THE EFFECTS OF FUNGAL MEDIUM ON HATCHING RATE OF BITING MIDGE

The little black mosquitos, Forcipomyia taiwana, bite human and become one of the most annoying pests in Taiwan. Recently, the population of F. taiwana increases and invades urban and countryside. In order to effectively prevent the harassment of F. taiwana, develop control strategy is urgent and necessary. Our study found that the fungal medium influenced the length and width of the F. taiwana eggs. It also significantly decreased the hatching rate of F. taiwana. Besides, this artificial diet was more non-toxic and environment-friendly than general chemical pesticides. Thus, this study provided critical information to develop potentially useful bait of F. taiwana in the future

A lack of association between genetic polymorphisms in beta-defensins and susceptibility of psoriasis in Taiwanese: A case–control study

AbstractBackgroundGenetic predisposition of the inflammatory-host response may affect the development of psoriasis. Previous studies have shown that copy number variations (CNVs) of β-defensin genes (DEFB) are associated with the susceptibility of psoriasis in Caucasian populations.ObjectivesThis study aimed to assess the role of the CNVs of the DEFB4 gene and functional variants in the DEFB1 gene in Taiwanese patients with psoriasis.MethodsIn total, 196 patients with psoriasis and 196 control individuals were analyzed for the presence of the DEFB4 CNVs using the paralogue ratio test, and also for the DEFB1 polymorphisms rs11362, rs1800972, and rs1799946, using a polymerase chain reaction.ResultsNone of the polymorphisms were found to be associated with psoriasis. The distribution of DEFB4 genomic CNVs did not significantly differ between the control group and psoriasis group. The frequencies of patients who carried a greater than the median (≥ 5) number of copies did not significantly differ in patients with psoriasis and controls. The multivariate analysis similarly revealed that the DEFB4 CNVs were not associated with psoriasis (odds ratio = 1.03, 95% confidence interval = 0.89–1.19, p = 0.720). No significant difference was detected in the genotype and allele distribution for any of the individual DEFB1 polymorphisms between the cases and the controls. Finally, the overall haplotype frequency profiles derived from the three polymorphisms did not significantly differ between the cases and the controls.ConclusionOur results do not suggest that these genetic variants of the β-defensin genes contribute to the genetic background of psoriasis in Taiwanese patients

Reduced Risk of Dementia in Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus using Chinese herbal medicine: A nested case-control study

Dementia is a prevalent condition in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. While Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is often employed as complementary therapy for glycemic control, its effect in controlling likelihood of dementia has not yet been fully elucidated. AIM To compare the risk of dementia between T2DM patients with and without CHM treatment. METHODS We undertook a nested case-control study and obtained data on patients 20-70 years of age who received medical care for T2DM between 2001 and 2010 from the National Health Insurance Research database in Taiwan. Cases, defined as those with dementia that occurred at least one year after the diagnosis of T2DM, were randomly matched to controls without dementia from the study cohort at a 1:1 ratio. We applied conditional logistic regression to explore the associations between CHM treatment and dementia. RESULTS A total of 11699 dementia cases were matched to 11699 non-dementia controls. We found that adding CHM to conventional care was related to a lower risk of dementia [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.51], and high-intensity CHM treatment was associated with an adjusted OR of 0.22. CONCLUSION This study shows that the cumulative CHM exposure was inversely associated with dementia risk in an exposureresponse manner, implying that CHM treatment may be embraced as a disease management approach for diabetic patients to prevent dementia

Effects of Growth Hormone Treatment on Height, Weight, and Obesity in Taiwanese Patients with Prader-Willi Syndrome

