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After nearly four decades of efforts in the nutrition field, with a total of 26 proposals in the Legislative Yuan, the National Nutrition Act was finally approved on December 15, 2023, and officially announced on January 3, 2024. The law is formally known as the "Nutrition and Health Diet Promotion Act." The act aims to establish a supportive environment for healthy eating habits, enhance public knowledge about nutrition and healthy diets, and ultimately improve the overall health of the population. It encompasses various aspects, including government support systems, ensuring healthy diets, promoting a supportive environment for healthy eating, educating about nutrition and healthy diets, as well as penalties for those spreading false information about nutrition and healthy diets through advertising or other means. With the prevalence of obesity and chronic diseases, as well as cancer and cardiovascular diseases consistently ranking among the top ten causes of death, this belated law concerning public health opens a new era in the awareness of health promotion among our citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of plant pathogens can quickly reshape disease dynamics in island agro-ecologies, representing a continuous challenge for local crop management strategies. Xanthomonas pathogens causing tomato bacterial spot were probably introduced in Taiwan several decades ago, creating a unique opportunity to study the genetic makeup and adaptive response of this alien population. We examined the phenotypic and genotypic identity of 669 pathogen entries collected across different regions of Taiwan in the last three decades. The analysis detected a major population shift, where X. euvesicatoria and X. vesicatoria races T1 and T2 were replaced by new races of X. perforans. After its introduction, race T4 quickly became dominant in all tomato-growing areas of the island. The genomic analysis of 317 global genomes indicates that the Xanthomonas population in Taiwan has a narrow genetic background, most likely resulting from a small number of colonization events. However, despite the apparent genetic uniformity, X. perforans race T4 shows multiple phenotypic responses in tomato lines. Additionally, an in-depth analysis of effector composition suggests diversification in response to local adaptation. These include unique mutations on avrXv3 which might allow the pathogen to overcome Xv3/Rx4 resistance gene. The findings underscore the dynamic evolution of a pathogen when introduced in a semi-isolated environment and provide insights into the potential management strategies for this important disease of tomato. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research indicated that instructors holding entity belief tended to judge students to have low ability and provided ability-comforting feedback following math failure. Students receiving such feedback tended to quit and change course, creating a potential decrease in the pool of students pursuing math related fields. In Confucian heritage cultures (CHCs), the ideal society is primarily based on fulfillment of duties. Thus, the ability-based findings, derived from WEIRD samples, may not apply to duty-based CHCs. We hypothesized that CHC's teachers holding obligation belief tend to attribute students' failure to lack of duty fulfillment and provide duty-based feedback, including duty-comforting and duty-advising feedback, which motivates students to stay on rather than change course. To validate our hypothesis, we conducted three scenario experiments with 160 college students with teaching experiences, 273 high school students, and 369 pre-service teachers in Taiwan. Results showed that while ability-based paradigm may be culture-free, duty-based paradigm seems to be culture-bound. Consistent with previous research, teachers with entity belief tended to give ability-comforting feedback, pushing students to pursue non-math related fields. In contrast, teachers with obligation belief were likely to offer duty-comforting and duty-advising feedback, contributing to students' persistent pursuit in math. Furthermore, three fifths of teachers were inclined to provide ability-comforting, duty-comforting and duty-advising feedback concurrently, thus putting students in an unpleasant predicament that might be detrimental to their psychological well-being. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study was focused on the extent of influence of private brand on firm value. Data collected from a study of Interbrand on the evaluation of brand values of Taiwan-based businesses with private brand names were studied using the unbalance panel regression. The study suggested positive significant influence on firm value when a firm develops its own brand name. This indicates that when a firm is in the Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) and Original Design Manufacturing (ODM) periods, the firm has solid capability of research and production. Also, it was found in the study that when the earnings per share, R&D expense and sales growth of a firm increase, there is the positive significant influence on the value of the firm. These factors have their significance for the development of private brand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The aims of this study of people with oral cavity cancer were to compare the social support, depression, nicotine dependence, physical function and social-emotional function of those who continued smoking with those who quit smoking, by matching age and survival time and to identify the predictors of continued smoking during the survival period. Background: People who continue to smoke after cancer treatment may have an impact on treatment response and survival. Design: A cross-sectional survey was conducted. Methods: This study compared 92 people with oral cavity cancer who continued smoking with 92 people who quit smoking, with matching for age and survival time between January 2015 - November 2015. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to compare the two groups. Results: The quit smoking group had significantly more social support, less depression and greater social-emotional function than the continued smoking group. People who were unmarried, received surgery without reconstruction, had poor social support and had poor social-emotional function were more likely to continue smoking. Conclusions: People with oral cavity cancer were more likely to continue smoking after the treatment if they had low social support, depression, greater nicotine dependence and poor social-emotional function. Healthcare professionals should pay more attention to social support, psychological status and nicotine dependence of people who were treated for oral cavity cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stroke is one of the leading causes of mortality and neurologic deficits. Management measures to improve neurologic outcomes are in great need. Our previous intervention trial in elderly subjects successfully used salt as a carrier for potassium, demonstrating a 41% reduction in cardiovascular mortality by switching to potassium-enriched salt. Dietary