J Formos Med Assoc
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COVID-19 has not only affected the respiratory but the cardiovascular system. Taiwan has encountered a less severe COVID-19 pandemic. We reported the current situation in Taiwan. ⋯ However, there was a trend of subjective shortness of breath reported by the patients but no decline in 6 MWT. Notably, none of the enrolled patients reported MACEs during the COVID pandemic. We observed an impact of anxiety on patients receiving epirubicin but it did not influence their return ratio.
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Actually, many individuals have opted for the vegetarian diet. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of the vegetarian diet on the oral epithelium through cytopathology. ⋯ Despite the small sample size, the results of this study raise the hypothesis that the vegetarian diet (especially the vegan diet) can compromise the thickness of the oral epithelium of the tongue.
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We investigated the protective efficacy of l-theanine (LT), the major amino acid components of green tea, on chronic constriction injury (CCI) of sciatic nerve-induced neuropathic pain (NP) development and neuronal functional changes in rats. ⋯ This is the first report on the ameliorative effect of LT in CCI-induced NP in rats. This effect might be attributed to its anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and neuroprotective, thus making it potentially useful as an adjuvant to conventional treatment.
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We estimated loss-of-life expectancy (LE) and lifetime medical expenditures (LME) stratified by stages to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of breast cancer (BC) screening in Taiwan. ⋯ Mammography could detect BC early and be cost-saving after adjustment for different distributions of age and calendar year of diagnosis. Future studies exploring healthcare expenditure and impaired quality of life for false-positive cases are warranted.