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Development of facile polymerization routes and new monomers is attractive for the development of polymer chemistry and materials. This study integrates the dual concepts in one work. Design and synthesis of Meldrum's acid (MA)-amine compounds as monomers and their corresponding self-polymerization based on ketene-mediated chemistry have been reported. An effective synthetic route to polyamides under a melt process in 20 minutes is demonstrated. Self-polymerization of the MA-amine compounds results in both linear and hyperbranched polyamides with high molecular weights, good film formability, and high mechanical strength. Flexible polyamide films prepared through a solution casting method show a high tensile strength of 122 MPa and an elongation at break of 6.7%. The designed monomers and synthetic route open a new window to both polymer chemistry and high-performance polymer materials.

Agribusiness organizations have gained an understanding of the need to promote environmentally friendly actions for the present and the future. Green accounting (GA) or environmental accounting is a new branch of accounting that attempts to factor costs related to the environment into the financial results of various operations. The concept of intellectual capital (IC) describes all the resources or capital that determines an organization’s value and competitiveness. The implementation of GA principles in an agribusiness organization is a cross-disciplinary work that entails sustainability, accounting, and other fields of research. Thus, competent farmers (human capital), good relationships with stakeholders (relational capital), structural changes (organizational capital), and innovativeness (innovation capital) all of which are concepts of IC are needed for the implementation of environmental sustainability policies and procedures within an organization. This conceptual paper explores key success factors for the GA from the IC perspective. We proposed that, for different reasons and logic, the human, customer, organizational, innovation, and process capitals all play roles as key success factors for good implementation of GA in agribusiness.

We offer an integrative introduction, analysis, and commentary for the new agribusiness models (mainly for crop production) in Taiwan, an important economy in Asia. Taiwan’s economy has been relying heavily on agriculture-based business, even against the fact that its high-technology industries occupy major media explosion opportunities. We start with the introductory discussions of Taiwan’s agricultural backgrounds and development. Then we review and analyze the developing agribusiness models at macro and micro levels. Based on those analyses, we propose promising directions for future studies and agribusiness practices.

Impaired executive function (EF), verbal comprehension, and theory of mind (ToM) may contribute to social difficulties in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The linkage between cool (cognitive) EF and ToM has been widely investigated, but the relations between hot (affective) EF and ToM remain largely unknown. The roles of cool EF and verbal comprehension have not been previously explored together to address hot EF-ToM relations. This study applied mediation analysis to investigate the mediating effects of cool EF and verbal comprehension to further elaborate the link between hot EF and ToM in children with ASD and average intellectual abilities. A total of 97 children with ASD aged from 6 to 12 years participated in this study. Children's cool EF, hot EF, and verbal comprehension were, respectively, measured with the computerized Dimensional Change Card Sort task, Children's Gambling Task, and the verbal comprehension index of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-fourth edition. Children's ToM was assessed with the Theory of Mind Task Battery. Partial correlation coefficients indicated that hot EF was significantly related with ToM with age controlled for. The results of the mediation analysis showed that cool EF and verbal comprehension mediated the linkage between hot EF and ToM. These findings highlight not only the connections between hot EF and ToM but also the importance of cool EF and verbal comprehension on hot EF-ToM relations in clinical assessments and interventions for school-aged children with ASD and average intellectual abilities. LAY SUMMARY: Relatively few studies have investigated the hot (affective) executive function (EF)-theory of mind (ToM) relations in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study discovered that hot EF was significantly related to ToM, while cool (cognitive) EF and verbal comprehension mediated the relationship between hot EF and ToM. Therefore, the influence of cool EF and verbal comprehension on hot EF-ToM relations should be considered in studies involving children with ASD. Autism Res 2021, 14: 921-931. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.

