Fooyin Journal of Health Sciences最新文献

To understand epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and KRAS alterations among tissues of lung cancer patients in Taiwan, and to further understand how they are related, we used tumor tissues from the non-small cell lung cancer patients and performed a complete analysis. In the experimental results, coexisting EGFR and KRAS mutations were found in 1% (2/180) of the samples. This shows that these mutations tend not to coexist. Furthermore, nearly no coexistence was found between KRAS mutations and EGFR overexpression. These outcomes greatly assist the efficacy prediction of current anti-EGFR drugs for cancer patients.

We aimed to determine the prevalence of malaria and anemia among children ≤ 5 years old in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. We also assessed the effects of age and sex on disease prevalence. Blood samples were collected from 1325 children (744 males and 581 females) with signs and symptoms of malaria. Malaria parasitemia was diagnosed by microscopy, while anemia was defined as hemoglobin concentration < 11g/dL. Males had a significantly higher risk of malaria infection (odds ratio, OR, 1.399; 95% confidence interval, CI, 1.087–1.801, p < 0.009), while females had a significantly higher risk of anemia (OR, 2.711; 95% CI, 1.872–3.929; p < 0.001). Generally, age did not affect the prevalence of malaria—except among males, where children between 2-3 years old had a significantly (p = 0.006) higher prevalence. Generally and among males, age affected the prevalence of anemia with children 4–5 years old having significantly (p < 0.001) lower prevalence of anemia. Malaria was a risk factor for acquiring anemia (OR, 2.289; 95% CI, 1.630–3.214; p < 0.001). Overall prevalences of 75.77% and 87.32% for malaria and anemia, respectively, were observed. While malaria parasitemia was higher among males, anemia was higher in females. Malaria and anemia were affected by age only in males. Effective control measures against malaria are advocated.

Little information is known about the genetic mechanisms of the pathophysiology of varicose veins (VVs). The purpose of this study was to systematically explore the biological pathways of genes speculatively participating in VVs by microarray bioinformatics analysis methods. The results showed that 32 genes were upregulated and 74 genes were downregulated in VVs. Gene Ontology and relevant bioinformatics tools indicated that the functional categories in which 106 genes (2.8%; 106/3800) of the most frequent alteration belonged to were apoptosis and angiogenesis. The analysis of 20 VV tissue specimens demonstrated that genes involved in angiogenesis and apoptosis pathways had high rates of overexpression. In addition, we discovered that genes involved in the angiogenesis pathways included HSP90, ILK, and TGFB1, and they played key roles in the development of VVs. This study demonstrated that the angiogenesis and apoptosis pathways may play an important role in the formation of VVs, but their molecular mechanisms need further investigation.

We present a rare case of Menkes kinky hair syndrome with osseous involvement incidentally identified by a technetium Tc 99m dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) scan and confirmed later by a technetium Tc 99m methylene diphosphonate bone scan. The patient had global developmental delay, myoclonic seizures from 3.5 months of age, as well as recurrent urinary tract infections. Bone involvement was unknown at the time of presentation. A technetium Tc 99m DMSA (+3 valency) scan was performed, which was not suggestive of any cortical scars. Incidentally, multiple sites of abnormal DMSA uptake were observed in the adjoining ribs. A subsequent technetium Tc 99m methylene diphosphonate whole body bone scan showed multiple hot spots in the ribs, bilateral humerus and femurs, suggesting flaring of the ribs, metaphyseal spurring, periosteal new bone formation and osteochondrodysplasia.

Reverse transcriptase and real-time polymerase chain reactions are widely used for the detection of gene overexpression. However, various disadvantages and limitations arise when the detection of multiple genetic targets is required. In previous studies, our laboratory successfully established a membrane array operation platform with a diagnostic biochip for the screening of gene overexpression by circulating tumor cells in cancer patients. To effectively shorten the reaction time, we improved the conventional RNA extraction method. The concept of weightedness was included in the reading procedure of the chip array and a weighted enzymatic chip array (WEnCA) platform was established. We used fluid engineering to develop a fully automatic gene chip analyzer named Chipball, which runs automatically on the WEnCA platform. The combination of the two systems is named the WEnCA-Chipball system. To understand the actual differences between the operations of WEnCA-Chipball and WEnCA-manual, we used the WEnCA-manual to analyze KRAS-associated gene overexpression in 200 samples from cancer patients to establish a cutoff value for activating the KRAS Detection Chip. Specifically, the activated KRAS expression in blood samples of 209 lung cancer patients was analyzed by both WEnCA-manual and WEnCA-Chipball and compared. The clinical applicability of WEnCAChipball was defined, including the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy. The results showed that among 209 samples, 71 patients were positive for activated KRAS expression by WEnCA-Chipball with a sensitivity of 89%, specificity of 94%, and accuracy of 92%. In addition, the average total score of WEnCA-Chipball was 4.7 lower than that of the WEnCA-manual. The WEnCA-Chipball required an operation time of only 7.5 hours, approximately one-ninth of the WEnCA-manual operation time and one-fifth of the cost of WEnCA-manual. No significant difference was found between the detection limitations of the two systems. Great strides have been made in this development. The WEnCA-Chipball operation system has potential for clinical applications.

