Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains a major public health issue with high prevalence in Taiwan. Recently, the advent of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) agents, with higher efficacy, excellent ...safety profile, and truncated treatment duration, has revolutionized the paradigm of hepatitis C treatment and made HCV elimination possible. To provide timely guidance for optimal hepatitis C management, the Taiwan Association for the Study of the Liver (TASL) established an expert panel to publish a 2-part consensus statement on the management of hepatitis C in the DAA era. After comprehensive literature review and a consensus meeting, patient-oriented, genotype-guided recommendations on hepatitis C treatment for the general and special populations have been provided based on the latest indications and scientific evidence. In the first part of this consensus, we present the epidemiology and treatment situation of hepatitis C in Taiwan, the development of DAA, pre-treatment evaluation, post sustained virologic response (SVR) monitoring, and most importantly the treatment recommendations for the general population with compensated liver disease. The second part will focus on the treatment recommendations for the special populations.
Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) superinfection causes a poor prognosis in hepatitis B virus-infected patients and effective therapy is lacking. Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses play an important ...role in the pathogenesis of chronic viral hepatitis; however, the CD8+ T-cell epitopes of HDV have never been defined. Potential HLA-A*0201-restricted HDV peptides were selected from the SYFPEITHI database and screened by T2 cell-stabilization assay. HLA-A*0201 transgenic mice on a C57BL/6 background were injected intramuscularly with an HDV DNA vaccine. Splenocytes were stained directly ex vivo with HLA-A*0201-peptide tetramers after immunization. Epitope-specific CTL responses were confirmed by cytotoxic assays. HLA-A2, chronically infected HDV patients were also enrolled, to assess the existence of HDV-specific CD8+ T cells, based on findings in animals. Following HDV DNA vaccination, nearly 0.9 % of the total splenic CD8+ T cells were specific for peptides HDV 26-34 and HDV 43-51 in HLA-A*0201 transgenic mice, which was significantly higher than the number found in non-transgenic mice or in transgenic mice that had been immunized with control plasmid. HDV 26-34- and 43-51-specific CTL lines were able to produce CTL responses to each peptide. Interestingly, HDV 26-34- and HDV 43-51-specific CD8+ T cells were also detectable in two chronically infected HDV patients in the absence of active HDV replication. In conclusion, HDV 26-34 and 43-51 are novel HLA-A*0201-restricted CTL epitopes on genotype I HDV. HDV 26-34- and 43-51-specific CTLs have been detected in chronic hepatitis delta patients without active disease. Evoking CTL responses to HDV may be an alternative approach to controlling HDV viraemia in patients with chronic hepatitis delta.
This article describes the 2023 IEEE Low-Power Computer Vision Challenge (LPCVC). Since 2015, LPCVC has been an international competition devoted to tackling the challenge of computer vision (CV) on ...edge devices. Most CV researchers focus on improving accuracy, at the expense of ever-growing sizes of machine models. LPCVC balances accuracy with resource requirements. Winners must achieve high accuracy with short execution time when their CV solutions run on an embedded device, such as Raspberry PI or Nvidia Jetson Nano. The vision problem for 2023 LPCVC is segmentation of images acquired by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, also called drones) after disasters. The 2023 LPCVC attracted 60 international teams that submitted 676 solutions during the submission window of one month. This article explains the setup of the competition and highlights the winners' methods that improve accuracy and shorten execution time.
Histidine-436 of a truncated Bacillus sp. strain TS-23 alpha -amylase (His sub(6)-tagged Delta NC) has been known to be responsible for thermostability of the enzyme. To understand further the ...structural role of this residue, site-directed mutagenesis was conducted to replace His-436 of His sub(6)-tagged Delta NC with aspartate, lysine, tyrosine or threonine. Starch-plate assay showed that all Escherichia coli M15 transformants conferring the mutated amylase genes retained the amylolytic activity. The over-expressed proteins have been purified to near homogeneity by nickel-chelate chromatography and the molecular mass of the purified enzymes was approximately 54 kDa. The specific activity for H436T was decreased by more than 56%, while H436D, H436K, and H436Y showed a higher activity to that of the wild-type enzyme. Although the mutations did not lead to a significant change in the Kdm value, more than 66% increase in the value of catalytic efficiency (kdcat/Kdm) was observed in H436D, H436K, and H436Y. At 70 degree C, H436D exhibited an increased half-life with respect to the wild-type enzyme.
