Protective Effect of Millettia reticulata Benth Against $CCl_4$-Induced Hepatic Damage and Inflammatory Action in Rats

Hsu, Chien-Chen,Hsu, Chin-Lin,Tsai, Shao-En,Fu, Timothy Yu-Chi,Yen, Gow-Chin The Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition 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 $CCl_4$-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 $CCl_4$. Pretreatment with WEMRB or PCA significantly lowered the $CCl_4$-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 $CCl_4$ 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 $CCl_4$-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 $CCl_4$-induced Sprague-Dawley rats.

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.

Tamoxifen and the Risk of Parkinson’s Disease in Female Patients with Breast Cancer in Asian People: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

Chien-Tai Hong,Lung Chan,Chaur-Jong Hu,Chien-Min Lin,Chien-Yeh Hsu,Ming-Chin Lin 한국유방암학회 2017 Journal of breast cancer Vol.20 No.4

Purpose: Whether tamoxifen affects the risk of neurodegenerative disease is controversial. This nationwide population-based study investigated the risk of Parkinson’s disease (PD) associated with tamoxifen treatment in female patients with breast cancer using Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database. Methods: A total of 5,185 and 5,592 female patients with breast cancer who did and did not, respectively, receive tamoxifen treatment between 2000 and 2009 were included in the study. Patients who subsequently developed PD were identified. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to compare the risk of PD between the aforementioned groups. Results: Tamoxifen did not significantly increase the crude rate of developing PD in female patients with breast cancer (tamoxifen group, 16/5,169; non-tamoxifen group, 11/5,581; p=0.246). Tamoxifen did not significantly increase the adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) for subsequently developing PD (aHR, 1.310; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.605–2.837; p= 0.494). However, tamoxifen significantly increased the risk of PD among patients followed up for more than 6 years (aHR, 2.435; 95% CI, 1.008–5.882; p=0.048). Conclusion: Tamoxifen treatment may increase the risk of PD in Taiwanese female patients with breast cancer more than 6 years after the initiation of treatment.

Symbol Detection in Low-Resolution Images using a Novel Method

Kuang-Chin Tai,Chien-Hsu Chen 보안공학연구지원센터 2014 International Journal of Control and Automation Vol.7 No.12

The ability to detect taxis, pedestrian walk symbols, zebra crossings, and straight line tactile guide paths and junctions is essential for blind people in any city. This work applies a novel method that detects automatically these five targets via their colors, geometric elements and structural features. To reduce processing time, this method is tailored to low-resolution images that are roughly 80 x 60 pixels. Additionally, another novel method based on the Hough Transform can recognize straight lines, an important geometric element, in low-resolution images. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method are validated experimentally.

Self-tuning Fuzzy PI Control for Laser Power Stabilization

Chin-Sheng Chen,Bo-Ming Chiu,Chien-Hsu Chen 제어로봇시스템학회 2011 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2011 No.10

This paper proposes a self-tuning fuzzy PI controller to stabilize the laser power. The laser system is a nonlinear system due to its complexity and easily affected by environment conditions. However, traditional PI controller cannot cope with this nonlinear and time varying system since the parameters of PI controller are fixed. This paper utilizes the fuzzy reasoning engine (FRE) to adjust the parameters of PI controller in order to overcome the above drawbacks. This control algorithm is implemented in Microchip dsPIC33FJ64GS606 microprocessor. The experimental results verify our proposed control algorithm can dramatically stabilize the laser output power and further improve the tracking performance when laser desired power command is changed.

Chrysophanol-induced Necrotic-like Cell Death through an Impaired Mitochondrial ATP Synthesis in Hep3B Human Liver Cancer Cells

Chien-Hang Ni,Jing-Gung Chung,Po-Yuan Chen,Hsu-Feng Lu,Jai-Sing Yang,Hui-Ying Huang,Shin-Hwar Wu,Siu-Wan Ip,Chin-Tung Wu,Su-Yin Chiang,Jaung-Geng Lin,W. Gibson Wood 대한약학회 2012 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.35 No.5

