A Study of Effectiveness and Satisfaction Level of Cloud CRM Users in Taiwan\u27s Enterprises

Cloud computing in recent years has become a popular IT application. In Taiwan, enterprises currently using CRM (Customer Relationship Management) applications seek to take advantages of cloud computing features to enhance CRM effectiveness. However, despite international IT service providers’ investments in Taiwan’s market for establishing a cloud computing environment for CRM users, no statistics are available to reflect experience with actual use. Therefore, the purposes of this study are to understand the satisfaction levels of the current cloud CRM users (i.e., Taiwan’s enterprises) and to determine the key factors, which significantly affect enterprises’ managerial effectiveness and users’ satisfaction with cloud CRM. The basis for the research model is the Information System Success model and the characteristics of SaaS and CRM. This study has obtained contacts with Taiwan’s enterprises currently using cloud CRM, and the complete analyses of valid survey responses will occur shortly

Controlled Delivery of Sdf-1 Alpha and Igf-1: Cxcr4(+) Cell Recruitment and Functional Skeletal Muscle Recovery

Therapeutic delivery of regeneration-promoting biological factors directly to the site of injury has demonstrated its efficacy in various injury models. Several reports describe improved tissue regeneration following local injection of tissue specific growth factors, cytokines and chemokines. Evidence exists that combined cytokine/growth factor treatment is superior for optimizing tissue repair by targeting different aspects of the regeneration response. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic potential of the controlled delivery of stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1 alpha) alone or in combination with insulin-like growth factor-I (SDF-1 alpha/IGF-I) for the treatment of tourniquet-induced ischemia/reperfusion injury (TK-I/R) of skeletal muscle. We hypothesized that SDF-1 alpha will promote sustained stem cell recruitment to the site of muscle injury, while IGF-I will induce progenitor cell differentiation to effectively restore muscle contractile function after TK-I/R injury while concurrently reducing apoptosis. Utilizing a novel poly-ethylene glycol PEGylated fibrin gel matrix (PEG-Fib), we incorporated SDF-1 alpha alone (PEG-Fib/SDF-1 alpha) or in combination with IGF-I (PEG-Fib/SDF-1 alpha/IGF-I) for controlled release at the site of acute muscle injury. Despite enhanced cell recruitment and revascularization of the regenerating muscle after SDF-1 alpha treatment, functional analysis showed no benefit from PEG-Fib/SDF-1 alpha therapy, while dual delivery of PEG-Fib/SDF-1 alpha/IGF-I resulted in IGF-I-mediated improvement of maximal force recovery and SDF-1 alpha-driven in vivo neovasculogenesis. Histological data supported functional data, as well as highlighted the important differences in the regeneration process among treatment groups. This study provides evidence that while revascularization may be necessary for maximizing muscle force recovery, without modulation of other effects of inflammation it is insufficient.Kinesiology and Health Educatio

Relationships between serum HER2 ECD, TIMP-1 and clinical outcomes in Taiwanese breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Serum levels of the extracellular domain of HER2/neu (HER2 ECD) have been demonstrated to be associated with clinical outcomes. A disintegrin and metalloproteinase-10, a sheddase of HER2/neu, can drive cancer progression and its activity is inhibited by tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1). However, elevated TIMP-1 expression has been associated with a poor prognosis of breast cancer. Therefore, this study was performed to explore the relationships between serum HER2 ECD, TIMP-1 and clinical outcomes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>One hundred and eighty-five female breast cancer patients, who received curative mastectomy without neo-adjuvant chemotherapy at Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, were recruited with informed consent for this study. Pre-operative serum levels of HER2 ECD and TIMP-1 were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-three cases (12.4%) were classified HER2 ECD positive. HER2 ECD positivity was significantly associated with age, lymph node involvement, histological grade, estrogen receptor status, progesterone receptor status, tissue HER2/neu overexpression, and disease-free survival (DFS). In an age, stage, ER and HER2/neu status matched subgroup (N = 41), the serum level of TIMP-1 was significantly associated with HER2 ECD positivity and DFS.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A high serum TIMP-1 was significantly associated with HER2 ECD positivity and a poorer DFS among Taiwanese primary breast cancer patients with HER2 overexpression.</p

Trophic plasticity of scleractinian corals under contrasted environmental conditions: evidence from stable isotope analysis

