Comparison of all-cause mortality associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease in Taiwan MJ cohort

Cheng Wei-Chun,Chen Hua-Fen,Cheng Hsiu-Chi,Li Chung-Yi 한국역학회 2024 Epidemiology and Health Vol.46 No.-

OBJECTIVES The global burden of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is rising. An alternative term, metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), instead highlights the associated metabolic risks. This cohort study examined patient classifications under NAFLD and MAFLD criteria and their associations with all-cause mortality. METHODS Participants who attended a paid health check-up (2012-2015) were included. Hepatic steatosis (HS) was diagnosed ultrasonographically. NAFLD was defined as HS without secondary causes, while MAFLD involved HS with overweight/obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, or ≥2 metabolic dysfunctions. Mortality was tracked via the Taiwan Death Registry until November 30, 2022. RESULTS Of 118,915 participants, 36.9% had NAFLD, 40.2% had MAFLD, and 32.9% met both definitions. Participants with NAFLD alone had lower mortality, and those with MAFLD alone had higher mortality, than individuals with both conditions. After adjustment for potential confounders, the hazard ratios (HRs) for all-cause mortality were 1.08 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.78 to 1.48) for NAFLD alone and 1.26 (95% CI, 1.09 to 1.47) for MAFLD alone, relative to both conditions. Advanced fibrosis conferred greater mortality risk, with HRs of 1.93 (95% CI, 1.44 to 2.58) and 2.08 (95% CI, 1.61 to 2.70) for advanced fibrotic NAFLD and MAFLD, respectively. Key mortality risk factors for NAFLD and MAFLD included older age, unmarried status, higher body mass index, smoking, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, and advanced fibrosis. CONCLUSIONS All-cause mortality in NAFLD and/or MAFLD was linked to cardiometabolic covariates, with risk attenuated after multivariable adjustment. A high fibrosis-4 index score, indicating fibrosis, could identify fatty liver disease cases involving elevated mortality risk.

The Emergence of Tayouan Harbour in 1624

Cheng, Wei-Chung(정웨이중) 한국해양대학교 국제해양문제연구소 2014 해항도시문화교섭학 Vol.0 No.11

In comparison with some other major harbours around the China Seas which may have lasted for a millennium , Tayouan bay did not become a prominent harbour until the VOC (Dutch East India Company) arrived there in 1624. In this article, the author intends to clarify the drivers behind its sudden rise. The rise of Tayouan harbour is a result of multiple interactions of different forces displayed on a specific geopolitical terrain which was created by two large-scale military confrontations in Northeast and Southeast Asia. The Imjin war (1592-1598) between China, Korea and Japan caused a political split between China and Japan, while the expanding demands in commerce compelled traders of both countries to conduct transit trade in Southeast Asian harbours. When in 1617 the Japanese Shogunate eased its pursuit of direct trade with China via Taiwan, the Fukien authorities and Japanese Red Seal (Go-shuin) operators reached a tacit agreement to keep Tayouan bay in a ‘stateless’ status. In the same year, a strong typhoon suddenly struck the Philippines Islands, and destroyed most of the Iberian fleet that originally planned to sweep the Dutch fleet from Asia once and for all. This incidental vacuum of Iberian naval forces allowed the VOC to blockade Iberian transit harbours like Macau and Manila and to harass Chinese junks bound to these harbours. In response to this threat, overseas Chinese traders residing in Japan thus planned to exploit Tayouan bay as an exceptional transit harbour. In 1622, the VOC aimed to take over Macau but failed; instead of mounting further attacks on Macau, Company forces occupied the Pescadores in order to gain access to the Chinese market. After their request for free trade was denied by the Chinese Ming court, the Dutch adapted to the strategy of overseas Chinese in Japan, and retreated to Tayouan bay to engage in the transit trade. When the corridor of silk-for-silver trade was stabilized in Tayouan bay in the 1630s, the ‘stateless’ status of Taiwan was thus altered forever, and it has remained on the map of regional geo-politics ever since.

