Search

ESRD in the young represents a heavy burden to patients, families, and health care systems. This nationwide retrospective study characterized the incidence of ESRD and analyzed diagnoses associated with renal survival in the young population in Taiwan.Through use of Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, the population of young patients (age30 years, including children and young adults) with ESRD between January 1998 and December 2009 were enrolled. The medical claims were used to derive the date when the cause of ESRD was first determined. The medical data were reviewed and the renal survival time (time from first diagnosis of the cause to the start of ESRD) was calculated by experts, including clinical physicians and a large-database specialist.The incidence rate of ESRD in the young population was high compared with the worldwide rate at 21.1 per million person-years, whereas the incidence in the pediatric group was still similar to that in other countries at 10.3 per million person-years. A total of 2304 patients with new-onset ESRD and identified renal diseases during the study period were enrolled. All preschool-age patients (100%) began receiving peritoneal dialysis as their initial treatment for ESRD. The leading causes, which varied by sex and onset age, were glomerulonephropathy followed by hypertension for the young adult group and glomerulonephropathy followed by congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) for the pediatric group. Renal survival was cause-dependent. The median overall renal survival duration was 0.8 year (interquartile range [IQR], 0.7-3.5 years). CAKUT-related ESRD had the longest progression time (median renal survival, 16.0 years; IQR, 10.7-23.5 years); glomerulonephropathy progressed more rapidly into ESRD and had the shortest median renal survival of 0.5 year (IQR, 0.1-2.7 years).The incidence and causes of ESRD greatly differ between pediatric patients and young adults. Moreover, renal survival in the young population markedly varies depending on the cause of renal disease.

The nano-sized V/TiO2 prepared by a sol-gel method calcined at 500°C for 3 h was characterized in this study. The synthesized photo-catalysts were used for the photo-degradation of 1, 2-dichloroethane (1, 2-DCE). From X-ray powder diffraction data, the crystal phase presents the mixture of anatase and rutile phases with anatase the dominant phase. From TEM images, the crystallites of photo-catalysts are spherical particles with a crystallite size about 10–20 nm. UV-Visible absorption spectra of V/TiO2 show a slightly increase in absorbance in the visible light region with the increasing vanadium ion doping concentration. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results indicate that the doped vanadium ions exist in the form of V (IV). The V (IV) may alleviate the surface poison phenomenon and act as both h + /e – traps to reduce the recombination rate of h + /e – pairs, and the optimum vanadium doping amount is 0.01 mol%. The products and byproducts of 1, 2-DCE photo-degradation include H2O, CO, CO2, C2H5Cl, CH2Cl2, and HCl.

A new strategy for cyclopenta[b]furan synthesis mediated by hypervalent iodine(III) has been described. The approach employs diacetoxyiodobenzene-induced initial dehydrogenation to a putative trienone intermediate and triggered sequential cycloisomerization to form the cyclo-penta[b]furan targets.

An increasing number of emergency department (ED) visits have posed a challenge to health systems in many countries, but an understanding of non-emergent ED visits has remained limited and contentious. This retrospective study analyzed ED visits using three representative cohorts from routine data to explore the profiles and longitudinal pattern changes of non-emergent ED visits in Taiwan. Systematic-, personal-, and ED visit-level data were analyzed using a logistic regression model. Average marginal effects were calculated to compare the effects of each factor. The annual ED visit rate increased up to 261.3 per 1000 population in 2010, and a significant one-third of visits were considered as non-emergent. The rapidly growing utilization of ED visits underwent a watershed change after cost-sharing payments between patients and medical institutions were increased in 2005. In addition to cohort effects resulting from cost-sharing payment changes, all factors were significantly associated with non-emergent ED visits with different levels of impact. We concluded that non-emergent ED visits were associated with multifaceted factors, but the change to cost-sharing payment, being female, younger age, and geographical residence were the most predictive factors. This information would enhance the implementation of evidence-based strategies to optimize ED use.

The objective of the study is to understand the therapeutic effects of lipophilic (simvastatin) and hydrophilic statins (pravastatin) combined with/without hyaluronic acid for osteoarthritis by an in vitro LPS-induced inflammatory model of articular chondrocytes. HA in combination with different doses of simvastatin or pravastatin were used. Beside cytotoxicity, the influence of statins on NO production, pro-inflammatory cytokine, inflammatory mediators, and NF-κB p50 protein were analyzed. Finally, TUNEL assay was performed to detect DNA strand breakage. Two statins were less able to lower NF-κB activity when they were administrated along without HA. The gene expression demonstrates that simvastatin and pravastatin had the ability to decrease pro-inflammatory and inflammatory mediator levels. High dose simvastatin with or without HA down regulated inflammatory cytokines, but resulted in higher cytotoxicity. TUNEL assay confirms the regulatory effect of statins with or without HA over the apoptosis of chondrocytes, especially in hydrophilic statins. The significant down-regulation of inflammatory mediators suggests that intra-articular injection of HA in combination with statins might feasibly slow the progress of osteoarthritis. Administration of simvastatin or pravastatin with hyaluronic acid may produce beneficial effects for OA treatment, but with better results when hydrophilic statin was used.

