Merkel cell carcinoma in Taiwan: A rare tumour with a better prognosis in those harbouring Merkel cell polyomavirus.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare malignant cutaneous neuroendocrine tumour affecting mainly elderly patients and is more common in the West than in Asia. It is associated with Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV), immunosuppression, and ultraviolet light. In this study, we retrospectively investigated the first series of MCC from Taiwan and identified 19 cases from three tertiary centres. All patients were males with a median age of 67.5. Twelve (63%) cases occurred in the extremities, with one unique case presenting initially as nodal metastasis of unknown primary. Immunohistochemically, the great majority of tumours expressed CK20 (89%), synaptophysin (89%), and INSM1 (84%), with none positive for TTF1. Eleven (58%) cases were positive for MCPyV by immunohistochemistry (clone CM2B4). All patients were treated with excision, including four with additional radiotherapy and one with radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Nodal status and treatment modalities significantly affected survival. The median survival time of MCPyV-positive cases was much longer than the negative cases (median 40 vs. 10 months). In summary, we presented the first report on the clinicopathological features of MCC in Taiwan, with 58% cases associated with MCPyV. The prognosis of patients with MCPyV-positive tumours was better than those negative for MCPyV.

Frequent loss of CD10 expression in follicular lymphoma with leukaemic presentation.

INTRODUCTION: Follicular lymphoma (FL) is usually a nodal lymphoma expressing CD10, rarely with leukaemic presentation (FL-LP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched for FL-LP in our institution from 2000 to 2018 and characterised the neoplastic cells by flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization. Thirteen (6.1%) of 212 FL cases were FL-LP, all de novo neoplasms. The leukaemic cells were small in 12 cases and large in one. All had concurrent FL, mostly (92%; 12/13) low-grade. The single case with large leukaemic cells had a concurrent primary splenic low-grade FL and a double-hit large B-cell lymphoma in the marrow. RESULTS: CD10 was expressed in the leukaemic cells in 38% (5/13) cases by flow cytometry and in 77% (10/13) cases in tumours (p= 0.0471). IGH/BCL2 reciprocal translocation was identified in 85% (11/13) cases. Most patients were treated with chemotherapy. In a median follow-up time of 36 months, nine patients were in complete remission. The 2- and 5-year survival rates were at 100% and 83%, respectively. In this study, we characterised a series of de novo FL-LP in Taiwan. All patients had concurrent nodal and/or tissue tumours, which might suggest that these patients seek medical help too late. CONCLUSION: The lower CD10 expression rate by flow cytometry than by immunohistochemistry might be due to different epitopes for these assays. Alternatively, loss of CD10 expression might play a role in the pathogenesis of leukaemic change. The clinical course of FL-LP could be aggressive, but a significant proportion of the patients obtained complete remission with chemotherapy.

Computed tomography has low sensitivity for the diagnosis of early colon cancer.

AIM: The accuracy of computed tomography (CT) in detecting local invasion (T status) and nodal metastasis (N status) of colon cancer was determined. METHOD: Data on the preoperative CT scan of 153 lesions from 152 patients with colon cancer were reviewed retrospectively. Evaluation included the T stage and N stage of the TNM system. The results were compared with those obtained by histopathological examination of the resected tumour. RESULTS: Of the 153 tumours, 117 (76.5%) were correctly classified as Stage T1 and T2 (33 tumours) and Stage T3 and T4 (84 tumours) by CT. The sensitivity and specificity were 70.2% and 79.2%, respectively, and the positive and negative predictive values were 85.7% and 60.0%. When analysed according to the individual T stage (Tx/Tis, T1, 2, 3, 4) and N stage (N0, 1, 2), the kappa coefficient with linear weighting was 0.208 (fair agreement) for T stage and 0.154 (slight agreement) for N stage. The estimation of tumour size showed good agreement with histopathology (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.865). CONCLUSION: CT scanning of colonic cancer showed 75% accuracy in identifying T1 and T2 cancers combined, but gave poor agreement between CT and histopathology for individual T stages.

A comparative study of flow cytometric T cell receptor Vß repertoire and T cell receptor gene rearrangement in the diagnosis of large granular lymphocytic lymphoproliferation.

