How To Introduce On-Line Agricultural Products Navigation System On Google Earth Success

In the agriculture industry many brokers exploit the benefits between farmers and customers and decrease farmers’ income. As technology has developed, the internet has become the best advertising medium for many industries. In light of this, this study based on Google Earth, has designed an on-line Agricultural Products Navigation System operated by mobile devices which can easily exclude brokers, and build the bridge between farmers and customers in order to increase farmers income and customer benefits. Moreover, based on the IS success model of DeLone and McLean, by using qualitative methodology we expect this model will be able to provide system developers with the knowledge to improve the success of their systems

Profit Maximization by Forming Federations of Geo-Distributed MEC Platforms

This paper has been presented at: Seventh International Workshop on Cloud Technologies and Energy Efficiency in Mobile Communication Networks (CLEEN 2019). How cloudy and green will mobile network and services be? 15 April 2019 - Marrakech, MoroccoIn press / En prensaMulti-access edge computing (MEC) as an emerging technology which provides cloud service in the edge of multi-radio access networks aims to reduce the service latency experienced by end devices. When individual MEC systems do not have adequate resource capacity to fulfill service requests, forming MEC federations for resource sharing could provide economic incentive to MEC operators. To this end, we need to maximize social welfare in each federation, which involves efficient federation structure generations, federation profit maximization by resource provisioning configuration, and fair profit distribution among participants. We model the problem as a coalition game with difference from prior work in the assumption of latency and locality constraints and also in the consideration of various service policies/demand preferences. Simulation results show that the proposed approach always increases profits. If local requests are served with local resource with priority, federation improves profits without sacrificing request acceptance rates.This work was partially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, under grant numbers 106-2221-E-009-004 and by the H2020 collaborative Europe/Taiwan research project 5G-CORAL (grant number 761586)

Exposure to Secondhand Smoke and Risk of Tuberculosis: Prospective Cohort Study

Background: Prospective evidence on the association between secondhand-smoke exposure and tuberculosis is limited. Methods: We included 23,827 never smokers from two rounds (2001 and 2005) of Taiwan National Health Interview Survey. Information on exposure to secondhand smoke at home as well as other sociodemographic and behavioral factors was collected through in-person interview. The participants were prospectively followed for incidence of tuberculosis through cross-matching the survey database to the national tuberculosis registry of Taiwan. Results: A total of 85 cases of active tuberculosis were identified after a median follow-up of 7.0 years. The prevalence of exposure to secondhand smoke at home was 41.8% in the study population. In the multivariable Cox proportional hazards analysis, secondhand smoke was not associated with active tuberculosis (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.03; 95% CI, 0.64 to 1.64). In the subgroup analysis, the association between secondhand smoke and tuberculosis decreased with increasing age; the adjusted HR for those = 18 and = 40 and = 60 years old was 8.48 (0.77 to 93.56), 2.29 (0.75 to 7.01), 1.33 (0.58 to 3.01), and 0.66 (0.35 to 1.23) respectively. Results from extensive sensitivity analyses suggested that potential misclassification of secondhand-smoke exposure would not substantially affect the observed associations. Conclusions: The results from this prospective cohort study did not support an overall association between secondhand smoke and tuberculosis. However, the finding that adolescents might be particularly susceptible to secondhand smoke's effect warrants further investigation

Transmission of acute infectious illness among cases of Kawasaki disease and their household members

Background/purposeKawasaki disease (KD) is a disease of unknown cause and the causative agent is most likely to be infectious in nature. To investigate the household transmission pattern of infectious illness and etiology, we thus initiated a prospective case and household study.MethodsWe enrolled KD cases and their household members from February 2004 to September 2008. The KD cases and their household members accepted questionnaire-based interviews of the contact history, signs of infection, and symptoms to check whether clusters of infectious illness occurred.ResultsA total of 142 KD cases and 561 household members were enrolled. Among the 142 KD cases, 136 cases (96%) were typical KD, and six (4%) were atypical KD. Of the 561 household members, 17% were siblings, 46% were parents, 18% were grandparents, and the others were cousins or babysitters. Prior to the onset of their KD illness, 66% (94/142) KD cases had contact with ill household members. On the same day of the onset of KD cases' illness, 4% (6/142) KD cases had household members with illness. After KD cases' disease onset, 70% (100/142) KD cases had at least one other family member with illness. Overall, 61% (343/561) of all the household members had acute infectious illness during KD cases' acute stage, and 92% (130/142) of the families had clusters of infectious illness.ConclusionA total of 66% KD cases had positive contact with ill household members prior to their disease onset and 92% of families had clusters of infectious illness, so KD is strongly associated with infections

MUC4 gene polymorphisms associate with endometriosis development and endometriosis-related infertility

