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Chun-Chia Chen

Publications and source records attributed to Chun-Chia Chen.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Effects of gabexate mesilate on serum inflammatory cytokines in rats with acute necrotizing pancreatitis.

Gabexate mesilate is a synthetic protease inhibitor. The effectiveness of gabexate mesilate in patients with acute pancreatitis is controversial. Proinflammatory cytokines are associated with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) in acute pancreatitis. A compensatory anti-inflammatory response occurs in parallel with SIRS. We investigated the effects of gabexate mesilate on acute necrotizing pancreatitis in rats, emphasizing the changes in serum levels of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Acute necrotizing pancreatitis was induced by retrograde infusion of sodium taurodeoxycholate into the pancreatobiliary duct in rats. The rats were divided into three groups. Group I was given gabexate mesilate 2 mg/kg/h i.v. continuously 1 h before the induction of acute pancreatitis. Group II was given gabexate mesilate the same dose immediately after the induction of acute pancreatitis. Group III was given normal saline as the controls. Serum levels of amylase, lipase, tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-6, and interleukin-10, pancreatic histopathology and hemodynamics were examined at 5h after the induction of acute pancreatitis. Gabexate mesilate significantly reduced serum levels of amylase, lipase, tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-6 at 5 h. Serum levels of interleukin-10 significantly increased in Group I, as compared with Groups II and III. The severity of pancreatic histopathology, the reduction of mean arterial pressure, the volume of ascites and pancreatic wet weight/body weight ratios were also significantly improved by the administration of gabexate mesilate. The beneficial effects of gabexate mesilate on acute pancreatitis may be, in part, due to the modulation of inflammatory cytokine responses.

Amylases↗
PubMed2006

Lipopolysaccharide-induced transcriptional activation of interleukin-10 is mediated by MAPK- and NF-kappaB-induced CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein delta in mouse macrophages.

We have previously revealed that LPS can activate transcription of the IL-10 gene promoter through transcription factors Sp1, C/EBPbeta and C/EBPdelta in mouse macrophages. In this study, we determined that NF-kappaB and MAPK signal pathways, including ERK, JNK, and p38, were all involved in LPS-induced IL-10 gene expression. Treatment of cells with the pharmacological inhibitors of ERK, JNK, p38 and NF-kappaB respectively inhibited LPS-induced IL-10 protein expression in a dose-dependent manner. These inhibitors also decreased the LPS-induced IL-10 mRNA expression at a high concentration used. With transient overexpression of the IkappaB expression plasmids, or the dominant negative plasmids of ERK2, JNK, p38 together with reporter vector containing IL-10 promoter region, all four expression plasmids inhibited LPS-induced IL-10 promoter activity individually. It is known that the increase in protein and DNA binding of C/EBPbeta and delta could activate IL-10 gene expression. In this study, we also identified that all four pharmacological inhibitors inhibited the protein expression of C/EBPdelta individually, but not C/EBPbeta. In the presence of all three MAPK inhibitors, or only NF-kappaB inhibitor, LPS-induced protein expression and DNA binding of C/EBPdelta were completely inhibited simultaneously, and LPS-induced expression of IL-10 protein and mRNA was also inhibited totally. Taken together, these results suggested that LPS-induced IL-10 expression was mediated at least through the pathway of NF-kappaB- and MAPK-induced protein expression and DNA binding of C/EBPdelta.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Precompression quality-control algorithm for JPEG 2000.

In this paper, a precompression quality-control algorithm is proposed. It can greatly reduce computational power of the embedded block coding (EBC) and memory requirement to buffer bit streams. By using the propagation property and the randomness property of the EBC algorithm, rate and distortion of coding passes is approximately predicted. Thus, the truncation points are chosen before actual coding by the entropy coder. Therefore, the computational power, which is measured with the number of contexts to be processed, is greatly reduced since most of the computations are skipped. The memory requirement, which is measured with the amount required to buffer bit streams, is also reduced since the skipped contexts do not generate bit streams. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm reduces the computational power of the EBC by 80% on average at 0.8 bpp compared with the conventional postcompression rate-distortion optimization algorithm. Moreover, the memory requirement is also reduced by 90%. The average PSNR degrades only about 0.1-0.3 dB, on average.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2005

Rapid urinary trypsinogen-2 test strip in the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis.