Summary Periodicity and trend are features describing an observed sequence, and extracting these features is an important issue in many scientific fields. However, it is not an easy task for existing methods to analyse simultaneously the trend and dynamics of the periodicity such as time varying frequency and amplitude, and the adaptivity of the analysis to such dynamics and robustness to heteroscedastic dependent errors are not guaranteed. These tasks become even more challenging when there are multiple periodic components. We propose a non-parametric model to describe the dynamics of multicomponent periodicity and investigate the recently developed synchro-squeezing transform in extracting these features in the presence of a trend and heteroscedastic dependent errors. The identifiability problem of the non-parametric periodicity model is studied, and the adaptivity and robustness properties of the synchro-squeezing transform are theoretically justified in both discrete and continuous time settings. Consequently we have a new technique for decoupling the trend, periodicity and heteroscedastic, dependent error process in a general non-parametric set-up. Results of a series of simulations are provided, and the incidence time series of varicella and herpes zoster in Taiwan and respiratory signals observed from a sleep study are analysed.

This work presents the light–color-dependent negative bias stress (NBIS) effect on amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) with Al2O3 passivation layer. The colors of incident photon are varied from red to blue, that incident photon energies are all lower than the optical band gap of IGZO (3.2 eV). The experimental results show that the Al2O3 passivated devices present stable electrical behaviors under different incident lights (ΔVT 8 V of green, andΔVT > 15 V of blue). The degradation mechanism of the negative bias stress under illumination of a-IGZO TFTs is dominated by the photo-generated hole trapping at the gate insulator and/or interface between insulator and channel. In this result, the Al2O3 passivation layer can effectively passivate the defect in the a-IGZO film, reducing electron hole pair generated during the illumination processed.

This study proposes an active anti-islanding detection using an adjustable pulse current for distributed generation systems. The pulse current injection is utilised to find out difference voltage response between utility systems and islanding operation systems within 2.8 ms, which is faster than conventional current injection methods. Furthermore, the power line communication is utilised to keep islanding detection system with accuracy. Finally, the performances of the proposed scheme are validated by simulation and test results.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of surgeon elective abdominal aortic aneurysm repair volume on outcomes after ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA) repair. A nationwide claims database was used to identify patients who underwent rAAA repair from 1998 to 2009. Surgeon elective open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EAR) volume was classified as low, medium, or high. Associations between surgeon EAR volume and in-hospital mortality, overall survival, and complications after open rAAA repair (RAR) were compared with multivariate analysis. Associations between surgeon elective endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EER) volume and outcomes after endovascular rAAA repair (RER) were also analyzed. A total of 537 patients who underwent rAAA repair were identified, including 498 who underwent RAR and 39 who underwent RER. In-hospital mortality rates after RAR were 49, 38, and 24 % in the low, medium, and high EAR volume groups, respectively (p

(Sn-Ti)O2 solid solution nanoparticles (denoted (Sn-Ti)O2-500) are prepared by application of one step of chemical treatment followed by calcination in N2 at 500 °C for 2 h. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) observations reveal a nanoparticle shape change from needle-like to rod-like after heat treatment. Formation of a (Sn-Ti)O2 solid solution is confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The electrochemical properties of the (Sn-Ti)O2 solid solution are studied by cyclic voltammetric and coin cell tests. Electrochemical property results show that (Sn-Ti)O2-500 delivers a specific capacity of about 300 mAh g−1, excellent cycle-life performance and high rate-capability during the delithiation process. Inductively coupled plasma results indicate a Sn content in (Sn-Ti)O2-500 of about 10.1% tin to titanium. The promising electrochemical characteristics of (Sn-Ti)O2-500 appear well suited for high-power negative electrodes of lithium ion batteries.

Electrical characteristics and the effect of hotcarriers are investigated in via-contact-type a-InGaZnO thinfilm transistors. Current-voltage as well as capacitance-voltage measurements are utilized to investigate the impact of top gate bias on device characteristics as well as degradation behaviors caused by a hot-carrier stress. It is found that the redundant source/drain electrodes in via-contact type devices can screen the electric field established by a top gate bias and have significant influence on the device characteristics. Hot-carrier stress brings about electron trapping in the etch stop layer below the redundant electrodes, and this is further verified through modulating the energy band structure by applying a top gate bias during the capacitance-voltage measurement.

Phalaenopsis is currently the world’s number one potted flower crop. It is a slow-growing plant that responds slowly to nitrogen (N) fertilization and is noted for great resilience against N deficiency. Despite the great significance of N during the cultivation of Phalaenopsis, little has been studied on the uptake and partitioning of N in this crop. The stable isotope 15N was used as a tracer to investigate the uptake and partitioning of N and the roles of organs in sink and source relationship of N partitioning during different stages in Phalaenopsis. Fertilizer labeled with 15N was applied to Phalaenopsis Sogo Yukidian ‘V3’ during the vegetative growth stage on different parts of plants. Both leaves and roots were able to take up N. Nitrogen uptake efficiency of young roots was the highest, followed by old roots, whereas that of leaves was lowest. No difference of N uptake efficiency was found between the upper and lower leaf surfaces. Movement of fertilizer N to the leaves occurred as early as 0.5 day after fertilizer application to the roots. The partitioning of N depended on organ sink strength. During the vegetative growth stage, newly grown leaves and newly formed roots were major sinks. Sink strength of leaves decreased with the increase in leaf age. Stalks and flowers were major sinks during the reproductive growth stage. Mature leaves were a major location where N was stored and could serve as a N source during the reproductive growth stage and also for new leaf growth.

