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Due to the rapid prominence and popularity of social media, social broadcasting networks with voluntary information sharing have become one of the most powerful ways to spread word-of-mouth opinions, and thus, have influence on consumers&rsquo, preferences toward products. Therefore, sentiment analysis data from social media have become more important in forecasting product sales. For the movie industry, the opinions expressed on social media have increasing impacts on movie sales. In addition, some databases, such as the Box Office Mojo and Internet Movie Database (IMDb), contain structured data for predicting movie sales. Thus, three categories of data&mdash, data of movie databases, data of tweets, and hybrid data including movies databases and tweets&mdash, are employed symmetrically in this study. The aim of this study is to employ the least squares support vector regression (LSSVR) to forecast movie sales worldwide according to these three forms of data. In addition, three other forecasting techniques&mdash, namely, the back propagation neural network (BPNN), the generalized regression neural network (GRNN), and the multivariate linear regression (MLR) model&mdash, were used to forecast movie sales with the three types of data. The empirical results show that the LSSVR model with hybrid data can obtain more accurate results than the other forecasting models with all data types. Thus, forecasting movie sales using the LSSSVR model with data containing movie databases and tweets is a feasible and prospective method to forecast movie sales.

Objective This study aimed to determine the effects of diet-induced paternal obesity on cognitive function in mice offspring. Methods Male mice (F0) were randomized to receive either a control diet (10 kcal% fat) or a high-fat diet (HFD; 60 kcal% fat) for 10 weeks before being mated with normal females to generate F1 offspring. Male F1 offspring were mated with normal females to generate F2 offspring. Behavioral tests were used to assess cognitive functions in F1 and F2 offspring. Reduced representation bisulfite sequencing was used to the explore mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance. Results HFD-induced paternal obesity resulted in cognitive impairments in F1 offspring, potentially due, at least in part, to increased methylation of the BDNF gene promoter, which was inherited from F0 spermatozoa. BDNF/tyrosine receptor kinase B signaling was associated with cognitive impairments in HFD-fed F1 offspring. However, there were no significant changes in F2 offspring. Conclusions The findings provide evidence of intergenerational effects of paternal obesity on cognitive function in offspring occurring via epigenetic spermatozoan modifications.

Flow cytometry was used to follow the diel variations in abundance of Synechococcus spp. and picoeukaryotes in subtropical western Pacific coastal waters in June 2017. A modified dilution method was also used to estimate diel changes in the effect of nanoflagellate and viruses on Synechococcus spp. and picoeukaryotes. Obvious diel patterns were found in changes in abundance in both Synechococcus spp. and picoeukaryotes, the highest values recorded at night. Synechococcus spp. and picoeukaryotic growth decreased significantly in more highly diluted samples incubated during the daytime, suggesting that picophytoplankton production is partially dependent on grazing- and virus-mediated nutrient cycling during the daytime. At nighttime, nanoflagellate grazing and viral lysis were responsible for Synechococcus spp. mortality at rates of 0.02 h−1 and 0.04 h−1, respectively, and nanoflagellate grazing was responsible for all picoeukaryotic mortality. The most important finding of this study was that nanoflagellate grazing exerts great control over picoeukaryotes at night in these subtropical western Pacific coastal waters.

Skilled reading requires coordinating real-time visual fixations, orthographic analyses, and phonological encoding across multiple words in sentences. These procedures are well studied in experienced readers, but less is known about their status during development. To investigate how visual properties influence the origins of coordinated processing, the current study combined rapid automatized naming (RAN) with an eye-tracking paradigm and compared the timing of fixations and vocalizations in typically developing adults and 6-year-old children. Within RAN displays, sequences varied visual features of items (i.e., similar such as p-q vs. dissimilar such as p-t) and their locations in rows (i.e., row-initial vs. row-medial positions). Adults and children accessed parafoveal preview of subsequent items when fixating on current items, leading to longer latency to speak for similar items compared with dissimilar ones. Both groups also vocalized previous items while fixating on current items, leading to longer eye-voice overlap for row-medial items compared with row-initial ones. Yet, relative to adults, children exhibited exaggerated delays in latency to speak from parafoveal preview and reduced eye-voice overlap due to row transitions. Together, this suggests that coordinated processing is present at the earliest points of development but that greater inexperience increases susceptibility to momentary visual hurdles. Relationships to previous work on real-time RAN performance in dyslexic adults and children are discussed.

Fear of being laughed at and family interaction are highly related. Parental over-control and over-protection influence children's excessive anxiety over being laughed at. Conversely, parental attachment is an important index of the parent-child relationship and is closely correlated to children's gelotophobia. However, is it the style of parenting or the outcome of parenting (i.e. attachment) that influences a child's gelotophobia? To answer this question, the present study analysed the relationships between gelotophobia, perceived parenting of children and parent-child attachment, as well as the mediating role of attachment between parenting and children's gelotophobia, using a sample of 373 high-school students. The results show that being highly communicative and close attachment completely weakened the negative correlation between warm, caring parenting and the child's gelotophobia; moreover, being highly communicative and close attachment, together with over-protective and over-controlling parenting, influence children's gelotophobia. In sum, this study indicates that parent-child attachment has a direct and indirect influence on perceived parental care and protection and children's fear of being laughed at.

Background A variety of different types of exercise are promoted to improve muscle strength and physical performance in older people. Objective We aimed to determine the relative effects of resistance training, endurance training and whole-body vibration on lean body mass, muscle strength and physical performance in older people. Design A systematic review and network meta-analysis. Subjects Adults aged 60 and over. Methods Evidence from randomised controlled trials of resistance training, endurance training and whole-body vibration were combined. The effects of exercise interventions on lean body mass, muscle strength and physical performance were evaluated by conducting a network meta-analysis to compare multiple interventions and usual care. Risk of bias of included studies was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's tool. A meta-regression was performed to assess potential effect modifiers. Results Data were obtained from 30 trials involving 1,405 participants (age range: 60-92 years). No significant differences were found between the effects of exercise or usual care on lean body mass. Resistance training (minimum 6 weeks duration) achieved greater muscle strength improvement than did usual care (12.8 kg; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 8.5-17.0 kg). Resistance training and whole-body vibration were associated with greater physical performance improvement compared with usual care (2.6 times greater [95% CI: 1.3-3.9] and 2.1 times greater [95% CI: 0.5-3.7], respectively). Conclusions Resistance training is the most effect intervention to improve muscle strength and physical performance in older people. Our findings also suggest that whole-body vibration is beneficial for physical performance. However, none of the three exercise interventions examined had a significant effect on lean body mass.

