Search

The commercial software along with the inverse method and the experimental data is used to obtain the mixed convection heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of the single-tube vertical annular finned tube heat exchanger with different tube diameters. Various flow models along with near-wall treatments are introduced to investigate their effects on the obtained numerical results. The inverse method of the finite difference method along with the experimental data is first applied to determine the fin temperature and the heat transfer coefficient for a smaller tube. Afterwards, the air temperature and velocity profiles, the fin temperature distribution and the heat transfer coefficient on the fins are determined by the commercial software along with various flow models. More accurate results are obtained if the resulting heat transfer coefficient and the fin temperature at the measurement locations are respectively close to the inverse results and the experimental data. In addition, the comparison between the obtained air velocity pattern and the existing experimental pattern is desirable. An important finding is that the choice of appropriate flow models, near-wall treatments, friction factor, y+ value and the number of grid points varies with air velocity and tube diameter to obtain more accurate results. The heat transfer coefficient increases with increasing air velocity and fin spacing. However, the friction factor increases as the fin spacing increases and the air velocity decreases. The two vortices are symmetrical in the wake region behind the tube and rotate in the opposite direction. Increasing the number of grid points may not necessarily obtain more accurate results. The proposed correlation of the heat transfer coefficient is closer to the obtained inverse and numerical results than the existing correlation. To our knowledge, few researchers have used the similar method to investigate this problem in the open literature.

TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNTs) were fabricated by anodization under various operational conditions. Dimensions of fabricated TNTs were significantly influenced by the temperature and water content of ...

Objective To analyze the causes and the clinical features of infertile men with nonobstructive azoospermia and hypospermatogenesis (HS). Materials and Methods This retrospective cohort study included 100 patients with nonobstructive azoospermia and HS and 8 patients with obstructive azoospermia and normal spermatogenesis. The severity of HS was subdivided into 3 groups (mild, moderate, and severe) based on spermatogenic score. Data of history, physical findings, serum hormone profiles, genetic studies, and sperm retrieval rate were collected. Whole genome DNA methylation analysis and microarray mRNA expression analysis were used to identify the candidate genes of methylation dysregulation in HS. Results Thirty-two (32%) patients had at least 1 prior/current testicular insults and 13 (13%) patients had genetic anomalies. Fifty-five (55%) patients were categorized as idiopathic HS. Patients with mild HS had a higher frequency of testicular insults, and patients with severe HS had a significantly higher frequency of genetic anomalies. Sperm retrieval rate was 100%, 100%, and 88.4% for patients with mild, moderate, and severe HS, respectively. Four sterility-related genes, including BOLL , DDX4 , HORMAD1 , and MAEL , were found to have increased methylation at CpGs of the promoter regions and decreased mRNA expressions in HS testis. Conclusion The causes of HS are complex and multifactorial. The main causes of HS were prior or current testicular insults and chromosomal or genetic anomalies. More than half of the patients were categorized as idiopathic HS. With high throughput analysis, methylation dysregulations of BOLL , DDX4 , HORMAD1 , and MAEL are believed to be associated with HS.

Checkpoint inhibitors have recently achieved many promising outcomes in cancer treatment.2018 These are monoclonal antibodies targeting cytotoxic T‐lymphocyte antigen‐4 (CTLA‐4), programmed death p...

// Chi-Che Hsieh 1, 2 , Yi-Ming Shyr 4, 10 , Wen-Ying Liao 2 , Tien-Hua Chen 4, 5 , Shin-E Wang 4, 10 , Peir-Chuen Lu 6 , Pei-Yu Lin 7 , Yan-Bo Chen 2 , Wan-Yu Mao 2 , Hsin-Ying Han 2 , Michael Hsiao 2 , Wen-Bin Yang 2 , Wen-Shan Li 3 , Yuh-Pyng Sher 1, 8 , Chia-Ning Shen 2, 6, 9 1 The Ph.D. Program for Cancer Biology and Drug Discovery, China Medical University and Academia Sinica, Taiwan 2 Genomics Research Center and Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan 3 Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan 4 Department of Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan 5 Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology and National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan 6 Department of Biotechnology and Laboratory Science in Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan 7 Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan 8 Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan 9 Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan 10 Faculty of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan Correspondence to: Chia-Ning Shen, email: cnshen@gate.sinica.edu.tw Keywords: fructose, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, metastasis, β-galactoside α2, 6-sialyltransferase 1 Received: May 24, 2016 Accepted: November 30, 2016 Published: December 09, 2016 ABSTRACT Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive type of pancreatic cancer with clinical characteristics of local invasion and early metastasis. Recent cohort studies indicate high fructose intake is associated with an increase in pancreatic cancer risk. However, the mechanisms by which fructose promotes pancreatic tumorigenesis remain unclear. Herein, Kras +/LSLG12D mice were crossed with Elas-CreER transgenic mice to determine whether fructose intake directly contributes to tumor formation. Orthotopic tumor-xenograft experiments were performed to determine whether fructose substitution enhances the metastatic potential of PDAC cells. The mechanisms underlying the effects of fructose were explored by RNAseq analysis in combination with high-performance anion exchange chromatography. Dietary fructose was initially found to promote the development of aggressive pancreatic cancer in mice conditionally expressing Kras G12D in the adult pancreas. We further revealed that fructose substitution enhanced the metastatic potential of human PDAC cell via selective outgrowth of aggressive ABCG2-positive subpopulations and elevating N-acetylmannosamine levels that upregulated β-galactoside α2,6-sialyltransferase 1 (ST6Gal1), thereby promoting distant metastasis. Finally, we observed that PDAC patients expressing higher levels of ST6Gal1 and GLUT5 presented poorer prognosis compared to other groups. In conclusion, our findings have elucidated a crucial role of ST6Gal1 in regulating the invasiveness of PDACs in a fructose-responsive manner.

