Hsueh-Wen Chang

National Sun Yat-sen University | NSYSU · Department of Biological Science

Background From passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) recordings, the vocal activity rate (VAR), vocalizations per unit of time, can be calculated and is essential for assessing bird population abundance. However, VAR is subject to influences from a range of factors, including species and environmental conditions. Identifying the optimal sampling desig...

Background: Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) has become a popular tool for bird monitoring, with vocal activity rate (VAR) being a key metric to gauge bird populations. However, the effective temporal sampling design at the community level for representative VAR data remains underexplored. Methods: In this study, we used vocalizations extracted fr...

Long-term monitoring is needed to understand the statuses and trends of wildlife communities in montane forests, such as those in Yushan National Park (YSNP), Taiwan. Integrating passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) with an automated sound identifier, a long-term biodiversity monitoring project containing six PAM stations, was launched in YSNP in Janu...

促進生態系統的永續利用、防止生物多樣性的喪失，為聯合國永續發展目標（Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs）之一。推動生物多樣性的施政、監測及評估，則為其必要的工作項目。然而生物多樣性監測並非易事，需耗費大量且專業的人力、時間和財物資源，使得資料的累積相當不足。PAM（Passive Acoustic Monitoring，被動式聲學監測）及AI（Artificial Intelligence，人工智慧）為近年來興起的調查工具及分析技術，透過AI自動分析PAM所收錄的聲景（soundscape）錄音資料，從中擷取出生物訊息以進行生態監測成為可行的方法。本研究於2020年至2021年間，於玉山國家公園設置6處PAM樣站定時錄製聲景，並利用SILIC（Sound...

Evidence supports the view that postural sway in a quiet stance increases with clinical disease severity and dopaminergic therapy in idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD), which, in turn, increases the risk of falling. This study evaluated the feasibility of combining disease-specific and balance-related measures as risk predictors for future falls i...

The shuffling gait with slowed speed and reduced stride length has been considered classic clinical features in idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD), and the risk of falling increases as the disease progresses. This raises the possibility that clinical disease severity might mediate the relationship between stride length and speed and the risk of fa...

近年來有愈來愈多的陸域生態研究採用被動式聲學監測（ passive acoustic monitoring，PAM），利用自動錄音機（autonomous recording unit，ARU）在野地自動錄製環境聲景音檔，再從錄音檔中擷取所需的生態資訊。但從大量且複雜的聲景錄音資料中撿選所需的目標聲音是耗時費力的，亟需高效的自動化工具來協助進行。基於卷積神經網路（convolutional neural network，CNN）及影像分類演算法的聲音自動辨識模型雖有良好的表現，但它需要耗費大量的時間和人力來準備充足的訓練資料。本研究採用CNN及物件偵測演算法YOLOv5來建構生物音智慧辨識與標記系統（Sound Identification and Labeling Intelligence...

Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) gains an increasing use in terrestrial ecology but the massive effort needed to identify species information from a large number of audios limits the application of PAMs. Convolutional neural network (CNN) has been demonstrated its high performance in detecting and classifying sounds. However, needing of a large am...

1.Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) offers many advantages comparing with other survey methods and gains an increasing use in terrestrial ecology, but the massive effort needed to extract species information from a large number of recordings limits its application. The convolutional neural network (CNN) has been demonstrated with its high performan...

Background Seizures are one of the most important neurological complications of bacterial brain abscesses. A better understanding of the risk factors of seizures following bacterial brain abscesses is needed to predict those who will require treatment. Methods A total of 205 patients were enrolled in this 22-year retrospective study. Prognostic var...

Periodontitis is a prevalent disease characterized by the loss of periodontal supporting tissues, bone, periodontal ligament, and cementum. The application of a bone tissue engineering strategy with Decellularized Human Amniotic Membrane (DAM) with adipose-derived stromal cells (ASCs) has shown to be convenient and valuable. This study aims to inve...

Aims/Introduction Clinical studies show that either heart rate variability (HRV) or electrochemical skin conductance (ESC) alone can serve as a simple and objective method for screening cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN). We tested the hypothesis that combining these two quantitative approaches can not only reinforce accuracy in CAN screenin...