The development of effective and reactive flame retardant (FR) using natural products is of interest for sustainable FR textiles. This study focused on the synthesis of a reactive phosphorus-based FR agent (tartaric acid phytate ester (TAPE)) using plant-derived phytic acid and tartaric acid. We further studied its potential applications in durable FR modification of silk fabric. The chemical structure of TAPE and its potential bonding mechanism with silk fibers were explored. The thermal stability, smoke and heat generation performance, and flame retardancy of the modified silk fabrics were investigated. Char residue analyses were also performed to study the FR mechanism of TAPE on silk fabric. The results revealed that TAPE imparted higher thermal and flame resistance to silk and remarkably inhibited the smoke and heat generation of silk through a condensed charring mechanism. The introduction of TAPE to silk was driven by ester and amide covalent bonds and electrostatic attraction. This leads to good washing durability of the modified silk as reflected by the self-extinguishing action of modified silk after 20 washing cycles. In general, this research provides a novel strategy to develop a reactive FR agent as well as sustainable and durable FR functional silk textiles using bio-based plant extracts.

Bio-based phytic acid represents a promising approach to endow textile with effective flame retardancy due to its eco-friendliness and high P content, but it suffers from poor washing durability on textile. In the present study, the reactive phytate urea salt (PUS) was synthesized using phytic acid and urea, and it was applied as durable intumescent flame retardant (FR) agent to improve the flame retardancy of silk fabric via pad-dry-cure technique. The chemical structure of PUS and its potential cross-linking action with silk fiber were studied, the thermal resistance, smoke/heat emission ability, flame retardancy and functional mechanism of modified silk were investigated. The PUS modification imparted good FR ability to silk fabric and significantly inhibited the smoke and heat emission of silk. The modified silk sample possessed the low char length of about 6 cm and the high LOI value of 34.2%. The modified silk fabric had the self-extinguishing ability after 35 home washings, which should be assigned to the covalent bonding of PUS on silk. Besides, the FR modification also showed little influence on the handle and mechanical performance of silk fabric. The char residue analyses suggested an intumescent FR mechanism for the modified silk. The synthesized PUS shows great possibility to act as durable and formaldehyde-free FR agent for enhancing the fire safety of silk fabric.

Simple Summary Feline mammary tumor (FMT) is a relatively commonly diagnosed neoplasm in the cat. Development of new veterinary cancer therapies is limited by the shortage of in vivo models that reproduce tumor microenvironment and metastatic progression. In this study, FMT patient-derived xenografts (PDX) model were established and primary cell line isolated from orthotopic PDX. The tumor grafts conserve original tumor essential features, including distant metastasis. FMT-PDX represents an available resource for bridging the biology of FMT with preclinical studies of FMT in cats. Abstract Feline mammary tumor is a relatively commonly diagnosed neoplasm in the cat. Development of new veterinary cancer therapies is limited by the shortage of in vivo models that reproduce tumor microenvironment and metastatic progression. Four feline mammary tumor orthotopic patient-derived xenograft model (PDX) successfully established in NOD-SCID gamma (NSG) mice. The overall success rate of PDX establishment was 36% (4/11). Histological, immunohistochemical, and short tandem repeat analysis showed a remarkable similarity between patient’s tumor and xenograft. The tumor grafts conserve original tumor essential features, including distant metastasis. Primary FMT-1807 cell line isolated from FMT-1807PDX tumor tissue. Tumorigenicity of FMT-1807 cells expanded from PDX was assessed by orthotopic injection into NSG mice. Mice yielded tumors which preserve the lung and liver metastasis ability. This work provides a platform for FMT translational investigation.

Effects of oxidation and nitric oxide (NO) post-oxidation annealing (POA) processes on the gate oxide integrity on 4H-SiC are investigated. Interface state density, flatband voltage, electron tunneling barrier height, breakdown field, and time-dependent dielectric breakdown are extracted. With the same NO POA condition, more nitrogen atoms are incorporated into wet oxide than dry oxide. The interface state density can be passivated effectively. At the same time, the electron tunneling barrier height at the SiO2/SiC interface approaches the ideal barrier height while positive charges would be introduced in oxide. NO annealing does not affect the breakdown field significantly. Regarding the time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) reliability, with increasing NO annealing time, the 10-year-projected intrinsic breakdown field decreases. It is concluded that NO annealing is effective in reducing the density of interface traps and hole traps originated from carboxyl defects, but excessive amount of nitrogen will turn into hole traps and thus deteriorates TDDB performance.

Unlike most studies in the literature, in this study, we incorporate three main factors into the pricing method of mortgage insurance: interest rate, housing price, and hazard rate (default risks). The empirical analysis highlighted that the interest rate and housing price are positively correlated during July 2004 to November 2016 because of the monetary policy over this period. Subsequently, in the risk-neutral pricing framework, mortgage insurance of the fixed-rate mortgage is priced using a Monte Carlo simulation approach. The sensitivity analysis indicated that interest rate, housing price, and default rate are important factors for mortgage insurance. Moreover, because our model can measure the risks of the interest rate and hazard rate, insurance companies can use this model to price mortgage insurance to avoid a condition in which the insurance company does not have sufficient reserves to support compensation.