Human–computer interaction, or HCI for short, concerning how people interact with computers, has long been an important and popular research field. Though not completely realistic, fancy HCI applications such as those shown in the science fiction movies Minority Report and Iron Man have impressively demonstrated the potential and trend of HCI technologies that will be very soon made available. As one can very often observe, compared with traditional keyboard/mouse interfaces, the exclusive use of hands has distinguished itself by enjoying a more intuitive and natural way for communication. Furthermore, the increasingly popular concept of ubiquitous computing has called for convenient and portable input devices, thus making hand gesture inputs even more attractive. For example, a smart phone equipped with the capability of hand gesture recognition could be a good input substitute for its intrinsically small touch screen or keypad. Rather than data gloves, which transfer hand gestures through relatively expensive electronic devices, we are more interested in recognizing the gestures of a bare hand. In this regard, there exist works that can track a 2D articulated hand model. In this paper, we make further improvement in computation efficiency and propose novel interfaces to be coupled with the hand tracking system for more user-friendliness.

BackgroundCataract is a common and correctable ophthalmological condition that is associated with a poor quality of life and shortened life expectancy in older people. However, little is known regarding the use of cataract surgery in stroke patients after the incident event.MethodsA national cohort of 5462 patients who had experienced an acute stroke event without severe physical disability between 2000 and 2003, and 26,434 randomly selected age- and sex-matched controls were obtained from a random population-based sample of the National Health Insurance database in Taiwan. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was used to assess the association between stroke events and cataract surgery.ResultsAfter a 5-year follow-up, 482 stroke patients (8.8%) and 1897 controls (7.2%) had received cataract surgery after the index dates of their stroke. The incidence of subsequent cataract surgery following acute stroke was 27% higher than that in the comparison group (crude hazard ratio 1.27; p

The association between osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases has been demonstrated. Higher cardiovascular risk has also been correlated with vertebral fractures. However, the association between osteoporotic vertebral fracture and the possibly higher risk of stroke remains uncertain. This study aimed to evaluate the incidence, risk, and type of stroke in patients with osteoporotic vertebral fracture. Patients with osteoporotic vertebral fracture were identified (n = 380) and 10 age- and sex-matched controls per case (comparison group, n = 3795) were chosen from a nationwide representative cohort of 999,997 people from 1998 to 2005. Both groups were followed-up for stroke events for 3 years, matched by propensity scores with adjustments for covariates such as comorbidities (ie, hypertension, diabetes, arrhythmia, or coronary heart diseases) and exposure to medications (ie, aspirin, lipid lowering drug, or nitrates), and assessed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. The incidence rate of stroke in the osteoporotic vertebral fracture group (37.5 per 1000 person-years; 95% confidence interval [CI], 27.5–51.2) was significantly higher than in the comparison group (14.0 per 1000 person-years; 95% CI, 12.0–16.4, p

Encapsulation of nucleus pulposus (NP) cells within in situ forming hydrogels is a novel biological treatment for early stage intervertebral disc degeneration. The procedure aims to prolong the life of the degenerating discs and to regenerate damaged tissue. In this study we developed an injectable oxidized hyaluronic acid–gelatin–adipic acid dihydrazide (oxi-HAG–ADH) hydrogel. High molecular weight (1900 kDa) hyaluronic acid was crosslinked with various concentrations of gelatin to synthesize the hydrogels and their viscoelastic properties were analyzed. Interactions between the hydrogels, NP cells, and the extracellular matrix (ECM) were also evaluated, as were the effects of the hydrogels on NP cell gene expression. The hydrogels possess several clinical advantages, including sterilizability, low viscosity for injection, and ease of use. The viscoelastic properties of the hydrogels were similar to native tissue, as reflected in the complex shear modulus (∼11–14 kPa for hydrogels, 11.3 kPa for native NP). Cultured NP cells not only attached to the hydrogels but also survived, proliferated, and maintained their round morphology. Importantly, we found that hydrogels increased NP cell expression of several crucial ECM-related genes, such as COL2A1, AGN, SOX-9, and HIF-1A.

Asthma is one of the most common allergic respiratory diseases around the world and places great burden on medical payment. Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is commonly used for Taiwanese children to control diseases. The aim of this study is to analyze the CHM prescriptions for asthmatic children by using a nationwide clinical database. The National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) was used to perform this study. Medical records from 1997 to 2009 with diagnosis with asthma made for children aged 6 to 18 were included into the analysis. Association rule mining and social network analysis were used to analyze the prevalence of single CHM and its combinations. Ma-Xing-Gan-Shi-Tang (MXGST) was the most commonly used herbal formula (HF) (20.2% of all prescriptions), followed by Xiao-Qing-Long-Tang (13.1%) and Xing-Su-San (12.8%). Zhe Bei Mu is the most frequently used single herb (SH) (14.6%), followed by Xing Ren (10.7%). MXGST was commonly used with Zhe Bei Mu (3.5%) and other single herbs capable of dispelling phlegm. Besides, MXGST was the core formula to relieve asthma. Further studies about efficacy and drug safety are needed for the CHM commonly used for asthma based on the result of this study.