Purpose: To investigate the retinal thickness asymmetry parameters of circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (cpRNFL) and macular layers measured by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography in highly myopic (HM) patients with an early stage of normal-tension glaucoma (NTG). Methods: This cross-sectional study included 55 eyes of HM patien...

Objective Cardiovascular autonomic function impairment has been reported in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) associated with cardiovascular (CV) events. We test the hypothesis that the severity of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN) is a predictor associated with subsequent three-point major adverse cardiovascular events (three-P...

Objectives To use computer-assisted quantitative measurements of upper airway changes during drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE) and to correlate these parameters with disease severities and physiologic changes in patients with obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSA). Design A retrospective study. Setting Tertiary academic medical center....

聲音是動物傳遞訊息的重要方式，也是許多生態調查與研究的對象。日漸普及的被動式聲學監測累積了大量聲景資料，其中的動物聲音可作為這些調查與研究的素材。然而，目前卻缺乏有效的動物聲音自動辨識工具，來擷取聲景資料中的動物訊息。近年來有許多動物聲音自動辨識技術的開發與研究，但由於適用的物種數少、或不適用於聲景複雜的錄音資料、或辨識準確度低等因素，使得這些辨識技術不適合實作於聲景資料上。本研究以人工蒐集並標記野生動物聲音資料作為樣本，以卷積神經網絡開發聲音自動辨識工具。目前已蒐集164物種的374種聲音，標記資料2萬7千餘筆，並完成其中167種聲音之訓練。本報告擇其中3種聲音，實際運用於亞洲聲景平台之聲景資料並計算聲音活動指數，以瞭解該工具於野生動物族群監測之應用性，結果顯示其準確性已達可應用之程度。

Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSA) could compromise oxygenation of the optic nerve and cause glaucomatous optic neuropathy; there has been no study to investigate the microstructure changes of the optic nerve and retina in OSA patients before and after continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy. In this study, we as...

Introduction: Sural sensory nerve action potential (SNAP) amplitudes is a measure of number of axons. We tested the hypothesis that sural SNAP amplitude can be used as a marker in screening, severity evaluation, and follow-up of diabetic distal symmetrical polyneuropathy (DSPN). Methods: Patients with type 2 diabetes underwent nerve conduction s...

Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSA) could compromise oxygenation of the optic nerve and cause glaucomatous optic neuropathy; however, there were no studies to investigate the changes of visual function and retinal microstructures in OSA patients after upper airway surgery. We aim to assess the changes in the visual sensitivi...

Objective: To identify standard clinical parameters that may predict the presence and severity of obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSA). Design: Case series with chart review. Setting: Tertiary academic medical center. Subjects and methods: A total of 325 adult patients (274 men and 51 women; mean age, 44.2 years) with habitual sno...

Endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction plays a crucial role for arterial obstructive disease. This study tested the therapeutic role of autologous endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs)/rosuvastatin-(Rosu)/valsartan-(Val) on repair of injured carotid ECs. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 60) were categorized into five groups [sham-control (SC), left common ca...

Objective: Recent studies have reported that reduced excretion of urinary uromodulin (uUMOD) was associated with renal tubular function and risks of progressive kidney disease. Gouty nephropathy is usually seen in patients with gout. Patients with chronic gouty nephropathy are characterized by the deposition of monosodium urate crystals primarily i...

This study tested the hypothesis that early administration of empagliflozin (Empa), an inhibitor of glucose recycling in renal tubules, could preserve heart function in cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) in rat. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) was caused by 5/6 subtotal nephrectomy and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) by doxorubicin (DOX) treatment. In vitro resu...

This study tested whether inducible pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy could effectively protect kidney from acute ischemia (1 h) - reperfusion (5 day) injury (IRI). Male-adult SD-rats (n = 24) were equally categorized into groups 1 (sham-control), 2 [sham-control + iPSC-MSC (1.2 × 106 cells/rat)], 3 (IR only)...

