Selection of the Lowest Instrumented Vertebra and Relative Odds Ratio of Distal Adding-on for Lenke Type 1A and 2A Curves in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Che-Wei Liu,Lawrence G. Lenke,Lee A. Tan,Taemin Oh,Kou-Hua Chao,Shi-Ding Lin,Ru-Yu Pan 대한척추신경외과학회 2020 Neurospine Vol.17 No.4

Objective: To examine existing literature and pool the data to determine the relative odds ratio of “adding-on” (AO) based on various reported criteria for lower instrumented vertebra (LIV) selection in Lenke type 1A and 2A curves. Methods: Using electronic databases, studies reporting on AO and LIV selection in Lenke type 1A and 2A curves were identified. Studies were excluded if they failed to meet the following criteria: ≥30 patients, Lenke type 1A or 2A curves, thoracic-only fusions, and inclusion of outcome differences in AO and non-AO groups. Review articles, letters, and case reports were excluded. Results: Six studies were identified reporting on 732 patients with either Lenke type 1A or 2A curves treated with thoracic-only fusions. Five different landmarks were used for LIV selection in these studies including the stable vertebra (SV) -1, end vertebra (EV) +1, neutral vertebra (NV), touched vertebra (TV), and substantially touched vertebra (STV) versus nonsubstantially touched vertebra (nSTV) +1. The pooled odds ratios of AO for choosing LIV at levels above the afore landmarks (i.e., ending the construct “short”) versus at the landmarks were 2.59 (SV-1), 2.43 (EV+1), 3.05 (NV), 3.40 (TV), and 4.52 (STV/nSTV+1), all at 95% confidence interval. Conclusion: Five landmarks shared a similar characteristic in that the incidence of AO was significantly higher if the LIV was proximal to the chosen landmark. In addition, choosing STV/(nSTV+1) as the LIV have the lowest absolute risk of AO and the greatest risk reduction. If additional levels were fused (i.e., LIV distal to the landmark), there was no statistically significant benefit in further reducing the risk of AO. Selection of the optimal LIV is a complex issue and spine surgeons must balance the risk of AO with the need for motion preservation in young patients.

Impact of Esophageal Motility on Microbiome Alterations in Symptomatic Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Patients With Negative Endoscopy: Exploring the Role of Ineffective Esophageal Motility and Contraction Reserve

Ming-Wun Wong,I-Hsuan Lo,Wei-Kai Wu,Po-Yu Liu,Yu-Tang Yang,Chun-Yao Chen,Ming-Shiang Wu,Sunny H Wong,Wei-Yi Lei,Chih-Hsun Yi,Tso-Tsai Liu,Jui-Sheng Hung,Shu-Wei Liang,C Prakash Gyawali,Chien-Lin Che 대한소화기 기능성질환∙운동학회 2024 Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (JNM Vol.30 No.3

Background/AimsIneffective esophageal motility (IEM) is common in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and can be associated with poor esophageal contraction reserve on multiple rapid swallows. Alterations in the esophageal microbiome have been reported in GERD, but the relationship to presence or absence of contraction reserve in IEM patients has not been evaluated. We aim to investigate whether contraction reserve influences esophageal microbiome alterations in patients with GERD and IEM. MethodsWe prospectively enrolled GERD patients with normal endoscopy and evaluated esophageal motility and contraction reserve with multiple rapid swallows during high-resolution manometry. The esophageal mucosa was biopsied for DNA extraction and 16S ribosomal RNA gene V3-V4 (Illumina)/full-length (Pacbio) amplicon sequencing analysis. ResultsAmong the 56 recruited patients, 20 had normal motility (NM), 19 had IEM with contraction reserve (IEM-R), and 17 had IEM without contraction reserve (IEM-NR). Esophageal microbiome analysis showed a significant decrease in microbial richness in patients with IEM-NR when compared to NM. The beta diversity revealed different microbiome profiles between patients with NM or IEM-R and IEM-NR (P = 0.037). Several esophageal bacterial taxa were characteristic in patients with IEM-NR, including reduced Prevotella spp. and Veillonella dispar, and enriched Fusobacterium nucleatum. In a microbiome-based random forest model for predicting IEM-NR, an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.81 was yielded. ConclusionsIn symptomatic GERD patients with normal endoscopic findings, the esophageal microbiome differs based on contraction reserve among IEM. Absent contraction reserve appears to alter the physiology and microbiota of the esophagus.

