Gender Differences Associated with Pain Characteristics and Treatment in Taiwanese Oncology Outpatients

Liang, Shu-Yuan,Wang, Tsae-Jyy,Wu, Shu-Fang,Chao, Ta-Chung,Chuang, Yeu-Hui,Tsay, Shiow-Luan,Tung, Heng-Hsin,Lee, Ming-Der Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.7

The purpose of this descriptive and comparative study was to examine gender differences relevant to pain intensity, opioid prescription patterns and opioid consumption in Taiwanese oncology outpatients. The 92 participants had been prescribed opioid analgesics for cancer-related pain at least once in the past week and were asked to complete the Brief Pain Inventory - Chinese questionnaire and to recall the dosage of each opioid analgesic that they had ingested within the previous 24 hours. For opioid prescriptions and consumption, all analgesics were converted to morphine equivalents. The results revealed a significant difference between males and female minimum pain thresholds (t = 2.38, p = 0.02) and current pain thresholds (t = 2.12, p = 0.04), with males reporting a higher intensity of pain than females. In addition, this study found that males tended to use prescribed opioid analgesics more frequently than females on the bases of both around the clock (ATC) (t = 1.90, p = 0.06) and ATC plus as needed (ATC + PRN) (t = 2.33, p = 0.02). However, there was no difference between males and females in opioid prescriptions on an ATC basis (t = 0.52, p = 0.60) or at an ATC + PRN basis (t = 0.40, p = 0.69). The results suggest that there may be a gender bias in the treatment of cancer pain, supporting the proposal of routine examination of the effect of gender on cancer pain management. These findings suggest that clinicians should be particularly aware of potential gender differences during pain monitoring and the consumption of prescribed opioid analgesics.

The Influence of Resilience on the Coping Strategies in Patients with Primary Brain Tumors

Shu-Yuan Liang,Hui-Chun Liu,Yu-Ying Lu,Shu-Fang Wu,Ching-Hui Chien,Shiow-Luan Tsay 한국간호과학회 2020 Asian Nursing Research Vol.14 No.1

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the amount of variance in the coping strategies of patients with brain tumors that could be accounted for by resilience. Methods: This cross-sectional survey involved 95 patients who had experienced surgical, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy therapies for their brain tumors at least 1 month before data collection. The investigator collected data using the scales of the Ways of Coping Checklist-Revised and Resilience Scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t tests, analysis of variance, Pearson product–moment correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression. Results: The results revealed that resilience was significantly positively associated with patients' problem-focused coping (r = .65, p < .001) and total coping (r = .49, p < .001). In addition, resilience accounted for 27% (R2inc = .27, p < .001) and 16% (R2inc = .16, p < .001) of the distinct variances in predicting patients’ problem-focused coping and total coping. Conclusion: The current results provide evidence to support the importance of resilience in shaping the coping strategies of relevant patients. As resilience shows a crucial element in patient coping with brain tumors, health team members should develop and employ appropriate strategies to improve the resilience of patients with brain tumors.

Relationship Between Belief about Analgesics, Analgesic Adherence and Pain Experience in Taiwanese Cancer Outpatients

Liang, Shu-Yuan,Chen, Kang-Pan,Tsay, Shiow-Luan,Wu, Shu-Fang,Chuang, Yeu-Hui,Wang, Tsae-Jyy,Tung, Heng-Hsin,Cheng, Su-Fen Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.2

Social and behavioral scientists have proposed that a person's belief system crucially influences his or her behaviour, and therefore may affect outcomes of pain management. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between analgesic beliefs, analgesic adherence and pain experience amongst Taiwanese cancer outpatients. The cross-sectional study included 92 oncology outpatients in two teaching hospitals in the Taipei area of Taiwan. The research instruments included the Pain Opioid Analgesic Beliefs Scale-Cancer (POABS-CA), opioid adherence, and the Brief Pain Inventory-Chinese (BPI-Chinese). Beliefs about pain and opioids demonstrated a significant relationship with patients' opioid adherence (r = -0.30, p < 0.01). The more negative beliefs regarding opioids and pain the patient had, the worse their adherence to around the clock (ATC) analgesic regimen. However, there was no significant correlation between opioid belief and pain experience. As well, there were no significant relationships between adherence to opioid regimen and any of the measures of pain experience. The study highlights the potential importance of a patient's pain and opioid beliefs in adherence to pain medication.

