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.

Moscatilin Induces Apoptosis and Mitotic Catastrophe in Human Esophageal Cancer Cells

Chien-An Chen,Chien-Chih Chen,Chien-Chang Shen,Hen-Hong Chang,Yu-Jen Chen 한국식품영양과학회 2013 Journal of medicinal food Vol.16 No.10

Moscatilin, a bibenzyl derivative from the orchid Dendrobium loddigesii, has been shown to possess anticancer activity. We examined the effect of moscatilin on human esophageal cancer cells, including squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (ADC) cells and its possible mechanisms. Moscatilin suppressed the growth of both the histological cell lines in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Morphological changes indicative of apoptosis and mitotic catastrophe were observed following moscatilin treatment. The population of cells in the sub-G1 phase and polyploidy phase significantly increased after treatment. Immunofluorescence revealed multipolar mitosis and subsequent multinucleation in moscatilin-treated cells, indicating the development of mitotic catastrophe. Western blot showed a marked increase in expressions of polo-like kinase 1 and cyclin B1 after exposure to moscatilin. In conclusion, moscatilin inhibits growth and induces apoptosis and mitotic catastrophe in human esophageal SCC- and ADC-derived cell lines, indicating that moscatilin has broad potential against esophageal cancer

Low Gate Leakage Current HFET Structure Fabricated by Using a Step-free Airbridge Gate Process

Feng-Tso Chien,Chien-Liang Chan,Chi-Ling Wang,Chien-Nan Liao,Yao-Tsung Tsai,Hsien-Chin Chiu 한국물리학회 2010 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.56 No.3

Conventional heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs) have a high gate leakage current due to the gate electrode being in contact with the exposed channel layer and with the carrier-providing layer on the mesa sidewall. In this study, we use a new step-free (SF) air-bridge gate structure to reduce the gate leakage and improve the breakdown voltage. The proposed structure does not increase any MASKs as compared with the conventional process. In addition, this new structure promises a gate-source capacitance smaller than those of conventional heterostructure FET devices. Consequently, the high-frequency performance of the HFETs using the proposed structure can be improved.

Male Infertility Increases the Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study in Taiwan

Chen Peng-Ciao,Chen Yu-Ju,Yang Chia-Chen,Lin Ting-Ti,Huang Chien-Chu,Chung Chi-Hsiang,Sun Chien-An,Chien Wu-Chien 대한남성과학회 2022 The World Journal of Men's Health Vol.40 No.3

Purpose: Some evidence suggests that male infertility increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the evidence in Asian populations is relatively scarce. The aim of this study is to determine whether male infertility increases the risk of CVDs. Materials and Methods: We used inpatient and outpatient data for the years 2000 to 2015 from the Taiwanese Longitudinal Health Insurance Database. We enrolled 7,016 males over 18 years old and diagnosed with male infertility. Of these, 2,326 matched our inclusion criteria and were assigned to the study group. For each infertility patient, four comparison patients were frequency-matched by age and index date to form a control cohort comprising 9,304 patients. Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to estimate the association between male infertility and CVDs. Results: After a 15-year follow-up, the incidence rate of CVDs was higher in the infertility group than the control group (1,460.23 and 1,073.70 per 100,000 person-years, respectively). The Cox proportional hazards regression analysis revealed that the adjusted HR for CVDs was 1.472 for the infertility group (95% CI, 1.288–1.683; p<0.001) relative to the control group. The Kaplan–Meier analysis of the cumulative incidence of CVDs in the two groups showed that the cumulative risk curve for CVDs was significantly higher for the infertility group than the control group. Conclusions: This study shows that men with infertility have a higher risk of developing incident CVDs. In the future, healthcare providers should pay attention to these patients because of their higher health risks.

Inflationary Threshold Effects in the Relationship between Financial Development and Economic Growth:Evidence from Taiwan and Japan

Chien-Chiang Lee,Swee Yoong Wong 중앙대학교 경제연구소 2005 Journal of Economic Development Vol.30 No.1

This paper employs a threshold regression model to investigate the existence of inflation threshold effects in the relationship between financial development and economic growth. A specific question that is addressed in this paper is what the threshold inflation rates are for Taiwan and Japan. Results indicate that there is one inflation threshold value in Taiwan, whereas there are two in Japan. Earlier studies support the view that financial development may promote economic growth. However, the conclusion drawn from the empirical findings suggests that it can only be achieved under low and moderate inflation. In addition, the threshold level of inflation below which financial development significantly promotes growth is estimated at 7.25% for Taiwan and 9.66% for Japan. The empirical findings from the threshold regression model indicate that inflationary threshold for both countries occurred in the high inflation period of the world energy crises in the 70s.

