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Background Conflicting data exist regarding the relationship between dual infection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We assessed dual infection of HBV and HCV with the levels of blood glucose and development of DM. Methods A total of 9621 participants in a community-based study were enrolled from 18 towns in Maoli county of Taiwan. Blood samples were collected and tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibodies (HBsAb), antibodies against hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) and fasting plasma glucose. DM was defined as fasting plasma glucose≥126 mg per 100 ml. Results Only 0.7% of total participants had HBV/HCV coinfection. The prevalence of HBV and HCV monoinfection were 9.9 and 5.7%, respectively. Adjusted blood glucose levels and development risk of T2DM (odds ratio [OR], 2.55; p Conclusions Our study shows HBV/HCV coinfection was significantly correlated with blood glucose levels. A significant proportion (28%) of participants with HBV/HCV coinfection developed T2DM. Although the precise mechanisms of dual positive infection of HBV and HCV are unclear, there is increasing evidence that dual infection of HCV and HBV is strongly associated with the development of T2DM.

Functional studies of how duodenal–jejunal exclusion (DJE) brings a superior glycemic control when added to sleeve gastrectomy in duodenal–jejunal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy (DJB-SG) patients, are lacking. To study this, we compared the appetite sensations and the β-cell response following a standard mixed meal in patients with DJB-SG, versus those with sleeve gastrectomy (SG) alone. Twenty one patients who underwent DJB-SG and 25 with SG, who participated in mixed-meal tests (MMTT) preoperatively and at 1 year, with complete data were included and compared. Blood glucose, C-peptide, and insulin levels were estimated, along with the visual analogue scale (VAS) scoring of the six appetite sensations, as a part of the MMTT. At 1 year following surgery, compared to SG group, DJB-SG group had greater complete remission rates (HbA1C

Mobile devices with Internet applications have dramatically increased the convenience of accessing information for EFL college students in language learning. This study used Technology Acceptance Model as a theoretical framework to examine the factors related to Taiwanese EFL college students’ behavioral intention to use mobile English vocabulary learning resources. Data collected from the questionnaires of eighty four EFL tertiary level college students were analyzed by using correlation analyses and regression. Results showed that the participants’ behavioral intentions had high positive correlations with mobile devices’ compatibility, self-efficacy, perceived ease of use respectively. It had a moderate positive relationship with usefulness. Regression analyses showed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, self-efficacy, and compatibility account for 71% of the variance explained in behavioral intentions to use mobile English vocabulary learning resources. Compatibility is the best predictor of users’ behavioral intention of use.

This study investigated tertiary level EFL university students’ attitudes toward computer based concept mappings in a six-week writing program. Based on the pretest and posttest design, twenty freshmen constructed their computer-based concept maps collaboratively. The 24-item instrument was revised from Lee's questionnaire (2010), in which the participants’ attitudes, the perceived usefulness of computer-based concept mapping were investigated, and their opinions toward collaborative concept mapping were collected on a five-point scale. Results showed that students did not have any significant attitude change toward concept mapping. However, higher rating of their perceptions toward the usefulness of computer-based concept mapping, and toward collaborative construction of concept mapping was found.

The prevalence of web-based applications and the use of multimedia in school make learning and teaching through the Internet a popular method in education (Ferdig, 2005). To keep in line with the trend, the purpose of the study was to explore the effects of reading strategy instruction via electronic storybooks on EFL elementary school students’ reading comprehension, their strategy use and their viewpoints toward electronic storybooks-based reading strategy instruction. Fifty-seven Taiwanese EFL fourth graders from two intact classes were chosen, and assigned as an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group received a ten-week reading strategy instruction whereas the control group did not engage in any strategy training. The experimental group were taught seven reading strategies, which were practiced in small groups. The instruments included one STYLE proficiency test, five reading comprehension tests, and questionnaires of strategy use and an attitude questionnaire toward e-books based reading strategy instruction. Results indicated that after reading strategy instruction, the experimental group performed better than the control group in story comprehension, but without significance. However, they significantly outperformed the control group in strategy use. Also, the experimental group had positive attitude toward e-books based reading strategy instruction. Pedagogical implications were provided.

The purpose of this research is to explore the effect of the application of interactive whiteboard (IWB) on EFL fourth graders’ remedial instruction by examining their English performance and learning attitude and confidence. A quasi-experimental method was employed in the present study. Participants were twenty low-achieving fourth graders in English subject. The remedial instruction was implemented for eight weeks. A proficiency test and a survey questionnaire were administered before and after the instruction. The findings indicated that (1) after receiving the remedial instruction with IWB, students made significant improvement in English reading and speaking; (2) comparing with the control group, students instructed with IWB showed better attitude and higher confidence in English learning.

