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The present study aims to investigate the relationship among EFL college learners' language learning strategies, English self-efficacy, and explicit strategy instruction from the perspectives of Social Cognitive Theory. Three constructs, namely language learning strategies, English learning self-efficacy, and explicit strategy instruction, were investigated through a correlational and quasi-experiment study. Besides the descriptive analysis of the learners' background information, a series of ANCOVA and Pearson Correlation coefficients were conducted to demonstrate findings from the quantitative data. Given the results, the study reveals two significant findings. First, there is a more positive correlation between language learning strategies and English self-efficacy after the strategy instruction. Second, after the strategy instruction, the learners applied more language learning strategies, especially memory strategies. Therefore, the findings of the study could possibly shed light on EFL learning and could be of help to those who are interested in strategy building and self-efficacy enhancement.

Background: Taiwanese family carers of people with intellectual disabilities not only suffer from long-term stress but also need to cope with social difficulties. The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality of life (QOL) among family carers of people with intellectual disabilities. Materials and methods: A census interview survey was conducted in Hsin-Chu City in Taiwan and included the primary family caregivers of 792 adults with intellectual disability who were living with their families. The survey packet contained the WHOQOL-BREF Taiwan-version scale with four core domains and the activities of daily life/instrumental activities of daily life (ADL/IADL) scales. Results: The mean score for "physical" was highest and that for "environment" was lowest. The strongest predictors of caregivers QOL were the caregiver's health status, their family income and the level of severity of the intellectual disability of the adult. Conclusions: The results of the study support the need to expand services and individualize support to families of adults with intellectual disability living in family homes.

Background: Rice, the most important crop in Asia, has been cultivated in Taiwan for more than 5000 years. The landraces preserved by indigenous peoples and brought by immigrants from China hundreds of years ago exhibit large variation in morphology, implying that they comprise rich genetic resources. Breeding goals according to the preferences of farmers, consumers and government policies also alter gene pools and genetic diversity of improved varieties. To unveil how genetic diversity is affected by natural, farmers', and breeders' selections is crucial for germplasm conservation and crop improvement. Results: A diversity panel of 148 rice accessions, including 47 cultivars and 59 landraces from Taiwan and 42 accessions from other countries, were genotyped by using 75 molecular markers that revealed an average of 12.7 alleles per locus with mean polymorphism information content of 0.72. These accessions could be grouped into five subpopulations corresponding to wild rice, japonica landraces, indica landraces, indica cultivars, and japonica cultivars. The genetic diversity within subpopulations was: wild rices > landraces > cultivars; and indica rice > japonica rice. Despite having less variation among cultivars, japonica landraces had greater genetic variation than indica landraces because the majority of Taiwanese japonica landraces preserved by indigenous peoples were classified as tropical japonica. Two major clusters of indica landraces were formed by phylogenetic analysis, in accordance with immigration from two origins. Genetic erosion had occurred in later japonica varieties due to a narrow selection of germplasm being incorporated into breeding programs for premium grain quality. Genetic differentiation between early and late cultivars was significant in japonica (FST = 0.3751) but not in indica (FST = 0.0045), indicating effects of different breeding goals on modern germplasm. Indigenous landraces with unique intermediate and admixed genetic backgrounds were untapped, representing valuable resources for rice breeding. Conclusions: The genetic diversity of improved rice varieties has been substantially shaped by breeding goals, leading to differentiation between indica and japonica cultivars. Taiwanese landraces with different origins possess various and unique genetic backgrounds. Taiwanese rice germplasm provides diverse genetic variation for association mapping to unveil useful genes and is a precious genetic reservoir for rice improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) was discovered in 1962 and has unique characteristics compared to the characteristics of other enteroviruses. There were few documented cases before the epidemic in the United States in 2014. The Taiwan Centers for Diseases Control also confirmed that EV-D68 has been endemic, and some cases of acute flaccid myelitis were reported in Taiwan. To understand the current EV-D68 serostatus, we performed an EV-D68 seroepidemiology