Characteristics and determinants of ambient aeroallergens are of much concern in recent years because of the apparent health impacts of allergens. Yet relatively little is known about the complex ...behaviors of ambient aeroallergens. To address this issue, we monitored ambient fungal spores in Hualien, Taiwan from 1993–1996 to examine the compositions and temporal variations of fungi, and to evaluate possible determinants. We used a Burkard seven-day volumetric spore trap to collect daily fungal spores. Air pollutants, meteorological factors, and Asian dust events were included in the statistical analyses to predict fungal levels. We found that the most dominant fungal categories were ascospores, followed by
Cladosporium and
Aspergillus/Penicillium. The majority of the fungal categories had significant diurnal and seasonal variations. Total fungi,
Cladosporium,
Ganoderma,
Arthrinium/Papularia,
Cercospora,
Periconia,
Alternaria,
Botrytis, and PM
10 had significantly higher concentrations (
p<0.05) during the period affected by Asian dust events. In multiple regression models, we found that temperature was consistently and positively associated with fungal concentrations. Other factors correlated with fungal concentrations included ozone, particulate matters with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10
μm (PM
10), relative humidity, rainfall, atmospheric pressure, total hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. Most of the fungal categories had higher levels in 1994 than in 1995–96, probably due to urbanization of the study area. In this study, we demonstrated complicated interrelationships between fungi and air pollution/meteorological factors. In addition, long-range transport of air pollutants contributed significantly to local aeroallergen levels. Future studies should examine the health impacts of aeroallergens, as well as the synergistic/antagonistic effects of weather, and local and global-scale air pollutions.
Air pollution exposure in childhood is associated with greater incidence and exacerbation of asthma, particularly in children whose parents report high levels of psychological stress. However, this ...interaction has not been completely elucidated in pregnancy.
To examine whether the association between prenatal exposure to particulate matter no larger than 2.5 μm in diameter (PM
) and wheeze in children is modified by prenatal stress.
Mexican women were recruited during pregnancy (N = 552). Residential prenatal daily exposure to PM
was estimated using a satellite-based spatiotemporally resolved prediction model and averaged over trimesters. Maternal stress was indexed by maternal negative life events (NLE) score (range 0-11) ascertained during mid to late pregnancy. NLE scores were dichotomized at the median as low (NLE score ≤ 3) and high (NLE score > 3) stress. Reports of ever wheeze and wheeze in the past 12 months (current wheeze) for children were obtained using the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood survey at 48 months. The association between prenatal PM
and wheeze was analyzed using a modified Poisson regression and stratified by low vs high stress.
Greater PM
exposure during the first trimester was associated with increased risk of current wheeze among children with mothers reporting high prenatal stress (relative risk 1.35, 95% confidence interval 1.00-1.83, per interquartile range increase 3.8 μg/m
) but not among those reporting low stress (relative risk 0.84, 95% confidence interval 0.61-1.16, per interquartile range increase 3.8 μg/m
; P for interaction = .04).
Increased prenatal stress enhanced the association between PM
exposure in early pregnancy, and child wheeze at 48 months of age. It is important to consider chemical and nonchemical stressors together to more comprehensively characterize children's environmental risk.
Aims and objectives. To examine the level of quality of life in individuals with schizophrenia and to test its association with socio‐demographic, clinical and psychosocial characteristics.
...Background. Quality of life has been a focus of concern in mental health care, yet the level of quality of life and its determinants for individuals with schizophrenia are not well known.
Design. Cross‐sectional, descriptive design.
Methods. A total of 148 individuals with schizophrenia participated in the study. A demographic information sheet, the 18‐item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, the Chinese Health Questionnaires, the Mutuality Scale and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale, brief version, were used to collect data. Data were analysed with descriptive statistics, Pearson product–moment correlation and stepwise multiple linear regression.
Results. Most of participants were single, unemployed, had a low education level and were supported financially by family. Quality of life was positively correlated with age of mental illness onset, mutuality, employment status and monthly household income, whereas it was negatively associated with the length of mental illness, symptom severity and health status. Health status, mutuality, symptom severity, monthly household income and employment status were found to be key significant predictors with mutuality having the greatest effect on quality of life.
Conclusions. The findings increase our understanding of socio‐demographic, clinical and psychosocial characteristics influencing the degree of quality of life in individuals with schizophrenia. Incorporation of families and communities into the treatment programmes would enhance patients’ capabilities of social integration and satisfaction with their lives.
Relevance to clinical practice. Health care providers should make use of community‐oriented intervention programmes that aim to strengthen psychosocial functioning. Particularly, programmes that enhance health status and mutuality should be identified and developed for both individuals with schizophrenia and their families.
Effective antiviral-therapy can reduce the risk of liver cirrhosis related hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Yet, the difference of hepatocellular ...carcinoma development in chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C patients with cirrhosis after effective antiviral therapy treatment is unknown. In this study, We comprehensive explored the difference among them.
1363 patients with cirrhosis and hepatitis B virus treated with nucleos(t)ide analogues (NUCs) with completely suppressed virus, and patients with cirrhosis and hepatitis C virus treated with pegylated interferon (peg-IFN)/ribavirin (RBV) combination therapy who achieved sustained virologic response were enrolled.
Total 261 developed hepatocellular carcinoma within a median follow-up of 4.25 years. Univariate analysis, patients developed hepatocellular carcinoma tended to be of older age, and had lower platelet counts, were chronic hepatitis B carriers, and had higher serum alfa-fetoprotein (AFP) (≥20 ng/mL), FIB-4 index and APRI scores. Subsequent multivariate analysis revealed older age, lower platelet counts, high AFP levels and chronic hepatitis B carriers were independent risk factors of hepatocellular carcinoma.
