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Yee-Yung Ng

Publications and source records attributed to Yee-Yung Ng.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

The relationship between surgical site infection and volume of coronary artery bypass graft surgeries: Taiwan experience.

In this study, the overall incidence of surgical site infection was 8.83% (3.28% for index hospitalization events [ie, events that occurred during hospitalization for surgery] and 5.55% for postdischarge events [ie, events that occurred within 30 days after discharge]). There was a negative association between surgical volume and the incidence of surgical site infection following coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The hospital volume has a greater effect than does surgeon volume on reducing the incidence of surgical site infection.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

Blockade of NFkappaB activation and renal inflammation by ultrasound-mediated gene transfer of Smad7 in rat remnant kidney.

BACKGROUND: Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) in renal fibrosis has been well studied, but little attention has been paid to the potential role of TGF-beta in the resolution of renal inflammation. We hypothesize that TGF-beta exerts its anti-inflammation properties by stimulating its negative signaling pathway involving Smad7. METHODS: A rat remnant kidney model was treated with a doxycycline-regulated Smad7 gene or control empty vector using an ultrasound-microbubble (Optison)-mediated system. Smad7 transgene expression within the kidney was tightly controlled by the addition of doxycycline in the daily drinking water. All animals were euthanized at week 4 for examination of inflammatory responses. RESULTS: Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunohistochemistry revealed that gene transfer of Smad7 resulted in a substantial inhibition of interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) expression (all P < 0.01 vs. control). This was associated with the attenuation of histology damage, proteinuria, serum creatinine, and an increase in creatinine clearance (all P < 0.05). In addition, overexpression of Smad7 significantly inhibited renal inflammation, including ICAM-1, iNOS, and accumulation of macrophages and T cells in both glomeruli and tubulointerstitium. Furthermore, gene transfer of Smad7 also substantially blocked nuclear factor kappa B (NFkappaB) activation in the rat remnant kidney (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: TGF-beta/Smad7 signaling plays a critical role in the resolution of renal inflammation in rat remnant kidney model. Inhibition of NFkappaB activation is a key mechanism by which Smad7 suppresses renal inflammation, which suggests a crosstalk pathway between NFkappaB and Smad7. The ability of Smad7 to inhibit renal inflammation indicates that ultrasound-microbubble-mediated Smad7 gene therapy may represents a new therapeutic strategy for glomerulonephritis.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Association of case volume with mortality of chinese patients after coronary artery bypass grafting: Taiwan experience.

BACKGROUND: An inverse relationship between surgeon volume or hospital volume and mortality has been reported in Western countries, but seldom in Asia. METHODS AND RESULTS: The data of 4,724 patients with coronary artery disease who underwent coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery in Taiwan between 1(st) January 2000 and 31(st) December 2001 were analyzed in this prospective cohort study. Overall, 3.45% of patients died in-hospital (IH), and 6.48% patients died within 30 days after discharge (AD30); 85.0% of patients in the AD30 group died at home within 1 day of discharge because of a "cultural preference for dying at home". After adjustment by stepwise logistic regression for age, sex, cardiac function, co-morbidity and in-hospital complications, higher provider volume was still associated with lower mortality rates for CABG, especially higher surgeon volume. Because IH mortality can be affected by different culture, the IH plus AD30 mortality rate is more appropriate as a proxy to reflect the mortality of a specific procedure. CONCLUSIONS: The relationship of higher-volume hospitals or surgeons with lower mortality rate for patients undergoing CABG is a general phenomenon in Western and Chinese societies. However, the combination of the AD30 and IH mortality rates has to be considered when investigating procedural mortality rates in Chinese society.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Pentoxifylline suppresses renal tumour necrosis factor-alpha and ameliorates experimental crescentic glomerulonephritis in rats.

