Forecasting the effects of vaccination on the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia using SEIRV compartmental models

Mei Cheng Lim(Mei Cheng Lim),Sarbhan Singh(Sarbhan Singh ),Chee Herng Lai(Chee Herng Lai ),Balvinder Singh Gill(Balvinder Singh Gill ),Mohd Kamarulariffin Kamarudin(Mohd Kamarulariffin Kamarudin ),Ahm 한국역학회 2023 Epidemiology and Health Vol.45 No.-

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to develop susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered-vaccinated (SEIRV) models to examine the effects of vaccination on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case trends in Malaysia during Phase 3 of the National COVID-19 Immunization Program amidst the Delta outbreak. METHODS: SEIRV models were developed and validated using COVID-19 case and vaccination data from the Ministry of Health, Malaysia, from June 21, 2021 to July 21, 2021 to generate forecasts of COVID-19 cases from July 22, 2021 to December 31, 2021. Three scenarios were examined to measure the effects of vaccination on COVID-19 case trends. Scenarios 1 and 2 represented the trends taking into account the earliest and latest possible times of achieving full vaccination for 80% of the adult population by October 31, 2021 and December 31, 2021, respectively. Scenario 3 described a scenario without vaccination for comparison. RESULTS: In scenario 1, forecasted cases peaked on August 28, 2021, which was close to the peak of observed cases on August 26, 2021. The observed peak was 20.27% higher than in scenario 1 and 10.37% lower than in scenario 2. The cumulative observed cases from July 22, 2021 to December 31, 2021 were 13.29% higher than in scenario 1 and 55.19% lower than in scenario 2. The daily COVID-19 case trends closely mirrored the forecast of COVID-19 cases in scenario 1 (best-case scenario). CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that COVID-19 vaccination reduced COVID-19 case trends during the Delta outbreak. The compartmental models developed assisted in the management and control of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia.

The Presence of Open Dentinal Tubules Affects the Biological Properties of Dental Pulp Cells Ex Vivo

Mei-Ying Shao,Zhong-Sen Fu,Ran Cheng,Hui Yang,Li Cheng,Feng-Ming Wang,Tao Hu 한국분자세포생물학회 2011 Molecules and cells Vol.31 No.1

To investigate the effects of open dentinal tubules on the morphological and functional characteristics of dental pulp cells. Morphological changes in human dental pulp cells that were seeded onto dentin discs with open den-tinal tubules were investigated on days 1, 2, 4, and 10 of culture using scanning electron microscopy and fluores-cence microscopy. Samples collected on days 1, 3, 6, 8, and 10 of culture were evaluated for cell proliferation rate and alkaline phosphatase activity. Cultured human dental pulp cells developed a columnar or polygonal morphology and monopolar cytoplasmic processes that extended into the dentinal tubules. The cells formed a multilayer and secreted an extracellular matrix onto the cell surface. Scanning electron microscopy and fluorescence microscopy revealed polarized organization of odontoblasts. Cells seeded onto dentin discs prolifer-ated minimally but showed high levels of ALP activity. Dental pulp cells seeded onto treated dentin discs develop an odontoblast-like phenotype, which may be a potential alternative for use in experimental research on dentinogenesis.

Antioxidant Peptide Purified from Enzymatic Hydrolysates of Isochrysis Zhanjiangensis and Its Protective Effect against Ethanol Induced Oxidative Stress of HepG2 Cells

Mei-Fang Chen,Yuan Yuan Zhang,Mei Di He,Cheng Yong Li,Chun Xia Zhou,Peng Zhi Hong,Zhong-Ji Qian 한국생물공학회 2019 Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering Vol.24 No.2

