Showing papers by "Fu Jen Catholic University published in 2017"

Anti-obesogenic and antidiabetic effects of plants and mushrooms

Abstract: Obesity is reaching global epidemic proportions as a result of factors such as high-calorie diets and lack of physical exercise. Obesity is now considered to be a medical condition, which not only contributes to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and cancer, but also negatively affects longevity and quality of life. To combat this epidemic, anti-obesogenic approaches are required that are safe, widely available and inexpensive. Several plants and mushrooms that are consumed in traditional Chinese medicine or as nutraceuticals contain antioxidants, fibre and other phytochemicals, and have anti-obesogenic and antidiabetic effects through the modulation of diverse cellular and physiological pathways. These effects include appetite reduction, modulation of lipid absorption and metabolism, enhancement of insulin sensitivity, thermogenesis and changes in the gut microbiota. In this Review, we describe the molecular mechanisms that underlie the anti-obesogenic and antidiabetic effects of these plants and mushrooms, and propose that combining these food items with existing anti-obesogenic approaches might help to reduce obesity and its complications.

Self-Supplying O2 through the Catalase-Like Activity of Gold Nanoclusters for Photodynamic Therapy against Hypoxic Cancer Cells

Abstract: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) typically involves oxygen (O2 ) consumption and therefore suffers from greatly limited anticancer therapeutic efficacy in tumor hypoxia. Here, it is reported for the first time that amine-terminated, PAMAM dendrimer-encapsulated gold nanoclusters (AuNCs-NH2 ) can produce O2 for PDT via their intrinsic catalase-like activity. The AuNCs-NH2 not only show optimum H2 O2 consumption via the catalase-like activity over the physiological pH range (i.e., pH 4.8-7.4), but also extend such activity to acidic conditions. The possible mechanism is deduced from that the enriched tertiary amines of dendrimers are easily protonated in acidic solutions to facilitate the preadsorption of OH on the metal surface, thereby favorably triggering the catalase-like reaction. By taking advantage of the exciting feature on AuNCs-NH2 , the possibility to supply O2 via the catalase-like activity of AuNCs-NH2 for PDT against hypoxia of cancer cells was further studied. This proof-of-concept study provides a simple way to combine current O2 -dependent cancer therapy of PDT to overcome cancer cell hypoxia, thus achieving more effective anticancer treatments.

Single-trait and multi-trait genome-wide association analyses identify novel loci for blood pressure in African-ancestry populations

Abstract: Hypertension is a leading cause of global disease, mortality, and disability. While individuals of African descent suffer a disproportionate burden of hypertension and its complications, they have been underrepresented in genetic studies. To identify novel susceptibility loci for blood pressure and hypertension in people of African ancestry, we performed both single and multiple-trait genome-wide association analyses. We analyzed 21 genome-wide association studies comprised of 31,968 individuals of African ancestry, and validated our results with additional 54,395 individuals from multi-ethnic studies. These analyses identified nine loci with eleven independent variants which reached genome-wide significance (P < 1.25×10-8) for either systolic and diastolic blood pressure, hypertension, or for combined traits. Single-trait analyses identified two loci (TARID/TCF21 and LLPH/TMBIM4) and multiple-trait analyses identified one novel locus (FRMD3) for blood pressure. At these three loci, as well as at GRP20/CDH17, associated variants had alleles common only in African-ancestry populations. Functional annotation showed enrichment for genes expressed in immune and kidney cells, as well as in heart and vascular cells/tissues. Experiments driven by these findings and using angiotensin-II induced hypertension in mice showed altered kidney mRNA expression of six genes, suggesting their potential role in hypertension. Our study provides new evidence for genes related to hypertension susceptibility, and the need to study African-ancestry populations in order to identify biologic factors contributing to hypertension.

Effects of obesity on depression: A role for inflammation and the gut microbiota.

Abstract: Depression is a mental disorder associated with environmental, genetic and psychological factors. Recent studies indicate that chronic neuro-inflammation may affect brain physiology and alter mood and behavior. Consumption of a high-fat diet leads to obesity and chronic systemic inflammation. The gut microbiota mediates many effects of a high-fat diet on human physiology and may also influence the mood and behavior of the host. We review here recent studies suggesting the existence of a link between obesity, the gut microbiota and depression, focusing on the mechanisms underlying the effects of a high-fat diet on chronic inflammation and brain physiology. This body of research suggests that modulating the composition of the gut microbiota using prebiotics and probiotics may produce beneficial effects on anxiety and depression.

