Improvement of visual acuity in children with anisometropic amblyopia treated with rotated prisms combined with near activity

<b>AIM:</b> To evaluate the efficacy of a new modality for improving visual acuity (VA) in pediatric patients with anisometropic amblyopia.<b>METHODS:</b> Retrospective and interventional case series. Medical records of 360 children with anisometropic amblyopia treated with a modality that included rotated prisms, lenses, and near activities from January 2008 to January 2012 were analyzed. Characteristics such as improvement of VA and contrast sensitivity in amblyopic eyes and resolution of amblyopia (VA≤0.1logMAR or a difference of ≤2 lines in logMAR between the eyes) were assessed.<b>RESULTS:</b> Among the patients, the mean VA of the amblyopic eyes improved from 0.48logMAR (SD=0.16) to 0.12logMAR (SD=0.16) and the mean VA improvement was 0.36logMAR (SD=0.10, <i>P</i><0.001). Resolution of amblyopia was achieved in 233 of 360 patients (64.72%). The mean time for resolution of amblyopia was 8.05 weeks (SD=4.83) or 14.14 sessions (SD=8.76). Among the study group, refraction error did not change significantly after treatment (<i>P</i>=0.437). We found that better baseline VA may be related to success and shorten the time to amblyopic resolution.<b>CONCLUSION:</b> VA and contrast sensitivity improved with rotated prisms, correcting lenses, and near activities in children with anisometropic amblyopia. The VA improvement by this modality was comparable to other methods. However, the time to resolution of amblyopia was shorter with this method than with other modalities. Rotated prisms combined with near acuity could provide an alternative treatment in children with anisometropic amblyopia who can’t tolerant traditional therapy method like patching

Clinical impact of pharmacogenetic risk variants in a large chinese cohort.

Incorporating pharmacogenetics into clinical practice promises to improve therapeutic outcomes by optimizing drug selection and dosage based on genetic factors affecting drug response. A key advantage of PGx-guided therapy is to decrease the likelihood of adverse events. To evaluate the clinical impact of PGx risk variants, we performed a retrospective study using genetic and clinical data from the largest Han Chinese cohort, comprising 486,956 individuals, assembled by the Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative. We found that nearly all participants carried at least one genetic variant that could affect drug response, with many carrying multiple risk variants. Here we show the detailed analyses of four gene-drug pairs, azathioprine (NUDT15/TPMT), clopidogrel (CYP2C19), statins (ABCG2/CYP2C9/SLCO1B1), and NSAIDs (CYP2C9), for which sufficient data exists for statistical power. While the results validate previous findings that PGx risk variants are significantly associated with drug-related adverse events or ineffectiveness, the excess risk of adverse events or lack of efficacy is small compared to that found in those without the PGx risk variants, and most patients with PGx variants do not suffer from adverse events. Our results point to the complexity of implementing PGx in clinical practice and the need for integrative approaches to optimize precision medicine

Establishment and Safety Evaluation of a Removable Experiment Platform for VAWT

This investigation intends to establish an experimental test platform for a small vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT), which is installed on the rooftop of a building. The experiment platform designed here is flexible and suitable for executing the systematic performance evaluation on different types of VAWT. By utilizing the data acquisition system (DAQ), all environmental information and power data from sensors and generator on the platform are recorded and transferred to the computer automatically. Later, these analogy signals are transformed to digital format for transmitting into computer. Also, with the aids of a visual software programming within the framework of Labview, the real-time monitoring on the input/output parameters of generator and the wind condition on the rooftop can be accomplished simultaneously. Afterwards, the data processing and in-depth analysis on the experimental outcomes are carried out via the established computer program. Consequently, the on-site performance of the wind turbine generator system is attained in an automatic and systematic manner. Moreover, to ensure for providing sufficient data and its accuracy, statistic concept is enforced to judge whether the test data are qualified or not in the data-processing procedure. Regarding the safety evaluation on this test platform, the numerical models of the wind turbine and platform are analyzed numerically via ANSYS Workbench to obtain the force exerting on the main shaft and blades. This force distribution can be analyzed for checking if they can stand and meet the safety criterion under various wind speeds. In summary, together with the data-acquisition software programmed under the framework of Labview, this experimental system can provide the capability for monitoring, recording, and filtering these test data in an rigor manner, and is appropriate for executing the R&amp;D and performance evaluation on different VAWTs.</jats:p

Influence of Elevator Moving Pattern on the Contaminant Exclusion for an LCD Panel Delivery Facility

Because of the increasing panel size, the difficulty on delivering the glass substrate has been enhanced dramatically and become a critical problem in the LCD manufacturing industry. Nowadays, most of panel fabrication factory utilize the fully-automated delivering technology instead of the traditional labor delivery for diminishing the possibility of polluted particles on the LCD board. Thus, this study investigates the flow patterns on maintaining the air quality inside the delivering facility with a moving elevator. Also, influence on the moving pattern of the elevator via numerical technique is the focus of this investigation. Firstly, CFD code Fluent is used to execute the CFD simulation and evaluate the flow patterns inside this delivery equipment. It is found that the inferior air is generated mainly by the increasing vortex inside the delivery equipment for an upward-moving elevator. On the contrary, the flow field becomes very smooth without obvious vortex phenomenon, and thus induces a better air quality when the elevator moves downward. However, a better uniform flow field occurred when the elevator is moving upward. In addition, the airflow uniformity is not effectively improved by reducing the elevator velocity and increasing the FFU airflow velocity. It is not evident for improving the pollute exclusion by reducing elevator moving velocity which slows down the transporting efficiency, so it is suggested that the moving speed of elevator should maintain at 0.16m/s. On another way, it is useful to enhance the capability of pollute exclusion by increasing the FFU’s air velocity, thus it is proposed to raise FFU velocity to 0.71m/s. Consequently, it is concluded that the moving pattern of elevator has an essential impact and can be utilized to improve the air quality inside the LCD delivery facility.</jats:p

The study of social enterprise management

The study aims at dissecting the management strategies and revenue management of social enterprises to clarify how social enterprises are able to create critical social value on one hand while increasing their market value on the other hand. The study applies the case study method on two enterprise cases. Secondary data analysis is also implemented to compare the target enterprises with another two social enterprises. Three propositions are presented as follows: firstly, the mechanism of revenue management needs to cover profit management and mission management to make the social enterprise successful. Secondly, social enterprise needs to have management strategy which allows it to identify target, provide innovative products and services and change the way of revenue generation. Finally, social enterprise's innovative management which integrates internal abilities, resources and processes with external partners can effectively convey its social value.social enterprises; business management; management strategies; social value; market value; secondary data analysis; profit management; mission management; targets; target identification; innovative products; service innovation; revenue generation; internal abilities; internal resources; internal processes; external partners; Grameen Bank; Bangladesh; banking; banks; Sekem; Egypt; Children Are Us Foundation; Taiwan; child welfare; Guan-Yuan; Fu Jen Catholic University; indigenous peoples; tribes; farming; agriculture; revenue management.