Cochlear implants (CIs) provide speech perception to adults with severe-to-profound hearing loss, but the acoustic signal remains severely degraded. Limited access to pitch cues is thought to decrease sensitivity to prosody in CI users, but co-occurring changes in intensity and duration may provide redundant cues. The current study investigates how listeners use these cues to infer discourse prominence. CI users and normal-hearing (NH) listeners were presented with sentences varying in prosody (accented vs. unaccented words) while their eye-movements were measured to referents varying in discourse status (given vs. new categories). In Experiment 1, all listeners inferred prominence when prosody on nouns distinguished categories (“SANDAL” → not sandwich). In Experiment 2, CI users and NH listeners presented with natural speech inferred prominence when prosody on adjectives implied contrast across both categories and properties (“PINK horse” → not the orange horse). In contrast, NH listeners presented with simulated CI (vocoded) speech were sensitive to acoustic differences in prosody, but did not use these cues to infer discourse status. Together, this suggests that exploiting redundant cues for comprehension varies with the demands of language processing and prior experience with the degraded signal.

Background/Purpose Typhoon Morakot in August 2009 caused significant damages and health and socio-economic impacts in Taiwan. Therefore, we evaluated the mental health status of adult and patients who lived in the affected area after the disaster. Methods An observational, prospective population-based study was conducted. Adults living in the affected area were selected as the affected population in the National Health Insurance Database from January 2008 to December 2011. Prevalence and incidence of stress-associated illnesses, such as insomnia, anxiety, depressive, adjustment and mood disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the psychiatry department were analysed after the disaster. Results A total of 897,689 adult patients were studied. Of the affected population without pre-existing chronic mental health illness, the monthly visits for stress-associated illnesses, such as insomnia, anxiety, depressive disorders and PTSD increased about twice after the disaster in elderly and non-elderly groups. Comparing to the non-elderly group, the elderly group has more increased in the incidence of insomnia (356% vs. 318% increase) and depressive disorders (308% vs. 245%) but was affected to a lesser extent increase in the anxiety (269% vs. 307%), PTSD, episodic mood disorders (82% vs. 158%), and adjustment reaction (160% vs. 202%). Conclusion The mental health statuses of patients who experienced a major natural disaster deteriorated in the elderly population after the disaster. However, we still need pay more attentions on the elderly of the affected population to decrease the risk for insomnia and depressive disorders after the disaster.

We report 2 generalized verrucosis (GV) patients homozygous for a novel mutation in the start codon of IL7. Unlike the previous report in which IL-7 deficiency accompanied CD4 T lymphocytopenia, circulating CD4 T cells were not depleted in one of our patients, suggesting a GV pathogenesis other than poor T-cell development.

Purpose Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is the standard management for clinically node-negative cutaneous melanoma patients. This study aimed to evaluate the role of SLNB in Taiwanese melanoma patients and in particular, patients with acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM). Patients and methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathological characteristics and survival outcomes of the patients who underwent primary surgery followed by either SLNB or nodal observation at the Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital from January 2000 to December 2011. Results Among the total of 209 patients, 127 underwent SLNB and 51 underwent nodal observation only after primary surgery. There were no significant differences in clinicopathological features between the two groups except that patients who underwent SLNB were older and had a higher rate of ALM than those under nodal observation. The median follow-up time was 43.5 months until July 2013. The patients who underwent SLNB had significantly better disease-free survival (DFS) (57.1 vs 18.7 months, p < 0.01) and melanoma-specific survival (MSS) (112.4 vs 45.2 months, p < 0.01) than those under observation. Improvement in DFS (HR: 0.51, p < 0.01) and MSS (HR: 0.60, p = 0.03) was observed even after adjusting for age and disease pathology by multivariate analysis. This benefit of clinical outcomes persisted in patients with ALM, Breslow thickness ≤2 mm, or no ulceration, but not in patients with non-ALM, Breslow thickness >2 mm, or ulceration. Conclusion SLNB was associated with favorable outcomes in patients with clinically node-negative cutaneous melanoma, particularly in Taiwanese patients with ALM, Breslow thickness ≤2 mm, and nonulcerated melanoma.

This report describes a simple technique using conventional instrumentation for the placement of Seprafilm, a sodium hyaluronate or carboxymethylcellulose absorbable barrier for adhesion prevention. A total of 378 women with uterine myomas undergoing laparoscopic myomectomies had 737 Seprafilm pieces placed. Seprafilm sheet was softened through exposure to room air for 5 minutes, cut into 4 pieces (length, 5-10 mm), rolled up alongside a plastic sheet cut from a camera drape cover, and gently placed at the right paracolic gutter. The Seprafilm pieces unfolded semiautomatically on release and were then placed on the uterus. The median time to apply per Seprafilm piece was 1 (range: 0.8-3.5) minute. We failed to place 16 pieces (16 of 737, 2.2%) in 11 patients. Virginal status, myoma weight, and the number of removed myomas were the risk factors of failed placement. Our technique for Seprafilm placement during laparoscopic myomectomy is simple and safe.

Aim To examine the effects of a simplified reablement program on physical function and quality of life in hospitalized older patients. Methods The randomized controlled trial enrolled 114 older patients aged ≥65 years who, 2 weeks before admission, had been able to walk independently. Patients randomized to the reablement group received supervision and assistance to carry out the simplified reablement program 30 min daily during their hospital stay. Patients in the reminding group received only oral encouragement to continue the reablement program for 30 min daily. The control group received only usual care that included medical intervention consistent with the patient's diagnosis. The main outcome was improvement in physical function, including the modified version of the Katz Activities of Daily Living (ADL) score, Timed Up and Go test (TUG) and Hand Grip Strength (HGS). Secondary outcomes included the EuroQoL 5 Dimension (EQ-5D) Questionnaire and Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Results The intervention had no significant effect on the Katz ADL score. However, a significant within-group improvement in TUG occurred in the reminding group and reablement group. In addition, a significant time-dependent improvement in HGS occurred only in the reablement group. With respect to secondary outcomes, the EQ5D score improved significantly only in the reablement group at 3 months after discharge. Conclusions The simplified reablement program may be beneficial to optimize physical function and improve quality of life in hospitalized older patients. It is recommended that health professionals should assist or encourage older patients to do simplified reablement during their hospital stay. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2020; 20: 436-442.

Nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM) and immediate breast reconstruction has been proven to be a safe and reliable procedure in selected breast cancer patients with better aesthetic outcome. Robot-assisted nipple-sparing mastectomy (R-NSM), facilitated by articulated instruments and 3-dimensional camera, further allows mastectomy and reconstruction to be accomplished through a smaller incision over the lateral chest wall with complete preservation of the breast skin envelope without anterior scar. The small incision of R-NSM has limited the reconstructions to be implant- or small pedicle flap-based. Perforator flaps, with the most natural-looking and permanent results, have never been applied in R-NSM. In this preliminary report, microsurgical breast reconstruction with free deep inferior epigastric artery perforator (DIEP) flap (N=1) or profunda artery perforator (PAP) flaps (N=2) were performed successfully along with R-NSM. One patient had nipple-areolar excision due to positive nipple margin under frozen section, but the reconstructed nipple using PAP flap skin paddle successfully concealed the peri-areolar scar. Two patients received post-mastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) because of more extensive cancer involvement. The flaps tolerated PMRT well without contracture or compromised aesthetic results. Microsurgical breast reconstruction is feasible after R-NSM and provides additional oncological and aesthetical advantages. Compared to breast implants, autologous tissue tolerates radiotherapy better and can be transferred safely when PMRT is required. These novel approaches brought robot-assisted mastectomy to its next level with wider clinical applications free of restriction to early breast cancer. Larger series report and longer follow-up should be anticipated to prove its clinical value.

Cathepsin S (CTSS), a lysosomal cysteine protease, has been reported to be associated with extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation, thus promoting cell migration and invasion, but whether CTSS regulates other intracellular mechanisms during metastasis remains unknown. The expression of CTSS was knocked down using siRNA transfection, and enzymatic activity was inhibited by the highly-selective CTSS inhibitor RJW-58. The results of in vitro functional assays, western blot analysis, and an in vivo colonization model demonstrated that CTSS was positively related to cellular adhesive ability. Moreover, both CTSS knockdown and inhibition significantly decreased Ca

Patterned spontaneous activity periodically displays in developing retinas termed retinal waves, essential for visual circuit refinement. In neonatal rodents, retinal waves initiate in starburst amacrine cells (SACs), propagating across retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), further through visual centers. Although these waves are shown temporally synchronized with transiently high PKA activity, the downstream PKA target important for regulating the transmission from SACs remains unidentified. A t-SNARE, synaptosome-associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP-25/SN25), serves as a PKA substrate, implying a potential role of SN25 in regulating retinal development. Here, we examined whether SN25 in SACs could regulate wave properties and retinogeniculate projection during development. In developing SACs, overexpression of wild-type SN25b, but not the PKA-phosphodeficient mutant (SN25b-T138A), decreased the frequency and spatial correlation of wave-associated calcium transients. Overexpressing SN25b, but not SN25b-T138A, in SACs dampened spontaneous, wave-associated, postsynaptic currents in RGCs and decreased the SAC release upon augmenting the cAMP-PKA signaling. These results suggest that SN25b overexpression may inhibit the strength of transmission from SACs via PKA-mediated phosphorylation at T138. Moreover, knockdown of endogenous SN25b increased the frequency of wave-associated calcium transients, supporting the role of SN25 in restraining wave periodicity. Finally, the eye-specific segregation of retinogeniculate projection was impaired by in vivo overexpression of SN25b, but not SN25b-T138A, in SACs. These results suggest that SN25 in developing SACs dampens the spatiotemporal properties of retinal waves and limits visual circuit refinement by phosphorylation at T138. Therefore, SN25 in SACs plays a profound role in regulating visual circuit refinement.

The 2015 dengue outbreak in southern Taiwan turned into a public health emergency, resulting in a large-scale mobilization of personnel from the emergency department (ED) services operating in and near full capacity to assist with the outbreak. This study aimed to assess a rapid independent clinic-based service (RCS), which was set up and designed to relieve the overcrowding of the regular ambulatory and emergency services during an epidemic of dengue. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study. National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan. Patients with positive test results were enrolled and reviewed to evaluate the efficacy of RCS implementation between August and October 2015. The case-treatment rates stratified by length of stay (LOS) were used to examine the performance of the RCS that was set up outside the ED and designed to relieve the overcrowding of the regular ambulatory and emergency services. Patients with dengue-like illnesses may arrive at the hospital and require optimal ED triage and management thereafter. Although the outbreak resulted in a shortage of spare space in the ED, a proper response from the hospital administration would ameliorate the work overload of the staff and would not decrease the quality of care for critical patients. An early and restrictive intensive intervention was beneficial to health care facilities during a dengue outbreak. Further planning and training of the RCS could be crucial for hospital preparedness for infectious disease outbreaks.

Owing to special characteristics, classic option pricing models are not well suited to the valuation of employee stock options (ESOs). This paper attempts to conduct a more general fair value estimation based on attaching performance targets to option vesting. Considering a setting that includes factors such as options that may be exercised early at employee discretion, employee exit rates and firm default risk, this paper presents a sensitivity analysis and empirical tests of option value. The results highlight the importance of considering the characteristics of ESOs in the design of performance-vested option plans so as to provide the most attractive incentives for employees.

During language acquisition, children exploit syntactic cues within sentences to learn the meanings of words. Yet, it remains unknown how this strategy develops alongside an ability to access cues during real-time language comprehension. This study investigates how on-line sensitivity to syntactic cues impacts off-line interpretation and recall of word meanings. Adults and 5-year-olds heard novel words embedded in sentences that were (1) consistent with an agent-first bias (e.g., "The blicket will be eating the seal"→"the blicket" is an agent), (2) required revision of this bias (e.g., "The blicket will be eaten by the seal"→"the blicket" is a theme), or (3) weakened this bias through a familiar NP1 (e.g., "The seal will be eating/eaten by the blicket"→"the seal" is an agent or theme). Across both ages, eye-movements during sentences revealed decreased sensitivity to syntactic cues in contexts that required syntactic revision. In children, the magnitude of on-line sensitivity was positively associated with the accuracy of learning after the sentence. Parsing challenges during the word-learning task also negatively impacted children's later memory for word meanings during a recall task. Altogether, these results suggest that real-time demands impact word learning, through interpretive failures and memory interference.

