J Formos Med Assoc
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The spread of the emerging pathogen, named as SARS-CoV-2, has led to an unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic since 1918 influenza pandemic. This review first sheds light on the similarity on global transmission, surges of pandemics, and the disparity of prevention between two pandemics. ⋯ We then propose a systematic framework for elucidating emerging infectious disease (EID) such as COVID-19 with a panorama viewpoint from natural infection and disease process, public health interventions (non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and vaccine), clinical treatments and therapies (antivirals), until global aspects of health and economic loss, and economic evaluation of interventions with emphasis on mass vaccination. This review not only concisely delves for evidence-based scientific literatures from the origin of outbreak, the spread of SARS-CoV-2 to three surges of pandemic, and NPIs and vaccine uptakes but also provides a new insight into how to apply big data analytics to identify unprecedented discoveries through COVID-19 pandemic scenario embracing from biomedical to economic viewpoints.
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Very few studies have explored the changes of serum pepsinogen after bariatric surgery and no research has evaluated the feasibility of ABC classification to predict gastric cancer risk after bariatric surgery. ⋯ Both of SG and RYGB resulted in significant reduction of serum PGI and PGII after bariatric surgery, and significantly influenced the ABC classification. The application of ABC classification for gastric cancer screening was limited after bariatric surgery.
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Several previous studies have reported higher serum tumor marker levels in patients with oral or head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. This study evaluated whether 232 patients with oral precancerous lesions (oral precancer patients) had significantly higher serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-Ag), and ferritin levels than healthy control subjects. ⋯ There are significantly higher mean serum CEA, SCC-Ag, and ferritin levels and significantly higher serum positive rates of CEA, SCC-Ag, and ferritin in oral precancer patients than in healthy control subjects. The serum CEA, SCC-Ag, and ferritin levels are of diagnostic value and may be potential tumor markers for the screening of oral precancer patients.
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2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) is one of the most major components in dentin bonding systems. Uncured HEMA is eluted through the dentin and harmful to pulp cells. The study aimed to investigate the death pattern, morphological change and factors of human dental pulp cells (HDPCs) cultured with low-dose HEMA. ⋯ The significant cellular morphology characteristics of apoptosis can be observed at higher dose and longer period after exposed to uncured HEMA. The expression of NF-κB was following the ratio of late apoptosis at longer exposure period. Clinically, the remaining dentin thickness should be enough to decrease HEMA concentration and thus to protect pulp cells free from harm.
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The COVID-19 outbreaks associated with mass religious gatherings which have the potential of invoking epidemics at large scale have been a great concern. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of outbreak in mass religious gathering and further to assess the preparedness of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) for preventing COVID-19 outbreak in this context. ⋯ We provided the evidence on the preparedness of NPIs for preventing COVID-19 outbreak in the context of mass religious gathering by using a density-dependent model.