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Background: This study examined the association between methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase ( MTHFR) polymorphisms and survival of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) treated with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-based chemotherapy in Taiwan. Methods: We genotyped MTHFR polymorphisms C677T (rs1801133) and A1298C (rs1801131) for 498 CRC patients treated with 5-FU-based chemotherapy after receiving surgery. Survival analyses on MTHFR polymorphisms were performed using log-rank test and Kaplan-Meier curve. Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between MTHFR genotypes and survival. Results: Overall survival (OS) was significantly longer in CRC patients with MTHFR 677 CT+TT genotypes compared with those with 677 CC genotype (HR 0.77; 95% CI 0.60-0.98). Although the MTHFR A1298C polymorphism was not associated with OS in CRC, this polymorphism was associated with significantly shorter OS in rectal cancer. Among rectal cancer patients, OS was shorter for patients with AC+CC genotypes than for those with the AA genotype (HR 1.95; 95% CI 1.35-2.83). In haplotype analysis, better OS was found for colon cancer patients carrying the MTHFR 677T-1298A haplotype (HR 0.73; 95% CI 0.55-0.97), but worse survival was linked to rectal cancer patients carrying the MTHFR 677C-1298C haplotype (HR 1.53; 95% CI 1.08-2.18). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that MTHFR genotypes provide prognostic information for CRC patients treated with 5-FU-based chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Casualty rescue is always a critical issue in emergency departments when the buildings collapsing, bridges or roads damaged happen in the earthquakes. However, previous studies essentially considered such a problem by assuming fixed travel time for the ambulance. This paper aims to involve road failure during the earthquake by considering the stochastic durations for each road. The probability that the casualty can be successfully rescued to the casualty collection point (CCP) provides further medical treatment for the casualties. Such a probability is named network reliability which is defined as the probability that the number of casualties can be successfully transported to the CCP in a given rescue time. To evaluate the network reliability, the data transformation procedure is firstly developed to convert the road data into duration probability table, which addresses the travel time and corresponding probability of each road. Second, the multi-state rescue network is established, and an algorithm is constructed to obtain all upper bound vectors meeting the demand and time constraint. The network reliability can be computed by obtained upper bound vectors using the recursive sum disjoint product method. An example of a real earthquake disaster in Tainan City, Taiwan is adopted to demonstrate the practicality of the proposed algorithm. Finally, the experimental results with different number of ambulances and times can provide the commander decision recommendations for immediate emergency responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at developing a set of appropriate performance evaluation indices mainly based on balanced scorecard (BSC) for extension education centers in universities by utilizing multiple criteria decision making (MCDM). Through literature reviews and experts who have real practical experiences in extension education, adequate performance evaluation indices have been selected and then utilizing the decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and analytic network process (ANP), respectively, further establishes the causality between the four BSC perspectives as well as the relative weights between evaluation indices. According to this previous result, an empirical analysis of the performance evaluation of extension education centers of three universities at Taoyuan County in Taiwan is illustrated by applying VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR). From the analysis results, it indicates that "Learning and growth" is the significant influential factor and it would affect the other three perspectives. In addition, it is discovered that "Internal process" perspective as well as "Financial" perspective play important roles in the performance evaluation of extension education centers. The top three key performance indices are "After-sales service", "Turnover volume", and "Net income". The proposed evaluation model could be considered as a reference for extension education centers in universities to prioritize their improvements on the key performance indices after performing VIKOR analyses., (2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Vegetable oil used in food processing, during high-temperature exposure, will generate particulate matter (PM) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are carcinogenic chemical compounds, with the potential to cause lung disease for restaurant kitchen staff. This study's design includes a three-stage consultation process with eight major consultation items, in order to build an integrated consultation model for occupational hygiene. This model combines inspection and consultation, targeting Chinese restaurants in the catering industry. Characteristics of the integrated consultation model include cooperation between different government departments and collaboration with nongovernmental, professional consulting organizations. An additional benefit of the model is the building of a good partnership relationship with the Catering Trade Association. The consultation model helps Chinese restaurants attain improvements in their work environments with minimal investment. Postconsultation, results show a 63.35% and 61.98% (P < 0.001) decrease in the mean time-weighted concentration of exposure to PM and PAHs, respectively. The overall regulation compliance rate of Chinese restaurants significantly increased from 34.3% to 89.6%. These results show that the integrated consultation model for occupational hygiene not only helps small and medium enterprises reduce exposure concentrations in the workplace but also has specific potential for successful implementation in Taiwan.

In this research, we designed a three-stage consultation procedure and eight major consultation items in order to construct an integrated occupational health consultation model that emphasizes both inspection and consultation. The main characteristics of the proposed model include cooperation among governmental departments, combining non-governmental professional consulting organizations, and establishing partnerships with industrial associations. This model has clear active and passive performance indicators and includes technical guidance during consultation as well as the exit mechanism after consultation. This consultation model enables small- and medium-sized enterprises to achieve environmental improvements with minimum investment. Companies that improved after consultation have a mean ethylene oxide exposure concentration, for the time weighted average, that dropped from 7.36 ± 16.88 ppm to 0.76 ± 1.35 ppm (p<0.01). In addition, the overall company compliant item ratio for regulations increased from 34.1% to 89.7%. The above results demonstrate the integrated occupational health consultation model assists small- and medium-sized enterprises in reducing exposure concentrations at operational sites. Our results further demonstrate the feasibility of successfully implementing the proposed consultation model within Taiwan's medical supply manufacturing industry.