Background/purposeThe aim of this study was to determine the molecular characteristics of β-lactamase genes in extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolates from Mongolia.MethodsFifty-six ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolates were collected, of which 46 were Escherichia coli, seven were Klebsiella pneumoniae, and three were K. oxytoca. Minimum inhibitory concentrations for selected antibiotics were tested using the agar dilution method, and the β-lactamase genes were determined using polymerase chain reaction combined with sequencing. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was used for genotyping all isolates, and phylogenetic grouping was performed on ESBL-producing E. coli isolates. Conjugation tests combined with plasmid digestion assays were used to determine whether there was a horizontal spread in Mongolia.ResultsAmong the 56 ESBL-producing isolates, 43 isolates (76.8%) were resistant to fluoroquinolones, but all isolates were susceptible to carbapenems and amikacin. The polymerase chain reaction sequencing results showed that the dominant CTX-M genotype was CTX-M-15 (19/46, 41.3%) in the ESBL-producing E. coli isolates. By contrast, CTX-M-14 and CTX-M-3 were the major genotypes found in Klebsiella spp. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that 21 ESBL-producing E. coli isolates belonged to group D (21/46, 45.6%), followed by group A (13/46, 28.3%), group B2 (11/46, 23.9%), and group B1 (1/46, 2.2%). Only four E. coli isolates (4/46, 8.7%) belonged to the ST131 clone. PFGE showed that the ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae were genetically unrelated. The conjugation assay showed that two plasmids harboring CTX-M-15 in E. coli isolates were genetic unrelated, whereas seven plasmids harboring CTX-M-14 (5/7 and 2/7) and four plasmids harboring CTX-M-55 (4/4) showed genetic relatedness, indicating the dissemination of resistance plasmids in this area.

Average differences in children's language abilities by socioeconomic status (SES) emerge early in development and predict academic achievement. Previous research has focused on coarse-grained outcome measures such as vocabulary size, but less is known about the extent to which SES differences exist in children's strategies for comprehension and learning. We measured children's (N = 98) comprehension of passive sentences to investigate whether SES differences are more pronounced in overall knowledge of the construction or in more specific abilities to process sentences during real-time interpretation. SES differences in comprehension emerged when syntactic revision of passives was necessary, and disappeared when the need to revise was removed. Further, syntactic revision but not knowledge of the passive best explained the association between SES and a standardized measure of syntactic development. These results demonstrate that SES differences in syntactic development may result from how children recruit syntactic information within sentences.

We describe the development, pilot-testing, refinement, and four evaluations of Diagnostic Question Generator (DQGen), which automatically generates multiple choice cloze (fill-in-the-blank) questions to test children's comprehension while reading a given text. Unlike previous methods, DQGen tests comprehension not only of an individual sentence but of the context preceding it. To test different aspects of comprehension, DQGen generates three types of distractors: ungrammatical distractors test syntax; nonsensical distractors test semantics; and locally plausible distractors test inter-sentential processing.(1)A pilot study of DQGen 2012 evaluated its overall questions and individual distractors, guiding its refinement into DQGen 2014.(2)Twenty-four elementary students generated 200 responses to multiple choice cloze questions that DQGen 2014 generated from forty-eight stories. In 130 of the responses, the child chose the correct answer. We define thedistractivenessof a distractor as the frequency with which students choose it over the correct answer. The incorrect responses were consistent with expected distractiveness: twenty-seven were plausible, twenty-two were nonsensical, fourteen were ungrammatical, and seven were null.(3)To compare DQGen 2014 against DQGen 2012, five human judges categorized candidate choices without knowing their intended type or whether they were the correct answer or a distractor generated by DQGen 2012 or DQGen 2014. The percentage of distractors categorized as their intended type was significantly higher for DQGen 2014.(4)We evaluated DQGen 2014 against human performance based on 1,486 similarly blind categorizations by twenty-seven judges of sixteen correct answers, forty-eight distractors generated by DQGen 2014, and 504 distractors authored by twenty-one humans. Surprisingly, DQGen 2014 did significantly better than humans at generating ungrammatical distractors and marginally better than humans at generating nonsensical distractors, albeit slightly worse at generating plausible distractors. Moreover, vetting DQGen 2014's output and writing distractors only when necessary would halve the time to write them all, and produce higher quality distractors.

High-performance InGaN-based p-i-n photodetectors (PDs) were fabricated using a typical light-emitting diode (LED) epitaxial structure and surface texturing. A multiple-quantum-well active-layer structure effectively mitigates the indium clustering problem and achieves a high rejection ratio and scalability. Two types of surface texturing for enhancing spectral responsivity were fabricated and compared. High responsivities of 0.21, 0.23, and 0.24 A/W were attained at a wavelength of 388 nm and the biases of 0, −1.5, and −3.0 V, respectively, corresponding to external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of 67%, 73%, and 78%. And the dark current was below 10 pA at zero bias. To the best of our knowledge, the responsivity reported in this letter is the highest for InGaN-based p-i-n PDs. Moreover, the sample with a surface-textured p-GaN layer has 50%–85% higher EQE at wavelengths between 335 and 365 nm and flatter spectral responsivity than did the other examined sample. High cost performance, low operating voltage, and LED-process-compatible PDs were obtained.

Overexpression of receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor (ROR1) in a variety of human malignancies is associated with aggressive behaviour. Therapeutic agents targeting ROR1 have shown promising results in vivo and in vitro studies. In breast cancer, high-level expression of ROR1 mRNA is associated with high-grade tumours and metastasis. We investigated the prevalence and prognostic significance of ROR1 expression in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). ROR1 was immunohistochemically stained on full-face sections of 210 TNBC patient samples. Forty-seven TNBC cases (22.4 %) showed strong ROR1 expression, which was associated with shorter disease-free survival (DFS; P = 0.00015), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS; P = 0.00013) and overall survival (OS; P = 0.026) in univariate analyses. Results were confirmed by multivariate analysis. Seventy TNBC cases (33.3 %) with medullary features showed longer OS (P = 0.00013). We divided the whole series into two subgroups based on the presence or absence of medullary features. Strong ROR1 expression retained a predictive value of shorter DFS and DMFS in both subgroups. Our study suggests that strong ROR1 expression might be an independent adverse prognostic factor in TNBC patients and may serve as a potential marker for patient selection in ROR1-targeted therapy. More large-scale studies are needed to clarify its potential usefulness.

