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Background: The eradication rates of sequential therapy are high in clinical trials; however, the adherence for follow‐up or the patient population in a real‐world setting might be different from those in trails. This study investigates the effectiveness of sequential therapy in a real‐world setting and the factors that lead to treatment failure. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, patients receiving sequential therapy as a first‐line anti‐Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) treatment in a real‐world setting were reviewed. The age adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index (age‐CCI) and baseline variety of medications were reviewed to determine factors correlated with nonadherence for post‐treatment testing and H. pylori eradication failure. Results: A total of 1053 patients were reviewed. A total of 579 patients receiving sequential therapy were included in the analyses. Among them, 462 received post‐treatment testing and were placed into the follow‐up group. Thus, the post‐treatment testing rate was 79.8%. Stroke was an independent factor of nonadherence for post‐treatment testing. In the follow‐up group, the eradication failure rate was 8.2%. Female sex (odds ratio [OR] 2.41 [95% CI 1.16–5.03], p = 0.02) and age‐CCI ≥2 (OR 3.16 [1.05–9.48], p = 0.04) were independent factors of H. pylori eradication failure. The eradication failure rates were 14.4%, 7.8%, 7.1%, and 3.1% for the females with age‐CCI ≥2, females with age‐CCI <2, males with age‐CCI ≥2, and males with age‐CCI <2 subgroups, respectively (p = 0.027). Conclusions: In a real‐world setting, the adherence rate of post‐treatment testing for sequential therapy as a first‐line anti‐H. pylori treatment was found to be suboptimal. Female sex and age‐CCI ≥2 were independent factors of eradication failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim Vascular factor was proposed as being involved in the etiology of bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis (BPS/IC). However, few studies have attempted to investigate the relationship between BPS/IC and cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to investigate the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) among BPS/IC subjects during a 3-year follow-up period. Methods Data for this retrospective matched-cohort study were retrieved from the Taiwan 'Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000.' There were 752 BPS/IC female subjects in the study cohort and 3,760 randomly selected female subjects in the comparison cohort. We individually tracked each subject for 3 years and identified each subject that received a subsequent diagnosis of CHD during that follow-up period. Results Results showed that incidence rates of CHD during the 3-year follow-up period were 19.50 (95% confidence interval (CI): 14.35-25.95) and 8.87 (95% CI: 7.25-10.74) per 1,000 person-years for the study and comparison cohorts, respectively. The Cox proportional hazards regression suggested that the hazard ratio for CHD in subjects with BPS/IC was 1.65 (95% CI: 1.09-2.48) within the 3-year follow-up period following the index date compared to the comparison subjects after adjusting for monthly income, geographic region, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, chronic kidney disease, bladder outlet obstruction, urinary tract infection, chronic pelvic pain, overactive bladder, and number of physician visits during the 3-year follow up period. Conclusions Our study demonstrated an association between BPS/IC and a subsequent CHD diagnosis. We advise clinicians to screen subjects with BPS/IC for modifiable risk factors for CHD. Neurourol. Urodynam. 33:511-515, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two different specific surface area of starting Ba CO3, 10 and 30 m2/g, are used to prepare solid-state BaTiO3 powder. Pure tetragonal BaTiO3 was obtained at a lower calcination temperature with smaller Ba CO3, and the kinetic calculations of activation energy also agree with it. A clear, thin, and nano-sized cubic BaTiO3 clusters on TiO2 particles were also observed. A narrower particle size distribution of BaTiO3 powder (350 nm) was obtained from 30 m2/g of starting Ba CO3 at 1000°C. After sintering with reducing atmosphere, the ceramics with potential of X8R or X7R specifications and a clear core-shell microstructure were obtained in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mixture of ultrafine submicrometer-sized BaCO3 powder and TiO2 (rutile) powder was calcined in air at 700°C, 800°C, and 900°C, and then quenched to liquid nitrogen temperature in each case. The cross-sectional quenched specimens were characterized by spatially resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy ( SR- EELS). The energy-loss near-edge structures ( ELNES) were sequentially extracted at 1.3 to 5.3 nm in width from SR- EELS image obtained from the rectangularly cut SR- EELS slit aperture put on the synthesized BaTiO3 layer and TiO2 rutile powder. The ELNES of Ti-L2,3 edges and Ba-M4,5 edges clearly show fine structure changes from the surface of BaTiO3 layer to the TiO2 bulk region reflected from crystallinity of synthesized BaTiO3, lattice distortion of TiO2 caused by Ba diffusion, and lattice misfit between BaTiO3 and TiO2 without formation of Ba2 TiO4 and other titanate phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two different specific surface area of starting Ba CO3, 10 and 30 m2/g, are used to prepare solid-state BaTiO3 powder. Pure tetragonal BaTiO3 was obtained at a lower calcination temperature with smaller Ba CO3, and the kinetic calculations of activation energy also agree with it. A clear, thin, and nano-sized cubic BaTiO3 clusters on TiO2 particles were also observed. A narrower particle size distribution of BaTiO3 powder (350 nm) was obtained from 30 m2/g of starting Ba CO3 at 1000°C. After sintering with reducing atmosphere, the ceramics with potential of X8R or X7R specifications and a clear core-shell microstructure were obtained in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]