Jun- Jun Yeh

Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan

Objective: The objective of this study was to use high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) imaging to predict the presence of smear-positive active pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in elderly (at least 65 years of age) and non-elderly patients (18-65 years of age). Methods: Patients with active pulmonary infections seen from November 2010 through...

Abstract This study aimed to determine the effect of colchicine use on the risk of stroke among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). We retrospectively enrolled patients with DM between 2000 and 2013 from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database and divided them into a colchicine cohort (n = 8761) and noncolchicine cohort (n = 8761) by using pro...

Background This study investigated the effect of colchicine use on the risks of heart disease (HD), pericarditis, endocarditis, myocarditis, cardiomyopathy, cardiac arrhythmia, and cardiac failure in patients having interstitial lung disease (ILD) with virus infection (ILD cohort).Methods We retrospectively enrolled ILD cohort between 2000 and 2013...

To investigate the effects of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) drug use on the risk of pulmonary vascular disease (PVD) in an interstitial lung disease cohort (ILD cohort, ILD+ virus infection), we retrospectively enrolled the ILD cohort with HCQ (HCQ users, N = 4703) and the ILD cohort without HCQ (non-HCQ users, N = 4703) by time-dependence after propens...

Objectives: We sought to fill the research gap on the effects of statins on the risks of ischemic stroke and heart disease among individuals with human immunodeficiency virus infection, influenza, and severe acute respiratory syndrome associated-coronavirus (HIS) disorders. Methods: We enrolled a HIS cohort treated with statins (n = 4921) and a...

Background: It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between asthma and bronchiectasis as their symptoms overlap, and these two diseases are associated with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) or pneumonia. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of bronchodilator drugs, steroids, antidepressants drugs, and antianxiety drugs on th...

Objective We investigated the effects of medication on heart disease and ischemic stroke (HDS) risk in patients with predominant bronchiectasis-asthma combination (BCAS). Methods BCAS and non-BCAS cohorts ( N = 588 and 1,118, respectively) were retrospectively enrolled. The cumulative incidence of HDS was analyzed using Cox proportional regression...

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in exhaled breath can help in analysing biochemical processes in the human body. Liver diseases can be traced using VOCs as biomarkers for physiological and pathophysiological conditions. In this work, we propose non-invasive and quick breath monitoring approach for early detection and progress monitoring o...

Purpose To determine the effects of statins and steroids on the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and stroke in patients with interstitial lung disease and pulmonary fibrosis (ILD-PF). Methods We retrospectively enrolled patients with ILD-PF who were using statins (statin cohort, N = 11,567) and not using statins (nonstatin cohort, N = 26,159)...

Objective: To determine the effect of statins on risk of cancer in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) and pulmonary fibrosis. Setting: We retrospectively enrolled patients with ILD and pulmonary fibrosis and divided them into two cohorts by statin use (statin users (n=10 036) and statin non-users (n=10 036)). Participants: We select...

Liver function test is the first step to diagnose various liver diseases by measuring certain proteins and liver enzymes from the blood sample. After getting the required data of the clinical parameters from the blood test it is possible to calculate Child-Pugh (CTP), AST to PLT ratio (APRI) and Model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) clinical sco...

Indium tin oxide (ITO) is widely used as a substrate for fabricating chips because of its optical transparency, favorable chemical stability, and high electrical conductivity. However, the wettability of ITO surface is neutral (the contact angle was approximately 90°) or hydrophilic. For reagent transporting and manipulation in biochip application,...

Breath ammonia is an important biomarker linked to liver malfunction. Acetone is the most abundant compound in the breath, acts as major interference for selective detection of ammonia gas. Here, a novel method based on viscosity modulation of the silicone oil absorbent is reported for selectivity improvement of ammonia over acetone gas. ATD-GC-MS...

Background: Studies on the association between polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM) and acute respiratory failure (ARF) are considerably limited. We investigated whether ARF is associated with PM/DM using a nationwide cohort study. Methods: We identified 1,374 patients with newly diagnosed PM/DM and 13,740 comparison individuals without PM/DM (n...

Purpose To evaluate the association among chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with asthma, steroid use, and pneumonia in the general population. Methods Using Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database to identify patients with incident pneumonia, we established a COPD with asthma cohort of 12,538 patients and a COPD cohort of 2...

Background: To determine the effects of bronchodilator, steroid, and anti-arrhythmia drug use on the risk of heart disease/stroke (HDS) in patients with bronchiectasis–chronic obstructive pulmonary disease overlap syndrome (BCOS). Methods: We retrospectively enrolled patients with BCOS (BCOS cohort, n = 1,493) and patients without bronchiectasis an...

Objective: The effects of statins on the risk of hepatic, renal, respiratory, and heart failure among patients with asthma–chronic obstructive pulmonary disease overlap (ACO) have not been reported. Design: Time-dependent population-based study. Setting: Patient data from 2000 to 2010 were retrieved from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Researc...

Background: The effects of ionized radiation on the thyroid have been extensively studied. However, most studies have focused on high-dose radiation received accidentally or through therapy, and few were on low-dose occupational exposure. Methods: Using a retrospective cohort study design, we collected health examination reports from employees w...

