ICAR: endoscopic skull‐base surgery

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Innovative Disease Model: Zebrafish as an In Vivo Platform for Intestinal Disorder and Tumors

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the world’s most common cancers and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths, causing more than 50,000 estimated deaths each year. Several risk factors are highly associated with CRC, including being overweight, eating a diet high in red meat and over-processed meat, having a history of inflammatory bowel disease, and smoking. Previous zebrafish studies have demonstrated that multiple oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes can be regulated through genetic or epigenetic alterations. Zebrafish research has also revealed that the activation of carcinogenesis-associated signal pathways plays an important role in CRC. The biology of cancer, intestinal disorders caused by carcinogens, and the morphological patterns of tumors have been found to be highly similar between zebrafish and humans. Therefore, the zebrafish has become an important animal model for translational medical research. Several zebrafish models have been developed to elucidate the characteristics of gastrointestinal diseases. This review article focuses on zebrafish models that have been used to study human intestinal disorders and tumors, including models involving mutant and transgenic fish. We also report on xenograft models and chemically-induced enterocolitis. This review demonstrates that excellent zebrafish models can provide novel insights into the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal diseases and help facilitate the evaluation of novel anti-tumor drugs

以學生評鑑教師教學量表決定教師的開課或去留可行嗎？混合IRT分析取向 Is Using a SRI to Determine the Fate of Teachers or Commencement of Work Suitable? A Mixture IRT Analysis

本研究主要探討以學生評鑑教師教學量表決定大學教師開課或去留的可行性。研究對象為東部某大學大學部學生，總樣本數為6,111 人。有別於過往學生評鑑教師教學的實證研究皆建構在古典測驗理論，本研究為了更嚴謹地回應學生評鑑教師教學的評鑑結果，因此使用近代測驗理論進行分析，並進一步考量學生的潛在異質差異對學生評鑑教師教學的影響。研究結果顯示，在未考慮評鑑教師的學生潛在異質差異時，教師可輕易通過學校所訂定在學生評鑑教師教學量表的效標門檻。但進一步考慮學生潛在異質性發現，不同潛在類別的學生評鑑教師教學的方式差異頗大。針對上述結果，本研究對大學教師及學生評鑑教師教學提出相關的建議。 This study examines the effects of variability in student ratings regarding instruction on decision-making for faculty teaching evaluation. A total of 6,111 undergraduate students from 173 classes in a university on the east coast of Taiwan were included in the research sample. This study is different from previous studies regarding student ratings for instruction that are constructed in classical test theory. We use item response theory to analyze the heterogeneity of students, to rigorously examine the effects on student ratings regarding instruction. The results show that teachers may easily exceed the teaching criterion score set by the university when not considering the heterogeneity of the student ratings. However, the different latent types of the variability of student ratings may be important for interpreting the results of different student rating scores. The recommendations for university teaching and student ratings regarding instruction are created based on the results from this study

Gardenia jasminoides extracts and gallic acid inhibit lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation by suppression of JNK2/1 signaling pathways in BV-2 cells

Objective(s): Gardenia jasminoides Ellis (GJ, Cape Jasmine Fruit, Zhi Zi) has been traditionally used for the treatment of infectious hepatitis, aphthous ulcer, and trauma; however, the direct evidence is lacking. Materials and Methods:We investigated the effect of the GJ extract(GJ) and gallic acid (GA) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced inflammation of BV-2 microglial cells and acute liver injury in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Results:Our results showed that the GJ extract and GA reduced LPS-induced nitric oxide (NO), interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and prostaglandin (PGE2) production in BV-2 cells. The GJ extract and GA significantly decreased serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in LPS-treated rats. Furthermore, the water extract, but not the ethanol extract, of the GJ dose-dependently inhibited LPS-induced JNK2/1 and slightly p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in BV-2 cells. Conclusion:Taken together, these results indicate that the protective mechanism of the GJ extract involves an antioxidant effect and inhibition of JNK2/1 MAP kinase and COX-2 expressions in LPS-induced inflammation of BV-2 cells

Highly Distorted Multiple Helicenes: Syntheses, Structural Analyses, and Properties

A series of hexapole helicenes (HHs) and nonuple helicenes (NHs) were prepared from 1,3,5-tris[2-(arylethynyl)phenyl]benzene through two steps, namely, iodocyclization and subsequent palladium-catalyzed annulation with ortho-bromoaryl carboxylic acids. The crucial advantages of this synthetic method are the facile introduction of substituents, high regioselectivity, and efficient backbone extension. Three-dimensional structures of three C1-symmetric HHs and one C3-symmetric NH were elucidated using X-ray crystallography. Unlike most conventional multiple helicenes, the HHs and NHs investigated herein possess a unique structural feature where some double helical moieties share a terminal naphthalene unit. Chiral resolution of a HH and an NH was successfully achieved, and the enantiomerization barrier (ΔH‡) of the HH was experimentally determined to be 31.2 kcal/mol. A straightforward method for predicting the most stable diastereomer was developed based on density functional theory calculations and structural considerations. It was found that the relative potential energies (ΔHrs) of all diastereomers for two HHs and one NH can be obtained using minimal computational effort to analyze the types, helical configurations, numbers, and ΔH(MP–MM)s [= H(M,P/P,M) – H(M,M/P,P)] of the double helicenyl fragments