277 research outputs found

    Efectos sobre la gestión del conocimiento y la cultura corporativa en el clima de innovación organizativa

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    El conocimiento y la innovación se consideran rasgos característicos de la nueva era de la economía del conocimiento. Toda organización debe ser capaz de gestionar el conocimiento y de innovar continuamente para hacer patentes sus ventajas competitivas. Sometidas a una creciente competencia de mercado, las empresas dependen cada vez más de la innovación para aumentar la competitividad que les permita sobrevivir y desarrollarse. Un clima de innovación organizativa desempeña por ello un papel central en la ejecución de operaciones y actividades. A tenor de los motivos y propósitos de investigaciones previas, en este estudio se pretende discutir la correlación entre el clima de innovación organizativa y la gestión del conocimiento. Nuestro objeto de investigación se centra en una muestra de trabajadores manuales del parque industrial de Linkou a los que se distribuye 650 cuestionarios. Una vez eliminados los cuestionarios que no eran válidos o los incompletos, se obtienen 348 válidos, con una tasa de recuperación del 54%. Los resultados empíricos muestran lo siguiente: 1. Se produce una correlación parcialmente significativa entre la gestión del conocimiento y la cultura corporativa. 2. Se da una considerable correlación entre cultura corporativa y clima de innovación organizativa. 3 Asimismo, se produce una notable correlación entre gestión del conocimiento y cultura corporativa. 4. Hay un efecto de mediación entre la cultura corporativa relacionada con la gestión del conocimiento y el clima de innovación organizativa.Knowledge and innovation are regarded as characteristics in the new knowledge economy era. Any organization should be able to manage knowledge and continuously innovate in order to present their competitive advantages. Under increasing market competition, enterprises depend more on innovation to enhance the competitiveness for survival and development. Organizational Innovation Climate therefore plays a critical role in the overall operation and activity performance. According to the previous research motives and purposes, this study aims to discuss the correlations between Organizational Innovation Climate and Knowledge Management. Manufacturers in Linkou Industrial Park are sampled as the research subjects and a total of 650 questionnaires are distributed. Having eliminated invalid and incomplete questionnaires, a total of 348 valid copies are retrieved, with a retrieval rate of 54%. The empirical results show 1. Partially significant correlations between Knowledge Management and Corporate Culture, 2. Remarkable correlations between Corporate Culture and Organizational Innovation Climate, 3. Notable correlations between Knowledge Management and Corporate Culture, and 4. Mediating effects of Corporate Culture on Knowledge Management and Organizational Innovation Climate

    BETTER POSTURAL CONTROL DURING ACCURATE SHOOTING IN ELITE FEMALE BASKETBALL PLAYERS

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    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the differences of postural control (PC) during accurate and inaccurate shooting in elite female basketball players. 21 female professional basketball players recruited as subjects. The PC was evaluated by the Accusway as sway radius, velocity, radial and 95% area of the center of pressure (COP) during standard penalty line shooting. The results showed that the COP sway area during accurate shooting was significantly smaller than during inaccurate shooting (74.0 ± 37.9 vs. 110.6 ± 49.1, p < .05). Moreover, no significant differences were found between situations in the COP radius and velocity. This study found that during the accurate shooting, elite female basketball player had better PC which demonstrated that significant smaller COP sway area than inaccurate shooting

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

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    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

    Intramuscular electroporation with the pro-opiomelanocortin gene in rat adjuvant arthritis

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    Endogenous opioid peptides have an essential role in the intrinsic modulation and control of inflammatory pain, which could be therapeutically useful. In this study, we established a muscular electroporation method for the gene transfer of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) in vivo and investigated its effect on inflammatory pain in a rat model of rheumatoid arthritis. The gene encoding human POMC was inserted into a modified pCMV plasmid, and 0–200 μg of the plasmid-POMC DNA construct was transferred into the tibialis anterior muscle of rats treated with complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) with or without POMC gene transfer by the electroporation method. The safety and efficiency of the gene transfer was assessed with the following parameters: thermal hyperalgesia, serum adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and endorphin levels, paw swelling and muscle endorphin levels at 1, 2 and 3 weeks after electroporation. Serum ACTH and endorphin levels of the group into which the gene encoding POMC had been transferred were increased to about 13–14-fold those of the normal control. These levels peaked 1 week after electroporation and significantly decreased 2 weeks after electroporation. Rats that had received the gene encoding POMC had less thermal hypersensitivity and paw swelling than the non-gene-transferred group at days 3, 5 and 7 after injection with CFA. Our promising results showed that transfer of the gene encoding POMC by electroporation is a new and effective method for its expression in vivo, and the analgesic effects of POMC cDNA with electroporation in a rat model of rheumatoid arthritis are reversed by naloxone

    Automated Classification Model With OTSU and CNN Method for Premature Ventricular Contraction Detection

