Browsing by Author "Hung, Ling-Chien"

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Google Trends-based non-English language query data and epidemic diseases: a cross-sectional study of the popular search behaviour in Taiwan
(2020-01-01)
Chang, Yu-Wei
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Chiang, Wei-Lun
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Wang, Wen-Hung
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Lin, Chun-Yu
;
Hung, Ling-Chien
Objective This study developed a surveillance system suitable for monitoring epidemic outbreaks and assessing public opinion in non-English-speaking countries. We evaluated whether social media reflects social uneasiness and fear during epidemic outbreaks and natural catastrophes. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Freely available epidemic data in Taiwan. Main outcome measure We used weekly epidemic incidence data obtained from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control and online search query data obtained from Google Trends between 4 October 2015 and 2 April 2016. To validate whether non-English query keywords were useful surveillance tools, we estimated the correlation between online query data and epidemic incidence in Taiwan. Results With our approach, we noted that keywords (sic)& x5192; ('common cold'), & x767c;& x71d2; ('fever') and & x54b3;& x55fd; ('cough') exhibited good to excellent correlation between Google Trends query data and influenza incidence (r=0.898, p<0.001; r=0.773, p<0.001; r=0.796, p<0.001, respectively). They also displayed high correlation with influenza-like illness emergencies (r=0.900, p<0.001; r=0.802, p<0.001; r=0.886, p<0.001, respectively) and outpatient visits (r=0.889, p<0.001; r=0.791, p<0.001; r=0.870, p<0.001, respectively). We noted that the query & x8178;(sic)& x6bd2; ('enterovirus') exhibited excellent correlation with the number of enterovirus-infected patients in emergency departments (r=0.914, p<0.001). Conclusions These results suggested that Google Trends can be a good surveillance tool for epidemic outbreaks, even in Taiwan, the non-English-speaking country. Online search activity indicates that people are concerned about epidemic diseases, even if they do not visit hospitals. This prompted us to develop useful tools to monitor social media during an epidemic because such media usage reflects infectious disease trends more quickly than does traditional reporting.
Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Nitric Oxide, Prostaglandin E2, and Cytokine Production of Mouse and Human Macrophages Are Suppressed by Pheophytin-b
(2017-12-01)
Lin, Chun-Yu
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Wang, Wen-Hung
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Chen, Shin-Huei
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Chang, Yu-Wei
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Hung, Ling-Chien
Sepsis is an overwhelming systemic response to infection that frequently results in tissue damage, organ failure, and even death. Nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and cytokine overproduction are thought to be associated with the immunostimulatory cascade in sepsis. In the present study, we analyzed the anti-inflammatory efficacy of the pheophytin-b on both RAW264.7 murine macrophage and purified human CD14(+) monocytes stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and elucidated the mechanisms by analyzing the cell signaling pathways known to be activated in sepsis. Pheophytin-b suppressed the overexpression of NO, PGE2, and cytokines in LPS-stimulated macrophages without inducing cytotoxicity. It also reduced NOS2 and COX-2 mRNA and protein levels. The inhibitory effects on NO, PGE2, and cytokine overproduction arose from the suppression of STAT-1 and PI3K/Akt pathways; no changes in NF-kappa B, MAPK, and AP-1 signaling were detected. Thus, pheophytin-b may represent a potential candidate to beneficially modulate the inflammatory response in sepsis.
Lucidone suppresses dengue viral replication through the induction of heme oxygenase-1
(2018-01-01)
Chen, Wei-Chun
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Tseng, Chin-Kai
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Lin, Chun-Kuang
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Wang, Shen-Nien
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Wang, Wen-Hung
Dengue virus (DENV) infection causes life-threatening diseases such as dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome. Currently, there is no effective therapeutic agent or vaccine against DENV infection; hence, there is an urgent need to discover anti-DENV agents. The potential therapeutic efficacy of lucidone was first evaluated in vivo using a DENV-infected Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) suckling mouse model by monitoring body weight, clinical score, survival rate, and viral titer. We found that lucidone effectively protected mice from DENV infection by sustaining survival rate and reducing viral titers in DENV-infected ICR suckling mice. Then, the anti-DENV activity of lucidone was confirmed by western blotting and quantitative-reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis, with an EC50 value of 25 +/- 3 mu M. Lucidone significantly induced heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) production against DENV replication by inhibiting DENV NS2B/3 protease activity to induce the DENV-suppressed antiviral interferon response. The inhibitory effect of lucidone on DENV replication was attenuated by silencing of HO-1 gene expression or blocking HO-1 activity. In addition, lucidone-stimulated nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), which is involved in transactivation of HO-1 expression for its anti-DENV activity. Taken together, the mechanistic investigations revealed that lucidone exhibits significant anti-DENV activity in in vivo and in vitro by inducing Nrf2-mediated HO-1 expression, leading to blockage of viral protease activity to induce the anti-viral interferon (IFN) response. These results suggest that lucidone is a promising candidate for drug development.
Tellimagrandin II, A Type of Plant Polyphenol Extracted from Trapa bispinosa Inhibits Antibiotic Resistance of Drug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
(2019-11-01)
Chang, Yu-Wei
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Huang, Wan-Chun
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Lin, Chun-Yu
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Wang, Wen-Hung
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Hung, Ling-Chien
The emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has become a critical global concern. Identifying new candidates of anti-S. aureus agents is urgently required because the therapeutic strategies for infected patients are limited currently. Therefore, the present study investigated whether Tellimagrandin II (TGII), a pure compound extracted from the shells of Trapa bispinosa, exhibits antibacterial effects against MRSA. We first showed that TGII exerted potent inhibitory activity against MRSA with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 128 mu g/mL. The obtained fractional inhibitory concentration suggested that TGII could alone exert antistaphylococcal activity, and TGII combined with low doses of antibiotics displayed synergistic effects against MRSA. Moreover, we found that TGII exerted bactericidal activity by reducing the expression of mecA followed by the negative regulation of the penicillin-binding protein 2a (PBP2a) of MRSA. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images further confirmed that TGII destroyed the integrity of the cell wall of MRSA and caused the loss of cytoplasm content. In conclusion, we evidenced the antibacterial effects of TGII against MRSA, which enables the effective dose of current antibiotics to be reduced and the predicament of drug-resistant S. aureus isolates to be overcome.