In this study, flame retardant (FR) functional silk fabric was prepared by the facile adsorption of metal salts (ferrous, aluminum and titanium sulfate) at low concentration. This study tried to provide a good understanding on the FR ability and action of metal salts on silk fabric. The morphological structure and functional groups of silk fiber before and after treatment were studied. The thermal stability, smoke generation ability and FR ability of the treated silk were evaluated. The iron, aluminum and titanium salts endowed silk fabric with self-extinction effect at a concentration of 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 g/L, respectively. The metal salts also showed good washing resistance on silk fabric; for example, the aluminum salt treated silk still reached self-extinction after 10 robust washings, which is attributed to the complexation capacity of silk macromolecule with metal ions. The thermal stability and char residues analyses suggested the condensed phase FR mechanism for the treated silk, and the good ability to promote char formation contributed to their FR functionality. This study suggests that certain metal salts are effective enough to serve as suitable alternative to toxic halogen-based chemicals for enhancing fire safety of silk textiles.

In this study, a reactive boron-containing flame retardant (FR) namely glycerol borate citric acid ester (GBCAE) was synthesized using boric acid, glycerol and citric acid, and was applied to improve the flame retardancy of silk fabric. The chemical structure of GBCAE and its potential cross-linking reactions with silk fiber were characterized. The thermal stability, smoke and heat suppression capacity and FR ability of the treated silk were evaluated. The treated silk fabrics with a weight gain of higher than 7.3% had self-extinguishing ability. The FR treatment endowed high thermal stability and excellent flame retardancy to silk, and suppressed the smoke and heat release of silk by nearly 50%. The treated silk could still self-extinguish after 5 washing cycles and showed good washing durability, which is attributed to the covalent cross-linking action between GBCAE and silk fiber. The char residue analyses on morphology and functional groups indicated the intumescent FR mechanism for the treated silk. The prepared GBCAE has great potential to serve as suitable alternative to toxic halogen-based agents for improving the flame retardancy of silk textiles

Natural disasters have negative health impacts on chronic diseases in affected populations. Severely affected areas are usually rural areas with limited basic infrastructure and a population have that has limited access to optimal healthcare after a disaster. Patients with cardiovascular diseases are required to maintain quality care, especially after disasters. A population-based case-control study enrolled adults from the National Health Insurance Registry who had ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease histories and lived in the area affected by Typhoon Morakot in 2009. Monthly medical visits for acute cerebrovascular and ischemic heart diseases markedly increased at approximately 1&ndash, 2 months after the typhoon. Survival analysis during the two years following the typhoon indicated a significant increase in mortality in adults with an acute ischemic heart disease history who lived in the severely affected area. Mortality hazard analysis showed that among affected adults with previous cerebrovascular diseases and acute ischemic heart diseases, patients with diabetes (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 1.3&ndash, 1.7), Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) (adjusted HR: 2.0&ndash, 2.7), chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) and asthma (adjusted HR: 1.7&ndash, 2.1), liver cirrhosis (adjusted HR: 2.3&ndash, 3.3) and neoplasms (adjusted HR: 1.1&ndash, 2.1) had significantly increased mortality rates. Consequently, high-quality and accessible primary healthcare plans should be made available to maintain and support affected populations after disasters.

This study aimed at the preparation of caramel product by heating glucose at alkaline condition and its application to develop flame retardant silk fabric. Caramel product was employed to silk through a facile exhaustion approach, and the adsorption property, color depth, flame retardancy and washing durability of caramel on silk fabric were investigated. The adsorption of caramel product on silk at acidic condition imparted brown color and good flame retardancy to silk fabric with self-extinguish ability. The modified silk fabric could still pass the vertical flammability measurement after 15 washing cycles, showing good durability to washing. The bubbling property of caramel during heating is responsible for the enhanced flame retardancy of silk as the formed intumescent char layer could protect silk substrates, revealing a condensed charring mechanism for the modified silk fabric. The caramel product modification exerted little adverse impacts on the handle and tensile strength of silk. The flame retardant modification of silk using eco-friendly and sustainable caramel product is a cleaner production approach compared to the synthetically engineered chemicals.

Objectives: The mobile phone (MP) is an indispensable digital device in adolescents&rsquo, daily lives in the contemporary era, but being addicted to MP can lead to more risk-taking behavior. However, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relation. To address the gaps in the literature, the present study examined the idea that MP addiction is associated with reduced self-control, which further associates with increased risk-taking behavior. In addition, this study also investigated the moderation effect of adolescent sex in the association between MP addiction and self-control. Methods: A three-wave longitudinal study, each wave spanning six months apart, was conducted in a sample of Chinese adolescents (final N = 333, 57.4% girls). Results: Results of the moderated mediation model suggest that after controlling for demographic variables and baseline levels of self-control and risk-taking behavior, MP addiction at T1 positively predicted increased risk-taking behavior at T3 through reduced self-control at T2 for girls but not for boys. Conclusions: Theoretically, these findings contribute to the understanding about the working processes in the association between MP addiction and risk-taking behavior in adolescents. Practically, the results implied that boosting self-control appeared as a promising way to reduce girls&rsquo, risk-taking behavior, particularly for those who are addicted to MPs.

Malware detection has noticeably increased in computer security community. However, little is known about a malware’s intentions. In this study, we propose a novel idea to adopt sequence-to-sequence (seq2seq) neural network architecture to analyze a sequence of Windows API invocation calls recording a malware at runtime, and generate tags to describe its malicious behavior. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first research effort which incorporate a malware’s intentions in malware analysis and in security domain. It is important to note that we design three embedding modules for transforming Windows API’s parameter values, registry, a file name and URL, into low-dimension vectors to preserve the semantics. Also, we apply the attention mechanism [10] to capture the relationship between a tag and certain API invocation calls when predicting tags. This will be helpful for security analysts to understand malicious intentions with easy-to-understand description. Results demonstrated that seq2seq model could mostly find possible malicious actions.

