Color Imagery for Destination Recommendation in Regional Tourism

This paper presents a novel recommender service system that considers the image as a uniform representation for tourists’ expectations, destinations, and local tourism SMEs. Images carried by each stakeholder role is modeled and managed by several system modules, and they also evolve to reflect the real time situations of each entity. In addition, the system is dynamic in terms of its emphasis on the dynamic relationships among these roles and entities. When interactions occur, image mixing will be conducted to derive extra image attributes for the adjustments of the images. Besides, since colors can be mapped onto emotions, this paper adopts colors to operate the image matching and mixing process in order to find good matches of destinations for the recommendations meeting the tourists’ emotional needs. Although this image related approach we proposed is used in tourism domain, we believe our method could also contribute to other areas of either practical applications or academic studies

Nanoscale modification of porous gelatin scaffolds with chondroitin sulfate for corneal stromal tissue engineering

Recent studies reflect the importance of using naturally occurring biopolymers as three-dimensional corneal keratocyte scaffolds and suggest that the porous structure of gelatin materials may play an important role in controlling nutrient uptake. In the current study, the authors further consider the application of carbodiimide cross-linked porous gelatin as an alternative to collagen for corneal stromal tissue engineering. The authors developed corneal keratocyte scaffolds by nanoscale modification of porous gelatin materials with chondroitin sulfate (CS) using carbodiimide chemistry. Scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed that the amount of covalently incorporated polysaccharide was significantly increased when the CS concentration was increased from 0% to 1.25% (w/v). In addition, as demonstrated by dimethylmethylene blue assays, the CS content in these samples was in the range of 0.078–0.149 nmol per 10 mg scaffold. When compared with their counterparts without CS treatment, various CS-modified porous gelatin membranes exhibited higher levels of water content, light transmittance, and amount of permeated nutrients but possessed lower Young’s modulus and resistance against protease digestion. The hydrophilic and mechanical properties of scaffolds modified with 0.25% CS were comparable with those of native corneas. The samples from this group were biocompatible with the rabbit corneal keratocytes and showed enhanced proliferative and biosynthetic capacity of cultured cells. In summary, the authors found that the nanoscale-level modification has influence on the characteristics and cell-material interactions of CS-containing gelatin hydrogels. Porous membranes with a CS content of 0.112 ± 0.003 nmol per 10 mg scaffold may hold potential for use in corneal stromal tissue engineering

Increasing utilization of Internet-based resources following efforts to promote evidence-based medicine: a national study in Taiwan

BACKGROUND: Since the beginning of 2007, the National Health Research Institutes has been promoting the dissemination of evidence-based medicine (EBM). The current study examined longitudinal trends of behaviors in how hospital-based physicians and nurses have searched for medical information during the spread of EBM. METHODS: Cross-sectional postal questionnaire surveys were conducted in nationally representative regional hospitals of Taiwan thrice in 2007, 2009, and 2011. Demographic data were gathered concerning gender, age, working experience, teaching appointment, academic degree, and administrative position. Linear and logistic regression models were used to examine predictors and changes over time. RESULTS: Data from physicians and nurses were collected in 2007 (n = 1156), 2009 (n = 2975), and 2011 (n = 3999). There were significant increases in the use of four Internet-based resources – Web portals, online databases, electronic journals, and electronic books – across the three survey years among physicians and nurses (p < 0.001). Access to textbooks and printed journals, however, did not change over the 4-year study period. In addition, there were significant relationships between the usage of Internet-based resources and users’ characteristics. Age and faculty position were important predictors in relation to the usage among physicians and nurses, while academic degree served as a critical factor among nurses only. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians and nurses used a variety of sources to look for medical information. There was a steady increase in use of Internet-based resources during the diffusion period of EBM. The findings highlight the importance of the Internet as a prominent source of medical information for main healthcare professionals

The Protective Effects of Ivabradine in Preventing Progression from Viral Myocarditis to Dilated Cardiomyopathy