INTRODUCTION: Large granular lymphocytes (LGLs) are medium- to large-sized lymphocytes with azurophilic cytoplasmic granules. Reactive vs. neoplastic LGLs are usually morphologically indistinguishable. METHODS: We investigated 25 consecutive cases of LGL lymphoproliferation using flow cytometric T cell receptor Vß (FC-Vß) repertoire and T cell receptor gene rearrangement (TCR-GR) in detecting clonality. RESULTS: Seventeen patients (68%) were T-LGL leukemia (T-LGLL) with a male predominance, a median age of 67, and a median absolute LGL count of 2.592 × 10(9) /L. All cases were clonal using the FC-Vß analysis, and all but one (94%) was clonal by TCR-GR. Eight patients (32%) had reactive LGL lymphoproliferation. Two had EBV-associated infectious mononucleosis; one was clonal by both FC-Vß and TCR-GR; and the other was clonal only by TCR-GR. The remaining six cases were polyclonal by both assays. Patients with reactive LGL lymphoproliferation were more frequently associated with an underlying/concurrent malignancy than those with T-LGLL (4/8 cases vs. 1/17; P = 0.023, Fisher's exact test). We compared the demographic, hemogram, and clonality data between these two groups and found that the only significant difference was the lower median platelet count in the LGL lymphocytosis group (201 × 10(9) /L vs. 223 × 10(9) /L; P = 0.031; Student's t-test). A literature review including the current study showed a high sensitivity of FC-Vß analysis for T-LGLL (97.2%; 107/110 cases). CONCLUSIONS: FC-Vß analysis was slightly more sensitive than TCR-GR for the detection of clonal T cell lymphoproliferation. However, we must interpret the laboratory findings with clinical context as clonal T cell lymphoproliferation may occur in patients with viral infection.

Stress analysis during jaw movement based on vivo computed tomography images from patients with temporomandibular disorders.

The purpose of this study is to develop three-dimensional (3D) finite element models of temporomandibular joints (TMJs) and to investigate stress distributions. To determine the causes of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs), the magnitude and location of the maximum stresses under physiological loading must be considered. Stress analysis TMD models were reconstructed from computed tomography (CT) data. Several studies have investigated finite element TMJ models, but few have used a bilateral mandible model that includes jaw closing and maximum opening. In this study, the authors defined an asymmetry index for the different stress values on each side joint; this index has not yet been investigated. According to clinical observation, one joint affects the other side joint during mastication. Three symptom-free volunteers and three symptomatic patients were selected as the control group (CG) and TMD group (TG), respectively. For the TG, data analysis indicated that the condyle was asymmetrical during jaw closing, while both the condyle and disc were slightly asymmetrical during jaw opening. The maximum stresses did not significantly differ between the CG and TG for either closing or opening of the jaw. The results of this study have a potential clinical benefit in terms of proving superior biomechanical behaviour.

TCAD simulations for thin film solar cells with nanoplate structures.

The novel thin film solar cell with a nanoplate structure that can solve the conflict between the light absorption and the carrier transport in amorphous silicon thin film solar cell was investigated by TCAD simulations. This new structure has n-type amorphous silicon nanoplate array on the substrate, and p-type amorphous silicon-carbon as window layer and intrinsic amorphous silicon as absorption layer are sequentially grown along the surface of each n-type amorphous silicon nanoplate. Under AM 1.5 G sunlight illumination, the light is absorbed along the vertical direction of nanoplate while the carrier transport is along the horizontal direction. Therefore, nanoplate with the larger height can absorb most of the sunlight. The advantage of this novel structure is that the thickness of the solar cell can be used as thin as possible for effective transport of photo-generated carriers in comparison with the planer one.

Impact of strain engineering on nanoscale strained III-V PMOSFETs.

Stress distributions in the strained InGaAs PMOSFET with source/drain (S/D) stressors for various lengths and widths were studied with 3D stress simulations. The resulting mobility improvement was analyzed. Compressive stress along the transport direction was found to dominate the hole mobility improvement for the wide width devices. Stress along the vertical direction perpendicular to the gate oxide was found to affect the mobility the least, while stress along the width direction enhanced in the middle wide width region. The impact of channel width and length on performance improvements such as the mobility gain was analyzed using the Kubo-Greenwood formalism accounting for nonpolar hole-phonon scattering (acoustic and optical), surface roughness scattering, polar phonon scattering, alloy scattering and remote phonon scattering. The novelty of this paper is studying the impact of channel width and length on the performance of InGaAs PMOSFET such as mobility and exploring physical insight for scaling the future III-V CMOS devices.

