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Neuroinflammation is a leading cause for neurological disorders. Carbazole alkaloids, isolated from the medicinal plants of Murraya species (Rutaceae), have exhibited wide pharmacological activities particularly for neuroinflammation. However, its underlying cellular targets and molecular mechanisms still remain unclear. In current study, we found that murrayafoline A (MA), a carbazole alkaloid obtained from Murraya tetramera, potently inhibited the production of neuroinflammation mediators, such as nitric oxide (NO), TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β in LPS-induced BV-2 microglial cells. Then, we performed thermal proteome profiling (TPP) strategy to identify Specificity protein 1 (Sp1) as a potential cellular target of MA. Moreover, we performed surface plasmon resonance (SPR), cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA) and drug affinity responsive target stability (DRATS) assays to confirm the direct interaction between MA and Sp1. Furthermore, we downregulated Sp1 expression in BV2 cells using siRNA transfection, and observed that Sp1 knockdown significantly antagonized MA-mediated inhibition of neuroinflammation mediator production. Meanwhile, Sp1 knockdown also markedly reversed MA-mediated inactivation of IKKβ/NF-κB and p38/JNK MAPKs pathways. Finally, in vivo studies revealed that MA significantly suppressed the expression of Iba-1, TNF-α, and IL-6, while increased the number of Nissl bodies in the brains of LPS-induced mice. Taken together, our study demonstrated that MA exerted obvious anti-neuroinflammation effect by directly targeting Sp1, thereby inhibiting NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways. Our findings also provided a promising direction of pharmacological targeting Sp1 for anti-neuroinflammation therapeutics as well as novel agent development.

Communities of Practices (CoPs) become building blocks of the knowledge economy. CoPs offer a productive solution for improving knowledge and knowledge management. This article presents the results of an empirical study that explored the impact of leadership on overall community effectiveness and knowledge creation and management. The research method employed was a multi-case study, with purposive sampling on two communities of Radiology and Anesthesia in a nonprofit healthcare organization of Taiwan. A total of 24 semi-structured interviews were taken with longitudinal non-participant observation of the routine meetings over a period of one year. The research revealed that two communities develop different leadership styles. In particular, two leadership styles are compared: shared leadership and single leadership. Shared leadership represents communities whose members are empowered to share the tasks and responsibilities of leadership. The results of the study suggest that CoP with shared leadership can nurture CoP to promote innovative learning and knowledge-sharing environment. First, shared leadership is capable of building a social setting for utilizing and articulating individuals and groups' embedded knowledge. Second, shared leadership can work together on setting learning support system entailing various types of meeting, such as regular meeting, morning meeting, and monthly meeting, make environmental influence on individual' motivation to engage in CoPs. Third, the sharing norms purposely developed by leadership overcome the power differences among members and provide chances for constructive interactions. On the other hand, a CoP that took the traditional approach of relying on a single leader has poor performance on the cohesiveness and ability to communicate. The article concludes with a discussion of some guidance for purposeful design of CoPs, implications, and future research opportunities.