Taiwan banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus) neurotoxins and neurotoxin homologues, including α-bungarotoxin (Bgt), κ-Bgt, γ-Bgt, BM8, BM10-1, BM10-2 and BM14, have been reported. These proteins have a common three-finger scaffold and conserved cysteine residues at homologous positions. Nevertheless, these proteins show functional diversity and sequence variations in loop regions. The genomic DNAs encoding the precursors of α-Bgt, κ-Bgt, γ-Bgt, BM10-1 and BM14 are organized with three exons and two introns. The intron regions of these genes have a high degree of sequence identity, but the protein-coding regions are highly variable with the exception of the signal peptide region. These findings suggest that B. multicinctus three-finger proteins share a common evolutionary origin, and the evolution of snake venom proteins shows a tendency to diversify their functions, which may be beneficial for catching prey. Given that a multitude of functional diversities is noted with three-finger toxins, protein engineering in highly variable regions without distorting the three-finger scaffold may result in the development biopharmaceutical agents with novel functions of scientific and therapeutic interest.

In this paper, we present a micro-electro-mechanical-system based on a microcapillary electrophoresis chip device integrated with optical detection components, including a micro-focusing lens structure and buried optic fibers. This is a promising approach to enhance the optical signal of the laser-induced fluorescence system for biomedical detection applications. This study utilized microcapillary electrophoresis (micro-CE) chips with two specific polymer materials, polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Both are capable of performing multiple-wavelength fluorescence detection by using integrated optic components. These include multimode optic fiber pairs and a micro-focusing-lens structure, embedded downstream of the separation channel. For detection purposes, the fluorescence signals are enhanced by positioning micro-focusing-lens structures at the outlets of the excitation fibers and the inlets of the detection fibers. In this study, two types of micro-focusing-lens are proposed—fixed-focal-length and controllable micro-lenses. They are made from different materials—PMMA and PDMS, respectively. With regard to the fixed-focal-length micro-lenses, the profile of the micro-lens curve can be formed by the defined master mold with specific temperatures and pressures. With regard to the controllable micro-lens design, deformations of the two flexible surfaces can be generated after pressurized index-matching fluid is injected into the pneumatic side-chambers. The side-chambers can be deflected as a double convex lens to focus both the excitation light source and the fluorescent emission signal. Experimental results revealed that the power amplitude of the excitation laser light can be enhanced by up to 5.4 fold. Fluorescein isothiocyanate, dye labeled protein samples and DNA markers are then utilized for micro-CE chip testing. The results indicated that signal amplitude can be enhanced from 1.7 to 2.6 fold when compared with cases without the micro-lens. According to the experimental results, the developed device has a great potential to be integrated with other microfluidic devices for further biomedical applications.

Mushroom polysaccharides are biologically active ingredients and potentially medicinally useful. In this study, we examined the medicinal fungus Antrodia camphorata. D2 Sequences of large subunit (LSU) ribosomal DNA (rDNA) were obtained from A. camphorata and related fungal taxa using the MicroSeq D2 LSU rDNA sequencing kit. This kit was used to reveal sequence similarities and phylogenetic relationships. A matrix analysis of sequence similarity for the LSU D2 region of six A. camphorata strains—B85, B86, B71 BCRC35396, BCRC35398, and BCRC35716—displayed 100% sequence identity. Sequence similarities of 91.1%, 86.4%, 82.4% and 83.1% were found when Antrodia camphorata TF971, A. malicola, Antrodiella spp., and Trametes versicolor were compared with A. camphorata B85, respectively. A phylogenetic tree with 12 strains, generated using a maximum parsimony method, did not show much difference compared with a neighbor-joining tree. According to the sequence data obtained, phylogenetic analysis allowed us to infer the phylogenetic relationships among Antrodia, Antrodiella, and Trametes species. Our sequence data establish a foundation for further expansion of MicroSeq D2 Fungal Database of the medically important fungus A. camphorata. The D2 LSU sequence polymorphisms, which contains unique alleles, can be used to provide a reliable method for characterizing wild unidentified ganodermataceae.

The traditional visual identification of Chinese herbs is not objective. Molecular biological techniques can be used to accurately identify the origin of each herbal species. This can enable the further purification and control of important herbal species. Molecular techniques involving polymerase chain reaction and sequencing were used to provide a relatively simple and objective means of identifying burdock at the species level. This study proved that the length of the ITS1–5.8S rRNA-ITS2 sequence was 358 base-pairs (bp) for six types of Arctium lappa Linn (the following breeds: Pingtung Gueilai, General Snow, Japanese, Fengshan, Wholesaler, and Tainan). Automatic sequencing analysis found that ITS DNA sequences for Pingtung Gueilai and Japanese breeds were the same, and the General Snow breed differed from them at its 277 bp. This study used DNA sequencing to analyze the high specificity regions of A. lappa Linn ITS, originated in different parts of Taiwan, and discovered the breed identification single-nucleotide polymorphism at the 277 bp position for local differentiation.

In Taiwan, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is increasing and accounts for a high proportion of medical costs. Recent genome-wide scans have mapped three diabetes susceptibility loci on chromosomes 10q25.3 and 3q27, where the transcription factor 7-like 2 gene (TCF7L2) and adiponectin gene (APM1) are located, respectively. This study aimed to explore the TCF7L2 and adiponectin gene polymorphisms in Taiwanese T2DM patients. In order to determine whether genetic polymorphisms of TCF7L2 and adiponectin are associated with T2DM, PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism and PCR product sequencing experiments were performed to identify genetic polymorphisms in TCF7L2 rs12255372, rs7903146, and adiponectin single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-45/SNP-276. We collected blood from unrelated T2DM patients and unrelated healthy controls. Our data suggest that TCF7L2 polymorphisms are rare in Taiwanese T2DM patients. Regarding the adiponectin gene SNP-45, T2DM patients with genotype TT had lower high-density lipoproteincholesterol levels than those with genotypes TG and GG (p = 0.011). Females with genotype GG had lower levels than males with genotype GG (p = 0.035). Our data show that cholesterol level might be correlated with the adiponectin SNP gene for T2DM. The adiponectin SNP might be associated with increased cardiovascular risk in T2DM patients.