Development and Preliminary Evaluation of Psychometric Properties of Symptom-Management Self-Efficacy Scale for Breast Cancer Related to Chemotherapy

Shu-Yuan Liang,Wei-Wen Wu,Chiu-Ya Kuo,Yu-Ying Lu 한국간호과학회 2015 Asian Nursing Research Vol.9 No.4

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and preliminarily evaluate the reliability and validity of the Symptom-Management Self-Efficacy ScaleeBreast Cancer (SMSES-BC) related to chemotherapy. Methods: The study included three stages. This paper presents the results of stage 2 and stage 3. In total, 34 items in the SMSES-BC were found during stage 1 from qualitative findings, a literature review, and expert suggestions; the 34 items were used for the psychometric properties test. Test-retest reliability and Cronbach a were assessed in the first sample, which included 45 participants for the pilot test (stage 2). The second sample, which included 152 patients, was used to assess the construct validity and concurrent validity (stage 3). Results: The pilot test results revealed a test-retest reliability of .73 (p < .001) and Cronbach a coefficient of .96 for the total scale. Three factors (managing chemotherapy-related symptoms, acquiring problem solving, and managing emotional and interpersonal disturbances) were identified from exploratory factor analysis. Correlation coefficient r was .40 (p < .001), which supported the association between SMSES-BC and the General Self-Efficacy Scale for concurrent validity. Conclusions: The study results demonstrate acceptable reliability and validity for the SMSES-BC that was developed for measuring symptom-management self-efficacy related to chemotherapy for patients with breast cancer. This study suggests further research to validate the construct of the SMSES-BC.

Three homologous genes encoding functional D8-sphingolipid desaturase in Populus tomentosa

Shu-Fen Li,Zan-Min Hu,Guo-Jun Zhang,Ying-Chun Yuan,Cong-Hui Wang,Wu-Jun Gao,Chuan-Liang Deng,Long-Dou Lu 한국유전학회 2014 Genes & Genomics Vol.36 No.3

Δ8-sphingolipid desaturase is characterized by itsability to catalyze desaturation at the C8 position of the longchainbase of sphingolipids in plants. No previous studieshave been conducted on genes encoding Δ8-sphingolipiddesaturases in the woody plant Populus tomentosa. In thisstudy, three genes that encode Δ8-sphingolipid desaturasewere isolated fromP. tomentosa. Among these genes, PtD8Aand PtD8B showed high sequence similarity; whereas PtD8Cexhibited large sequence divergence.RT-PCRresults showedthat PtD8A and PtD8B were expressed in all tissues detected,whereas PtD8C was not expressed in roots. Heterologousexpression in yeast revealed that PtD8A/B/C were functionalΔ8-sphingolipid desaturases, and can catalyze the C18-phytosphingeninedesaturation to produce 8(Z)- and 8(E)-C18-phytosphingenine.However, the conversion rate and ratios ofthe two products differed. Compared with control cells,transgenic yeasts expressing PtD8A/B/C exhibited enhancedaluminum tolerance. Our findings further elucidated thebiochemical functions and evolutionary history ofΔ8-sphingolipid desaturases in plants. Candidate genes forbreeding new poplar germplasm resources with enhancedtolerance ability to aluminium were also provided.

