Phylogeographic Analysis Elucidates the Influence of the Ice Ages on the Disjunct Distribution of Relict Dragonflies in Asia

Unusual biogeographic patterns of closely related groups reflect events in the past, and molecular analyses can help to elucidate these events. While ample research on the origin of disjunct distributions of different organism groups in the Western Paleartic has been conducted, such studies are rare for Eastern Palearctic organisms. In this paper we present a phylogeographic analysis of the disjunct distribution pattern of the extant species of the strongly cool-adapted Epiophlebia dragonflies from Asia. We investigated sequences of the usually more conserved 18 S rDNA and 28 S rDNA genes and the more variable sequences of ITS1, ITS2 and CO2 of all three currently recognised Epiophlebia species and of a sample of other odonatan species. In all genes investigated the degrees of similarity between species of Epiophlebia are very high and resemble those otherwise found between different populations of the same species in Odonata. This indicates that substantial gene transfer between these populations occurred in the comparatively recent past. Our analyses imply a wide distribution of the ancestor of extant Epiophlebia in Southeast Asia during the last ice age, when suitable habitats were more common. During the following warming phase, its range contracted, resulting in the current disjunct distribution. Given the strong sensitivity of these species to climatic parameters, the current trend to increasing global temperatures will further reduce acceptable habitats and seriously threaten the existences of these last representatives of an ancient group of Odonata

Effects of adaptation to sea water, 170% sea water and to fresh water on activities and subcellular distribution of branchial Na + −K + -ATPase, low- and high affinity Ca ++ -ATPase, and ouabain-insensitive ATPase in Gillichthys mirabilis

1. Branchial activities of Na + −K + -ATPase, ouabain-insensitive ATPase, (Mg ++ -ATPase) and Ca ++ -ATPase were measured in Gillichthys mirabilis after adaptation to salinities ranging from 170% SW to FW. Stabilities of these activities against freezing and deoxycholate solubilization and the temperature-dependence of activity rates were also investigated. Subcellular distribution and some kinetic properties of these activities, and of SDH were compared in branchial tissues of fish adapted to 170% SW and to FW.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47126/1/360_2004_Article_BF00782593.pd

An intelligent medical Replenishment System for managing the medical resources in the healthcare industry

2016 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems, FUZZ-IEEE 2016, Vancouver, Canada, 24-29 July 2016Due to rapidly ageing population, the need for care and attention homes for the elderly and patient with chronic illnesses has increased significantly in recent years. However, the continuous increase in operation and medical costs and the problem of drugs shortages bring increasing pressure to care and attention homes in regard to medical resource allocation. In such situations, patients may not receive appropriate treatment and hence dissatisfaction with the quality of service may result. Therefore, it is essential to have a decision support system to ensure that an optimal amount of medical resources are stored so as to maintain a sustainable healthcare service. In this paper, an intelligent medical replenishment system (IMRS) is proposed to assist healthcare workers in arranging the appropriate type and quantity of drugs, based on the needs of patients. In IMRS, artificial intelligent techniques, i.e. fuzzy association rules mining and fuzzy logic, are applied to evaluate the historical diagnosis records of patients and determine the amount and frequency of medical resources for replenishment. To validate the feasibility of the proposed system, a pilot study is conducted in a care and attention home located in Hong Kong. The result shows that the IMRS is effective in improving the healthcare service quality for the elderly in terms of the elderly satisfaction and medical resources fulfillment.Department of Industrial and Systems Engineerin

Development of a fuzzy-rule based system for product development in the garment industry

The garment industry has been in a transformation since the emergence of the fast fashion trend. For business survival, garment manufacturers are required to shorten the time to market and develop products which can meet the changing expectations of customers. This exerts a great pressure on fashion designers who are urged to consider customers' preferences in their designs and develop new products efficiently. Historical data related to product design and customer purchasing behavior thus serves as important information for effective new product development (NPD). In this paper, a fuzzy-rule based system (FBS) is developed to discover relationships between product styles and customer preferences from historical data. The knowledge discovered can help the industry design products which are not only fashionable, but are also saleable in the market. To evaluate the proposed system, a case study is conducted in which a real-set of data are tested to generate fuzzy decision rules. The results reveal that the FBS can provide knowledge support to NPD in the garment industry.Department of Industrial and Systems EngineeringRefereed conference pape

The effect of a virtual ward program on emergency services utilization and quality of life in frail elderly patients after discharge: a pilot study

Doris Y P Leung,1 Diana Tze-Fan Lee,1 Iris F K Lee,1 Lai-Wah Lam,1 Susanna W Y Lee,2 May W M Chan,3 Yin-Ming Lam,4 Siu-Hung Leung,5 Pui-Chi Chiu,6 Nelly K F Ho,7 Ming-Fai Ip,8 May My Hui8 1The Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong; 2Hospital Authority Head Office, 3Kowloon West Cluster, 4New Territories West Cluster, 5Kowloon East Cluster, 6United Christian Hospital, 7Kowloon Hospital, 8Tuen Mun Hospital, Hong Kong Hospital Authority, Kowloon, Hong Kong Introduction: Attendance at emergency departments and unplanned hospital readmissions are common for frail older patients after discharge from hospitals. A virtual ward service was piloted to deliver “hospital-at-home” services by community nurses and geriatricians to frail older patients immediately after their discharge from hospital to reduce emergency services utilization.Objectives: This study examined the impacts of the virtual ward service on changes in the patients’ emergency attendance and medical readmissions, and their quality of life (QOL).Methods: A matched-control quasi-experimental study was conducted at four hospitals, with three providing the virtual ward service (intervention) and one providing the usual community nursing care (control). Subjects in the intervention group were those who are at high risk of readmission and who are supported by home carers recruited from the three hospitals providing the virtual ward service. Matched control patients were those recruited from the hospital providing usual care. Outcome measures include emergency attendance and medical readmission in the past 90 days as identified from medical records, and patient-reported QOL as measured by the modified Quality-of-Life Concerns in the End of Life Questionnaire (Chinese version). Wilcoxon signed-rank tests compared the changes in the outcome variables between groups.Results: A total of 39 patients in each of the two groups were recruited. The virtual ward group showed a greater significant reduction in the number of unplanned emergency hospital readmissions (-1.41±1.23 versus -0.77±1.31; P=0.049) and a significant improvement in their overall QOL (n=18; 0.60±0.56 versus 0.07±0.56; P=0.02), but there was no significant difference in the number of emergency attendances (-1.51±1.25 versus -1.08±1.48; P=0.29).Conclusion: The study results support the effectiveness of the virtual ward service in reducing unplanned emergency medical readmissions and in improving the QOL in frail older patients after discharge. Keywords: elderly, emergency attendance, emergency medical readmission, emergency services utilization, quality of life, virtual war

Are vitamin and mineral deficiencies a major cancer risk?

Diet is estimated to contribute to about one-third of preventable cancers -- about the same amount as smoking. Inadequate intake of essential vitamins and minerals might explain the epidemiological findings that people who eat only small amounts of fruits and vegetables have an increased risk of developing cancer. Recent experimental evidence indicates that vitamin and mineral deficiencies can lead to DNA damage. Optimizing vitamin and mineral intake by encouraging dietary change, multivitamin and mineral supplements, and fortifying foods might therefore prevent cancer and other chronic diseases