Osteomyelitis therapy is a long-term and inconvenient procedure for a patient. Antibiotic-loaded bone cements are both a complementary and alternative treatment option to intravenous antibiotic therapy for the treatment of osteomyelitis. In the current study, the biphasic calcium phosphate cement (CPC), calledα-TCP/HAP (α-tricalcium phosphate/hydroxyapatite) biphasic cement, was prepared as an antibiotics carrier for osteomyelitis. The developed biphasic cement with a microstructure ofα-TCP surrounding the HAP has a fast setting time which will fulfill the clinical demand. The X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry analyses showed the final phase to be HAP, the basic bone mineral, after setting for a period of time. Scanning electron microscopy revealed a porous structure with particle sizes of a few micrometers. The addition of gentamicin inα-TCP/HAP would delay the transition ofα-TCP but would not change the final-phase HAP. The gentamicin-loadedα-TCP/HAP supplies high doses of the antibiotic during the initial 24 hours when they are soaked in phosphate buffer solution (PBS). Thereafter, a slower drug release is produced, supplying minimum inhibitory concentration until the end of the experiment (30 days). Studies of growth inhibition ofStaphylococcus aureusandPseudomonas aeruginosain culture indicated that gentamicin released after 30 days fromα-TCP/HAP biphasic cement retained antibacterial activity.

Most of the methods for ontology merging need participation of domain experts and provide only partial automation with low efficiency. It is time-consuming and laborious especially when large amount of data are to be merged. In this paper, a method based on semantic is designed for ontology merging according to the case of ontologies to be merged. In this method, first the ontologies to be merged are conversed into a unified format. Then a secondary file is generated. After that semantic analysis is applied to secondary file and a dynamic SQL statements is generated automatically. At last the SQL statements are executed to finish ontology merging. It has been proved by the experiment that using this method would get good precision and high efficiency. Using this method, two ontologies Chinese Agricultural Thesaurus and AGROVOC of the Food and Agriculture Organization are merged successfully.

While molting occurs in the development of many animals, especially arthropods, post-maturity molting (PMM, organisms continue to molt after sexual maturity) has received little attention. The mechanism of molting has been studied intensively; however, the mechanism of PMM remains unknown although it is suggested to be crucial for the development of body size. In this study, we investigated factors that potentially induce PMM in the golden orb-web spider

BACKGROUND This study aimed to investigate the medical expenses and outcomes of central cord syndrome (CCS), comparing patients who received surgical and non-surgical management. METHODS Using a 14-year nationwide database in Taiwan, this study followed-up all patients of CCS at least 5 years. The incidence rates, medical expenses, permanently disabled spinal cord injury (SCI), and mortality rates were compared for patients who underwent surgery and those who were managed conservatively. All CCS patients were further stratified by the level of injury (C1-4 vs. C5-7) in the cost analysis. RESULTS A total of 1,753 patients with CCS were followed and the incidence of CCS was the highest among males aged between 60 and 70 years, at 42.4 per 1,000,000 person-years. The total medical expenses were higher in the surgery than the non-surgery group (46,586.9 vs. 28,472.4, P

Polar Codes become a new channel coding, which will be common to apply for next-generation wireless MIMO communication systems. In this work, we propose LEGO-based VLSI hardware design and implementation of the Polar encoder using radix-2 processing engines, which features low area cost, low power dissipation, high speed, and high throughput via serial computation. Under TSMC 90nm CMOS technology, the 16384-point LEGO-based radix-2 Polar encoder chip (LB-R2-PE) is designed and synthesized with total area of 0.244mm2 and power dissipation of 366.6mW, operating at maximum frequency of 2.0GHz. In the APR chip implementation point-of-view, the 16384-point LB-R2-PE chip only occupies 0.305mm2 and consumes 357.8mW with maximum operating frequency of 1.61GHz, delivering total throughput of 1.61Gbps.

Polar Codes applied for next-generation MIMO systems is an emerging research topic. In this work, we propose an efficient VLSI hardware architecture of the Polar encoder using radix-k processing engines. Under TSMC 90nm CMOS technology, the 16384-point radix-2 based Polar encoder design is synthesized with 0.244mm2 under maximum clock frequency of 2.0GHz. In the similar manner, the VLSI hardware can be extended to radix-k based design. In the chip implementation with APR results, the radix-2 based Polar encoder only occupies 0.305mm2 and dissipates 357.8mW with maximum clock frequency of 1.61GHz, delivering total throughput of 1.61Gbps.

Background Hospice care has been part of the Taiwan health-care system for 20 years. Detailed information on the place of death for terminal cancer patients is lacking. Impending death discharge (IDD) is unique in Taiwan, and our study aims to compare IDD with in-hospice death among terminal cancer patients under hospice care. Methods This retrospective study used claims data of decedents of cancer from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan from 2007 to 2010. Results Of the 22,720 cancer decedents enrolled, 6316 had claims data marked with IDD and 16,404 with in-hospice death. Those with IDD were older; had a shorter hospice stay; and higher rates of gastrointestinal, peritoneal, and pulmonary cancers. The mean daily health-care expenditure was higher in those with IDD, however, the total expenditure of terminal hospice admission was lower than those dying in hospices. Patients who were treated at public hospitals had a higher rate of in-hospice death than those treated at private hospitals. Patients with IDD were positively correlated with increasing age and shorter hospice stay. Patients with IDD were positively correlated with private hospitals, especially religious corporation-based hospitals. Male sex, oropharyngeal cancer, bone/connective/breast cancers, and secondary/metastatic cancers were negatively correlated with IDD. Conclusion Patients with IDD have characteristics distinct from those dying in hospices. Advanced age and short hospice stays were common in those with IDD, and in-depth investigations were needed. As a unique predying process in Taiwan, relevant health-care issues regarding IDD are warranted for further investigations.