On Narrowband Interference Suppression in OFDM-based Systems with CDMA and Weighted-type Fractional Fourier Transform Domain Preprocessing

( Yuan Liang ),( Xinyu Da ),( Shu Wang ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2017 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.11 No.11

In this paper, we propose a new scheme to suppress the narrowband interference (NBI) in OFDM-based systems. The scheme utilizes code division multiple access (CDMA) and weighted-type fractional Fourier transform (WFRFT) domain preprocessing technologies. Through setting the WFRFT order, the scheme can switch into a single carrier (SC) or a multi-carrier (MC) frequency division multiple access block transmission system. The residual NBI can be eliminated to the maximum extent when the WFRFT order is selected properly. Final simulation results show that the proposed system can outperform MC and SC with CDMA and frequency domain preprocessing in terms of the narrowband interference suppression.

Study on the preparation of nano-flaky anatase titania layer and their photovoltaic application

Shu-Yuan Wu,Wen-Chi Lo,Keh-Chang Chen,Ju-Liang He 한국물리학회 2010 Current Applied Physics Vol.10 No.2

Titania (TiO2), known to have wide energy band gap, can greatly absorb dye if specific surface area can significantly be increased and hence the photovoltaic efficiency. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) based on mesoporous titania has been drawn much attention over the past few years. An attempt in this study is to employ micro-arc oxidation (MAO) process and alkali treatment to develop titania layer with very high specific surface area on pure titanium surface. Specimens were applied an anodic dc voltage at 400–500 V in a phosphate electrolytic solution during MAO process, followed by the alkali treatment in 1.25 M NaOH solution to produce nano-flaky anatase TiO2 on surface, with nano-flakes about 50 nm in dimension thus largely increase specific surface area. Result of photovoltaic efficiency measurement of the assembled DSSC device show that ultimate efficiency (0.23%) can be obtained for the specimen postalkali treated in 1.25 M NaOH solution, which exhibits the highest surface area and thus the enhanced dye-absorbing efficiency.

Adaptive Synchronization of Leader-Follower Networked Systems against Communication Attenuation and Actuators Faults

Liang Dong,Jian-Hui Wang,Shu-Sheng Gu,Yuan-Bo Shi,Fang-Mei Zhao 제어·로봇·시스템학회 2016 International Journal of Control, Automation, and Vol.14 No.6

This paper addresses the adaptive asymptotic synchronization problem of a class of leader-follower largescale networked systems against communicated signal attenuation and actuator bias faults. Adaptive mechanismsare constructed to estimate each unknown faulty factor of communications and actuators on-line. Based on theestimations, an adaptive compensation controller is designed to automatically remove the unexpected impacts ofcommunication and actuator faults. Through the adaptive adjustment parameters and Lyapunov functions, theachievement of asymptotic synchronization of the leader-follower large-scale networked system with the improperactuator and faulty transmitted signals is obtained. Finally, the synchronization results are validated by a multiplevehicle large-scale device.

Increased Serotonin Signaling Contributes to the Warburg Effect in Pancreatic Tumor Cells Under Metabolic Stress and Promotes Growth of Pancreatic Tumors in Mice

Jiang, Shu-Heng,Li, Jun,Dong, Fang-Yuan,Yang, Jian-Yu,Liu, De-Jun,Yang, Xiao-Mei,Wang, Ya-Hui,Yang, Min-Wei,Fu, Xue-Liang,Zhang, Xiao-Xin,Li, Qing,Pang, Xiu-Feng,Huo, Yan-Miao,Li, Jiao,Zhang, Jun-Feng Elsevier 2017 Gastroenterology Vol.153 No.1