Background: High myopia is associated with multiple ocular morbidities that may lead to irreversible blindness. Because high myopia in an adult is thought to be related to onset of myopia in very early childhood, detecting myopia early and working to improve modifiable risk factors may help reduce the development of high myopia. In this study, we tried to evaluate the prevalence of myopia and associated risk factors in second-grade primary school children in Taipei, Taiwan. Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to the participants’ parents, and their written informed consent was obtained before performing eye examinations that included visual acuity testing and cycloplegic autorefraction. Multiple logistic regression models were applied to assess possible risk factors associated with myopia. Myopia was defined as spherical equivalent of −0.50 D or less in either eye. Results: The prevalence of myopia in the second graders was 36.4%. After adjustment for other characteristics, the following variables were significantly associated with a higher risk of myopia: male sex [odds ratio (OR)=1.24, p

Pericytes and glial cells are accessory cells of neurovascular networks, which have been reported to participate in scar formation after tissue injury. However, it remains unclear whether similar reactive cellular responses occur in pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN). In this study we developed three-dimensional (3D) duct lesion histology to investigate PanIN and the associated pericyte, glial, and islet remodeling. Transparent mouse pancreata with a KrasG12D mutation were used to develop 3D duct lesion histology. Deep-tissue, tile-scanning microscopy was performed to generate panoramic views of the diseased pancreas for global examination of early stage and advanced duct lesion formation. Fluorescence signals of ductal and neurovascular networks were simultaneously detected to reveal associated remodeling. Significantly, in KrasG12D-mutant mice, when the low-grade PanINs emerge, duct lesions appear as epithelial buds with perilesional pericyte and glial activation. When PanINs occur in large scale (induced by cerulein injections to the mutant mice), the 3D image data identifies 1) aggregation of PanINs in clusters in space; 2) overexpression of the pericyte marker NG2 in the PanIN microenvironment; and 3) epithelial in-growth to islets, forming the PanIN-islet complexes. Particularly, the PanIN-islet complexes associate with proliferating epithelial and stromal cells and receive substantial neurovascular supplies, making them landmarks in the atrophic lobe. Overall, perilesional pericyte and glial activation and formation of the PanIN-islet complex underline cellular heterogeneity in the duct lesion microenvironment. The results also illustrate the advantage of using 3D histology to reveal previously unknown details of neurovascular and endocrine links to the disease.

TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNTs) were modified with copper indium sulfide (Cu/In/S) by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. The field-emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis demonstrated the presence of copper indium sulfide nanoparticles on the surface of the modified TNTs. The Cu/In/S-modified TNTs exhibited higher photocurrent density and photocatalytic activity than plain TNTs. The concentration of sulfur precursor was found to be an important factor on the composition of modified Cu/In/S films by SILAR. Some composition deviations were observed on the stoichiometry of the Cu/In/S-modified TNTs, which evidently affected the electrochemical characteristics of the modified TNTs. Experiments using the modified TNTs of composition close to the stoichiometric ratio of CuInS2 usually delivered higher photocatalytic decomposition of gaseous isopropyl alcohol in air streams and exhibited better stability during operation.

In recent years, traditional transactions have been replaced by electronic transactions. To protect the security of the electronic transactions, various electronic payment (e-payment) mechanisms have been proposed. However, we find the previous e-payment mechanisms do not provide the non-repudiation requirement in the client side. Thus, a malicious client can easily deny the transaction and the merchant may not get the payment. In addition, these mechanisms have large computation and communication costs so they cannot be applied to the mobile payment for cloud computing. To solve the above problems, we propose a new mobile payment mechanism with anonymity for cloud computing in this paper. The proposed mechanism not only reduces the computation cost but also provides the non-repudiation requirement in the client side. Compared with the related works, the proposed mechanism is securer, fairer, and more efficient. Therefore, the proposed mobile payment mechanism is more suitable and practical for the cloud computing. The client can transact anonymously to protect the payment privacy.The client's bank generates the digital signature as the payment proof.The new payment scheme can eliminate the redundant symmetric keys between the client and the merchant.

The management of roadside parking has been a big issue for metropolitan areas. Many city governments still rely on manual issuing of parking tickets or use parking meters to collect the parking fee. Either way, it is not economical in terms of the expenses on human labor and the efficiency of parking space management. To solve the problem, some researchers have proposed roadside parking systems based on wireless sensor networks. However, the existing approaches focus only on detecting the occupancy of parking spaces. This is not enough for a comprehensive roadside parking system because the identification of vehicles using specific roadside parking spaces is yet unknown. In this work-in-progress research, we propose a roadside parking system based on the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon technology to achieve the two goals simultaneously. Specifically, vehicles are attached with a BLE beacon device which broadcasts the identification of the registered vehicle to be scanned by the roadside units. By monitoring the estimated distances between the beacon device and a number of roadside units, our backend system is expected to determine the occupancy of the roadside parking spaces along with the identification of vehicles using the parking spaces.