magnesium has been associated with lowered diabetes and/or stroke risk in humans and with neuroprotection in animals. Objective: Because a large proportion of Taiwanese individuals are in marginal deficiency states for potassium and for magnesium and salt is a good carrier for minerals, it is justifiable to study whether further enriching salt with magnesium at an amount near the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) amount may provide additional benefit for stroke recovery. Design: This was a double-blind, randomized controlled trial comprising 291 discharged stroke patients with modified Rankin scale (mRS) ≤4. There were 3 arms: 1) regular salt (Na salt) (n = 99), 2) potassium-enriched salt (K salt) (n = 97), and 3) potassium- and magnesium-enriched salt (K/Mg salt) (n = 95). The NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS), Barthel Index (BI), and mRS were evaluated at discharge, at 3 mo, and at 6 mo. A good neurologic performance was defined by NIHSS = 0, BI = 100, and mRS ≤1. Results: After the 6-mo intervention, the proportion of patients with good neurologic performance increased in a greater magnitude in the K/Mg salt group than in the K salt group and the Na salt group, in that order. The K/Mg salt group had a significantly increased OR (2.25; 95% CI: 1.09, 4.67) of achieving good neurologic performance compared with the Na salt group. But the effect of K salt alone (OR: 1.58; 95% CI: 0.77, 3.22) was not significant. Conclusions: This study suggests that providing the DRI amount of magnesium and potassium together long term is beneficial for stroke patient recovery from neurologic deficits. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02910427. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several previous studies have investigated the effectiveness of cold applications for pain associated with chest tube removal (CTR). However, the results of these studies are mutually contradictory. Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the evidence related to the effectiveness of using a cold application to reduce the pain associated with CTR. Methods: This review focused on studies published before June 2014 that were indexed in the following databases: Cochrane Library, PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, ProQuest, Airiti Library, and National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan. Keywords that were searched included: chest tube removal, cold application, and pain within a search design based on the PICO (patient, intervention, comparion, outcome) structure. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated the efficacy of cold application in patients before CTR were included in analysis. Study quality was assessed using the Modified Jadad scale. Results: Five RCTs that enrolled a total of 426 patients were included in the analysis. The mean age of participants ranged from 48.7 (SD = 16.5) to 60.2 (SD = 6.2) years. Ice packs were most widely used and applied to an area approximately 5-15 cm in diameter, with the chest tube entry point at the center. The findings of the effectiveness of the cold application were inconsistent among the studies. The researchers terminated the cold application when patients' skin temperature reached 13°C or after 20 min, which showed that the cold application immediately reduced the pain associated with CTR. It was also observed that the cold application prolonged the duration of time between the CTR and the administration of analgesics. Additionally, two studies in which analgesics were administered to participants 60 min before CTR showed that cold application in combination with analgesics administration reduced patient pain due to the enhancement affects of CTR, which obtained results that were better than analgesics administration alone. Conclusion: The results of this study may be used as a reference for reducing pain associated with CTR in clinical practice. However, further studies with larger sample sizes are required to support these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Resilience embodies the personal qualities that enable one to thrive in the face of adversity and is a significant factor affecting the health of patients with mental illness. Most research on resilience has focused on patients in high-risk groups. Thus, there is lack of research exploring the resilience of psychiatric patients and related factors. Purpose: The aims of the present study were to (1) explore the relationships among demographic characteristics, psychiatric symptoms, perceived stress, medical professional-patient interaction, social support, social adaptive function, and resilience and (2) identify indicators of resilience in psychiatric patients. Methods: A total of 180 psychiatric patients were recruited from a mental hospital in eastern Taiwan. The brief psychiatric rating scale, perceived stress scale, questionnaire of medical professional-patient interaction and social support, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and social adaptive function scale were used to collect data. Results: Participants in the present study showed an intermediate level of resilience. Resilience scores correlated positively with medical professional-patient interaction and social support and negatively with perceived stress, social adaptive function, and psychiatric symptoms. Stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that perceived stress, social support, education, and social adaptive function collectively accounted for 45.3% of the total variance. Conclusion / Implications for Practice: For psychiatric patients, enhancing social support and social adaptive function and decreasing perceived stress improves their resilience and decreases the frequency of their psychiatric episodes, thus increasing their chances of returning to society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the system simulation and implementation of the system integrity protection schemes (SIPS) in an independent, intensive, and island-type power system. It also elucidates a smart grid plan to provide grid security in this power grid. The proposed SIPS can prevent blackouts that could otherwise result from the transient instability of N-3 contingencies and has been fully implemented and operated. The entire SIPS installation comprises two stages. The first-stage SIPS takes generator tripping system simulation and the second-stage SIPS involves generator tripping, load rejection, and bus-tie switching countermeasures. The proposed SIPS can prevent isolated power system blackout from extreme contingencies system and provide a valuable system simulation experience for similar independent power grids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses research investigating the acute effect of drop jump (DJ) protocols with different volumes and recovery time on countermovement jump (CMJ) performance. 10 male collegiate volleyball players performed a series of CMJs and one of two randomly-assigned DJ protocols. Results from a repeated-measures analysis of variance, used to examine the differences between training volumes and recovery times in CMJ (HCMJ) height and ground reaction force, are discussed.