The spectrum of T-cell and natural killer/T-cell neoplasms with leukaemic presentation in a single institution in Taiwan.

T cell and natural killer (NK)/T-cell neoplasms are rare and may occasionally present as leukaemia. We retrospectively searched T cell and NK/T-cell tumours in a single institution in Taiwan from January 2000 to December 2009 and identified 137 (19.1%) patients with T cell and NK/T-cell tumours among 718 patients with lymphoid neoplasms. Among these 137 patients, 18 (13.1%) presented with leukaemia including T-lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukaemia (T-LBL), T-cell prolymphocytic leukaemia, aggressive NK-cell leukaemia, adult T-cell lymphoma/leukaemia (ATLL), T-cell large granular lymphocytic (T-LGL) leukaemia and unspecified peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Cases with concurrent lymphoma, higher absolute leukaemic cell counts and elevated lactate dehydrogenase level carried a poorer prognosis. The survival was dichotomous, with a very poor prognosis for patients with T-LBL, T-cell prolymphocytic leukaemia, aggressive NK-cell leukaemia, ATLL in acute phase and unspecified peripheral T-cell lymphoma, while those with T-LGL leukaemia and ATLL in chronic phase had a favourable outcome.

Impact of the nanorod structure on the tandem thin-film solar cell.

The novel thin-film solar cell was investigated with a nanorod structure that could solve the conflict between light absorption and carrier transport in the amorphous silicon (a-Si)/amorphous silicon-germanium (a-SiGe) tandem thin-film solar cell. This structure has an n-type a-Si nanorod array on the substrate, and an a-SiOx p-layer and an a-SiGe i-layer are sequentially grown along the surface of each n-type a-Si nanorod, for the bottom cell. After the above bottom-cell process, a similar process is used to fabricate an amorphous Si p-i-n top cell on the bottom cell. Under sunlight illumination, the light is absorbed along the vertical direction of the nanorod, but as the carrier transport is along the horizontal direction, the nanorod may absorb most of the sunlight. In the meantime, the solar cell is still thin enough for the effective transport of photogenerated carriers.

Beneficial response to gabapentin portraying with interval change of brain SPECT imaging in a case with failed back surgery syndrome.

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) is a well-recognized consequence of surgery of the lumbar spine. Here, we present a case with FBSS associated neuropathic pain. CASE SUMMARY: During hospital stay, the patient was stabilized with gabapentin 200 mg twice a day and this was titrated to a dose of 1200 mg per day over the period of 1 week. The treatment produced a substantial reduction in his episodic pain. We assessed regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) by using brain single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scans, which were performed before and after gabapentin treatment 1 week later. The examination of the first SPECT showed decreased uptake in left fronto-temporal-parietal region. The latter one showed much improvement of the above areas. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: The gabapentin has beneficial effect in the FBSS associated neuropathic pain. Besides, this case suggests the association between rCBF and pain associated with FBSS, as well as the association of gabapentin and altered blood flow of brain cortex.

Prevalence and cardiovascular disease risk differences for erectile dysfunction patients by three metabolic syndrome definitions.

There is growing evidence of a link between ED, metabolic syndrome (MS) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The study was to explore the prevalence of MS using three different definitions (World Health Organization (WHO), International Diabetes Foundation (IDF) and Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III)), and to compare the association of CVD in ED outpatients using these definitions. This study enrolled 254 participants with a mean age of 55.3 ± 0.9 years (range, 21 to 81 years) with ED as diagnosed by International Index of Erectile Function score. All participants underwent MS evaluation based on the three criteria. Differences of MS prevalence, demographical characteristics, biochemical profiles, pro-inflammatory and inflammatory markers, echocardiographic characteristics and the association with Framingham cardiac risk score (FCRS) were compared. The presence of diabetes mellitus (DM) in the WHO group and high waist girth in the IDF group were significant because of the necessity of respective criteria. The MS prevalence in the WHO, IDF and ATP III groups was 30.7, 34.3 and 36.6%, respectively (P = 0.367). The degrees of agreement among each definition were substantial to perfect. No significant findings in echocardiographic characteristics, biochemical, inflammatory and pro-inflammatory markers were noted. The FCRS showed borderline nonsignificant difference (17.9 ± 0.4, 16.8 ± 0.4 and 16.9 ± 0.4, P = 0.079); however, the FCRS was more closely correlated with the WHO than with the IDF and ATP III (Spearman's correlation coefficients were 0.522, 0.531 and 0.462, respectively; P = 0.021). In patients < 55 years of age and those who smoke, the Spearman's correlation in the WHO group was significantly higher than in the IDF and ATP III groups. The prevalence of the MS using different definitions in ED patients was not different. The WHO-defined MS was more closely associated with CVD.

