135 results match your criteria: "National Taiwan University Taipei Taiwan.[Affiliation]"

Buren, also known as the red imported fire ant (RIFA), has had a large negative impact on human and livestock health. However, few studies have further investigated the influence of human land use, which is an important factor affecting the habitats of insects, on the expansion of RIFAs. In addition, there is a lack of knowledge of the empirical associations between RIFA diffusion and land use within countries.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the debate around using adjuvant treatment for oral cavity cancer patients with low/intermediate risk pN1 status, specifically those with a single positive node without extra nodal extension and positive margins.
  • It analyzed 243 patients who underwent curative surgery, comparing survival outcomes between those who received adjuvant therapy and those who were only observed.
  • The results indicated that there were no significant differences in overall survival or recurrence rates, suggesting that adjuvant therapy may not be necessary for this patient group.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The decline of coral reefs has fueled interest in determining whether mesophotic reefs can shield against disturbances and help replenish deteriorated shallower reefs. In this study, we characterized spatial (horizontal and vertical) and seasonal patterns of diversity in coral recruits from Dabaisha and Guiwan reefs at Ludao, Taiwan. Concrete blocks supporting terra-cotta tiles were placed at shallow (15m) and mesophotic (40m) depths, during 2016-2018.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Leukoencephalopathy with brainstem and spinal cord involvement and lactate elevation (LBSL) is characterized by slowly progressive spastic gait, cerebellar symptoms, and posterior cord dysfunction. , which encodes mitochondrial aspartyl tRNA synthase, is associated with the rare disease.

Cases: The proband had gait disturbance since age 56, while her younger brother had the gait problem since his 20s and needed cane-assistance at age 45.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Liver diseases, including viral hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and liver cancer, mostly remain silent until the late stages and pose a continuing threat to millions of people worldwide. Liver transplantation is the most appropriate solution in the case of liver failure, but it is associated with hepatic ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) injury which severely reduces the prognosis of the patients. In order to ameliorate I/R injury, we investigated the potential of bracteanolide A, from the herb Kunth in protecting the liver from I/R injury.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

How flightless animals disperse to remote oceanic islands is a key unresolved question in biogeography. The flightless weevils represent repetitive colonization history in West Pacific islands, which attracted our interests about how some weevils have successfully dispersed in the reverse direction against the sea current. Here, we propose endozoochory as a possible mechanism that the eggs of the weevils might be carried by embedded in the fruits as the food of frugivorous birds.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Understanding the mechanisms underlying spatial variability of exploited fish is critical for the sustainable management of fish stocks. Empirical studies suggest that size-selective fishing can elevate fish population spatial variability (i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The occurrence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The activation of nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich-containing family, pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in the liver may lead to hepatic fat accumulation. Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) has been reported to improve IR in a T2DM rodent model.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