This study uses a hybrid method of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and inverse heat conduction analysis (IHCA) combined with experimental temperatures to investigate the natural convection of plate finned tube heat exchangers with two horizontal tubes located in a chimney. The influence of the position of the two heated tubes on the results obtained is considered. IHCA combined with experimental temperatures is used to estimate h ¯ and h ¯ b . Subsequently, the CFD commercial software combined with the obtained inverse results and experimental temperatures is employed to get the present results. The results reveal that the zero-equation turbulence model can be applied to determine more accurate results than the other two flow models. Therefore, the appropriate flow model for this study is the zero-equation turbulence model. The fringe pattern for each heated tube is mainly aligned in the vertical direction and the two plumes are slightly inclined toward the inward direction. The obtained velocity pattern and air temperature contour are consistent with existing interferometric images or isotherms. The proposed correlation between Ra and Nu agrees with the obtained inverse and CFD results.

Recently, Odelu et al. proposed a dynamic group password-based authenticated key agreement scheme for the integrated EPR information system. They claimed that their scheme could ensure user anonymity, perfect forward security and known-key security. After analyzing their scheme, we find that it suffers from some flaws. First, their scheme cannot work. Second, their scheme cannot ensure privacy as claimed. In this paper, we will show how these flaws threaten Odelu et al.'s scheme.

Currently, most commercial pet feeders are stationary machines. Owner can control the feeder to throw food at their pet in a remote mode through a smartphone. Some feeders also have a camera function that allows the owner to observe the pet at home through the camera. However, these machines are stationary and can hardly move. The pictures are also in a fixed shooting angle, yet pets may move around the house. Therefore, this paper will design a remote control system on a toy car that is equipped with an IP camera, feeding stuffs and water. It allows the owner not only to receive the image captured by the remote camera through a mobile device, but also to control its movement through MQTT protocol to achieve the purpose of pet feed and water supplement.

Catheter-related blood stream infection (CRBSI) is a major complication in hemodialysis patients. We assessed the efficacy of systemic daptomycin (DPT) plus DPT antibiotic lock therapy (DPT-ALT) for catheter salvage in patients with Gram-positive CRBSIs. This is a retrospective study of hemodialysis patients with tunneled and cuffed hemodialysis catheters. All patients were from a single institution in Taipei and received systemic DPT plus DPT-ALT for the treatment of Gram-positive CRBSI. Successful resolution of CRBSI was implemented. Resolution of fever within 48 hours, negative result of repeated blood cultures after resolution of fever, no clinical evidence of CRBSI relapse and no need for catheter removal were measured. Fifteen hemodialysis patients received DPT-ALT for CRBSI, nine with coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CONS), two with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), three with methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and one with polymicrobial infections. Systemic DPT plus DPT-ALT cured 11 patients (73.3%). Treatment failed in all three MRSA cases (two with MRSA and one with MRSA + Enterococcus faecalis). Retrospective design and small sample size were the limitations of this study. Systemic DPT plus DPT-ALT appears to be a promising treatment for CRBSI from CONS and MSSA, but not for MRSA CRBSI. Systemic DPT plus DPT-ALT should be considered for patients with CRBSIs caused by certain species.

A new VC scheme with cheating-prevention ability is proposed.It reveals solid pattern with moderate-scale on partial-superimposed image.The proposed method verifies shares without any additional authentication shares.The proposed method endows conventional VC with cheating-prevention ability. This paper proposes a simple method for establishing a visual cryptographic (VC) scheme with the ability to prevent cheating. Given the n base-shares generated in a conventional (t,n), 2≤t≤n, VC scheme, an authentication pattern stamping process was designed to encode the n base-shares to get n verifiable shares that exhibit the following properties: (1) knowledge of less than t verifiable-shares gets no secret information, (2) the secret can be revealed by completely superimposing t or more verifiable-shares, and (3) the authentication pattern can be revealed by partially superimposing any pair of verifiable-shares. Theoretical proof and computer simulation for the proposed method are provided. The proposed method has smaller pixel expansion than previous cheating prevention VC schemes, and the verification process is fulfilled without resorting to any additional dedicated verification share. It can be attached easily to any reported VC scheme to endow legitimate users with the capability of detecting faked shares provided by malicious participants.

Introduction: Corticosteroid treatment for uveitis can lead to delayed-onset pressure-induced interlamellar stromal keratitis (PISK), even years after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). A 35-year-old man presented to our clinic after experiencing blurred vision in his left eye for 1 month. For the past month, he had been prescribed topical steroid and anti-glaucomatous medication. He had undergone LASIK for both eyes 5 years earlier, and had suffered uveitis attacks in his left eye over the last 2 years. Slit-lamp examination revealed stromal haziness with interface fluid accumulation in the left eye. The left eye showed an intraocular pressure (IOP) of 35 mm Hg and visual acuity of 6/20. Anterior segment ocular coherence tomography (OCT) confirmed the diagnosis of PISK. Steroid treatment was tapered, and latanoprost treatment was started. One month later, the patient's symptoms resolved, with IOP reduced to 10 mm Hg and visual acuity increased to 6/6 in the left eye. Latanoprost treatment was discontinued to avoid potential uveitis reactivation, and the patient's visual field defect progressed and IOP rebounded. Due to evident glaucomatous damage, trabeculectomy was suggested but was refused. Conclusion: Patients with PISK plus uveitis should be treated with a tailored regimen involving corticosteroid and antiglaucomatous medication or surgical intervention based on the individual condition. Early recognition and appropriate treatment may aid in preventing severe visual sequela in such patients.