study in Taiwan in 2017. Methods: After informed consent was obtained, we enrolled preschool children, 6- to 15-year-old students and 16- to 49-year-old people. The participants underwent a questionnaire investigation and blood sampling to measure the EV-D68 neutralization antibody. Results: In total, 920 subjects were enrolled from the northern, central, southern and eastern parts of Taiwan with a male-to-female ratio of 1.03. The EV-D68 seropositive rate was 32% (26/82) in infants, 18% (27/153) in 1-year-old children, 43% (36/83) in 2-year-old children, 60% (94/156) in 3- to 5-year-old children, 89% (108/122) in 6- to 11-year-old primary school students, 98% (118/121) in 12- to 15-year-old high school students, 100% (122/122) in 16- to 49-year-old women and 100% (81/81) in 16- to 49-year-old males in 2017. Among preschool children, EV-D68 seropositivity was related to age (p for trend <0.0001), size of household ≧4 members (p = 0.037) and kindergarten attendance (p = 0.027). The seropositive rate varied among different geographic regions. Conclusion: EV-D68 infection was prevalent, and its seropositive rates increased with age, larger household size and kindergarten attendance among preschool children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Critical thinking disposition (CTD) is crucial for nurse practitioners who face complex patient care scenarios. This study explored the CTD of nurse practitioners and related factors. Method: The study was a cross-sectional descriptive design. A purposive sample was recruited from a medical center and its hospital branches in central Taiwan. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 210 nurse practitioners. Results: The participants obtained the highest average score on systematicity and analyticity. CTD had a significant positive correlation with fundamental knowledge readiness, professional knowledge readiness, and confidence in making clinical decisions. Professional knowledge readiness, education level, and on-the-job training predicted the score of the participants on overall CTD. Conclusion: On-the-job training and education level may influence the CTD of nurse practitioners. Providing formal or on-the-job continuing education training to nurse practitioners may help enhance their CTD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smoking by psychiatric patients remains prevalent. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to understand the influence of self-efficacy and its correlates among psychiatric nurses when providing smoking-cessation services (SCS). A convenience sample of 193 nurses from psychiatric institutions was obtained. Surveys were conducted using self-report measures regarding SCS provided by psychiatric nurses. The survey questions focused on self-efficacy, attitude, practical experience, and smoke-free policies, and their implementation in the workplace. The participants reported low self-efficacy for providing SCS in their self-assessment, as demonstrated by their scores of 55.3 ± 20.4, on a scale of 0 (low confidence) to 100 (high confidence). Using multiple linear regressions, statistically-significant, relevant factors included perceived provider-related barriers in providing SCS, environmental tobacco smoke exposure, the nurse's attitude towards a patient smoking, and the nurse's frequency and practical experience in providing SCS. The correlates of this self-efficacy can serve as a reference for in-service curriculum planning of SCS by psychiatric nurses. In addition, policies to limit exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke should be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coxsackievirus A9 (CA9) was one of the most prevalent serotype of enteroviral infections in Taiwan in 2011. After several patient series were reported in the 1960s and 1970s, few studies have focused on the clinical manifestations of CA9 infections. Our study explores and deepens the current understanding of CA9. Methods: We analyzed the clinical presentations of 100 culture-proven CA9-infected patients in 2011 by reviewing their medical records and depicted the CA9 phylogenetic tree. Results: Of the 100 patients with culture-proven CA9 infections, the mean (SD) age was 4.6 (3.4) years and the male to female ratio was 1.9. For clinical manifestations, 96 patients (96%) had fever and the mean (SD) duration of fever was 5.9 (3.4) days. Sixty one patients (61%) developed a skin rash, and the predominant pattern was a generalized non-itchy maculopapular rash without vesicular changes. While most patients showed injected throat, oral ulcers were found in only 19 cases (19%), among whom, 6 were diagnosed as herpangina. Complicated cases included: aseptic meningitis (n=8), bronchopneumonia (n=6), acute cerebellitis (n=1), and polio-like syndrome (n=1). Phylogenetic analysis for current CA9 strains is closest to the CA9 isolate 27-YN-2008 from the border area of mainland China and Myanmar. Conclusions: The most common feature of CA9 during the 2011 epidemic in Taiwan is generalized febrile exanthema rather than herpangina or hand, foot, and mouth disease. Given that prolonged fever and some complications are possible, caution should be advised in assessing patients as well as in