HYPOTHESIS Peritonitis is a well-known indication for surgery, but its preoperative cause usually is not established. We hypothesize that abdominal ultrasonography is superior to the clinical ...impression of the surgeon in detecting the cause of peritonitis. DESIGN A prospective case series. SETTING A major university hospital in Taiwan, Republic of China. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred two patients with a diagnosis of peritonitis admitted to the Department of Emergency Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, were included in this study. All 102 patients underwent an abdominal ultrasonographic examination; and the ultrasonographic findings of these patients were classified into 2 categories: positive findings and normal screening results. The accuracy of clinical impression in detecting the cause of peritonitis was compared with the accuracy of abdominal ultrasonography. RESULTS Ultrasonography and clinical impression accurately diagnosed the peritonitis in 85 (83.3%) and 52 (51.0%) of the patients, respectively. The difference between ultrasonography and clinical impression in the diagnosis of peritonitis was significant (P<.001). Among 45 patients without a preoperative clinical diagnosis, a diagnosis was made by ultrasonography for 32 (71%) of them. There were a total of 98 patients with positive ultrasonographic findings, and 4 patients had normal screening results. Of the 98 patients with positive ultrasonographic findings undergoing surgery, all had abdominal pathological characteristics. The 4 patients with normal screening results received nonoperative treatment. CONCLUSIONS Ultrasonography is a more sensitive technique than clinical judgment in diagnosing peritonitis. Ultrasonography may be a useful diagnosing modality in patients with peritonitis in whom the clinical cause is unclear.Arch Surg. 2000;135:170-173-->
To explain trends in income inequality among families with children in Taiwan from 1980 to 2006, we decompose changes in income inequality to the contribution of residence urbanization, family ...structure, education, and age of the primary wage earner in terms of compositional effect of family changes and income effect of labor market changes. Using annual data from the Survey of Family Income and Expenditures, we applied variance function regressions to analyze mean and variance across family income inequality. Our results indicate an increase in variance of one-third from 1980 to 2006. Between-group differences among various family subgroups was found to be the major source of worsening income inequality before 2000, and both within-and between-group differences among various family subgroups were equally responsible after 2000. We found that the compositional effects of increasing labor force participation for women, educational expansion, and urbanization are suppressors of family income inequality. Identified boosters of family income inequality included the compositional effects of increasing divorce rates and both economically disadvantaged single-parent and less educated parent families, as well as income disparities in single-parent, highly educated parent, and middle-aged and elderly parent families. Adapted from the source document.
This study examines occupational incongruity in Taiwan and its impact on job dissatisfaction. Specifically, it describes the class structure of occupational incongruity, assesses the association ...between incongruity and job dissatisfaction, and explores the determinants of job dissatisfaction. Four indicators are used to represent occupational incongruity: involuntary part-time work, excess-hours work, relatively low income work, and educationally mismatched work. The class structure of occupational incongruity is examined for sex, labor market, and job dissatisfaction groups. Results reveal that the latent class proportions are the same between males and females, but the sexes have had differential risks of experiencing low hours, excess hours, low income, and educational mismatch. Agricultural workers were the most likely to be incongruent. Both blue collar and white collar workers in the private sector are more likely to be incongruent than those in the public sector. Workers in rural townships are the more likely to be incongruent, while workers employed in the five largest cities had the lowest chance of being incongruent. Workers are more likely to experience job dissatisfaction if they are incongruent by low hours, low income, or educational mismatch. However, workers experiencing excess hours incongruity are more likely to be satisfied. Among dissatisfied workers, those incongruent in excess hours, low income, and educational mismatch were more likely to report a desire to change jobs. However, those incongruent in low hours were more likely to indicate a need for an additional job. The results from two separate models for males and females indicate that there is a positive association between occupational incongruity and job dissatisfaction, holding constant other salient variables. The analysis provides new insight into the role of occupational incongruity as an intervening variable in the job dissatisfaction process.