PurposeTo investigate the relationship between seasonal variation of daylight length and spherical equivalent (SE) progression among the schoolchildren participating in the Myopia Investigation Study in Taipei.MethodsWe used the first-year data from grade 2 schoolchildren who completed all the baseline and two follow-up examinations (n=6790). There were two 6-month intervals between visits over winter and summer, respectively. For each interval, we calculated average daily daylight length using data from Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau and measured 6-month SE progression rate based on right eye cycloplegic autorefraction data. The midpoint month was defined as the month midway between two consecutive visits.ResultsBy the midpoint month, average daily daylight length was the shortest in December (671±7 min/day) and the longest (785±7 min/day) in June, and SE progression rate was the fastest (−0.23±0.48 D) in December and the slowest (−0.17±0.51 D) in June. Significant variation of SE progression rate with season can be observed only among the schoolchildren (n=1905) whose midpoint months for the winter and summer intervals were December and June (winter rate, −0.25±0.47 D; summer rate, −0.17±0.49 D; pConclusionOur data demonstrate a seasonal variation of minus shift in refractive error among Taipei schoolchildren who had significant daytime fluctuation during the 1-year follow-up. Of those, non-myopic children had significant and more pronounced variation of SE progression than myopic children.

Pedestrian detection is an important topic in many applications, such as intelligent transportation systems (ITSs) or surveillance. For the purpose of applications used around the clock, the work for detecting pedestrian based on thermal sensors has attracted significant attention. To achieve this, this paper proposes a LBP (local binary pattern) encoded multi-level classifier for detecting pedestrians in thermal images. The proposed method consists of training and detection stages. The training stage firstly encodes the texture information of all training samples in all possible blocks by using LBP. For a particular block, the patches of all positive and negative samples with the same LBP code are collected to train a SVM (support vector machine) classifier for discrimination. HOGs (Histogram of Oriented Gradients) are used for the description of the patch appearance. By considering a set of learned SVMs for a particular block as a weak classifier, a set of discriminative weak classifiers is selected to form a final classifier (strong classifier) by using Adaboost. The experimental results on the constructed dataset demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms those in the literature.

It has been proposed that the neuro-insular network enables rapid, synchronised insulin secretion. However, to date, acquiring the pancreatic tissue map to study the neural network remains a challenging task as there is a lack of feasible approaches for large-scale tissue analysis at the organ level. Here, we have developed 3-dimensional (3D) panoramic histology to characterise the pancreatic neuro-insular network in young mice. Pancreases harvested from young wild-type B6 mice (3 and 8 weeks old) and db/db mice (3 weeks old; db/db vs db/+) were used to develop 3D panoramic histology. Transparent pancreases were prepared by optical clearing to enable deep-tissue, tile-scanning microscopy for qualitative and quantitative analyses of islets and the pancreatic tissue network in space. 3D panoramic histology reveals the pancreatic neurovascular network and the coupling of ganglionic and islet populations via the network. This integration is identified in both 3- and 8-week-old mice, featuring the peri-arteriolar neuro-insular network and islet–ganglionic aggregation. In weaning hyperphagic db/db mice, the 3D image data identifies the associated increases in weight, adipose tissue attached to the pancreas, density of large islets (major axis > 150 μm) and pancreatic sympathetic innervation compared with db/+ mice. Our work provides insight into the neuro-insular integration at the organ level and demonstrates a new approach for investigating previously unknown details of the pancreatic tissue network in health and disease.

Conceal an imperceptible but recognizable pattern on the media captured with mobile devices.Satisfy the essentials of both visible and invisible watermarking techniques.Promote significant property sharing and identification for mobile applications.Guarantee the PSNR of the marked media versus the original media to be above 50-70dB. This paper describes a new methodology of pattern exhibition for digital media that can conceal an imperceptible but recognizable watermark on the media captured with mobile devices. From the human perception, the imperceptible watermark of marked media can preserve the fidelity and readability of the image's content. With the designed, window-based histogram operation, the embedded pattern of the marked media can be exhibited and recognized visually. That is, the designed mechanism can satisfy the essentials of both visible and invisible watermarking techniques to promote significant pattern sharing and identification for mobile applications. Simulations demonstrate that the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) of the marked image is superior (around 50-70dB) to many of the existing watermarking algorithms. The process is of low computational complexity, efficient and can be applied in the real world via mobile devices via inner histogram operation.