predicting the clinical course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the researcher nsed theories of discourse analysis and English as a lingua franca to compare writing pieces written by Taiwanese and Japanese college students. The same writing tasks, which required students to choose from a list of Einstein's quotes and reflect on the quote, were assigned to the two groups of students to fulfill. One piece of writing was chosen for discourse analysis and for comparison. The researcher concluded that social languages do operate in college students' writing. Students reflected their cultural background, gender, field of study, and ideology in their writing. Finally, the researcher recommended that, while assessing students' writing, writing teachers take all the social and ideological factors into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice is one of the most important cereal crops in the world and is the major crop in Taiwan. Assessment of genetic diversity of rice germplasm is imperative for conservation and breeding. We used 114 simple sequence repeat (SSR) and 5 sequence tagged site (STS) markers with 80 common rice varieties, including 52 japonica and 28 indica varieties used in Taiwan breeding programs, and detected 395 alleles. The mean number of alleles per marker was 3.5, range 2 to 7. The mean polymorphism information content (PIC) for each marker was 0.43 (range 0.04-0.76). The japonica and indica varieties were obviously separated into clusters by the distance-based unweighted pair-group method with averages (UPGMA) and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA). Taiwan and Japanese japonica varieties aggregated in the same clusters because of their highly similar genetic background. The genetic diversity was greater for indica than japonica varieties. The genetic diversity of Taiwan cultivars was relatively narrow, specifically in japonica varieties, and introduced exotic elite cultivars exhibited enriched alleles. The differentiation of domestic and introduced indica cultivars was moderate (FST =0.25), which was the same revealed japonica cultivars (FST =0.15). However, there was no significant differentiation between Taiwan and Japanese japonica cultivars as supported by the small FST (0.05); thus, introducing exotic germplasm other than from Japan should enlarge the gene pool of Taiwan cultivars. This DNA polymorphism analysis revealed genomic relationships in Taiwan rice germplasm, and the database on 'The Resource of Rice Genetic Markers in Taiwan' is useful for cultivar identification, local germplasm conservation and breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During August-November 2009, to investigate disease transmission within households in Taiwan, we recruited 87 pandemic (H1N1) 2009 patients and their household members. Overall, pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus was transmitted to 60 (27%) of 223 household contacts. Transmission was 4x higher to children than to adults (61% vs. 15%; p<0.001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coxsackievirus A9 (CA9) was one of the most prevalent serotype of enteroviral infections in Taiwan in 2011. After several patient series were reported in the 1960s and 1970s, few studies have focused on the clinical manifestations of CA9 infections. Our study explores and deepens the current understanding of CA9.Methods: We analyzed the clinical presentations of 100 culture-proven CA9-infected patients in 2011 by reviewing their medical records and depicted the CA9 phylogenetic tree.Results: Of the 100 patients with culture-proven CA9 infections, the mean (SD) age was 4.6 (3.4) years and the male to female ratio was 1.9. For clinical manifestations, 96 patients (96%) had fever and the mean (SD) duration of fever was 5.9 (3.4) days. Sixty one patients (61%) developed a skin rash, and the predominant pattern was a generalized non-itchy maculopapular rash without vesicular changes. While most patients showed injected throat, oral ulcers were found in only 19 cases (19%), among whom, 6 were diagnosed as herpangina. Complicated cases included: aseptic meningitis (n=8), bronchopneumonia (n=6), acute cerebellitis (n=1), and polio-like syndrome (n=1). Phylogenetic analysis for current CA9 strains is closest to the CA9 isolate 27-YN-2008 from the border area of mainland China and Myanmar.Conclusions: The most common feature of CA9 during the 2011 epidemic in Taiwan is generalized febrile exanthema rather than herpangina or hand, foot, and mouth disease. Given that prolonged fever and some complications are possible, caution should be advised in assessing patients as well as in predicting the clinical course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/purpose(s): Enterovirus D68(EV-D68) is an emerging disease that affects mostly children. There have been few relevant investigations to clarify transmission and seroprevalence within daycares and kindergartens., Methods: This prospective cohort study investigated respiratory viral transmission among preschool children in a public kindergarten in Taipei City of Taiwan between September 2006 and June 2008. After children were enrolled, daily monitoring of illness and regular biweekly physical