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Background: Media guidelines for suicide reporting are available in many countries. However, to what extent the mass media comply with the guidelines is unknown. Few studies are available that investigate systematically whether the mass media reflect the epidemiological reality of suicide deaths in their articles. Methods: Based on the WHO media guidelines, this study investigated the characteristics of newspaper articles of suicides in three Chinese communities, namely Hong Kong, Taiwan and Guangzhou. Epidemiological comparisons were conducted to identify the age and gender differences between the suicide victims as reported in the newspapers and the official records of suicide deaths in all three places. Results: The results found that one media characteristic complied with the WHO media guidelines (ie, only about 2% of the articles were printed on the front page), but there were a number of instances of non-compliance (ie, only 4--14% provided sources for help-seeking and 27--90% printed with photos). The epidemiological comparisons revealed an over-representation of younger suicides and an under-representation of late-life suicides in the newspapers of all three places. Furthermore, female suicides were found to be under-reported in Taiwan and Guangzhou newspapers, but not in Hong Kong papers. Conclusion: Non-compliant suicide articles are prevalent in the newspapers of these three Chinese settings. The observed media misrepresentations may potentially mislead the public and the policy makers about the actual risk for suicide in some demographic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specific attributes of a destination and visitors’ perceived value are two major and complementary components of tourism destination attractiveness. Based on 329 questionnaires, this study evaluates the level of attractiveness and specificity of A-Ma Cultural Village in Macau, China in the context of the emerging significance of Mazu-related heritage and religious tourism in Asia. Also, the similarities and differences between visitors from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, regarding visit motives, satisfaction, needs and preferences are examined. The statistical tools of analysis used in this study include descriptive statistics, ANOVA and chi-square test. The survey found that the A-Ma Cultural Village’s existing resources and created resources are reputable destination attributes, but the upstream factor needs to be greatly improved. Sightseeing is the most popular reason to visit the site amongst visitors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. Hong Kong and China groups showed a comparatively higher level of satisfaction than the Taiwan group which expressed the strongest sense of dissatisfaction about the services and facilities of the site. The A-Ma Cultural Village’s attractive attributes or features and its weaknesses or limitations provide points of departure for further research and discussion on the emerging Mazu theme-site tourism in general, and a useful reference for the operator to enhance and strengthen its theme attractions to visitors in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate the pattern of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) usage for urolithiasis patients in Taiwan and to determine the most common Chinese herbal products used for urolithiasis. Design: Retrospective review of urolithiasis patients treated with TCM treatment. Settings/Location: One million randomly selected samples in the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database between 1997 and 2008. Patients: Eighty-two thousand five hundred and fifty-one newly diagnosed urolithiasis patients. Outcome measures: The correlation between TCM treatment, demographic factors, or medical conditions. Results: A total of 62.6% of urolithiasis patients use TCM treatment. A younger age, female gender, polypharmacy, multiple comorbidities, and stone in the lower urinary tract result in a greater tendency to use TCM, after adjusting for demographic factors. Jia-Wei-Xiao-Yao-San Extract Powder and Ji-Sheng-Shen-Qi-Wan Extract Powder are the most frequently prescribed Chinese medicine formulae. Conclusion: This is the first study to examine the use of and the prescription pattern for TCM in urolithiasis patients using a random, national population-based sample. More than 62% of urolithiasis patients use TCM, and patients with polypharmacy, multiple comorbidities, and stone in the ureter are more likely to use TCM. The most frequently prescribed Chinese medicine formulae were Jia-Wei-Xiao-Yao-San Extract Powder and Ji-Sheng-Shen-Qi-Wan Extract Powder, which were reported to retard the progression of renal failure and alleviate flank pain or tenderness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curvilinear relationships between role stress and innovative performance were explored in a study conducted in Taiwan and mainland China. Results showed that when perceived support for innovation was low, role conflict showed a U-shaped relationship with both self-rated and supervisor-rated innovative performance, which contrasts sharply with the well known inverted U-shaped relationship between challenge stress and performance. Role ambiguity showed a similar but weaker pattern with regard to supervisor-rated innovative performance. When perceived support for innovation was high, role conflict showed a generally positive relationship with both self-rated and supervisor-rated innovative performance, but role ambiguity showed no significant relationship with supervisor-rated innovative performance. Theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on durational cues (i.e., syllable duration, pause duration, and syllable onset intervals (SOIs)) at discourse boundaries in two dialects of Mandarin, Taiwan and Mainland varieties. Speech was elicited by having 18 participants describe events in The Pear Story film. Recorded data were transcribed, labeled, and segmented into clauses. Discourse boundary indices were used to label discourse disjuncture levels. Results showed that the scope of lengthening included both the final and the penultimate syllables. Pause was a robust but optional indicator for discourse boundaries, and Taiwan Mandarin preferred unfilled over filled ones, while the Mainland variety did not show such strong preferences. Discourse hierarchy corresponded consistently with occurrences of pauses and duration of SOIs, within which pause was the main contributor. Higher discourse levels were more likely to be accompanied by pauses, and were indicated by longer pauses and SOIs. Syllable duration only played a secondary role in indicating discourse disjuncture size when pause was absent. When there was an accompanying pause, Mainland Mandarin relied solely on it to indicate discourse hierarchy, while Taiwan Mandarin used both syllable and pause duration, a dialectal difference that seemed to be rhythm-related. By shortening the degree of lengthening in the boundary syllable and lengthening the following pause at the same time, Taiwan Mandarin increased the absolute and relative duration of pause and maximized its role in indicating discourse hierarchy. The results of this study implied that the use of pause in discourse disjuncture demarcation was more of a language-specific choice while its role in discourse hierarchy encoding is more language-universal. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ethnicity and age play important roles in the epidemiology of idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS) in children. The purposes of this study were to compare the clinical features, renal histopathology, steroid response, and long-term prognosis in Chinese children between different age groups. This is a retrospective cohort study of children aged between 2 and 18 years old with INS. Patients were divided into two groups according to age. Group I consisted of children between 2 and 8 years old (n = 49). Group II consisted of the remaining patients (n = 50). The clinical biochemical parameters, response to steroid treatment, renal histology, and long-term outcomes were analyzed. The biochemical parameters at the onset were similar in the two groups. Group II had a significantly higher frequency of microscopic hematuria (P = 0.011). Of the 67 children biopsied, minimal change disease was the most common histopathology for both groups. There was a higher frequency with focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis in group II (24% vs. 6.1%), but the difference between the two groups was not significant. During follow-up, the frequency of hypertension was significantly higher in group II (P = 0.006). Two cases in group I developed chronic kidney disease (CKD) vs. eight cases in group II. The frequency of progression to CKD is significantly higher (P = 0.042) in Group II. In conclusion, children beyond 8 years of age with INS have a higher incidence of microscopic hematuria, higher risk of hypertension and progression to CKD in long-term follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]