Objective Whether the early treatment pattern in people with bipolar disorder (BD) could influence later mortality remains to be determined. We aimed to explore the potential effects of early hospitalization and number of outpatient clinic visits on the 3-year mortality in patients with newly diagnosed BD. Method Adult participants with newly diagnosed BD were identified in Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database in 2008. Survival analyses were performed with this national cohort to examine the associations between the first-year treatment pattern (hospitalization and number of outpatient clinic visits) and mortality over a follow-up period of 3 years (2008–2011). Results A total of 15,254 participants were included. The mean age was 44.9 (S.D.=16.7) years and around 39.9% were male. The average follow-up time was 1055 days. Compared to BD patients with ≥7 times outpatient clinic visits within the first year, the risk of mortality was found elevated [hazard ratio=1.74; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.40–2.15] for those who needed inpatient treatment. Number of outpatient clinic visits within the first year was found to be negatively associated with later mortality. Besides cancer (hazard ratio=2.14; 95% CI, 1.74–2.63), diabetes mellitus (hazard ratio=1.61; 95% CI, 1.38–1.89) and renal disease (hazard ratio=1.65; 95% CI, 1.36–2.00) were associated with the highest risk of mortality among the physical comorbidities. Substance use disorder stood out as the single comorbid mental illness associated with the highest mortality risk (hazard ratio=1.74; 95% CI, 1.37–2.21). Conclusions Early treatment pattern, including hospitalization and number of outpatient clinic visits, was associated with later mortality in BD patients. Special care should be given to enhance treatment adherence and to give psychoeducation to those with certain comorbid mental/physical illnesses to reduce health harming behavior and to improve health outcome.

In this work, we designed and implemented a pair of pressure sensing insoles to quantize the user’s plantar pressure distributions. Each pressure sensing insole includes four force sensor modules, a microcontroller and a wireless data transmission module. We firstly performed a simple process to calibrate the force sensor, and then built a plantar pressure model for estimating the complete plantar pressure distribution. We have applied the pressure sensing insoles to develop a Tai-Chi Chuan instruction system which, with visual feedback, can help users to learn the correct plantar pressure distribution of the fundamental movements of Tai-Chi Chuan. We have also evaluated the efficiency of learning Tai-Chi Chuan with our system. According to our experimental results, users using our system can learn faster than those without using our system.

Motor imagery-based brain-computer interface (BCI) is a communication interface between an external machine and the brain. Many kinds of spatial filters are used in BCIs to enhance the electroencephalography (EEG) features related to motor imagery. The approach of channel selection, developed to reserve meaningful EEG channels, is also an important technique for the development of BCIs. However, current BCI systems require a conventional EEG machine and EEG electrodes with conductive gel to acquire multi-channel EEG signals and then transmit these EEG signals to the back-end computer to perform the approach of channel selection. This reduces the convenience of use in daily life and increases the limitations of BCI applications. In order to improve the above issues, a novel wearable channel selection-based brain-computer interface is proposed. Here, retractable comb-shaped active dry electrodes are designed to measure the EEG signals on a hairy site, without conductive gel. By the design of analog CAR spatial filters and the firmware of EEG acquisition module, the function of spatial filters could be performed without any calculation, and channel selection could be performed in the front-end device to improve the practicability of detecting motor imagery in the wearable EEG device directly or in commercial mobile phones or tablets, which may have relatively low system specifications. Finally, the performance of the proposed BCI is investigated, and the experimental results show that the proposed system is a good wearable BCI system prototype.

A procedure has been developed for synthesis of 2-alkenyl-2H-indazoles starting from 2-(2-carbonylmethyl)-2H-indazoles, which are prepared by gallium/aluminium- and aluminium-mediated, direct, regioselective alkylation of indazoles with α-bromocarbonyl compounds. The structure of 3-(2H-indazol-2-yl)-2H-chromen-2-one was proven by X-ray crystallography. The styrene- and coumarin-2H-indazoles produced by using the new method were found to have interesting fluorescence properties.

Gender disparities in tuberculosis (TB) cases are reported worldwide, and socio-cultural factors have been proposed as possible causes. To date, gender differences in treatment outcomes of TB patients remain controversial. In this prospective observational study, newly diagnosed, culture-proven TB patients from six hospitals in Taiwan were enrolled for analysis. Gender differences in demographic characteristics and treatment outcomes, including sputum conversion and on-treatment mortality, were analysed accordingly. From January 2007 through to December 2009, a total of 1059 patients were enrolled, including 819 (77.3%) males and 240 (22.7%) females. The ratio of male gender was around 50~60% in TB patients below 35 years and >80% for those older than 65 years. When compared with the female patients, the male patients were older, more likely to have the habit of smoking, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, malignancy and liver cirrhosis, and more likely to present with haemoptysis, body weight loss and pleural effusion. Regarding treatment outcomes, male gender is associated with a lower 2-month sputum culture conversion rate (78.8% vs. 89.3%, p 0.002) and higher on-treatment mortality (21.1% vs. 12.1%, p 0.002). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated significantly higher mortality in the men (p 0.005). In multivariate analysis, male gender was an independent risk factor for 2-month sputum culture un-conversion (OR, 1.96; 95% CI, 1.12–3.41). Our findings suggest that male gender is associated with older age, more co-morbidities and worse treatment outcomes. Gender-specific strategies, including active case finding in elderly women and smoking cessation in male patients, are warranted to optimize TB management.

