Olfactory ensheathing cell (OEC) transplantation demonstrates promising therapeutic results in neurological disorders, such as spinal cord injury. The emerging cell-free secretome therapy compensates for the limitations of cell transplantation, such as low cell survival rates. However, the therapeutic benefits of the human OEC secretome remain unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Transarterial microembolization (TAME) is a minimally invasive treatment for chronic musculoskeletal disorders. Identifying angiogenesis and the supplying vessels of the target joint is important but challenging. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is commonly used to diagnose musculoskeletal diseases, it typically excludes vascular imaging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis Letter presents results of a search for the mixing of a sub-eV sterile neutrino with three active neutrinos based on the full data sample of the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment, collected during 3158 days of detector operation, which contains 5.55×10^{6} reactor ν[over ¯]_{e} candidates identified as inverse beta-decay interactions followed by neutron capture on gadolinium. The analysis benefits from a doubling of the statistics of our previous result and from improvements of several important systematic uncertainties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: This study aimed to assess the impact of two educational modules on enhancing the communication confidence, competence and performance of perinatal nurses in the context of palliative care.
Background: Concerns have arisen regarding the preparedness of perinatal nurses in delivering palliative care, especially in terms of deficiencies in communication skills and negative attitudes toward making life-support decisions for parents facing neonates with terminal conditions. Bridging this gap necessitates improved perinatal palliative care education for healthcare providers.
Fipronil (FP) is a very effective phenylpyrazole insecticide and is now widely used in agriculture. At the same time, the water and soil in the environment are polluted by FP. For the rapid detection of FP toxicants in food and the environment, we have designed an entirely novel electrochemical immunosensor that employs the combined functionalities of a cMWCNTs-AgNPs-CS-FAb-BSA layer to modify an SPCE by the freeze-drying technique.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Despite the need to incorporate seniors from various settings into mindfulness-based empirical research, issues of geriatric frailties and non-compliance remain. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a mindfulness-based elder care (MBEC) program on mental health and spiritual well-being among seniors with disabilities in long-term care residential settings.
Methods: This single-blind, randomized controlled trial (RCT) randomly assigned seventy-seven participants into an MBEC group or control group of an eight-week MBEC program.
Reactor neutrino experiments play a crucial role in advancing our knowledge of neutrinos. In this Letter, the evolution of the flux and spectrum as a function of the reactor isotopic content is reported in terms of the inverse-beta-decay yield at Daya Bay with 1958 days of data and improved systematic uncertainties. These measurements are compared with two signature model predictions: the Huber-Mueller model based on the conversion method and the SM2018 model based on the summation method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe traditional biomedical care approach has been unsatisfactory to meet the complex needs of seniors with long-term multimorbidity and irreversible disability, particularly for those living in residential LTC facilities. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an 8-week biopsychosocial-spiritual (BPS-S) group intervention with the attempt to enhance quality of life (QoL) and meaning in life among senior residents with disability. This single-blind randomized controlled trail was conducted in eight residential LTC facilities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present a new determination of the smallest neutrino mixing angle θ_{13} and the mass-squared difference Δm_{32}^{2} using a final sample of 5.55×10^{6} inverse beta-decay (IBD) candidates with the final-state neutron captured on gadolinium. This sample is selected from the complete dataset obtained by the Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment in 3158 days of operation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present the first search for the pair production of dark particles X via K_{L}^{0}→XX with X decaying into two photons using the data collected by the KOTO experiment. No signal was observed in the mass range of 40-110 MeV/c^{2} and 210-240 MeV/c^{2}. This sets upper limits on the branching fractions as B(K_{L}^{0}→XX)<(1-4)×10^{-7} and B(K_{L}^{0}→XX)<(1-2)×10^{-6} at the 90% confidence level for the two mass regions, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe applied fluorescence staining of Nile red, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and carbon substrate utilization and pressure tolerance analysis to execute three-stage screening for potential polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) producers in the sludge samples of 21 large-scale wastewater treatment plants of city and industrial parks in Taiwan area. Total 35,429 colonies were grown on 196 plates, the screened 30 strains were subjected to 16S rRNA analysis, and 18 identified genera belonged to Proteobacteria (67%), Firmicutes (17%), and Actinomycetota (16%). The PHA accumulation results revealed that nine genera (50% of 18 screened) produced PHAs by limiting the nitrogen source and excess single carbon sources of glucose in an aerobic status.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To understand and describe overweight and obese pregnant women's mHealth app experiences in managing gestational weight gain (GWG) for optimal weight goals.