<P><B>Background & Aims</B></P> <P>Desmoplasia and poor vascularity cause severe metabolic stress in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDACs). Serotonin (5-HT) is a neuromodulator with neurotransmitter and neuroendocrine functions that contributes to tumorigenesis. We investigated the role of 5-HT signaling in the growth of pancreatic tumors.</P> <P><B>Methods</B></P> <P>We measured the levels of proteins that regulate 5-HT synthesis, packaging, and degradation in pancreata from Kras<SUP>G12D/+</SUP>/Trp53<SUP>R172H/+</SUP>/Pdx1-Cre (KPC) mice, which develop pancreatic tumors, as well as in PDAC cell lines and a tissue microarray containing 81 human PDAC samples. We also analyzed expression levels of proteins involved in 5-HT synthesis and degradation by immunohistochemical analysis of a tissue microarray containing 311 PDAC specimens, and associated expression levels with patient survival times. 5-HT level in 14 matched PDAC tumor and non-tumor tissues were analyzed by ELISA. PDAC cell lines were incubated with 5-HT and cell survival and apoptosis were measured. We analyzed expression of the 5-HT receptor HTR2B in PDAC cells and effects of receptor agonists and antagonists, as well as HTR2B knockdown with small hairpin RNAs. We determined the effects of 5-HT stimulation on gene expression profiles of BxPC-3 cells. Regulation of glycolysis by 5-HT signaling via HTR2B was assessed by immunofluorescence and immunoprecipitation analyses, as well as by determination of the extracellular acid ratio, glucose consumption, and lactate production. Primary PDACs, with or without exposure to SB204741 (a selective antagonist of HTR2B), were grown as xenograft tumors in mice, and SB204741 was administered to tumor-bearing KPC mice; tumor growth and metabolism were measured by imaging analyses.</P> <P><B>Results</B></P> <P>In immunohistochemical analysis of a tissue microarray of PDAC specimens, increased levels of TPH1 and decreased level of MAOA, which regulate 5-HT synthesis and degradation, correlated with stage and size of PDACs and shorter patient survival time. We found levels of 5-HT to be increased in human PDAC tissues compared with non-tumor pancreatic tissues, and PDAC cell lines compared with non-transformed pancreatic cells. Incubation of PDAC cell lines with 5-HT increased proliferation and prevented apoptosis. Agonists of HTR2B, but not other 5-HT receptors, promoted proliferation and prevented apoptosis of PDAC cells. Knockdown of HTR2B in PDAC cells, or incubation of cells with HTR2B inhibitors, reduced their growth as xenograft tumors in mice. We observed a correlation between 5-HT and glycolytic flux in PDAC cells; levels of metabolic enzymes involved in glycolysis, the phosphate pentose pathway, and hexosamine biosynthesis pathway increased significantly in PDAC cells following 5-HT stimulation. 5-HT stimulation led to formation of the HTR2B–LYN–p85 complex, which increased PI3K–Akt–mTOR signaling and the Warburg effect by increasing protein levels of MYC and HIF1A. Administration of SB204741 to KPC mice slowed growth and metabolism of established pancreatic tumors and prolonged survival of the mice.</P> <P><B>Conclusions</B></P> <P>Human PDACs have increased levels of 5-HT, and PDAC cells increase expression of its receptor, HTR2B. These increases allow for tumor glycolysis under metabolic stress and promote growth of pancreatic tumors and PDAC xenograft tumors in mice.</P>

PCR-DGGE Analysis of the Microbial Communities in Three Different Chinese “Baiyunbian” Liquor Fermentation Starters

( Xiao Mao Xiong ),( Yuan Liang Hu ),( Nan Feng Yan ),( Ying Na Huang ),( Nan Peng ),( Yun Xiang Liang ),( Shu Miao Zhao ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2014 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.24 No.8

A systematic investigation was performed on the bacterial, Bacillus, fungal, and yeast communities of the three types of Daqu (mechanically prepared, manually prepared, and mixed prepared) used in Baiyunbian Company by reconditioning PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). The DGGE results showed that the microbes in the three types of Daqu were mainly thermotolerant and thermophilic microbes, and the most dominant bacterial species were Bacillus and Virgibacillus, followed by Lactobacillus and Trichococcus. Furthermore, the dominant fungi were found to be molds, such as Rasamsonia, Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Monascus, and the dominant yeasts were Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomycopsis fibuligera, Pichia anomala, and Debaryomyces hansenii. In general, the three types of Daqu showed slight differences in microbial communities, and the Shannon indexes (H`) of the manually prepared and mechanically prepared Daqu were similar. The results suggest that mechanically prepared Daqu can replace manually prepared Daqu in liquor production, and this research provides useful information for liquor production and process improvement.