Adherence to nucleos(t)ide analogues for chronic hepatitis B in clinical practice and correlation with virological breakthroughs

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90278/1/j.1365-2893.2011.01494.x.pd

Species diversity, biomass and community structure of cephalopods off Adang-rawi Archipelago, Thailand

The cephalopod fauna off the off Adang-Rawi Archipelago, Thailand, and adjacent areas, was investigated between December 1998 and April 1999 during the northeast monsoon season. Four families of cephalopods were found, namely Loliginidae (Loligo duvauceli, L. chinensis, Loliolus sumatrensis and Sepioteuthis lessoniana), Sepiidae (Sepiella inermis, Sepia aculeata, S. pharaonis, S. lysidas, S. brevimana and S. recurvirostra), Sepiolidae (Euprymna stenodactyla), and Octopodidae (Octopus spp.). The average catch rate and biomass were 4.34 kg h−1 and 320.66 t, respectively. The highest catches were in February (5.32 kg h−1; 382.57 t), December (4.10 kg h−1; 314.33 t) and April (3.61 kg h−1; 265.07 t). Diversity measures were applied and three assemblages recognized, i.e., the western side of Tarutao Island, north and south of Adang-Rawi Archipelago. Salinity was the best-fitting environmental parameter and correlated with biotic pattern in the survey area

Phylogeography of the pharaoh cuttle Sepia pharaonis based on partial mitochondrial 16S sequence data

The pharaoh cuttle Sepia pharaonis Ehrenberg, 1831 (Mollusca: Cephalopoda: Sepiida) is a broadly distributed species of substantial fisheries importance found from east Africa to southern Japan. Little is known about S. pharaonis phylogeography, but evidence from morphology and reproductive biology suggests that Sepia pharaonis is actually a complex of at least three species. To evaluate this possibility, we collected tissue samples from Sepia pharaonis from throughout its range. Phylogenetic analyses of partial mitochondrial 16S sequences from these samples reveal five distinct clades: a Gulf of Aden/Red Sea clade, a northern Australia clade, a Persian Gulf/Arabian Sea clade, a western Pacific clade (Gulf of Thailand and Taiwan) and an India/Andaman Sea clade. Phylogenetic analyses including several Sepia species show that S. pharaonis sensu lato may not be monophyletic. We suggest that ‘‘S. pharaonis’’ may consist of up to five species, but additional data will be required to fully clarify relationships within the S. pharaonis complex

Explicating Consumer Adoption Of Wearable Technologies: A Case Of Smartwatches From The Asean Perspective

This research aims to determine the key antecedent factors in consumers\u27 adoption of and their intention to recommend smartwatch wearable technology. The proposed research model combines the current technology acceptance and innovation diffusion theories with perceived aesthetic and perceived privacy risk to explain individuals\u27 smartwatch adoption and subsequent recommendation to other people. Based on a sample of 299 completed individual online surveys, the research employed partial least squares (a variance-based analysis method) for the model and hypotheses testing. The results showed some similarities as well as differences from the previous literature. The study found that performance expectancy, habit, and perceived aesthetic were the main predictors of smartwatch adoption. Compatibility was the antecedent factor of performance expectancy, and innovativeness directly influenced user adoption and effort expectancy. Consequently, user smartwatch adoption usually led to recommendation

Phylogeny of the Sepia pharaonis species complex (Cephalopoda: Sepiida) based on analyses of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data