Liver cancer is the most common form of cancer in Taiwan and it usually responds to chemotherapy. However, patients often have side effects to the chemotherapeutic drugs. Thus new agents are urgently required to treat liver cancer. Chrysophanol, one of the anthraquinone derivatives, was reported to inhibit some human cancer cell growth which may be due to the induction of apoptosis similar to other anthraquinone derivatives though such actions have not been reported. In the present study, we reported that chrysophanol inhibits cell growth in Hep3B liver cancer cells based on the following observations: 1) induc cell morphological changes; 2) decreased percentage of viable cells; 3) induced S phase arrest of cell cycle progression; 4) induced DNA damage as measured by comet assay and DAPI staining. Chrysophanolinduced cell death however, seems to be related to necrotic processes rather than typical apoptosis. Chrysophanol induced reactive oxygen species and Ca2+ production and decreased mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) and ATP levels in Hep3B cells. No effects were observed on known protein regulators of apoptosis such as Bax and Bcl-2. Chrysophanolinduced cell death took place independently of caspase-8 and -9. Based on our findings, we propose that chrysophanol reduces cellular ATP levels causing a drop in energy resulting in necrotic-like cell death.

Epidemiological trend in inflammatory bowel disease in Taiwan from 2001 to 2015: a nationwide population-based study

Hsu-Heng Yen,Meng-Tzu Weng,Chien-Chih Tung,Yu-Ting Wang,Yuan Ting Chang,Chin-Hao Chang,Ming-Jium Shieh,Jau-Min Wong,Shu-Chen Wei 대한장연구학회 2019 Intestinal Research Vol.17 No.1

Background/Aims: Incidences of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and Crohn’s disease (CD), havebeen increasing in Asia. In this study, we report the relevant clinical characteristics and determined the epidemiological trend ofIBD in Taiwan from 2001 to 2015. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to analyze data recorded from January 2001through December 2015 in the registered database compiled by the National Health Insurance and provided by the Ministry ofHealth and Welfare, Taiwan. Results: A total of 3,806 patients with catastrophic IBD illness were registered from 2001 to 2015 inTaiwan (CD, 919; UC, 2,887). The crude incidence of CD increased from 0.17/100,000 in 2001 to 0.47/100,000 in 2015, whereasthat of UC increased from 0.54/100,000 in 2001 to 0.95/100,000 in 2015. The prevalence of CD increased from 0.6/100,000 in2001 to 3.9/100,000 in 2015, whereas that of UC increased from 2.1/100,000 in 2001 to 12.8/100,000 in 2015. The male-to-femaleratio in the study sample was 2.19 for CD and 1.62 for UC. The median age of those registered with CD was lower than that ofthose registered for UC: 38.86 and 44.86 years, respectively. A significantly greater increase in CD incidence rate was identifiedamong 20 to 39-year-old compared with other age groups. Conclusions: Using Taiwan’s nationwide insurance database, we determinedthat the number of patients with CD increased more rapidly during the study period than the number of patients withUC, especially among age 20 to 39-year-old, resulting in a decreased UC-to-CD ratio. (Intest Res 2019;17:54-62)

Learning Curve of ROSA ONE Spine System for Transpedicular Screw Placement

Bing-Hung Hsu,Heng-Wei Liu,Kha-Liang Lee,Ming-Chin Lin,Gao Chen,Jang Yu,Chiao-Ling Chen,I-Chang Su,Chien-Min Lin 대한척추신경외과학회 2022 Neurospine Vol.19 No.2

Objective: The study investigated our institutional learning curve for the ROSA ONE spine system (ROSA) based on ROSA usage time. Methods: ROSA was designed to provide high accuracy for spinal pedicle screw placement through a built-in tracking technique. This study was conducted from November 2018 to January 2021. The time taken to complete each step of the robotic workflow was recorded. Patient demographics, comorbidities, surgical indications, and number of screw placements were examined in subgroup analysis. The Curve Fitting-General package (a part of NCSS 2021 software) was used to fit a mathematical model to the learning curve. Patient demographics, imaging data, and surgical time were reviewed retrospectively. Results: A total of 167 patients who had undergone surgery were included. The mean total ROSA usage time was 107.1 ± 27.3 minutes. The estimated learning rate was 90.4%, and the largest slope change occurred close to the time of the 20th surgery. The observed overall learning trend in the 4-screw group could be attributed to screw planning. The presence of scoliosis (p = 0.73) or spondylolisthesis (p = 0.70) did not significantly influence the mean total time (TT) for all patients; however, the mean TT differed significantly (p < 0.01) among subgroups stratified by body mass index, screw number placement, and thoracic spine involvement. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the learning curve for the various crucial steps of ROSA-guided pedicle screw placement. The indicative learning curve involved 20 patients who had undergone surgery.

