J Formos Med Assoc
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Congenital generalized lipodystrophy (CGL) is a rare disorder characterized by scarce adipose tissue. This disease is distributed worldwide, but little is known about these patients in the Chinese population. Here, we delineate the phenotype and prognosis of CGL in our cohort. ⋯ Our findings highlight the uniqueness of the genotype and phenotype in our cohort. Further long-term surveillance for comorbidities is necessary for early detection and management of these patients.
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Even with the increasing recognition of primary aldosteronism (PA) as a cause of refractory hypertension and an issue of public health, the consensus of its optimal surgical or medical treatment in Taiwan has not been reached. Our objective was to develop a clinical practice guideline that is feasible for real-world management of PA patients in Taiwan. ⋯ We hope this consensus will provide a guideline to help medical professionals to manage PA patients in Taiwan to achieve a better quality of care.
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There are scarce reports on the prognostic factors and treatment outcomes of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) in Asia. This study aimed to address these matters in a real-world setting. ⋯ This is one of the largest case series of MPM reported in Asia outside of Japan. Prognostic factors in the study population included age, performance status, stage, and histology subtype. Surgery in potentially resectable disease and systemic therapy in advanced MPM confer a survival benefit in Asian patients.
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Globally, asbestos-related diseases (ARDs) keep rising over the coming decades. The epidemic of ARDs will be a burden on public health. We aimed to predict the malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) incidence in the next 30 years for Taiwan based on historical asbestos consumption. ⋯ The MPM epidemic in Taiwan will likely peak in 2012-2020 as a result of local asbestos consumption. Approximately 659 new MPM cases in the next 30 years warrant an urgent need to implement a total asbestos ban and put more resources on a comprehensive surveillance, diagnosis, and follow-up health care system for ARDs.
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Influenza A/H3N2 viruses are characterized by highly mutated RNA genomes. In this study, we focused on tracing the phylodynamics of Taiwanese strains over the past four decades. ⋯ We comprehensively investigated the evolutionary history of Taiwanese strains in 1979-2017. An epidemic caution could thus be raised if genetic diversity was found to have peaked. An example showed a newly-discovered cluster in 2016-2017 strains featuring a mutation N31S together with HA-160 quasispecies. Phylogeographic analysis, moreover, provided useful insights in tracing the possible source and migrations of these epidemics around the world. We demonstrated that Asian destinations including Taiwan were the immediate followers, while U.S. continent was predicted the origin of two summer epidemics in 2007 and 2009.