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This paper explores the development of sports for individuals with disabilities in Taiwan from its inception in 1972 to 1992. We start by outlining games hosted at the national level and highlight how and why they were the first of their kind in the Sinophone world. Data are collected using Foucault's genealogical method, and we use the concept of biopower to explore the state apparatus through which individuals with disabilities are controlled. This highlights how the Games for the Disabled were not simply a means to provide sporting opportunities but were also a vehicle through which the biopower of the sovereign was exerted. By staging the games, the authorities of Taiwan achieved the goal of governing bodies with disabilities in an effort to make subjugated citizens aware that individuals with disabilities should be utilised to contribute towards the nation's greater good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from companies in Taiwan's electronics industry, this study examines the effect of corporate ownership on firm innovation efficiency and performance. We use a network-typed data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to calculate firm-level innovation efficiency, which is composed of the R&D efficiency and the commercialization efficiency, respectively. We find that overall innovation efficiency is positively correlated with institutional ownership and directors' ownership. In addition, R&D efficiency is positively associated with ROA and commercialization efficiency positively correlates with Tobin's Q. R&D efficiency partially mediates the relationship between ownership-control deviation and ROA. However, commercialization efficiency plays a mediating role for institutional ownership on a firm's Tobin's Q. Our findings point to a bright side of the role of corporate governance in terms of its effects on corporate innovation and the effects of such innovation, in turn, on firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of sport and physical education (PE) for people with physical disabilities is dominated by an ideological discourse that, through the process of omission, argues that the developments in the field are Western in origin. In this article, we examine how Taiwan independently developed a new medium of sport and PE for individuals disabled by the epidemics of poliomyelitis during the mid-twentieth century. We first studied the period of Taiwanese history from the end of the Japanese occupation of Taiwan in 1945 until 1971. To explore this transformation, we engaged with Foucauldian genealogy to study the epidemics between the 1940s and the 1960s in Taiwan, when the number of children having physical paralysis increased dramatically. The high number of people infected with poliomyelitis turned it into a significant social problem that warranted being addressed by the government. Some of the children with physical disabilities were placed in institutions, and sport and PE were a part of their daily routine. Physical rehabilitation was extensively conducted through sport and PE and was administered on people with physical disabilities in institutions. By encouraging sport and PE for the disabled, the rehabilitative movement's ultimate goal was to restore the functions of impaired bodies and efface the disabled in the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore whether newly diagnosed iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is associated with subsequent systemic autoimmune disease onset.Methods: The study identified 22,440 patients who received a diagnosis of IDA between 2000 and 2012 from a random sample of 1 million people from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. The patients with IDA were randomly matched with 89,528 patients with no IDA by age, gender, and index year. We followed the 2 groups until systemic autoimmune disease onset. Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to determine autoimmune disease risk by age, gender, and comorbidities, in terms of hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results: Adjusted HR (95% CI) of autoimmune disease in the IDA group was 2.37 (1.92-2.92) compared with the non-IDA group. The subgroup analysis indicated that a patient with IDA had a significantly greater risk of autoimmune disease if they were female or had the comorbidities of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, cancer, allergic rhinitis, urticaria, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or chronic liver disease. The autoimmune disease was significantly more likely to occur within 2 years after a new diagnosis of IDA.Conclusions: IDA significantly increases autoimmune disease risk, particularly in female patients and patients with certain comorbidities. Clinicians should conduct further clinical evaluations and laboratory tests of autoimmune disease in patients with IDA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined two variables in the fear-induced communication literature, namely, information-processing modes and the interactive effects of threat and efficacy, to fill an existing gap in the extended parallel process model (EPPM) research. The EPPM is the target of several criticisms, the most frequent of which is its lack of a description of how recipients process fear-appeal messages. The EPPM has also been criticized for proposing that a perceived threat exerts a positive effect on danger control outcomes only when recipients' perceived efficacy and perceived threat are high. However, this proposition has received