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An investigation of the chemical composition of a Formosan soft coral Cespitularia sp. led to the discovery of one new verticillene-type diterpenoid, cespitulactam M (1); one new eudesmane sesquiterpenoid, cespilamide F (2); and three new hydroperoxysteroids (3–5) along with twelve known analogous metabolites (6–17). In addition, one new derivative, cespitulactam M-6,2′-diacetate (1a), was prepared from compound 1. The structures were determined by detailed spectroscopic analyses, particularly HRESIMS and NMR techniques. Moreover, the in vitro cytotoxicity, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial activity of 1–17 and 1a were evaluated.

The accumulation of oxidative DNA base damage can severely disrupt the integrity of the genome and is strongly associated with the development of cancer. DNA glycosylase is the critical enzyme that initiates the base excision repair (BER) pathway, recognizing and excising damaged bases. The Nei endonuclease VIII-like 3 (NEIL3) is an emerging DNA glycosylase essential in maintaining genome stability. With an in-depth study of the structure and function of NEIL3, we found that it has properties related to the process of base damage repair. For example, it not only prefers the base damage of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), G-quadruplex and DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs), but also participates in the maintenance of replication fork stability and telomere integrity. In addition, NEIL3 is strongly associated with the progression of cancers and cardiovascular and neurological diseases, is incredibly significantly overexpressed in cancers, and may become an independent prognostic marker for cancer patients. Interestingly, circNEIL3, a circular RNA of exon-encoded origin by NEIL3, also promotes the development of multiple cancers. In this review, we have summarized the structure and the characteristics of NEIL3 to repair base damage. We have focused on NEIL3 and circNEIL3 in cancer development, progression and prognosis.

This study aimed at the investigation of the effect of substrate temperature on residual stress in laser powder bed fusion using a physics-based analytical model. In this study, an analytical model is proposed to predict the residual stress through the calculation of preheating affected temperature profile and thermal stress. The effect of preheating is super-positioned with initial temperature in the modeling of temperature profile using a moving heat source approach, the resultant temperature gradient is then employed to predict the thermal stress from a point body load approach. If the thermal stress exceeds the yield strength of the material, then the residual stress under cyclic heating and cooling will be calculated based on the incremental plasticity and kinematic hardening behavior of metal. IN718 is used as a material example to pursue this investigation. To validate the predicted residual stress, experimental measurements are conducted using X-ray diffraction on IN718 samples manufactured via laser powder bed fusion under different process conditions. Results showed that preheating of the substrate could reduce the residual stress in an additively manufactured part due to the reduction in temperature gradient and resultant shrinkage stresses. However, the excessive preheating could have an opposite impact on residual stress accumulation. Moreover, the results confirm that the proposed model is a valuable tool for the prediction of residual stress, eliminating the costly experiments and time-consuming finite element simulations.

Melanoma is the most prevalent type of skin cancer with high mortality rates. This study demonstrates the

Taiwan has promoted bicycle tourism for nearly 20 years, and the bicycle paths it has constructed throughout the island are diverse in design. In the present study, an evaluation scale for bicycle path sightseeing potential was devised with a focus on the overall service quality of the paths, 30 popular bicycle paths were analyzed using a field survey, with expert consultation on quantitative indicators, and a qualitative analysis entailing interviews with people regarding the bicycle paths. A multivariate statistical analysis was performed on the quality of the service systems for these paths. The results revealed that the quality of these service systems is influenced by four principal components, namely, landscape attractiveness, image management, bicycle-specific paths, and accessibility, for a total explanatory power of 76.21%, the individual explanatory power of these components was 25.89%, 21.49%, 16.81%, and 12.03%, respectively. Bicycle path conditions, service maintenance, and cleanliness and bicycle specificity are required for future high-quality bicycle paths, diverse bicycle rental services and bicycle types, entrance visibility, and ecological introduction boards along paths are value-added factors to bicycle path quality.

Rapid and accurate prediction of residual stress in metal additive manufacturing processes is of great importance to guarantee the quality of the fabricated part to be used in a mission-critical application in the aerospace, automotive, and medical industries. Experimentations and numerical modeling of residual stress however are valuable but expensive and time-consuming. Thus, a fully coupled thermomechanical analytical model is proposed to predict residual stress of the additively manufactured parts rapidly and accurately. A moving point heat source approach is used to predict the temperature field by considering the effects of scan strategies, heat loss at part&rsquo, s boundaries, and energy needed for solid-state phase transformation. Due to the high-temperature gradient in this process, the part experiences a high amount of thermal stress which may exceed the yield strength of the material. The thermal stress is obtained using Green&rsquo, s function of stresses due to the point body load. The Johnson&ndash, Cook flow stress model is used to predict the yield surface of the part under repeated heating and cooling. As a result of the cyclic heating and cooling and the fact that the material is yielded, the residual stress build-up is precited using incremental plasticity and kinematic hardening behavior of the metal according to the property of volume invariance in plastic deformation in coupling with the equilibrium and compatibility conditions. Experimental measurement of residual stress was conducted using X-ray diffraction on the fabricated IN718 built via laser powder bed fusion to validate the proposed model.