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of upper airway surgery on daytime sleepiness in nonobese patients with obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSA). Methods: This retrospective study included 121 consecutive adult nonobese patients with OSA from a tertiary academic medical center. Patients with OSA who refused...

This phase I clinical trial tested the hypothesis that circulatory CD34+ cell therapy might be safe for old ischemic stroke (IS) (defined as IS>6 months) patients and also to evaluate the neurological function after the therapy. Nine old IS patients (with mean IS interval: 8.6 ± 6.4 years) were consecutively enrolled and received intra-carotid arte...

AIM: To investigate the intraocular retinal thickness asymmetry of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) and macular layers measured by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in patients with early stage of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) and normal tension glaucoma (NTG). METHODS: A total of 117 patients with early stag...

Aim: To analyze the diagnostic capabilities of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness and segmented inner macular layer (IML) thickness measured by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography for detection of early glaucoma. Methods: Fifty-three patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), 60 patients with normal tension...

Objective: To develop an adequate model using reliable clinical and physical factors to predict pediatric obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSAS). Methods: Complete anthropometric measurements including BMI z score, tonsil size grading, and updated Friedman tongue position (uFTP) were evaluated. Subjective assessments of clinical sympto...

This study tested the hypothesis that healthy adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell (ADMSC)-derived exosomes (HMSCEXO) and apoptotic (A) (induced by 12 h hypoxia/12 h starvation)-ADMSC-derived exosomes (AMSCEXO) were comparably effective at alleviating sepsis syndrome [SS; induced by cecal-ligation and puncture (CLP)]-induced systemic inflammation...

Lithobius (Monotarsobius) meifengensis sp. n. occurring at Mei-Feng Farm, Highland Experimental Farm of National Taiwan University, Nantou, Taiwan, is characterised by a male secondary sexual character on leg 15, a very large ventral swelling occupying almost 50% of the ventral surface of the femur; the gently curved apical region bearing approxima...

We tested the hypothesis that melatonin prevents brain death (BD) tissue extract (BDEX)-induced cardiac damage by suppressing inflammatory damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) signaling in rats. Six hours after BD induction, levels of a DAMP component (HMGB1) and inflammatory markers (TLR-2, TLR-4, MYD88, IκB, NF-κB, IL-1β, IFN-γ, TNF-α and I...

This study tested the hypothesis that extracorporeal shock wave (ECSW) therapy could protect mouse brain from chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CHP)-induced neuropathological changes in a bilateral carotid arterial stenosis (CAS) model. Adult-male C57BL/6 (B6) mice (n=36) were randomized into group 1 (sham-control), group 2 (CHP) and group 3 [CHP+ECS...

Combined therapy with exendin-4 (Ex4) and allogenic adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSC) was tested against either therapy alone for protecting kidney function against chronic kidney disease (CKD) complicated by sepsis syndrome (SS) [i.e., by intraperitoneal injection of cecal-derived bacteria (1.0 × 10⁴) cells/milliliter/total 5.0 cc].Ad...

This study tested the therapeutic impact of double-loading dose (i.e., 600 mg) versus standard-loading dose (i.e., 300 mg) of clopidogrel on ST-segment-elevation-myocardial-infarction (STEMI) patients undergoing primary-coronary-intervention (PCI). Between January 2005 and December 2013, a total of 1461 STEMI patients undergoing PCI were consecutiv...

This study tested the hypothesis that high-cholesterol diet (HCD)-induced fatty liver disease could be ameliorated by rosuvastatin (Ros) and propylthiouracil (PTU) therapy. Thirty-two Zealand rabbits were equally divided into group 1 (sham-control), group 2 (HCD for 8 weeks), group 3 [HCD-Ros (20 mg/kg/day administration after 4-week HFD for 4 week...

Aim: To evaluate and compare the diagnostic capabilities of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (p-RNFL) parameters of Spectralis optical coherence tomography (OCT) versus Stratus OCT to detect glaucoma in patients with high myopia. Methods: This is a retrospective, cross-sectional study. Sixty highly myopic eyes of 60 patients were enrolled...

