Oxidative stress enhances Axl-mediated cell migration through an Akt1/Rac1-dependent mechanism.

Persistent oxidative stress is common in cancer cells because of abnormal generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and has been associated with malignant phenotypes, such as chemotherapy resistance and metastasis. Both overexpression of Axl and abnormal ROS elevation have been linked to cell transformation and increased cell migration. However, the relationship between Axl and ROS in malignant cell migration has not been previously evaluated.

Exploration of clinical nurses' perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care.

Background: Florence Nightingale emphasized the need for nurses to honor the psychological and spiritual aspects of patients to promote patients' health. Whereas study of a public hospital in Singapore presented similar findings, few studies have explored clinical nurses' perceptions of spirituality.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of specific nurse demographic characteristics in predicting perception differences with regard to spirituality and spiritual care.

[Critical research issues in nursing policy and management: a healthcare system perspective].

This study explores critical research issues in nursing policy and management in Taiwan from a healthcare system perspective that considers resources, programmes and organisations, service delivery, policy and management, and economic support. Findings suggest the following: In terms of resources, priority issues include quantity planning, active surveillance, planning methodology, and estimation of work life expectancies for nursing manpower. In terms of programmes ÷ organisations and delivery, priority issues include skill mix, task shifting, nationwide nursing work surveys, and nursing manpower structure and utilization.

A study of factors affecting moving-forward behavior among people with spinal cord injury.

Enhancing self-efficacy, self-perception, and social support can be an effective way for people with spinal cord injury (SCI) to move forward. The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between "moving-forward behavior" and demographic and disease characteristics, self-efficacy, self-perception, and social support among people with SCI. The study was designed as a descriptive-correlation, cross-sectional study.

Group integrative reminiscence therapy on self-esteem, life satisfaction and depressive symptoms in institutionalised older veterans.

Aims And Objectives: The purpose of this study was to use group integrative reminiscence as a nursing intervention to evaluate the immediate effects on self-esteem, life satisfaction and depressive symptoms for a special group named 'institutionalised older veterans' after a 12-week intervention.

Background: The study group comprised institutionalised older veterans with combat experience, including being wounded in war and who were twice forced to relocate. The group participants had lower life satisfaction, and greater use for mental health services and greater non-specific health complaints were reported from this group.

Nursing informatics competencies required of nurses in Taiwan.

Purpose: In today's workplace, nurses are highly skilled professionals possessing expertise in both information technology and nursing. Nursing informatics competencies are recognized as an important capability of nurses. No established guidelines existed for nurses in Asia.

[The role of the chinese medicine nurse in Taiwan: professional or assistant?].

Personal participation in first line Chinese medicine nursing practice made the author aware of a significant gap between learning and practice in traditional Chinese medicine nursing. For this paper, she interviewed physicians, nurses and patients, researched hospital system and regulatory requirements. She found that "an assistant" is what Chinese medicine physicians expect of nurses, while patients expect a nurse to be able to help them complete treatment while having a good attitude.

[Effect of nurse staffing on patient outcomes: a review of the literature].

Staff shortages present nurses with ever increasing levels of stress and working hours. This has resulted in a corresponding increase in talent flight away from the nursing profession. Responding to financial constraints imposed by the Bureau of National Health Insurance (NHI), Taiwan hospitals have reduced nursing staff numbers and recruited nurses at lower levels of competencies and experience.

[Cultivating nursing core competencies in college students].

Departments of nursing in Taiwan junior colleges teach a comprehensive range of core competency skills; provide the healthcare system with entry level nursing professionals able to deliver complete care services; and help students prepare for and earn their nursing licenses. Framed by current junior college nursing department curricula and considerations of professional core competency, this paper examines the role of core nursing competencies in college education goals as they influence college curriculum design and clinical practicum programs. The achieved result should be a professional curriculum that incorporates general education, basic medical, and professional nursing elements that is capable of nurturing professional nursing school graduates able to execute their professional duties and earn the respect of patients, their families and society.

Grabbing the rice straw: health information seeking in Chinese immigrants in the United States.

Chinese immigrants in the United States experience a higher incidence of cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, stomach, and liver and higher rates of tuberculosis and hepatitis B virus than other U.S. immigrant groups.

The lived experience of moving forward for clients with spinal cord injury: a Parse research method study.

Background: Most people with spinal cord injuries take a long time to recover and return to their previous life activities. Moving forward is connected with the choices people make about what is important, what to do, and how to live life in ways they value. Parse's Theory of Humanbecoming is a human science theory, and its overall aims are to improve the quality of life for clients and their families.

Translation and back-translation in qualitative nursing research: methodological review.

Aims: To examine the effects of the procedure of translation and the techniques used on the collection and interpretation of original language qualitative data for English presentation.

Background: Nursing and health research increasingly use qualitative research for a broadened perspective on practice and research. In numerous qualitative nursing research papers, data are collected in the original language (example Chinese) and the findings are presented in English.

Hepatitis B immunity in adolescents and necessity for boost vaccination: 23 years after nationwide hepatitis B virus vaccination program in Taiwan.

The first universal hepatitis B vaccination program for newborns in the world was launched in Taiwan in July 1984. Most studies on the effectiveness of hepatitis B vaccination focused on the seroprevalence of HBs Ag among children under 14 years old. Only few studies focused on the seropositivity of anti-HBs among adolescents aged 15-18 years old.

[A project to reduce rejection of newborn screening blood specimens for congenital metabolic diseases].

