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Background: The metabolic syndrome (MetS) concept is widely used in public health and clinical settings without an agreed pathophysiology. We have re-examined the MetS in terms of body fuels, so as to provide a coherent cross-cultural pathogenesis. Methods: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2001-2) with n = 2254 and Taiwanese National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) sub-set for hypertension, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia assessment (TwSHHH 2002), n = 5786, were used to compare different ethnicities according to NCEP-ATPIII (NCEP-tw) criteria for METS. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal components (PC) was employed to differentiate and unify MetS components across four ethnicities, gender, age-strata, and urban-rural settings. Results: The first two factors from the PC analysis (PCA) accounted for from 55.2% (non-Hispanic white) to 63.7% (Taiwanese) of the variance. Rotated factor loadings showed that the six MetS components provided three clusters: the impaired energy regulation (IER) components (waist circumference, WC, fasting triglycerides, TG, and fasting plasma glucose, FPG), systolic and diastolic blood pressures (BPs), and HDL-cholesterol, where the IER components accounted for 25-26% of total variance of MetS components. For the three US ethnic subgroups, factor 1 was mainly determined by IER and HDL-cholesterol, and factor 2 was related to the BP components. For Taiwanese, IER was determinant for both factors, and BPs and HDL-cholesterol were related to factors 1 and 2 respectively. Conclusions: There is a MetS core which unifies populations. It comprises WC, TG and FPG as a core, IER, which may be expressed and modulated in various second order ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This research conducts a meaningful comparison of self-reported importance and satisfaction in various life domains to promote the understanding of subjective well-being (SWB). Results from a nationwide telephone survey with regard to 12 indicators of well-being in Taiwan suggest that satisfaction attitude rating does incorporate the judgment of importance among SWB indicators. We further reveal different patterns of association, similarity, and discrepancy between importance and satisfaction across SWB indicators by performing both explanatory and confirmatory analyses. All the various analytical results lead to crucial meanings for interpreting the general level of SWB, especially under a cultural context such as Taiwan society. The adapted Importance-Performance analysis classifies the SWB measurements into four meaningful quadrants according to the importance and satisfaction scores. Applying a regression modelling strategy, we explore how importance judgment together with other demographic factors influences the satisfaction attitude and further verify what potential factors relate to their discrepancy. Graphical analyses enhance the presentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the semantic development of significant keywords in Taiwanese cultural discourse from a corpus-based inductive perspective. It contextualises these keywords ideologically and socially via extended network analysis and innovatively also via sociological analysis. The research investigated lexical patterns in what we refer to as the Taiwan Early Post-war Corpus, which consists of culturally oriented articles from 1945 to 1949. It treated shared ideologically loaded keywords as indicators of different ideologies which in turn identify the social groups who propagate them. Through this process we discovered three ideologically inclined semantic fields, which emphasise connections to the dominant cultural discourses of the central and local governments, as well as one that emphasises Taiwanese subjectivity. To understand their contemporaneous dynamics, the study examined networks associated with the authors and periodicals through shared keywords. Using the Taiwan Biographical Ontology, the study complemented ideological patterns with positional analyses of authors' social involvements, which allowed us to treat them as proxies for various types of social, cultural, economic and political capital. We could thus characterise the habitus of each cluster and its position on an ideological map, thereby creating multi-layered networks of concepts, ideologies and social patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite routine vaccine use, sporadic outbreaks of infectious coryza in poultry continue to occur in Taiwan. This study was designed to determine the serotypes and the complete nucleotide sequences of a hemagglutinin gene ( HMTp210 ) of Avibacterium paragallinarum isolated in Taiwan between 1994 and 2017. Hemagglutination inhibition tests showed that these isolates belong to serogroups B and C. Sequence analyses of the HMTp210 gene showed that Taiwanese serogroup B isolates are most similar (94.7%-98.2% identity) to strain FARPER-174 isolated in Peru in 2015. In contrast, Taiwanese serogroup C isolates are most similar (96.3%-99.8% identity) to strain H-18 isolated in Japan in 1976. This is the first report showing the presence of A. paragallinarum of serogroup B in Taiwan. In addition, one Taiwanese isolate showed cross-reactivity with serogroup B and C antisera. This isolate contains a chimeric HMTp210 gene that might result from recombination between serogroups B and C. These findings could be valuable for the epidemiologic study and molecular serotyping of A. paragallinarum .