Analysis and modeling of nano-crystalline silicon TFTs on flexible substrate with mechanical strain.

The gap state density of nano-crystalline silicon active layers on a flexible substrate was redistributed with mechanical bending. The weak or broken bonds may contribute to the redistribution of trap states. During mechanical strain, the deep states redistributed in a Gaussian distribution, and are dissimilar to ordinary acceptor-like deep states, which manifest with exponential distributions. We conclude that the gap state density with TCAD modeling under mechanical strain is the fundamental reliability issue for the development of flexible electronics.

Methylprednisolone worsening neuropathic pain in non-traumatic thoracic myelopathy.

Methylprednisolone (MP) is the only neuroprotective medication currently in widespread use for the treatment of spinal cord injury. Increasingly, published studies challenge its clinical effects in view of its serious side-effects including wound infection, pneumonia, sepsis and steroid myopathy. Most cases with spontaneous spinal epidural haematoma (SSEH) need emergency evacuation, and typically show good neurologic recovery. Some patients with SSEH given preoperative or postoperative MP within hours of the onset of symptoms, and have had good motor recovery, although no mention was made of sensory function. Severe, intractable neuropathic pain has not been reported in patients with SSEH. We present a case of SSEH treated with a high-dose MP 16 h after onset of symptoms. Surgical decompression was performed 1 h after MP treatment. Motor recovery was good; however, intractable neuropathic pain developed 5 weeks postoperatively. We discuss the factors contributing to intractable pain. We speculate that the severe, intractable pain might be due to misuse of large-dose steroids in this case of non-traumatic spinal myelopathy, and not because of the injury per se.

First Report of Anthracnose Caused by Colletotrichum acutatum on Mung Bean Sprouts in Taiwan.

Mung bean sprouts (Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek) are a commonly consumed vegetable in Asian countries. Anthracnose lesions on mung bean sprouts (cv. You-lu-dou from Mayamar) were found in an indoor sprouting facility in Taichung County, Taiwan in May of 2009. The incidence of disease exceeded 90% in some lots. Infected hypocotyls had smooth, diamond-shaped to fusiform brown spots, which became further depressed and enlarged with age. A fungus was isolated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) from symptomatic hypocotyls after surface sterilization in 0.6% NaOCl. Fungal colonies were initially salmon to orange in color and became greenish gray on the surface within a week. Setae were not produced in acervuli that developed on PDA. Conidia in the acervuli were one-celled, cylindrical, and hyaline with an average length and width of 14.8 (7.0 to 23.7) × 4.9 (3.3 to 6.7) µm (n = 53). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region was amplified with primers ITS1 and ITS4 (4). The sequence was deposited in GenBank (Accession No. GQ889269). The sequence was 99% identical to that of ATCC 56816 strain of Glomerella acutata (Guerber & J. C. Correll), the teleomorph of Colletotrichum acutatum (J. H. Simmonds) over a 522-bp alignment. Thus, the mung bean pathogen was identified as C. acutatum based on morphological (1) and molecular characters. Pathogenicity of the strain was determined by inoculating mung bean seeds from I-Mei Foods Co. (imported from Australia). The seeds were disinfested in 0.6% NaOCl for 10 min, rinsed with sterile distilled water twice, and immersed in a conidial suspension (1.5 × 104 conidia/ml) of C. acutatum for 10 min. Fifteen inoculated seeds were placed on moistened paper towels, distributed into three flasks, and stored in the dark at 32°C. Symptoms similar to those observed on the original sprouts appeared 3 days later on the hypocotyls of the seedlings and all seedlings were infected by day five. Conidia of C. acutatum were produced on all lesions and colonies of C. acutatum were recovered from symptomatic tissues, fulfilling Koch's postulates. Controls (seed immersed in water) remained symptomless. The pathogenicity test was repeated with similar results. The pathogen has been recorded on mung bean sprouts in Korea (2) and on other Vigna spp. in India (3). To our knowledge, this is the first report of sprout rot of mung bean caused by C. acutatum in Taiwan. References: (1) B. J. Dyko and J. E. M. Mordue. No. 630 in: Descriptions of Pathogenic Fungi and Bacteria. CMI, Kew, Surrey, UK, 1979. (2) D. K. Kim et al. Plant Pathol. J. 19:203, 2003. (3) K. P. R. Prasanna. Seed Sci. Technol. 13:821, 1985. (4) T. J. White et al. Page 315 in: PCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications. M. A. Innis et al., eds. Academic Press, New York, 1990.