BACKGROUND: Crescentic glomerulonephritis is a rapidly progressive form of glomerulonephritis, but treatment remains non-specific. The methylxanthine derivative pentoxifylline (PTX) is a clinically available phosphodiesterase inhibitor with anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory activities. This study examined whether PTX has beneficial effects in a rat model of anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) crescentic glomerulonephritis. METHODS: Experimental crescentic glomerulonephritis was induced in Wistar rats by intravenous injection of rabbit anti-rat GBM serum and treated with either vehicle (phosphate-buffered saline) or PTX (0.1 g/kg/day) intravenously on a daily basis. Groups of six animals were euthanized at days 3, 7, 14 or 28 after induction of disease. Effects of PTX on renal function, histology and expression of cytokines, chemokines and adhesion molecules were determined. RESULTS: Compared with the vehicle-treated nephritic rats, PTX treatment beginning at the start of the nephritis significantly suppressed mRNA expression of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, but not interleukin-1 beta, throughout the course of nephritis. Moreover, PTX decreased renal mRNAs for intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), regulated on activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) and osteopontin (OPN) at all time points examined. These effects were associated with a significant inhibition of macrophage and T-cell infiltration, a reduction of 24-h urinary protein excretion (50-75%, P<0.05), an improvement of histological damage including glomerular crescent formation (60-70%, P<0.01) and a decrease of cortical mRNAs for type I (alpha 1) collagen and fibronectin. The efficacy of PTX could also be seen, though to a lesser extent, in rats with established nephritis. CONCLUSIONS: PTX is an effective anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory agent capable of suppressing rat crescentic glomerulonephritis. Inhibition of renal TNF-alpha, ICAM-1, RANTES, MCP-1 and OPN expression may be a mechanism whereby PTX suppresses progressive renal injury in rat crescentic glomerulonephritis.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Acute interstitial nephritis and pigmented tubulopathy in a patient after wasp stings.

Acute renal failure (ARF) is an unusual complication of wasp stings and mostly results from toxic-ischemic acute tubular necrosis. This patient, who was stung by a swarm of wasps, experienced an allergic reaction, rhabdomyolysis, intravascular hemolysis, and subsequent ARF. The originality of this case report is related to the finding of combined lesions of acute tubulointerstitial nephritis and acute tubular nephropathy. From our extensive literature review, it is the first case of a patient developing this type of injury after wasp stings, and the complications have been documented previously only in one form or another. Renal biopsy should be encouraged, especially for a patient with delayed recovery of renal function after wasp stings, to facilitate early steroid treatment for the patient with the histological change of acute interstitial nephritis. Early use of steroid therapy may hasten renal recovery by preventing the development of interstitial fibrosis.

Acute Kidney Injury↗
PubMed2002

Neurotransmitter levels in brains of chronically Jiawey Siwu-treated rats.

Levels of monoamines and metabolites, excitatory amino acids, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) were investigated in discrete brain areas of chronic Jiawey Siwu (JS)-treated rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were dosed orally for 3 months with normal saline or JS at 0.21, 1.05 or 4.2 g/kg/day. Body weights of these four groups were similar over 3 months. Most effects of JS revealed a dose dependency with levels of neurotransmitters. Levels of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (EPI) in cerebral cortex; EPI, vanillylmandelic acid (VMA), dopamine (DA) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in medulla oblongata; DA in midbrain; NE and 5-HT in amygdala; and 5-HT in hypothalamus had decreased in JS-treated rats. 3-Methoxytyramine (3-MT) in cerebral cortex; 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5-HIAA) in medulla oblongata; NE, 3-MT and homovanillic acid (HVA) in pons; EPI and 3-MT in midbrain; 3-MT and HVA in amygdala; 3-MT, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), HVA and 5-HIAA in cerebellum; HVA in hypothalamus; and DOPAC and HVA in hippocampus had all increased in JS-treated rats. In pons, 5-HT increased with low and decreased with high JS doses. Ratios of DA/3-MT in pons and midbrain; DA/HVA in pons and cerebellum; and 5-HT/5-HIAA in medulla oblongata, cerebellum and hypothalamus had decreased. Furthermore, aspartate (ASP) and glutamate (GLU) levels had decreased in cerebral cortex, midbrain, hypothalamus and hippocampus or amygdala, and increased in pons. GABA levels were reduced in cerebral cortex, and higher in medulla oblongata, pons, amygdala, cerebellum, hippocampus and striatum of JS-treated rats. These results indicate that the synthesis and (or) metabolism of NE, DA, EPI and 5-HT, and the levels of ASP, GLU and GABA in rat brains were differentially regionally altered by JS, which may contribute to the central manifestations of JS treatment.

Animals↗