Formal surface devices at syntactic, prosodic, and semantic levels may converge, compete, or conspire with each other for specific meanings/functions assignment, such as given and new interpretation. Studies based on the Competition Model have shown that form–function mappings are assigned different strengths determined by the statistical distributions of certain attributes of the cues, depending on language structure. In view of the qualitative and quantitative differences between Mandarin Chinese and English, this comparative study, by adopting a verification task, investigates the similarities and differences in the utilization of the surface cues of word order, marked cleft structure, animacy, and focal accent between the two languages for given and new interpretation within an isolated sentence. Forty Taiwanese Mandarin and American English adult speakers, each with 20, were asked to verify a stimulus sentence against a pair of pictures to measure their interpretation of the given and new distinctions implied in a particular stimulus. The results showed that the hierarchy of cue strength in Mandarin Chinese, in descending order, was word order, animacy, focal accent, and cleft, while that in English was cleft, word order, focal accent, and animacy. The findings support the interactive constraint-based view of pragmatic processing, and reveal cross-linguistic variations, which were explored from typological, psycholinguistic, and information patterning perspectives.

Glucose has long been considered the substrate for energy metabolism in the retina. Recently, an alternative hypothesis (metabolic coupling) suggested that mitochondria in retinal neurons utilize preferentially the lactate produced specifically by Müller cells, the principal glial cell in the retina. These two views of retinal metabolism were examined using confluent cultures of photoreceptor cells, Müller cells, ganglion cells, and retinal pigment epithelial cells incubated in modified Dulbecco's minimal essential medium containing glucose or glucose and lactate. The photoreceptor and ganglion cells represented neural elements, and the Müller and pigment epithelial cells represented non-neural cells. The purpose of the present experiments was two-fold: (1) to determine whether lactate is a metabolic product or substrate in retinal cells, and (2) to examine the evidence that supports the two views of retinal energy metabolism. Measurements were made of lactic acid production, cellular ATP levels, and cellular morphology over 4 h. Results showed that all cell types incubated with 5 mM glucose produced lactate aerobically and anaerobically at linear rates, the anaerobic rate being 2-3-fold higher (Pasteur effect). Cells incubated with both 5 mM glucose and 10 mM lactate produced lactate aerobically and anaerobically at rates similar to those found when cells were incubated with glucose alone. Anaerobic ATP content in the cells was maintained at greater than 50% of the control, aerobic value, and cellular morphology was well preserved under all conditions. The results show that the cultured retinal cells produce lactate, even in the presence of a high starting ambient concentration of lactate. Thus, the net direction of the lactic dehydrogenase reaction is toward lactate formation rather than lactate utilization. It is concluded that retinal cells use glucose, and not glial derived lactate, as their major substrate.

Objectives:To determine risk factors for hemodialysis catheter-related bloodstream infections (HCRBSIs) and investigate whether use of maximal sterile barrier precautions would prevent HCRBSIs.Setting:Tertiary-care medical center hemodialysis unit.Design:Open trial with historical comparison and case-control study of risk factors for HCRBSIs.Methods:Prospective surveillance was used to compare HCRBSI rates for 1 year before and after implementation of maximal sterile barrier precautions. A case–control study compared 50 case-patients with HCRBSI with 51 randomly selected control-patients.Results:The HCRBSI rate was 1.6% per 100 dialysis runs (CI95, 1.1%–2.3%) in the first year and 0.77% (CI95, 0.5%–1.1%) in the second year (P= .0106). The most frequent cause of HCRBSI was MRSA in the first year (15 of 32) and MSSA in the second year (13 of 18). Ten MRSA blood isolates in the first year were identical by PFGE. Diabetes mellitus was a risk factor for HCRBSI. Age, gender, site of hemodialysis central venous catheter (CVC), other underlying diseases, coma score, APACHE II score, serum albumin level, and cholesterol level were not associated with HCRBSI and did not change between the 2 years. Hospital stay was prolonged for case-patients (32.78 ± 20.96 days) versus control-patients (22.75 ± 17.33 days), but mortality did not differ.Conclusions:Use of maximal sterile barrier precautions during the insertion of CVCs reduced HCRBSIs in dialysis patients and seemed cost-effective. Diabetes mellitus was associated with HCRBSI. An outbreak of MRSA in the first year was likely caused by cross-infection via medical personnel.

Inherited defects in the RDS gene cause a multiplicity of progressive retinal diseases in humans. The gene product, peripherin/rds (P/rds), is a member of the tetraspanin protein family required for normal vertebrate photoreceptor outer segment (OS) architecture. Although its molecular function remains uncertain, P/rds has been suggested to catalyze membrane fusion events required for the OS renewal process. This study investigates the importance of two charged residues within a predicted C-terminal helical region for protein biosynthesis, localization, and interaction with model membranes. Targeted mutagenesis was utilized to neutralize charges at Glu(321) and Lys(324) individually and in combination to generate three mutant variants. Studies were conducted on variants expressed as 1) full-length P/rds in COS-1 cells, 2) glutathione S-transferase fusion proteins in Escherichia coli, and 3) membrane-associated green fluorescent protein fusion proteins in transgenic Xenopus laevis. None of the mutations affected biosynthesis of full-length P/rds in COS-1 cells as assessed by Western blotting, sedimentation velocity, and immunofluorescence microscopy. Although all mutations reside within a recently identified localization signal, none altered the ability of this region to direct OS targeting in transgenic X. laevis retinas. In contrast, individual or simultaneous neutralization of the charged amino acids Glu(321) and Lys(324) abolished the ability of the C-terminal domain to promote model membrane fusion as assayed by lipid mixing. These results demonstrate that, although overlapping, C-terminal determinants responsible for OS targeting and fusogenicity are separable and that fusogenic activity has been uncoupled from other protein properties. The observation that subunit assembly and OS targeting can both proceed normally in the absence of fusogenic activity suggests that properly assembled and targeted yet functionally altered proteins could potentially generate pathogenic effects within the vertebrate photoreceptor.