HYPOTHESIS: Peritonitis is a well-known indication for surgery, but its preoperative cause usually is not established. We hypothesize that abdominal ultrasonography is superior to the clinical ...impression of the surgeon in detecting the cause of peritonitis. DESIGN: A prospective case series. SETTING: A major university hospital in Taiwan, Republic of China. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred two patients with a diagnosis of peritonitis admitted to the Department of Emergency Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, were included in this study. All 102 patients underwent an abdominal ultrasonographic examination; and the ultrasonographic findings of these patients were classified into 2 categories: positive findings and normal screening results. The accuracy of clinical impression in detecting the cause of peritonitis was compared with the accuracy of abdominal ultrasonography. RESULTS: Ultrasonography and clinical impression accurately diagnosed the peritonitis in 85 (83.3%) and 52 (51.0%) of the patients, respectively. The difference between ultrasonography and clinical impression in the diagnosis of peritonitis was significant (P<.001). Among 45 patients without a preoperative clinical diagnosis, a diagnosis was made by ultrasonography for 32 (71%) of them. There were a total of 98 patients with positive ultrasonographic findings, and 4 patients had normal screening results. Of the 98 patients with positive ultrasonographic findings undergoing surgery, all had abdominal pathological characteristics. The 4 patients with normal screening results received nonoperative treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasonography is a more sensitive technique than clinical judgment in diagnosing peritonitis. Ultrasonography may be a useful diagnosing modality in patients with peritonitis in whom the clinical cause is unclear.
An exploration of the impact of time spent in a parental household on the fertility behavior of coresident couples (N = 9,281) in Taiwan, based on data from the 1985 Labor Force & Fertility survey. ...The parity-specific effects of coresidence & the effects on the second & third birth intervals for couples married 5+ years are also examined. Findings suggest that coresidence has a minimal impact on family formation, ie, lower parity births, & on cumulative fertility behavior & preferences. It does, however, have a significant effect on: the probability that women will progress to the third & fourth births, & the timing of the second & third births. These results indicate that the extended family provides economic support for those couples who wish to have more births & allows them to have those births earlier than couples in nuclear households.
The physical model for field enhancement (FE) and the edge effects of body-tied FinFET charge-trapping NAND Flash devices are extensively studied in this paper. First, analytical equations are ...derived to provide insight to the FE effect for FinFET devices, and these analytical results are validated by 3-D TCAD simulation and experimental verification. Next, complicated programming and erasing characteristics and transconductance and subthreshold slope ( gm / SS ) behaviors are completely explained by the nonuniform injection behavior along various corner edges in FinFET. FE allows high program and erase speed and larger memory window. On the other hand, the edge effect complicates the device DC I - V , as well as programming and erasing characteristics, and these must be taken into account in memory circuit design.
The aim of this study was to assess whether the early blastulation (EB) of day 4 embryo is a useful predictor for outcomes in fresh elective single embryo transfer (eSET) cycles.
We retrospectively ...enrolled patients undergoing fresh SET cycles in our hospital from April 2014 to September 2016 and met with the following criteria: 1) age <38 years, 2) first IVF/ICSI cycle, 3) at least two blastocysts with morphological grading better than or equal to 4BB.
A total of 81 patients were included. Of whom, 55 patients (68%) had undergone eSET with embryos that had early blastulation on day 4 while the other 26 patients had had no EB. Early blastulation has shown a higher rate of good blastocyst (84.3% vs. 60.5%, p < 0.0001). The clinical pregnancy rate of EB group was significantly higher than that of non-EB group (56.4% vs. 27.0%, p = 0.013). There is also a tendency in EB group to have a lower abortion rate (3.23% vs. 28.6%, p = 0.081).
EB on day 4 is a useful predictor of the quality of the following embryos (i.e. day 5 embryo). It is a simple tool in selecting the best embryo to get a higher pregnancy rate in fresh eSET cycles.
Trial registration: This study was supplementally registered by the MacKay Memorial Hospital Institutional Review Board on April 18, 2017 (registration No. 17MMHIS039e).
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