The emergence of beta-coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 gets entry into its host cells by recognizing angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRESS2) receptors, which are ...responsible for coronavirus diseases-2019 (COVID-19). Global communities have been affected by COVID-19, especially caused the neurological complications and other critical medical issues. COVID-19 associated complications appear in aged people with underlying neurological states, especially in Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). ACE2 receptors abundantly expressed in dopamine neurons may worsen the motor symptoms in PD and upregulates in SARS-CoV-2 infected aged patients' brain with AD. Immune-mediated cytokines released in SARS-CoV-2 infection lead to an indirect immune response that damages the central nervous system. Extreme cytokines release (cytokine storm) occurs due to aberrant immune pathways, and activation in microglial propagates CNS damage in COVID-19 patients. Here, we have explored the pathophysiology, immune responses, and long-term neurological impact on PD and AD patients with COVID-19. It is also a crucial step to understanding COVID-19 pathogenesis to reduce fatal outcomes of neurodegenerative diseases.
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Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong), who expelled the Dutch and established the first Han Chinese regime in Taiwan in 1662, has been "claimed" by various states as a hero wearing different hats. However, his ...Chinese father Zheng Zhilong's pirate and turncoat status and his Japanese mother Tagawa Matsu's unclear origin make his family's history rife with sex, violence, and betrayal. The existence of a Japanese (half-?) brother Tagawa Shichizaemon added more suspicions of the matrimony of his parents. This essay critically examines Chinese and Japanese primary sources and secondary literature to demonstrate how layer upon layer of accreted accounts twisted historical memories of the Zhengs every step of the way. One cannot but empathize with the family that lost many members to violent deaths and endured relentless prejudices in their struggle to transcend familial stigma while making history.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes infectious symptoms including fever, cough, ...respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms, and even loss of smell/taste and to date had caused 489 000 people to be infected with 32 000 deaths. This article aims to develop some strategies in dealing with the COVID-19 epidemic to prevent nosocomial infection and ensure the safety of healthcare workforce and employees.
This is a prospectively registered and retrospective descriptive study investigating the clinical characteristics, results of diagnostic tests, and patients' disposition from February 1, 2020, to April 30, 2020, at a tertiary medical center in Northern Taiwan.
There is no nosocomial spreading of SARS-CoV-2 in our facility. The following strategies were followed: information transparency; epidemic prevention resources planning by authorities; multidisciplinary cooperation; informative technologies; immigration quarantine policies; travel restrictions; management of diversion/subdivision; self-health monitoring; social distancing; screening of travel, occupation, contact, and cluster (TOCC) history; traffic control bundling (TCB); training of using personal protective equipment; real-name visiting management; and employee care. The patients' basic characteristics and diagnostic results were gathered. Of the 3832 cases, about 25.9% had travel history. Most of them were traveling to Asia (419 people/time, 10.9%) and from China (256 people/time, 6.7%). Meanwhile, healthcare personnel accounted for 316 people/time (8.3%) and cleaning personnel, 6 people/time (0.16%). The 36 cases who care or have contact with confirmed cases have negative results from the COVID-19 test. The most frequent symptoms were fever and upper respiratory infection followed by gastrointestinal symptoms.
The above strategies were followed. Patients were stratified based on the risk of TOCC history assessment to ensure the safety of healthcare personnel and patients' appropriate and timely medical services.
Backgrounds and Aim. Taiwan’s population is gradually aging; however, there are no comparative data on emergency medical services (EMS) use between the elderly and nonelderly. Methods. We analyzed ...the emergency calls dealt with between January 1 and April 4, 2014, by EMS in one city in Taiwan. All calls were divided into two groups: elderly (≥65 years) and nonelderly (<65 years). Nontransport and transport calls were compared between the groups for demographic characteristics, transport time, reasons for calling EMS, vital signs, and emergency management. Results. There were 1,001 EMS calls: 226 nontransport and 775 transport calls. The elderly accounted for significantly ( P < 0.05 ) fewer (28 (9.2%)) nontransport calls than did the nonelderly (136 (21.4%)). In the transport calls, 276 (35.6%) were the elderly. The elderly had a higher proportion of histories for cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, end-stage renal disease, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, the elderly had significantly longer total transport time, more nontrauma reasons, and poorer consciousness levels and lower oxygen saturation and needed more respiratory management and more frequent resuscitation during transport than did the nonelderly. Conclusion. The elderly have more specific needs than do the nonelderly. Adapting EMS training, operations, and government policies to aging societies is mandatory and should begin now.