Precast fabricators strive for business success in delivering products on time. To achieve this goal, fabricators start manufacturing once they receive specific design information. However, this strategy induces wasteful inventory. The objective of this study is to develop a Time Buffer Evaluation Model (TBEM) to promptly deliver products and maintain a smaller inventory. This model consists of two stages. The first, by using fuzzy logic, considers factors that influence construction duration. The second stage evaluates a time buffer by considering the tardiness penalty and crashing costs. In this study, one real case is tested to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method. The application results show that the developed TBEM can reduce the level of finished goods inventory without changing production resources.

To investigate the incidence and risk of stroke after lumbar spinal fusion surgery.Study subjects were identified from a nationwide cohort of 1 million people from 2000 to 2005 and were divided into the lumbar spinal fusion group (n = 2,015), who received posterior lumbar spinal fusion surgery, and the comparison group (n = 16,120) composed of age-, sex-, and propensity score-matched control subjects. The matching process was intended to adjust for demographics, comorbidities, and other immeasurable covariates to minimize selection bias. All subjects were followed up for 3 years for stroke, including hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were performed.The overall incidence rate of stroke in the cohort was 9.99 per 1,000 person-year. The lumbar spinal fusion group was less likely to have any stroke (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 0.83, p = 0.293), hemorrhagic stroke (adjusted HR = 0.74, p = 0.739) and ischemic stroke (adjusted HR = 0.81, p = 0.250) than the comparison group, but without significance.Three years post-operatively, patients who received lumbar spinal fusion had stroke incidence rates similar to those without surgery. Posterior lumbar spinal fusion surgery is not associated with increased risks for any kind of stroke.

Background context Postoperative stroke is a rare complication of spinal fusion surgery, but its relevant risk and incidence remain unclear. Purpose To investigate the incidence and risk of stroke after spinal fusion surgery. Study design Cohort study. Patient sample All study subjects were extracted from a nationwide representative cohort of one million people from 2000 to 2005. Outcome measures Stroke, including hemorrhagic and ischemic, during the study period. Methods An exposure group of 2,249 subjects who received spinal fusion surgery during the study period was compared with 2,203 control subjects matched by age, sex, and propensity score. All were followed up for 3 years for all kinds of stroke. Demographics, comorbidities, and nonmeasurable covariates were matched between the two groups. Kaplan-Meier analyses were performed, with adjustments by Cox regression model. Results There were 4,452 subjects, including 2,249 spinal fusion patients and 2,203 controls, who were followed up for 12,967 person-years. The incidence rates of any, hemorrhagic, and ischemic strokes were 9.95, 1.21, and 8.86, respectively, per 1,000 person-years in the spinal fusion group and 11.5, 1.69, and 9.93, respectively, in the comparison group. Patients who received spinal fusion surgery were less likely to have any stroke (crude hazard ratio [HR]=0.87, p=.393), hemorrhagic stroke (HR=0.72, p=.473), and ischemic stroke (HR=0.89, p=.582) than the comparison group but without statistical significance. After adjusting for demographics, comorbidities, and medications, there were still no significant differences for risks of any, hemorrhagic, and ischemic strokes (adjusted HR=0.89, 1.36, and 0.87; p=.522, .553, and .477, respectively) in the spinal fusion group. Conclusions Patients receiving spinal fusion surgery have similar incidence rates of having a stroke within 3 years postoperation as those without surgery. Risks of any postoperative stroke are similar or insignificantly lower in the spinal fusion group.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Traditional chinese medicine (TCM) is one of the most commonly used complementary and alternative medicines. However, there is a paucity of epidemiologic reports on features of pediatric TCM users. As TCM services are fully reimbursed by National Health Insurance in Taiwan, this study used a nationwide cohort database to investigate demographics, diseases patterns, and parents' characteristics of pediatric TCM users. METHODS: Children aged RESULTS: Of 107 337 children who were enrolled and followed up in 2005, 19 669 children (18.3%) used TCM. Compared with Western medicine-only users, school-age children (aged 6–12 years), preschool age children (3–5 years), and toddlers (1–2 years) were more likely to use TCM than infants (35 years, past experience with TCM, and higher income levels. Allergic reactions and respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, and musculoskeletal problems were also associated with higher TCM use. CONCLUSIONS: The use of TCM was correlated with both patient and parental factors, among which children’s age and parental TCM use were the most prominent. Additional studies on the efficacy of TCM are warranted.

We calculate the three-parton twist-3 contribution to the B → π transition form factors in the k T factorization theorem. Since different mesons are involved in the initial and final states, two(three)-parton-to-three(two)-parton amplitudes do not vanish. It is found that the dominant contribution arises from the diagrams with the additional valence gluon attaching to the leading-order hard gluon. Employing the three-parton meson distribution amplitudes from QCD sum rules, we show that this subleading piece amounts only up to few percents of the form factors at large recoil of the pion. The framework for analyzing three-parton contributions to B meson decays in the k T factorization is established.

