Nanostructured Phosphate-based Electrode Materials for Lithium Batteries

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

A Microwave-Assisted Extraction Method for Determining Hot Water Solubility of Wood

A microwave-assisted extraction method is proposed as an alternative to the conventional method for determining the hot water solubility of wood. In this alternative method, microwave heating substitutes for the boiling water to extract part of the extraneous components as well as starches in wood tissues. Experimental results indicate that 100 mL water can be heated to boiling in only 75 s under the microwave radiation. Hence, only 15-20 min are required to complete the extraction procedure for Liquidambar formosana Hance and Swietenia mahagoni Jacq., 10 min and 5 min for Taiwania cryptomerioides and Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb) Hook, respectively. In general, a 15-min microwave heating has the potential to be an alternative to the conventional method, which requires 3 h for the hot water solubility determination

The effect of cigarette price increase on the cigarette consumption in Taiwan: evidence from the National Health Interview Surveys on cigarette consumption

BACKGROUND: This study uses cigarette price elasticity to evaluate the effect of a new excise tax increase on cigarette consumption and to investigate responses from various types of smokers. METHODS: Our sample consisted of current smokers between 17 and 69 years old interviewed during an annual face-to-face survey conducted by Taiwan National Health Research Institutes between 2000 to 2003. We used Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) procedure to estimate double logarithmic function of cigarette demand and cigarette price elasticity. RESULTS: In 2002, after Taiwan had enacted the new tax scheme, cigarette price elasticity in Taiwan was found to be -0.5274. The new tax scheme brought about an average annual 13.27 packs/person (10.5%) reduction in cigarette consumption. Using the cigarette price elasticity estimate from -0.309 in 2003, we calculated that if the Health and Welfare Tax were increased by another NT$ 3 per pack and cigarette producers shifted this increase to the consumers, cigarette consumption would be reduced by 2.47 packs/person (2.2%). The value of the estimated cigarette price elasticity is smaller than one, meaning that the tax will not only reduce cigarette consumption but it will also generate additional tax revenues. Male smokers who had no income or who smoked light cigarettes were found to be more responsive to changes in cigarette price. CONCLUSIONS: An additional tax added to the cost of cigarettes would bring about a reduction in cigarette consumption and increased tax revenues. It would also help reduce incidents smoking-related illnesses. The additional tax revenues generated by the tax increase could be used to offset the current financial deficiency of Taiwan's National Health Insurance program and provide better public services

In vivo imaging of glycol chitosan-based nanogel biodistribution

The preclinical development of nanomedicines raises several challenges and requires a comprehensive characterization. Among them is the evaluation of the biodistribution following systemic administration. In previous work, the biocompatibility and in vitro targeting ability of a glycol chitosan (GC) based nanogel have been validated. In the present study, its biodistribution in the mice is assessed, using near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging as a tool to track the nanogel over time, after intravenous administration. Rapid whole body biodistribution of both Cy5.5 labeled GC nanogel and free polymer is found at early times. It remains widespreadly distributed in the body at least up to 6 h postinjection and its concentration then decreases drastically after 24 h. Nanogel blood circulation half-life lies around 2 h with the free linear GC polymer presenting lower blood clearance rate. After 24 h, the blood NIR fluorescence intensity associated with both samples decreases to insignificant values. NIR imaging of the organs shows that the nanogel had a body clearance time of 48 h, because at this time point a weak signal of NIR fluorescence is observed only in the kidneys. Hereupon it can be concluded that the engineered GC nanogel has a fairly long blood circulation time, suitable for biomedical applications, namely, drug delivery, simultaneously allowing efficient and quick body clearance.Acknowledgements: The authors thank the FCT Strategic Project of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, the project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462), and the Project “BioHealth— Biotechnology and Bioengineering approaches to improve health quality,” Ref. NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000027, co-funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2-O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER. The authors also thank António Temudo, Dolores Bonaparte, and Sílvia Santos Pedrosa for the support on in vivo assays. Paula Pereira acknowledges FCT for the PhD grant SFRH/ BD/64977/2009