Design: A focus group study.
Setting: We identified and invited pregnant women from a prenatal outpatient clinic in a metropolitan city in Northern Taiwan.
Objective: To explore the effectiveness of a nurse-led mobile health (mHealth) intervention to prevent excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) in overweight and obese women.
Methods: A randomized controlled trial with an experimental study design. Ninety-two pregnant women with body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m at less than 17 weeks gestation were recruited from two prenatal clinics in northern Taiwan from January to June 2020.
This Letter reports the first measurement of high-energy reactor antineutrinos at Daya Bay, with nearly 9000 inverse beta decay candidates in the prompt energy region of 8-12 MeV observed over 1958 days of data collection. A multivariate analysis is used to separate 2500 signal events from background statistically. The hypothesis of no reactor antineutrinos with neutrino energy above 10 MeV is rejected with a significance of 6.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To develop electronic systems for oncofertility support, and to examine the comprehensibility, feasibility, usability, and effects on social support and preparation for decision-making.
Methods: The study steps were guided, tested, and utilized to (a) identify the requirements of a patient, (b) guide the development of support interventions, and (c) evaluate the quality of web-based oncofertility support. Alpha testing and beta testing were used to ensure the quality of the web-based oncofertility support tool.
A joint determination of the reactor antineutrino spectra resulting from the fission of ^{235}U and ^{239}Pu has been carried out by the Daya Bay and PROSPECT Collaborations. This Letter reports the level of consistency of ^{235}U spectrum measurements from the two experiments and presents new results from a joint analysis of both data sets. The measurements are found to be consistent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIndium tin oxide (ITO) thin films on polycarbonate (PC) substrates were patterned using the laser direct-write (LDW) technique to form an isolation line. The effect of the LDW parameters (power, pulse repetition rate, and defocusing distance) on the isolation line width, depth and roughness of the PC within the line was investigated. Additionally, the Taguchi method of experimental design was applied to determine the optimal parameters of LDW.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe first Patient Right to Autonomy Act enacted in Asia in 2019 has enabled every Taiwanese citizen to plan for his/her end-of-life (EOL) in case of incompetency. Advance care planning (ACP) has been highly promoted for individuals with terminal, life-threatening illnesses, particularly in the mainstream society, and efforts have been made by the Taiwanese government to train health care providers in order to optimize patients' quality of dying. However, such advanced decisions and discussions regarding life-sustaining treatment and EOL care remain scarce among older ethnically minority patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
June 2021
During pregnancy, a woman's enlarged uterus and the developing fetus lead to symptom distress; in turn, physical and psychological aspects of symptom distress are often associated with adverse prenatal and birth outcomes. This study aimed to identify the trends in the trajectory of these symptoms. This longitudinal study recruited 95 pregnant women, with a mean age of 32 years, from the prenatal wards of two teaching hospitals in northern Taiwan.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLow levels of physical activity (PA) are of a health concern among high body mass index (BMI) women living a sedentary lifestyle and being overweight or obese during pregnancy is associated with increased risks of maternal and fetal health complications. Obstetricians often provide advice regarding recommended PA levels, yet this has not been easily achieved in this group to prevent adverse birth-related outcomes. The purpose of this study is to explore motivators/enablers and perceived barriers through in-depth qualitative inquiry, guided by a behavioral change model, for understanding of pregnant women's decisions to engage, or refrain from PA practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlucoregulatory efficiency and ATP production are key regulators for neuronal plasticity and memory formation. Besides its chemotactic and neuroinflammatory functions, the CC chemokine--CCL5 displays neurotrophic activity. We found impaired learning-memory and cognition in CCL5-knockout mice at 4 months of age correlated with reduced hippocampal long-term potentiation and impaired synapse structure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe rare decay K_{L}→π^{0}νν[over ¯] was studied with the dataset taken at the J-PARC KOTO experiment in 2016, 2017, and 2018. With a single event sensitivity of (7.20±0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBasal macroautophagy/autophagy has recently been found in anucleate platelets. Platelet autophagy is involved in platelet activation and thrombus formation. However, the mechanism underlying autophagy in anucleate platelets require further clarification.
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