Slide Session : OS-CAD-06 ; Cardiology : Erythrocytosis Increased One-Year Mortality in Patients with St-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction Un-dergoing Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

( Cheng Wei Liu ),( Yi Ching Lin ),( Chung Ming Tu ),( Pen Chih Liao ),( Kuan Change Chen ),( Yen Wen Wu ) 대한내과학회 2014 대한내과학회 추계학술발표논문집 Vol.2014 No.1

Background: Anemia is associated with poor prognosis in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction(STEMI). However, it is unclear that erythrocytosis has protective effect in these populations. Hence, we conducted a retrospective cohort study to examine the relationship between erythrocytosis and mortality in patients with STEMI undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI ). Materials and Methods: We screened 1,156 consecutive patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI in a single center during Feb 2007 and January 2012. There were 201 missing data for door-to-balloon time and 4 missing data for hemoglobin. Of 951 analyzable patients, they were divided into anemia (Hemoglobin<13.0mg/dl in men or <12.0mg/dl in women), normal hemoglobin, and erythrocytosis (hemoglobin =16.0mg/dl in men or =15.0mg/dl in women) groups. The study end point was one-year mortality. Results: There were 148, 535, and 268 patients in anemia, normal hemoglobin, and erythrocytosis groups, respectively. Patients in the anemia group were older and had lower body mass index than other two groups. There was more female, smokers, hypertension, and diabetes in the anemia group. One-year mortality rates were 16.2%, 6.5%, 2.6% (P<0.001) respectively. In univariate proportional hazards regression analysis, age, hemoglobin, total cholesterol, statin use, glycoprotein llb/llla inhibitor use, and TIMI risk score were associated with 1-year mortality in three groups. After adjustment for potential confounders, hemoglobin levels remained an independent predictor of one-year mortality in both anemia (hazard ratio 0.697, 95% CI 0.528-0.960) and erythrocytosis group (hazard ratio 3.129, 95% CI 1.1.474-6.642). Conclusions: Patients with STEMI and anemia had the worst outcomes than normal hemoglobin and erythrocytosis groups. Expectedly, hemoglobin had the protective effect on prognosis in anemia group. However, a hemoglobin level was an independent risk factor of one-year mortality in those with erythrocytosis.

An optimal design for axial-flow fan blade: theoretical and experimental studies

Cheng-Hung Huang,Chung-Wei Gau 대한기계학회 2012 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.26 No.2

The technique of inverse design problem (IDP) for optimizing the three-dimensional shape of an axial-flow fan blade based on the desired airflow rate is presented in this work. The desired volume flow rate of air can be obtained from the airflow rate of the existing axialflow fan by multiplying it with a constant which is greater than unity. The geometry of the redesigned fan blade is generated using numerous design variables, which enables the shape of the fan blade to be constructed completely; thus the technique of parameter estimation for the inverse design problem can be used in this study. Results show that with the redesigned optimal fan blade, the airflow rate of fan can be increased, thereby improving the performance of the axial-flow fan. Finally, to verify the validity of this work, the prototypes of the original and optimal axial-flow fan blades are fabricated and fan performance tests are conducted with these blades on the basis of the AMCA-210-99 standard. The algorithm used in the present study can be applied to the blade design problem in any propulsion and power systems.

Rotary Inductive Power Transfer for LED Lighting Systems

Chung-Chuan Hou,Chia-Ming Chang,Wei-Hsiang Cheng,Hsien-Ching Huang 전력전자학회 2019 ICPE(ISPE)논문집 Vol.2019 No.5

Rotary inductive power transfer (RIPT) systems have the advantages in wireless power transfer capability, unlimited angular position operation, and flexible light-emitting diode (LED) lighting application. Therefore, this study discusses the performances of RIPT for LED lighting systems in the frequency domain and time domain. The characteristics of the RIPT for LED lighting systems are measured under varied air gap, changed load, and so on. The simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the performances of the proposed scheme.

