2022 Taiwan clinical multicenter expert consensus and recommendations for thyroid radiofrequency ablation

Wei-Che Lin,Wen-Chieh Chen,Pei-Wen Wang,Yi-Chia Chan,Yen-Hsiang Chang,Harn-Shen Chen,Szu-Tah Chen,Wei-Chih Chen,Kai-Lun Cheng,Shun-Yu Chi,Pi-Ling Chiang,Chen-Kai Chou,Feng-Fu Chou,Shun-Chen Huang,Feng 대한초음파의학회 2023 ULTRASONOGRAPHY Vol.42 No.3

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive management strategy that has been widely applied for benign and recurrent malignant thyroid lesions as an alternative to surgery in Taiwan. Members of academic societies for specialists in interventional radiology, endocrinology, and endocrine surgery collaborated to develop the first consensus regarding thyroid RFA in Taiwan. The modified Delphi method was used to reach a consensus. Based on a comprehensive review of recent and valuable literature and expert opinions, the recommendations included indications, pre-procedural evaluations, procedural techniques, post-procedural monitoring, efficacy, and safety, providing a comprehensive review of the application of RFA. The consensus effectively consolidates advice regarding thyroid RFA in clinical practice for local experts.

The Technical Benefits of Future GNSS for Taiwan

Kai-Wei Chiang,Ming Yang,Meng-Lun Tsai,Yao-Yun Chang,Chi-Kuang Chu 한국항해항만학회 2006 한국항해항만학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2 No.-

The next decade promises drastic improvements and additions to global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). Plans for GPS modernization include a civilian code measurement on the L2 frequency and a new L5 signal at 1176.45MHz. Current speculations indicate that a fully operational constellation with these improvements could be available by 2013. Simultaneously, the Galileo Joint Undertaking is in the development and validation stages of introducing a parallel GNSS called Galileo. Galileo will also transmit freely available satellite navigation signals on three frequencies and is scheduled to be fully operational as early as 2008. In other words, a dual system receiver (e.g., GPS+GALILEO) for general users can access six civil frequencies transmitted by at least fifty eights navigation satellites in space. The advent of GALILEO and the modernization of GPS raise a lot of attention to the study of the compatibility and interoperability of the two systems. A number of performance analyses have been conducted in a global scale with respect to availability, reliability, accuracy and integrity in different simulated scenarios (such as open sky and urban canyons) for the two systems individually and when integrated. Therefore, the scope of this article aims at providing the technical benefits analysis for Taiwan specifically in terms of the performance indices mentioned above in a local scale, especially in typical urban canyon scenarios. The conclusions gained by this study will be applied by the Land Survey Bureau of Taiwanese as the guideline for developing future GNSS tracking facilities and dual GNSS processing module for precise surveying applications in static and kinematic modes.

Stability Analysis of Perforated Plate Type Single Stage Suspension Fluidized Bed Without Downcomer

Lu, Wei Ming,Ju, Sheau Pyng,Tung, Kuo Lun,Lu, Yu Chang 한국화학공학회 1999 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.16 No.6

The stability of operation of a perforated plate type suspension bed without downcomer was analyzed experimentally and numerically. The effects of the feed rate, the gas flowrate and the opening ratio and hole diameter of the perforated plates on the operating stability of the fluidized bed were examined. A full three-dimensional discrete particle simulation method proposed by Tsuji [1993] was performed to study the formation of a stable suspension fluidized bed. The course and behavior of particles that formed a dense and stable fluidized bed are discussed. Both the experimental and simulation results of this study show that the process of forming a suspension bed can be categorized into (i) an induced stage, (ii) a growing stage, and (iii) a stable stage. The velocity of gas through the orifice directly controls the formation of the bed while the solid flow rate over a considerable range maintains a balanced hold-up in the suspension bed system without downcomers. The existence of a multiplicity of steady states corresponding to different gas flow rates, for the same feed rate and perforated plate type, was observed. Results show that the design of the plate, the particle feed rate and the gas velocity distribution through the hole affect the stability of the fluidized bed. The simulated results agree qualitatively well with experimental observations.

Design of a Fuzzy Logic-based Plant Quality Estimation System base on Morphological Features

( Chung-liang Chang ),( Wei-lun Fu ),( Jun-yong Tian ) 한국농업기계학회 2018 한국농업기계학회 학술발표논문집 Vol.23 No.1

Automatic growth monitoring of plants technique is crucial for the development of biodiversity and innovative agriculture. Traditional manual recording mode is more complicated and time-consuming, which requires professional skills and expertise background, which is comparatively difficult for non-expert users. In this paper, the fuzzy logic inference method is adopted to estimate the growth quality of plant based on leaf area, leaf number, and the contour area of plant. The image processing technique is employed to conduct plant morphological measurement, including hue of transformation, edge detection, and color histogram. The proposed system has been tested and evaluated successfully in a plant growth chamber. The results show that the estimation error of proposed system is in the range of acceptance for plant quality modeling.