Knowing how to use words appropriately has been a key to improving language proficiency. Previous studies typically discuss how students learn receptively to select the correct candidate from a set of confusing words in the fill-in-the-blank task where specific context is given. In this paper, we go one step further, assisting students to learn to use confusing words appropriately in a productive task: sentence translation. We leverage the GiveMeExample system, which suggests example sentences for each confusing word, to achieve this goal. In this study, students learn to differentiate the confusing words by reading the example sentences, and then choose the appropriate word(s) to complete the sentence translation task. Results show students made substantial progress in terms of sentence structure. In addition, highly proficient students better managed to learn confusing words. In view of the influence of the first language on learners, we further propose an effective approach to improve the quality of the suggested sentences., Comment: Accepted by BEA 14th

Background: Extensive studies have demonstrated that sleep is an important modulator of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. However, its impact on renal function remains uncertain. Methods: A total of 26,249 adults aged ≥20 years were recruited through voluntary health examinations in Taiwan. Sleep duration was self-reported by questionnaire. Proteinuria was graded semi-quantitatively by dipstick urine test. The associations of sleep duration with proteinuria and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were analyzed. Results: After an average follow-up period of 2.62 years, the crude hazard ratio (HR) for proteinuria progression were 1.92 (95% CI 1.22–3.03), 1.23 (95% CI 1.09–1.39), and 1.18 (95% CI 1.00–1.39) for those with sleep duration < 4, 4–6, and > 8 h compared to those with sleep duration of 6–8 h (the reference group), respectively. The HR remained significant for those with sleep duration < 4 h (adjusted HR 1.65 [95% CI 1.05–2.61]) and 4–6 h (adjusted HR 1.19 [95% CI 1.06–1.35]) after adjustment for age, sex, blood pressure, fasting glucose, body mass index, cholesterols, triglycerides, uric acids, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, income/educational levels, and baseline eGFR. However, eGFR was not significantly different among different sleep duration groups. Discussion: This result indicates short sleep duration is independently associated with the progression of proteinuria.

During spoken language comprehension, young children have difficulties in revising incorrect predictions about the structural properties of sentences. Recent research on individual differences suggests that these errors may reflect immature cognitive control. However, this evidence overlooks challenges with interpreting cross-task correlations and additional effects of linguistic knowledge on developmental parsing. To account for within-individual variation in task performance, this study compared sentence comprehension across two samples: one where socioeconomic status (SES) background was related to global language knowledge (Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation–Screening Test; n = 60) and another where it was related to cognitive control abilities (Stroop task; n = 46). Children (3- to 6-year-olds) heard sentences with an agent-first bias (e.g., “The blicket will be quickly …”) that predicted late-arriving verb morphology (e.g., actives: “… eating the seal”) or conflicted with this cue (e.g., passives: “… eaten by the seal”). Consistent with prior work, final interpretations were less accurate when revision was needed for passives compared with actives. Critically, when SES was a proxy for global language variation, children from higher-SES backgrounds revised mispredictions more than their lower-SES peers on average. However, when SES tracked variation in cognitive control instead, SES effects on revision were absent. This suggests that variation in revising mispredictions during development may be related to linguistic knowledge rather than cognitive control. We discuss these results in light of known effects of linguistic knowledge on sentence comprehension and describe an information-theoretic account for why limited knowledge may lead children to favor predicted meanings over revised meanings during comprehension.

Well-crystallized bismuth oxides (Bi2O3) were synthesized through precipitation processes operating at room temperature. Two synthesis routes were used, which led to Bi2O3 products with completely different phase structures. The crystallization mechanisms of γ-Bi2O3 and δ-Bi2O3 in relation to the synthetic processes were discussed. The role of vanadium (V) ions and the doping limit on the structural modification were also investigated. The photocatalytic efficiencies of the V-modified γ-Bi2O3 and δ-Bi2O3 compared with TiO2 P25 powder were discussed.

A series of novel isoflavonoids were synthesized based on structural modifications of daidzein, an active ingredient of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and evaluated for their anti-influenza activity, in vitro, against H1N1 Tamiflu-resistant (H1N1 TR) virus in the MDCK cell line. Among them, 4-oxo-4H-1-benzopyran-8-carbaldehydes 11a-11g were most promising, and they demonstrated better activities and selectivities comparable to those the reference ribarivin, a nucleoside antiviral agent. 3-(4-Bromophenyl)-7-hydroxy-4-oxo-4H-1-benzopyran-8-carboxaldehyde (11c) displayed the best inhibitory activity (EC50 , 29.0 μM) and selectivity index (SI10.3). Analysis of the structureactivity relationships (SAR) indicated that both the non-naturally-occurring Br-substituted B-ring and appropriate CHO and OH groups on the A-ring might be critical for the activity and selectivity against H1N1 TR influenza viruses.

Experimental pragmatics has gained many insights from understanding how people use weak scalar terms (like some) to infer that a stronger alternative (like all) is false. Early studies found that comprehenders initially interpret some without an upper bound, but later results suggest that this inference is sometimes immediate (e.g., Grodner, Klein, Carbary, & Tanenhaus, 2010). The present paper explores whether rapid inferencing depends on the prosody (i.e., summa rather than some of) or predictability of referring expressions (e.g., consistently using some to describe subsets). Eye-tracking experiments examined looks to subsets (2-of-4 socks) and total sets (3-of-3 soccer balls) following some and found early preferences for subsets in predictable contexts but not in less predictable contexts (Experiment 1 and 2). In contrast, there was no reliable prosody effect on inferencing. Changes in predictability did not affect judgments of the naturalness of some, when a discourse context was available (Experiment 3). However, predictable contexts reduced variability in speakers' descriptions of subsets and total sets (Experiment 4). Together, these results demonstrate that scalar inferences are often delayed during comprehension, but reference restriction is rapid when set descriptions can be formulated beforehand.