Marine microalgae have been widely applied in cosmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and functional foods. In the present study, we first investigated the hepatoprotective effects of peptide purified from microalgae, Isochrysis zhanjiangensis on HepG2 cells alcoholic injury. I. zhanjiangensis was hydrolyzed utilizing chymotrypsin, trypsin, pepsin, and by vitro gastrointestinal digestion. Among hydrolysates, the gastrointestinal hydrolysate showed relatively high free radical scavenging ability preliminarily and was purified with following sequential chromatography methods. The amino acid sequence and molecular mass of the purified peptide from I. zhanjiangensis (PIZ) was identified as Asn-Asp-Ala-Glu-Tyr-Gly-Ile-Cys-Gly-Phe (NDAEYGICGF; MW, 1088.16 Da) via Q-TOF ESI/MS. Additionally, PIZ attenuated ethanol-induced cytotoxicity and inhibited the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species by DCFH-DA assay. Western blot results showed that superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH) levels up-regulated with PIZ treatment before alcohol exposure while gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) protein expression down-regulated. These results provide an opportunity to discover new highly active peptide against alcohol toxicity in HepG2 cells.

5G Network Slices Embedding with Sharable Virtual Network Functions

Chengli Mei,Jiayi Liu,Jinyan Li,Lei Zhang,Menghan Shao 한국통신학회 2020 Journal of communications and networks Vol.22 No.5

Network slicing (NS) is recognized as a key technology for the 5G mobile network in enabling the network to support multiple diversified vertical markets over a shared physicalinfrastructure with efficiency and flexibility. A 5G NS instance iscomposed of a set of virtual network function (VNF) instances toform the end-to-end (E2E) virtual network for the slice to operateindependently. The deployment of a NS is a typical virtual network embedding (VNE) problem. We consider a scenario in whichVNF instances can be shared across multiple slices to further enhance the utilization ratio of the underlying physical resources. ForNSs with sharable VNF instances, the deployment of the slice instances is essentially the embedding of multiple virtual networkscoupled by the VNFs shared among slices. Hence, we formulatethis sharable-VNFs-based multiple coupled VNE problem (SVMVNE) through an integer linear program (ILP) formulation, anddesign a back-tracking coordinated virtual network mapping algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that VNF-sharing can enhance the slice acceptance ratio with the same physical network,which represents higher physical resource utilization. Moreover,our approach achieves higher acceptance ratio by comparing to abaseline algorithm.

Traditional medicine in Taiwan: current status and future prospects

Cheng, Hon Mei Kyung Hee Oriental Medicine Research Center 2005 Oriental pharmacy and experimental medicine Vol.5 No.3

Oriental medicine is one of the main branches of traditional medicine left in the world. It includes acupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion, herbology, and qigong, all of which are still commonly used and officially recognized in some Asian countries, including Taiwan. In this article, the current educational, health insurance, and research and development status of traditional medicine in Taiwan will be introduced. The specific focus of the article is on efforts to integrate these ancient medical practices into modern medical science in our country.

Suture Repair in Endoscopic Surgery for Craniovertebral Junction

Mei-Yin Yeh,Wen-Cheng Huang,Jau-Ching Wu,Chao-Hung Kuo,Hsuan-Kan Chang,Tsung-Hsi Tu,Peng-Yuan Chang,Yu-Shu Yen,Henrich Cheng 대한척추신경외과학회 2019 Neurospine Vol.16 No.2

Objective: Endoscopic approaches to the craniovertebral junction (CVJ) have been established as viable and effective surgical treatments in the past decade. One of the major complications is leakage of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and feasibility of suture closure at the nasopharyngeal mucosa upon durotomy. Methods: A series of consecutive patients who underwent different endoscopic approaches to the CVJ were retrospectively reviewed. The pathologies, surgical corridors, neurological and functional outcomes, radiological evaluations, and complications were analyzed. Different strategies of repair for the intraoperative CSF leakage were described and compared. Results: A total of 22 patients covering 13 years were analyzed. There were 12, 2, and 8 patients who underwent transnasal, transoral, and combined approaches, respectively. There were 8 patients (36.4%) who experienced intraoperative CSF leakage, and were grouped into 2: 4 in the nonsuture (NS) group and 4 in the suture-repaired (SR) group. The NS group had 3 (75%) persistent CSF leakages postoperation that caused 1 mortality, whereas patients of the SR group had only 1 minor CSF rhinorrhea that healed spontaneously within days. Conclusion: In this series of 22 patients who required anterior endoscopic resection of pathologies at the CVJ, there was 1 (4.5%) serious complication related to CSF leakage. For patients who had no durotomy, the mucosal incision at the nasopharynx usually healed rapidly and there were few procedure-related complications. For patients with intraoperative CSF leakage, suture closure was technically challenging but could significantly lower the risks of postoperative complications.