Our findings identify that chronic hepatitis B patients were with a higher risk of hepatocellular carcinoma compared to chronic hepatitis C patients after achieving virological response. Special attention should be paid to those patients.
Background: With social structures changing and the average life-span of individuals increasing, Taiwan is experiencing a steady rise in its elderly population. Thus, caring for older parents is an ...urgent problem. Many foreign caregivers have been hired to care for older parents. However, measuring the quality of informal care has not yet been fully explored in Taiwan, particularly among older people who are cared for by foreign caregivers in home settings. Purpose: The purposes of this study were to understand the differences in quality of care for older Taiwanese and to explore the predictors of quality of care in two types of caregiving. Methods: A comparative descriptive study design was conducted. The study was held in several community healthcare centers in the middle and southern regions of Taiwan. Study data were collected over an 18-month period between 2012 and 2014. t Tests were used to compare continuous variables according to the types of caregiving. Multiple linear regressions with group analyses were performed to evaluate the underlying statistical assumptions. Results: One hundred fifty-nine participants were included. The study results showed that age, activities of daily living level, and quality of care were significantly different between the two types of caregiving. Relationships with caregivers, social support, and depressive symptoms contributed to the quality of care in family caregiving, explaining 50.2% of the variance. Social support and depressive symptoms contributed to the quality of care in foreign caregiving, explaining 36.6% of the variance. Conclusions/Implications for Practice: The study results support that the types of primary caregiving affect the quality of care that is received by elderly Taiwanese. This study may be used as a reference for families whose family members need long-term care when considering hiring foreign caregivers as an alternative option to Taiwanese caregivers.
Background: Cognitive degeneration and agitated behavior symptoms of dementia in older adults are the main causes of disability and inability and increase the cost of medical care. Agitated behavior ...symptoms of dementia are the main causes of early institutionalization and make caregivers exhausted. Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of art therapy and reminiscence therapy on the alleviation of agitated behaviors in older adults with dementia. Methods: An experimental research design with two experimental groups and one comparison group was conducted to examine the effects for each group on agitated behaviors. Participants were recruited from two dementia care centers in central and northern Taiwan. The study included 54 older individuals who met the sampling criteria and completed the data collection process. The participants were randomly allocated into the art therapy group (n = 24), the reminiscence therapy group (n = 22), and the comparison group (n = 8). The intervention consisted
Superspreading events (SSEs) are pivotal in the spread of SARS-CoV-2. This study aimed to investigate an SSE of COVID-19 in a hospital and explore the transmission dynamics and heterogeneity of SSE.
...We performed contact tracing for all close contacts in a cluster. We did nasopharyngeal or throat swabbing for SARS-CoV-2 by real-time RT-PCR. Environmental survey was performed. The epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the SSE were studied.
Patient 1 with congestive heart failure and cellulitis, who had onset of COVID-19 two weeks after hospitalization, was the index case. Patient 1 led to 8 confirmed cases, including four health care workers (HCW). Persons tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 were HCW (n = 4), patient 1's family (n = 2), an accompanying person of an un-infected in-patient (n = 1), and an in-patient admitted before the SSE (n = 1). The attack rate among the HCW was 3.2 % (4/127). Environmental survey confirmed contamination at the bed rails, mattresses, and sink in the room patient 1 stayed, suggesting fomite transmission. The index case's sputum remained positive on illness day 35. Except one asymptomatic patient, at least three patients acquired the infection from the index case at the pre-symptomatic period. The effective reproduction number (Rt) was 0.9 (8/9).
The host factor (heart failure, longer viral shedding), transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 (Rt, pre-symptomatic transmission), and possible multiple modes of transmission altogether contributed to the SSE. Rapid response and advance deployment of multi-level protection in hospitals could mitigate COVID-19 transmission to one generation, thereby reducing its impact on the healthcare system.
Ball-bearing-like specimens are prepared with three groove factors (GF ≡ r/D; r: radius of groove; D: diameter of ball). Analyses of operating conditions are conducted for the thrust loads applied to ...the dry-contact specimens running with the maximum contact stress close to 2.0 GPa. The combined effect of surface roughness ((Ra)inner) of the inner raceway and groove factor becomes the controlling factor for the slip ratio (SR) arising at the tribocontact of ball and inner raceway, and the average friction coefficient (μ¯) of specimen. Both the inception time (TBR) of the instability in the running-in process and the inception time (TBS) of the instability arising in specimen's base material are governed by the average value (SR¯) of SR. The wavinesses of raceway are the controlling factor for the significant rise of frictional torque in the running-in regime and the TBR value. The fluctuations of frictional torque arising at the time behind TBR are confirmed to be the instability arising in the base material. The theoretical prediction for TBS is determined when μ¯ reaches the threshold value, (μ¯)threshold. For the specimens with the same GF, increasing (Ra)inner can elevate SR¯ and μ¯. In the specimens with a relatively smaller (Ra)inner, GF is the dominant factor for SR¯; however, (Ra)inner becomes the dominant factor for SR¯ if the inner raceway is prepared with a relatively larger (Ra)inner. Increasing GF can result in aμ¯ reduction, irrespective of the (Ra)inner value. Both TBS and TBR are reduced by the increasing SR¯. The wear losses of ball and the two raceways, however, increase as increasing SR¯.
•Ball-bearing-like specimens with dry lubrication and different groove factor are investigated.•Effects of groove factor and roughness of inner raceway on two thermoelastic instabilities are evaluated.•The initial time of instability is obtained from two methods, and the precision of these solutions are compared.•Via the analyses for torque and vibration signals, the topography and tribo parameters in raceways are correlated.
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