Bacterial-Templated NiO Nanomaterial for Glucose Sensor

Chien-Yen CHEN,Settu VAIDYANATHAN,Shashi B. ATLA,Cheng-Wei FAN 한국생물공학회 2016 한국생물공학회 학술대회 Vol.2016 No.4

Design of a De-ringing Filter for Wavelet-based Compressed Image

Yen-Yu Chen,Ying-Wen Chang,Wen-Chien Yen 대한전자공학회 2008 ITC-CSCC :International Technical Conference on Ci Vol.2008 No.7

JPEG2000 Standard is a new generation image compression technique, enabling encoding images at low bitrates with acceptable quality. Since JPEG2000 is based on wavelet transforms, the reconstructed image will contain perceivable ringing artifacts in medium and low bit-rate regimes of lossy compression. This work utilizes a quad-tree partitioning scheme for post-processing the reconstructed image in a spatially varying manner and presents a voting strategy to determine a set of morphological filters to be used for reducing the ringing artifacts. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed technique enhances reconstructed image quality compared to unprocessed JPEG2000 output at an equivalent bit-rate accounting for the side-information overhead, in terms of both Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Visible Ringing Measure (VRM).

Detecting small lung tumors in mouse models by refractive-index microradiology

Chien, Chia-Chi,Zhang, Guilin,Hwu, Y.,Liu, Ping,Yue, Weisheng,Sun, Jianqi,Li, Yan,Xue, Hongjie,Xu, Lisa X.,Wang, Chang Hai,Chen, Nanyow,Lu, Chien Hung,Lee, Ting-Kuo,Yang, Yuh-Cheng,Lu, Yen-Ta,Ching, Y Springer-Verlag 2011 ANALYTICAL AND BIOANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY Vol.401 No.3

A Partitioning-Based Approach for Robot Path Planning Problems

Chien-Yen Wang,Shadi Banitaan,Jingxiang Lyu 제어로봇시스템학회 2018 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2018 No.10

Path planning is one of the most important studied problems in the field of autonomous robots. The autonomous robot should pass around obstacles from a given starting position to a given target position, touching none of them, i.e. the goal is to find a collision-free path from the starting to the target position. Research on path planning has generated many fundamentally different approaches to the solution of this problem, in which A* algorithm is the one of the outstanding approaches have been developed for solving this problem, but it only ensures that the algorithm gives its result within a large amount of time-consumption. Therefore, in this paper, a Partitioning-Based Path Planning approach, called PBPP, has been proposed by partitioning-based and hierarchical methods that effectively improve the A* algorithm. The PBPP uses the concept of divide-and-conquer to divide the global map into each of sub-map in which a collision-free space is able to be represented. Furthermore, hierarchical planning can provide more feasible direction to achieve a smooth path in the result of the optimal path. The experimental results demonstrate the PBPP‘s utility for reducing time-consumption and finding low-cost paths.

The Ca _V 3.2 T-Type Ca ²⁺ Channel Is Required for Pressure Overload-Induced Cardiac Hypertrophy in Mice

Chiang, Chien-Sung,Huang, Ching-Hui,Chieng, Hockling,Chang, Ya-Ting,Chang, Dory,Chen, Ji-Jr,Chen, Yong-Cyuan,Chen, Yen-Hui,Shin, Hee-Sup,Campbell, Kevin P.,Chen, Chien-Chang Ovid Technologies Wolters Kluwer -American Heart A 2009 Circulation research Vol.104 No.4

