Biomedical subjects

Chia-Jung Chen

Publications and source records attributed to Chia-Jung Chen.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Spindle cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and oropharynx: factors affecting outcome.

BACKGROUND: Spindle cell carcinoma (SpCC) is considered to be a rare variant of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The behavior of such tumors is unclear. The aim of this study was to elucidate the treatment and outcome of oral and oropharyngeal SpCC. METHODS: All the medical records of patients with the diagnosis of SpCC in the oral cavity and oropharynx in our hospital from 1994 to 2005 were reviewed. The clinical features, treatments and survival of the patients were evaluated. RESULTS: Within the 11-year study period, 18 patients were diagnosed with oral and oropharyngeal SpCC. There were 3 cases of AJCC (American Joint Committee on Cancer) stage I, 3 of stage II, 2 of stage III, 9 of stage IV, and 1 case without definite staging. Twelve patients died of their diseases. The median overall survival time was 8.89 months. The 1-year overall survival rate was 36.7% and the 3-year overall survival rate was 27.5%. In the early stage group, the 1-year and 3-year survival rates were both 100%. In the late stage group, the 1-year survival rate was 9%, and the 3-year survival rate was 0%. The factors influencing overall survival were tumor grade, lymph nodes, metastasis, stage, vascular invasion and distant recurrence. A high local recurrence rate (73.3%) and distant metastasis rate (33.3%) were observed. CONCLUSION: The behavior of SpCC seems to be more aggressive than that of SCC at a similar stage. Setting wider safety margins (> 2 cm) during surgical intervention is suggested. In the case of locoregional recurrence, salvage operation showed some benefit. Seeking an effective chemotherapy protocol is important for the control of distant recurrence.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

A screening platform for compounds with potential immuno-regulatory activities using human cord blood mononuclear cells.

A systematic and combinatorial approach was adopted using human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells (hUCB-MNCs) to screen for potential immuno-regulatory compounds. The hUCB-MNCs contain several types of immunogenic cells, which are a suitable material to mimic the in vivo immuno-response after drug treatment. hUCB-MNCs were treated with various natural products such as quercetin, astaxanthin, caffeic acid, bilobalide, eugenol, rutin and gamma-dodecalactone (gamma-DDL). Phenotypic expression analysis revealed that the subpopulation of CD3(+) T cells, CD56(+) NK cells and CD1a(+) dendritic cells apparently increased after being treated with gamma-DDL for 6 days. The expression of CD56 reached a maximum at 72 h with a dose-dependent relationship. The NK cells activation marker (CD69) also elevated following gamma-DDL treatment. These results demonstrated that the gamma-DDL has immuno-regulatory effects to enhance cord blood NK cells population and bioactivities. Such a high-throughput methodology using hUCB-MNCs may be an effective platform for systematically screening potential immuno-regulatory compounds.

4-Butyrolactone↗

PubMed2005

Randomized controlled trial of music during kangaroo care on maternal state anxiety and preterm infants' responses.

The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to investigate the influences of music during kangaroo care (KC) on maternal anxiety and preterm infants' responses. There are no experimental studies that explore the influences of combination of music and KC on psychophysiological responses in mother-infant dyads. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 30 hospitalized preterm infants body weight 1500 gm and over, gestational age 37 weeks and lower from two NICUs. Mother-infant dyads were randomly assigned to the treatment and the control group using permuted block randomization stratified on gender. There were 15 mother-infant dyads in each group. Subjects in the treatment dyads listened to their choice of a lullaby music during KC for 60 min/section/day for three consecutive days. Control dyads received routine incubator care. Using a repeated measures design with a pretest and three posttests, the responses of treatment dyads including maternal anxiety and infants' physiologic responses (heart rate, respiratory rate, and O2 saturation) as well as behavioural state were measured. The results revealed that there were no significant differences between the two groups on infants' physiologic responses and the values were all in the normal range. However, infants in the treatment group had more occurrence of quiet sleep states and less crying (p<0.05-0.01). Music during KC also resulted in significantly lower maternal anxiety in the treatment group (p<0.01). Maternal state anxiety improved daily, indicating a cumulative dose effect. The findings provide evidence for the use of music during KC as an empirically-based intervention for bahavioural state stability and maternal anxiety in mother-infant dyads.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Retroperitoneal enteric duplication cyst.

Enteric duplication cysts (EDCs) can occur in any portion of the alimentary tract, but are most commonly associated with the small bowel and esophagus. Retroperitoneal location is really unusual. This 19-year-old female was in excellent health, but a week's abdominal pain made her search for a doctor's help. After the detailed examination, surgical intervention was performed under the impression of cystic tumor of the retroperitoneum. A retroperitoneal cystic tumor, 13.0 x 8.0 x 3.5 cm in size, without any communication with the alimentary tract was noted during the operation. Finally, EDC was diagnosed after the pathologic examination of this resected cystic lesion. To our knowledge, there have been only 6 reported cases of EDC of the retroperitoneum in the English literature. This report concerns the seventh case of retroperitoneal EDC, in an adolescent, with different clinical presentation and histopathologic findings from the previous ones.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Burn-induced lung damage in rat is mediated by a nitric oxide/cGMP system.

This study was conducted to demonstrate the burn-induced lung neutrophil deposition and damage in rats is affected by the nitric oxide (NO)-dependent downstream cGMP signaling. In experiment 1, 1H-[1,2,4] oxadiazolo [4,3-alpha] quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ) was given (20 mg/kg i.p.) to specific pathogen-free Sprague-Dawley rats immediately postburn to suppress the guanylate cyclase (GC) activity. At 8 h after burn, blood was assayed for the peroxynitrite-mediated dihydrorhodamine 123 (DHR 123) oxidation and lung tissues were harvested for myeloperoxidase (MPO) determination and histological studies. Pulmonary microvascular dysfunction was quantified by measuring the extravasations of Evans blue dye. In experiment 2, Sodium nitroprusside (SNP) was given (2 mM, i.p.) to elevate cGMP levels and ODQ (20 mg/kg, i.p.) or methylene blue (100 microM, i.p.) or saline was given. The animals were sacrificed 4 h after injection and lung tissues were harvested for iNOS mRNA study. The MPO activity in lung, blood DHR 123 oxidation level, and lung permeability increased up to 2-fold, 4-fold, and 2.5-fold after burn. Inhibition of GC by ODQ administration significantly decreased MPO activity, blood DHR 123 oxidation, and lung permeability by 55%, 66%, and 53%, respectively, and markedly decreased the thermal injury-induced perivascular and interstitial inflammatory cell infiltration and septum edema. The protective effects of ODQ were comparable to the use of selective iNOS inhibitor as demonstrated previously. Furthermore, ODQ decreased the burn or SNP-induced iNOS mRNA levels at 4 h after burn. These findings suggest that burn-induced lung dysfunction is mediated by the NO/cGMP system because it is abolished by application of either iNOS inhibitor or GC inhibitor. Also, the beneficial effect of ODQ is partly due to the attenuation of burn-induced iNOS expression by GC inhibition.

Animals↗