Ultraparamagnetic cells formed through intracellular oxidation and chelation of paramagnetic iron

Making cells magnetic is a long‐standing goal of chemical biology, aiming to enable the separation of cells from complex biological samples and their visualization in vivo using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Previous efforts towards this goal, focused on engineering cells to biomineralize superparamagnetic or ferromagnetic iron oxides, have been largely unsuccessful due to the stringent required chemical conditions. Here, we introduce an alternative approach to making cells magnetic, focused on biochemically maximizing cellular paramagnetism. We show that a novel genetic construct combining the functions of ferroxidation and iron chelation enables engineered bacterial cells to accumulate iron in “ultraparamagnetic” macromolecular complexes, allowing these cells to be trapped with magnetic fields and imaged with MRI in vitro and in vivo. We characterize the properties of these cells and complexes using magnetometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, biochemical assays, and computational modeling to elucidate the unique mechanisms and capabilities of this paramagnetic concept

Analysis of Surgically Treated Intraspinal Tumors in Southern Taiwan

The medical records of 117 patients with spinal tumors who underwent surgery with pathologic confirmation from January 1999 to April 2004 at Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital were reviewed. Data from this review were compared with those obtained from the same institution 10 years earlier (covering the period 1988-1995) and from other reported series. There were 69 male and 48 female patients aged from 13 to 87 years old (mean age, 51.9). The most common pathologic findings were metastasis in 45.3% (53/117), nerve sheath tumors in 28.2% (33/117), menin-giomas in 12% (14/117) and neuroepithelial tumors in 6% (7/117). The peak ages at diagnosis were 41-50 years and 61–70 years. A slight male predominance was noted for all tumors, except meningiomas. Motor weakness, even paralysis, was the major clinical presentation (64–86%), followed by sensory deficits (50%) and pain (42%). The location of tumors was most often in the thoracic (50.4%; 59/117), lumbosacral (27.4%; 32/117) and cervical spine (22.2%; 26/117) segments. Among the metastatic tumors, the lung (22.6%) and breast (15.1%) were the most common primary sites of origin, followed by unknown origin, the liver (hepatocellular carcinoma), the gastrointestinal tract and the nasopharynx (nasopharyngeal cancer)

Theory of Rare-earth Infinite Layer Nickelates

The recent discovery of superconductivity in oxygen-reduced monovalent nickelates has raised a new platform for the study of unconventional superconductivity, with similarities and differences with the cuprate high temperature superconductors. In this paper we discuss general trends of the infinite-layer nickelate RNiO$_2$ with rare-earth R spanning across the lanthanide series. We determine that the role of oxygen charge transfer diminishes when traversing from La to Lu, with a prominent role played by rare-earth 5d electrons near the Fermi level. A decrease in lattice volume indicates that the magnetic exchange additionally grows, which may be favorable for superconductivity. However compensation effects from the itinerant 5d electrons present a closer analogy to Kondo lattices, indicating a more complex interplay between charge transfer, bandwidth renormalization, compensation, and magnetic exchange

A functional regulatory variant of MYH3 influences muscle fiber-type composition and intramuscular fat content in pigs