Relative-clause sentences (RCs) have been a key test case for psycholinguistic models of comprehension. While object-relative clauses (e.g., ORCs: "The bear that the horse . . .") are distinguished from subject-relative clauses (SRCs) after the second noun phrase (NP2; e.g., SRCs: "The bear that pushed . . ."), role assignments are often delayed until the embedded verb (e.g., ". . . pushed ate the sandwich"). This contrasts with overwhelming evidence of incremental role assignment in other garden-path sentences. The current study investigates how contextual factors modulate reliance on verbal and nonverbal cues. Using a visual-world paradigm, participants saw preceding discourse contexts that highlighted relevant roles within events (e.g., pusher, pushee). Nevertheless, role assignment for ORCs remained delayed until the embedded verb (Experiment 1). However, role assignment for ORCs occurred before the embedded verb when additional linguistic input was provided by an adverb (Experiment 2). Finally, when the likelihood of encountering RCs increased within the experimental context, role immediate assignment for ORCs was observed after NP2 (Experiment 3). Together, these findings suggest that real-time role assignment often prefers verbal cues, but can also flexibly adapt to the statistical properties of the local context. (PsycINFO Database Record

ObjectiveOur aim was to investigate the outcomes and prognostic factors after treatment failure of endometrial cancer.MethodsA total of 923 endometrial cancer patients were treated between 2000 and 2010, of which 109 experienced treatment failure. Treatment failure was defined as relapse after complete removal of all cancerous lesions or persistent/progressive disease despite treatment. Variables including clinicopathological features at initial treatment, type of primary treatment, failure pattern, salvage treatment, and outcomes were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were compared with log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to identify significant prognostic factors.ResultsEighteen cases with persistent/progressive disease died shortly from primary diagnosis (1–23 months). The remaining 91 patients had recurrences in vagina only (8.8%), pelvis (3.3%), distant (63.7%), and combined pelvic-distant sites (24.2%). Median time to recurrence was 13.3 months (3.2–97.2 months). The median follow-up after recurrence of survivors was 60.5 months (10.6–121.7 months). The median survival after recurrence (SAR) was 20.3 months (1.9–121.7 months) with 5-year SAR rate of 32.4%. By multivariate analysis, initial stage II to IV (hazards ratio [HR], 3.41; 1.53–7.60;P= 0.003), type II histology (HR, 2.50; 1.28–4.90;P= 0.008), positive peritoneal cytology (HR, 2.23; 1.07–4.68;P= 0.033), and recurrence at multiple sites (HR, 2.51; 1.30–4.84;P= 0.006) were significantly associated with poor SAR. The 5-year SAR rates in patients with solitary vaginal, nodal/liver, or pulmonary/bony recurrence were 83.3%, 50.5%, and 24.2%, respectively. Ten cases with resectable or irradiatable recurrence at multiple sites or multiple relapses attained SAR greater than 5 years after multimodality salvage therapy.ConclusionsInitial stage II to IV, type 2 histology, positive cytology, and recurrence at multiple sites were significant poor prognostic factors. Curative intent salvage therapy remains a viable option for cases with resectable or irradiatable multiple recurrences and solitary distant metastasis.

The metrology-data-quality-index (DQIy) algorithm was proposed to perform metrology-data-quality evaluation of the automatic virtual metrology system developed by the authors. The DQIy algorithm is based on the adaptive-resonance-theory 2 (ART2). ART2 divides data into different patterns according to the similarity of process data, and then calculates the corresponding DQIy value and its threshold, DQIyT, for evaluation and judgment. However, in practical applications, the classical ART2 technique still could not cluster process data very precisely. Since some samples with dissimilar process parameters might be sorted into the same cluster, two or more groups could be found in the corresponding metrology-data cluster. This phenomenon may cause invalid DQIy detection. To solve the problem above, the advanced ART2 scheme is proposed in this paper to enhance the accuracy of the DQIy algorithm. A large industrial data-set showing both a shift in metrology measurements without a process shift and a process shi...

A 26-year-old woman presented with lower abdominal pain for days. Human chorionic gonadotropin measured 2096 mIU/mL. Transvaginal ultrasound revealed no intrauterine pregnancy, but a heterogeneous 2.5cm x 2.1cm mass was adjacent to the right ovary, suggesting ectopic pregnancy. After medical therapy methotrexate 50mg/m 2 intramuscularly failed, laparoscopy found an omental mass with right tubal fimbriae attached. The left Fallopian tube and both ovaries appeared normal. Histopathology diagnosed omental pregnancy. Abdominal pregnancy accounts for only 1% of all ectopic pregnancies, with omental implantation being rarest. Abdominal pregnancy can be primary or secondary and may be difficult to distinguish from tubal pregnancy with implantation near the adnexa. Laparoscopy for omental pregnancy in a stable patient appears feasible and reproducible.

Cathepsin S (CTSS), a lysosomal cysteine protease, has been reported to be associated with extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation, thus promoting cell migration and invasion, but whether CTSS regulates other intracellular mechanisms during metastasis remains unknown. The expression of CTSS was knocked down using siRNA transfection, and enzymatic activity was inhibited by the highly-selective CTSS inhibitor RJW-58. The results of in vitro functional assays, western blot analysis, and an in vivo colonization model demonstrated that CTSS was positively related to cellular adhesive ability. Moreover, both CTSS knockdown and inhibition significantly decreased Ca2+ influx via store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) without changing STIM1 and Orai1 expression levels, while RJW-58 dose-dependently reduced the activation of the Ca2+-dependent downstream effectors, NFAT1 and Rac1. The results of immunoprecipitation assays demonstrated that CTSS could bind to STIM1, which was reversed by CTSS inhibition. In addition, confocal microscopy and super-resolution imaging showed that CTSS inhibition led to STIM1 puncta accumulation in the endoplasmic reticulum and reduced the interaction between active STIM1 and EB1. In conclusion, we have demonstrated for the first time that the lysosomal cysteine protease, CTSS, plays an important role in mediating Ca2+ homeostasis by regulating STIM1 trafficking, which leads to the suppression of cell migration and invasion.