As the origin place of the COVID-19 outbreak, East Asian welfare states have largely survived the immediate health threats out of the pandemic shock but have yet to deal with its dire social consequences. This paper offers an institutionalist account-in terms of the institutional resilience of the welfare state-to grasp the policy dynamics in East Asia. We select four cases under scrutiny: China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, to analyse the major trend of social policy responses in this region.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • This study investigates how dust affects air-sea interactions in the North Atlantic using a regional model that combines atmosphere, waves, ocean, and dust.
  • The research finds that dust reduces surface radiation fluxes significantly, affecting wind patterns and sea surface height, leading to varied sea surface temperature (SST) changes across the region.
  • While dust generally cools SST near the West African coast, it surprisingly warms SST in the western tropical North Atlantic, with impacts on latent heat flux and sensible heat flux also varying around the dust plume.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background Evidence on the differences in fracture risk associated with non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOAC) and warfarin is inconsistent and inconclusive. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the fracture risk associated with NOACs and warfarin. Methods and Results We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Science, and ClinicalTrials.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Weaning piglets often suffer from pneumonia during growth, so in general, antibiotics are used by owners to make piglets grow smoothly. However, antibiotics may be accompanied by many side effects such as gastrointestinal discomfort and allergies. The aim of this study was to develop an alternative antibiotic herbal veterinary medicine for alleviating pneumonia in weanling piglets.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Currently, developments in the field of quantum dots (QDs) have attracted researchers worldwide. A large variety of QDs have been discovered in the few years, which have excellent optoelectronic, antibacterial, magnetic, and other properties. However, ZnO is the single known material that can exist in the quantum state and can hold all the above properties.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • RTL has been traditionally used in East Asia for treating diabetes and shows promising phytochemical activities against nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
  • The study tested RTL's aqueous and ethanolic extracts on diabetic rats induced by a high-fat diet and streptozotocin, showing that both extracts reduced liver and fat weights, as well as hepatic triglyceride levels.
  • The findings suggest that RTL could help manage NAFLD and reduce fat accumulation in the liver by regulating enzymes involved in de novo lipogenesis in these diabetic models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Primary pulmonary lymphoma is an uncommon disease, and extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) is the most common type of pulmonary lymphoma. The most frequent pattern observed in chest computed tomography (CT) is consolidation, followed by nodules and mass. The differentiation of pulmonary MALT lymphoma from other lung diseases is critical for disease management and treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Using low-wavenumber Raman spectroscopy in combination with theoretical calculations solid-state density functional theory (DFT)-D3, we studied the vibrational structures and interaction with solvent of poly-l-proline and the oligoproline P12 series. The P12 series includes P12, the positively charged amino acid residue (arginine and lysine) N-terminus proline oligomers RP11 and KP11, and the C-terminus P11R and P11K. We assigned the spring-type phonon mode to 74-76 cm bands for the PPI and PPII conformers and the carbonyl group ring-opening mode 122 cm in the PPI conformer of poly-l-proline.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background Patients with rheumatoid arthritis are at twice the risk of ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death as the general population. We hypothesize that β-blocker treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is antiarrhythmic by producing synergistic anticatecholaminergic and anti-inflammatory effects. Methods and Results Collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) was induced in Lewis rats by immunization with type II collagen in Freund's incomplete adjuvant.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Taiwan was approximately 4% a decade ago, much higher than the worldwide average. This study aimed to assess the HCV burden among 4 million voluntary blood donors after 2 decades of prevention and treatment policies. We retrieved screening results for anti-HCV and HCV RNA from the Database for Evaluating Voluntary Taiwanese Eligible Donors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

DNA barcoding opens new perspectives on the way we document biodiversity. Initially proposed to circumvent the limits of morphological characters to assign unknown individuals to known species, DNA barcoding has been used in a wide array of studies where collecting species identity constitutes a crucial step. The assignment of unknowns to knowns assumes that species are already well identified and delineated, making the assignment performed reliable.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

, a newly described horsehair worm that parasitizes the millipede, is one of the three described horsehair worm species in Taiwan. It is morphologically similar to Schmidt-Rhaesa, 2010 because of the progressively broadening distribution of bristles concentrated on the male tail lobes, but it is distinguishable from because of the stout bristles on the mid-body. In addition, a vertical white stripe on the anterior ventral side and areoles on the inside wall of the cloacal opening are rarely mentioned in other species.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background In most post-cardiac arrest patients, the autoregulation mechanism of cerebral blood flow (CBF) is dysregulated. We examined whether recovery of CBF by adjusting mean arterial pressure mitigates post-cardiac arrest neuronal damage. Methods and Results Wistar rats that underwent 8-minute asphyxia-induced cardiac arrest and resuscitation were computer-randomized to norepinephrine or control groups.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A trait dataset for Taiwan's breeding birds.

Biodivers Data J

May 2020

Thematic Center for Systematics and Biodiversity Informatics, Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Thematic Center for Systematics and Biodiversity Informatics, Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica Taipei Taiwan.

Background: Species traits affect how a species interacts with the environment and other species and thus determine the role of the species in an ecosystem. They affect not only population dynamics of a species across space and over time, but also community structure and function through their key role in the community assembly processes. Information on species traits is also highly relevant for conservation planning as they determine the adaptive ability of a species in the face of environmental changes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background This study investigated whether levosimendan, an inotropic calcium sensitizer, when combined with moderate therapeutic hypothermia, may exert synergistic benefits on post-cardiac arrest myocardial dysfunction and improve outcomes. Methods and Results After 9.5-minute asphyxia-induced cardiac arrest and resuscitation, 48 rats were randomized equally into 4 groups following return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), including normothermia, hypothermia, normothermia-levosimendan, and hypothermia-levosimendan groups.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background Should all out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients be directly transported to cardiac arrest centers (CACs) remains under debate. Our study evaluated the impacts of different transport time and destination hospital on the outcomes of OHCA patients. Methods and Results Data were collected from 6655 OHCA patients recorded in the regional prospective OHCA registry database of Taoyuan City, Taiwan, between January 2012 and December 2016.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF