Delay of Surgery for Spinal Metastasis due to the COVID-19 Outbreak Affected Patient Outcomes

Chia-Jung Hsieh,Chun-Yu Wu,Yen-Heng Lin,Yu-Cheng Huang,Wen-Chi Yang,Tom Wei-Wu Chen,Wei-Li Ma,Wei-Hsin Lin,Feng-Ming Hsu,Furen Xiao,Shih-Hung Yang,Dar-Ming Lai,Chang-Mu Chen,Shin-Yi Chao,Fon-Yih Tsuan 대한척추신경외과학회 2023 Neurospine Vol.20 No.4

Objective: The present study is to analyze the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 2019) outbreak and the subsequent lockdown on the outcomes of spinal metastasis patients. Methods: The study was a retrospective analysis of data from a prospective cohort study. All patients underwent surgical intervention for spinal metastases between January 2019 and December 2021 and had at least 3 months of postoperative follow-up. The primary outcome was overall mortality during the 4 different stages (pre-COVID-19 era, COVID-19 pandemic except in Taiwan, national lockdown, lifting of the lockdown). The secondary outcomes were the oncological severity scores, medical/surgical accessibility, and patient functional outcome during the 4 periods as well as survival/mortality. Results: A total of 233 patients were included. The overall mortality rate was 41.20%. During the Taiwan lockdown, more patients received palliative surgery than other surgical methods, and no total en bloc spondylectomy was performed. The time from surgeon visit to operation was approximately doubled after the COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan (75.97, 86.63, 168.79, and 166.91 hours in the 4 periods, respectively). The estimated survival probability was highest after the national lockdown was lifted and lowest during the lockdown. In the multivariate analysis, increased risk of mortality was observed with delay of surgery, with emergency surgery having a higher risk with delays above 33 hours, urgent surgery (below 59 and above 111 hours), and elective surgery (above 332 hours). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic and related policies have altered daily clinical practice and negatively impacted the survival of patients with spinal metastases.

Effects of Acupuncture at Pai-Hui on the Deficit of Memory

Chang, Yung-Hsien,Hsieh, Ming-Tsuen,Wu, Chi-Rei 경희대학교 2001 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON EAST-WEST MEDICINE Vol.2001 No.1

Acupuncture has been introduced as one of the complementary therapies in traditional Chinese medicine. In addition to the analgesic effect, acupuncture also has anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and immunomodulatory effects. Activation of the Bai-Hui by acupuncture was further shown to correct loss of consciousness, as well as to relieve mental abstraction, sluggish speech and hysteria. In this study, we investigated the attenuating effect of Pal-Hui acupuncture on scopolamine (SCOP)-induced or cycloheximide (CXM)-induced impairment of the passive avoidance response in rats. Our preliminary results indicated that acupuncture at Pal-Hui before or immediately after the training trial could significantly attenuate SCOP-induced impairment in rats. The effects were better than those treated before the right-room retention trial. Interestingly, the identical procedure could also significantly attenuate the CXM-induced impairment, but not those treated before the retention trial. The correction effect of acupuncture on CXM-induced impairment was equivalent to that of piracetam treatment. Acupunctures at Pal-Hui 15,30 or 60 min before the training trial could he all effective to attenuate CXM-induced impairment, and its efficacy paralleled acupuncture duration. Furthermore, we demonstrated the mechanism of the attenuating effects of acupuncture at Pal-Hui on CXM-induced memory consolidation deficits by combined with SCOP or p-chloroamphetamine(PCA). The attenuating effects of acupuncture at Pal-Hui was significantly antagonized by PCA but not SCOP. These results suggest acupuncture at Pal-Hui might mainly affect the memory storage process and had preventive and immediate therapeutic effects on the CXM-induced impairment and its efficacy paralleled acupuncture duration. The preventive effect of acupuncture at Pal-Hui on CXM-induced impairment is significantly reduced by serotonergic 5-HT releaser. However, the detailed mechanism of acupuncture on memory function and the differential mechanism of acupuncture on memory function an analgesia must be further investigated.

EFFECTS OF PROACTIVE PERSONALITIES AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACTS ON TOUR GUIDES’ SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING

Sung Hee Park,Chi-Ming Hsieh 한국호텔외식관광경영학회 2015 한국호텔외식경영학회 학술발표논문집 Vol.- No.-

Tour guides play active and critical roles in group package tours and are frontline employees who interact closely with tourists. A proactive personality can affect the way a tour guide behaves, leading a tour to succeed or fail and potentially establishing tourists’ loyalty. This study examines how proactive personalities and psychological contracts affect tour guides’ subjective well-being. Data were collected from 359 licensed tour guides working in registered travel agencies in Taiwan. The structural equation modeling results support the notion that tour guides’ proactive personalities and psychological contracts, including transactional and relational psychological contracts, play concurrent positive roles in determining tour guides’ subjective well-being. Managerial implications and future research are discussed.

Traditional Chinese medicine attenuates hospitalization and mortality risks in diabetic patients with carcinoma in situ in Taiwan

Tsai Li-Jen,Chung Chi-Hsiang,Lin Chien-Jung,Su Sheng-Chiang,Kuo Feng-Chih,Liu Jhih-Syuan,Chen Kuan-Chan,Ho Li-Ju,Kuo Chih-Chun,Chang Chun-Yung,Lin Ming-Hsun,Chu Nain-Feng,Lee Chien-Hsing,Hsieh Chang-H 한국한의학연구원 2022 Integrative Medicine Research Vol.11 No.2

Background: Diabetic patients are at high risk of developing cancer. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has become increasingly popular as an adjuvant treatment for patients with chronic diseases, and some studies have identified its beneficial effect in diabetic patients with cancer. The purpoes of this study was to outline the potential of TCM to attenuate hospitalization and mortality rates in diabetic patients with carcinoma in situ (CIS). Methods: A total of 6,987 diabetic subjects with CIS under TCM therapy were selected from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, along with 38,800 of 1:1 sex-, age-, and index year-matched controls without TCM therapy. Cox proportional hazard analysis was conducted to compare hospitalization and mortality rates during an average of 15 years of follow-up. Results: A total of 3,999/1,393 enrolled-subjects (28.62%/9.97%) had hospitalization/mortality, including 1,777/661 in the TCM group (25.43%/9.46%) and 2,222/732 in the control group (31.80%/10.48%). Cox proportional hazard regression analysis showed a lower rate of hospitalization and mortality for subjects in the TCM group (adjusted HR=0.536; 95% CI=0.367–0.780, P<0.001; adjusted HR=0.783; 95% CI=0.574– 0.974, P = 0.022). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the cumulative risk of hospitalization and mortality in the case and control groups was significantly different (log rank, P<0.001 and P = 0.011, respectively). Conclusions: Diabetic patients with CIS under TCM therapy were associated with lower hospitalization and mortality rates compared to those without TCM therapy. Thus, TCM application may reduce the burden of national medical resources.

Effects of panax ginseng and Its Constituents on Drug - induced Memory Impairment in Rats

(Yuan Shiun Chang),(Chi Rei Wu),(Yu Ling Ho),(Ming Tsuen Hsieh) 고려인삼학회 1998 Advances in Ginseng Research - Proceedings of the Vol.- No.-

The Effect to Alleviate Pressure Sores by Installing Nasal Continuous Positive Airways

Huan yu Hsu,Pi chi Lin,Ming Shan Hsieh 한국간호과학회 2009 한국간호과학회 학술대회 Vol.2009 No.10

(2019년 국제학술대회) Study on Well-Being Perception and Festival Loyalty: Moderating Effect of First- Time versus Repeat Attendees

Sung Hee Park,Chi Ming Hsieh 융합관광콘텐츠학회 2019 융합관광콘텐츠학회 학술대회 발표집 Vol.2019 No.-

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a structural model in examining the effects of festival attendees’ evaluation, satisfaction and well being perception on festival loyalty and investigate the moderating effects of first time and repeat attendees among constructs in the structural model. Data were collected through self administrated qu estionnaire using convenience sampling method at three cultural festivals in Macau during September November, 2018. A total of 439 valid data was analyzed for the study. The findings revealed that festival attendees’ satisfaction was dependent on the affec tive, cognitive and sensory dimensions of the festival experiences, and affective evaluation was more influential than cognitive and sensory evaluations in enhancing the satisfaction of the festivals. F estival satisfaction with regard to their cognitive, a ffective, and sensory experiences generated high levels of attendees’ well being perception and loyalty. However, attendees’ well being perception was not enough to induce festival loyalty. Furthermore, the examination of the moderating effect of first tim e versus repeat attendees, revealing significant moderation of the paths from affective evaluation to satisfaction, and from satisfaction to well being perception, with stronger effects for first time attendees over repeated, while from satisfaction to fest ival loyalty, with stronger effects for repeated over first time attendees. Contributions of the study were discussed.

The Different Expression of Gene Profiles on Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells with Different Intracellular Hepatitis C Viral Load

( Chia-yen Dai ),( Shu-chi Wang ),( Meng-hsuan Hsieh ),( Cheng-fu Yang ),( Ching-i Huang ),( Chung-feng Huang ),( Ming-lun Yeh ),( Jee-fu Huang ),( Wang-long Chung ),( Ming-lung Yu ) 대한간학회 2017 춘·추계 학술대회 (KASL) Vol.2017 No.1

Aims: The different hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication has been reported among individual hepatocytes in chronic HCV infection by identifying hepatocytes with different HCV RNA levels. We have previously established a fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) protocol to study the effects of different intracellular viral loads in HCV-infected cells. The present study aimed to further study the gene expression on different hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells with different HCV viral load. Methods: The JFH1-EYFP viral florescence intensity was used to sort the high and low viral load cells after 5 days infection in vitro which has been shown in our previous study that infected cells efficiently and accurately discriminated between high- and low-viral load cell populations. The next generation sequence-RNA sequence was used to clarify the mRNA and miRNA gene network between HCV-high and HCV-low infected cells of the HCC cell line. Venn diagram summarizing the probe sets that were differentially expressingbetween the Huh7.5.1 versus each differential viral load cell population and miRDB and miRTar databases were used to predict HVL and LVL/S2 unique miRNA target genes. Results: By analyzing the NGS dataset and miRNA microarray dataset, of the significant transcripts, three miRNA were unique for the LVL/S2 cells and nine miRNA unique for the HVL. Twenty-three miRNA were common for all 3 viral load groups. We verified them by q-PCR and data confirmed the array data expression level. We found that high viral loads were associated with cell inflammation- and cell death-associated pathway; and the low viral loads were associated many stress response- and cell adhesion molecular (CAMs)-related genes. Conclusions: With the established cell sorting protocol, we have demonstrated that different gene network between HCV-high and HCV-low infected cells in JFH1-EYFP infectious cells exists. Our results may provide a boarder gene regulation map between high and low viral load cell populations.

Effect of Panax ginseng and its Constituents on Drug-induced Memory Impairments in Rats

Yuan Shiun Chang,Chi Rei Wu,Ru Ling Ho,Ming Tsuen Hsieh 고려인삼학회 1998 International Symposium on Ginseng Vol.- No.-

Lattice Relations and Solidification of the Complex Regular Eutectic (Cr,Fe)-(Cr,Fe)23C6

Hsuan-Han Lai,Chih-Chun Hsieh,Chi-Ming Lin,Weite Wu 대한금속·재료학회 2017 METALS AND MATERIALS International Vol.23 No.3

The eutectic (Cr,Fe)-(Cr,Fe)23C6 showed a triaxial fishbone structure and could be categorized as a “complexregular structure”. In this study, the lattice relations of the fishbone (Cr,Fe)23C6 were examined and the solidificationprocess was observed using a transmission electron microscope and a confocal laser scanning microscope. Forone of the three fish bones in a eutectic cell, parallel (Cr,Fe)23C6 lamellas at one side of the spine had the samelattice direction, as did those in the (Cr,Fe) phase. The lattices of neighboring (Cr,Fe)23C6 and (Cr,Fe) phases werenot coherent. Lamellar (Cr,Fe)23C6 on opposite sides of a spine had different lattice directions, and their latticeboundary was in the spine. By using the confocal laser scanning microscope, the solidification of lamellar eutecticstructure could be observed. At the low cooling rate of 5oC·min-1, parallel lamellas would grow thick blocksinstead of thin plates. To obtain a thin lamellar eutectic structure, the cooling rate should be higher, likethe rate in welding.