Chemical investigation of the soft coral Cespitularia sp. led to the discovery of twelve new verticillane-type diterpenes and norditerpenes: cespitulins H–O (1–8), one cyclic diterpenoidal amide cespitulactam L (9), norditerpenes cespitulin P (10), cespitulins Q and R (11 and 12), four new sesquiterpenes: cespilins A–C (13–15) and cespitulolide (16), along with twelve known metabolites. The structures of these metabolites were established by extensive spectroscopic analyses, including 2D NMR experiments. Anti-inflammatory effects of the isolated compounds were studied by evaluating the suppression of pro-inflammatory protein tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and nitric oxide (NO) overproduction, and the inhibition of the gene expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), in lipopolysaccharide-induced dendritic cells. A number of these metabolites were found to exhibit promising anti-inflammatory activities.

Hydraulic conductivity (K) is crucial for groundwater studies and is conventionally obtained through pumping tests, which are costly due to well installation, resulting in a limited amount of data. Recent studies have addressed this limitation by estimating K through the integration of a pumping-test K and electrical resistivity measurements. While this approach is suitable for local areas, it cannot readily be applied to determine K fields for the composite fan delta. This study proposes and demonstrates an advanced method to estimate the K&rsquo, s spatial distribution of a composite fan delta. The proposed method included data classification, linear regression, and kriging interpolation. Data classification was conducted using a physical-based zonation method. The K and formation factor (F) data pairs were classified into several groups. Linear regression was used to develop K-F mapping for each group. The regression results showed a good correlation between K and F in each group. These K-F mappings were verified by additional pumping tests. These results indicate that estimation errors were between 7 m/day and 58 m/day, and the correlation coefficient of each data group was greater than 0.8. Based on these regression equations and ordinary kriging method, the detailed K spatial distribution of the study area was derived. According to these results, the proposed method is efficient and economical to delineate K&rsquo, s spatial features for regional groundwater systems and can benefit groundwater-related studies.

Dental ceramic material is one of the widely preferred restorative materials to mimic the natural tooth enamel surface. However, it has continuously been degraded because of low wear resistance during mastication in the oral cavity. The friction involved was reduced by introducing the lubricant saliva protein layers to improve the wear resistance of the dental materials. However, little is understood regarding how the protein-protein interactions (PPI) influence the adsorbed-state structures and lubricating behaviors of saliva proteins on the ceramic material surface. The objective of this study is to quantify the influences of PPI effects on the structural changes and corresponding oral lubrications of adsorbed α-amylase, one of the abundant proteins in the saliva, on the dental ceramic material with glass as a model surface. α-Amylase was first adsorbed to glass surface under varying protein solution concentrations to saturate the surface to vary the PPI effects over a wide range. The areal density of the adsorbed protein was measured as an indicator of the level of PPI effects within the layer, and these values were then correlated with the measurements of the adsorbed protein's secondary structure and corresponding friction coefficient. The decreased friction coefficient value was an indicator of the lubricated surfaces with higher wear resistance. Our results indicate that PPI effects help stabilize the structure of α-amylase adsorbed on glass, and the correlation observed between the friction coefficient and the conformational state of adsorbed α-amylase was apparent. This study thus provides new molecular-level insights into how PPI influences the structure and lubricating behaviors of adsorbed protein, which is critical for the innovations of dental ceramic material designs with improved wear resistance.

Taiwan&rsquo, s cities exhibit high levels of urbanization, which has resulted in limited recreation space in urban areas. In response, government policies have been enacted to promote the large-scale greening of rivers in urban areas and the establishment of aquatic recreation areas that do not interfere with water flow areas, pavilions for recreation purposes, indoor stadiums, and biking lanes alongside riverbanks to provide citizens with recreation space. An expert team was convened to investigate 50 riverside recreation sites, and the Comfortable Water Environment Rest Assessment Form was devised. The investigation results revealed three factors that contribute to the value of riverside recreation sites, the three factors had a total explanatory power of 70.17%. The factors, namely exercising and leisure, overall design plan and entrance image, and environmental maintenance and service, had an explanatory power of 25.52%, 23.32%, and 21.32%, respectively. Finally, this study provides guidance for constructing service systems for riverside recreation sites by referencing practical cases. This study suggests that future designs focus on the characteristics of visitors as the main consideration when investing resources in recreation sites. In addition, more exercise and recreation equipment and facilities should be provided at recreation sites located within highly populated areas. For recreation sites that feature beautiful scenery, greater degrees of overall design planning and entrance image qualities can be integrated into the recreation sites, and environmental teaching materials can be incorporated into the environment. Furthermore, this study suggests that residents who live near recreation sites form and operate volunteer groups to contribute to environmental maintenance and the relevant services, this would greatly enhance the overall experience of comfort of visitors to the recreation sites. Finally, this study provides guidance for low-intensity construction in high riverbank areas.

Engaging in social contributions to enhance social participation and attending community experiential service learning or internship courses have become an essential learning experience for university students. On the basis of postmodern education theories, this study adopted images and oral accounts involving personal experiences to construct a postmodern education research scheme by using the method of collaborative ethnography. This study selected and performed the following services: filming a community documentary, administering community health dance classes, and archiving community cultural artifacts in databases. Interviews were also administered to facilitate implementation of the actual services. Community health services commonly seen in Taiwan and abroad were compiled, and the resources required for each service were examined. Subsequently, factor analysis was performed to explore the characteristic of these services in order to recommend feasible services for university students to undertake. The results indicated that the eight resources required for the 59 common community health services were (1) a designated space or venue, (2) materials, (3) monetary resources, (4) human resources, (5) expertise, (6) professional equipment, (7) patience, and (8) empathy. The results revealed three principal components, namely labor services, high-resource services, and professional services, for a total explanatory power of 67.99%, the individual explanatory power of these components accounted for 25.04%, 21.81%, and 21.15%, respectively. Next, community health care services suitable for university students to perform were selected and implemented, and these services were well received. The study results indicated that community and environmental justice can be realized by identifying with the value of community health services and promoting postmodern education theories and social norms. The research results are suitable for implementation after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ocular discomfort is the leading cause of contact lens wear discontinuation. Although the tear proteins as a lubricant might improve contact lens adaptation, some in vitro studies suggested that the amount of adsorbed proteins could not simply explain the lubricating performance of adsorbed proteins. The purpose of this study was to quantify the structural changes and corresponding ocular lubricating properties of adsorbed protein on a conventional contact lens material, poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA). The adsorption behaviors of lysozyme on pHEMA were determined by the combined effects of protein&ndash, surface and protein&ndash, protein interactions. Lysozyme, the most abundant protein in tear, was first adsorbed onto the pHEMA surface under widely varying protein solution concentrations to saturate the surface, with the areal density of the adsorbed protein presenting different protein&ndash, protein effects within the layer. These values were correlated with the measured secondary structures, and corresponding friction coefficient of the adsorbed and protein covered lens surface, respectively. The decreased friction coefficient value was an indicator of the lubricated surfaces with improved adaptation. Our results indicate that the protein&ndash, protein effects help stabilize the structure of adsorbed lysozyme on pHEMA with the raised friction coefficient measured critical for the innovation of contact lens material designs with improved adaptation.

Cigarette smoking is associated with an increased risk of melanoma metastasis. Smokers show higher PD-L1 expression and better responses to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors than nonsmokers. Here, we investigate whether nicotine, a primary constituent of tobacco, induces PD-L1 expression and promotes melanoma cell proliferation and migration, which is mediated by the &alpha, 9 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (&alpha, 9-nAChR). &alpha, 9-nAChR overexpression in melanoma using melanoma cell lines, human melanoma tissues, and assessment of publicly available databases. &alpha, 9-nAChR expression was significantly correlated with PD-L1 expression, clinical stage, lymph node status, and overall survival (OS). Overexpressing or knocking down &alpha, 9-nAChR in melanoma cells up- or downregulated PD-L1 expression, respectively, and affected melanoma cell proliferation and migration. Nicotine-induced &alpha, 9-nAChR activity promoted melanoma cell proliferation through stimulation of the &alpha, 9-nAChR-mediated AKT and ERK signaling pathways. In addition, nicotine-induced &alpha, 9-nAchR activity promoted melanoma cell migration via activation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Moreover, PD-L1 expression was upregulated in melanoma cells after nicotine treatment via the transcription factor STAT3 binding to the PD-L1 promoter. These results highlight that nicotine-induced &alpha, 9-nAChR activity promotes melanoma cell proliferation, migration, and PD-L1 upregulation. This study may reveal important insights into the mechanisms underlying nicotine-induced melanoma growth and metastasis through &alpha, 9-nAChR-mediated carcinogenic signals and PD-L1 expression.

Through more than 40 years of reading, thinking, searching, and experimentation, we have found that the double helix model carries some defects or incorrect information. Evidence gleaned from the literature clearly indicates that the two strands of DNA are coiled ambidextrously, rather than plectonemically. It is likely that the linking number of native chromosomal Escherichia coli (E. coli) DNA is less than 960. Presently, a clear voice is necessary to break the ice formed from decades of misleading media, questionable textbooks, and expediency. For the sake of science, we are responsible and willing to share our hard-earned knowledge, experience, and knack with the public. A promising research plan is provided for the additional falsification of the right-handed double helix model. It would be a precision hit at the Achilles&rsquo, heel of the double helix model. An appropriate conceptual shift will hopefully lead to new knowledge on the secondary structure of DNA and improve understanding of its biological functions.