This study used an 11-year nationwide database to analyze the incidence of spinal cord injury (SCI) in subgroups by age, gender, injury level, etiology, and socioeconomic status. The National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, covering over 99% of the population accumulated from 1998 to 2008, was analyzed. All SCI patients20 years of age and admitted to medical services were identified. Of the 168,832,051.4 person-years, 41,586 newly established diagnoses of SCI were identified, for a SCI incidence of 2.46 per 10,000 person-years, and 61.2% were traumatic. Cervical SCI was the highest at 1.28, followed by lumbar 0.56, and thoracic 0.30 per 10,000 person-years. Males were more likely to have SCI (HR=1.52). Compared to the age group of 20-39 years, the 40-59-year-old group and the group aged ≥ 60 years were more likely to have SCI (HR=1.66 and 2.12, respectively). Those with the lowest insurance premium (which represents income level) were more likely to have SCI compared to the highest insurance premium group (HR=1.86). Those living in the eastern area were more likely to have SCI than those living in the northern area (where political and economic centers are located) (HR=1.52). Those in the most rural area were more likely (HR=1.69) to have SCI than those in the most urbanized areas. The overall national incidence of adult SCI in Taiwan was 246 per million-person-year. Several groups, such as elderly men with lower socioeconomic status, were more likely to experience SCI.

By using the atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) technique for SOFC fabrication, we can avoid the thermal failure between the components of SOFC which made from the traditional sintering method at high temperature. The advantage of porous metal supported SOFC produced by the APS process is that the process is simple and low cost. The purpose of this study was to manufacture a porous Ni/CeO 2 anode of intermediate temperature SOFC. By introducing the pore former into the feedstocks, the porous structure of the Ni/CeO 2 anode was obtained by plasma spraying method. In this study, the feedstock of the NiO/CeO 2 /Na 2 CO 3 powder made by the spray granulation is spherical; the powder structure is compact and a hollow hole inside the powder, hence more porosity (29.1%) of the as-sprayed coating was found and the pore distribution is more uniform. The remainder oxygen vacancies are existed in the reduced anode coating. Use of undoped ceria as an anode material appears to be feasible. The NiO/CeO 2 /Na 2 CO 3 powder formed the higher bonding strength coating with 33.6 MPa. The electron conductivity was obtained with around 200 S/cm in 700 °C. The other properties of the anode were discussed in the paper.

This paper investigates the origin of the bias stability under ambient gas (oxygen, moisture and vacuum) of In–Ga–Zn–O thin film transistors with different annealing temperatures. In Zn-based TFTs, the electrical characteristic of device is a strongly function with the ambient gas, the simultaneous gas ambient and bias stresses are applied on devices annealed in atmosphere ambient to study this issue. The result shows the device which is annealed at temperature up to 330 °C has worst reliability. We suppose that the sensitivity of gas ambient depend the defect state, which is associated to the annealing temperature, of surface in a-IGZO.

In this study, tin oxide (SnO2) solution mixtures containing indium (In) of 0%, 3%, 7%, 15%, and 30% were used to fabricate In- and N-codoped SnO2 films on glass at 400 °C using an ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method combined with thermal annealing at 600 °C and post nitrogen plasma treatment. X-ray diffraction analysis demonstrated that the incorporation of elemental In in the SnO2 film primarily induces the evolution of crystalline phases from In-doped SnO2 to Sn-doped In2O3, depending on the doping concentration. Upon exposure to N plasma, the dark current dramatically increases in proportion to the treatment duration (5–40 min); the dark current can be enhanced for the 3% and 7%-doped samples by as much as 3 orders of magnitude compared to the untreated samples. Hall measurements confirmed that hole carriers could dominate the SnO2 host matrix to promote p-type properties at a low In content (3% and 7%) with an increase in resistance compared to undoped samples. However, samples with higher In content (...

In Escherichia coli , ClpYQ (HslUV) is a two-component ATP-dependent protease composed of ClpY (HslU), an ATPase with unfolding activity, and ClpQ (HslV), a peptidase. In the ClpYQ proteolytic complex, the hexameric rings of ClpY (HslU) are responsible for protein recognition, unfolding, and translocation into the proteolytic inner chamber of the dodecameric ClpQ (HslV). Each of the three domains, N, I, and C, in ClpY has its own distinct activity. The double loops (amino acids [aa] 137 to 150 and 175 to 209) in domain I of ClpY are necessary for initial recognition/tethering of natural substrates such as SulA, a cell division inhibitor protein. The highly conserved sequence GYVG (aa 90 to 93) pore I site, along with the GESSG pore II site (aa 265 to 269), contribute to the central pore of ClpY in domain N. These two central loops of ClpY are in the center of its hexameric ring in which the energy of ATP hydrolysis allows substrate translocation and then degradation by ClpQ. However, no data have been obtained to determine the effect of the central loops on substrate binding or as part of the processivity of the ClpYQ complex. Thus, we probed the features of ClpY important for substrate engagement and protease processivity via random PCR or site-specific mutagenesis. In yeast two-hybrid analysis and pulldown assays, using isolated ClpY mutants and the pore I or pore II site of ClpY, each was examined for its influence on the adjoining structural regions of the substrates. The pore I site is essential for the translocation of the engaged substrates. Our in vivo study of the ClpY mutants also revealed that an ATP-binding site in domain N, separate from its role in polypeptide (ClpY) oligomerization, is required for complex formation with ClpQ. Additionally, we found that the tyrosine residue at position 408 in ClpY is critical for stabilization of hexamer formation between subunits. Therefore, our studies suggest that stepwise activities of the ClpYQ protease are necessary to facilitate the processive degradation of its natural substrates.