Muscle development and lipid accumulation in muscle critically affect meat quality of livestock. However, the genetic factors underlying myofiber-type specification and intramuscular fat (IMF) accumulation remain to be elucidated. Using two independent intercrosses between Western commercial breeds and Korean native pigs (KNPs) and a joint linkage-linkage disequilibrium analysis, we identified a 488.1-kb region on porcine chromosome 12 that affects both reddish meat color (a*) and IMF. In this critical region, only the MYH3 gene, encoding myosin heavy chain 3, was found to be preferentially overexpressed in the skeletal muscle of KNPs. Subsequently, MYH3-transgenic mice demonstrated that this gene controls both myofiber-type specification and adipogenesis in skeletal muscle. We discovered a structural variant in the promotor/regulatory region of MYH3 for which Q allele carriers exhibited significantly higher values of a* and IMF than q allele carriers. Furthermore, chromatin immunoprecipitation and cotransfection assays showed that the structural variant in the 5-flanking region of MYH3 abrogated the binding of the myogenic regulatory factors (MYF5, MYOD, MYOG, and MRF4). The allele distribution of MYH3 among pig populations worldwide indicated that the MYH3 Q allele is of Asian origin and likely predates domestication. In conclusion, we identified a functional regulatory sequence variant in porcine MYH3 that provides novel insights into the genetic basis of the regulation of myofiber type ratios and associated changes in IMF in pigs. The MYH3 variant can play an important role in improving pork quality in current breeding programs

White Blood Cell Count and the Risk of Colon Cancer

Inflammation may be linked to the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer. However, two conflicting observational results were recently reported on the relationship between the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP) and the risk of colorectal cancer. Few epidemiologic studies have examined the association between inflammatory markers and the risk of colorectal cancer. We prospectively examined the mortality and incidence risk for colon and rectal cancers among 424,419 Koreans (108,907 men and 315,512 women). The subjects were 40 to 95 years of age and from the Korean Cancer Prevention Study (KCPS) cohort. All subjects received medical examination from the National Health Insurance Corporation in 1993 and 1995. The maximum follow-up period was 10 years, and the follow-up periods began in January 1, 1994 and ended in December 31, 2003. An elevated white blood cell count (WBC) was associated with a higher mortality risk of colon cancer (highest versus lowest quartile: men, 1.55, 95% CI 1.10-2.18, p for trend = 0.0014; women, 1.51, 95% CI 1.12-2.03, p for trend = 0.0049). Similarly, an elevated WBC was associated with a higher incidence risk of colon cancer (highest versus lowest quartile: men, 1.38, 1.09-1.76, p for trend = 0.0017; women, 1.46, 95% CI 1.20-1.78, p for trend = 0.0003). A positive linear trend was also observed in non-smokers. There was no significant association between WBC and the risk of rectal cancer. Our findings demonstrate that an elevated WBC is associated with an increase in both the mortality and incidence rates of colon cancer. These results support our hypothesis that inflammation increases the risk of colon cancer

A functional regulatory variant of MYH3 influences muscle fiber-type composition and intramuscular fat content in pigs

Muscle development and lipid accumulation in muscle critically affect meat quality of livestock. However, the genetic factors underlying myofiber-type specification and intramuscular fat (IMF) accumulation remain to be elucidated. Using two independent intercrosses between Western commercial breeds and Korean native pigs (KNPs) and a joint linkage-linkage disequilibrium analysis, we identified a 488.1-kb region on porcine chromosome 12 that affects both reddish meat color (a*) and IMF. In this critical region, only the MYH3 gene, encoding myosin heavy chain 3, was found to be preferentially overexpressed in the skeletal muscle of KNPs. Subsequently, MYH3-transgenic mice demonstrated that this gene controls both myofiber-type specification and adipogenesis in skeletal muscle. We discovered a structural variant in the promotor/regulatory region of MYH3 for which Q allele carriers exhibited significantly higher values of a* and IMF than q allele carriers. Furthermore, chromatin immunoprecipitation and cotransfection assays showed that the structural variant in the 5′-flanking region of MYH3 abrogated the binding of the myogenic regulatory factors (MYF5, MYOD, MYOG, and MRF4). The allele distribution of MYH3 among pig populations worldwide indicated that the MYH3 Q allele is of Asian origin and likely predates domestication. In conclusion, we identified a functional regulatory sequence variant in porcine MYH3 that provides novel insights into the genetic basis of the regulation of myofiber type ratios and associated changes in IMF in pigs. The MYH3 variant can play an important role in improving pork quality in current breeding programs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio