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Biomedical subjects

Tzu-Cheg Kao

Publications and source records attributed to Tzu-Cheg Kao.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Correlations between serum monocyte chemotactic protein-1 levels, clinical prognostic factors, and HER-2/neu vaccine-related immunity in breast cancer patients.

PURPOSE: We studied serum monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) levels in breast cancer patients in relationship to their clinicopathologic variables and immune response to a /neu E75 vaccine. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We measured MCP-1 levels in 32 /neu(+) breast cancer patients before and after vaccination with a /neu E75 peptide + granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor vaccine. Clinical prognostic variables were collected. Vaccine-specific immunologic responses were monitored. RESULTS: Serum MCP-1 levels >250 pg/mL (MCP-high) correlated with favorable prognostic variables. MCP-high patients compared with MCP-low (<250 pg/mL) patients showed statistically significant later onset of disease, earlier stage of disease, fewer nodal metastasis, and less chemotherapy. MCP-high patients had increased levels of preexisting immunity when compared with MCP-low patients (69% versus 21%; P = 0.02). However, MCP-low patients showed higher inducible levels of MCP-1 compared with MCP-high patients (median increase, 41% versus 0%; P = 0.001) after vaccination. Moreover, MCP-low patients with >50% increase in MCP-1 levels (response-high) had worse clinical prognostic variables compared with patients with <50% increase (response-low). Response-high patients had statistically significant more poorly differentiated tumors, later stage of disease, and higher percentage of large tumors. Patients with >30% postvaccination MCP-1 increase also showed significant increases in E75-specific CD8(+) T-cells (0.05% versus 0.38%; P = 0.03) in response to vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: High serum MCP-1 levels in breast cancer patients correlate with favorable prognostic variables and increased preexisting /neu immunity. E75 vaccination induces the largest MCP-1 response in patients with unfavorable clinicopathologic variables. Therefore, low serum MCP-1 levels may identify patients with worse prognosis and those most likely to benefit from this vaccination.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Anthrax vaccine does not affect semen parameters, embryo quality, or pregnancy outcome in couples with a vaccinated male military service member.

Anthrax vaccination has been used in an effort to prevent infection should anthrax be used as a biological weapon, and widespread use has been considered in the event of another anthrax attack on American soil, but the long-term impact of anthrax vaccination on reproductive outcome is unknown. We found that exposure to the anthrax vaccine by males who were undergoing assisted reproduction did not negatively impact semen parameters, fertilization rate, embryo quality, or clinical pregnancy rates.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Prostate-specific antigen versus prostate-specific antigen density as predictor of tumor volume, margin status, pathologic stage, and biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVES: To compare prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and PSA density (PSAD) calculated by transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) volume (TRUS PSAD), pathologic volume (Path PSAD), and weight (Weight PSAD) for their ability to predict pathologic characteristics and biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer. We also compared all PSAD derivatives to determine consistency. METHODS: Between 1993 and 2002, 306 patients were retrospectively identified who had had PSAD determined preoperatively by TRUS and subsequently underwent radical prostatectomy with whole mounting and close step sectioning. The determination of stage, margin status, tumor number, individual tumor volume, and total tumor volume was obtained from the pathologic evaluation. Clinical follow-up was available for 265 patients. RESULTS: The mean patient age was 62 years, the median Gleason score was 7, the median PSA level was 5.80 ng/mL, and the median TRUS PSAD was 0.16. The percentages of concordance for PSA, TRUS PSAD, Path PSAD, and Weight PSAD were similar in predicting margin status and extracapsular extension. Using linear regression analysis, PSA was more efficacious than TRUS PSAD, Path PSAD, or Weight PSAD in predicting the total tumor volume (R2 0.11, 0.08, 0.04, and 0.06, respectively). A significant positive correlation was found among TRUS PSAD, Path PSAD, and Weight PSAD. PSA was significantly better in predicting biochemical recurrence than TRUS, Path, or Weight PSAD (concordance 75.5%, 66.6%, 66.5%, and 70.4%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: PSA and TRUS PSAD are significant and equivalent predictors of margin status and extracapsular extension. A marked difference may exist between PSA and TRUS PSAD in predicting the total tumor volume and biochemical recurrence.

