Search

International students face many impediments under the COVID-19 pandemic. The objectives of this study are to assess the association between the perceptions of international students and the lockdown policy for COVID-19. In 2021, three different levels of lockdown policy were enforced, including level I from January to April, level III from May to July, and level II from August to December. We conducted three surveys for international graduate students using a validated questionnaire during the different lockdown levels. We collected 185, 119, and 83 valid questionnaires in level I, II, and III, respectively. There were linear trends in the correlations of lockdown policy with the knowledge (p = 0.052), attitudes (p = 0.002), and practices (p < 0.001) of COVID-19. In brief, the stricter the lockdown policy, the better the students adhered to sufficient knowledge, positive attitudes, and healthy practices. Furthermore, there were significant linear correlations of lockdown policy with the transportation, school study, leisure, family life, and diet behavior. In conclusion, lockdown policy had important impacts on the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and daily lives of international students. The findings indicated that the lockdown system and its corresponding measures appear to affect perceptions in a positive way.

Background: Fractional flow reserve (FFR) using an invasive pressure wire is recommended to guide coronary revascularisation in stable coronary artery disease. Coronary angiography-based wire-free FFR (CAFFR) determines the significance of a coronary lesion without the requirement of a pressure wire. Deferral of revascularisation of coronary lesions with an FFR >0.8 has been shown to have similar outcomes to patients managed with optimal medical therapy. Objective: The aim of our study was to assess the performance and 12-month clinical outcomes in patients with CAFFR-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) deferral. Methods: This was a prospective study involving 69 patients (93 vessels) with angiographic stenosis of 30–90%. Patients with CAFFR ≤0.80 or poor image quality were excluded, leaving 29 patients (31 vessels) for analysis. All recruited patients had a CAFFR >0.80 and thus, PCI deferral. This cohort was followed up for 12 months. The primary endpoint was a composite of death from any cause, MI or target vessel revascularisation. Wired FFR was done for comparison on 14 patients (48%) at the operator’s discretion. Results: The mean age was 59.9 (±12.6) years. The majority of patients were men (83%; n=24), 41% (n=12) had diabetes, 62% (n=18) had hypertension, 59% (n=17) had dyslipidaemia, 62% (n=18) had a history of smoking. The mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 52 (±11.4)% and 76% of the patients had a recent acute coronary syndrome. We assessed the left anterior descending artery and 52% (n=16) of vessels had a mean CAFFR was 0.87. At 12 months, all patients were alive, 89.7% remained in chronic coronary syndrome (CCS) class 1 and 3.4% (n=1) of the study population met the primary outcome of target vessel revascularisation. Conclusion: CAFFR showed good agreement with wire-based FFR and 12-month outcomes showed that CAFFR-guided deferral of PCI was safe and comparable to wired-based FFR guidance.

BackgroundAmong Taiwanese adolescent, how depressive symptoms, screen use affect on substance use remains unclear. This study aimed to examine (1) the cross-sectional association between depressive symptoms, screen use and substance use ; and (2) the modified effects of sex and school type on those mentioned associations.MethodsWe analyzed 18,509 participants from the baseline survey of the Taiwan Adolescent to Adult Longitudinal Survey in 2015. The outcome was substance use including binge drinking, smoking, cigarette smoking and betel chewing. The main predictors were self-reported depressive symptoms and screen use. Multiple logistic regression was employed to estimate predictors, and a subgroup analysis was performed to assess effect modifications.ResultsAmong 18509 participants, 6.4% reported binge drinking, 5.6% reported smoking, 4.4 % reported e-cigarette smoking, 5.0% reported betel chewing. After adjustments for covariates including sex, school type, BMI, skipping breakfast and social determinants, the associations of depressive symptoms, screen use on substance use were significant. Stratified results indicated that depressive symptoms and screen use employed diverse effects on substance use across subgroups based on sex and school types. ConclusionsDepressive symptoms and screen use were notable factors positively associated with substance use among Taiwanese adolescents. The findings highlight the importance of strengthening public health interventions to monitor substance use, decrease depression, and screen use among adolescents.

Emotional eating is one factor that increases the consumption of unhealthy food. This study aimed to investigate the association between emotional eating and frequencies of consuming fast food, high-fat snacks, processed meat products, dessert foods, and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in adolescents. The baseline survey data (2015) from the Taiwan Adolescent to Adult Longitudinal Study (TAALS) were fitted into multivariate logistic regression models adjusted for sex, school type, Body Mass Index (BMI), eating while doing something, nutrition label reading, skipping breakfast, smoking, binge drinking, sedentary lifestyle, physical activity, peer and school support, and parental education level. Among the 18,461 participants (48.5% male and 51.5% female), those exhibiting emotional eating were more likely to consume fast food (Odds ratio (OR) = 2.40, 95% Confidence interval (CI): 2.18–2.64), high-fat snacks (OR = 2.30, 95% CI: 2.12–2.49), processed meat products (OR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.78–2.08), dessert foods (OR = 2.49, 95% CI: 2.31–2.69), and sugar-sweetened beverages (OR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.70–1.98). Factors that were positively associated with unhealthy food consumption included eating while doing other activities, binge drinking, smoking, and sedentary lifestyle. Among all the covariates, nutrition label reading was the only factor that was inversely associated with frequent unhealthy food consumption. Sex and school type may moderate the effect of emotional eating on the frequent consumption of specific unhealthy food groups. In conclusion, adolescents with high emotional eating were more likely to report frequent consumption of unhealthy foods in Taiwan. Our findings showed that male participants appeared to consume fast foods, high-fat snacks, processed meat, and SSBs more often and dessert foods less often than females. Future longitudinal studies are recommended for understanding the causal relationship between emotional eating and unhealthy food consumption.

Due to rapid technological changes, governments in developing countries have paid special attention to sustainability. However, understanding insights into the sustainability of telecentres remains an open question. This paper aims to fill this gap. We conducted a case study in Vietnam by using both qualitative and quantitative data. We used the Kumar and Best's (2006) model as our theoretical lens to analyse the sustainability of telecentres in Vietnam. The paper finds that telecentres have shifted their concept to provide a wide range of services, both online and offline. The paper indicates that technological, political, and social sustainability are important for the sustainability of telecentres. The paper recommends that we should take the role of state-owned enterprises and the digital transformation at telecentres into consideration to sustain telecentres. Furthermore, the paper indicates the mutual relation between political and technical sustainability with social sustainability that has not been yet unveiled in the prior literature.

Due to rapid technological changes, governments in developing countries have paid special attention to sustainability. However, understanding insights into the sustainability of telecentres remains an open question. This paper aims to fill this gap. We conducted a case study in Vietnam by using both qualitative and quantitative data. We used the Kumar and Best's (2006) model as our theoretical lens to analyse the sustainability of telecentres in Vietnam. The paper finds that telecentres have shifted their concept to provide a wide range of services, both online and offline. The paper indicates that technological, political, and social sustainability are important for the sustainability of telecentres. The paper recommends that we should take the role of state-owned enterprises and the digital transformation into consideration to sustain telecentres. Furthermore, the paper indicates the mutual relation between political and technical sustainability with social sustainability that has not been yet unveiled in the prior literature.