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This study applies social support theory to the question of whether four types of husband behavior (taking the wife's side, problem solving, ignoring conflict, and taking the mother's side) moderate the association between conflict with the mother-in-law and a Taiwanese woman's marital satisfaction. Data were collected from 125 married Taiwanese women. The results of hierarchical regression analyses indicate a significant negative main effect of conflict with the mother-in-law on the wife's marital satisfaction. This main effect is moderated by two types of husband behavior. When wives reported that their husbands frequently took their side or used problem-solving strategies to the conflict, conflict is not significantly related to the wives' marital satisfaction. The conflict and the two types of husband behavior accounted for 32% to 38% of the variance in wives' marital satisfaction. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

Elevated circulating low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is a major risk factor of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Early control of LDL-C to prevent ASCVD later in life is important. The Taiwan Society of Lipids and Atherosclerosis in association with the other seven societies developed this new lipid guideline focusing on subjects without clinically significant ASCVD. In this guideline for primary prevention, the recommended LDL-C target is based on risk stratification. A healthy lifestyle with recommendations for foods, dietary supplements and alcohol drinking are described. The pharmacological therapies for LDL-C reduction are recommended. The aim of this guideline is to decrease the risk of ASCVD through adequate control of dyslipidemia in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an Adaptive Fuzzy Neural Agent (AFNA) with a Patch Learning Mechanism and IEEE 1855 Fuzzy Markup Language (FML) for human and machine co-learning. There are three phases of patch learning mechanism embedded in AFNA, including (1) training an initial global model, (2) training a patch model for each identified patch, and (3) updating the global model using the training data that do not fall into any patch. The AFNA can be applied to construct the student and robot co-learning regression model, as well as the regression model for the dataset retrieved from the game of Go. First, students generate human learning data through interactions with handheld devices or robots based on the AFNA in Taiwan and Japan. Then, the AFNA utilizes the student learning data collected in the classroom and the Go game data provided by both Google DeepMind and Facebook AI Research open-source OpenGo to train the Fuzzy Machine-Learning Model. In addition, the trained Fuzzy Machine-Learning Model of AFNA is deployed to the robots to make students and machines co-learn together based on IEEE 1855 FML. The experiments show that the AFNA with Patch Learning Mechanism and Fuzzy Machine-Learning Model can improve the performance of regression model based on the datasets of student learning and Go game. In the future, we hope to apply the AFNA with robots to the other domain areas, embed it with the Artificial Intelligence of Things devices, and introduce it to more teaching fields in various countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activin A, a cytokine belonging to the transforming growth factor-β family, has been shown to play pivotal roles in tissue remodeling after renal injury and is present in elevated levels in diabetic patients. However, the association between activin A and albuminuria remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate their association by using cross-sectional data from community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults in Taiwan. We assessed 466 participants (67% male; mean age 71 ± 13 years) from the I-Lan Longitudinal Aging study for whom data pertaining to serum activin A level and urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) were available. Of these, 323 (69%) had normal albuminuria, 123 (26%) had microalbuminuria, and 20 (4%) had overt albuminuria. Patients with overt albuminuria and microalbuminuria had significantly higher activin A concentrations than those in the normal albuminuria group (p < 0.001). Circulating activin A was significantly correlated with multiple risk factors, including higher systolic blood pressure and higher UACR. Univariate and multivariate results indicated that activin A level was an independent variable for albuminuria. The cutoff value of 602 pg/mL of activin A demonstrated a sensitivity of 70.6% and specificity of 75.7% (AUC 0.774) in diagnosing overt albuminuria. In conclusion, middle-aged and older adults with elevated activin A levels were associated with a higher incidence of albuminuria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the standard methods for the determination of approximate analysis, ultimate analysis, chemical composition, heating value and inorganic elements, the thermochemical properties of three air-dried napier grass samples have been analyzed in the present study. The results showed that thermochemical characteristics of all samples were found to be similar. The energy grass obviously comprised a large percentage of volatile matter at 72.72 ± 0.73 wt%. The molar rations of hydrogen to carbon (H/C) ranging from 1.60 to 1.73 are close to those of cellulose (H/C = 1.67) and hemicellulose (H/C = 1.6), which was in accordance with its higher heating value (16.3 MJ/kg). However, the contents of nitrogen and chlorine were significantly high, suggesting that the emissions of acidic gases and chlorinated organics from biomass-to-heat facilities will arouse concern. Based on the 100,000 ha fallow farmland cultivated into the energy grass in Taiwan and the Tier 1 method recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the environmental benefit of mitigating CO2emissions and the economic benefit of oil equivalent were calculated to be around 5.0 × 106Gg/yr and 1.1 × 107barrels/yr, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Diabetes mellitus is one of the risk factors for coronary artery disease and frequently associated with multivessels disease and poor clinical outcomes. Long term outcome of successful revascularization of chronic total occlusions (CTO) in diabetes patients remains controversial., Methods and Results: From January 2005 to December 2015, 739 patients who underwent revascularization for CTO in Taipei Veterans General Hospital were included in this study, of which 313 (42%) patients were diabetes patients. Overall successful rate of revascularization was 619 (84%) patients whereas that in diabetics and non-diabetics were 265 (84%) and 354 (83%) respectively. Median follow up was 1095 days (median: 5 years, interquartile range: 1-10 years). During 3 years follow-up period, 59 (10%) in successful group and 18 (15%) patients in failure group died. Although successful revascularization of CTO was non-significantly associated with better outcome in total cohort (hazard ratio (HR): 0.593, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.349-0.008, P: 0.054), it might be associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR: 0.307, 95% CI 0.156-0.604, P: 0.001) and CV mortality (HR: 0.266, 95% CI 0.095-0.748, P: 0.012) in diabetics (P: 0.512). In contrast, successful CTO revascularization didn't improve outcomes in non-diabetics (all P > 0.05). In multivariate cox regression analysis, successful CTO revascularization remained an independent predictor for 3-years survival in diabetic subgroup (HR: 0.289, 95% CI 0.125-0.667, P: 0.004). The multivariate analysis result was similar after propensity score matching (all-cause mortality, HR: 0.348, 95% CI 0.142-0.851, P: 0.021)., Conclusions: Successful CTO revascularization in diabetes may be related to better long term survival benefit but not in non-diabetic population.

