Prevalence of metabolic syndrome and related factors in Taiwanese high-tech industry workers

OBJECTIVES: In light of the increasing number of high-tech industry workers and the differences in their working conditions compared to those of the general population, the health status of these workers merits serious attention. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its correlates among Taiwanese high-tech industry workers. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 4,666 workers who participated in labor health examinations at a hospital in southern Taiwan in 2008. Participants with metabolic syndrome were defined using the criteria proposed by the Taiwan National Department of Health in 2007. Factors associated with metabolic syndrome were determined using multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 8.2%, and the prevalence was higher in men than in women (14.0% vs. 2.3%,

HOP llMlNG OF SPLlT STEP AND KINETICS ANALYSIS OF LOWER EXTREMITIES IN BADMINTON START FOOTWORK

The purpose of this study was to compare the split timing, and lower extremity kinetics of badminton players during push-off steps in six directions. Eight collegiate elite male badminton players received the random shot from an opponent in one of six directions. Result: Hop timing was 0.014-0.037 sec after the opponent struck the shuttlecock. The leg that was opposite the movement direction showed significantly greater tower extremity horizontal push-off force than the other leg did. Conclusion: The hop timing of split step simultaneous with the opponent striking the shuttlecock. The leg opposite the movement direction was the main push leg. When lower extremities exhibit the correct pushing direction and reach the peak push off force within 0.3 sec after the opponent strikes the shuttlecock, players should have more effective return in badminton

Cascaded Local Implicit Transformer for Arbitrary-Scale Super-Resolution

Implicit neural representation has recently shown a promising ability in representing images with arbitrary resolutions. In this paper, we present a Local Implicit Transformer (LIT), which integrates the attention mechanism and frequency encoding technique into a local implicit image function. We design a cross-scale local attention block to effectively aggregate local features. To further improve representative power, we propose a Cascaded LIT (CLIT) that exploits multi-scale features, along with a cumulative training strategy that gradually increases the upsampling scales during training. We have conducted extensive experiments to validate the effectiveness of these components and analyze various training strategies. The qualitative and quantitative results demonstrate that LIT and CLIT achieve favorable results and outperform the prior works in arbitrary super-resolution tasks

A 90-DAY SUBCHRONIC TOXICOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT of DEINOCOCCUS GRANDIS FERMENTED SOYMILK IN SPRAGUE-DAWLEY RATS

Objective: Despite the fact that there was no adverse effect observed in previous animal safety studies of Deinococcus grandis (D. grandis) fermented soymilk, including acute oral toxicity assay, 3 different test systems of genotoxicity test and teratogenicity study, whether D. grandis fermented soymilk is safe for long-term use remains unknown. Therefore, the study was conducted further to clarify the edible safety of D. grandis fermented soymilk for long term use.Methods: Eighty Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into four groups, each consisting of ten male and ten female rats. Rats were orally administrated with reverse osmosis water (control) or 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000 mg/kg b.w./d freeze dried D. grandis fermented soymilk powder for 90 consecutive days. Clinical observation of the rats was carried out daily. The body weight and feed intake of the rats were recorded weekly. At the end of the study, all rats were sacrificed and the blood and organs were collected for hematology, clinical biochemistry and histopathological examination.Results: During the study period, no abnormality occurred in clinical signs, body weight, and ophthalmological examination. There were no significant differences in urinalysis, hematology and clinical biochemistry parameters between the treatment and control group. Necropsy and histopathological examination showed no treatment-related change.Conclusion: According to the results, the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) of D. grandis fermented soymilk was greater than 3,000 mg/kg b.w./d in SD rats.Keywords: Deinococcus grandis (D. grandis), 90-day subchronic toxicity, NOAEL, Safety assessment, GKB-Aid 199

Novel microinjector for carrying bone substitutes for bone regeneration in periodontal diseases

Background/PurposeTraditionally, guide bone regeneration (GBR) was a widely used method for repairing bone lost from periodontal disease. There were some disadvantages associated with the GBR method, such as the need for a stable barrier membrane and a new creative cavity during the surgical process. To address these disadvantages, the purpose of this study was to evaluate a novel microinjector developed for dental applications. The microinjector was designed to carry bone graft substitutes to restore bone defects for bone regeneration in periodontal diseases. The device would be used to replace the GBR method.MethodsIn this study, the injected force and ejected volume of substitutes (including air, water, and ethanol) were defined by Hooke's law (n = 3). The optimal particle size of bone graft substitutes was determined by measuring the recycle ratio of bone graft substitutes from the microinjector (n = 3). Furthermore, a novel agarose gel model was used to evaluate the feasibility of the microinjector.ResultsThe current study found that the injected force was less than 0.4 N for obtaining the ejected volume of approximately 2 mL, and when the particle size of tricalcium phosphate (TCP) was smaller than 0.5 mm, 80% TCP could be ejected from the microinjector. Furthermore, by using an agarose model to simulate the periodontal soft tissue, it was also found that bone graft substitutes could be easily injected into the gel.ConclusionThe results confirmed the feasibility of this novel microinjector for dental applications to carry bone graft substitutes for the restoration of bone defects of periodontal disease

BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF BADMINTON FOREHAND NET SHOTS

The purpose of this study was to compare the upper extremity kinematics variables of badminton forehand dab shot, stab shot and cross court net shot. The participants were eight elite collegiate male players in Taiwan. The kinematical data were collected by Vicon system (250Hz) and the Visual 3D software was used to analyze the variables. The results indicated that the elite badminton players perfomed dab net shot with less angular velocity in racket upper limb joints. They performed the stab net shot with faster angular velocity in forearm supination and wrist ulnar flexion. The cross court net shot had greatest angular velocity in shoulder internal rotation, forearm pronation and the least distance between the contact point and the mid-line of body

KINEMATICAL ANALYSIS OF TWO DIFFERENT FOREHAND BADMINTON DROP SHOTS TECHNIQUES

The purpose of this study was to compare the kinematics variables between badminton forehand regular and reverse slice drop shots. The participants were eight elite male players. Eight Vicon Motion T20s System cameras (300Hz) were used to record the 3D kinematic data, which were computed by Visual 3D software. All the variables were tested by Wilcoxon rank analysis of variance nonparametric statistical test with the significant level at a = .05. The results showed that there was significant difference between the two forehand drop shots in the racket pan angle. The strategy of two drop shots seems different. That might because the reverse slice drop was with greater shoulder abduction movement than the regular drop shot. The players performed reverse slice drop shot might because that the abduction movement was similar with the smash

Statistical screening for IC Trojan detection

We present statistical screening of test vectors for detecting a Trojan, malicious circuitry hidden inside an integrated circuit (IC). When applied a test vector, a Trojan-embedded chip draws extra leakage current that is unfortunately too small for the detector in most cases and concealed by process variation related to chip fabrication. To remedy the problem, we formulate a statistical approach that can screen and select test vectors in detecting Trojans. We validate our approach analytically and with gate-level simulations and show that our screening method leads to a substantial reduction in false positives and false negatives when detecting IC Trojans of various sizes.Engineering and Applied Science