Objectives Individuals with disabilities are often reported to have a high prevalence of undetected hearing disorders/loss, but there is no standardized hearing test protocol for this population. The purposes of this study were (1) to examine the hearing status of students with special needs in Taiwan, and (2) to investigate the use of an on-site hearing test protocol that would adequately detect hearing problems in this population and reduce unnecessary referrals for off-site follow-up services. Methods A total of 238 students enrolled in two schools for special education and one habilitation center participated in the study. Most students had intellectual disabilities and some also had additional syndromes or disorders. A hearing screening protocol including otoscopy, tympanometry, and distortion product otoacoustic emissions was administered to examine students’ outer, middle, and inner ear functions, respectively. Pure tone tests were then administered as an on-site follow-up for those who failed or could not be tested using the screening protocol. Results Only 32.4% of students passed. When administered alone, the referral rate of otoscopy, tympanometry, and otoacoustic emissions were 38.7%, 46.0%, and 48.5%, respectively. The integration of these subtests revealed 52.1% of students needed follow-up services, 11.8% could not be tested, 2.5% had documented hearing loss, and 1.3% needed to be monitored because of negative middle ear pressure. The inclusion of pure tone audiometry increased the passing rate by 9.9% and provided information on hearing sensitivity for an additional 8.6% of students. Conclusion Hearing assessments and regular hearing screening should be provided as an integral part of health care services for individuals with special needs because of high occurrences of excessive cerumen, middle ear dysfunction, and sensorineural hearing loss. The training of care-givers and teachers of students with special needs is encouraged so that they can help identify hearing problems and reduce the negative impact of hearing disorders and hearing loss. The screening protocol needs to include subtests that examine the status of different parts of their auditory system. The addition of pure tone audiometry as an on-site follow-up tool reduced the rate of off-site referrals and provided more information on hearing sensitivity.

In order to solve structural optimization problems in the past, it is necessary to integrate structure analysis software and optimization software. Since structural analysis has been the only function considered when developing most of structure analysis software, they suffer from closeness of system. Therefore, it is not easy to integrate them with optimization software. This study proposes an experimental design method to solve this problem including following steps: (1) generate experimental design, (2) implement experimental design, (3) construct a response variable model, (4) define optimization problem, (5) solve optimization problem. The purpose of step (1) through step (3) is to create a response variable model of alternative structure analysis software. This model is a set of regular and simple functions, it can easily define the optimization problem in step (4), in order to facilitate step (5) to solve the optimization problem. The reason to employ neural network instead of traditional regression analysis in step (3) is that the relationship between internal forces and displaced cross section dimension of the structure are often nonlinear. Neural network is a nonlinear system that gives itself the greatest advantage to accurately construct a nonlinear model. This case study is based on optimization design of cable force and tower height in an extradosed bridge, evaluating the feasibility of above method and comparing with published references to confirm the proposed method in this study is applicable to the optimization design of extradosed bridge.

Intraocular involvement of T-cell lymphoma is rare. We report a case presented with inflammatory glaucoma, neurotrophic keratopathy, and choroidal detachment. An 81-year-old man presented with unilateral high intraocular pressure and keratic precipitates. Polymerase chain reaction of the aqueous humor was negative for herpes simplex virus type 1 and 2, varicella zoster virus, and cytomegalovirus. Progressive pupil dilatation, cornea anesthesia with large epithelial defect, and choroidal detachment were noted in the following month. Diagnostic vitrectomy was then performed, and cytology of the vitreous suggested malignant lymphoma. Further systemic workup revealed ulcerative lesions in the stomach, and biopsy with special stains led to the diagnosis of peripheral T-cell lymphoma of the stomach with ocular involvement. Intraocular involvement of T-cell lymphoma is very rare. Most typically, the skin, followed by the central nervous system, has the most frequently occurring concurrent systemic involvement. In fact, stomach involvement has not been reported. Most cases of intraocular lymphomas presented with vitritis and anterior uveitis, and elevated intraocular pressure was not commonly observed. A review of the literature indicates that a large corneal epithelium defect has been described only in a case of peripheral T-cell lymphoma with the involvement of sclera and oropharynx. Although very rare, inflammatory glaucoma, neurotrophic keratopathy, and choroidal detachment can be the initial presentation of intraocular involvement of T-cell lymphoma.

Augmented reality (AR) has been widely applied in our lives. An AR tag is usually used and stacked on products for sake of being detected and recognized easily. With the recognized pattern, the AR system thereby can superimpose the corresponding virtual object on the AR tag. The AR tag, however, distort the perception of products. In this study, we proposed a mechanism that integrates the AR tag with digital screen by applying the temporal psycho-visual modulation (TPVM) technique. The new method utilizes the difference between the human-eye perception and the imaging of digital camera to produce an invisible AR tag on the digital screen. The AR tag can be detected by mobile devices but not yet by the human eyes. Based on the concepts of AR and TPVM, the new mechanism is practical in the related AR applications, such as the commercial, entertainment, and protection.

QR code is the commonly used two-dimensional (2D) barcode recently with the advantages of larger QR content and error correction capability. General QR reader can scan the contents of the QR code. When the content of the QR code is secret information, the information security becomes important. To protect the security of secret information, the new proposed method can embed secret information into the content of QR code. In this new proposed method, the QR content can be easily decoded by a QR reader. Because general browsers can read the QR content, so few people can decoded the QR code can scanning to the secret information. The new method is based on the error correction of the QR code, the QR code reduced distortion, and increases the capacity of hiding secret information. The mechanism based on module so the new method is more efficient. The new way can be applied to mobile phones and mobile devices.