Association between type 2 diabetes and risk of cancer mortality: a pooled analysis of over 771,000 individuals in the Asia Cohort Consortium.

Abstract: The aims of the study were to evaluate the association between type 2 diabetes and the risk of death from any cancer and specific cancers in East and South Asians. Pooled analyses were conducted of 19 prospective population-based cohorts included in the Asia Cohort Consortium, comprising data from 658,611 East Asians and 112,686 South Asians. HRs were used to compare individuals with diabetes at baseline with those without diabetes for the risk of death from any cancer and from site-specific cancers, including cancers of the oesophagus, stomach, colorectum, colon, rectum, liver, bile duct, pancreas, lung, breast, endometrium, cervix, ovary, prostate, bladder, kidney and thyroid, as well as lymphoma and leukaemia. During a mean follow-up of 12.7 years, 37,343 cancer deaths (36,667 in East Asians and 676 in South Asians) were identified. Baseline diabetes status was statistically significantly associated with an increased risk of death from any cancer (HR 1.26; 95% CI 1.21, 1.31). Significant positive associations with diabetes were observed for cancers of the colorectum (HR 1.41; 95% CI 1.26, 1.57), liver (HR 2.05; 95% CI 1.77, 2.38), bile duct (HR 1.41; 95% CI 1.04, 1.92), gallbladder (HR 1.33; 95% CI 1.10, 1.61), pancreas (HR 1.53; 95% CI 1.32, 1.77), breast (HR 1.72; 95% CI 1.34, 2.19), endometrium (HR 2.73; 95% CI 1.53, 4.85), ovary (HR 1.60; 95% CI 1.06, 2.42), prostate (HR 1.41; 95% CI 1.09, 1.82), kidney (HR 1.84; 95% CI 1.28, 2.64) and thyroid (HR 1.99; 95% CI 1.03, 3.86), as well as lymphoma (HR 1.39; 95% CI 1.04, 1.86). Diabetes was not statistically significantly associated with the risk of death from leukaemia and cancers of the bladder, cervix, oesophagus, stomach and lung. Diabetes was associated with a 26% increased risk of death from any cancer in Asians. The pattern of associations with specific cancers suggests the need for better control (prevention, detection, management) of the growing epidemic of diabetes (as well as obesity), in order to reduce cancer mortality.

Toward Sustainable Livelihoods: Investigating the Drivers of Purchase Behavior for Green Products

Abstract: Green consumption involves comprehensive concerns that address the broad scope of sustainability, ecosystem balance, profit-generation and people. Identifying the factors that influence consumers' purchase behavior enables manufacturers to understand consumers' decision-making processes and can help them develop more environmentally beneficial products. However, scholars have recently found that a gap exists between environmental concern and consumers' actual purchase behavior. The purpose of this paper is to use cognitive behavior theory to investigate the drivers of green consumption behavior and the missing link in the concern–behavior gap. After collecting 375 valid questionnaires, this study validated the proposed conceptual model using structural equation modeling. The revised model indicates that environmental involvement, informational utility, green advertising skepticism and green trust are antecedent variables of consumer attitudes toward green products. Additionally, this study also provides a possible explanation of and remedies for the concern–behavior gap. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Environmental impact and sustainability study on biofuels for transportation applications

Abstract: A review on lifecycle analysis of energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission for various biofuel vehicles has been performed. Four potential vehicular biofuels are simulated: corn ethanol, switchgrass ethanol, soybean biodiesel, and bio-hydrogen from corn ethanol. A fuel-cycle model developed at Argonne National Laboratory, called the GREET model, is employed to evaluate the biomass-to-tank (BTT) energy and emissions impacts of various biofuels. The fuel economies of three types of vehicles, i.e., flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs), diesel vehicles (DVs), and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) are also determined using the simulation tools in MATLAB/Simulink. The effects of replacing conventional gasoline vehicles (GVs) by the aforementioned biofuel vehicles on the lifecycle GHG emission and energy consumption are examined. The results showed that the FFVs fueled with an ethanol fuel blend of 85% switchgrass ethanol and 15% gasoline (E85) have the greatest benefits in GHG emission reduction by 59.4%, but suffer from 101.3% total energy consumption compared to the baseline system.

