SGLT2 inhibitor plus DPP‐4 inhibitor as combination therapy for type 2 diabetes: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

To assess the efficacy and safety of sodium‐glucose co‐transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors plus a dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 (DPP‐4) inhibitor in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), we performed a systematic review and meta‐analysis of 14 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 4828 patients. Compared with a DPP‐4 inhibitor, SGLT2 inhibitor/DPP‐4 inhibitor combination therapy was significantly associated with a decrease in glycaemic control (HbA1c, −0.71%; fasting plasma glucose [FPG], −25.62 mg/dL; postprandial plasma glucose, −44.00 mg/dL), body weight (−2.05 kg) and systolic blood pressure (−5.90 mm Hg), but an increase in total cholesterol (TC) of 3.24%, high‐density lipoprotein of 6.15% and low‐density lipoprotein of 2.55%. Adding a DPP‐4 inhibitor to an SGLT2 inhibitor could reduce HbA1c by −0.31%, FPG by −8.94 mg/dL, TC by −1.48% and triglycerides by −3.25%. Interestingly, low doses of an SGLT2 inhibitor in the combination has similar or even better efficacy in some aspects than high doses. Similar adverse events were observed for the combination therapy, with the exception of genital infection vs DPP‐4 inhibitor (risk ratio [RR], 5.31) and consistent genital infection vs an SGLT2 inhibitor (RR, 0.61). Further studies are warranted to confirm these results

Voriconazole exposure and risk of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma among lung or hematopoietic cell transplant patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Current evidence about the association between voriconazole and risk of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) remains inconsistent. Objective To assess the association between voriconazole use and risk of SCC. Methods We systematically searched PubMed and Embase and performed a random effects model meta-analysis to calculate the pooled relative risk (RR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Results Of the 8 studies involving a total of 3710 individuals with a lung transplant or hematopoietic cell transplant that were included in the qualitative analysis, 5 were included in the meta-analysis. Use of voriconazole was significantly associated with increased risk of SCC (RR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.36-2.55). The increased risk did not differ according to type of transplantation or adjustment for sun exposure. Longer duration of voriconazole use was found to be positively associated with risk of SCC (RR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.09-2.72). Voriconazole use was not associated with increased risk of basal cell carcinoma (RR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.41-1.71). Limitations There were some heterogeneities in the retrospective observational studies. Conclusions Our findings support an increased risk of SCC associated with voriconazole in individuals with a lung transplant or hematopoietic cell transplant. Routine dermatologic surveillance should be performed, especially among individuals at high risk of developing SCC

Multi-task super resolution method for vector field critical points enhancement

It is a challenging task to handle the vector field visualization at local critical points. Generally, topological based methods firstly divide critical regions into different categories, and then process the different types of critical regions to improve the effect, which pipeline is complex. In the paper, a learning based multi-task super resolution (SR) method is proposed to improve the refinement of vector field, and enhance the visualization effect, especially at the critical region. In detail, the multi-task model consists of two important designs on task branches: one task is to simulate the interpolation of discrete vector fields based on an improved super-resolution network; and the other is a classification task to identify the types of critical vector fields. It is an efficient end-to-end architecture for both training and inferencing stages, which simplifies the pipeline of critical vector field visualization and improves the visualization effect. In experiment, we compare our method with both traditional interpolation and pure SR network on both simulation data and real data, and the reported results indicate our method lower the error and improve PSNR significantly

SGLT2 inhibitors and risk of cancer in type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Aims/hypothesis The association between sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and the risk of cancer in individuals with type 2 diabetes remains uncertain. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of cancer associated with SGLT2 inhibitor treatment of type 2 diabetes. Methods We systematically searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and ClinicalTrials.gov from inception to 15 February 2017 to identify eligible randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that report cancer events in individuals with type 2 diabetes treated with SGLT2 inhibitors for at least 24 weeks. We performed pairwise and network meta-analyses as well as a cumulative meta-analysis to calculate ORs and 95% CIs. Results In total, 580 incidences of cancer among 34,569 individuals were identified from 46 independent RCTs with a mean trial duration of 61 weeks. When compared with comparators (placebo or other active glucose-lowering treatments), SGLT2 inhibitors were not significantly associated with an increased risk of overall cancer (OR 1.14 [95% CI 0.96, 1.36]). For pre-specified cancer types, the risk of bladder cancer might be increased with SGLT2 inhibitors (OR 3.87 [95% CI 1.48, 10.08]), especially empagliflozin (OR 4.49 [95% CI 1.21, 16.73]). Interestingly, canagliflozin might be protective against gastrointestinal cancers (OR 0.15 [95% CI 0.04, 0.60]). Conclusions/interpretation Current evidence from short-term RCTs did not indicate a significantly increased risk of overall cancer among individuals with type 2 diabetes using SGLT2 inhibitors. Given the short-term trial durations and uncertainty of evidence, future long-term prospective studies and post-marketing surveillance studies are warranted

Silicon micromachined electromagnetic microactuators for rigid disk drives

It is projected that by the year 2001, the disk drive industry will be shipping products with track density on the order of 25,000 tracks-per-inch, which would require a servo bandwidth of at least 3 kHz. This paper presents initial fabrication results of an industry and government supported research project at Caltech and UCLA to develop piggyback electromagnetically driven microactuators for such applications, which are fabricated using the state-of-the-art silicon micromachining techniques

Pioglitazone and bladder cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Current evidence about the association between pioglitazone and bladder cancer risk remains conflict. We aimed to assess the risk of bladder cancer associated with the use of pioglitazone and identify modifiers that affect the results. We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from inception to 25 August 2016 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies that evaluated the association between pioglitazone and bladder cancer risk. Conventional and cumulative meta-analyses were used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). A restricted spline regression analysis was used to examine the dose-response relationship with a generalized least-squares trend test. We included two RCTs involving 9114 patients and 20 observational studies (n = 4,846,088 individuals). An increased risk of bladder cancer in patients treated with pioglitazone versus placebo was noted from RCTs (OR, 1.84; 95%CI, 0.99 to 3.42). In observational studies, the increased risk of bladder cancer was slight but significant among ever-users of pioglitazone versus never-users (OR, 1.13; 95%CI, 1.03 to 1.25), which appeared to be both time- (P = 0.003) and dose-dependent (P = 0.05). In addition, we observed the association differed by region of studies (Europe, United States, or Asia) or source of funding (sponsored by industry or not). Current evidence suggests that pioglitazone may increase the risk of bladder cancer, possibly in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Patients with long-term and high-dose exposure to pioglitazone should be monitored regularly for signs of bladder cancer

Silicon micromachined electromagnetic microactuators for rigid disk drives

It is projected that by the year 2001, the disk drive industry will be shipping products with track density on the order of 25,000 tracks-per-inch, which would require a servo bandwidth of at least 3 kHz. This paper presents initial fabrication results of an industry and government supported research project at Caltech and UCLA to develop piggyback electromagnetically driven microactuators for such applications, which are fabricated using the state-of-the-art silicon micromachining techniques

Simultaneous production of hydrogen and multi-walled carbon nanotubes by ethanol decomposition over Ni/Al2O3 catalysts

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