The article presents a study that describes a radial basis function (RBF)-based model with an information processor for more accurate forecasts of hourly reservoir inflow in Taiwan. It develops an information processor based on the multilayer perceptron neural (MLP) network to pre-process the typhoon information and to produce forecasts of rainfall. It concludes that the RBF-based model performs well and is capable of providing improved forecasts of hourly inflow, especially for long lead-time.

In 1983, the Taiwan government established the Synchrotron Radiation Research Center to begin the planning of a national synchrotron facility for soft X-ray and vacuum ultraviolet research. After several years of preparation, the Taiwan Light Source (TLS), a 1.3-GeV storage ring, became commissioned for user operation in October 1993. Since then, synchrotron radiation research has grown to become a major field of research in Taiwan. In May 2003, the synchrotron organization formally became one of seven national laboratories and was given the name National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC). This institutional establishment ensures continuous support by the government in terms of annual budget and future development of the Center. In December 2007, the government approved a new synchrotron project to construct a small-emittance 3-GeV storage ring, the Taiwan Photon Source (TPS). In this report, we briefly discuss in two parts the development of accelerator facilities, and the growth of user research programs at NSRRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: The association between anticardiolipin antibody (aCL) and ischemic stroke is controversial, and there are few case-control studies of Asian populations. The aim of this study, therefore, was to determine whether aCL is an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke in Taiwanese patients over the age of 40 years. Methods: Both the IgG and IgM isotypes of aCL were measured in 273 patients (>40 years of age) hospitalized for first-ever ischemic stroke and in 181 non-stroke controls. Results were defined as: negative (<10 IgG phospholipid units [GPL] or <7.5 IgM phospholipid units [MPL]); low positive (10-20 GPL or 7.5-15 MPL); or, high positive (>20 GPL or >15 MPL). Odds ratios (OR) were estimated by logistic regression with adjustment for potential confounders. Results: A high positive IgG aCL was present in 4.4% of the stroke patients and 1.2% of the controls. Age- and sex-adjusted analysis showed a borderline association between a high positive level for aCL IgG titer and stroke, with an OR of 4.01 (95% CI 0.87-18.37; p = 0.0739). Final analysis, with adjustments for age, sex, hypertension, diabetes, tobacco smoking, atrial fibrillation, left ventricular hypertrophy and hyperlipidemia, revealed an OR of 5.25 (95% CI 1.06-25.89; p = 0.0419). Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that elevated titer of aCL IgG (>20 GPL) is associated with first-ever ischemic stroke in Taiwanese patients aged over 40 years. High positive aCL titer is related to ischemic stroke after adjustment for conventional cerebrovascular risk factors, indicating that it is probably an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bouguer gravity anomaly derived from observed gravity data and calculated from a 3-D P-wave velocity model were used to investigate the compatibility between the two to understand the crust structure of the Taiwan region. The seismic velocity model determined by Kuo-Chen et al. (2012) was used for our study. We converted the velocity model to a density model using the relationship between Pwave velocity and rock density proposed by Brocher (2005), and then calculated the corresponding gravity anomaly. The differences between observed gravity anomaly and calculated gravity anomaly in vicinity of the dense TAIGER seismic stations are in general small. To discuss the anomaly discrepancy between shallow and deep structure, we used the upward and downward continuation method to separate the gravitational signal into shallow and deep effects for the comparison of gravitational effect of the 3-D velocity model. A conspicuous gravity low which is lower than the observed Bouguer gravity anomaly occurred beneath the main edge of the Central Range, as shown in the calculated deep-structure gravitational map. This indicates that the Moho depth estimated by the seismic tomography is deeper than that estimated by the gravity data. The negative anomaly location differences resulted from deep-structure effects suggest that the locations of crustal thickening estimated by gravity