Prevalence and Associated Metabolic Factors of Gallstone Disease in the Elderly Agricultural and Fishing Population of Taiwan

Purpose. To evaluate sex-related differences in the prevalence of and cardiovascular risk factors related to gallstone disease (GSD) in an elderly agricultural and fishing population of Taipei, Taiwan. Methods. The study sample consisted of 6511 healthy elderly participants (3971 men and 2540 women) who were voluntarily admitted to a teaching hospital for a physical checkup in 2010. The participants’ blood samples and real-time ultrasound fatty liver results were collected. Results. The prevalence of GSD in the study population was 13.2%, which increased significantly with population age (P<.0001). Women were associated with significantly higher GSD prevalence than men (14.8% versus 12.2%; for the chi-square test, P=.003). In a multiple logistic regression analysis, female sex, older age, and metabolic syndrome (MetS) were significantly associated with GSD. Multiple logistic regression analysis also revealed that obesity (odds ratio OR=1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09–1.44) and metabolic factors (one or 2 versus none, OR=1.48, 95% CI: 1.08–1.76) were significantly associated with GSD in women but not in men. Conclusion. In the study population, female sex, older age, and MetS were associated with higher GSD prevalence. The population exhibited other sex-related differences

Alpha adrenergic modulation on effects of norepinephrine transporter inhibitor reboxetine in five-choice serial reaction time task

The study examined the effects of a norepinephrine transporter (NET) inhibitor reboxetine (RBX) on an attentional performance test. Adult SD rats trained with five-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT) were administered with RBX (0, 3.0 and 10 mg/kg) in the testing day. Alpha-1 adrenergic receptor antagonist PRA and alpha-2 adrenergic receptor antagonist RX821002 were used to clarify the RBX effect. Results revealed that rat received RBX at 10 mg/kg had an increase in the percentage of the correct response and decreases in the numbers of premature response. Alpha-1 adrenergic receptor antagonist Prazosin (PRA) at 0.1 mg/kg reversed the RBX augmented correct responding rate. However, alpha-2 adrenergic receptor antagonist RX821002 at 0.05 and 0.1 mg/kg dose dependently reversed the RBX reduced impulsive responding. Our results suggested that RBX as a norepinephrine transporter inhibitor can be beneficial in both attentional accuracy and response control and alpha-1 and alpha-2 adrenergic receptors might be involved differently

Rate adaptation for 802.11 multiuser mimo networks

In multiuser MIMO (MU-MIMO) networks, the optimal bit rate of a user is highly dynamic and changes from one packet to the next. This breaks traditional bit rate adaptation algorithms, which rely on recent history to predict the best bit rate for the next packet. To address this problem, we introduce TurboRate, a rate adaptation scheme for MU-MIMO LANs. TurboRate shows that clients in a MU-MIMO LAN can adapt their bit rate on a per-packet basis if each client learns two variables: its SNR when it transmits alone to the access point, and the direction along which its signal is received at the AP. TurboRate also shows that each client can compute these two variables passively without exchanging control frames with the access point. A TurboRate client then annotates its packets with these variables to enable other clients to pick the optimal bit rate and transmit concurrently to the AP. A prototype implementation in USRP-N200 shows that traditional rate adaptation does not deliver the gains of MU-MIMO WLANs, and can interact negatively with MU-MIMO, leading to low throughput. In contrast, enabling MU-MIMO with TurboRate provides a mean throughput gain of 1.7x and 2.3x, for 2-antenna and 3-antenna APs respectively.National Science Council (China) (contract No. NSC 100-2221-E-001-005-MY2)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF Grant CNS-1117194

Testing Variation in Esports Spectators’ Motivations in Relation to Consumption Behaviour

This study aims to examine firstly the motivations of esports spectators driving them to engage in consumption behaviour, and secondly, two spectator groups (League of Legends, LOL; Hearthstone) to compare the findings of the independence model and the competing model. In recent decades, the concept of esports has emerged as a major component of the sports industry and, therefore, of the global economy. However, the basic functioning of this new sector is relatively poorly understood. This study considers consumer motivations as they relate to esports and aims to assess how selected motivations interact. The motivations chosen in five categories were adopted from the Uses and Gratifications Theory. The independence model (based on Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT)) and competing model (based on multiple theoretical perspectives) were applied to the LOL and Hearthstone spectator groups. Data (n = 574) were collected via online surveys with cross-validation measured and established between the two groups. The findings showed that social integrative motivations positively impacted consumption behaviour across game genres. Affective motivation partially mediated the relationship between social integrative motivation and consumption behaviour in LOL, and cognitive and personal integrative motivations positively influenced consumption behaviour in Hearthstone. The tension-release motivation had no significant association with consumption behaviour for spectators of either game. The findings can help the commercial interests of different esports game genres to predict why people consume particular esports and thus aid effective marketing strategies