mixed support. A field experiment was conducted, in which a telephone survey was used to collect data in Taiwan, and 801 valid questionnaires were obtained. The data analysis yields three conclusions: (1) this study found that the perceived threat and perceived efficacy of the fear appeals were significantly correlated with respondents' use of a systematic mode of information processing; (2) adding a systematic-processing mode to the EPPM greatly increased the persuasive effects of fear-appeal messages on behavioral intentions; and (3) there were interactive effects of perceived threat and perceived efficacy with the high-threat/high-efficacy group being the only group achieved persuasive outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypnotic susceptibility is a fundamental individual characteristic to consider in studies examining hypnosis. Although there is no existing normative data of group hypnotic susceptibility tests for the Mandarin-speaking Chinese population, the current study administered the Mandarin Chinese translation of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) to 242 subjects (137 females and 105 males). The results indicate that the normative properties—including the score distribution, item pass rates, and reliability—are comparable to 15 reference samples. In general, the Mandarin Chinese version of the HGSHS:A can be used as a viable and reliable instrument for prescreening subjects' hypnotizability in the Mandarin Chinese-speaking population in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The differences of basic attributes, health promotion behaviors, and quality of life between elderly males and females in Taiwan were compared. Several scales were used to examine the gender differences and the factors associated with quality of life. Regression analysis revealed that gender, education level, depression level, and healthy diet were key factors influencing the overall quality of life. The education level of females was lower, and their depression level was higher; however, females had healthier diets. With regards to their satisfaction in the quality of life, elderly males scored higher than females in both the physical and psychological domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The clinical efficacy of applying a western model for managing hyperglycemia in hospitalized patients in Asia has not been studied.Methods: For this observational case-control study, we divided six medical wards into two groups, an intervention group and a control group. The intervention group, consisting three medical wards on the same floor, received care under a computer-assisted consulting model in which special care was automatically indicated for patients who had two successive high glucose measurements in 1 day. The control group, consisting of another three medical wards distributed on different floors, received regular care. Outcome measures were baseline and post-intervention patient-day weighted mean glucose, percentage of patient-day weighted glucose ≥180 mg/dL, proportion of glucose level 100-180 mg/dL, and prevalence of inpatient hyperglycemia (>180 mg/dL) and hypoglycemia (individual measurement <70 mg/dL and patient-day with any measurement <70 mg/dL).Results: At baseline, the patient-day weighted mean glucose level was 181.6 mg/dL. All parameters were comparable between the intervention and control groups with the exception of prevalence of hypoglycemia, which was found to be higher in the intervention group. After intervention, patient-day weighted mean glucose levels for intervention and control groups were 169.9 mg/dL and 176.7 mg/dL, respectively (p < 0.001). The intervention group had a reduction in hypoglycemia and the control group an increase.Conclusion: This computer-assisted consulting model was found to be potentially very workable for the management of inpatient hyperglycemia in hospitals with high patient volumes in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A limited number of reports have documented bacteremia caused by Elizabethkingia meningoseptica (Chryseobacterium meningosepticum) in adults. Most cases have occurred in Taiwan. This study investigated the clinical features and risk factors for mortality from E. meningoseptica bacteremia and the antimicrobial susceptibilities of the isolates. Patients with E. meningoseptica bacteremia were retrospectively analyzed at a medical center/teaching hospital in northern Taiwan over a 3-y period. We analyzed clinical features and outcomes of patients and antimicrobial susceptibilities and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) results of the isolates. 28 patients had nosocomial bacteremia and 4 patients had healthcare associated bacteremia. The isolates exhibited variable susceptibilities to levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, piperacillin-tazobactam, tigecycline, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. PFGE demonstrated that most isolates were epidemiologically unrelated. The 28-d mortality rate was 41%. Multivariate analysis indicated that shock and use of inappropriate antibiotics were independent risk factors for mortality. In conclusion, nosocomial bloodstream infection due to E. meningoseptica is an increasing problem in Taiwan. Our study indicates that patients with E. meningoseptica bacteremia face poor prognoses, with shock and use of inappropriate antibiotics as the main risk factors for mortality. Further clinical study is needed to establish the optimal therapy for E. meningoseptica bacteremia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]