The pharaoh cuttlefish, Sepia pharaonis Ehrenberg, 1831, is a commercially fished species found from Japan to East Africa. Previous morphological and genetic work (the latter based on the 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene) suggested that S. pharaonis is a species complex, but relationships within the complex remained unresolved. To clarify these relationships, we have sequenced an additional mitochondrial gene region (cytochrome oxidase subunit I) and a nuclear gene region (rhodopsin) from over 50 specimens from throughout the range of S. pharaonis. We have also added sequence data from two specimens of Sepia ramani Neethiselvan, 2001, collected in southeastern India. Sepia ramani is a species that is morphologically very similar to S. pharaonis, and there is some question regarding its status as a distinct species. Phylogenetic analyses of a dataset comprising all three-gene regions revealed a monophyletic S. pharaonis complex consisting of a western Indian Ocean clade, a northeastern Australia clade, a Persian Gulf/Arabian Sea (‘Iranian’) clade, a western Pacific clade and a central Indian Ocean clade. Relationships among these clades remain somewhat poorly supported except for a clade comprising the Iranian clade, the western Pacific clade and the central Indian Ocean clade. One S. pharaonis specimen was collected in the Arabian Sea, but was found to be a member of the western Indian Ocean clade, suggesting that gene flow between these regions has either occurred recently or is ongoing. Both specimens of S. ramani are members of the S. pharaonis complex, but their mtDNA haplotypes are not closely related – one is a member of the central Indian Ocean clade, while the other is rather distantly related to the northeastern Australia clade. We suggest that ‘S. pharaonis’ may consist of several species, but morphological work is needed to clarify species-level taxonomy within this complex

Endpoints of hepatitis B treatment

The goal of hepatitis B treatment is to prevent the development of cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Ideally, clinical studies should demonstrate that hepatitis B therapies can prevent liver-related complications; however, these clinical endpoints evolve over years or decades. Therefore, clinical trials have relied on intermediate endpoints to evaluate the efficacy of treatment and to determine when treatment can be stopped. Intermediate endpoints that have been used include biochemical, histological, virological, and serological endpoints. This review will discuss the validity of these intermediate endpoints as surrogates of clinical endpoints, and the rates at which these intermediate endpoints can be achieved with currently available therapies.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79271/1/j.1365-2893.2010.01369.x.pd

The effects of cultural dimensions on algorithmic news: How do cultural value orientations affect how people perceive algorithms?

How do cultural values influence/are influenced by algorithms? A comparative study was conducted between the United States (US) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to investigate how users in the different cultures perceive the features of chatbot-driven news and how they view ethical issues concerning chatbot journalism. Different models of chatbot news perception reveal that the acceptance of chatbots involves a cultural dimension as the algorithms reflect the values and interests of their constituencies. How users perceive chatbot news and how they consume and interact with the chatbots depend on the cultural and social contexts in which the interaction is taking place. Our results suggest the algorithms reflect cultural values and algorithms are implicitly situated in social contexts, mediated by cultural artifacts and activities. The results resonate with ongoing debates on whether and how algorithms reinforce cultural and social values implying the co-evolving nature of algorithms and humans

Fishing status of Thailand

Marine fishery of Thailand characterized as multi-species and multi-gear fishery. The continuous advances in fishing technology make marine production increasing annually that resulted in depletion of the stocks particularly in the Gulf of Thailand. Most of economically important species has been reported as overexploited or fully exploited. Approximate 90% of marine catch come from large scale fisheries. Trawlers, purse seines, drift gill nets, encircling gill nets regarded as important fishing gears practice. In 1994, total marine production (capture and culture) was 3,150,233 ton, comprised pelagic fish 953,907 ton, demersal fish 287,940 ton, miscellaneous fish 172,591 ton, crustaceans 437,508 ton, mollusk 281,611 ton, trash fish 930,546 ton and others 86,112 ton. The demersal resources are mostly caught by trawl net while pelagic caught mainly by purse seines and gill nets. Among these, trash fish accounted for 40% of total catch, of which more than 30% of the trash is juvenile and unsized economic fish. The major catch of trash fish comes from otter board trawl 75%, pair trawl 15%, purse seines 8%, push net 1%, and the rest is from other gears. The Department of Fisheries has implemented the strategy for responsible fisheries management and development on the basis of conservation and long-term sustainable fisheries in which environmental and ecological management is also taken into account. Fishery's regulations and notification are imposed on a fishery to achieve management and conservation objectives. The regulations that protect particular parts of the stocks are minimum mesh size to protect small individuals, closed season and area to protect juvenile and spawning stock, the restriction of the use of certain type of fishing and methodology in certain area. Other approaches are minimize number of fishing trawl vessel, ban the push net, developments of fishing gear selectivity to reduce by-catch and discard fish, installation of artificial reefs to restore the sea, encourage public awareness in using the resources. Besides government have established two committees, the National Fisheries Policy Committee and the National Committee of the Thai Sea Rehabilitation Program to be responsible for fishery and fishery-related activities

