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Background: In encouraging good health for people with intellectual disabilities, health promotion serves as an effective intervention. However, little is known about health promotion strategies for this sector of the population. The objectives of this study were to describe the current profile of health promotion planning among institutions caring for people with intellectual disabilities in Taiwan, and to examine differences among institutions. Method: The study employed a cross-sectional survey of 157 directors of institutions caring for people with intellectual disabilities in Taiwan. A structured questionnaire was posted to obtain information relating to the planning, budget appropriations, and decision-making processes concerning health promotion at these institutions. Results: A total of 120 directors of institutions completed the posted questionnaire. Health promotion plans were operative at 88.4% of the institutions. Among these institutions, 82 settings (76.6%) set aside funding on an annual basis for health promotion programmes for people with intellectual disabilities. With regard to budget spending, most of the respondents did not know exactly what percentage of the annual budget was spent on the health promotion programmes operating in their institutions. The process of health promotion implementation was multidisciplinary and intersectoral in terms of the staff involved. Those institutions that employed skilled nurses were more likely to run health promotion programmes than those institutions without nursing staff. Conclusions: Further research should be focused on the efficacy of health promotion programmes for people with intellectual disabilities, and on the creation of supportive environments in institutions for enabling these people to participate in the process of decision-making on health promotion issues.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to identify health characteristics of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) and to assess the use of emergency care facilities by these people and factors affecting this utilization. Method: A cross-sectional study was employed. Subjects were recruited from the Taiwan National Disability Registration System. A total of 1071 people registered with ID in Taiwan were recruited for this study in 2001. Data were collected via a structured mail-out questionnaire that was completed by the main carers of people with ID. Results: Most of the carers subjectively characterized the overall health status of people with ID as good-excellent. However, people with ID carry a burden of diseases greater than that of the general population. Nearly half (47.7%) of the subjects reported having an illness in the past 7 months. Most of the morbidity was associated with neurological, psychiatric, digestive, dermatological and cardiovascular diseases or disorders. One-third of subjects took medication regularly and 15% were "Major Illness" card beneficiaries of the Taiwan National Health Insurance scheme. About two-thirds of individuals with ID were classified as having multiple disabilities and 24.5% needed to be provided with frequent rehabilitative therapies to maintain their normal daily functions. Respondents indicated that 18.4% of the subjects had used emergency care in the past 7 months. A stepwise logistic regression model highlighted that the following need factors were significantly related to the utilization of emergency care: having an illness (OR=2.1, 95% CI=1.2-3.6), taking medicine regularly (OR=1.8, 95% CI=1.1-2.9) and self-reported health status (poor health: OR=9.9, 95% CI=2.1-45.7; bad health: OR=8.2, 95% CI=1.3-49.8). Conclusions: To ensure that people with ID minimize their utilization of emergency care, it is necessary to establish in appropriate community systems to monitor individuals with ID with poor health status, diseases and who take medicine regularly.

Background: Obesity and the health problems associated with it have substantial economic consequences for health care systems. Little information is available concerning obesity-related problems among people with intellectual disabilities. The aims of this study were to analyse patterns of obesity among children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities in Taiwan and to compare these data with existing national norms in an attempt to identify the scale of the problem of obesity among this population. Methods: Information was collected by postal questionnaire on a total of 279 children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities (age 4-18 years). Results: Sixty-four per cent of participants in the study had multiple disabilities and 40% had additional health needs. In terms of general health status, most of the persons with intellectual disabilities were reported to be in fair or good health, with 9% of them being reported to be unhealthy or very unhealthy. Body mass index (BMI) was related to age, but not to gender, morbidity or prescribed medication at the time of the survey. However, average BMI was higher than relevant population norms reported in Taiwan's Third National Nutrition and Health Survey (1993-1996). The overall prevalence of obesity was 18%, with 14% of participants aged 4-6 years, 22% of participants aged 7-12 years and 16% of participants aged 13-18 years being obese. In a multiple regression analysis of BMI, age was the only significant predictor of obesity, accounting for 8% of variation. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the problem of obesity among children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities should be considered a major public health concern that warrants further attention in health care systems.

This study investigated the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of the fractionated tea extract, a lower-polymerized polyphenol-rich extract ultrafiltrated from oolong tea. The amounts of total polyphenols, flavonoids and condensed tannin were enriched in fractionated tea extract compared to oolong tea. Furthermore, fractionated tea extract was a stronger scavenger of nitric oxide and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl radicals than oolong tea. When lipopolysaccharide-treated RAW264.7 macrophages were co-incubated with both tea extracts (500 μg/mL) or (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (100 μg/mL) for 16 h, all samples (oolong tea, fractionated tea extract, and (-)-epigallocatechin gallate) suppressed nitric oxide production by 60, 48, and 46%, respectively, and the suppression was due to nitric oxide-scavenging. However, only fractionated tea extract lowered the proportion of phospholipid arachidonic acid and type II-cyclooxygenase expression, thereby decreasing PGE2synthesis by 29%. In conclusion, fractionated tea extract was rich in potent antioxidant substances capable of inhibiting the production of pro-inflammatory mediators. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

NBTI trapped charge characteristics and recovery mechanisms are examined by a statistical study of individual trapped charge emissions in nanoscale HfSiON/metal gate pMOSFETs. We measure individual trapped charge emission times in NBTI recovery in a large number of devices. The characteristic time distributions of the first three emitted holes are obtained. The distributions can be well modeled by using a thermally-assisted tunnel (ThAT) detrapping model. NBTI trapped charge energy and spatial distributions and its activation energy distribution in the ThAT model are discussed and extracted. Based on the ThAT model and measured result of single-charge induced Vt shifts, we develop a statistical NBTI recovery \Delta Vt evolution model. Our model can well reproduce the temporal evolutions of a \Delta Vt distribution in a number of NBTI stressed nanometer MOSFETs in relaxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Vt retention distribution tail in a multitime-program (MTP) silicon–oxide–nitride–oxide–silicon (SONOS) memory is investigated. We characterize a single-program-charge-loss-induced \Delta Vt in nor-type SONOS multilevel cells (MLCs). Our measurement shows the following: 1) A single-charge-loss-induced \Delta Vt exhibits an exponential distribution in magnitudes, which is attributed to a random-program-charge-induced current-path percolation effect, and 2) the standard deviation of the exponential distribution depends on the program-charge density and increases with a program Vt level in an MLC SONOS. In addition, we measure a Vt retention distribution in a 512-Mb MTP SONOS memory and observe a significant Vt retention tail. A numerical Vt retention distribution model including the percolation effect and a Poisson-distribution-based multiple-charge-loss model is developed. Our model agrees with the measured Vt retention distribution in a 512-Mb SONOS well. The observed Vt tail is realized mainly due to the percolation effect. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]