<P>Voltage-gated T-type Ca(2+) channels (T-channels) are normally expressed during embryonic development in ventricular myocytes but are undetectable in adult ventricular myocytes. Interestingly, T-channels are reexpressed in hypertrophied or failing hearts. It is unclear whether T-channels play a role in the pathogenesis of cardiomyopathy and what the mechanism might be. Here we show that the alpha(1H) voltage-gated T-type Ca(2+) channel (Ca(v)3.2) is involved in the pathogenesis of cardiac hypertrophy via the activation of calcineurin/nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) pathway. Specifically, pressure overload-induced hypertrophy was severely suppressed in mice deficient for Ca(v)3.2 (Ca(v)3.2(-/-)) but not in mice deficient for Ca(v)3.1 (Ca(v)3.1(-/-)). Angiotensin II-induced cardiac hypertrophy was also suppressed in Ca(v)3.2(-/-) mice. Consistent with these findings, cultured neonatal myocytes isolated from Ca(v)3.2(-/-) mice fail to respond hypertrophic stimulation by treatment with angiotensin II. Together, these results demonstrate the importance of Ca(v)3.2 in the development of cardiac hypertrophy both in vitro and in vivo. To test whether Ca(v)3.2 mediates the hypertrophic response through the calcineurin/NFAT pathway, we generated Ca(v)3.2(-/-), NFAT-luciferase reporter mice and showed that NFAT-luciferase reporter activity failed to increase after pressure overload in the Ca(v)3.2(-/-)/NFAT-Luc mice. Our results provide strong genetic evidence that Ca(v)3.2 indeed plays a pivotal role in the induction of calcineurin/NFAT hypertrophic signaling and is crucial for the activation of pathological cardiac hypertrophy.</P>

DCT-based Image Compression with Efficient Enhancement Filter

Wen-Chien Yen,Yen-Yu Chen 대한전자공학회 2008 ITC-CSCC :International Technical Conference on Ci Vol.2008 No.7

This work adopts DCT and modifies the SPIHT algorithm to encode DCT coefficients. The algorithm represents the DCT coefficients to concentrate signal energy and proposes combination and dictator to eliminate the correlation in the same level subband for encoding the DCTbased images. The proposed algorithm also provides the enhancement function in low bit rate in order to improve the perceptual quality. This work contribution is that the coding complexity of the proposed algorithm for DCT coefficients is just close to JPEG but the performance is higher than JPEG2000. Experimental results indicate that the proposed technique improves the quality of the reconstructed image in terms of both PSNR and the perceptual results close to JPEG2000 at the same bit rate.

Predictors of Positive Bone Metastasis in Newly Diagnosed Prostate Cancer Patients

Chien, Tsu-Ming,Lu, Yen-Man,Geng, Jiun-Hung,Huang, Tsung-Yi,Ke, Hung-Lung,Huang, Chun-Nung,Li, Ching-Chia,Chou, Yii-Her,Wu, Wen-Jeng,Huang, Shu-Pin Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.3

Background: The prevalence of prostate cancer (PCa) has been increasing in recent years. Treatment strategies are largely based on the results of bone scan screening. Therefore, our aim was to investigate predictors of positive bone metastasis in newly diagnosed PCa patients. Materials and Methods: After extensive review, 336 consecutive patients newly diagnosed with PCa between April 2010 and November 2013 at our institution were enlisted in the study. Patients were divided into two groups according to bone scan results. Univariate analyses (Chi-square test for discrete variables and independent t-test for continuous variables) were applied to determine the potentially significant risk factors associated with distant bone metastasis. Binary logistic regression analyses were used to further investigate the influence of these factors on bone metastasis. Results: The patient mean age was $71.9{\pm}8.6years$ (range: 48 to 94 years). The mean prostate specific antigen (PSA) level and biopsy Gleason score were $260.2{\pm}1107.8ng/mL$ and $7.4{\pm}1.5$, respectively. The body mass index (BMI) for the series was $24.5{\pm}3.4kg/m^2$. Sixty-four patients (19.0%) had a positive bone scan result. Patients with positive bone scan results had a significantly lower BMI ($23.3{\pm}3.5$ vs. $24.8{\pm}3.3$; p=0.003), a higher Gleason score ($8.5{\pm}1.1$ vs. $7.1{\pm}1.5$; p < 0.001), and a higher PSA level ($1071.3{\pm}2337.1$ vs. $69.4{\pm}235.5$; p < 0.001) than those without bone metastasis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis employing the above independent predictors demonstrated that a Gleason score of ${\geq}7$, clinical stage ${\geq}T3$, $BMI{\leq}22kg/m^2$, and an initial PSA level of ${\geq}20ng/mL$ were all independent predictors of bone metastasis. Conclusions: A bone scan might be necessary in newly diagnosed PCa patients with any of the following criteria: clinical stage T3 or higher, a Gleason score of 7 or higher, BMI equal to or less than 22, and a PSA level of 20 or higher.