Context • Obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) is among the most prevalent of sleep-related breathing disorders. No long-term follow-up studies have documented the continued success of lifestyle changes in treatment; oral appliances have an approximate 50% success rate; compliance with continuous positive airway pressure is poor, rangi...

This study tested the hypothesis that xenogeneic human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell (HUCDMSC) therapy would improve survival rates in rats with acute respiratory distress-syndrome (ARDS, induction by 48 h inhalation of 100% oxygen) and sepsis-syndrome (SS, induction by cecal-ligation and puncture) (ARDS-SS). Adult-male Sprague-Dawle...

This study tests the hypothesis that combined melatonin and exogenic adipose mesenchymal stem cell (ADMSC)-derived exosome treatment offers superior protection against liver ischemia-reperfusion (LIR) injury compared to either alone. In vitro studies utilized a macrophage cell line (RAW) pretreated with lipopolysaccharide and hepatocytes pretreated...

Previous studies have demonstrated uncertainty regarding the effect of metabolic syndrome (MetS) on bone. In the present work, we investigated the association between MetS, its components, and decreased bone mineral density (BMD) in a cross-sectional study of patients who underwent BMD measurement by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry during a health...

This was a phase I clinical trial to investigate the safety of autologous peripheral-blood-derived CD34+ cell therapy for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD-treatment) (i.e., at Stages III and IV). Between November 2014 and October 2015, a total of 10 study patients were prospectively enrolled into this phase I trial. Patients who failed to...

Objective: This study aim to investigate whether early mitochondrial administration would be effective and whether high-dose mitochondria (15000 μg/rat) would be more effective than low-dose mitochondria (1500 μg/rat) for attenuating the monocrotaline (MCT/65 mg/kg/rat)-induced pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) in rat. Method and results: Male...

This study tested the hypothesis that circulating microparticles (MPs) exacerbated vascular wall (VW) remodeling after endothelial denudation by 0.014 wire in a rat model. Adult male Sprague Dawley rats (n = 40) were equally categorized into group 1 [sham-control (SC); 3.0 mL saline intravenous injection], group 2 [SC + intravenous MPs (1.0 × 10⁷)...

Importance: This study adds to the literature on the efficacy and low complication rates associated with minimally invasive, single-stage, multilevel surgery for Asian adults with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) for whom conservative treatment had failed. Overall, our experience has produced results that make this procedure an option for select pati...

We tested the hypothesis that combined xenogenic (from mini-pig) adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell (ADMSC) and ADMSC-derived exosome therapy could reduce brain-infarct zone (BIZ) and enhance neurological recovery in rat after acute ischemic stroke (AIS) induced by 50-min left middle cerebral artery occlusion. Adult-male Sprague-Dawley rats (n =...

Background: We tested the hypothesis that arteriosclerosis-augmented aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) and -impaired vasorelaxation were attenuated by rosuvastatin (Rosu) and propylthiouracil (PTU) therapy. Methods and results: Thirty-two New Zealand rabbits were equally divided into group 1 (sham-control), group 2 [high-cholesterol-diet (HCD) fo...

We investigated the cardioprotective effect of melatonin (Mel) and exendin-4 (Ex4) treatment in a rat model of cardiorenal syndrome (CRS). Male-adult SD rats (n=48) were randomly and equally divided into sham-control (SC), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) (doxorubicin 7 mg/kg i.p. every five days/ 4 doses), CRS (defined as DCM + CKD) only, CRS-Mel (20...

Purpose: The aim was to investigate the visual outcomes of treatment with spectacles for bilateral high refractive amblyopia in children three to eight years of age. Methods: Children with previously untreated bilateral refractive amblyopia were enrolled. Bilateral high refractive amblyopia was defined as visual acuity (VA) being worse than 6/9...

Aim: Antioxidant peptide SS-31 is a class of cell-permeable small peptides, which selectively resides on the inner mito¬chondrial membrane and possesses intrinsic mitochondrial protective capacities. In this study we inves¬tigated the therapeutic effects of antioxidant peptide SS-31 on transverse aortic constriction (TAC)-induced pulmonary arteria...