Pretherapy 18F-FDG PET/CT in Predicting Disease Relapse in Patients With Immunoglobulin G4-Related Disease: A Prospective Study

Cheng Mei-Fang,Guo Yue Leon,Yen Ruoh-Fang,Wu Yen-Wen,Wang Hsiu-Po 대한영상의학회 2023 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.24 No.6

Objective: To investigate whether the levels of inflammation detected by 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) can predict disease relapse in immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) patients receiving standard induction steroid therapy. Materials and Methods: This prospective study analyzed pretherapy FDG PET/CT images from 48 patients (mean age, 63 ± 12.9 years; 45 males and 3 females) diagnosed with IgG4-RD between September 2008 and February 2018, who subsequently received standard induction steroid therapy as the first-line treatment. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to identify the potential prognostic factors associated with relapse-free survival (RFS). Results: The median follow-up time for the entire cohort was 1913 days (interquartile range [IQR], 803–2929 days). Relapse occurred in 81.3% (39/48) patients during the follow-up period. The median time to relapse was 210 days (IQR, 140–308 days) after completion of standardized induction steroid therapy. Among the 17 parameters analyzed, Cox proportional hazard analysis identified whole-body total lesion glycolysis (WTLG) > 600 on FDG-PET as an independent risk factor for disease relapse (median RFS, 175 vs. 308 days; adjusted hazard ratio, 2.196 [95% confidence interval: 1.080–4.374]; P = 0.030). Conclusion: WTLG on pretherapy FDG PET/CT was the only significant factor associated with RFS in IgG-RD patients receiving standard steroid induction therapy.

Chronic Disease Management in the Home

Cheng-Mei, Tung 한국간호과학회 2009 한국간호과학회 학술대회 Vol.2009 No.10

Bicluster and Pathway Enrichment Analysis of HCV-induced Cirrhosis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Cheng, Peng,Cheng, You,Su, Mei X.,Li, Dong,Zhao, Guo Z.,Gao, Hui,Li, Yan,Zhu, Jie Y.,Li, Hua,Zhang, Tao Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.8

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide and the most common form of liver cancer. However, while it is associated frequently with hepatitis C virus (HCV) there is only an elementary understanding of its molecular pathogenesis. Methods: To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms of HCV-induced hepatocarcinogenesis, we performed microarray analysis on 75 surgical liver samples from 48 HCV-infected patients. Results: There were 395 differentially expressed geness between cirrhotic samples and HCC samples. Of these, 125 genes were up-regulated and 270 genes were down-regulated. We performed pathway enrichment analysis and screened as described previously. Conclusions: The differentially expressed genes might be involved in hepatocarcinogenesis through upregulating the pathways of ECM-receptor interaction, focal adhesion, cell adhesion molecules and other cancer-related pathways, and downregulating the pathways of "complement and coagulation cascades". We hope our results could aid in seeking of therapeutic targets for HCV-induced hepatocellular carcinoma.

The National Innovation System and Policy Implications for Entrepreneurship in Taiwan and Japan

Cheng-Mei Tung 과학기술정책연구원 2013 STI Policy Review Vol.4 No.1

In a knowledge economy, accelerating the pace of knowledge building and the rapid acquisition of knowledge are keys to innovative development. However, the development of the commercialization of research results and formation of new start-up companies are often not as active as they should be with a lack of motivation and incentive being one of the contributing factors for the failure to take action. In Taiwan and Japan, the reason that widely advocated idea of industry-academia collaboration is to help advance the technological capabilities of research and development as well as produce economic benefit. The assistance rendered by the government during the transformation and the assessment of outcomes from entrepreneurial pursuits are key issues explored in this study. The results indicate that the network system in the national innovation system is important for entrepreneurship development. The domestic market of Taiwan is not as large as Japan and new entrepreneurs have to face global market challenges.