The role of Asia-Pacific organizations in maintaining regional security

Chien Peng Chung 한국국방연구원 2008 The Korean Journal of Defense Analysis Vol.20 No.2

There are two regular regional security organizations in Asia*the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)-through which regional states are involved in managing security pertaining to Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific, respectively. Since 2001, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meetings have addressed aspects of economic security. Whereas the SCO seems well institutionalized and purposeful, the ARF appears weakly structured and ineffective. This is because, while member states of the SCO are generally trustful of one another and hold in common most security objectives, concerns, and norms in the organization, many member states of the ARF have uneasy relations among themselves and share few security objectives, concerns, and norms in the forum. Moreover, while the SCO represents priority multilateral foreign and security policy interests for the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Russia, its two most important constituents, the ARF represents a secondary or fall-back position for the bilateral-first foreign and security policy relations of its major players like Japan, United States, and the PRC.

Synergistic Interactions Between Chitinase ChiCW and Fungicides Against Plant Fungal Pathogens

( Chien Jui Huang ),( Chao Ying Chen ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2008 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.18 No.4

Design of the Multiple-rate Robust Controller for Wireless Networked Control Systems

Chien-Liang Lai,Pau-Lo Hsu 제어로봇시스템학회 2008 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2008 No.10

This paper integrates the IEEE 802.11g ad-hoc wireless network and the control area network (CAN) in the present network control systems (NCS) or wireless-NCS (WNCS). Both the TCP and the CAN protocols are adopted as the communication gateway in a remote control system. The time delay between the application layer of the client and the application layer of the remote control target has been measured and analyzed in this paper. Experimental results on an AC 400W servo motor indicate that the communication jam mainly causes the instability due to the induced time delay. In this paper, by applying the adaptive Smith predictor with the switching sampling time, satisfactory control performance of WNCS can be obtained even though the time delay seriously increases. Moreover, the feasibility of the proposed WNCS has been proven through experimental results.

Styrylpyrone Derivative Induces Apoptosis through the Up-Regulation of Bax in the Human Breast Cancer Cell Line MCF-7

Chien, Alvin Lee Teck,Pihie, Azimahtol Hawariah Lope Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biol 2003 Journal of biochemistry and molecular biology Vol.36 No.3

In the fight against cancer, novel chemotherapeutic agents are constantly being sought to complement existing drugs. Various studies have presented evidence that the apoptosis that is induced by these anticancer agents is implicated in tumor regression, and Bcl-2 family genes play a part in apoptosis following treatment with various stimuli. Here, we present data that a styrylpyrone derivative (SPD) that is extracted from the plant Goniothalamus sp. showed cytotoxic effects on the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7. SPD significantly increased apoptosis in MCF-7 cells, as visualized by phase contrast microscopy and evaluated by the Tdt-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling assay and nuclear morphology. Western blotting and immunostaining revealed up-regulation of the proapoptotic Bax protein expression. SPD, however, did not affect the expression of the anti-apoptotic protein, Bcl-2. These results, therefore, suggest SPD as a potent cytotoxic agent on MCF-7 cells by inducing apoptosis through the modulation of Bax levels.

Analysis, Design, and Implementation of a High-Performance Rectifier

Chien-Ming Wang,Chin-Wang Tao,Yu-Hao Lai 전력전자학회 2016 JOURNAL OF POWER ELECTRONICS Vol.16 No.3

A high-performance rectifier is introduced in this study. The proposed rectifier combines the conventional pulse width modulation, soft commutation, and instantaneously average line current control techniques to promote circuit performance. The voltage stresses of the main switches in the rectifier are lower than those in conventional rectifier topologies. Moreover, conduction losses of switches in the rectifier are certainly lower than those in conventional rectifier topologies because the power current flow path when the main switches are turned on includes two main power semiconductors and the power current flow path when the main switches are turned off includes one main power semiconductor. The rectifier also adopts a ZCS-PWM auxiliary circuit to derive the ZCS function for power semiconductors. Thus, the problem of switching losses and EMI can be improved. In the control strategy, the controller uses the average current control mode to achieve fixed-frequency current control with stability and low distortion. A prototype has been implemented in the laboratory to verify circuit theory.