To compare the clinical curative effect of thoracolumbar burst fracture treated by the posterior unilateral approach corpectomy fusion screw-rod fixation and anterior corpectomy bone fusion screw plate fixation.From January 2008 to May 2014,36 cases of thoracolumbar burst fracture underwent operation of decompression, fusion, and internal fixation was retrospective analyzed. Among them, 16 patients were treated through posterior approach as posterior group, including 13 males and 3 females aged from 37 to 62 years old; 9 cases caused by falling injury, 3 cases by traffic accident injury,4 cases by heavy aboved;the injury segment was on T₁₂ in 2 cases, L₁ in 5 cases, L₂ in 7 cases, L₃ in 2 cases; according ASIA grade, 3 cases were grade A, 2 cases were grade B, 2 cases were grade C, 5 cases were grade D, 4 cases were grade E; the time between injury and operation ranged from 5 to 15 days. Other 20 patients were treated through anterior-lateral approach as anterior-lateral group, including 15 males and 5 females with age from 27 to 62 years old; 12 cases caused by falling injury, 4 cases by traffic accident injury, 4 cases by heavy aboved; the injury segment was on T₁₂ in 2 cases, L₁, in 7 cases, L₂ in 9 cases, L₃ in 2 cases; for ASIA grade: 4 cases were grade A, 2 cases were grade B, 4 cases were grade C, 6 cases were grade D, 4 cases were grade E; the time between injury and operation ranged from 4 to 12 days. The operation time, bleeding during operation and postoperative drainage volume were observed in two groups,and the changes of nerve function of ASIA grade, clinical efficacy,improved degree of thoracic and lumbar lordosis,and bony fusion were compared between two groups.All patients were followed up from 12 to 24 months with an average of (15.8 ± 3.3) months. The operation time, bleeding during operation, and postoperative drainage volume had no significant different between two groups (P0.05). As compared with preoperative, ASIA grade of two groups at last follow-up had statistically significantly different (P0.01), the neural function of two groups after operation was recovered for different extent. The JOA score of two groups was compared between last follow-up and preoperative, the difference had statistically significant (P0.01), the two groups showed good clinical effect. The clinical results of ASIA grade, JOA score and RIS had no significant differences between two groups. All patients of two groups were obtained fusion. Thoracic and lumbar lordosis angle improvement degree had no significant difference between two groups ,it bad significant difference had statistical significance compared with preoperative, the two approaches could effectively restore the spinal sequence.For patients with thoracolumbar burst fracture just treated by anterior decompression and reconstruction of anterior column, according to the degree of operation performer' skill proficiency and the patient' condition to choose, but for patients must performed the spinal canal decompression anterior and posterior, the three column-reconstruction to required anterior-posterior approach, the posterior unilateral approach corpectomy fusion screw-rod fixation obviously shorten operation time, reduce the operation wound, it is worth the clinical promotion.

The practice of the two-day weekend for tourist activities has improved the life quality. The purpose of this study was to investigate how marketing strategies influence the tourists’ consuming behaviors. By convenience sampling, this study investigated the 1170 customers who had experienced in Janfusun Fancy World Group in Central Taiwan. Inferential statistics including descriptive statistics, factor analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test and one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to determine if there were significant differences in marketing strategies and consuming behavioral intentions among customers’ characteristics. The following conclusions were developed: (1) Consumer’s behaviors and perception of marketing strategies have significant correlation: alternative evaluation before consumption has a significant medium positive relationship with the price importance in the marketing mix; (2) about the perception of a marketing mix, the price importance has the highest positive relationship with the place importance; (3) Among demographic variables, gender makes significant impact on consumer’s choice of the security measures, traffic convenience and price levels. (4) Age and living areas appear to have significant differentiation in consumer’s choice of price strategies and marketing activities. Practical suggests are to have market segmentation by variables of gender, ages and geographical areas, and to make post purchase behavioral intention through high service quality. Key words: Marketing strategy, consuming behavior, amusement park.

Although the relationships between procedural justice climate and organizational citizenship behaviors have been examined in recent years, little research has explored the mechanism by which procedural justice climate shapes individual employee prosocial behaviors in the workplace. The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of a group-level cooperative norm on the relationships between the group-level procedural justice climate and individual-level organizational citizenship behaviors. The survey involved 45 work groups in four different industry fields in Taiwan, including manufacturing, technology, banking, and insurance, and each of the groups was composed of one supervisor and three subordinates. Cross-level analyses using hierarchical linear modeling (ULM) indicated that the cooperative norm fully mediated the relationship between procedural justice climate and individual helping behaviors. Procedural justice climate indirectly affects individual helping behaviors through their effects on the cooperative norm.

Organizational learning has been playing an important role for competitive advantages for the organization. Managing learning and change in the unique context of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can obtain benefits from network alliance. The paper seeks to draw attention to learning approaches from adaptive learning to generative learning in a SME in the context of asymmetric learning relationship. A qualitative research is conducted on a towing company of Taiwan with 14 in-depth interviews on persons of strategic alliances. This study discusses an asymmetric learning relationship where a large enterprise dominates the central place of the network, decides the learning policies and practices and guides learning involving adaptive and generative learning. This case of the SME assumes adaptive learning to ensure the development of network capability and adopts generative learning through communication channels and resources provided by the central firm. The outcomes of generative learning are the enhancement of absorptive capacity, the transfer of knowledge, shared identities, and shared contextual understanding in the towing industry. Though acquiring generative learning development, the case of the SME gets a competitive advantage but chooses to stay small and to be a business owner. This situation meets the psychological needs of the Chinese people.