Carrier-free, self-assembled pure drug nanorods composed of 10-hydroxycamptothecin and chlorin e6 for combinatorial chemo-photodynamic antitumor therapy in vivo.

Abstract: Carrier-free nanodrugs formulated from the supramolecular self-assembly of pure drug molecules have emerged as an innovative and promising strategy for tumor therapy. We report herein a new and simple method to directly assemble a small hydrophobic anticancer drug, 10-hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT), with a photosensitizer chlorin e6 (Ce6) to form stable, discrete nanorods (NRs), which not only circumvent the extreme hydrophobicity of HCPT but also incorporate two different modalities into one delivery system for combination therapy. Different ratios of HCPT to Ce6 were evaluated to afford the optimal nanoformulation. The as-prepared HCPT/Ce6 NRs were fully characterized, indicating a relatively uniform size of about 360 nm in length and 135 nm in width, and a surface charge of about -33 mV. Efficient internalization of the NRs by cancer cells was observed by using a confocal microscope and the generation of singlet oxygen species arising from the NRs under 655 nm laser irradiation was detected by DCFH-DA. As a result, very potent in vitro efficacy against several kinds of cancer cell lines was achieved through chemo-photodynamic dual therapy. The in vivo tumor suppression effect of HCPT/Ce6 NRs was verified on a subcutaneous xenograft mouse model, achieving almost complete inhibition of the tumor growth, which may benefit from the superiority of nanomedicine and combination therapy. The rationale of this facile and green strategy for carrier-free nanodrug formulation via the self-assembly approach might provide new opportunities for the development of combinatorial therapeutics for tumors.

Simvastatin-induced cell cycle arrest through inhibition of STAT3/SKP2 axis and activation of AMPK to promote p27 and p21 accumulation in hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by a poor prognosis and is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide. Simvastatin, an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, which decreases cholesterol synthesis by inhibiting mevalonate pathways and is widely used to treat cardiovascular diseases. Simvastatin exhibits anticancer effects against several malignancies. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the anticancer effects of simvastatin on HCC are still not well understood. In this study, we demonstrated simvastatin-induced G0/G1 arrest by inducing p21 and p27 accumulation in HepG2 and Hep3B cells. Simvastatin also promoted AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation, which induced p21 upregulation by increasing its transcription. Consistent with this finding, we found genetic silencing of AMPK reduced p21 expression; however, AMPK silencing had no effect on p27 expression in HCC cells. Simvastatin decreased Skp2 expression at the transcriptional level, which resulted in p27 accumulation by preventing proteasomal degradation, an effect mediated by signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) inhibition. Constitutive STAT3 activation maintained high-level Skp2 expression and lower level p27 expression and significantly prevented G0/G1 arrest in simvastatin-treated HCC cells. Mevalonate decreased simvastatin-induced AMPK activation and rescued phospho-STAT3 and Skp2 expression in HCC cells, which resulted in the prevention of G0/G1 arrest through inhibition of p21 and p27 accumulation. Moreover, simvastatin significantly decreased tumor growth in HepG2 xenograft mice. Consistently, we found that simvastatin also increased p21 and p27 expression in tumor sections by reducing Skp2 expression and inducing AMPK activation and STAT3 suppression in the same tumor tissues. Taken together, these findings are demonstrative of the existence of a novel pathway in which simvastatin induces G0/G1 arrest by upregulating p21 and p27 by activating AMPK and inhibiting the STAT3-Skp2 axis, respectively. The results identify novel targets that explain the beneficial anticancer effects of simvastatin treatment on HCC in vitro and in vivo.

An Efficient User Authentication and User Anonymity Scheme with Provably Security for IoT-Based Medical Care System.