Stressing the interdependence of linguistic, physical, and moral dignity, Confucian decorum warns against jests with either words or body. Therefore, truncating the body parts for comic effects is a ...significant breakage of the social and cultural taboos of a Confucian society. This paper selects twenty-five jokes on the human body from Feng Menglong's (1574-1646) Xiaofu (Treasury of Laughs) to showcase the great array of Ming humorous materials that, through an inverse of the established rules of the "solemn" human body, deconstruct and reconstruct the social body. I divide them into twelve categories: Literary parody, Political satire, Social criticism, Philosophical parable, Gallows humor, Physical disabilities, Stature shortcomings, Male sexual bodies, Female sexual bodies, Inappropriate uses of the sense organs, Homosexuality, and Children's sexual jokes. Although the jokes push the limit of civility a bit, and some are indeed quite off-color, most of them are not terribly politically incorrect even against today's standard. They are pretty good indices of Ming sentiments, anxieties, and morals. Breaking many political and cultural taboos, they help to release tension and construct a healthier society by therapeutically discharging fear and anxiety.
In Treasury of Laughs Hsu Pi-ching reconstructs the Chinese original and provides the only complete annotated English translation of Feng Menglong's Xiaofu, a 17th-century anthology of traditional ...Chinese humour with rich historical, linguistic, psychological, and anthropological connotations.
Tang Saier <inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="splitsection2_in1.tif"/> (fl. 1420), woman leader of a messianic Shandong <inline-graphic ...xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="splitsection2_in2.tif"/> insurrection during the Yongle <inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="splitsection2_in3.tif"/> reign (1402-1424), eluded the authorities all her life and, as a result, was forever shrouded in mystery. Historians and fiction writers in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) periods painted different pictures of this extraordinary woman. Was she a treacherous bandit, a seditious sorceress, a heroine of peasant uprising, or a divine woman supportive of the Jianwen <inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="splitsection2_in4.tif"/> emperor (r. 1399-1402), whose reign was cut short by his uncle, Emperor Yongle? Was Emperor Yongle's nearly hysterical suppression of Tang Saier's rebellion an act of compassion toward the devastated populace, or was it an attempt at reasserting his legitimacy amidst the rumor that he was a usurper? The dynamics between the rebel woman and the monarch have intrigued many an inquisitive mind. This study will explore the historical and literary meanings behind various images of Tang Saier and Emperor Yongle, and look into the role gender played in the conceptualization of the rebellion.
From past to present all is but talk, and all talk is but laughs. The birth of yin and yang from the original chaos, the voluntary abdication and forceful overthrow of the sage kings-who's ever ...witnessed this sort of thing? It's nothing more than talk. Future generations will talk about our generation, just as our generation talks about past generations. To talk about something and doubt it is laughable; to talk about something and believe it is even more laughable. Classics, philosophy, and histories are nonsensical talk, and people compete to transmit them. Poetry, rhapsody, and prose are preposterous talk, and people compete to perfect them. Praise or sneer, advocacy or suppression-these are whimsical talk, and people compete to respond to them. Sometimes we laugh at others; some other times we are laughed at. Those who laugh at others are in turn laughed at by others. The Treasury of Laughs is a collection of jokes. With all its thirteen chapters, some may still say it's a thin book. If you read it and are delighted by it, please don't be. If you read it and are enraged by it, please don't be. The world from past to present is an immense treasury of laughs; you and I are all in there as laughingstocks. Without talk there're no human beings. Without laughs there's no talk. Without laughs and talk there's no world. Cloth-Sack Monk, you're my master, you're my master!
Based on rainfall erosion of soil and suspended sediment transport in storm events, a method is proposed to predict peak suspended sediment concentration and suspended sediment yield in watersheds ...based on rainfall characteristics prior to peak rainfall intensity. The rainfall characteristics factors that dominate peak suspended sediment concentration Cp are rainfall erosion factor Ref, first peak rainfall intensity of area-average rainfall ipl and antecedent precipitation index lap ; the rainfall characteristics factors that dominate suspended sediment yield Yss in storm events are total rainfall P, suspended sediment yield factor Rsf and antecedent precipitation index Iap. This research focuses on watersheds in Liau-Kwei observation station along Lao-Nung River in southern Taiwan as the research object, and adopts the PSED-model to simulate the discharge hydrograph, suspended sediment concentration hydrograph and suspended sediment yield in 11 storm events for analysis. The analytical results show that there is a good correlation between the above-mentioned rainfall characteristics factors and Cp as well as Yss, thus enabling Cp and Yss to be predicted by using Expressions （13） and （14）. These two expressions are utilized to predict Ce and Yss of Typhoon Morakot in 2009, and the results are compared with those from simulation by using the PSED-model. The result of comparison shows there is a good capability in predicting. For the watersheds where it is necessary to predict Cp and Yss of a storm event for the benefit of effective operation of water resource facilities, the aforesaid rainfall characteristics factors can be utilized to establish applicable models for prediction.
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