Humans↗
PubMed2004

The relationship between alcohol use and risk-taking sexual behaviors in a large behavioral study.

BACKGROUND: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) present a continuing challenge to the efforts to prevent disease in the military. Since the degree of high-risk sexual behavior is a primary determinant for acquiring STIs, the identification of personality traits or situations associated with such behavior is of special interest. METHODS: Data for this study were obtained from the 1998 Department of Defense Survey of Health Related Behaviors Among Military Personnel. The survey instrument was a self-administered questionnaire that was conducted using a stratified, two-stage, two-phase probability design to obtain representative samples of U.S. active duty personnel worldwide. RESULTS: More frequent episodes of alcohol intoxication were associated in a dose-dependent manner with an increased risk of having more sexual partners in the previous 12 months. Men and women who experienced intoxication more than 3 days per week were, respectively, 4.55 and 6.18 times more likely to have more than one sexual partner in the previous year. CONCLUSIONS: This study is based on retrospective self-report and may be subject to recall bias as well as information bias due to the sensitive nature of the subject matter. However, the results are compatible with a personality-based hypothesis, in which individuals with certain sensation-seeking tendencies may incur an increased risk for sexually transmitted infections.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Bicycle riding and its relationship to the development of erectile dysfunction.

PURPOSE: Researchers have suggested that cycling is a hazard to the sexual health of men. Insufficient data have left cyclists skeptical of this claim. We explore risk factors within cycling that may put riders at risk for the development of erectile dysfunction (ED). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed an Internet based survey of cyclists to examine factors associated with cycling that might contribute to ED as defined by the International Index of Erectile Function. A total of 688 cyclists were included in the analysis ranging in age from 18 to 77 years. RESULTS: ED prevalence was 17% (115 of 688). Although results from univariate analysis revealed a correlation between ED and several tested variables, none proved to be statistically significant after controlling for age. CONCLUSIONS: The overall prevalence of ED in the cycling community does not appear to be greater than that of historical controls. Previously suggested alterations in riding habits may not change the prevalence of ED among cyclists.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Health-related behaviors in young military smokers.

This cross-sectional study examined the association between smoking and other health-related risk behaviors, individually as well as in clusters, across branches of military service in the higher risk ages of 18 to 25 years old within the 1998 Department of Defense Survey of Health-Related Behaviors among Military Personnel. Examination of the demographic variables revealed that, in general, smokers tended to be single, white, enlisted men in the 18- to 20-year age group with less education and serving in the Army or Marine Corps. Our findings support that there is an increased likelihood of co-occurrence of substance use along with other negative health-related risk behaviors found in military members. It may be practical and necessary to develop a focused survey given to those attending smoking cessation interventions, or perhaps to smokers in general, which attempts to identify associated risk behaviors and channel clients accordingly.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Microthrombectomy reduces postsclerotherapy pigmentation: multicenter randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE: Postsclerotherapy pigmentation occurs in nearly 30% of patients. Hemosiderin, from degradation of the venous thrombus, is the possible cause. The hypothesis that early removal of the thrombus may eliminate or decrease the incidence of pigmentation has not been proved or documented. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of early microthrombectomy on incidence of postsclerotherapy pigmentation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This multicenter, randomized, controlled study involved 101 patients with varicose veins (100 women, 1 man; mean age, 46 years [range, 25-68 years]). Patients were divided into two groups, with veins 1 mm or less in diameter (group 1, n = 50) or veins 3 mm or less in diameter (group 2, n = 51). Group 1 was treated with Sotradecol (STD) 0.25%, and group 2 with STD 0.50%. In each patient, an area of varicosities was selected and divided into halves. One half was randomized to microthrombectomy and the other half served as control. Microthrombectomy was performed 1 to 3 weeks after treatment in the randomized half. Standard photographs were obtained before and 16 weeks after treatment, and were evaluated by three independent reviewers who were blinded to treatment assignments. Each reviewer received an identical set of pretreatment and posttreatment 10 x 15-cm color photographs of the study area, and completed a scoring sheet. Average of the scores was used to evaluate primary (pigmentation) and secondary (overall clinical improvement) end points. The paired t test and chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: In group 1, microthrombectomized areas had statistically significant less pigmentation (P =.0047) and better overall clinical improvement scores (P =.0002) compared with the control side. In group 2 there was no significant difference between the two areas, but patients reported significant relief of pain and inflammation associated with postsclerotherapy thrombophlebitis. CONCLUSION: In veins 1 mm or smaller, microthrombectomy reduced pigmentation and improved overall clinical results. In veins 3 mm or smaller, statistical significance was not achieved, but thrombectomy resulted in faster resolution of the postsclerotherapy pain and inflammation. On the basis of these results, microthrombectomy after sclerotherapy is recommended.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Impact of renal transplantation on survival in end-stage renal disease patients with elevated body mass index.