Abstract: In recent years, with the increase in degenerative diseases and the aging population in advanced countries, demands for medical care of older or solitary people have increased continually in hospitals and healthcare institutions. Applying wireless sensor networks for the IoT-based telemedicine system enables doctors, caregivers or families to monitor patients’ physiological conditions at anytime and anyplace according to the acquired information. However, transmitting physiological data through the Internet concerns the personal privacy of patients. Therefore, before users can access medical care services in IoT-based medical care system, they must be authenticated. Typically, user authentication and data encryption are most critical for securing network communications over a public channel between two or more participants. In 2016, Liu and Chung proposed a bilinear pairing-based password authentication scheme for wireless healthcare sensor networks. They claimed their authentication scheme cannot only secure sensor data transmission, but also resist various well-known security attacks. In this paper, we demonstrate that Liu–Chung’s scheme has some security weaknesses, and we further present an improved secure authentication and data encryption scheme for the IoT-based medical care system, which can provide user anonymity and prevent the security threats of replay and password/sensed data disclosure attacks. Moreover, we modify the authentication process to reduce redundancy in protocol design, and the proposed scheme is more efficient in performance compared with previous related schemes. Finally, the proposed scheme is provably secure in the random oracle model under ECDHP.

A particle swarm approach for optimizing a multi-stage closed loop supply chain for the solar cell industry

Abstract: In order to implement sustainable strategies in a supply chain, enterprises should provide highly favorable and effective solutions for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, which brings out the issues of designing and managing a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC). This paper studies an integrated CLSC network design problem with cost and environmental concerns in the solar energy industry from sustainability perspectives. A multi-objective closed-loop supply chain design (MCSCD) model has been proposed, in consideration of many practical characteristics including flow conservation at each production/recycling unit of forward/reverse logistics (FL/RL), capacity expansion, and recycled components. A deterministic multi-objective mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model capturing the tradeoffs between the total cost and total CO2 emissions was developed to address the multistage CSLC design problem. Subsequently, a multi-objective PSO (MOPSO) algorithm with crowding distance-based nondominated sorting approach is developed to search the near-optimal solution of the MCSCD model. The computational study shows that the proposed MOPSO algorithm is suitable and effective for solving large-scale complicated CLSC structure than the conventional branch-and-bound optimization approach. Analysis results show that an enterprise needs to apply an adequate recycling strategy or energy saving technology to achieve a better economic effectiveness if the carbon emission regulation is applied. Consequently, the Pareto optimal solution obtained from MOPSO algorithm may give the superior suggestions of CLSC design, such as factory location options, capacity expansion, technology selection, purchasing, and order fulfillment decisions in practice. An integrated CLSC problem by using PSO algorithm in the solar energy industry has been studied.A deterministic multi-objective mixed integer programming model has been established.The results Pareto CLSC solutions between CPLEX and MOPSO have been compared.MOPSO provides a rapid algorithm to search Pareto solution compare to CPLEX in large scale issues.

Cisplatin induces protective autophagy through activation of BECN1 in human bladder cancer cells.

Abstract: Purpose Cisplatin-based chemotherapy is the first line treatment for several cancers including bladder cancer (BC) Autophagy induction has been implied to contribute to cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer; and a high basal level of autophagy has been demonstrated in human bladder tumors Therefore, it is reasonable to speculate that autophagy may account for the failure of cisplatin single treatment in BC This study investigated whether cisplatin induces autophagy and the mechanism involved using human BC cell lines Materials and methods Human BC cells (5637 and T24) were used in this study Cell viability was detected using water soluble tetrazolium-8 reagents Autophagy induction was detected by monitoring the levels of light chain 3 (LC3)-II and p62 by Western blot, LC3-positive puncta formation by immunofluorescence, and direct observation of the autophagolysosome (AL) formation by transmission electron microscopy Inhibitors including bafilomycin A1 (Baf A1), chloroquine (CQ), and shRNA-based lentivirus against autophagy-related genes (ATG7 and ATG12) were utilized Apoptosis level was detected by caspase 3/7 activity and DNA fragmentation Results Cisplatin decreased cell viability and induced apoptosis of 5637 and T24 cells in a dose-and time-dependent manner The increased LC3-II accumulation, p62 clearance, the number of LC3-positive puncta, and ALs in cisplatin-treated cells suggested that cisplatin indeed induces autophagy Inhibition of cisplatin-induced autophagy using Baf A1, CQ, or ATG7/ATG12 shRNAs significantly enhanced cytotoxicity of cisplatin toward BC cells These results indicated that cisplatin induced protective autophagy which may contribute to the development of cisplatin resistance and resulted in treatment failure Mechanistically, upregulation of beclin-1 (BECN1) was detected in cisplatin-treated cells, and knockdown of BECN1 using shRNA attenuated cisplatin-induced autophagy and subsequently enhanced cisplatin-induced apoptosis Conclusion Collectively, the study results indicated that cisplatin-induced autophagy is mediated by BECN1 in BC cells Therefore, combinative treatment using cisplatin and autophagy inhibitors could potentially overcome cisplatin resistance related to autophagy induction

Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine inhibit bladder cancer cell growth by targeting basal autophagy and enhancing apoptosis

Abstract: Chloroquine (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), two antimalarial drugs, are suggested to have potential anticancer properties. in the present study, we investigated the effects of CQ and HCQ on cell growth of bladder cancer with emphasis on autophagy inhibition and apoptosis induction in vitro. The results showed that CQ and HCQ inhibited the proliferation of multiple human bladder cell lines (including RT4, 5637, and T24) in a time- and dose-dependent fashion, especially in advanced bladder cancer cell lines (5637 and T24) compared to immortalized uroepithelial cells (SV-Huc-1) or other reference cancer cell lines (PC3 and MCF-7). We found that 24-hour treatment of CQ or HCQ significantly decreased the clonogenic formation in 5637 and T24 cells compared to SV-Huc-1. As human bladder cancer tumor exhibits high basal level of autophagic activities, we detected the autophagic flux in cells treated with CQ and HCQ, showing an alternation in LC3 flux in CQ- or HCQ-treated cells. Moreover, bladder cancer cells treated with CQ and HCQ underwent apoptosis, resulting in increased caspase 3/7 activities, increased level of cleaved poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), caspase 3, and DNA fragmentation. Given these results, targeting autophagy with CQ and HCQ represents an effective cancer therapeutic strategy against human bladder cancer.

Risk of Uveitis Among People With Psoriasis: A Nationwide Cohort Study.

Abstract: Importance Uveitis has been associated with psoriatic arthritis, but to our knowledge, the relationship between uveitis and psoriasis is unsettled among researchers. Objective To evaluate the risk of incident uveitis among people with psoriasis. Design, Setting, and Participants This nationwide, retrospective cohort study conducted in Taiwan from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2012 included 147 954 people with psoriasis (including 10 107 with concomitant psoriatic arthritis and 137 847 without psoriatic arthritis) and 147 954 nonpsoriatic controls. Exposure Psoriasis. Main Outcomes and Measures Risk of incident uveitis. Results The mean (SD) age of the 295 908 study participants was 44.4 (19.8) years, and 41.2% (n = 121 878) were women. We found that the group with severe psoriasis with psoriatic arthritis had the greatest risk of incident uveitis compared with the nonpsoriatic controls (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.40; 95% CI, 1.90-3.02). The group with severe psoriasis without psoriatic arthritis and the group with mild psoriasis with psoriatic arthritis also had an increased risk of incident uveitis (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.23-1.64; and 1.42; 95% CI, 1.03-1.96; respectively). However, an increased risk for incident uveitis with mild psoriasis without psoriatic arthritis was not identified (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.00-1.20). Conclusions and Relevance People with severe psoriasis and those with mild psoriasis have an increased risk of uveitis. Clinicians may use this finding as a guide for uveitis risk stratification among patients with different inflammatory presentations on the spectrum of psoriatic disease.

Aflatoxin B1 exposure increases the risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic hepatitis B virus carriers