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    Premature ventricular contraction (PVC) is one of the most common arrhythmias which can cause palpitation, cardiac arrest, and other symptoms affecting the work and rest activities of a patient. However, patients hardly decipher their own feelings to determine the severity of the disease thus, requiring a professional medical diagnosis. This study proposes a novel method based on image processing and convolutional neural network (CNN) to extract electrocardiography (ECG) curves from scanned ECG images derived from clinical ECG reports, and segment and classify heartbeats in the absence of a digital ECG data. The ECG curve is extracted using a comprehensive algorithm that combines the OTSU algorithm with erosion and dilation. This algorithm can efficiently and accurately separate the ECG curve from the ECG background grid. The performance of the classification model was evaluated and optimized using hundreds of clinical ECG data collected from Fujian Provincial Hospital. Additionally, thousands of clinical ECG reports were scanned to digital images as the test set to confirm the accuracy of the algorithm for practical application. Results showed that the average sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and accuracy of the proposed model on the MIT-BIH dataset were 95.47%, 97.72%, 98.75%, and 98.25%, respectively. The classification average sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and accuracy based on clinical scanned ECG images can reach to 97.24%, 81.6%, 83.8%, and 89.33%, respectively, and the clinical feasibility is high. Overall, the proposed method can extract ECG curves from scanned ECG images efficiently and accurately. Furthermore, it performs well on heartbeat classification of normal (N) and ventricular premature heartbeat

    Adiponectin gene (ADIPOQ) polymorphisms correlate with the progression of nephropathy in Taiwanese male patients with type 2 diabetes

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    Aims: Polymorphisms of the ADIPOQ gene were associated with diabetic nephropathy (DN) in case-control studies predominantly among European populations. Gender may modify the ADIPOQ associated risk for DN. We investigated the association of 18 ADIPOQ polymorphisms with DN in a prospective Taiwanese cohort of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and explored whether gender plays a role in this genetic association. Methods: Selected single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of ADIPOQ were genotyped in 566 T2D patients with normoalbuminuria at baseline. DN was defined based on urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR). The Cox proportional hazard model was used to explore the association of individual SNP to DN events under different genetic models over a 6-year follow-up period. Analyses were further stratified by gender. Results: In male patients, the adjusted hazard ratios under the recessive models were 1.81 for rs2241766 TT (vs. GT+GG, 95% CI=1.10-2.96, p=0.019) and 1.89 for rs1063537 CC (vs. CT+TT, 95% CI=1.15-3.11, p=0.013). In the Kaplan-Meier survival curve, males carrying rs2241766 TT (vs. GT+GG, p=0.050) and rs1063537 CC (vs. CT+TT, p=0.037) recessive homozygotes also had a reduced nephropathy-free survival rate. SNPs rs2241767 and rs2082940, both in strong correlation with tag SNP rs1063537 (r≥0.96), were also associated with DN progression in males. In females, ADIPOQ polymorphisms were not associated with the progression of DN. Conclusions: ADIPOQ genetic polymorphisms rs2241766 (+45T>G), rs1063537, rs2241767 and rs2082940 were correlated with the progression of DN in Taiwanese male patients with T2D. The role of gender in this ADIPOQ genetic association needs to be further investigated in other populations

    A Classification and Prediction Hybrid Model Construction with the IQPSO-SVM Algorithm for Atrial Fibrillation Arrhythmia

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    Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiovascular disease (CVD); and most existing algorithms are usually designed for the diagnosis (i.e.; feature classification) or prediction of AF. Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms integrate the diagnosis of AF electrocardiogram (ECG) and predict the possibility that AF will occur in the future. In this paper; we utilized the MIT-BIH AF Database (AFDB); which is composed of data from normal people and patients with AF and onset characteristics; and the AFPDB database (i.e.; PAF Prediction Challenge Database); which consists of data from patients with Paroxysmal AF (PAF; the records contain the ECG preceding an episode of PAF); and subjects who do not have documented AF. We extracted the respective characteristics of the databases and used them in modeling diagnosis and prediction. In the aspect of model construction; we regarded diagnosis and prediction as two classification problems; adopted the traditional support vector machine (SVM) algorithm; and combined them. The improved quantum particle swarm optimization support vector machine (IQPSO-SVM) algorithm was used to speed the training time. During the verification process; the clinical FZU-FPH database created by Fuzhou University and Fujian Provincial Hospital was used for hybrid model testing. The data were obtained from the Holter monitor of the hospital and encrypted. We proposed an algorithm for transforming the PDF ECG waveform images of hospital examination reports into digital data. For the diagnosis model and prediction model trained using the training set of the AFDB and AFPDB databases; the sensitivity; specificity; and accuracy measures were 99.2% and 99.2%; 99.2% and 93.3%; and 91.7% and 92.5% for the test set of the AFDB and AFPDB databases; respectively. Moreover; the sensitivity; specificity; and accuracy were 94.2%; 79.7%; and 87.0%; respectively; when tested using the FZU-FPH database with 138 samples of the ECG composed of two labels. The composite classification and prediction model using a new water-fall ensemble method had a total accuracy of approximately 91% for the test set of the FZU-FPH database with 80 samples with 120 segments of ECG with three labels

    A colliding maxillary sinus cancer of adenosquamous carcinoma and small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma - a case report with EGFR copy number analysis

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (SNEC) of maxillary sinus is a rare and aggressive malignancy. A tumor with squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and SNEC co-existence is extremely rare.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present a colliding tumor of squamous cell, adenocarcinoma and SNEC in maxillary sinus. The clinical features, diagnosis and EGFR flourescence in situ hybridization (FISH) study are presented. A 52-year-old female had a 1-month history of progressing left cheek swelling and purulent rhinorrhea. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a tumor involving left maxilla and orbital floor. Excision of tumor was done and the defect was reconstructed with free flap. The pathology revealed a malignant tumor composed of squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and SNEC components. EGFR FISH study showed no gene amplification in 3 components of this tumor. The tumor progressed rapidly and the patient expired at 8 months after surgery.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A colliding tumor of squamous cell, adenocarcinoma and neuroendocrine carcinoma in maxillary sinus was aggressive in behavior and the treatment response was poor due to the complexity of tumor.</p
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