Maintaining human health at the border of Taiwan.

Because international travel is now more frequent and convenient, communicable diseases that occur in one region can be transmitted to another area within a few hours. For this reason, many efforts have been undertaken in Taiwan to establish a comprehensive border quarantine system to protect against imported diseases that may threaten the health of the population. According to the International Health Regulations (2005), decades of development strategies for border quarantine have covered not only routine practices and specific measures for handling a pandemic but also have drawn attention to the development of core capacities at designated points of entry.

Building core capacities at the designated points of entry according to the International Health Regulations 2005: a review of the progress and prospects in Taiwan.

Background: As designated points of entry (PoEs) play a critical role in preventing the transmission of international public health risks, huge efforts have been invested in Taiwan to improve the core capacities specified in the International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR 2005). This article reviews how Taiwan strengthened the core capacities at the Taoyuan International Airport (TIA) and the Port of Kaohsiung (PoK) by applying a new, practicable model.

Design: An IHR PoE program was initiated for implementing the IHR core capacities at designated PoEs.

Determination and kinetics of producing glucosamine using fungi.

This work used three fungi, Rhizopus oligosorus BCRC 31996, Monascus pilosus BCRC31527, and Aspergillus sp. BCRC31742, to produce glucosamine by using submerged fermentation and flask cultures. The reaction of glucosamine with 1-naphthyl isothiocyanate as derivatizing agent was carried out in pyridine at 50 degrees C for 1 h.

The efficacy of brimonidine in preventing intraocular pressure elevation in the provocative test for primary angle-closure glaucoma.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of 0.2% brimonidine tartrate in preventing intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation in the dark-prone provocative test for primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG). Twenty-two eyes from 22 patients with angle-closure glaucoma were enrolled in this study.