To evaluate the 1-year progression of myopia and associated risk factors in second-grade primary school children.The myopia investigation study in Taipei provided semiannual visual acuity testing and cycloplegic refraction for all second-grade primary school children (mean age: 7.49 years) in Taipei who provided parental consent. A questionnaire was distributed to the participants' parents before the first and third examinations. We evaluated 1-year follow-up data for children noted to have myopia on the first examination. Multinomial logistic regression models were applied to assess risk factors associated with myopia progression. Myopia progression was categorised, based on the change in spherical equivalent (ΔSE) over 1 year, as slow (ΔSE-0.5 dioptres (D)), moderate (-1.0 DΔSE≤-0.5 D) or fast (ΔSE≤-1.0 D). Of the 4214 myopic children, data were analysed for 3256 (77.3%) who completed the 1-year follow-up evaluation.The baseline SE was -1.43±1.1 D. The average ΔSE was -0.42±0.85 D, with 46.96%, 28.50% and 24.54% of the study subjects showing slow, moderate and fast myopia progression, respectively. When compared with slow myopia progression, fast myopia progression was associated with a greater myopic SE at baseline (OR: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.61 to 0.72) and a shorter eye-object distance when doing near work (OR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.18 to 1.78). More outdoor activity time and self-reported cycloplegic treatment were not associated with slow myopia progression.Children with fast annual myopia progression were more myopic at baseline and had a shorter reading distance. Our study results highlight the importance of having children keep a proper reading distance.

Purpose To report the long-term outcomes of topical ganciclovir (GCV) and corticosteroids as a maintenance therapy for cytomegalovirus (CMV) corneal endotheliitis. Methods This retrospective study included 10 eyes of 9 patients diagnosed with CMV corneal endotheliitis with a minimum 1-year follow-up at a tertiary referral hospital between 2008 and 2014. CMV corneal endotheliitis was defined by corneal edema associated with typical keratic precipitates (KPs) and a positive CMV polymerase chain reaction from aqueous humor taps. Patients receiving long-term topical 0.5% GCV and topical corticosteroids without discontinuation were included. The final corneal condition and endothelial cell density (ECD) were reported. Results The mean age was 45.6 ± 11.7 years. The mean follow-up duration was 48 ± 25 months. All patients exhibited typical coin-shaped and/or linear KPs. A significant resolution of corneal edema and decreased KPs were achieved within 1 month in all patients after initiating topical 0.5% GCV every 2 hours and topical corticosteroids twice a day. The dose frequency was gradually tapered to GCV 4 times and corticosteroids once or twice a day as a maintenance therapy. All 10 eyes had a clear graft or corneas at the end of this study. The mean ECD was 1630 ± 699 cells per millimeter square before treatment and 1776 ± 834 cells per millimeter square at the end of the study period. Conclusions Topical 0.5% GCV and corticosteroids as a maintenance regimen without interruption effectively preserved long-term corneal endothelial function.

Fragile watermarking is applied to protect the content integrity of digital images. The main concerns related to watermarking include retaining the quality of the watermarked image and retaining the ability to detect whether any manipulation has occurred. Because recent watermarking techniques seriously distort the quality of the protected image after embedding the authentication code into the image content, attention has been drawn to how to satisfy both the need for image fidelity and detection ability. To account for the influence from both essentials, a novel algorithm is proposed in this article. The new scheme utilizes a weighted-sum function to embed ( n + 1) authentication bits into a block with 2 n pixels by modifying only one original pixel with (±1). With fewer authentication codes, the new process can protect the content of the image. The experimental results demonstrate that the approach can guarantee the fidelity of the watermarked image while retaining tamper-proof functionality.

ObjectiveVaricocele is associated with male infertility and/or scrotal pain. Microsurgical varicocelectomy provides advantages of reliable identification of spermatic vessels and has been advocated as the gold standard procedure for varicocele repair. The purpose of this study was to assess the outcome after microsurgical subinguinal varicocelectomy in patients with varicocele associated infertility or scrotal pain.Materials and MethodsA total of 224 men underwent 327 operations of microsurgical subinguinal varicocelectomy at a single university hospital because of infertility or painful scrotum. The diagnosis of varicocele was based on the findings of physical examination. The vast majority of the surgeries were performed on an outpatient basis. All patients underwent pre- and postoperative semen analysis or pain scale evaluation.ResultsFor the 114 infertile patients who underwent varicocelectomy, significant improvements were noted between pre- and postoperative mean sperm count and total motile sperm count. Patients who received bilateral surgery had greater improvement than patients who received unilateral surgery. Repair of larger varicocele was associated with postoperative sperm count changes. Induction of spermatogenesis was observed in at least two of 11 patients with nonobstructive azoospermia. The overall semen improvement rate (improvement index, >0.5) was 70.2% and the 1-year spontaneous pregnancy rate was 33.3%. Of the 102 patients with painful scrotum, 66 patients (64.7%) reported complete resolution of pain, 30 patients (29.4%) had partial resolution, and no change was claimed in six patients (5.9%). For all patients, the pre-and postoperative mean verbal pain scale were 5.8 ±0.4 and 1.2 ± 0.4, respectively (p