Background: This study tested the hypothesis that preactivated and disaggregated shape-changed platelet (PreD-SCP) therapy attenuates lung injury from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) induced by 100% oxygen inhalation and complicated by sepsis through peritoneal administration of 1.5 mg/kg lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Methods: Adult male...

The complete mitogenomes of Cheilopogon unicolor, C. arcticeps and C. atrisignis were determined by the next-generation sequencing (NGS) method. The assembled mitogenome of C. unicolor, C. arcticeps and C. atrisignis consist of 16 529 bp, 16 530 bp and 16 530 bp, respectively. Three mitogenomes contain the typical gene complement including 13 prote...

This study tested the hypothesis that human lung cancer-derived microparticles (LcD-MPs) played an important role in tumor angiogenesis and growth. Fischer 344 rats (F344, n=18) were equally categorized into group 1 [Sham Control (3.0 mL normal saline intravenous injection (IV))], group 2 [hepatoma cell line (2.0 x 106 cells, IV)], and group 3 [hep...

Background: TGF-β is a key modulator in the regulation of cell proliferation and migration, and is also involved in the process of cancer development and progression. Previous studies have indicated that TGF-β responsiveness is determined by TGF-β receptor partitioning between lipid raft/caveolae-mediated and clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Lipid r...

Background: We tested the hypothesis that extracorporeal shock wave (ECSW) therapy can effectively protect sciatic nerve (SN) from diabetes mellitus (DM)-induced neuropathy in leptin-deficient (ob/ob) mice. Methods and results: Eighteen-week C57BL/6 mice (n=8) served as age-matched controls (group 1) and ob/ob mice (n=16) were categorized into D...

Background: Hirundichthys oxycephalus is an important flyingfish resource in eastern Taiwan and northwestern Japan. A substantial catch decline in Taiwan has caused serious concerns on stock status of the fish, prompting the government to impose a set of regulations on flyingfish egg fishery since 2008. However, the regulations were set in a preca...

Purpose: To compare the diagnostic abilities of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT; Spectralis OCT) and time-domain OCT (TD-OCT; Stratus OCT). Changes in macular parameters in highly myopic eyes of glaucoma patients and highly myopic eyes of glaucoma suspects were evaluated and compared. Methods: We collected data from 72 highl...

Aims: To develop a new package of joint model to fit longitudinal CA125 in epithelial ovarian cancer relapse. Patients & methods: Included were 305 epithelial ovarian cancer patients who reached complete remission after cytoreductive surgery and first-line chemotherapy. Univariate and multivariate analysis with a joint model was performed to sel...

Background: Oxidative stress is thought to participate in the pathobiology of secondary brain injury after acute traumatic brain injury (TBI). This study posits that oxidative stress levels in acute TBI are predictive of outcome. Methods: Two hundred and twenty-nine blood samples from 88 patients admitted within 24 hours after TBI were obtained...

To investigate the effect of shock wave (SW) on brain-infarction volume (BIV) and neurological function in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) by left internal carotid artery occlusion in rats. SD rats (n=48) were divided into group 1 [sham-control (SC)], group 2 [SC-ECSW (energy dosage of 0.15 mJ/mm(2)/300 impulses)], group 3 (AIS), and group 4 (AIS-ECSW)...

We tested whether combined melatonin (Mel) and exendin-4 (Ex4) treatment can better preserve glomerular structural integrity after ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury compared with either alone. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=50) were equally divided into sham control (SC), IR, IR-Ex4 (10 μg/kg subcutaneously 30 min after reperfusion and daily for...

This study tested the hypothesis that autologous adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) embedded in platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) can significant promote myocardial regeneration and repair after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). With avoiding the needle-related complications, PRF-embedded autologous ADMSCs graft provides a new effective stem...

This study tested the hypothesis that peripheral blood-derived endothelial progenitor cell (PBDEPC) therapy can impede the deterioration of chronic kidney disease (CKD) induced by 5/6 nephrectomy in rats. Adult-male rats (n = 30) were equally categorized into group 1 (sham control), group 2 (CKD only) and group 3 [CKD + PBDEPC (left intra-arterial...