Decellularized Human Umbilical Artery Exhibits Adequate Endothelialization in Xenogenic Transplantation

Kai Hsia,Tien-Shiang Wang,Chin-Su Liu,Chih-Kuan Su,Chien-Chin Chen,Chang-Ching Yeh,Hsinyu Lee,Chao-Ling Yao,Tsung-Yu Tseng,Shih-Hwa Chiou,Hsu Ma,Chih-Hsun Lin,Jen-Her Lu 한국생물공학회 2023 Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering Vol.28 No.3

Decellularized human umbilical arteries (dHUA) is an off-the-shelf graft that can potentially serve as vascular scaffolds in tissue engineering of small-diameter vascular grafts. This research aimed to investigate that dHUA could exhibit adequate endothelialization for a long term in xenogenic transplantation. 13 dHUAs were implanted in rat abdominal aortas up to 90 days. Rats were divided into three groups in terms of survival period: Group 1, one to seven days (n = 6); Group 2, 14 to 30 days (n = 4) and Group 3, 90 days (n = 3). The explants were analyzed by histological, immunohistochemistry and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) examination. Allograft implantation of 12 decellularized rat abdominal aortas` were processed the same way as the rat in order to make a comparison for survival rates (Group 1, n = 5; Group 2, n = 4; Group 3, n = 3). The results demonstrated that the survival rates of xenograft and allograft implantation were estimated to be 59.2% vs. 58.3% in Group 1, 50.7% vs. 58.3% in Group 2 and 3. Grafts harvested from Group 2 were showed CD31, endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression at intima, and α-smooth muscle actin, CD45, CD68 and CD168 expression at the tunica externa. A layer structure with obvious endothelialization and fiber regeneration/orientation could be inspected from the explants of Group 3. MRA demonstrated the patency of dHUA on day 30 and 90. In conclusion, more than 50% dHUA maintained patency in the xenogenic model till 90 days after surgery. A mature vessel-like functional structure with intact endothelial layer was observed then. This warrants further study in the reinforcement of decellularized vascular scaffolds.

Family History of Cancer and Head and Neck Cancer Risk in a Chinese Population

Huang, Yu-Hui Jenny,Lee, Yuan-Chin Amy,Li, Qian,Chen, Chien-Jen,Hsu, Wan-Lun,Lou, Pen-Jen,Zhu, Cairong,Pan, Jian,Shen, Hongbing,Ma, Hongxia,Cai, Lin,He, Baochang,Wang, Yu,Zhou, Xiaoyan,Ji, Qinghai,Zho Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.17

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate whether family history of cancer is associated with head and neck cancer risk in a Chinese population. Materials and Methods: This case-control study included 921 cases and 806 controls. Recruitment was from December 2010 to January 2015 in eight centers in East Asia. Controls were matched to cases with reference to sex, 5-year age group, ethnicity, and residence area at each of the centers. Results: We observed an increased risk of head and neck cancer due to first degree family history of head and neck cancer, but after adjustment for tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking and betel quid chewing the association was no longer apparent. The adjusted OR were 1.10 (95% CI=0.80-1.50) for family history of tobacco-related cancer and 0.96 (95%CI=0.75-1.24) for family history of any cancer with adjustment for tobacco, betel quid and alcohol habits. The ORs for having a first-degree relative with HNC were higher in all tobacco/alcohol subgroups. Conclusions: We did not observe a strong association between family history of head and neck cancer and head and neck cancer risk after taking into account lifestyle factors. Our study suggests that an increased risk due to family history of head and neck cancer may be due to shared risk factors. Further studies may be needed to assess the lifestyle factors of the relatives.