Object The study aimed to verify the safety and feasibility of applying acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF) with fibrin glue in combination with surgical neurolysis for nonacute spinal cord injury. Methods This open-label, prospective, uncontrolled human clinical trial recruited 60 patients with spinal cord injuries (30 cervical and 30 thoracolumbar). The mean patient age was 36.5 ± 15.33 (mean ± SD) years, and the male/female ratio was 3:1. The mean time from injury to treatment was 25.7 ± 26.58 months, and the cause of injury included motor vehicle accident (26 patients [43.3%]), fall from a height (17 patients [28.3%]), sports (4 patients [6.7%]), and other (13 patients [21.7%]). Application of aFGF with fibrin glue and duraplasty was performed via laminectomy, and an adjuvant booster of combined aFGF and fibrin glue (2 ml) was given at 3 and 6 months postsurgery via lumbar puncture. Outcome measurements included the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) motor scores, sensory scores, impairment scales, and neurological levels. Examination of functional independence measures, visual analog scale, MR imaging, electrophysiological and urodynamic studies, hematology and biochemistry tests, tumor markers, and serum inflammatory cytokines were all conducted. All adverse events were monitored and reported. Exclusions were based on refusal, unrelated adverse events, or failure to participate in the planned rehabilitation. Results Forty-nine patients (26 with cervical and 23 with thoracolumbar injuries) completed the 24-month trial. Compared with preoperative conditions, the 24-month postoperative ASIA motor scores improved significantly in the cervical group (from 27.6 ± 15.55 to 37.0 ± 19.93, p < 0.001) and thoracolumbar group (from 56.8 ± 9.21 to 60.7 ± 10.10, p < 0.001). The ASIA sensory scores also demonstrated significant improvement in light touch and pinprick in both groups: from 55.8 ± 24.89 to 59.8 ± 26.47 (p = 0.049) and 56.3 ± 23.36 to 62.3 ± 24.87 (p = 0.003), respectively, in the cervical group and from 75.7 ± 15.65 to 79.2 ± 15.81 (p < 0.001) and 78.2 ± 14.72 to 82.7 ± 16.60 (p < 0.001), respectively, in the thoracolumbar group. At 24-month follow-up, the ASIA impairment scale improved significantly in both groups (30% cervical [p = 0.011] and 30% thoracolumbar [p = 0.003]). There was also significant improvement in neurological level in the cervical (from 5.17 ± 1.60 to 6.27 ± 3.27, p = 0.022) and thoracolumbar (from 18.03 ± 4.19 to 18.67 ± 3.96, p = 0.001) groups. The average sum of motor items in functional independence measure also had significant improvement in both groups (p < 0.05). The walking/wheelchair locomotion subscale showed increased percentages of patients who were ambulatory (from 3.4% to 13.8% and from 17.9% to 35.7% in the cervical and thoracolumbar groups, respectively). There were no related adverse events. Conclusions The use of aFGF for spinal cord injury was safe and feasible in the present trial. There were significant improvements in ASIA motor and sensory scale scores, ASIA impairment scales, neurological levels, and functional independence measure at 24 months after treatment. Further large-scale, randomized, and controlled investigations are warranted to evaluate the efficacy and long-term results.

Summary Background Bullous pemphigoid (BP) has been associated with neurological and psychiatric diseases; however, large-scale population-based study of different comorbid diseases in patients with BP is quite limited. Objectives We sought to analyse the prevalence of neurological, psychiatric, autoimmune and inflammatory skin diseases prior to the diagnosis of BP and their associations with BP among patients with BP from a nationwide database in Taiwan. Methods A total of 3485 patients with BP and 17 425 matching controls were identified from the National Health Insurance Database in Taiwan from 1997 to 2008. Conditional logistic regression analyses for a nested case–control study were performed to examine the prevalence of comorbidities prior to the diagnosis of BP between these two groups. Results Overall, our results showed that stroke [odds ratio (OR) 3·30; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 3·03–3·60], dementia (OR 4·81; 95% CI 4·26–5·42), Parkinson disease (OR 3·49; 95% CI 3·05–3·98), epilepsy (OR 3·97; 95% CI 3·28–4·81), schizophrenia (OR 2·56; 95% CI 1·52–4·30) and psoriasis (OR 2·02; 95% CI 1·54–2·66) were significantly associated with BP. Among them, the association with schizophrenia and psoriasis was predominant in female and male patients, respectively, with BP. It remains for all these comorbid diseases to be independently associated with BP by multivariate analysis. Conclusions Patients with BP are more likely to have various neurological diseases, schizophrenia and psoriasis prior to the diagnosis of BP, supporting associations found in other studies. Further research is required to elucidate the tentative causal association with BP.