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mucin 4 (<it>MUC4</it>) plays an important role in protecting and lubricating the epithelial surface of reproductive tracts, but its role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis is largely unknown.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To correlate <it>MUC4 </it>polymorphism with the risk of endometriosis and endometriosis-related infertility, we performed a case-control study of 140 patients and 150 healthy women. Six unique single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs882605, rs1104760, rs2688513, rs2246901, rs2258447 and rs2291652) were selected for this study. DNA fragments containing the target SNP sites were amplified by polymerase chain reaction using the TaqMan SNP Genotyping Assay System to evaluate allele frequency and distribution of genotype in <it>MUC4 </it>polymorphisms.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both the T/G genotype of rs882605 and the frequency of haplotype T-T (rs882605 and rs1104760) were higher in patients than in controls and were statistically significant. The frequency of the C allele at rs1104760, the C allele at rs2688513, the G allele at rs2246901 and the A allele at rs2258447 were associated with advanced stage of endometriosis. Moreover, the G allele at rs882605 was verified as a key genetic factor for infertility in patients. Protein sequence analysis indicated that amino acid substitutions by genetic variations at rs882605, rs2688513 and rs2246901 occur in the putative functional loops and the type D von Willebrand factor (VWFD) domain in the MUC4 sequence.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>MUC4 </it>polymorphisms are associated with endometriosis development and endometriosis-related infertility in the Taiwanese population.</p

Protective Effects of Morus Root Extract (MRE) Against Lipopolysaccharide-Activated RAW264.7 Cells and CCl4-Induced Mouse Hepatic Damage

Background/Aims: Inflammation is one of the main contributors to chronic diseases such as cancer. It is of great value to identify the potential activity of various medicinal plants for regulating or blocking uncontrolled chronic inflammation. We investigated whether the root extract of Morus australis possesses antiinflammatory and antioxidative stress potential and hepatic protective activity. Methods: The microwave-assisted extractionwere was used to prepare the ethanol extract from the dried root of Morus australis (MRE), including polyphenolic and flavonoid contents. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 cells was examined the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative potential of MRE. CCl4-induced mouse hepatic damage were performed to detect the hepatic protective potential in vivo. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and western blot assays were used to detect target proteins. Results: MRE contained approximately 23% phenolic compounds and 3% flavonoids. The major flavonoid component of MRE was morusin. MRE and morusin inhibited lipopolysaccharide-induced production of nitrite and prostaglandin E2 in RAW264.7 cells. MRE and morusin also suppressed the formation of intracellular reactive oxygen species and the expression of iNOS and COX-2. In an in vivo study, a thiobarbituric acid reactive substances assay showed that MRE inhibited CCl4-induced oxidative stress and expression of nitrotyrosine. MRE also decreased CCl4-induced hepatic iNOS and COX-2 expression, as well as CCl4-induced hepatic inflammation and necrosis in mice. Conclusion: MRE exhibited antiinflammatory and hepatic protective activity

Record linkage research and informed consent: who consents?

BACKGROUND: Linking computerized health insurance records with routinely collected survey data is becoming increasingly popular in health services research. However, if consent is not universal, the requirement of written informed consent may introduce a number of research biases. The participants of a national health survey in Taiwan were asked to have their questionnaire results linked to their national health insurance records. This study compares those who consented with those who refused. METHODS: A national representative sample (n = 14,611 adults) of the general adult population aged 20 years or older who participated in the Taiwan National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and who provided complete survey information were used in this study. At the end of the survey, the respondents were asked if they would give permission to access their National Health Insurance records. Information given by the interviewees in the survey was used to analyze who was more likely to consent to linkage and who wasn't. RESULTS: Of the 14,611 NHIS participants, 12,911 (88%) gave consent, and 1,700 (12%) denied consent. The elderly, the illiterate, those with a lower income, and the suburban area residents were significantly more likely to deny consent. The aborigines were significantly less likely to refuse. No discrepancy in gender and self-reported health was found between individuals who consented and those who refused. CONCLUSION: This study is the first population-based study in assessing the consent pattern in a general Asian population. Consistent with people in Western societies, in Taiwan, a typical Asian society, a high percentage of adults gave consent for their health insurance records and questionnaire results to be linked. Consenters differed significantly from non-consenters in important aspects such as age, ethnicity, and educational background. Consequently, having a high consent rate (88%) may not fully eliminate the possibility of selection bias. Researchers should take this source of bias into consideration in their study design and investigate any potential impact of this source of bias on their results

The Relationship between Stasis-Stagnation Constitution and Peripheral Arterial Disease in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Objectives. In traditional Chinese medicine, Yu-Zhi (YZ, indicating stasis and stagnation) constitution describes a body that tends to express abnormal circulatory conditions. This study identified the linkage between YZ constitution and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods. Patients over 20 years of age who had had type 2 diabetes for 5 years or longer were recruited. PAD was diagnosed if the ankle-brachial index score was ≤0.9 in either leg. Level of YZ constitution was accessed by an YZ Constitution Questionnaire. Results. A total of 712 patients (354 men and 358 women) with a mean age of 61.5±10.6 years and diabetes duration of 13.1±6.7 years were recruited. The prevalence of PAD among our patients was 7.2%. Multivariate logistic regression revealed significant correlations between PAD and, respectively, YZ score, age, diabetes duration, current smoking, and hs-CRP. Conclusion. In addition to traditional risk factors, YZ constitution was statistically associated with PAD in patients with type 2 diabetes. This result invites further research into the effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine to treat YZ constitution