Background: The effects of statins on anxiety and depression in patients with asthma-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease overlap syndrome (ACOS) have not been reported. This population-based study investigated these effects. Methods: Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database between 2000 and 2010. We enrolled two ACOS cohorts, one o...

The detection of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) biomarkers from the exhaled breath has opened the new techniques for medical diagnostics because of its noninvasive and inexpensive way of disease detection. Exhaled breath contains more than 1840 VOCs ¹ which concentration may vary in ppb or in ppt range. The signature of some VOCs present in brea...

This study evaluated the diagnostic use of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), chest X-ray (CXR), and clinical manifestations (CM) to identify initial smear-negative (iSN) active pulmonary tuberculosis (aPTB) [iSN-aPTB] in patients with iSN-pulmonary diseases (PD) and acute lung injury (ALI). In the derivation cohort, the [iSN-PD] with ALI...

Backgound and aims: We aimed at determining the effects of statin use on coronary artery disease (CAD) and stroke risks in patients with asthma-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease overlap syndrome (ACOS). Methods: We retrospectively enrolled patients with ACOS treated with (N = 916) and without (N = 6338) statins. The cumulative incidence of C...

Purpose: The association between pneumonia and neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) has never been reported in detail. We address this relationship with reference to a general population. Methods: Using Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database to identify a pneumonia cohort (including the typical and atypical), we established an ND cohort o...

Abstract: Ammonia is an essential biomarker for noninvasive diagnosis of liver malfunction. Therefore, selective detection of ammonia is essential for medical application. Here, we demonstrate a portable device to selectively detect sub-ppm ammonia gas. The presented gas sensor is composed of a Pt coating on top of an ultrathin Indium nitrite (InN)...

We investigated the effects of statins on tuberculosis (TB) and pneumonia risks in asthma–chronic pulmonary disease overlap syndrome (ACOS) patients. We extracted data of patients diagnosed as having ACOS during 2000–2010 from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database and divided them into statin users and nonusers. All study participa...

Sub-ppm detection of exhaled breath ammonia is rel-evant for liver malfunction. In order to detect such low range concentration, we have demonstrated a thin film InN based resistive gas sensor device for the sub-ppm am-monia gas sensing. The InN thin film grown by the RF-MOMBE, works as a sensing film. The lower detection limit of the InN gas senso...

This article unveiled the development of an inexpensive, lightweight, easy-to-use, and portable fluorescence imaging device for paper-based analytical applications. We used commercial fluorescent dyes, as proof of concept, to verify the feasibility of our fluorescence imaging device for bioanalysis. This approach may provide an alternative method f...

Aims: To evaluate the relationship between cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and pneumonia in the general population. Methods: This retrospective observational study included two cohorts, namely CVD (n = 28,363) and non-CVD (n = 28,363) cohorts, which were matched by propensity score and examined for cases of pneumonia. Data were obtained from 2000...

An ultrathin InN resistive gas sensor is used for selective sensing of ammonia gas by using (∼5nm) pentacene film coating on the InN epilayer for liver malfunction applications. In order to distinguish between ammonia and acetone gases in the exhaled breath, we used two physically different characteristics of InN epilayer such as bare InN epilayer...

A platinum coating on an ultrathin InN resistive gas sensor was fabricated for the selective sensing of ammonia and acetone gas for liver malfunction and diabetes applications by using a temperature modulation technique. We use a cyclic temperature profile in the InN gas sensor heater, where the temperature varies from 200°C to 0°C and from 0°C to...

Background To evaluate the association of asthma–chronic obstructive pulmonary disease syndrome (ACOS) with neurodegenerative diseases (stroke, Parkinson's disease and dementia) and the role of the steroids in the neurodegenerative diseases among the ACOS cohort. Materials and Methods Comparison of the ACOS cohort (N = 10,260) with the non-ACOS co...

Purpose To clarify the relationship between asthma–chronic obstructive pulmonary disease overlap syndrome (ACOS) and depression. Methods We identified 10,911 patients who received an ACOS diagnosis and concurrent treatment between January 2000 and December 2009. Subjects without ACOS were included in the non-ACOS cohort (n = 10,911). Cox proportio...

Checklist of items that should be included in reports of observational studies. (DOC)

Background: We conducted a cohort study to determine the relationship between enterovirus (EV) infection and asthma. Materials and methods: From the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, we identified patients who received a new diagnosis of asthma and concurrent treatment between January 2000 and December 2011 (EV cohort: n = 2...

Objectives Patients with asthma–chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) overlap syndrome (ACOS) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) share common risk factors. However, the association between ACOS and the incidence of CVDs has not been reported. This study investigated the relationship between CVDs and ACOS in the general population. Setting D...

Objectives: The objective of this study was to develop a predictive model for final smear-positive (SP) active pulmonary tuberculosis (aPTB) in patients with initial negative acid fast bacilli (AFB) sputum smears (iSN-SP-aPTB) based on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). Method and materials: Eighty (126, 21) patients of iSN-SP-aPTB and...

The output power of conventional light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is enhanced by 9% at 120 mA current without alterations to the existing fabrication techniques and to the multi-quantum well (MQW) junction. The output power is improved by nanotexturing the street of the n-gallium nitride (GaN) layer that was unexploited, for the enhancement of the opti...

Objective The relationship between respiratory tuberculosis (RT) and incident fragility fracture and osteoporosis/fragility fracture in the general population is not well determined; therefore, we conducted a nationwide cohort study to investigate this relationship. Methods We used the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan to ident...

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Defects and heterogeneities degrade the strength of glass with different surface and subsurface properties. This study uses surface nanostructures to improve the bending strength of glass and investigates the effect of defects on three glass types. Borosilicate and aluminosilicate glasses with a higher defect density than fused silica exhibited 118...

Oxygen is necessary for the nutrition of living cells in a human body, and a low oxygen supply can damage the human tissues and cause hypoxia and loss of consciousness. Moreover, oxygen deficiency in the brain can directly damage the nervous system, resulting in memory loss and unconsciousness if the deficiency persists. Therefore, the determinatio...

Purpose: We conducted a nationwide cohort study to investigate the relationship between systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and the risk of incident respiratory failure. Methods: From the National Health Insurance Research Database, we identified 11 533 patients newly diagnosed with SLE and 46 132 controls without SLE who were randomly selected t...

Purpose: We conducted a cohort study to clarify this relationship between asthma-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) overlap syndrome (ACOS) and pulmonary embolism (PE). Methods: From the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, we identified patients who had a diagnosis of asthma and a diagnosis of COPD (defined as ACOS)...

STROBE Statement?checklist of items that should be included in reports of observational studies. (DOC)

Purpose The association between asthma–chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) overlap syndrome (ACOS) and tuberculosis (TB) has yet to be studied. Methods The newly diagnosed TB patients (age > 20 y) treated from January 2000 to December 2008 were included (ACOS cohort, n = 10 751; non-ACOS cohort, n = 42 966). The non-ACOS cohort involved...

In this study, we mechanically strengthened a borosilicate glass wafer by doubling its bending strength and simultaneously enhancing its transparency using surface nanostructures for different applications including sensors, displays and panels. A fabrication method that combines dry and wet etching is used for surface nanostructure fabrication. Sp...

This paper presents a novel multi-axis tactile sensor has tunable sensing ranges and sensitivity. A low dielectric constant (er) droplet covered with high er liquid are employed as the dielectric material of this sensor. The sensing range and sensitivity can be adjusted by varying the shape of the droplet by controlling the dielectric force supplie...

Laser ablation technology has widely been applied in the clothing industry in recent years. However, the laser mechanism would affect the quality of fabric contours and its components. Hence, this study examined carbonization and oxidation conditions and contour variation in nonwoven, cotton, and composite leather fabrics cut by using an ultraviole...

Introducing functional macromolecules into a variety of living cells is challenging but important for biology research and cell-based therapies. We report a novel cell delivery platform based on rotating shape anisotropic magnetic particles (SAMPs), which make very small cuts on cell membranes for macromolecule delivery with high efficiency and hig...

In this study, we describe the development of surface-modified chitosan substrates to examine topographically related Neuro-2a cell behaviors. Different functional groups can be modified on chitosan surfaces to probe Neuro-2a cell morphology. To prepare chitosan substrates with micro/nano-scaled features, we demonstrated an easy-to-handle method th...

This study proposes a promising silicon (Si) solar cell structure for reducing the potential induced degradation (PID) of crystalline Si solar cells. Phosphorous silicate glass (PSG) layers were carefully designed on an emitter layer, and the thickness of these layers (dPSG) was controlled by adjusting the diffusion temperature and time. The result...

Recent advances in bioengineering have enabled the development of biomedical tools with modifiable surface features (small-scale architecture) to mimic extracellular matrices and aid in the development of well-controlled platforms that allow for the application of mechanical stimulation for studying cellular biomechanics. An overview of recent deve...

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) associated with diabetes during pregnancy has been relatively recently described. The echocardiographic findings are similar to those found in the classic sarcomeric familial HCM. In addition, the hemodynamics and clinical presentation may be significant and can include impaired cardiac output and pulmonary hyperte...

Background: Previous studies investigating the relationship between Mycoplasma pneumoniae and incident asthma in the general population have been inconclusive. Objective: We conducted a nationwide cohort study to clarify this relationship. Methods: Using the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, we identified 1591 patients wit...

Objective: To study the epidemiology of retinoblastoma in Taiwan from 1998 to 2011. Design: This was a retrospective population-based cohort study using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Results: The present study included 154 patients (92 males, 62 females) with retinoblastoma and the documented overall retinoblastoma in...

This letter presents a wafer-level approach for producing rollable single crystal (sc)-silicon IC wafers, bent with a 17-mm minimum radius of curvature, achieved by back-side nanotexturing. The three-point bending test indicates a mechanical strength enhancement by a factor of 2.3 for nanotextured 60-μm thick samples. The minimum radius of curvatur...