Medicine
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Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death. In the present research, we adopted a comprehensive bioinformatics method to identify some biomarkers associated with the tumor progression and prognosis of PCa. ⋯ Four hub genes were identified as candidate biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for further studies of exploring molecular mechanisms and individual therapy on PCa.
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Anatomic course of medial branches in the thoracic spine is significantly different. Cooled RFA (CRFA) is a newer technique that can create a larger spherical lesion with a potential to compensate for the anatomic variability of the medial branches in the thoracic spine. Our retrospective study aimed to investigate the efficacy and the adverse effects of the CRFA in the treatment of thoracic facet-related pain. ⋯ This is the first clinical study to evaluate the efficacy and adverse effects of CRFA in the thoracic spine for facet joint-related pain. Our results suggest that CRFA procedure is an effective treatment modality for thoracic facet-related pain. Our subgroup analysis demonstrated that the pain relief and duration varies with the age and the pretreatment pain levels.
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The economic burden of diabetes has increased over time with disease severity. Previous publications investigating the effects of physical activity (PA) on medical costs have made use of small sample sizes. We assessed the relationship between PA and 1-year medical expenditure among Taiwanese patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). ⋯ In general, patients who had exercise >150 minutes/week had lower health care spending (i.e., US$ 755.83) followed by those who had less than 150 minutes/week (US$ 880.08) when compared with inactive patients (P < .0001). Moreover, health care costs derived from outpatient or inpatient care were lower for sufficiently active than inactive participants (P < .0001). Compared with being sedentary, PA was associated with lower health care costs of Taiwanese adults with diabetes mellitus.
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Observational Study
Attitude adjustments after global health inter-professional student team experiences.
How medical inter-professional (IP) education should be introduced to students is still a matter of research. We evaluated IP student attitudes before and after a busy "hands-on" clinical experience. During 3 separate trips, first/second year medical and physician assistant students and third/fourth year nursing students traveled to Central America to work together for 1 week in an underserved clinical setting. ⋯ Post-brigade perspectives revealed a shift in attitude from purely positive expectations to more practical aspects of teamwork, respect, and interpersonal relationships. Students believe that patient care benefits from IP collaboration. After a busy clinical experience requiring collaboration, students realized that functional teams require appropriate skills, roles, and respectful interpersonal relationships.
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Observational Study
Effect of Bicalutamide on the proliferation and invasion of human triple negative breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells.
Previous studies have shown androgen receptor (AR) is associated with the occurrence, development, recurrence, metastasis, and prognosis of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). More and more experts have noticed that AR signaling pathway plays an important role in the occurrence and development of TNBC. The purpose of this study is to detect the inhibitory efficacy and mechanism of Bicalutamide on the proliferation and invasion of TNBC cells. ⋯ Bicalutamide could efficiently inhibit the proliferation and invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, Bicalutamide could significantly induce the cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase and decrease the protein expression of AR, cyclin D1, matrix metalloprotease-2 (MMP-2), and matrix metalloprotease-9 (MMP-9). The present study indicated the Bicalutamide inhibited the proliferation and invasion process of triple negative breast cancer cells by targeting AR signaling pathway and down-regulating MMP-2/-9 protein expression levels.