Using Adaptive Bandwidth Allocation Approach to Defend DDoS Attacks

Wei-Shen Lai,Chu-Hsing Lin,Jung-Chun Liu,Hsun-Chi Huang,Tsung-Che Yang 보안공학연구지원센터 2008 International Journal of Software Engineering and Vol.2 No.4

Denial of service attacks occur when the attacks are from a single host, whereas distributed denial of service attacks occur when multiple affected systems flood the bandwidth or resources of a targeted system. Although it is not possible to exempt entirely from denial of service or distributed denial of service attacks, we can limit the malicious user by controlling the traffic flow. In the paper, we propose to monitor the traffic pattern in order to alleviate distributed denial of service attacks. A bandwidth allocation policy will be adopted to assign normal users to a high priority queue and suspected attackers to a low priority queue. Simulations conducted in network simulator of our proposed priority queue-based scheme shows its effectiveness in blocking attacking traffic while maintaining constant flows for legitimate traffic.

Development of a Wireless Charging System based on LLC Resonant Converter for Underwater Drone

Jia-Wei Liu,Yu-Shan Cheng,Kun-Che Ho 전력전자학회 2023 ICPE(ISPE)논문집 Vol.2023 No.-

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), also known as underwater drones, often play the important role of assisting humans to complete the tasks of ocean exploration, monitoring, and inspection of underwater infrastructure. However, the limited power supplied by batteries has restricted the navigation tasks of underwater vehicles. The development of a wireless power transfer (WPT) system for AUVs can be regarded as an important first step to realize a fully unmanned underwater vehicle. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a wireless power transfer system suitable for underwater vehicles to solve charging issues in an underwater environment. Considering the special environment with seawater as the medium, a 200W WPT charging system is implemented based on the full-bridge LLC resonant circuit combined with the loosely coupled coil and the step-down circuit. The experimental results have validated the system is able to operate in an underwater environment with the efficiency up to 90.17% in freshwater and 87.05% in seawater.

Decision-Directed Frequency-Offset Estimator for Differentially Detected π/4-DQPSK Signals

Ging Shing Liu,Che Ho Wei 한국통신학회 1993 Asia-Pacific Conference on Communications Vol.2 No.2

A Novel Flag-Language Remote Control Design for a Laparoscopic Camera Holder Using Image Processing

Kateryna Zinchenko,Wayne Shin-Wei Huang,Kai-Che Liu,Kai-Tai Song 제어로봇시스템학회 2015 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2015 No.10

Minimally invasive surgeries(MIS) possess obvious advantages for patients but require more specially trained personnel than common, open procedure. With modern advances in robotics, it becomes possible to ease these requirements by introducing robotized assistants into operation. However, for robot-assisted solo MIS, it is crucial to have appropriate methods for robot control. This work presents a design of flag language as a novel human-to-robot communication method based on image processing of the endoscope video during real-time intervention. The proposed system comprises autonomous positioning of endoscope holder combined with recognition of surgeon intention by analyzing surgical instrument postures. The proposed algorithm has been evaluated using experimental setup as well as video clips from laparoscopic operation. Experimental results show that the flag posture can be detected satisfactorily with speed of 12 frames per second, as well as system robustness under moderate lighting and noise conditions.

Medico-Legal Issues of Intraoperative Neuromonitoring in Thyroid Surgery

Hoon Yub Kim,Xiaoli Liu,Hui Sun,Che-Wei Wu,Young Jun Chai,Woong Youn Chung,Ralph Tufano,Henning Dralle,Matteo Lavazza,Gianlorenzo Dionigi 대한갑상선-내분비외과학회 2017 The Koreran journal of Endocrine Surgery Vol.17 No.2

Advances in intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) in thyroid surgery have provided significant insights into recurrent laryngeal nerve function during thyroid surgery. Despite the limitations and necessary caution when using intraoperative monitors to interpret neural function, these technologies have been definite steps in the right direction for assessing neural integrity and safe surgical strategy during thyroid operations. The techniques discussed minimize the adverse sequelae of a variety of thyroid gland procedures, reducing the morbidity rates/risks in the perioperative period. Furthermore, it is likely that such monitoring will become a standard of care. Accurate, reliable and continuous monitoring is essential, and on-going large studies with definable end points will be necessary. The use of monitoring, such as continuous one, may improve cost efficiency by reducing permanent nerve injuries. A danger in this process, however, is the potential for public opinion, outside regulatory bodies, or medico-legal implications to drive change and enforce standards of care before appropriate data are available.