BACKGROUND: In patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), acute myocardial infarction (AMI) increases the risks of cardiovascular events, death, and bleeding. Several scores have been developed for predicting ischemic and bleeding outcomes in AMI patients, but none have been validated specifically for ESRD patients. OBJECTIVES: To compare and validate different risk scores as predictors of ischemic and bleeding outcomes in AMI patients with ESRD. METHODS: This retrospective study enrolled 340 patients who had received percutaneous coronary intervention for AMI while undergoing maintenance hemodialysis for ESRD. Ischemic risk scores (TIMI-STEMI, TIMI-NSTEMI, GRACE, DAPT) and bleeding risk scores (PRECISE-DAPT, CRUSADE, ACUITY, ACTION, SWEDEHEART) were calculated. The ischemic outcome mainly focused on major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) within 14 days after hospitalization, and the bleeding outcome was 14-day major bleeding according to the CRUSADE criteria. RESULTS: The GRACE score was superior in discriminating ischemic outcomes, especially in 14-day MACEs [area under curve (AUC) 0.791, p < 0.001]. None of the scores could ideally discriminate 14-day CRUSADE major bleeding, while the PRECISE- DAPT score had the best discriminative power (AUC 0.636, p < 0.001). Either GRACE score > 222 or PRECISE-DAPT score > 48 was associated with higher net adverse cardiovascular events (a composite of 14-day MACEs and 14-day CRUSADE major bleeding). CONCLUSIONS: In AMI patients with ESRD, the GRACE score can effectively discriminate the risk of short-term ischemic events. None of the scores could ideally discriminate the bleeding risk, but a high PRECISE-DAPT score still represented a higher rate of bleeding events.

In order to improve individual research achievements (IRA), this study investigates which affiliated countries and authors earn the most cited IRAs and whether those types of articles are associated with the number of cited papers on schizophrenia from a leading journal in the field. The Kano model was used for displaying the IRAs. Clusters of medical subject headings (MeSH) were applied to explore the core concepts of a given journal. This study aimed to apply social network analysis (SNA) and an authorship-weighted scheme (AWS) to inspect the association between MeSH terms and IRA. About 2,008 abstracts published between 2012 and 2016 in the journal Schizophrenia Research were downloaded from Pubmed Central using the keyword (Schizophr Res)[Journal] on September 20, 2018. The MeSH terms were clustered by using SNA to separate the core concepts and compare the differences in bibliometric indices (i.e., h, Ag, x and author impact factor or AIF). Visual dashboards were shown on Google Maps. Results indicate that (1) the US, the UK, and Canada earn the highest x-index; (2) the top one author from the US has the highest x-index (= 5.73 with x-core at cited = 16.44 and citable = 2); (3) the article type of schizophrenic psychology shows distinctly higher frequencies than others; and (4) article types are associated with the number of cited papers. Four approaches of the Kano model, SNA, MeSH terms, and AWS can be accommodated to display IRAs, classify article types, and quantify coauthor contributions in the article byline, respectively, and applied to other scientific disciplines in the future, not just in this specific journal.

A major obstacle to nanodrugs-mediated cancer therapy is their rapid uptake by the reticuloendothelial system that decreases the systemic exposure of the nanodrugs to tumors and also increases toxicities. Intralipid has been shown to reduce nano-oxaliplatin-mediated toxicity while improving bioavailability. Here, we have found that Intralipid reduces the cytotoxicity of paclitaxel for human monocytic cells, but not for breast, lung, or pancreatic cancer cells. Intralipid also promotes the polarization of macrophages to the anti-cancer M1-like phenotype. Using a xenograft breast cancer mouse model, we have found that Intralipid pre-treatment significantly increases the amount of paclitaxel reaching the tumor and promotes tumor apoptosis. The combination of Intralipid with half the standard clinical dose of Abraxane reduces the tumor growth rate as effectively as the standard clinical dose. Our findings suggest that pre-treatment of Intralipid has the potential to be a powerful agent to enhance the tumor cytotoxic effects of Abraxane and to reduce its off-target toxicities.