examinations were performed. We performed viral isolation to detect acute EV-D68 infection and neutralization tests to detect specific EV-D68 antibodies and to measure the seroprevalence and seroconversion rates., Results: Among 190 kindergarten attendees aged between two to five years old, nine children had acute EV-D68 infection in September 2007. The clinical manifestations included pharyngitis, cough and other unspecified upper respiratory tract infection. None of the infected children had acute flaccid paralysis or severe respiratory illness. The phylogenetic tree of partial viral protein 3 and viral protein 1 was clustered in clade A1. The EV-D68 seropositive rate increased from 19% (25/130) at the beginning to 67% (83/124) at the end of the study. The seroconversion rate of 49 children with initial seronegative and paired sera was 73% (36/49)., Conclusions: A high seroconversion rate (73%) for EV-D68 was found among kindergarten attendees, which indicates preschool-aged children are highly susceptible to EV-D68 infection and that the disease burden may be extremely underestimated. Once EV-D 68 circulates, preventive measures may be advocated, especially within kindergartens or daycares, to reduce transmission and subsequent development of severe cases., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The present study combined air sampling with pulmonary function tests (PFTs) to determine both the extent of air pollution proximal to an electric arc furnace (EAF) and its impact on human health. The mass concentrations of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 µm (PM 2.5 ) in exposure areas were not significantly higher than the samples taken at a control area. However, the concentrations of five metal elements, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn in PM 2.5 were significantly higher in the exposure area than that of the control area. PFTs showed that the average forced vital capacity (FVC) of boys was decreased with decreasing distance from the EAF factory. With normalization of pulmonary function by age, height, and weight, we found that the FVC became more negative with a decrease in distance from the EAF. Lastly, regression analysis was performed to analyze the impact of the concentrations of the five metals in PM 2.5 on the performance of pulmonary function. The results showed that the metals can be ranked from the highest to the lowest in terms of impact on the FVC of boys as follows: Cr, Cd, Ni, Cu, and Zn. This finding is consistent with the ranking of metal toxicity reported in the literature for a rat lung epithelial cell line. The results of this study showed that only measuring PM 2.5 mass concentrations may not provide a full explanation of its toxicity and health effects. The chemical composition of the PM 2.5 can be an important factor that determined the health impact of PM 2.5 .

Background: In 2010, we observed children with atypical presentations of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD), such as rashes on earlobes and faces, or bullae on trunks and bilateral limbs. Hyperpigmentation later developed as the bullous lesions crusted. Thus, we intended to study the etiology of the illness and the phylogeny of the pathogens., Method: Patients were prospectively enrolled in a tertiary medical center in Taipei, Taiwan. The definition of atypical HFMD includes symptoms of acute viral infection with either of the following presentations: (1) maculopapular rashes presenting on the trunks, buttocks or facial areas, or (2) large vesicles or bullae on any sites of the body. Patients were classified into two groups according to vesicle sizes by two pediatricians at different points in time. The large vesicle group was defined as having vesciculobullous lesions ≥ 1 cm in diameter; the small rashes group had maculopapular rashes < 1cm in diameter. Two throat swabs were collected from each patient for virus isolation and reverse transcription polymerase chain reactions., Results: We enrolled 101 patients between March and December 2010. The mean age of the participants was 3.3 ± 3.0 years (median age: 2.5 years, range: 21 days-13.5 years). The ratio of males to females was 1.8 to 1. All samples were enterovirus-positive, including coxsackievirus A6 (80%), coxsackievirus A16 (6%), enterovirus 71 (1%), coxsackievirus A5 (1%) and 12 non-typable enterovirus (12%). Bullous fluid aspirated from 2 patients also grew coxsackievirus A6. Among the patients infected with coxsackievirus A6, 54% (45/81) had bullae, compared to 25% (5/20) of those having non-coxsackievirus A6 infections (P=0.02). Fourteen cases had myoclonic jerks and one boy was diagnosed with febrile convulsions. None had complications or sequelae. Phylogenetic analysis showed the strains in Taiwan in 2010 shared more commonality with strains from Finland in 2009 (GenBank: FJ870502-FJ870508), and were close to those circulating in Japan in 2011 (GenBank: AB649286-AB649291)., Conclusions: Coxsackievirus A6 infections may cause atypical manifestations of HFMD, including vesicles or papules on faces or bullae on trunks. These features could provide valuable information to distinguish this versatile enterovirus infection from other virus-induced vesiculobullous diseases.