REVIEW : Intestinal Stricture in Crohn`s Disease

( Chen Wang Chang ),( Jau Min Wong ),( Chien Chih Tung ),( I Lun Shih ),( Horng Yuan Wang ),( Shu Chen Wei ) 대한장연구학회 2015 Intestinal Research Vol.13 No.1

Crohn`s disease (CD) is a disease with chronic inflammation of unknown etiology involving any part of the gastrointestinal tract. The incidence and prevalence of CD are increasing recently in Asia. Half of the CD patients will have intestinal complica-tions, such as strictures or fistulas, within 20 years after diagnosis. Twenty-five percentage of CD patients have had at least one small bowel stricture and 10% have had at least one colonic stricture and lead to significant complications. Most of these pa-tients will require at least one surgery during their lifetime. Early diagnosis and evaluation with adequate managements for the patients can prevent disability and mortality of these patient. Here, we reviewed the current incidence of CD with stricture, the etiology of stricture, and how to diagnose and manage the stricture. (Intest Res 2015;13:19-26)

Irreducible Elbow Dislocation Associated with Hill-Sachs-like Lesion over the Capitellum

Hung-Kai Weng,Wei-Lun Chang,Ming-Long Yeh,Wei-Ren Su,Kai-Lan Hsu 대한견주관절의학회 2019 대한견주관절의학회지 Vol.22 No.1

Recent progresses in marine microbial-derived antiviral natural products

Yun‑Fei Teng,Li Xu,Mei‑Yan Wei,Chang‑Yun Wang,Yu‑Cheng Gu,Chang‑Lun Shao 대한약학회 2020 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.43 No.12

Viruses have always been a class of pathogenicmicroorganisms that threaten the health and safety of humanlife worldwide. However, for a long time, the treatment ofviral infections has been slow to develop, and only a fewantiviral drugs have been using clinically. Compared withthese from terrestrial environments, marine-derived microorganismscan produce active substances with more novelstructures and unique functions. From 2015 to 2019, 89antiviral compounds of 8 structural classes have been isolatedfrom marine microorganisms, of which 35 exhibit anti-H1N1 activity. This review surveys systematically marinemicrobial-derived natural products with antiviral activityand illustrates the impact of these compounds on antiviraldrug discovery research.

Tissue Quality Comparison Between Heparinized Wet Suction and Dry Suction in Endoscopic Ultrasound-Fine Needle Biopsy of Solid Pancreatic Masses: A Randomized Crossover Study

Lin Meng-Ying,Wu Cheng-Lin,Su Yung-Yeh,Huang Chien-Jui,Chang Wei-Lun,Sheu Bor-Shyang 거트앤리버 소화기연관학회협의회 2023 Gut and Liver Vol.17 No.2

Background/Aims: A high-quality sample allows for next-generation sequencing and the administration of more tailored precision medicine treatments. We aimed to evaluate whether heparinized wet suction can obtain higher quality samples than the standard dry-suction method during endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided biopsy of pancreatic masses. Methods: A prospective randomized crossover study was conducted. Patients with a solid pancreatic mass were randomly allocated to receive either heparinized wet suction first or dry suction first. For each method, two needle passes were made, followed by a switch to the other method for a total of four needle punctures. The primary outcome was the aggregated white tissue length. Histological blood contamination, diagnostic performance and adverse events were analyzed as secondary outcomes. In addition, the correlation between white tissue length and the extracted DNA amount was analyzed. Results: A total of 50 patients were enrolled, and 200 specimens were acquired (100 with heparinized wet suction and 100 with dry suction), with one minor bleeding event. The heparinized wet suction approach yielded specimens with longer aggregated white tissue length (11.07 mm vs 7.96 mm, p=0.001) and less blood contamination (p=0.008). A trend towards decreasing tissue quality was observed for the 2nd pass of the dry-suction method, leading to decreased diagnostic sensitivity and accuracy, although the accumulated diagnostic performance was comparable between the two suction methods. The amount of extracted DNA correlated positively to the white tissue length (p=0.001, Spearman̕s ρ=0.568). Conclusions: Heparinized wet suction for EUS tissue acquisition of solid pancreatic masses can yield longer, bloodless, DNA-rich tissue without increasing the incidence of adverse events (ClinicalTrials.gov. identifier NCT04707560).