Future Directions of Neural Monitoring in Thyroid Surgery

Hoon Yub Kim,Xiaoli Liu,Che-Wei Wu,Young Jun Chai,Gianlorenzo Dionigi 대한갑상선-내분비외과학회 2017 The Koreran journal of Endocrine Surgery Vol.17 No.3

Dissecting and identifying the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) are considered routine procedures now that safe and effective methods have been established. Preventing RLN injury during thyroid surgery requires good visualization and exposure of the RLN, adequate knowledge of RLN anatomy, adequate surgical experience and training, and pre- and post-operative laryngoscopy. Whereas these requirements are widely accepted for routine thyroid surgery, new technical developments have emerged in the past 15 years. Literature show that both intermittent intraoperative neural monitoring (I-IONM) and continuous IONM (C-IONM) are recognized as effective techniques for RLN. The aim of this paper is to discuss advantages, limits and possible future directions for use of IONM and C-IONM in thyroid and parathyroid surgery.

An S-scheme photocatalyst constructed by modifying Ni-doped Sn3O4 micro-flowers on g-C3N4 nanosheets for enhanced visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution

Dandan Wang,Zhaoxin Lin,Chun Miao,Wei Jiang,Hongji Li,Chunbo Liu,Guangbo Che 한국공업화학회 2022 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.113 No.-

Carbon nitrides (g-C3N4) is considered to be the prospective semiconductor photocatalyst for photocatalytic H2 evolution. Nevertheless, it suffers from low charge transfer efficiency and fewer metal active sites. Thereby, Ni-Sn3O4/g-C3N4 photocatalysts were constructed by anchoring Ni-doped Sn3O4 micro-flowers on g-C3N4 via a feasible and straightforward solvothermal treatment. The prepared Ni-Sn3O4/g-C3N4 S-scheme heterojunction could improve the transfer and separation efficiency of photo-generated electron-hole pairs by facilitating the electrons transfer from Ni-Sn3O4 to g-C3N4. Moreover, the photocatalytic H2 production performance was ameliorated due to the established internal electric field and the energy band bending in Ni-Sn3O4/g-C3N4 S-scheme heterojunction. Meanwhile, the doping Ni in Sn3O4 exposed more active sites in Ni-Sn3O4/g-C3N4 heterojunction for producing H2. As a result, Ni-Sn3O4/g-C3N4-5 photocatalyst exhibited outstanding H2 yields of 1961 µmol h−1 g−1 under visible light irradiation in comparison with pure Ni-Sn3O4 (12 µmol h−1 g−1) and bared g-C3N4 (1391 µmol h−1 g−1). Furthermore, the S-scheme mechanism in Ni-Sn3O4/g-C3N4 heterojunction for producing H2 by oxidizing H2O was proposed. This study provides helpful guide for developing efficient g-C3N4-based photocatalytic systems.

Effects of Diamines on the Optical Properties of Poly(ether imide)s Derived from 2,2-Bis[4-(3,4-dicarboxyphenoxy)phenyl]propane Dianhydride (BPADA)

Linshuang Li,Yong Xu,Jianfei Che,Xiaohong Liu,Wei Zhao,Zhifeng Ye 한국고분자학회 2019 Macromolecular Research Vol.27 No.9

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of diamines with ether group or/and trifluoromethyl (-CF3) group on the optical properties of polyimides. A series of poly(ether imide)s (PEIs) (III) were prepared from 2,2-bis[4-(3,4-dicarboxyphenoxy) phenyl]propane dianhydride (BPADA) with various aromatic diamines (Ia-h) including non-fluorinated diamines (Ia-d) and the corresponding trifluoromethyl-substituted diamines (Ie-h). The fluorinated PEIs IIIe-h based on fluorinated diamines were nearly colorless with cutoff absorption wavelength (λ0) below 370 nm and with solubility higher than that of the corresponding CF3-free analogues (IIIa-d). Meanwhile, they had lower dielectric constants in the range of 2.91-3.21 at 1 MHz coupled with water absorptions below 0.70% and contact angles against water beyond 108o. The III series had tensile strength of 84.3-94.4 MPa, modulus of elasticity of 3.6-8.9 GPa and elongation at break of 9.4-25.3%, together with temperatures of 5% weight loss (T5%) beyond 510 °C. Compared to the IV series based on 4,4’-(hexafluoroisopropylidene) diphthalic anhydride (6FDA), the corresponding III series exhibited better thermal and mechanical properties coupled with good optical properties, especially the fluorinated PEIs IIIe-h.