Schizophrenia is a complex mental disorder with high degree of genetic influence in its etiology. Several recent studies revealed that copy number variations (CNVs) of genomic DNA contributed significantly to the genetic architecture of sporadic schizophrenia. This study aimed to investigate whether CNVs also contribute to the familial forms of schizophrenia. Using array-based comparative genomic hybridization technology, we searched for pathogenic CNV associated with schizophrenia in a sample of 60 index cases from multiplex schizophrenia families. We detected three inherited CNVs that were associated with schizophrenia in three families, including a microdeletion of ~4.4Mb at chromosome 6q12-q13, a microduplication of ~1Mb at chromosome 18q12.3, and an interstitial duplication of ~5Mb at chromosome 15q11.2-q13.1. Our data indicate that CNVs contribute to the genetic underpinnings of the familial forms of schizophrenia as well as of the sporadic form. As 15q11-13 duplication is a well-known recurrent CNV associated with autism in the literature, the detection of the 15q11.2-q13.1 duplication in our schizophrenia patients provides additional support to other studies reporting that schizophrenia is part of the clinical spectrum of 15q11-q13 duplication syndrome., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background/purpose: Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection may cause severe neurological and cardiopulmonary complications, especially in preschool children. This study is to investigate the seroprevalence and seroconversion of EV71, and the crossprotection of EV71 antibody against other enteroviruses among kindergarteners., Methods: Overall 228 children in a public kindergarten were enrolled during two academic years, 2006 and 2007, in Taipei, Taiwan and we measured their EV71 neutralizing antibody. When the participants had herpangina; hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD); febrile illness or respiratory symptoms, throat swabs were sampled and processed for viral culture and enterovirus real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Questionnaires, completed by the participants' guardians, surveyed the history of allergy and annual incidence of symptoms related to enterovirus infection., Results: Seropositive rates of EV71 were 20% (32/163) in 2006 and 6% (4/65) in 2007. The rate of EV71 seropositivity increased with age (p < 0.01) in 2006 but it did not differ between genders (p = 0.14). No seroconversion was observed from 2006 to 2007. Herpangina occurred in 64% of children with EV71 seropositivity and 48% of those without EV71 antibodies (p = 0.12). Non-71 enterovirus infection, confirmed by viral study, occurred in 53% (19/36) of the EV71-seropositive children and in 53% (102/192) of EV71-seronegative children (p = 0.89). No participants had EV71 infection during the study period., Conclusion: EV71 did not frequently circulate in Taipei City from September 2006 to June 2008. Presence of EV71 neutralizing antibody was not associated with lower incidence of enterovirus infection caused by non-71 serotypes., (Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background/purpose: The transmission rate of enteroviruses in young children remains unclear. Therefore, we carried out active surveillance in preschool children to investigate the transmission rate and clinical manifestation of enteroviruses., Methods: From September 2006 to December 2008, we monitored infectious diseases in children 2(-3 years of age) in a preschool in Taipei. If any child had a febrile illness or symptoms/signs of enteroviral infection [e.g. herpangina or hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD)], we performed viral isolation and enterovirus polymerase chain reaction. VP1 sequencing was performed to define their serotypes. We also collected clinical data and analyzed transmission rates., Results: There were eight episodes of enterovirus infection during the study period. The serotypes included coxsackievirus A4 (CA4), CA2 and CA16. The transmission rates of CA4 and CA2 among children in same class were 26% and 35%, respectively. Between November 28 and December 12, 2008, 13/21 (61.9%) children contracted herpangina and/or HFMD. The average age was 2.82 (range, 2.43-3.39) years. CA16 was detected in 10/13 (76.9%) of the throat swabs by polymerase chain reaction VP1 genotyping. Compared with previous CA2 and CA4 outbreaks, CA16 had a significantly higher transmission rate (p = 0.035) and resulted in more cases of HFMD (p < 0.001). The transmission duration of coxsackie A viruses within the same class ranged from 12 to 40 days., Conclusion: Compared with CA2 and CA4, CA16 infections resulted in more cases of HFMD and had significantly higher transmission rates in preschoolers., (Copyright (c) 2010 Taiwan Society of Microbiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)