Furan-functionalized Meldrum's acid (MAF) has been utilized as a monomer for the preparation of self-crosslinkable polymers which possess Meldrum's acid (MA) moieties as the reactive sites. As MAF contains acidic C–H and furan groups, both are reactive toward maleimide groups, and polymerization has been carried out between MAF and multi-functional maleimide compounds. Both linear and hyperbranched MA-containing self-crosslinkable polymers have been prepared. The prepared polymers show good solubility in aprotic high polar solvents and high film formability. Self-standing and highly flexible crosslinked films have been obtained. The polymer film shows high solvent resistance, a high glass transition temperature of 298 °C, a high thermal stability above 340 °C, and attractive mechanical properties with a Young's modulus of 3.58 GPa and a stress at break of 34.4 MPa. Moreover, the crosslinked polymer films have relatively low-dielectric constants of about 2.85–2.78. An effective approach has been demonstrated for the preparation of high molecular weight MA-containing polymers and the corresponding thermosetting resin based self-standing and flexible polymer films.

Kuan-Lin Chen,1–3 Cheng-Te Chen,4 Chien-Ho Lin,5 Chien-Yu Huang,6 Ya-Chen Lee7 1Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City 701, Taiwan (R.O.C); 2Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City 701, Taiwan (R.O.C); 3Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City 701, Taiwan (R.O.C); 4Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan (R.O.C); 5Department of Psychiatry, Chi Mei Medical Center, Youngkang Dist., Tainan City 710, Taiwan (R.O.C); 6Department of Occupational Therapy, I-Shou University, Yanchao District, Kaohsiung City 824, Taiwan (R.O.C); 7Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medical and Health Science, Asia University, Wufeng, Taichung, Taiwan (R.O.C)Correspondence: Ya-Chen LeeDepartment of Occupational Therapy, College of Medical and Health Science, Asia University, No. 500, Lioufeng Road, Wufeng, Taichung, Taiwan (R.O.C)Tel +886-4-23323456 Ext. 20007Email jennyleenet@hotmail.comBackground: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit deficits in pretend play and have less playfulness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between pretend play and playfulness in children with autism spectrum disorder, while controlling for severity of autism behaviors, verbal comprehension, and age.Methods: A sample of 72 children with ASD aged between 3 and 12 years were assessed with the Child-Initiated Pretend Play Assessment, Test of Playfulness, and Childhood Autism Rating Scale, respectively, for their pretend play, playfulness, and severity of autism behaviors. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted.Results: The results of Pearson correlation coefficients revealed that the pretend play variables had mild to moderate associations with the playfulness variables (r = −0.25 to 0.68). The multiple regression analyses showed that, overall, the internal locus of control was the significant predictor of the pretend play variables (accounting for 5–47% of the variance, p < 0.001). The six pretend play variables were all important predictors of all playfulness variables (explaining 41–76% of the variance, p < 0.001–0.047). Particularly, the elaborate pretend play action was a significant predictor of all four playfulness variables. Our findings indicated that the more children with ASD engaged in pretend play, the more they experienced playfulness.Conclusion: Clinicians could help children with ASD improve their feeling of being in charge of their play in order to develop better performance in pretend play. Assisting children with ASD to engage in pretend play is important to promote their internal experience of playfulness.Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, pretend play, playfulness, severity of autism behaviors

Background Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit deficits in pretend play and have less playfulness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between pretend play and playfulness in children with autism spectrum disorder, while controlling for severity of autism behaviors, verbal comprehension, and age. Methods A sample of 72 children with ASD aged between 3 and 12 years were assessed with the Child-Initiated Pretend Play Assessment, Test of Playfulness, and Childhood Autism Rating Scale, respectively, for their pretend play, playfulness, and severity of autism behaviors. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted. Results The results of Pearson correlation coefficients revealed that the pretend play variables had mild to moderate associations with the playfulness variables (r = -0.25 to 0.68). The multiple regression analyses showed that, overall, the internal locus of control was the significant predictor of the pretend play variables (accounting for 5-47% of the variance, p < 0.001). The six pretend play variables were all important predictors of all playfulness variables (explaining 41-76% of the variance, p < 0.001-0.047). Particularly, the elaborate pretend play action was a significant predictor of all four playfulness variables. Our findings indicated that the more children with ASD engaged in pretend play, the more they experienced playfulness. Conclusion Clinicians could help children with ASD improve their feeling of being in charge of their play in order to develop better performance in pretend play. Assisting children with ASD to engage in pretend play is important to promote their internal experience of playfulness.