Fuzzy Time Series Model Based on Fitting Function for Forecasting TAIEX Index

Chung-Ho Su,Ching-Hsue Cheng,Wei-Lun Tsai 보안공학연구지원센터 2013 International Journal of Hybrid Information Techno Vol.6 No.1

Crystallization and Luminescence Properties of Polypropylene Fiber Containing Rare Earth Aluminates and a Sorbital Derivative Nucleating Agent

Wei-Jen Lai,Kuo-Chung Cheng 한국섬유공학회 2018 Fibers and polymers Vol.19 No.1

Polypropylene (PP) fibers with a sorbital derivative nucleating agent (SDN) and rare earth aluminates (SrAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+) were prepared via melt compounding and melt-spinning. Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics and luminescence properties of PP and luminous PP fibers were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized optical microscopy (POM), and decay of the afterglow test. The crystallization temperature determined by DSC increasedwith the addition of the nucleating agent during the cooling process from 200 oC. The Jeziorny model successfully described the non-isothermal crystallization behavior of the luminous PP with various SDN contents. The crystal grain size and morphology of the sample with the SDN was different from that without nucleating agent. The luminous PP fabric having high initial brightness intensity, approximately 461 mcd g-1m-2, can be prepared with addition of 10 wt% of rare earthaluminates and 0.5 % of SDN.

Bubble-Generating Carrier Systems for Localized Controlled Release

Chieh-Cheng Huang,Ming-Fan Chung,Ko-Jie Chen,Wei-Tso Chia,Kun-Ju Lin,Hsing-Wen Sung 한국고분자학회 2016 한국고분자학회 학술대회 연구논문 초록집 Vol.41 No.2

Development of human IgE biosensor using Sezawa-mode SAW devices

Ying-Chung Chen,Wei-Tsai Chang,Chien-Chuan Cheng,Jing-Yi Shen,Kuo-Sheng Kao 한국물리학회 2014 Current Applied Physics Vol.14 No.4

This paper reports Sezawa-mode surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices with via-isolated cavity to construct the allergy biosensor. To fabricate Sezawa-mode SAW devices, the RF magnetron sputtering method for the growth of piezoelectric ZnO thin films are adopted and influences of the sputtering parameters are investigated. The optimal substrate temperature of 300 C, RF power of 120 W and sputtering pressure of 2 Pa were used to deposit piezoelectric ZnO films with a smooth surface, uniform grain size and strongly c-axis-orientated crystallization. A back-etched SAW resonator is used in this study. The wet etching of (100)-oriented silicon wafers is used to form a back-side cavity which is critical to the formation of a hopper cavity for holding bio-analytes. The remaining membrane structure silicon thickness was 25 mm. In this report, the chrome (Cr, 12 nm)/gold (Au, 66 nm) layer was initially deposited onto the sensing area of SAW devices as the binding layer for biochemical sensor. The resonance frequency of the Sezawa-mode SAW device is 1.497 GHz. The maximum sensitivity of the Sezawa-mode is calculated to be 4.44 106 cm2/g for human immunoglobulin-E (IgE) detection. The stability for human IgE detection is calculated to be 80% and the variation of the stability 3% was obtained after several tests.

Circulation of boron resources from desalination brine through solvent extraction (TMPD/2-ethylhexanol with kerosene) and ionic-liquid extraction (ALiCy/kerosene) methods

Lee Cheng-Han,진위성,Chen Wei-Chung 한국화학공학회 2023 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.40 No.10

Desalination technologies have been widely implemented since the 1970s to solve the problem of freshwater scarcity. However, brine, the by-product of the desalination process, which has a higher salinity and total dissolved solids (TDS) than seawater, can cause severe environmental problems. For instance, brine could change the composition and temperature of seawater, decrease dissolved oxygen, and influence the organism’s habitat. Under this circumstance, circulating critical resources from brine is acceptable for minimizing brine disposal. This study employed two extraction systems (TMPD, 2,2,4-trimethyl-1,3-pentanediol and ALiCy, trioctyl/decylmethylammonium-bis(2,4,4-trimethilpentyl) phosphinate), which are solvent extraction and ionic liquid extraction, to recover boron from brine. The parameters, including pH value, concentrations of TMPD and ALiCy, O/A (organic/aqueous) and I/A (ionic liquid/aqueous) ratios, contacting time, and reaction temperature of boron extraction through the TMPD and ALiCy systems, would be optimized. The results reveal that extraction efficiencies of TMPD and ALiCy systems were 93.8% and 72.3%, respectively. Moreover, different agents can be evaluated to strip boron from TMPD and ALiCy. The boron product and the extractants could then be generated and reused. Briefly, the environmental hazards caused by the desalination brine and boron resources can be reduced and circulated through this research with two different extraction systems.