Bird watching is one of many recreational activities popular in ecotourism. Its popularity, therefore, prompts the need for studies on energy conservation. One such environmentally friendly approach toward minimizing bird watching’s ecological impact is ensuring a reduced carbon footprint by using an economic travel itinerary comprising a series of connected routes between tourist attractions that minimizes transit time. This study used a travel-route planning approach using geographic information systems to detect the shortest path, thereby solving the problems associated with time-consuming transport. Based on the results of road network analyses, optimal travel-route planning can be determined. These methods include simulated annealing (SA) and genetic algorithms (GA). We applied two algorithms in our simulation research to detect which one is an appropriate algorithm for running carbon-routing algorithms at the regional scale. SA, which is superior to GA, is considered an excellent approach to search for the optimal path to reduce carbon dioxide and high gasoline fees, thereby controlling travel time by using the shortest travel routes.

Caprimulgus affinis is an endemic species commonly known as the Taiwan nighthawk, forest nighthawk, or South Asian nighthawk. In recent years, the C. affinis population has gradually moved outward from river habitats into the metropolitan areas of Taiwan. Because male birds&rsquo, booming sounds at night can reach up to 90 dB or higher and they can be intermittently tweeting for more than 10 hours, they often disturb the sleep of urban residents and can even cause nightmares. In this study, we analyzed long-term survey data to assess the distribution history of C. affinis in Taiwan. By using 1738 entries of observation data collected from 1999 to 2014, a model of C. affinis distribution was constructed, and a geostatistical method was used to improve the accuracy of the model estimate. In addition, the Mann&ndash, Kendall trend test was applied to predict future C. affinis distribution. Based on the results, four variables were selected to construct the C. affinis distribution matrix. Urban population, coastal proximity, and distance to upstream river location represented positive driving forces, whereas city elevation was a negative driving force. C. affinis is currently distributed on the plains of central and southern Taiwan and in eastern Taiwan. The C. affinis emergence trend diagram was plotted using the time&ndash, space trend diagram, which showed yearly increases in the C. affinis populations in urban and settled areas including central, western, northeastern, and southeastern Taiwan and yearly decreases in the populations in rural areas including northern and southern Taiwan, especially in fragmented riverine habitats. Regression kriging can correctly describe the distribution of the entire C. affinis population, which leads to the correct understanding of the biological corridor of C. affinis in their migration through the graphical contours in GIS. The analytic model in this study contributes to the establishment of the time&ndash, space trend diagram.

Cities in Taiwan are so dependent on reservoir water that preservation of the upstream reservoir watershed has become a significant public concern. However, due to the high-density development of land, resulting in rapid urban expansion, the construction of tunnels and elevated highways across reservoirs to better utilize the surrounding land has become a global trend. Based on data from long-term observation of the reservoir, this study verifies the difference in water quality before and after the highway construction. The results indicate that the total phosphorus (TP) increased on average 14 μg/L to 36.5 μg/L per annum, and the water quality is expected to require 10 years to recover. During the highway development, the average TP was more than twice the normal level. During summer, the TP level increases 3.1-fold due to rainfall. As indicated by the results, the large-scale land development will harm the long-term preservation of the reservoir's water quality, and therefore should be avoided.

Ligustrum (privet) plants are used by Chinese physicians to prevent and cure hepatitis and chronic bronchitis. Three common Ligustrum plant spp., namely Ligustrum lucidum Ait. (LL), L. pricei Hayata (LP) and L. sinensis Lour. (LS) were collected to assess their analgesic/anti-inflammatory properties on chemical-induced nociception and carrageenan-induced inflammation in rodents. The methanol extracts from Ligustrum plants leaves effectively inhibited nociceptive responses induced by 1% acetic acid and 1% formalin. LP and LL reduced the edema induced by 1% carrageenan. LP exhibited the best potency of the Ligustrum plants. Furthermore, LP reduced the abdominal Evan’s blue extravasations caused by lipopolysaccharide, lipoteichoic acid, autocrines and sodium nitroprusside. The triterpenoid content of the three Ligustrum spp. was measured by high performance liquid chromatography using a photodiode array detector. LP contained the highest content of amyrin, betulinic acid and lupeol. LL had the highest content of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid. The various degrees of analgesic/anti-inflammatory effects among three Ligustrum plants may be related to their different triterpenoid contents. LP is a potential analgesic and anti-inflammatory Ligustrum plant. The effects of LP are partially related to the inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 activity and a decrease in microvascular permeability via the actions of autocrines and kinins.