BackgroundInformation regarding the efficacy of growth hormone (GH) therapy in Asian Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) patients is lacking. We report our experience with GH treatment in children with PWS in Taiwan.MethodsForty-six PWS patients (27 males, 19 females; age range, 1 year 4 months to 13 years 7 months) who received and/or who are currently receiving GH treatment (0.1 IU/kg/day subcutaneously) for a period from 1 year to 3 years were retro-spectively analyzed. We evaluated height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and Rohrer index, before and after GH treatment.ResultsAfter patients had received GH for 1, 2 and 3 years, a significant improvement in mean height standard deviation score (SDS) was noted from −1.24 to −0.31 (p <0.01), 0.00 (p <0.001) and −0.26 (p <0.001), respectively. Mean BMI SDS decreased significantly from 1.93 to 1.13 (p <0.05) after 1 year of treatment; however, no significant changes were observed afterward. Mean Rohrer index decreased significantly, from 224.2 to 186.6 (p <0.001), 178.9 (p <0.001) and 169.3 (p <0.001). No significant gender or genotype pattern differences were noted among the 4 parameters examined.ConclusionThis 3-year, retrospective study indicates that PWS patients benefit from GH therapy in height increase and improved body composition

A Study on Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax

我國自八十七年起採行兩稅合一制度，並引進未分配盈餘稅防止營利事業盈餘之不當保留，多年實施下來爭議不斷，另外，過於浮濫的免稅所得與投資抵減，更導致稅收的嚴重流失。針對上述二大租稅議題，各界提出可能的改革方案，其中以最低稅負制最受矚目。本研究以美國最低稅負制為研究對象，針對其稅基組成、最低稅負的計算與投資抵減的限制等主要議題逐一介紹，並引用美國學者的分析，說明美國最低稅負制的實施成果，以及其引起討論的各項租稅議題。 本研究進一步探討，類似美國最低稅負制的制度是否值得在我國推行、在我國具體可行的作法，以及相關的配套措施，以做為立法者之參考。本研究認為最低稅負制對於控制我國租稅優惠的浮濫現象確有幫助，並且在設定適當稅基、稅率的前提下，可直接取代現行的未分配盈餘稅。 本研究利用財稅資料中心所提供之所提供之87年度與88年度各營利事業所得稅申報資料中之「損益檔」與「未分配盈餘申報檔」，模擬出取消未分配盈餘稅後，使兩年度稅收平衡的最低稅負制稅率約為14%。以14%的模擬稅率作進一步分析，發現最低稅負制下稅負增加的總營利事業家數約為原被加徵未分配盈餘稅家數的三分之一；各產業的比較上，金融保險業是以最低稅負制取代未分配盈餘稅政策下，最大的受益者，而原本投資抵減使用最多的電子資訊與光學業以及一般製造業，則是制度改變後稅負增加最多者。In January 1998, Taiwan adopted the imputation tax credit system to eliminate double taxation on business income, and a 10% surtax on corporate undistributed earnings was also introduced to compensate possible tax loss from the tax system transition. However, the surtax has been widely criticized for its laborious calculation process, inconsistency with financial accounting and disturbance on corporate dividend policy ever since. Meanwhile, excessive amount of exempt income and investment tax credit has put Taiwan’s public finance in trouble. Many tax reform plans are proposed, and alternative minimum tax system (AMT) has emerged as the most promising one. The thesis makes a thorough study on American corporate AMT to see if a similar tax system like AMT is worth introducing in Taiwan to address the tax issues mentioned above. The thesis concludes that a similar tax system like AMT can overcome several drawbacks in the current tax system. By including exempt income in the AMT tax base and controlling total amount of investment tax credit, inequity in income tax burden among different industries decreases. And with proper tax rate set, AMT seems to be a competent substitute for the 10% surtax on corporate undistributed earnings. Based on tax return data of 1998 and 1999, the thesis goes on to conduct an AMT simulation. A roughly 14% AMT tax rate is found to compensate tax loss from the supposed abolition of the 10% surtax on corporate undistributed earnings. Further analysis reveals that the financial industry may be the biggest winner from the possible tax reform, while the high-tech and manufacturing industry may suffer most.目錄 第一章 緒論 1 第一節 研究動機 1 第二節 研究範圍 4 第三節 研究方法 4 第四節 研究架構 5 第二章 文獻探討 7 第一節 國內有關營利事業最低稅負制之研究 7 第二節 國內有關個人最低稅負制之研究 14 第三章 美國最低稅負制之介紹 18 第一節 美國最低稅負制之立法沿革 18 第二節 美國最低稅負制之基本架構 20 第三節 美國最低稅負制之具體作法 25 第四節 美國最低稅負制之實施經驗 55 第四章 最低稅負制在我國實施之可行性 61 第一節 我國現行稅制的缺失 61 第二節 美國最低稅負制對我國現行稅制的啟示 67 第三節 建立我國的最低稅負制 73 第四節 模擬分析 86 第五章 結論與建議 100 參考文獻 107 附錄 110 表目錄 表 2-1 取消未分配盈餘加徵10%營所稅可能的替代方案 8 表 2-2 曾巨威等(2004)之最低稅負稅收模擬結果 17 表 3-1 美國2004年公司最低稅負扣抵額 Form 8827 52 表 3-2 美國1987年至1999年間補繳最低稅負之公司比例 56 表 4-1 各產業之各類所得分布狀況 62 表 4-2 各產業使用投資抵減狀況 63 表 4-3 我國最低稅負制申報格式模擬表 85 表 4-4 損益檔與未分配盈餘申報檔合併過程 88 表 4-5 各最低稅負制稅率對稅收及營利事業之影響數 90 表 4-6 各最低稅負制稅率對87與88年稅收影響之合計數 91 表 4-7 最低稅負制稅率設定為13.87%對稅收之影響數 91 表 4-8 各產業在最低稅負制下稅負增加之營利事業家數與百分比 93 表 4-9 87年度各產業在最低稅負制下稅負增加金額 95 表 4-10 88年度各產業在最低稅負制下稅負增加金額 96 表 4-11各產業未分配盈餘稅與最低稅負制影響數分佈表 98 表 5-1 建議事項與說明 101 圖目錄 圖 3-1 通常稅負制與最低稅負制之關係圖 2

Lichen Simplex Chronicus Associated With Erectile Dysfunction: A Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study.

An association between lichen simplex chronicus (LSC) and sexual dysfunction was explored. However, no data are available from investigations into the relationship between erectile dysfunction (ED) and LSC.This retrospective population-based cohort study aimed to clarify the risk of ED associated with LSC.By using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research dataset, we identified 5611 male patients who had been newly diagnosed with LSC from 2000 to 2004. The date of diagnosis was identified as the index date. LSC patients with incomplete demographic information or with a history of ED before the index date were excluded. In total, 22444 age-matched patients without LSC were randomly selected as the non-LSC group based on a 1:4 ratio. Subsequence occurrence of ED was measured until 2011. The association between LSC and the risk of developing ED was estimated using Cox proportional hazard regression model.After adjusting for age and comorbidities, patients with LSC had a 1.74-fold greater risk of developing ED compared with those without LSC (95% confidence interval=1.44-2.10). LSC patients with comorbidities including diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, peripheral arterial disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, depression, and anxiety were at a higher risk of ED compared with the non-LSC patients without comorbidities.LSC confers a greater risk in the development of ED. Physicians should be aware of the potential of ED occurrence in LSC patients

Investigation of the Machining Stability of a Milling Machine with Hybrid Guideway Systems

This study was aimed to investigate the machining stability of a horizontal milling machine with hybrid guideway systems by finite element method. To this purpose, we first created finite element model of the milling machine with the introduction of the contact stiffness defined at the sliding and rolling interfaces, respectively. Also, the motorized built-in spindle model was created and implemented in the whole machine model. Results of finite element simulations reveal that linear guides with different preloads greatly affect the dynamic responses and machining stability of the horizontal milling machine. The critical cutting depth predicted at the vibration mode associated with the machine tool structure is about 10 mm and 25 mm in the X and Y direction, respectively, while the cutting depth predicted at the vibration mode associated with the spindle structure is about 6.0 mm. Also, the machining stability can be increased when the preload of linear roller guides of the feeding mechanism is changed from lower to higher amount

Overlapped Fingerprint Separation Based on Deep Learning

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