Genetically modified (GM) fish with desirable features such as rapid growth, disease resistance, and cold tolerance, among other traits, have been established in aquaculture. However, commercially available GM fish are restricted because of global concerns over the incomplete assessments of food safety and ecological impact. The ecological impact concerns include gene flow and escape of the GM fish, which may cause extinction of wild natural fish stocks. Infertility control is a core technology for overcoming this obstacle. Although polyploidy technology, GnRH-specific antisense RNA, and RNAi against GnRH gene expression have been used to cause infertility in fish, these approaches are not 100% reliable and are not heritable. In the present study, zebrafish was used as a model to establish an inducible platform of infertility control in GM fish. Nitroreductase, which converts metronidazole substrate into cytotoxin, was fused with EGFP and expressed specifically by oocytes in the Tg(ZP:NTR-EGFP) by a zona pellucida promoter. Through consecutive immersion of metronidazole from 28 to 42 days posthatching, oocyte-specific EGFP expression was eliminated, and atrophy of the gonads was detected by anatomical analysis. These findings reveal that oocyte-specific nitroreductase-mediated catalysis of metronidazole blocks oogenesis and leads to an undeveloped oocyte. Furthermore, oocyte cell death via apoptosis was detected by a TUNEL assay. We found that the gonadal dysgenesis induced by metronidazole resulted in activation of the ovarian killer gene bok, which is a proapoptotic gene member of the Bcl-2 family and led to infertility. These results show that oocyte-specific nitroreductase-mediated catalysis of metronidazole can cause reliable infertility in zebrafish and could potentially be used as a model for other aquaculture fish species.

This paper presents a novel dual watermarking mechanism for digital media that embeds a recognizable pattern into the spatial domain and an invisible logo into the frequency domain. Undoubtedly, visible watermarking is important for protecting online resources from unauthorized reproduction. Due to the visibility of embedded patterns, however, watermarked digital media are vulnerable to the inpainting attack and common signal processing operations. Utilizing hybrid strategies, simulation results show that the novel method can resist these attacks. In particular, the new mechanism allows legal subscribers to restore an unmarked image, whereas other dual watermarking schemes do not. This feature makes it suitable for protecting artistic and valuable media.

Watermarking techniques are applied to digital media to protect their integrity and copyright. The embedding of a watermark, however, often distorts the quality of the protected image. This may be intolerable since the protected media is for preserving artistic and valuable images. Hence, engineers have proposed removable solutions permitting authorized users to restore watermarked images to unmarked images with satisfactory quality. Unfortunately, these mechanisms cannot resist signal processing attacks to protect the ownership. In this article, we propose a novel watermarking mechanism by utilizing pair-difference correlations upon subsampling and the technique of JND. This new approach can guarantee the robust essentials of watermarking schemes. Experimental results reveal that the new method outperforms others in terms of restored image quality. More specifically, this novel approach can resist various attacks to which related works are vulnerable.

The third generation partner project (3GPP) has standardized general packet radio service (GPRS) and the universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) to provide cell phone communications and wireless Internet services. Although the data transmission rate is lower than that of wireless local area networks (WLANs), GPRS/UMTS covers larger areas. Hence, to achieve higher speed ubiquitous access, we propose a lightweight secure roaming mechanism (LSRM) that integrates GPRS/UMTS and WLAN. Taking advantage of these two technologies, LSRM offers anonymous roaming and friendly subscriber management. Besides, we give a formal security analysis to LSRM based on BAN authentication logic.

In 2004, Abe et al. proposed a threshold signer-ambiguous signature scheme from variety of keys. Their scheme is a generalized case of the ring signature scheme, and it allows the key types to be based on the trapdoor one-way permutations (TOWP) or sigma-protocols including Schnorr's signature scheme. However, the signed message is public for all, which may result in disputes. In this paper, we present a novel threshold signer-ambiguous signature scheme, having the signed message concealed and keeping who the receivers are secret from variety of keys.

Post-acute care (PAC) service is becoming increasingly important in Taiwan as a core focus of government policies that are designed to ensure continuity of care.In order to improve PAC nursing education and quality of care, the present study applies a modified Delphi method to identify the core competences of nurses who provide PAC services to acute stroke patients.We surveyed 18 experts in post-acute care and long-term care anonymously using a 29-question questionnaire in order to identify the essential professional skills that are required to perform PAC effectively. The results of this survey indicate that the core competences of PAC may be divided into two categories: Case Management and Care Management. Case Management includes Direct Care, Communication, Health Care Education, Nursing Consulting, and Family AssessmentHealth Care. Care Management includes Interdisciplinary Teamwork, Patient Care Management, and Resource Integration. The importance and practicality of each item was evaluated using a 7-point Likert scale.The experts required 2 rounds to reach a consensus about the importance and 3 rounds to determine the practicality of PAC core competences. This process highlighted the differing points of view that are held by professionals in the realms of nursing, medicine, and national health policy.The PAC in-job training program in its current form inadequately cul-tivates core competence in Care Management. The results of the present study may be used to inform the development of PAC nurse orientation training programs and continuing education courses.運用德菲法建構腦中風急性後期照護護理人員應具備之核心能力.國內醫療照護逐漸重視腦中風病人的急性後期照護（post-acute care, PAC），為政府建置連續性照護的必然趨勢。.本研究目的為運用德菲研究法確認提供腦中風PAC服務的護理人員需具備核心能力，做為教育訓練的依據，以提升照護品質。.採「修正式德菲法」邀請18位專家，針對「急性後期照護護理人員應具備之核心能力」議題，使用自擬核心能力調查表，進行專家匿名調查。核心能力計29項，分屬「個案照護」（包含照顧、溝通、教學、諮商、家庭評估照護等能力）與「照護管理」（包含跨專業團隊合作、管理、與資源整合等能力）二面向。請專家就各項重要性與可行性以7分等級評分。.PAC核心能力的重要性：經由二回合專家共識確認所列項目皆為重要；在可行性方面，進行三回合調查達成共識，唯家庭照護評估、照護管理等能力部分項目呈現護理、醫療、衛政等不同背景的專家之間有評價落差。.比對現有PAC教育訓練內涵顯示不足以培訓人員必要具備的核心能力，尤以照護管理層面較為缺乏。結果有助未來發展PAC服務護理人員職前與在職教育課程規劃參考。.