Galectin-1 modulates acute and chronic inflammation, and is associated with glucose homeostasis and chronic renal disease. Whether the serum galectin-1 level can predict short-term and long-term renal outcomes after contrast exposure in patients undergoing coronary angiography (CAG) remains uncertain. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between the serum galectin-1 level and the incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN), and to investigate the predictive role of the circulating galectin-1 level for renal function decline in patients undergoing CAG. In total, 798 patients who had undergone CAG were enrolled. Baseline creatinine and serum galectin-1 levels were determined before CAG. CIN was defined as an increase in the serum creatinine level of 0.5 mg/dl or a 25% increase from baseline within 48 h after the procedure, and renal function decline was defined as > 30% reduction of the estimated glomerular filtration rate from baseline. All patients were followed for at least 1 year or until the occurrence of death after CAG. Overall, CIN occurred in 41 (5.1%) patients. During a median follow-up period of 1.4 ± 1.1 years, 80 (10.0%) cases showed subsequent renal function decline. After adjustment for demographic characteristics, kidney function, traditional risk factors, and medications, higher galectin-1 levels were found to be associated independently with a greater risk of renal function decline [tertile 2: hazard ratio (HR) 5.56, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.79-17.22; tertile 3: HR 5.56, 95% CI 1.97-16.32], but not with CIN, regardless of the presence of diabetes. In conclusion, higher baseline serum galectin-1 levels were associated with a greater risk of renal function decline in patients undergoing CAG, but were not associated independently with CIN.

Background: Hypertension is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Activin A, a member of the transforming growth factor-β cytokine family, has been shown to regulate blood pressure through the renin-angiotensin system. However, the relationship between activin A and blood pressure remains uncertain. The objective of this study was to determine whether serum activin A levels are associated with blood pressure., Method: A total of 470 participants of I-Lan longitudinal Aging Study (ILAS) were eligible for this study. Serum levels of activin A were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Cross-sectional analyses were performed, including comparisons of demographic characteristics, hypertensive status, and activin A levels., Results: Among the study participants (50% men, mean age, 69 years), 236 (50.2%) were hypertensive and 234 (49.8%) were normotensive. Hypertensive patients had significantly higher serum activin A levels than normotensives (normotensive vs. hypertensive: 507 ± 169 vs. 554 ± 176 pg/ml, mean ± SD, P < 0.001). All subjects were divided into 3 tertiles on the basis of serum activin A levels. Increasing tertiles of activin A were associated with higher systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure and pulse pressure (PP) (all P < 0.001). After adjusting for all the potential confounding factors, serum activin A concentration was still significantly associated with SBP (P = 0.02) and PP (P = 0.03)., Conclusions: Serum activin A level was associated with SBP and PP. Further studies are required to assess their causal relationship and the clinical relevance., (© American Journal of Hypertension, Ltd 2017. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com)