OBJECTIVES: Early diagnosis of acute pancreatitis remains a challenge. A rapid dipstick screening test for acute pancreatitis has been developed. This prospective study was designed to evaluate the diagnostic value and time course of the rapid urinary trypsinogen-2 test strip in acute pancreatitis, with comparisons with serum amylase and serum lipase. METHODS: A total of 165 patients with acute abdominal pain (67 with acute pancreatitis and 98 with other acute abdominal diseases) attending our emergency unit were included. All patients were tested with the urinary trypsinogen-2 test strip, and serum amylase and serum lipase concentrations were determined simultaneously. To measure the time course of the urinary trypsinogen-2 test, 32 patients with acute pancreatitis were tested with a urinary trypsinogen-2 test strip on days 1, 2, 3, and 4 after admission. RESULTS: Using a cutoff level of 50 microg/L for urinary trypsinogen-2, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the urinary trypsinogen-2 test strip for recognition of acute pancreatitis were 89.6%, 85.7%, and 87.3%, respectively. The diagnostic accuracy rates of serum amylase and serum lipase were 88.5% and 93.3%, using cutoff values of 3 times the upper normal limits for serum amylase and serum lipase, respectively. All but one of the 17 patients with severe acute pancreatitis was detected by the test strip (sensitivity, 94.1%). The time-course study of the urinary trypsinogen-2 test strip revealed that the sensitivity on days 1, 2, 3, and 4 was 90.6%, 81.2%, 59.4%, and 50%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the sensitivity between urinary trypsinogen-2 and serum lipase; however, the sensitivity values of serum lipase were significantly higher than those of serum amylase from days 1 to 4. CONCLUSION: The rapid urinary trypsinogen-2 test is a reliable and simple method for the early diagnosis of acute pancreatitis. A positive test identifies patients in need of further diagnostic measures. The urinary trypsinogen-2 test can be performed in health care units where laboratory testing facilities are not immediately available.

Abdominal Pain↗
PubMed2005

Evaluation of polyethylene glycol plus electrolytes in the treatment of severe constipation and faecal impaction in adults.

INTRODUCTION: Extreme and severe cases of constipation can lead to faecal impaction. Current therapies are often both ineffective and unpleasant. The objective of this trial was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Movicol, a polyethylene glycol (PEG) + electrolyte solution (PEG+E), as treatment for severe constipation and faecal impaction. PATIENTS: 56 patients (aged 17 to 88 years) with a history of chronic constipation and presenting with no bowel movement for three to four days (severe constipation), or no bowel movement for at least five days (faecal impaction), were enrolled at three centres in Taiwan. Faecal loading was confirmed in all patients by abdominal and rectal examination or abdominal radiography. Patients were excluded from the study if they had a gastrointestinal obstruction, evidence of delayed gastric emptying, or if their constipation was secondary to severe inflammatory bowel disease. TREATMENT: All patients followed the same regimen: up to eight 13.8 g sachets of PEG+E (two at a time in 250 ml water; maximum of 1L/day) over a 4-6 h period each day, with 1-1.5 h between each dosing. Duration of treatment was for up to three days. EFFICACY ENDPOINTS AND RESULTS: Patients with either improvement (passage of a moderate to large volume of stool within four days of treatment initiation) or complete resolution (passage of moderate to large volumes of faecal matter plus the disappearance of palpable faecal masses in the abdomen and/or rectum) were considered responders. Based on bowel movement data recorded by the patients, an excellent response rate was obtained: 50/56 patients had a successful response to treatment (89.3%; 95% confidence intervals [CIs] 77.4% to 95.6%); there were 39 complete responders and 11 patients showed improvement. Investigator assessment of response was almost the same: 87.5% (95% CIs 75.3% to 94.4%). All bowel movement measurements (stool volume, number of evacuations, stool form and ease of evacuations) showed a positive improvement by Day 2. Median duration of treatment was two days. The incidence of adverse events was low, even for those side-effects such as abdominal pain and bloating, which are known undesirable consequences of PEG+E administration. No patient discontinued from the study because of an adverse event. CONCLUSION: PEG+E, administered orally at a dose equivalent to eight 13.8 g sachets (1 L) per day over three days, was a highly effective and well tolerated therapy for the treatment of severe constipation and faecal impaction.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2004

Effects of nitric oxide synthase inhibitors on retrograde bile salt-induced pancreatitis rats.

