion and the digitized information of mountaineering trails to monitor energy expenditure (EE) for health promotion. The provided cultural information is also adopted for educational purpose. Extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used to evaluate the usefulness and behavior intention of the provided information and functions in the developed system. Most users agreed that the system is useful for health promotion, tourism promotion, and folk-culture education. They also showed strong intention and positive attitude toward continuous use of the APP

Integrative network analysis reveals active microRNAs and their functions in gastric cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of endogenous, small and highly conserved noncoding RNAs that control gene expression either by degradation of target mRNAs or by inhibition of protein translation. They play important roles in cancer progression. A single miRNA can provoke a chain reaction and further affect protein interaction network (PIN). Therefore, we developed a novel integrative approach to identify the functional roles and the regulated PIN of oncomirs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We integrated the expression profiles of miRNA and mRNA with the human PIN to reveal miRNA-regulated PIN in specific biological conditions. The potential functions of miRNAs were determined by functional enrichment analysis and the activities of miRNA-regulated PINs were evaluated by the co-expression of protein-protein interactions (PPIs). The function of a specific miRNA, miR-148a, was further examined by clinical data analysis and cell-based experiments. We uncovered several miRNA-regulated networks which were enriched with functions related to cancer progression. One miRNA, miR-148a, was identified and its function is to decrease tumor proliferation and metastasis through its regulated PIN. Furthermore, we found that miR-148a could reduce the invasiveness, migratory and adhesive activities of gastric tumor cells. Most importantly, elevated miR-148a level in gastric cancer tissues was strongly correlated with distant metastasis, organ and peritoneal invasion and reduced survival rate.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study provides a novel method to identify active oncomirs and their potential functions in gastric cancer progression. The present data suggest that miR-148a could be a potential prognostic biomarker of gastric cancer and function as a tumor suppressor through repressing the activity of its regulated PIN.</p

Neuronal degeneration in autonomic nervous system of Dystonia musculorum mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Dystonia musculorum </it>(<it>dt</it>) is an autosomal recessive hereditary neuropathy with a characteristic uncoordinated movement and is caused by a defect in the <it>bullous pemphigoid antigen 1 </it>(<it>BPAG1</it>) gene. The neural isoform of <it>BPAG1 </it>is expressed in various neurons, including those in the central and peripheral nerve systems of mice. However, most previous studies on neuronal degeneration in <it>BPAG1</it>-deficient mice focused on peripheral sensory neurons and only limited investigation of the autonomic system has been conducted.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, patterns of nerve innervation in cutaneous and iridial tissues were examined using general neuronal marker protein gene product 9.5 via immunohistochemistry. To perform quantitative analysis of the autonomic neuronal number, neurons within the lumbar sympathetic and parasympathetic ciliary ganglia were calculated. In addition, autonomic neurons were cultured from embryonic <it>dt/dt </it>mutants to elucidate degenerative patterns <it>in vitro</it>. Distribution patterns of neuronal intermediate filaments in cultured autonomic neurons were thoroughly studied under immunocytochemistry and conventional electron microscopy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our immunohistochemistry results indicate that peripheral sensory nerves and autonomic innervation of sweat glands and irises dominated degeneration in <it>dt/dt </it>mice. Quantitative results confirmed that the number of neurons was significantly decreased in the lumbar sympathetic ganglia as well as in the parasympathetic ciliary ganglia of <it>dt/dt </it>mice compared with those of wild-type mice. We also observed that the neuronal intermediate filaments were aggregated abnormally in cultured autonomic neurons from <it>dt/dt </it>embryos.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results suggest that a deficiency in the cytoskeletal linker BPAG1 is responsible for dominant sensory nerve degeneration and severe autonomic degeneration in <it>dt/dt </it>mice. Additionally, abnormally aggregated neuronal intermediate filaments may participate in neuronal death of cultured autonomic neurons from <it>dt/dt </it>mutants.</p

The Clinical COPD Questionnaire Correlated with BODE Index-A Cross-Sectional Study

The Global initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) staging has widely used in the stratification of the severity of COPD, while BODE (body mass index, airflow obstruction, dyspnea, and exercise capacity) index was proven superior to FEV1 in predicting mortality, exacerbation and disease severity in patients with COPD. Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ), a questionnaire with ten items categorized into three domains (symptoms, functional state and mental state) was developed to measure health status of COPD patients. However, little is known about the relationship between CCQ score and BODE index. We performed a prospective study with the inclusion of 89 patients who were clinically stable after a 6-week-therapy for COPD symptoms comparing their health status assessed by CCQ, BODE index and GOLD staging. We found that the total CCQ score was correlated with BODE score (P < 0.001) and GOLD staging (P < 0.001); of three CCQ domains, the functional status correlated the most with BODE index (rS = 0.670) and GOLD staging (rS = 0.531), followed by symptoms (rS = 0.482; rS = 0.346, respectively), and mental status (rS = 0.340; rS = 0.236, respectively). Our data suggest that CCQ is a reliable and convenient alternative tool to evaluate the severity of COPD

Vocal cord dysfunction diagnosed by four-dimensional dynamic volume computed tomography in patients with difficult-to-treat asthma: A case series

Patients with asthma may also have vocal cord dysfunction (VCD), which leads to poor control of the asthma. Once patients are diagnosed with difficult-to-treat asthma with poor control, VCD should be excluded or treated accordingly. The gold standard for diagnosis of VCD is to perform a laryngoscopy. However, this procedure is invasive and may not be suitable for patients with difficult-to-treat asthma. Four-dimensional (4D) dynamic volume computed tomography (CT) is a noninvasive method for quantification of laryngeal movement, and can serve as an alternative for the diagnosis of VCD. Herein, we present a series of five cases with difficult-to-treat asthma patients who were diagnosed with VCD by 4D dynamic volume CT. Clinicians should be alert to the possibility of VCD when poor control is noted in patients with asthma. Early diagnosis by noninvasive 4D dynamic volume CT can decrease excessive doses of inhaled corticosteroids

Identification of Code-Switched Sentences and Words Using Language Modeling Approaches

Globalization and multilingualism contribute to code-switching—the phenomenon in which speakers produce utterances containing words or expressions from a second language. Processing code-switched sentences is a significant challenge for multilingual intelligent systems. This study proposes a language modeling approach to the problem of code-switching language processing, dividing the problem into two subtasks: the detection of code-switched sentences and the identification of code-switched words in sentences. A code-switched sentence is detected on the basis of whether it contains words or phrases from another language. Once the code-switched sentences are identified, the positions of the code-switched words in the sentences are then identified. Experimental results show that the language modeling approach achieved an F-measure of 80.43% and an accuracy of 79.01% for detecting Mandarin-Taiwanese code-switched sentences. For the identification of code-switched words, the word-based and POS-based models, respectively, achieved F-measures of 41.09% and 53.08%