The purpose of this paper is to embed information on codes when using search-order coding (SOC) to compress index table. The proposed method reassigned the shorter indicators to the indices that can be transformed to SOC codes and those that can not be transformed are assigned by the other indicators. If the cover image is a smooth image, the proposed method can significantly reduce the size of compression code. Moreover, the size of the compression code is only related to the cover image not to the information in the proposed method. This improves the security of the compression code. According to the experimental results, the proposed method has better performance comparing with the related methods.

This paper presents an active tamper detection and content recovery scheme for digital gray images. It mainly adopts vector quantization compression and treats the index codes as the authentication and recovery data of an image. In order to achieve the purpose of detecting and locating whether an image has been tampered with, this scheme embeds the essential information of authentication and recovery into each pixel value's LSB bit. In addition, this paper also utilizes Chan's LSB matching function to improve the quality of embedded image. Experimental results showed that the authentication data of index codes are able to detect those possible modified regions effectively and clearly. Moreover, the embedded image quality also improves nearly to 1.66dB.

A 15-year-old girl with right tibial osteosarcoma, diagnosed 22 months previously, developed right orbital and skull base metastases, with symptoms including painful protrusion of the right eyeball and severe visual impairment. She underwent embolization of the metastatic tumor, local irradiation, and chemotherapy followed by intralesional resection of the mass because extensive involvement of the skull base precluded complete surgical resection. The best corrected visual acuity in her right eye initially decreased to 20/200, then dropped to no light perception after embolization, and then improved to counting fingers at 50 cm after radiotherapy. The symptoms of pain and proptosis subsided completely. After 24 months of follow-up from the presentation of orbital metastasis, the patient's right-eye vision remained unchanged. The surgical specimen revealed a necrotic tumor similar to osteosarcoma. In conclusion, orbital metastasis of osteosarcoma is rare, but may lead to severe visual impairment. Combined radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery can partially relieve symptoms, but cannot completely eradicate the tumors.

Purpose To report an unusual presentation of Schnyder's corneal crystalline dystrophy (SCCD), sharing the feature of central corneal mosaic opacities. Design Observational case report. Methods A 51-year-old man and his family members were examined. Investigations included slit-lamp biomicroscopy, radiography of knee joint, plasma lipid level, and genotyping of the SCCD candidate region in chromosome 1p34.1-1p36. Results A symmetric, central, disciform, full-thickness opacity was seen in both corneas of the patient. The opacities appeared in a mosaic pattern, instead of collections of crystals or a diffuse haze as typically detected in SCCD. Small clumps of crystalline deposits and arcus lipoides were also observed. Systemically, hyperlipidemia and bilateral genu valgus were identified. He had 2 daughters, and both of them had bilateral corneal crystalline deposits and genu valgus. No other family members had findings suggesting SCCD. The genetic study demonstrated that all of the affected individuals shared a common haplotype within the region of previously reported SCCD locus. However, 1 unaffected sibling of the proband also had the same haplotype. Conclusions Central corneal mosaic opacities may be another variant of SCCD.

Avascular necrosis of the femoral head (ANFH) is a debilitating disease that commonly leads to destruction of the hip joint in adults. The etiology of ANFH is unknown, but previous studies have indicated that heritable thrombophilia (increased tendency to form thrombi) and hypofibrinolysis (reduced ability to lyse thrombi), alcohol intake, and steroid use are risk factors for ANFH. We recently identified two families with ANFH showing autosomal dominant inheritance. By applying linkage analysis to a four-generation pedigree, we excluded linkage between the family and three genes related to thrombophilia and hypofibrinolysis: protein C, protein S, and plasminogen activator inhibitor. Furthermore, by a genomewide scan, a significant two-point LOD score of 3.45 (recombination fraction [theta] = 0) was obtained between the family with ANFH and marker D12S85 on chromosome 12. High-resolution mapping was conducted in a second family with ANFH and replicated the linkage to D12S368 (pedigree I: LOD score 2.47, theta = 0.05; pedigree II: LOD score 2.81, theta = 0.10). When an age-dependent-penetrance model was applied, the combined multipoint LOD score was 6.43 between D12S1663 and D12S85. Thus, we mapped the candidate gene for autosomal dominant ANFH to a 15-cM region between D12S1663 and D12S1632 on chromosome 12q13.