BACKGROUND: Cadaveric renal transplantation is associated with a survival advantage compared with dialysis patients remaining on the renal transplantation waiting list, but this advantage has not been confirmed in obese end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. METHODS: Using data from the USRDS, we studied 7521 patients who presented with ESRD from 1 April 1995 to 29 June 1999 and later enrolled on the renal transplantation waiting list with body mass indices (BMI) >or=30 kg/m(2) at the time of presentation to ESRD, and followed until 6 November 2000. Recipients of preemptive renal transplantation or organs other than kidneys were excluded. Cox non-proportional hazards regression models were used to calculate adjusted, time-dependent hazard ratios (HR) for time to death in a given patient during the study period, controlling for renal transplantation, demographics and comorbidities (Form 2728). RESULTS: The incidence of mortality was 3.3 episodes per 100 patient-years (PY) in cadaveric renal transplantation and 1.9/100 PY in living donor renal transplantation compared with 6.6 episodes/100 PY in all patients on the transplant waiting list. In comparison to maintenance dialysis, both recipients of solitary cadaveric kidneys (HR 0.39, 95% CI 0.33 to 0.47), and recipients of living donor kidneys (HR 0.23, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.34) had statistically significant improved survival. A benefit of cadaveric renal transplantation did not apply to patients with BMI >or=41 kg/m(2) (HR 0.47, 95% CI, 0.17 to 1.25, P = 0.13). CONCLUSIONS: Obese patients on the renal transplant waiting list had a significantly lower risk of mortality after renal transplantation compared with those remaining on dialysis.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Mixed-effect models to assess consistency and reliability across multiple evaluations.

The issue of consistency and reliability arises frequently in applied clinical trials, and there is a considerable amount of literature on this topic. For a continuous random variable, we describe a process to assess whether the mean and variance are the same from one evaluation to the other and we derive the intraclass correlation (ICC) for evaluating consistency in the distributions of paired data. Mixed-effects linear models are applied, and these procedures are illustrated using dietary recall data from the Girls health Enrichment Multi-site Studies (GEMS). The SAS program code for performing the statistical analysis is provided. The models can be generalized to account for more design factors and other applicable covariates.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗
PubMed2002

Stable beta-secretase activity and presynaptic cholinergic markers during progressive central nervous system amyloidogenesis in Tg2576 mice.

We examined presynaptic cholinergic markers and beta-secretase activity during progressive central nervous system amyloidogenesis in Tg2576 Alzheimer mice (transgenic for human amyloid precursor protein Swedish mutation; hAPPswe). At 14, 18, and 23 months of age there were no significant differences between wild-type and transgenic mice in four distinct central nervous system cholinergic indices--choline acetyltransferase and acetylcholinesterase activities, and binding to vesicular acetylcholine transporter and Na(+)-dependent high-affinity choline uptake sites. A novel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay measuring only the secreted human beta-secretase cleavage product (APPsbetaswe) of APPswe also revealed no change with aging in Tg2576 mouse brain. In contrast, transgenic but not wild-type mice exhibited an age-dependent increase in soluble Abeta40 and Abeta42 levels and progressive amyloid deposition in brain. Thus, aging Tg2576 mice exhibited presynaptic cholinergic integrity despite progressively increased soluble Abeta40 and Abeta42 levels and amyloid plaque density in brain. Older Tg2576 mice may best resemble preclinical or early stages of human Alzheimer's disease with preserved presynaptic cholinergic innervation. Homeostatic APPsbetaswe levels with aging suggest that progressive amyloid deposition in brain results not from increased beta-secretase cleavage of APP but from impaired Abeta/amyloid clearance mechanisms.

Acetylcholinesterase↗