HBV DNA suppression and HBsAg clearance in HBeAg negative chronic hepatitis B patients on lamivudine therapy for over 5 years

BACKGROUND & AIMS: In long-term responder patients, it is unclear whether lamivudine (LAM) monotherapy should be continued or switched to a high-genetic-barrier analogue. This study aims at assessing LAM efficacy over a 5-year period and the residual risk of drug resistance. The rate of HBsAg clearance and LAM long-term safety profile were also evaluated. METHODS: One hundred and ninety-one patients with chronic HBeAg-negative hepatitis B successfully treated with LAM monotherapy for at least 5years were included. Biochemical and virological tests were assessed every 3months in all patients and HBsAg quantification was performed in 45/191. Reverse-transcriptase (RT) region was directly sequenced in virological breakthrough patients. RESULTS: One hundred and ninety-one patients (148 males, median age 53years, 72 with compensated cirrhosis) responding to 60-month LAM monotherapy continued to receive LAM monotherapy beyond the initial 5years and were followed for an additional 36-month median period (range 1-108). Virological response was maintained in 128/191 patients (67%) and HBsAg clearance was observed in 15/128 (11.7%) after a 32-month median period (range 1-65). The 63 remaining patients (33%) showed virological breakthrough after a 15-month median treatment (range 1-78). RT region analysis was performed in 38/63 breakthrough patients and LAM resistant mutations were found in 37/38. No significant side effects were observed. CONCLUSIONS: In long-term responder patients, continuation of LAM monotherapy resulted in persistent viral suppression in most cases with undetectable HBV DNA by real-time PCR; moreover, 11.7% of these patients cleared HBsAg. Selection of LAM resistance, however, can still occur even after successful long-term therapy, thus emphasising the importance of a careful virological monitorin

Factors affecting mortality and resource use for hospitalized patients with cirrhosis: A population-based study

Hospitalizations for advanced liver disease are costly and associated with significant mortality. This population-based study aimed to evaluate factors associated with in-hospital mortality and resource use for the management of hospitalized patients with cirrhosis.Mortality records and resource utilization for 52,027 patients hospitalized with cirrhosis and/or complications of portal hypertension (ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, variceal bleeding, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, or hepatorenal syndrome) were extracted from a nationally representative sample of Thai inpatients covered by Universal Coverage Scheme during 2009 to 2013.The rate of dying in the hospital increased steadily by 12% from 9.6% in 2009 to 10.8% in 2013 (P < .001). Complications of portal hypertension were independently associated with increased in-hospital mortality except for ascites. The highest independent risk for hospital death was seen with hepatorenal syndrome (odds ratio [OR], 5.04; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.38-5.79). Mortality rate remained high in patients with infection, particularly septicemia (OR, 4.26; 95% CI, 4.0-4.54) and pneumonia (OR, 2.44; 95% CI, 2.18-2.73). Receiving upper endoscopy (OR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.27-0.32) and paracentesis (OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.87-1.00) were associated with improved patient survival. The inflation-adjusted national annual costs (P = .06) and total hospital days (P = .07) for cirrhosis showed a trend toward increasing during the 5-year period. Renal dysfunction, infection, and sequelae of portal hypertension except for ascites were independently associated with increased resource utilization.Renal dysfunction, infection, and portal hypertension-related complications are the main factors affecting in-hospital mortality and resource utilization for hospitalized patients with cirrhosis. The early intervention for modifiable factors is an important step toward improving hospital outcomes