Surveillance of cardiovascular risk factors for outpatients in different erectile dysfunction severity.

We determined the association between the severity of erectile dysfunction (ED) and traditional cardiovascular risk factors, including metabolic syndrome (MS). A total of 141 ED patients were divided into three groups on the basis of ED severity, which was determined using the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) scores. The prevalence of MS among the ED patients was 32.6%. Significantly lower IIEF scores were noted in patients with MS than in patients without MS (7.6+/-6.4 vs 11.6+/-7.4, P=0.003). As assessed by the anthropometric indices of body mass index, waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio, obesity was detected in 58.9, 54.6 and 32.6% of the patients, respectively. Of the 141 patients, 39 had mild, 24 had moderate and 78 had severe ED. Statistically significant differences were noted among the different ED severity groups with regard to the presence of hypertension, systolic blood pressure, presence of MS and number of MS components. Multivariate analysis showed that the odds ratio for high-low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol level in moderate and severe ED, determined with reference to mild ED, were 9.346 and 6.452, respectively. The presence of MS, number of MS components, and certain traditional cardiovascular risk factors, particularly high-LDL cholesterol level and hypertension, may influence the severity of ED.

Effects of piroxicam-beta-cyclodextrin sachets on abnormal postural sway in patients with chronic low back pain.

BACKGROUND: The clinical effects of piroxicam-beta-cyclodextrin (PBC) in sachet form have been surveyed in patients with osteoarthritic or acute pain in western countries, but scarcely studied in those with chronic low back pain (LBP), and never investigated in the field of postural sway. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical effects of PBC in sachet form prescribed in patients with chronic backache in local Asian when compared with those of plain piroxicam. METHODS: After randomized allocation and experimental exclusion, a total of 42 eligible patients were randomized into two groups, the sachet group (n = 23) and the piroxicam tablet group (n = 19). Both groups were administered the same dosage, orally per day (daily dose = 20 mg). The duration of trial was 28 days. Efficacy was assessed with pain score, disability index and postural sway. RESULTS: The patients in sachet group showed greater improvement in pain score and disability index than those who took piroxicam tablets. There were significantly lower sway velocity and intensity at almost all different conditions than baseline profiles in both groups (P < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference of sway velocity and intensity in the piroxicam tablets group with regard to eyes open or eyes closed in 20 degrees dorsiflexion. CONCLUSIONS: Piroxicam-beta-cyclodextrin (PBC) sachet may have greater improvement in the treatment of chronic LBP and possess the extended effects on postural abnormality relevant to chronic LBP.

Essential oil from leaves of Cinnamomum osmophloeum acts as a xanthine oxidase inhibitor and reduces the serum uric acid levels in oxonate-induced mice.

The xanthine oxidase (XOD) inhibitory activity and anti-hyperuricemia effect in mice of Cinnamomum osmophloeum, which is an endemic tree in Taiwan, were evaluated in this study. The results demonstrated that the essential oil of C. osmophloeum leaves presented the strongest XOD inhibition activity (IC(50)=16.3 µg/ml); however, no significant XOD inhibition activities were found in ethanolic and hot water extracts. Furthermore, among the main compounds of essential oil, the cinnamaldehyde exhibited the potent XOD inhibition activity with an IC(50)=8.4 µg/ml. Besides, the reducing serum uric acid levels in oxonate-induced mice by cinnamaldehyde were further investigated. The hyperuricemic mice were oral administrated cinnamaldehyde at a dosage of 150 mg/kg, the uric acid value in serum was reduced from 5.25±0.63 to 2.10±0.04 mg/dl, the levels of serum uric acid in mice was lowered down by 84.48% as compared to the hyperuricemic control group. Based on the results obtained in this study, cinnamaldehyde may be a potential lead compound for developing the pharmaceutic for anti-hyperuricemia agent.