Background: Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is the leading cause of poisoning death worldwide, but associations between CO poisoning and weather remain unclear.Objective: To quantify the influence of climate parameters (e.g., temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed) on the incidence risk of acute CO poisoning in Taiwan.Methods: We used negative binomial mixed models (NBMMs) to evaluate the influence of weather parameters on the incidence risk of acute CO poisoning. Subgroup analyses were conducted, based on the seasonality and the intentionality of acute CO poisoning cases.Results: We identified a total of 622 patients (mean age: 32.9 years old; female: 51%) with acute CO poisoning in the study hospital. Carbon monoxide poisoning was associated with temperature (beta: −0.0973, rate ratio (RR): 0.9073, p < 0.0001) but not with relative humidity (beta: 0.1290, RR: 1.1377, p = 0.0513) or wind speed (beta: −0.4195, RR: 0.6574, p = 0.0806). In the subgroup analyses, temperature was associated with the incidence of intentional CO poisoning (beta: 0.1076, RR: 1.1136, p = 0.0333) in spring and unintentional CO poisoning (beta: −0.1865, RR: 0.8299, p = 0.0184) in winter.Conclusion: Changes in temperature affect the incidence risk for acute CO poisoning, but the impact varies with different seasons and intentionality in Taiwan. Our findings quantify the effects of climate factors and provide fundamental evidence for healthcare providers to develop preventative strategies to reduce acute CO poisoning events.

To demonstrate the trends and variety of research on palliative care during the COVID-19 pandemic. A systematic search of the Web of Science database. Since the outbroke of the COVID-19 pandemic, the adjustment of palliative care systems is warranted to maintain a high quality of care. The COVID-19 -related palliative care studies account for approximately 4% of all publications on palliative care. However, there is a dearth of research investigating the nature of these studies. A total of 293 studies were included. Of the included studies, those related to system improvement were the most common (181/293, 61.8%), followed by those related to patient care (79/293, 27.0%), bereavement support for patients or family members (19/293, 6.5%), and the mental health of frontline practitioners (14/293, 4.8%). From these studies, 82, 137, and 74 studies were published in 2020, 2021, and 2022 (until August 1), respectively. The research trends of palliative care demonstrate the flexibility and rapid response of the global palliative care system to the COVID-19 pandemic and show how the palliative care system is evolving. While most studies are interested in system improvement, patient care, and bereavement support, the mental health of frontline practitioners has received less attention. Our findings provide palliative care practitioners with current valuable information and highlight possible future trends.

Children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) with mild and moderate symptom levels have significant differences in applied theory of mind (ToM) competence. However, their mediators of applied ToM competence have not been documented.This study aimed to identify the mediators of applied ToM competence in these two clinically distinct groups.A total of 163 children with ASD aged 3-12 years old (88 and 75 children respectively in the mild and moderate groups) and their caregivers participated in this study. Data of children's verbal comprehension, explicit ToM knowledge and applied ToM competence were collected and then analyzed using mediation analysis.The results of mediation analysis showed that verbal comprehension (95% confidence interval [CI] of indirect effect: 0.02 - 0.19) and explicit ToM knowledge (95% CI of indirect effect: 0.01 - 0.07) were the mediators of applied ToM competence in children with mild and those with moderate symptoms, respectively.Our findings demonstrate that the mediators of applied ToM competence differ by symptom level in children with ASD. Applied ToM competence and the mediators should be assessed for designing tailored and effective intervention plans for these children according to their symptom level.