There are knowledge gaps in our understanding of vegetation responses to multi-scale climate-related variables in tropical/subtropical mountainous islands in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, this study investigated inter-annual vegetation dynamics and regular/irregular climate patterns in Taiwan. We applied principal component analysis (PCA) on 11 years (2001∼2011) of high-dimensional monthly photosynthetically active vegetation cover (PV) derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and investigated the relationships between spatiotemporal patterns of the eigenvectors and loadings of each component through time and multi-scale climaterelated variations. Results showed that the first five components contributed to 96.4% of the total variance. The first component (PC1, explaining 94.5% of variance) loadings, as expected, were significantly correlated with the temporal dynamics of the PV ( r = 0.94), which was mainly governed by regional climate. The temporal loadings of PC2 and PC3 (0.8% and 0.6% of variance, respectively) were significantly correlated with the temporal dynamics of the PV of forests ( r = 0.72) and the farmlands ( r = 0.80), respectively. The low-order components (PC4 and PC5, 0.3% and 0.2% of variance, respectively) were closely related to the occurrence of drought ( r = 0.49) and to irregular ENSO associated climate anomalies ( r = −0.54), respectively. Pronounced correlations were also observed between PC5 and the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) with one to three months of time lags ( r = −0.35 ∼ −0.43, respectively), revealing biophysical memory effects on the time-series pattern of the vegetation through ENSO-related rainfall patterns. Our findings reveal that the sensitivity of the ecosystems in this tropical/subtropical mountainous island may not only be regulated by regional climate and human activities but also be susceptible to large-scale climate anomalies which are crucial and comparable to previous large scale analyses. This study demonstrates that PCA can be an effective tool for analyzing seasonal and inter-annual variability of vegetation dynamics across this tropical/subtropical mountainous islandin the Pacific Ocean, which provides an opportunity to forecast the responses and feedbacks of terrestrial environments to future climate scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, DNA analyses were employed to verify the identity of six morphologically similar species that occur in the coastal waters of Taiwan: the black seabream complex ( Acanthopagrus latus, Acanthopagrus schlegelii, Acanthopagrus sivicolus, Acanthopagrus taiwanensis, Acanthopagrus chinshira and Acanthopagrus pacificus). Amplified fragment-length polymorphism (AFLP) analyses clearly distinguished the same six species that are morphologically diagnosable based on subtle differences in scale counts and anal-fin colouration. In contrast, mitochondrial DNA analyses based on cytochrome b gene sequences did not distinguish individuals of A. schlegelii and A. sivicolus, reflecting either historical introgression or recent speciation and incomplete sorting of their mitochondrial lineages. Phylogenetic relationships among these six north-west Pacific Ocean species of Acanthopagrus analysed using AFLP data were consistent with scale rows above the lateral line (TRac), sperm ultrastructure and geographical distribution. The study provides molecular tools for future research relevant to improved management of these resources, and an increased understanding of the evolutionary history of this radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A statistical downscaling model, based on the outputs of general circulation models (GCMs) as predictors, was proposed to simulate the daily precipitations in the Shih-Men reservoir catchment in Taiwan. The structure of the proposed downscaling model is composed of two parts: classification and regression. Predictors of classification and regression models were selected from the large-scale weather variables in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NECP) reanalysis data based on statistical tests. Discriminant analysis and support vector regression (SVR) were applied to build the classification and regression models. The outputs of five atmosphere-ocean GCMs, which are reported to have properly considered tropical cyclone information and East Asian Monsoon modelling, were used for projecting future precipitations. Data from four grids covering Taiwan were used for developing the downscaling model. The potential of the downscaling models in simulating local precipitations was evaluated, and downscaling results reveal that the proposed downscaling model can reproduce local daily precipitations from large-scale weather variables. Projected local precipitations under two emission scenarios show that the precipitations in the study area tend to decrease. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Austronesian is a linguistic family spread in most areas of the Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. Based on their linguistic similarity, this linguistic family included Malayo-Polynesians and Taiwan aborigines. The linguistic similarity also led to the controversial hypothesis that Taiwan is the homeland of all the Malayo-Polynesians, a hypothesis that has been debated by ethnologists, linguists, archaeologists, and geneticists. It is well accepted that the Eastern Austronesians (Micronesians and Polynesians) derived from the Western Austronesians (Island Southeast Asians and Taiwanese), and that the Daic populations on the mainland are supposed to be the headstream of all the Austronesian populations. Results: In this report, we studied 20 SNPs and 7 STRs in the non-recombining region of the 1,509 Y chromosomes from 30 China Daic populations, 23 Indonesian and Vietnam Malayo-Polynesian populations, and 11 Taiwan aboriginal populations. These three groups show many resemblances in paternal lineages. Admixture analyses demonstrated that the Daic populations are hardly influenced by Han Chinese genetically, and that they make up the largest proportion of Indonesians. Most of the population samples contain a high frequency of haplogroup O1a-M119, which is nearly absent in other ethnic families. The STR network of haplogroup O1a illustrated that Indonesian lineages did not derive from Taiwan aborigines as linguistic studies suggest, but from Daic populations. Conclusion: We show that, in contrast to the Taiwan homeland hypothesis, the Island Southeast Asians do not have a Taiwan origin based on their paternal lineages. Furthermore, we show that both Taiwan aborigines and Indonesians likely derived from the Daic populations based on their paternal lineages. These two populations seem to have evolved independently of each other. Our results indicate that a super-phylum, which includes Taiwan aborigines, Daic, and Malayo-Polynesians, is genetically educible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ascertaining the genetic relationships between Austronesian populations is paramount to understanding their dispersal throughout the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The start of the Austronesian expansion has been dated to approximately 6,000 years ago, and from linguistic and archeological evidence, the origin of this dispersal may have been the island of Formosa. Consequently, the Taiwanese aboriginal populations and their phylogenetic relationship to the Austronesian-speaking groups from Madagascar at the occidental fringes of the expansion are of great interest. In this study, allelic frequencies from six polymorphic point mutation loci were assessed in the Austronesian-speaking populations of Madagascar, the Atayal aborigines of Formosa, and the general populations of Bali and Java. These allelic frequencies were compared and analyzed with the corresponding values from eight other worldwide populations from geographically targeted regions. The group from Madagascar is genetically distinct from their east-African neighbor from Zimbabwe. Our data also indicates that the Ami and the Atayal aborigines in the island of Taiwan, which occupy adjacent territories, differ sharply genetically. Genetic differences were also found between the populations of Bali and Java, belying their geographical proximity. Our results indicate that the east-African population from Madagascar phylogenetically segregates intermediate between mainland east-African and east-Asian groups, corroborating linguistic data indicating the Austronesian influence on this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic affinities between aboriginal Taiwanese and populations from Oceania and Southeast Asia have previously been explored through analyses of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosomal DNA, and human leukocyte antigen loci. Recent genetic studies have supported the ‘slow boat’ and ‘entangled bank’ models according to which the Polynesian migration can be seen as an expansion from Melanesia without any major direct genetic thread leading back to its initiation from Taiwan. We assessed mtDNA variation in 640 individuals from nine tribes of the central mountain ranges and east coast regions of Taiwan. In contrast to the Han populations, the tribes showed a low frequency of haplogroups D4 and G, and an absence of haplogroups A, C, Z, M9, and M10. Also, more than 85% of the maternal lineages were nested within haplogroups B4, B5a, F1a, F3b, E, and M7. Although indicating a common origin of the populations of insular Southeast Asia and Oceania, most mtDNA lineages in Taiwanese aboriginal populations are grouped separately from those found in China and the Taiwan general (Han) population, suggesting a prevalence in the Taiwanese aboriginal gene pool of its initial late Pleistocene settlers. Interestingly, from complete mtDNA sequencing information, most B4a lineages were associated with three coding region substitutions, defining a new subclade, B4a1a, that endorses the origin of Polynesian migration from Taiwan. Coalescence times of B4a1a were 13.2 ± 3.8 thousand years (or 9.3 ± 2.5 thousand years in Papuans and Polynesians). Considering the lack of a common specific Y chromosomal element shared by the Taiwanese aboriginals and Polynesians, the mtDNA evidence provided here is also consistent with the suggestion that the proto-Oceanic societies would have been mainly matrilocal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the genetic characteristics and relationships of the Ami aborigines in Taiwan. Use of the allelic frequency data to generate expected heterozygosities; Uniqueness of the Ami people; Data supportive of limited gene flow and small populations size.