To study the beneficial effects of ivabradine in dilated cardiomyopathy mice, which evolved from coxsackievirus B3-induced chronic viral myocarditis. Four-to-five-week-old male balb/c mice were inoculated intraperitoneally with coxsackievirus B3 (Strain Nancy) on day 1, day 14 and day 28. The day of the first virus inoculation was defined as day 1. Thirty-five days later, the surviving chronic viral myocarditis mice were divided randomly into two groups, a treatment group and an untreated group. Ivabradine was administered by gavage for 30 consecutive days in the treatment group, and the untreated group was administered normal saline. Masson’s trichrome stain was used to evaluate the fibrosis degree in myocardial tissue. The expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), Collagen I, Collagen III and p38-MAPK signaling pathway proteins were detected by western blot. Electrocardiogram was used to investigate the heart rate and rhythm. The thickness of the ventricular septum and left ventricular posterior wall, left ventricular end diastolic dimension, left ventricular end systolic dimension, left ventricular ejection fractions and fractional shortening were studied by echocardiography. Compared with the untreated chronic viral myocarditis mice, ivabradine significantly increased the survival rate, attenuated the myocardial lesions and fibrosis, improved the impairment of the left ventricular function, diminished the heart dimension, decreased the production of collagen I and collagen III, reduced the expression of the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6, and lowered the production of phospho-p38MAPK. The findings indicate the therapeutic effect of ivabradine in preventing the progression from viral myocarditis to dilated cardiomyopathy in mice with chronic viral myocarditis induced by coxsackievirus B3, is associated with inhibition of the p38MAPK pathway, downregulated inflammatory responses and decreased collagen expression. Ivabradine appears a promising approach for the treatment of patients with viral myocarditis

Reciprocal regulation of MicroRNA-99a and insulin-like growth factor I receptor signaling in oral squamous cell carcinoma cells

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs), small noncoding RNA molecules can function as oncogenes or tumor suppressors in tumorigenesis. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide with a 5-year survival rate of approximately 50%. METHODS: The expression of microRNA-99a (miR-99a) in OSCC tissues and cell lines was investigated using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis. The functions of miR-99a in migration/invasion and lung colonization were determined by transwell and tail vein injection assays, respectively. Specific targets of miR-99a were determined by software prediction, correlation with target protein expression, and luciferase reporter assay. The signaling pathways involved in regulation of miR-99a were investigated using the kinase inhibitors. RESULTS: We observed reduced levels of miR-99a, identified as one of the most downregulated miRNA in OSCC and all tested OSCC cell lines compared to normal oral keratinocytes. Ectopic miR-99a expression in OSCC cells markedly reduced migration and invasion in vitro as well as lung colonization in vivo. When evaluating the specific targets of miR-99a, we found that ectopic miR-99a expression downregulates insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) protein and that the expression of miR-99a correlates negatively with IGF1R protein in OSCC cells. Insertion of the 3′UTR of IGF1R mRNA into the 3′UTR of a reporter gene markedly reduced luciferase activity in OSCC cells expressing miR-99a, suggesting that miR-99a reduces luciferase activity by targeting the 3′UTR of IGF1R mRNA. When evaluating the mechanisms of miR-99a downregulation, we observed the upregulation of miR-99a expression in serum-starved conditions and its suppression in response to insulin-like growth factor (IGF1) stimulation. Inhibitors of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) kinase inhibited IGF1-induced suppression of miR-99a, suggesting the negative regulation of miR-99a expression by IGF1R signaling. CONCLUSION: Overall, results indicate that miR-99a functions as a tumor metastasis suppressor in OSCC cells and mutually regulates IGF1R expression in a reciprocal regulation

Temporal Arteritis

Temporal arteritis, a chronic inflammatory vasculitis involving medium- and large-sized arteries, has rarely been reported in Asia. However, we report 2 cases, in which the patients initially presented with headache. Physical examination disclosed engorged, hard and palpable vessels in the temporal areas. Temporal-artery biopsy revealed 2 different types of arteritis: the multinucleated giant cell type and the panarteritis type without multinucleated giant cells. One patient was positive for immunoglobulin G anticardiolipin antibody. The pathologic findings of the different subsets of temporal arteritis, and the relationship between anticardiolipin antibody and the extent of vascular complications of temporal arteritis, are discussed

Protective Effect of Ethanol Extracts of Hericium erinaceus

We investigated the effects of Hericium erinaceus (HEE) on alloxan induced diabetic neuropathic pain in laboratory rats. Alloxan induced diabetic rats were administered orally HEE. After 6 weeks of treatments, treatment with HEE 40 mg/kg in diabetic animals showed significant increase in pain threshold and paw withdrawal threshold and significant decrease in serum glucose and urine glucose. We also observed a significant increase in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), Lipid peroxidation (LPO), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity, glutathione reductase (GR) activity, catalase (CAT) activity, Na+K+ATPase activity, and glutathione S transferase (GST) activity along with significant decreased levels of glutathione (GSH) content in diabetic rats. The total antioxidant status (TAOS) in the HEE-treated groups was significantly lower than that in the alloxan-treated group. HEE can offer pain relief in diabetic neuropathic pain. The improvement in diabetic state after HEE treatment along with the antioxidant activity could be the probable way by which it had alleviated diabetic neuropathy