Defective blood specimens used to screen congenital metabolic diseases in newborns cause specimens to be rejected and necessitate that a heel stick be performed again. Such results in delayed diagnoses and family complaints. The purpose of this project was to reduce the incidence of blood specimen rejection.

Identification of the degradation pathways of alkanolamines with TiO2 photocatalysis.

The present study deals with the photocatalytic degradation of the alkanolamine, 2-dimethylamino-2-methyl-1-propanol (DMAMP), in the presence of TiO(2) particles and UV-A (lambda=365 nm) radiation. The obtained results show complete oxidation of DMAMP after 20h, and a little over 90% of DMAMP was mineralization after 64-h of treatment. The effects of the solution pH, catalyst loading, and anions on the photocatalytic degradation of DMAMP were investigated, as well as the reaction intermediates that were formed during treatment.

The cytoarchitecture and soma-dendritic arbors of the pyramidal neurons of aged rat sensorimotor cortex: an intracellular dye injection study.

We studied the cytoarchitecture and dendritic arbors of the output neurons of the sensorimotor cortex of aged rats and found that although individual cortical layer became thinner, the overall cytoarchitecture and neuron densities remained comparable to those of young adults. To find out whether aging affects cortical outputs we studied the soma-dendritic arbors of layers III and V pyramidal neurons, main output neurons of the cerebral cortex, using brain slice intracellular dye injection technique. With a fluorescence microscope, selected neurons were filled with fluorescence dye under visual guidance.

Prevalence of obesity and its association with cardiovascular disease risk factors in adolescent girls from a college in central Taiwan.

Although obesity is associated with important hemodynamic disturbances, little data exists on population-wide cardiovascular risk factors in obese adolescent girls in Taiwan. This study measured the prevalence of overweight/obesity and related cardiovascular disease risk factors in adolescent females. This was a school-based survey of a representative sample of 291 females aged 15 and 18 years in a public college in Central Taiwan.

Tumor formation in nude mice inoculated with cultured human epithelial cells co-expressing Epstein-Barr virus latent membrane protein 1 and Bcl-2.

Aims: To examine the tumor-forming in nude mice of human epithelial cells co-expressed Bcl-2 and EBV LMP-1 ability, the phenotype of tumor cells and their expression of oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes.

Methods: Following an in vivo tumorigenesis test in nude mice, the phenotype and growth properties of tumor cells were observed. Levels of expression of Bcl-2, and EBV LMP-1, and of onco- and tumor-suppressor proteins were detected by Western blot assay.

[Comprehensive geriatric assessment and nursing practice].

The elderly now constitute 9.86% of the population of Taiwan. Seventy-three percent of them have at least one chronic disease.

Mechanistic studies of the photocatalytic degradation of methyl green: an investigation of products of the decomposition processes.

The methyl green (MG) dye dissolves into an alkaline solution when the pH value is too high (pH 9). The cationic MG dye molecules are converted into the colorless carbinol base (CB) and produce crystal violet (CV) dye and ethanol by hydroxide anion. Thirty-three intermediates of the process were separated, identified, and characterized by HPLC-ESI-MS technique in this study and their evolution during the photocatalytic reaction is presented.

Association of Epstein-Barr virus infection with systemic lupus erythematosus in Taiwan.

An association between Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been suggested from previous serologic evidence. Since most adults in Taiwan are EBV-infected, seroepidemiologic studies based on standard assays for EBV are unlikely to dissociate SLE patients and control groups. We reexamine this question by using novel methodologies in which IgA anti-EBV-coded nuclear antigens-1 (EBNA-1) and IgG anti-EBV DNase antibodies were analysed by ELISA, and EBV viral loads were detected by real-time quantitative PCR for 93 adult SLE patients and 370 age-, sex- and living place-matched healthy controls in Taiwan.

Biodegradation of crystal violet by Pseudomonas putida.

Crystal violet (CV), which has been extensively used as a biological stain and a commercial textile dye, is a recalcitrant molecule. A strain of Pseudomonas putida was isolated that effectively degraded CV: up to 80% of 60 microM CV as the sole carbon source, was degraded in liquid media within 1 week. Nine degradation products were isolated and identified.

UV light induced photodegradation of malachite green on TiO2 nanoparticles.

The photodegradation of malachite green (MG), a cationic triphenylmethane dye, is examined both under different pH values and amounts of TiO(2). After 15W UV-365nm irradiation for 4h, ca. 99.

Arsenic removal using a biopolymer chitosan sorbent.

An agricultural waste, chitosan, was converted to bead form to evaluate the feasibility of its use to remove As(III) and As(V) from water in both batch and continuous operations. In batch tests, the effect of pH, temperature, coexisting ions, and arsenic concentrations were studied. Studies of kinetic adsorption, recovery of arsenic by desorption solution, and reuse of chitosan beads were also carried out.

Photooxidative N-de-ethylation of anionic triarylmethane dye (sulfan blue) in titanium dioxide dispersions under UV irradiation.

The TiO(2)-mediated photocatalysis process has been successfully applied to degradation of dye pollutants. Our results indicate that the TiO(2) surface is negatively charged, and the sulfan blue (SB) adsorbs onto the TiO(2) surface through the positive di-ethylamino groups while the TiO(2) surface is positively charged and the SB adsorbs onto the TiO(2) surface through the negative sulfonyl groups. In order to obtain a better understanding of the mechanistic details of this TiO(2)-assisted photodegradation of the SB dye with UV irradiation, five intermediates of the processes were separated, identified, and characterized by the HPLC-ESI-MS technique, which included a positive- and negative-ion mode.