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This study aimed to investigate whether long-term exposure to airborne hydrocarbons, including volatile organic compounds, increases the risk of developing retinal vein occlusion (RVO) among the population of Taiwan. A retrospective cohort study involving 855,297 people was conducted. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis fitted the multiple pollutant models for two targeted pollutants, including total hydrocarbons (THC), nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHC) were used, and the risk of RVO was estimated. The chi-squared test and one-way analysis of variance were used to test differences in demographics and comorbidity distribution among tertiles of the targeted pollutants. Before controlling for multiple pollutants, hazard ratios for the overall population were 19.88 (95% CI: 17.56–22.50) at 0.51-ppm increases in THC and 4.33 (95% CI: 3.97–4.73) at 0.27-ppm increases in NMHC. The highest adjusted hazard ratios for different multiple pollutant models of each targeted pollutant were statistically significant (all p values were ≤0.05) for all patients at 29.67 (95% CI: 25.57–34.42) for THC and 16.24 (95% CI: 14.14–18.65) for NMHC. Our findings suggest that long-term exposure to THC and NMHC contribute to RVO development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to explore whether business cycle has any bearing on herding by fund mangers. Using the sample of open-end mutual funds in Taiwan from January 2003 to February 2007, the main results are as follows. First, excluding the impact of business indicator, herd behaviours for balanced and growth fund managers are more significant than growth-income and aggressive-growth ones. Next, the business indicator has significantly negative influence on the herding for balanced and growth fund managers. Finally, without considering the impact of business indicator, there are no significant differences of the herding among various types of fund managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and dry eye disease (DED) using the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) of Taiwan. A retrospective cohort study was conducted, and patients with an NPC diagnosis were included. Next, one NPC patient was matched to four non-NPC participants via demographic data and systemic comorbidities. In total, 4184 and 16,736 participants were enrolled in the NPC and non-NPC groups, respectively. The primary outcome was the development of DED one year after the diagnosis of NPC. Cox proportional hazard regression was applied to estimate the adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of DED. In this study, 717 and 2225 DED cases were found in the NPC and non-NPC groups, respectively, and the NPC group showed a significantly higher incidence of DED development compared to the non-NPC group (aHR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.33−1.58, p < 0.0001) in the multivariable analysis. The other covariates that were positively correlated with DED development included age over 40 years, an education level higher than senior high school, hypertension, DM, allergic pulmonary diseases, allergic otolaryngologic diseases, and allergic dermatological diseases (all p < 0.05). In conclusion, the presence of NPC is an independent risk factor for subsequent DED.

Salmonella spp. is associated with fecal pollution and capable of surviving for long periods in aquatic environments. Instead of the traditional, time-consuming biochemical detection, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) allows rapid identification of Salmonella directly concentrated from water samples. However, prevalence of Salmonella may be underestimated because of the vulnerability of PCR to various environmental chemicals like humic acid, compounded by the fact that various DNA polymerases have different susceptibility to humic acid. Because immunomagnetic separation (IMS) theoretically could isolate Salmonella from other microbes and facilitate removal of aquatic PCR inhibitors of different sizes, this study aims to compare the efficiency of conventional PCR combined with immunomagnetic separation (IMS) for Salmonella detection within a moderately polluted watershed. In our study, the positive rate was increased from 17.6% to 47% with nearly ten-fold improvement in the detection limit. These results suggest the sensitivity of Salmonella detection could be enhanced by IMS, particularly in low quality surface waters. Due to its effects on clearance of aquatic pollutants, IMS may be suitable for most DNA polymerases for Salmonella detection.

In this article, the authors provide an overview of a research method to predict quality of care in home health nursing data set. The results of this study can be visualized through classification an regression tree (CART) graphs. The analysis was more effective, and the results were more informative since the home health nursing dataset was analyzed with a combination of the logistic regression and CART, these two techniques complete each other. And the results more informative that more patients' characters were related to quality of care in home care. The results contributed to home health nurse predict patient outcome in case management. Improved prediction is needed for interventions to be appropriately targeted for improved patient outcome and quality of care.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of systematic nursing instruction for mothers of children with asthma on their knowledge of the medication, ability to use inhalation devices, self-efficacy of medication use, and on children's health status. A quasi-experimental study was conducted at the Pediatric Allergy Clinic of a major academically based medical center in Taipei, Taiwan. The sample consisted of 82 mothers and their children recruited by purposive sampling. The intervention group (n = 41) received systematic nursing instruction from the researchers and the control group (n = 41) received regular nursing care from staff nurses. The effects of systematic nursing instruction were evaluated two months later using four questionnaires: the mother's knowledge of medication, inhaling steps, self-efficacy of medication use, and child's health status. The results of this study showed that systematic nursing instruction of mothers of children with asthma significantly improved their knowledge of the medication, ability to use inhalation devices, and self-efficacy, as well as decreasing the number of episodes of respiratory disease of children over a two month period. To sum up, these findings demonstrate that systematic nursing instruction of mothers about asthma medication not only benefited mothers directly, but also improved children's health status indirectly.