BACKGROUND: The serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines have been reported to be significantly higher in severe acute pancreatitis compared with mild pancreatitis. Nitric oxide (NO) produced by cytokine-inducible NO synthase might be involved as the mechanisms for the progression of pancreatitis and the occurrence of systemic complications. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of a non-selective NO synthase inhibitor, nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), and an inducible NO synthase inhibitor, L-canavanine, on sodium taurodeoxycholate-induced acute necrotizing pancreatitis in rats. METHODS: Twenty-eight rats were randomized into 3 groups to receive L-NAME 5 mg/kg/h, L-canavanine 20 mg/kg/h, and equivalent volume of saline, respectively, i.v. infusion after the induction of pancreatitis for 5 hours. The serum levels of amylase and lipase and mean arterial pressure and heart rate at baseline and 5 hours, and cardiac output, systemic vascular resistance, the amount of ascites and pancreatic histopathology at 5 hours were examined. RESULTS: Five hours after induction of pancreatitis, all rats treated with L-canavanine and all but 1 treated with saline survived; however, all rats treated with L-NAME died. As compared with the control group, L-canavanine significantly reduced serum levels of amylase and lipase, the severity of pancreatic edema and necrosis, and the volume of ascites in 5 hours. In addition, L-canavanine significantly improved the reduction of mean arterial pressure and systemic vascular resistance at 5 hours. CONCLUSIONS: L-NAME results in the mortality of acute necrotizing pancreatitis. L-canavanine reduces serum pancreatic enzymes and improves the changes of pancreatic histopathology and systemic hemodynamics at the early stage of acute pancreatitis. Inducible NO synthase inhibitor is beneficial for severe acute pancreatitis.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Early changes of serum proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography.

INTRODUCTION: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)-induced pancreatitis provides a model to study the time course of cytokine release during the initiation phase of pancreatitis. The early changes of inflammatory cytokines after ERCP have been unclear. AIMS: To evaluate the early changes in serum levels of proinflammatory and antiinflammatory cytokines after ERCP and to assess their value in the early recognition of post-ERCP pancreatitis. METHODOLOGY: Seventy-eight consecutive patients undergoing ERCP were prospectively studied. The serum concentrations of tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-1beta, interleukin-6, interleukin-8, and interleukin-10 were determined immediately prior to and 1, 4, 8, and 24 hours after ERCP. RESULTS: Seven of 78 patients (9.0%) developed post-ERCP pancreatitis. Serum levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-1beta, interleukin-6, interleukin-8, and interleukin-10 significantly increased at 8 and 24 hours but not at 1 and 4 hours after ERCP in patients with post-ERCP pancreatitis, in comparison with patients without pancreatitis. Using a cutoff level of 36 pg/mL for interleukin-6 at 8 hours after ERCP, we found that the sensitivity and specificity for recognition of post-ERCP pancreatitis were 100% and 87%, respectively. Serum levels of interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 modestly increased from baseline values, 1 to 24 hours after uncomplicated ERCP. CONCLUSION: Proinflammatory and antiinflammatory cytokines significantly increased in the early stage after ERCP-induced pancreatitis. Among the inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-6 is the most useful for recognition of post-ERCP pancreatitis.

Acute Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Herpes simplex infection in a minor burn wound: a case report.

The etiology of herpetic lesions on burn wounds generally is believed to be a reactivation of previous infection or possible exposure to the pathogens under an immunocompromised status. However, this scenario rarely happens in a non-immunocompromised infant with low burned body surface area (<4% TBSA). We report a case of previously healthy 21-month-old boy who sustained minor scald burn injury involving only 4% TBSA that was complicated with herpes simplex type 1 viral infection. The infection presented with ulcerative burn wound and delayed wound healing. The Tzanck smear of vesicular fluid for the identification of multinucleated giant cells is helpful in making the decision for the early initiation of acyclovir. In this work, we describe a case of pediatric burn patient with herpetic infection and emphasize the need for careful and impartial examination of the child to improve the accuracy of diagnosis.

Acyclovir↗