Treatment Retention Rates of 3-monthly Paliperidone Palmitate and Risk Factors Associated with Discontinuation: A Population-based Cohort Study

Chien-Heng Lin,Huang-Li Lin,Chih-Lin Chiang,Yi-Wen Chen,Yan-Fang Liu,Yen Kuang Yang,Chao-Hsiun Tang 대한정신약물학회 2023 CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE Vol.21 No.3

Objective: Limited evidence exists regarding real-world 3-monthly paliperidone palmitate (PP3M) treatment retention and associated factors. Methods: We conducted a retrospective, nationwide cohort study using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database between October 2017 and December 2019. Adult patients with schizophrenia initiated on PP3M were enrolled. The primary outcomes were time to PP3M discontinuation, time to psychiatric hospitalization, and the proportions of patients receiving the next PP3M dose within 120 days among first-, second-, and third-dose completers. Key covariates included prior PP1M duration and adequate PP3M initiation. Results: The PP3M treatment retention rates were 79.7%, 66.3%, and 52.5% after 6, 12, and 24 months, respectively, with 86.4%, 90.6%, and 90.0% of respective first-, second-, and third-dose completers receiving the next PP3M dose. Adequate PP3M initiation and prior PP1M treatment duration > 180 days were associated with favorable PP3M treatment retention. In multivariate analyses, PP1M durations of 180−360 days (adjusted relative risk [aRR], 1.76) or < 180 days (aRR, 2.79) were associated with PP3M discontinuation at the second dose. Inadequate PP3M initiation was associated with discontinuation at the third dose (aRR, 2.18). Patients fully adherent to PP3M treatment in the first year had a higher probability of being free from psychiatric hospitalization (86.7% at 2 years), compared with those partially adherent or non-adherent to PP3M in the first year. Conclusion: Prior PP1M duration and adequate PP3M initiation are major factors affecting PP3M treatment retention. Higher PP3M treatment retention is associated with a lower risk of psychiatric hospitalization.

Numerical investigations of dynamic stall characteristics with laminar-to-turbulence transition

Chien-Chou Tseng,Ping-Ben Liu,Sheng-Yen Hsu 대한기계학회 2021 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.35 No.8

The influence of laminar-to-turbulence transition of the laminar separation bubble (LSB) on the dynamic stall process of a pitching foil was investigated using transition SST k-ω turbulence model. As the LSB moves to the leading edge, the strong strain rate produces a pronounced laminar-to-turbulence transition, resulting in a turbulent mixing, faster turbulent reattachment, and shrinkage of LSB. This transition leads to the enhancement of the friction coefficient after the reattachment point and delays the suction collapse and evolution of secondary vortex. A baseline SST k-ω model was also applied. Without the transition mechanism, the suction collapse occurs too early, and the downstroke relaminarization is absent. The oscillation of the downstroke lift curve is severer using the SST model than that using the transition SST model. This study extends the detailed validations of transition model and helps improve the understanding of the influence of the transition on the dynamic stall process.

Protective Effect of Millettia reticulata Benth Against CCl4-Induced Hepatic Damage and Inflammatory Action in Rats

Chien-Chen Hsu,Chin-Lin Hsu,Shao-En Tsai,Timothy Yu-Chi Fu,Gow-Chin Yen 한국식품영양과학회 2009 Journal of medicinal food Vol.12 No.4

The effects of the water extracts of Millettia reticulata Benth (WEMRB) and its active compound (protocatechuic acid [PCA]) on acute hepatic injury and inflammation in CCl4-induced Sprague-Dawley rats were investigated. Sprague-Dawley rats were orally treated with WEMRB or PCA for 28 consecutive days, and then the rats were given an intraperitoneal injection with CCl4. Pretreatment with WEMRB or PCA significantly lowered the CCl4-induced serum levels of hepatic enzyme markers (aspartate and alanine aminotransferases). Liver histopathology showed that WEMRB reduced the incidence of cytoplasmic vacuolization and necrosis induced by CCl4 in rats. Pretreatment with WEMRB also showed anti-inflammation on the expression of cyclooxygenase-2, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and myeloperoxidase, as well as nitrite and nitrate levels in the CCl4-induced Sprague-Dawley rats. The results suggest that oral administration of WEMRB decreases the hepatotoxic effects by increasing glutathione-dependent antioxidant enzyme activity, thereby reducing oxidative stress and inflammation in CCl4-induced Sprague-Dawley rats.