and seismic tomography are different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Although patients with buccal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) usually show acceptable outcomes, local control and survival rates are generally lower than those observed for tongue SCC. This study was designed to compare the clinical outcomes of Taiwanese patients with these two common oral cavity malignancies.Methods: Patients with first primary buccal or tongue SCC who were included in the Taiwanese Cancer Registry Database between 2004 and 2012 were eligible. The study sample consisted of 16,379 patients (7870 buccal SCC and 8509 tongue SCC) who received surgery with or without adjuvant therapy. The 5-year disease-specific survival (DSS) and overall survival (OS) rates served as the outcome measures.Results: Compared with tongue SCC, patients with buccal SCC had a higher prevalence of males (95.7% vs. 86.4%, p<0.0001), pT4 disease (21.4% vs. 12.7%, p<0.0001), and p-Stage IV (30.4% vs. 24.8%, p<0.0001) but a lower frequency of pN2 disease (15.2% vs. 18.5%, p<0.0001). The 5-year DSS and OS rates of buccal SCC patients were slightly higher than those of tongue SCC (78% vs. 77%, p=0.0297; and 71% vs. 69%, p=0.0231, respectively). Multivariate analysis identified tumor site (tongue vs. buccal SCC), sex (male vs. female), age (≥65 vs. <65years), pT classification (T4/T3/T2 vs. T1), and pN classification (N3/N2/N1vs. N0) as independent prognostic factors in the entire study cohort.Conclusions: The survival advantage of buccal SCC over tongue SCC appears significant in large clinical samples, despite a higher prevalence of p-Stage IV disease in the former. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evidence for a relationship between dietary patterns and uric acid concentrations is scanty. Here, we used a validated food frequency questionnaire for an ethnic Chinese population in Taiwan to investigate the relationship between dietary patterns and uric acid concentrations. A cross-sectional study on 266 adults, who were interviewed with a 38-item food frequency questionnaire, was conducted and serum uric acid levels were measured. Three dietary patterns were derived from the questionnaire by exploratory factor analysis. Participants in the higher vegetable and fruit pattern quartiles were more likely to have a lower uric acid concentration (6.5 for the first, 5.7 for the second, 6.0 for the third, and 6.0 mg/dL for the fourth quartile, p = 0.030). For uric acid-prone patterns, as the quartiles increased, the adjusted mean uric acid concentrations increased significantly (5.88, 5.93, 5.99 and 6.38 mg/dL for each quartile, respectively, p = 0.04). However, the significance level was attenuated after adjusting for additional confounding factors. In conclusion, three dietary patterns were identified for ethnic Chinese in Taiwan, and the relationship between these dietary patterns and uric acid was not significant after adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic hepatitis/cirrhosis is the eighth leading cause of death in Taiwan. Excess accumulated extracellular matrix produced by activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is the major cause of liver fibrosis. Ginsenoside Rb1, the most active compound purified from ginseng, has been considered to be hepatoprotective. This study investigated the effects of ginsenoside Rb1 (98.8% purity) on activation, proliferation, and profibrotic factors in rat HSC-T6 cells under H2O2 oxidative stress. Rat HSC-T6 cells were activated by 10 riM H2O2 and then incubated with different concentrations of ginsenoside Rb1 (5, 10, 20, 40, and 80 µg/mL) for 24 hours. Medium containing 0.08% dimethyl sulfoxide or 5 mM N-acetyl-L-cysteine was used as a negative or positive control, respectively. The results showed that ginsenoside Rb1 at 5-40 µg/mL significantly reduced α-smooth muscle actin levels and at 5-80 µg/mL inhibited cell proliferation in HSC-T6 cells after induction with H2O2 (P < .05). Collagen secreted by HSC-T6 cells was decreased by ginsenoside Rb1 at 5-80 µg/mL (P < .05). Protein expression of transforming growth factor-βl (TGF-β1), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 was suppressed by ginsenoside Rb1 at 10-80 µg/mL (P < .05). In addition, mRNA expression of type I and III collagen, TGF-β1, and TIMP-1 was inhibited by ginsenoside Rb1 (10 and 80 µg/mL) (P<.05). Therefore, ginsenoside Rb1 exerted an antifibrotic effect on HSCs by inhibiting activation, proliferation, and expression of collagen, TGF-β1, MMP-2, and TIMP-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]