We have shown previously with in vivo and in vitro animal models that the lens epithelium, in contrast to the nucleus, is remarkably resistant to hyperoxia. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the mRNA response of cultured human lens epithelial cells (LECs) to challenge by a high level of hyperbaric oxygen. Cells were treated for 3 hr with 50 atm of 99% O2, and then cultured normally for various times up to 11 days. Although the cells appeared normal immediately after the O2-treatment, they failed to grow and suffered 50% cell loss, as well as significant mitochondrial damage, during normal post-culture. Growth of the cells resumed after 3 days and by day 11, the number of O2-treated cells was the same as the controls. Remarkably, the 3 hr O2-treatment produced no immediate effects on either the cellular level of GSH, or on the activities of a number of antioxidant enzymes including glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, which is generally regarded as being highly sensitive to oxidation. In contrast, the activity of thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) was severely affected by the O2, decreasing by 51% after the 3 hr exposure. O2-induced death of the cells appeared to be caused by loss of ATP since a 31% decrease in ATP level occurred immediately after the O2-treatment, in spite of a 46% increase in lactate production. Analysis with real-time PCR showed a maximum 3‐6-fold increase in mRNA levels 9 hr after the 3 hr O2-exposure for the enzymes heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), MnSOD and TrxR1 (the cytoplasmic form of TrxR). These results were confirmed with the use of one-step RT-PCR and Northern blotting. Initial upregulation of message for HO-1 occurred a few hours before any upregulation of MnSOD could be detected, suggesting that release of free iron from the degradation of heme by HO-1 may have played a role in the upregulation of the dismutase. No significant changes in mRNA levels were observed for the antioxidant enzymes catalase, CuZnSOD, glutathione reductase and glutathione peroxidase, or for the antioxidant protein thioredoxin. Recovery of TrxR activity over a 4-day period appeared to parallel the return of the cells to a normal rate of growth. The results indicate that damaging effects of hyperoxia on cultured LECs occur primarily in the mitochondria, rather than in the cytoplasm. Cells avoid O2-induced cell death, and return to a normal rate of proliferation by upregulating mRNA levels for HO-1, MnSOD and TrxR1. It appears that full activity of TrxR1, an enzyme required for the production of deoxyribonucletides for DNA synthesis, is essential for the normal growth of O2-challenged LECs. q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prospective studies were conducted for nosocomialPseudomonas aeruginosainfections from February 1, 1994, to October 30,1995. Of 97P aeruginosaisolates from 97 patients, 35 were resistant to ceftazidime. Logistic regression revealed previous cephalosporin or piperacillin use as independent risk factors for nosocomial ceftazidime-resistantP aeruginosainfection. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis revealed that four nosocomial ceftazidime-resistantP aeruginosainfections were caused by cross-infection, probably through medical personnel.

Although primary cultures of human lens epithelial (HLE) cells provide important information concerning the role of epithelium in normal lens and cataract formation, the lack of a cell line precludes a broad range of studies on the metabolism and molecular biology of these cells. We have, therefore developed an HLE cell line. Primary cultures of HLE cells were transfected with plasmid vector DNA containing a large T antigen of SV40. The immortalized cells were characterized with regard to morphology, growth rate, karyotype, and expression of crystallins, aldose reductase and other enzymes. A single clone of the immortalized cells, SRA 01/04, formed a monolayer and grew constantly over 130 passages. Isozyme phenotype showed that SRA 01/04 was of human origin, and the chromosome counts were in the hypotetraploid range. Western blot analysis showed that the cells expressed a very low level of crystallins (alphaA and betaB2) and aldose reductase. Messenger RNA (mRNA) for both alpha and beta crystallins was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in both early and late passages. Sequence analysis of the PCR products, corresponding to alphaA and betaB2 crystallins in the cell line and in primary cultures of HLE, revealed a 100% match with published human alphaA and betaB2 sequences. These characteristics were unchanged in the cell line in early and late passages. This is the first report of the presence of alphaA and transcripts of mRNA for both alphaA and betaB2 in an established human cell line. This new HLE cell line makes it possible to undertake many future studies on the role of epithelium in lens and cataract formation.