Confirming Whether Fine Needle Biopsy Device Shortens the Learning Curve of Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Tissue Acquisition Without Rapid Onsite Evaluation

Meng-Ying Lin,Cheng-Lin Wu,Mitsuhiro Kida,Wei-Lun Chang,Bor-Shyang Sheu 대한소화기내시경학회 2021 Clinical Endoscopy Vol.54 No.3

Background/Aims: Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS)-guided tissue acquisition requires a long learning curve. We aimed tocompare the skill maturation curves between fine needle aspiration (FNA) and biopsy (FNB) for tissue acquisition. Methods: The initial 60 procedures performed by the trainee endosonographer (30 FNA vs. 30 FNB) were consecutively enrolled. The difference in procedure performance was compared between the two groups. Learning curves were assessed. Twenty additionalcases were subsequently enrolled to assess the consistency of performance in the FNB group. Results: The FNB group acquired larger tissue samples (2.35 vs. 0.70 mm2; p<0.001) with lower blood content (p=0.001) and highertissue quality (p=0.017) compared with the FNA group. In addition, the FNB group required less needle pass to establish a diagnosis(2.43 vs. 2.97; p=0.006). A threshold diagnostic sensitivity of ≥80% was achieved after performing 10 FNB procedures. The numberof needle passes significantly decreased after conducting 20 FNB procedures (1.80 vs. 2.70; p=0.041). The diagnostic sensitivity andnumber of needle passes remained the same in the subsequent FNB procedures. By contrast, this skill maturation phenomenon wasnot observed after performing 30 FNA procedures. Conclusions: In EUS-guided tissue acquisition, the FNB needle was more efficient and thus shortened the learning curve of EUSguidedtissue acquisition in trainee endosonographers.

Evaluation of Malignancy Risk of Ampullary Tumors Detected by Endoscopy Using 2-[18F]FDG PET/CT

Chuang Pei-Ju,Wang Hsiu-Po,Tien Yu-Wen,Chin Wei-Shan,Hsieh Min-Shu,Chen Chieh-Chang,Hong Tzu-Chan,Ko Chi-Lun,Wu Yen-Wen,Cheng Mei-Fang 대한영상의학회 2024 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.25 No.3

Objective: We aimed to investigate whether 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (2-[18F]FDG PET/CT) can aid in evaluating the risk of malignancy in ampullary tumors detected by endoscopy. Materials and Methods: This single-center retrospective cohort study analyzed 155 patients (79 male, 76 female; mean age, 65.7 ± 12.7 years) receiving 2-[18F]FDG PET/CT for endoscopy-detected ampullary tumors 5–87 days (median, 7 days) after the diagnostic endoscopy between June 2007 and December 2020. The final diagnosis was made based on histopathological findings. The PET imaging parameters were compared with clinical data and endoscopic features. A model to predict the risk of malignancy, based on PET, endoscopy, and clinical findings, was generated and validated using multivariable logistic regression analysis and an additional bootstrapping method. The final model was compared with standard endoscopy for the diagnosis of ampullary cancer using the DeLong test. Results: The mean tumor size was 17.1 ± 7.7 mm. Sixty-four (41.3%) tumors were benign, and 91 (58.7%) were malignant. Univariable analysis found that ampullary neoplasms with a blood-pool corrected peak standardized uptake value in earlyphase scan (SUVe) ≥ 1.7 were more likely to be malignant (odds ratio [OR], 16.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 7.13–36.18; P < 0.001). Multivariable analysis identified the presence of jaundice (adjusted OR [aOR], 4.89; 95% CI, 1.80–13.33; P = 0.002), malignant traits in endoscopy (aOR, 6.80; 95% CI, 2.41–19.20; P < 0.001), SUVe ≥ 1.7 in PET (aOR, 5.43; 95% CI, 2.00–14.72; P < 0.001), and PET-detected nodal disease (aOR, 5.03; 95% CI, 1.16–21.86; P = 0.041) as independent predictors of malignancy. The model combining these four factors predicted ampullary cancers better than endoscopic diagnosis alone (area under the curve [AUC] and 95% CI: 0.925 [0.874–0.956] vs. 0.815 [0.732–0.873], P < 0.001). The model demonstrated an AUC of 0.921 (95% CI, 0.816–0.967) in candidates for endoscopic papillectomy. Conclusion: Adding 2-[18F]FDG PET/CT to endoscopy can improve the diagnosis of ampullary cancer and may help refine therapeutic decision-making, particularly when contemplating endoscopic papillectomy.