Abstract: The relation between aflatoxin B1 (AFB1 ) and cirrhosis in chronic carriers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains inconclusive This case-control study nested in a large community-based cohort aimed to assess the effect of AFB1 exposure on cirrhosis and HCC in chronic HBV carriers Serum AFB1 -albumin adduct levels at study entry were measured in 232 cirrhosis cases, 262 HCC cases and 577 controls Multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were estimated using logistic regression Among all chronic HBV carriers, the time intervals between study entry and diagnosis of HCC, cirrhosis, cirrhotic HCC, and non-cirrhotic HCC were all significantly (p < 00001) shorter in participants with high serum levels of AFB1 -albumin adducts than those with low/undetectable levels There were significant dose-response relations with serum AFB1 -albumin adduct level at study entry for cirrhosis (p-trend = 00001) and cirrhotic HCC (p-trend < 00001) newly diagnosed within 9 years after entry as well as non-cirrhotic HCC (p-trend = 0021) newly diagnosed within 4 years after entry The aORs (95% CIs) for high versus undetectable serum AFB1 -albumin adduct levels were 245 (151-398) for cirrhosis (p = 00003), 547 (220-1363) for cirrhotic HCC (p = 00003), and 539 (111-2618) for non-cirrhotic (p = 00368) HCC, respectively There remained a significant dose-response relation between serum AFB1 -albumin adduct level and HCC risk (p-trend = 00291) in cirrhosis patients, showing an aOR (95% CI) of 304 (111-830) for high versus undetectable serum levels (p = 00299) It is concluded that AFB1 exposure may increase the risk of cirrhosis and HCC in a dose-response manner among chronic HBV carriers

Heterogeneous Information Fusion and Visualization for a Large-Scale Intelligent Video Surveillance System

Abstract: Wide-area monitoring for a smart community can be challenging in systems engineering because of its large scale and heterogeneity at the sensor, algorithm, and visualization levels. A smart interface to visualize high-level information fused from a diversity of low-level surveillance data, and to facilitate rapid response of events, is critical for the design of the system. This paper presents an event-driven visualization mechanism fusing multimodal information for a large-scale intelligent video surveillance system. The mechanism proactively helps security personnel intuitively be aware of events through close cooperation among visualization, data fusion, and sensor tasking. The visualization not only displays 2-D, 3-D, and geographical information within a condensed form of interface but also automatically shows the only important video streams corresponding to spontaneous alerts and events by a decision process called display switching arbitration. The display switching arbitration decides the importance of cameras by score ranking that considers event urgency and semantic object features. This system has been successfully deployed in a campus to demonstrate its usability and efficiency for an installation with two camera clusters that include dozens of cameras, and with a lot of video analytics to detect alerts and events. A further simulation comparing the display switching arbitration with similar camera selection methods shows that our method improves the visualization by selecting better representative camera views and reducing redundant switchover among multiview videos.

The occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma in different risk stratifications of clinically noncirrhotic nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Abstract: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) may be a cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but its high prevalence challenges current surveillance strategies. We aimed to evaluate HCC incidences in different risk stratifications for noncirrhotic NAFLD. Using Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, we located 31,571 patients with NAFLD between the years 1998 and 2012. After excluding other causes of hepatitis, underlying cirrhosis or malignancy, 18,080 patients were recruited for final analysis. Cumulative incidences of HCC were analyzed after adjusting for competing mortality. With a median follow-up duration of 6.32 years in the study cohort, the 10-year cumulative incidence of HCC was 2.73% [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.69-3.76%]. Hepatoprotectant was used as a surrogate marker for elevated serum alanine transaminase (ALT). After adjusting for age, gender, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus, gout, statin use, metformin use and aspirin use, elevated ALT was independently associated with an increased HCC risk [hazard ratio (HR) 6.80, 95% CI: 3.00-15.42; p 1.0). Moreover, increased age (HR 1.08 per year, 95% CI: 1.05-1.11) and statin use (HR 0.29, 95% CI: 0.12-0.68) were also identified as independent risk factors. The 10-year cumulative HCC incidence was highest in older (age >55 years) patients with ALT elevation (12.41%, 95% CI: 5.99-18.83%), but lowest in younger patients without ALT elevation (0.36%, 95% CI: 0-1.08%). The incidence of HCC was relatively low in patients with clinically noncirrhotic NAFLD, however, HCC risk was significantly increased in older patients experiencing an elevated serum ALT.

In-Bore 3-T MR-guided Transrectal Targeted Prostate Biopsy: Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System Version 2-based Diagnostic Performance for Detection of Prostate Cancer.

Abstract: Our study supports the safety and effectiveness of 3-T in-bore MR-guided prostate biopsy; Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System version 2 enabled risk stratification in patients with positive 3-T MR-guided prostate biopsy findings.