Computational modeling with forward and reverse engineering links signaling network and genomic regulatory responses: NF-κB signaling-induced gene expression responses in inflammation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Signal transduction is the major mechanism through which cells transmit external stimuli to evoke intracellular biochemical responses. Diverse cellular stimuli create a wide variety of transcription factor activities through signal transduction pathways, resulting in different gene expression patterns. Understanding the relationship between external stimuli and the corresponding cellular responses, as well as the subsequent effects on downstream genes, is a major challenge in systems biology. Thus, a systematic approach is needed to integrate experimental data and theoretical hypotheses to identify the physiological consequences of environmental stimuli.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We proposed a systematic approach that combines forward and reverse engineering to link the signal transduction cascade with the gene responses. To demonstrate the feasibility of our strategy, we focused on linking the NF-κB signaling pathway with the inflammatory gene regulatory responses because NF-κB has long been recognized to play a crucial role in inflammation. We first utilized forward engineering (Hybrid Functional Petri Nets) to construct the NF-κB signaling pathway and reverse engineering (Network Components Analysis) to build a gene regulatory network (GRN). Then, we demonstrated that the corresponding IKK profiles can be identified in the GRN and are consistent with the experimental validation of the IKK kinase assay. We found that the time-lapse gene expression of several cytokines and chemokines (TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6, CXCL1, CXCL2 and CCL3) is concordant with the NF-κB activity profile, and these genes have stronger influence strength within the GRN. Such regulatory effects have highlighted the crucial roles of NF-κB signaling in the acute inflammatory response and enhance our understanding of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We successfully identified and distinguished the corresponding signaling profiles among three microarray datasets with different stimuli strengths. In our model, the crucial genes of the NF-κB regulatory network were also identified to reflect the biological consequences of inflammation. With the experimental validation, our strategy is thus an effective solution to decipher cross-talk effects when attempting to integrate new kinetic parameters from other signal transduction pathways. The strategy also provides new insight for systems biology modeling to link any signal transduction pathways with the responses of downstream genes of interest.</p

Nervous Necrosis Virus Replicates Following the Embryo Development and Dual Infection with Iridovirus at Juvenile Stage in Grouper

Infection of virus (such as nodavirus and iridovirus) and bacteria (such as Vibrio anguillarum) in farmed grouper has been widely reported and caused large economic losses to Taiwanese fish aquaculture industry since 1979. The multiplex assay was used to detect dual viral infection and showed that only nervous necrosis virus (NNV) can be detected till the end of experiments (100% mortality) once it appeared. In addition, iridovirus can be detected in a certain period of rearing. The results of real-time PCR and in situ PCR indicated that NNV, in fact, was not on the surface of the eggs but present in the embryo, which can continue to replicate during the embryo development. The virus may be vertically transmitted by packing into eggs during egg development (formation) or delivering into eggs by sperm during fertilization. The ozone treatment of eggs may fail to remove the virus, so a new strategy to prevent NNV is needed

Mortality risk factors in patients with Acinetobacter baumannii ventilator-associated pneumonia

Background/PurposeVentilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) caused by Acinetobacter baumannii has contributed to high mortality rate, prolonged stays in the intensive care unit, and the rapid development of antimicrobial resistance to commonly used antimicrobials. This study sought to determine predictors of mortality and carbapenem resistance for patients with A baumannii VAP.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed 541 adult patients with A baumannii pneumonia, who were admitted to a medical center between 2005 and 2007; of which 180 (33.3%) had been treated with mechanical ventilation. Of the 180 patients, 98 (54.4%) who survived were categorized as the survivor group, and 82 (45.6%) who died as the mortality group. Eighty-seven (48.3%) with imipenem-sensitive A baumannii VAP were categorized as the IS-AB group, and the remaining 93 (51.7%) with imipenem-resistant VAP as the IR-AB group.ResultsCompared with the survivor group, the mortality group had significantly higher Charlson comorbidity index scores, and more neoplastic disease, other sites of infection, bloodstream infections, altered mental status, confusion, urea >7 mmol/L, respiratory rate >30/min, low blood pressure (systolic <90 mmHg or diastolic <60 mmHg), age >65 years (CURB-65) ≥ 3, creatinine > 1.6 mg/dL, C-reactive protein ≥ 100 mg/L, and imipenem resistance. The survivor group had more cases of tracheostomy and diabetes mellitus than the mortality group had. Compared with the IS-AB group, the IR-AB group had higher Charlson comorbidity index scores, longer stays before VAP onset, an increase in other sites of infection, white blood cell count <4/μL or >1.1 × 104/μL, and higher hospital mortality rates.ConclusionInadequate initial empiric antimicrobial therapy and higher disease severity scores, including CURB ≥ 3 and C-reactive protein ≥ 120 mg/L, were independent risk factors associated with higher mortality rates for A baumannii pneumonia. Length of stay before VAP and white blood cell count <4/μL or >1.1 × 104/μL were independent risk factors for carbapenem resistance

Deeply conserved synteny resolves early events in vertebrate evolution

Although it is widely believed that early vertebrate evolution was shaped by ancient whole-genome duplications, the number, timing and mechanism of these events remain elusive. Here, we infer the history of vertebrates through genomic comparisons with a new chromosome-scale sequence of the invertebrate chordate amphioxus. We show how the karyotypes of amphioxus and diverse vertebrates are derived from 17 ancestral chordate linkage groups (and 19 ancestral bilaterian groups) by fusion, rearrangement and duplication. We resolve two distinct ancient duplications based on patterns of chromosomal conserved synteny. All extant vertebrates share the first duplication, which occurred in the mid/late Cambrian by autotetraploidization (that is, direct genome doubling). In contrast, the second duplication is found only in jawed vertebrates and occurred in the mid-late Ordovician by allotetraploidization (that is, genome duplication following interspecific hybridization) from two now-extinct progenitors. This complex genomic history parallels the diversification of vertebrate lineages in the fossil record