Although doctoral mentors recognize the benefits of providing quality advisement and close guidance, those of sharing project management responsibilities with mentees are still not well recognized. We observed that mentees, who have the opportunity to co-manage projects, generate more written output. Here we examine the link between research productivity, doctoral mentoring practices (DMP), and doctoral research experiences (DRE) of mentees in programs in the non-West. Inspired by previous findings that early career productivity is a strong predictor of later productivity, we examine the research productivity of 210 molecular biology doctoral students in selected programs in Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan. Using principal component (PC) analysis, we derive two sets of PCs: one set from 15 DMP and another set from 16 DRE items. We model research productivity using Poisson and negative-binomial regression models with these sets as predictors. Our findings suggest a need to re-think extant practices and to allocate resources toward professional career development in training future scientists. We contend that doctoral science training must not only be an occasion for future scientists to learn scientific and technical skills, but it must also be the opportunity to experience, to acquire, and to hone research management skills.

A barrier jet is frequently found along the northwestern coast of Taiwan in the prefrontal southwesterly flow regime during the Taiwan Area Mesoscale Experiment (TAMEX). It has a maximum wind speed of 14 m s 21 at approximately 1 km above the surface with a vertical wind shear approximately 10 3 10 23 s 21 below and 4 3 10 23 s 21 above that altitude. During TAMEX, the southwesterly monsoon flow strengthens over Taiwan when the low-level pressure trough/surface front moves toward the southeastern China coast. The barrier jet is a result of the stably stratified airflow past an island obstacle under a small--Froude number [,O(1)] flow regime. During the occurrence of a barrier jet, a windward pressure ridge is observed along the southwestern coast due to island blocking. In low levels, the incoming southwesterly flow decelerates off the southwestern coast and moves around the island. Along the western coast, the deflected airflow accelerates northward with a large cross-contour wind component down the pressure gradient along the western coast, resulting in a barrier jet over northwestern Taiwan. The barrier jet is the strongest when the surface windward ridge--leeside trough pressure pattern is most significant and weakens after a surface front arrives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Insulin resistance (IR) is a pathophysiological construct that derives a series of metabolic disturbances that promote cardiometabolic dysfunction. This study evaluated mediating and modifying effects of homeostatic model assessment-based IR (HOMA-IR) on the association between sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption and a constellation of adolescent cardiometabolic abnormalities., Methods: Comprehensive data on sociodemographics, diet, physical activity, and anthropometric and biochemical parameters for 1454 adolescents were obtained from a large-scale representative study for adolescent metabolic syndrome (MetS) conducted in Taiwan. The original (HOMA1-IR) and updated nonlinear (HOMA2-IR) HOMA-IR indicators were used as IR biomarkers. Principal component (PC) analysis was employed to create reduced groups of variables and risk scores for retained PCs., Results: Higher SSB intake was associated with higher levels of HOMA1-IR and HOMA2-IR, and the two IR biomarkers were positively correlated with metabolic dysfunction clustering. Compared with SSB nondrinkers, adolescents who consumed >500 mL/day of hand-shaken high-fructose corn syrup beverages (HHB) had a 0.22 increase in the number of abnormal MetS components, and HOMA-IR mediation explained 33.9-37.9% of the effect. IR biomarkers accounted for 26.5-31.0% of the relationship between >500 mL/day of SSB consumption and bodyweight-enhanced PC scores. The effects of HOMA-IR indicators on all bodyweight-related factors were consistently intensified among >350 mL/day HHB drinkers (all P interaction  < 0.05)., Conclusions: Fructose-rich SSB intake correlates with a constellation of cardiometabolic abnormalities in adolescents, and this association may be partly mediated by HOMA-IR levels. The adverse effects of HOMA-IR on bodyweight-associated cardiometabolic risk factors depend on the type of SSB consumption, with enhanced risks observed in the intake of high amounts of HFCS-containing SSBs.