For the first time, a sequentially processed sub-50nm monolithic 3D IC with integrated logic/NVM circuits and SRAM is demonstrated using multiple layers of ultrathin-body (UTB) MOSFET-based circuits ...interconnected through 300nm-thick interlayer dielectric (ILD). High-performance sub-50nm UTB MOSFETs using deposited ultra-flat and ultra-thin (20nm) epi-like Si enable across-layer and in-layer high-speed 3ps logic circuits and 1-T 500ns plasma-MONOS NVMs as well as 6T SRAMs with static noise margin (SNM) of 280 mV and reduced footprint by 25%. Closely stacked monolithic 3D circuits envision advanced high-performance, rich function, and low power intelligent mobile devices.
Histidine-436 of a truncated Bacillus sp. strain TS-23 α-amylase (His^sub 6^-tagged ΔNC) has been known to be responsible for thermostability of the enzyme. To understand further the structural role ...of this residue, site-directed mutagenesis was conducted to replace His-436 of His^sub 6^-tagged ΔNC with aspartate, lysine, tyrosine or threonine. Starch-plate assay showed that all Escherichia coli M15 transformants conferring the mutated amylase genes retained the amylolytic activity. The over-expressed proteins have been purified to near homogeneity by nickel-chelate chromatography and the molecular mass of the purified enzymes was approximately 54 kDa. The specific activity for H436T was decreased by more than 56%, while H436D, H436K, and H436Y showed a higher activity to that of the wild-type enzyme. Although the mutations did not lead to a significant change in the K^sub m^ value, more than 66% increase in the value of catalytic efficiency (k^sub cat^/K^sub m^) was observed in H436D, H436K, and H436Y. At 70 °C, H436D exhibited an increased half-life with respect to the wild-type enzyme.PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Recent studies indicate that global warming is worsening, tremendously affecting our environment.Hence, reducing CO2 emissions is one of the most pressing issues in environmental protection. Among ...the natural resources, water is one of the most vital. Having a clean and secure water supply, as well as a water distribution system, is crucial for modern society. From a life cycle perspective, a complete water supply system is complicated and contains substantial, embedded carbons, which comprise infrastructure, as well as purification facilities and related processes. Assessing the total carbon footprints of a complete water supply system would present numerous benefits. Such evaluation covers the examination of water supply efficiency and identifying opportunities for carbon emission reduction after a thorough inventory.In addition, calculating the carbon footprints of products has become increasingly important for global enterprises. Determining the carbon footprint of unit of water (i.e., in kgCO2 e/m3) is necessary for the calculation of a product’s carbon footprint.
In view of the above-mentioned issues, several countries, including Scotland, the UK, USA, Japan, and Italy, have studied the carbon footprints of water supply systems. In Taiwan, previous studies conducted to determine the carbon footprints of water supply systems were not based on a life cycle perspective.Commissioned by the Water Resources Agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, this study calculated the carbon footprints of five water supply systems, each with different characteristics in terms of topography, scale, raw water quality, and purification process. The water supply systems studied included a traditional purification plant, a purification plant with high-turbidity raw water, a multi-process purification plant, an advanced purification plant, and a desalinization plant. The scope of inventory and assessment includes the intake, the purification, and the distribution stages, as well as the infrastructure and the chemicals used that are associated with these stages. Carbon footprints are calculated based on the unit water sold (m3). The calculation is performed in accordance with the standards set by the Taiwan Carbon Footprint Calculation Guidance for Products and Services. Preliminary results show that the carbon footprints of the traditional purification plant, the purification plant with high-turbidity raw water, the desalination plant, the advanced purification plant, and multi-process purification plant are 0.1768, 0.2646, 9.6249, 0.4969, and 0.1942 kg CO2e/m3, respectively.
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