Most scleractinian corals can derive nutrition either autotrophically or heterotrophically, which allows them to use diverse trophic pathways. Therefore, when facing environmental changes, these organisms are expected to demonstrate an intrinsic ability to acclimatise through trophic plasticity. Despite the ecological importance of these corals, our understanding of their trophic plasticity is currently impaired by a lack of rigorous research approaches; a failure to consider the intraspecific variability of coral species and an oversimplification of the proxies of heterotrophic habits (e.g. corallite diameter). In order to understand how trophic plasticity could allow them to acclimatise, this study proposed to assess the trophic plasticity of morphologically contrasted coral species (e.g. Stylophora pistillata, Porites sp, Isopora palifera). We determined the stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen in the coral host tissues and algal symbionts and compared these in corals inhabiting areas around Taiwan characterised by contrasted temperature (from high to low latitudes) and light levels (from shallow to mesophotic waters). For each area, we evaluated the intraspecific trophic variability by estimating and comparing coral isotopic niches as a proxy for trophic niches. Our results on Stylophora pistillata revealed no overlap of the isotopic niches for the host and symbiont from different locations, suggesting that these coral colonies are supported by different core resources. Moreover, the isotopic niche of higher latitude coral colonies was larger than those from the lower latitudes, highlighting a certain trophic plasticity that may be related to more variable environmental conditions in the higher latitudes. Analyses of additional species and locations will provide essential insights into the trophic plasticity of scleractinian corals and how these species might adjust their nutrition in response to environmental changes

Oromotor variability in children with mild spastic cerebral palsy: a kinematic study of speech motor control

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Treating motor speech dysfunction in children with CP requires an understanding of the mechanism underlying speech motor control. However, there is a lack of literature in quantitative measures of motor control, which may potentially characterize the nature of the speech impairments in these children. This study investigated speech motor control in children with cerebral palsy (CP) using kinematic analysis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We collected 10 children with mild spastic CP, aged 4.8 to 7.5 years, and 10 age-matched children with typical development (TD) from rehabilitation department at a tertiary hospital. All children underwent analysis of percentage of consonants correct (PCC) and kinematic analysis of speech tasks: poly-syllable (PS) and mono-syllable (MS) tasks using the Vicon Motion 370 system integrated with a digital camcorder. Kinematic parameters included spatiotemporal indexes (STIs), and average values and coefficients of variation (CVs) of utterance duration, peak oral opening displacement and velocity. An ANOVA was conducted to determine whether PCC and kinematic data significantly differed between groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CP group had relatively lower PCCs (80.0-99.0%) than TD group (<it>p </it>= 0.039). CP group had higher STIs in PS speech tasks, but not in MS tasks, than TD group did (<it>p </it>= 0.001). The CVs of utterance duration for MS and PS tasks of children with CP were at least three times as large as those of TD children (<it>p </it>< 0.01). However, average values of utterance duration, peak oral opening displacement and velocity and CVs of other kinematic data for both tasks did not significantly differ between two groups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>High STI values and high variability on utterance durations in children with CP reflect deficits in relative spatial and/or especially temporal control for speech in the CP participants compared to the TD participants. Children with mild spastic CP may have more difficulty in processing increased articulatory demands and resulted in greater oromotor variability than normal children. The kinematic data such as STIs can be used as indices for detection of speech motor control impairments in children with mild CP and assessment of the effectiveness in the treatment.</p

Effects of and satisfaction with short message service reminders for patient medication adherence: a randomized controlled study

BACKGROUND: Medication adherence is critical for patient treatment. This study involved evaluating how implementing Short Message Service (SMS) reminders affected patient medication adherence and related factors. METHODS: We used a structured questionnaire to survey outpatients at three medical centers. Patients aged 20 years and older who were prescribed more than 7 days of a prescription medication were randomized into SMS intervention or control groups. The intervention group received daily messages reminding them of aspects regarding taking their medication; the control group received no messages. A phone follow-up was performed to assess outcomes after 8 days. Data were collected from 763 participants in the intervention group and 435 participants in the control group. RESULTS: After participants in the intervention group received SMS reminders to take medication or those in the control group received no messages, incidences of delayed doses were decreased by 46.4 and 78.8% for those in the control and intervention groups, respectively. The rate of missed doses was decreased by 90.1% for participants in the intervention group and 61.1% for those in the control group. We applied logistic regression analysis and determined that participants in the intervention group had a 3.2-fold higher probability of having a decrease in delayed doses compared with participants in the control group. Participants in the intervention group also showed a 2.2-fold higher probability of having a decrease in missed doses compared with participants in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Use of SMS significantly affected the rates of taking medicine on schedule. Therefore, daily SMS could be useful for reminding patients to take their medicine on schedule