Effect of Neuromuscular Electrical Muscle Stimulation on Energy Expenditure in Healthy Adults

Weight loss/weight control is a major concern in prevention of cardiovascular disease and the realm of health promotion. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) at different intensities on energy expenditure (oxygen and calories) in healthy adults. The secondary aim was to develop a generalized linear regression (GEE) model to predict the increase of energy expenditure facilitated by NMES and identify factors (NMES stimulation intensity level, age, body mass index, weight, body fat percentage, waist/hip ratio, and gender) associated with this NMES-induced increase of energy expenditure. Forty sedentary healthy adults (18 males and 22 females) participated. NMES was given at the following stimulation intensities for 10 minutes each: sensory level (E1), motor threshold (E2), and maximal intensity comfortably tolerated (E3). Cardiopulmonary gas exchange was evaluated during rest, NMES, and recovery stage. The results revealed that NMES at E2 and E3 significantly increased energy expenditure and the energy expenditure at recovery stage was still significantly higher than baseline. The GEE model demonstrated that a linear dose-response relationship existed between the stimulation intensity and the increase of energy expenditure. No subject’s demographic or anthropometric characteristics tested were significantly associated with the increase of energy expenditure. This study suggested NMES may be used to serve as an additional intervention for weight loss programs. Future studies to develop electrical stimulators or stimulation electrodes to maximize the comfort of NMES are recommended

Fair and Equitable Exceptions for Farming Practice in Plant IPR Protection in Taiwan

172-184Given that the need for food, the adaptation for climate change and the cure for diseases are crucial challenges of the 21st century, the acceleration of breeding new plant varieties to address these challenges is therefore regarded as an effective way to address these issues. The emphasis on plant research and development makes intellectual property rights (IPR) protection for plants a hot issue. Although, there are already laws and regulations in place to offer intellectual property protection for new plant varieties, the exemptions of IPR for researchers and farmers are inequitable. The scope of exemptions defined by patent or plant variety rights in some major countries serve as good references for improving the domestic regulation in Taiwan. Historically, from the narrowest US system to the fairest European one, such exemptions have already impacted the Taiwanese IPR system. Currently, as review of the Taiwanese ‘Plant Variety and Seedling Act (PVSA)’ is in process, deliberation upon a sustainable IPR system is necessary. This paper proposes the introduction of mechanisms such as proportional reward to breeders/farmers of merit for innovative application of research results, discounted royalty payment for conduction of preliminary research, and broader exemption for negligence of the third party. By means of such system reform in plant IPR protection, hopefully a better environment for plant breeding research and agricultural growing may be anticipated

Decentralized bandwidth control subject to two-layer constraints

This paper is concerned with the new bandwidth allocation model that considers the structural allocationconstraints. Suppose that a system is composed of finite groups of users and the bandwidth assigned toeach user and to each group of users has pre-specified upper and lower bounds. If each user is granted withthe utility function satisfying the standard continuity and concavity conditions, the existence, uniqueness,fairness and optimality properties of the Nash equilibrium point in the allocation game are studied. Toidentify the equilibrium point, an algorithm proved to converge globally is proposed and illustrated witha numerical example

Monitoring of successful renewables obligation small hydro projects

Contractor; Caledonian Energy Management Ltd.SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:3816.4668(01/00049/REP) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

論我國現行科技法制對公立大學技術移轉之影響初探 Impacts of ‘Science and Technology Basic Act’ on National Universities in Taiwan

為因應全球化知識經濟時代興起之挑戰，我國政府近年來對於科技發展相當重視。儘管憲法與科技相關之條款紛多，但此等科技憲法條款仍有模糊與不足之處。我國參考美國拜杜法案（Bayh-Dole Act）之立法意旨，於1999年制定科學技術基本法，後於2003 年及2005 年進行部分條文之修正。2011年再次做出重大修正，主要的內容包括政府應致力推動全國研究發展經費逐年成長；對於研究成果優異之公立單位，政府得給予必要的支援；此外，對於歸屬公立學校、公立機關（構）或公營事業之智慧財產權及成果，其保管、使用、收益及處分不受國有財產法之限制，明文與國有財產法脫鉤。本次修法亦核准中央研究院得報請其主管機關設置科學研究基金；政府負有改善科學技術人員之工作條件及研究環境之義務；放寬公立研究機關及大學教師之兼職規定，不受教育人員任用條例及公務員服務法之限制。雖然科技基本法修法確定排除國有財產法的相關限制，但政府必須儘速擬定相關政策，以防範因專利流氓之猖獗而造成大學研究價值及整體經濟發展之負面效應。此外，政府介入權之行使涉及甚廣，其後果影響甚鉅，實有參考美國拜杜法 案施行細則第401.6 條而訂定規範之必要。修法之後對於科技研發所必然發生的採購行為，在政府組織改造之際，相關配套之監督管理辦法尚未出爐之前，治標的方法可從現行法中針對執行細項問題加以檢討調整，而治本的作法則應針對科技研發之特殊性，訂定採購專法。對於高科技人才之延攬，政府應持續推動「公務人員基準法」之修法及利益衝突之規範，朝向建立國立大學技術移轉良善法制環境之目標邁進。 Along with the rise of global knowledge-based economy, the government of Taiwan has laid much emphasis on the development of science and technology. Although there are relevant Articles addressing this issue in Constitution, it seems that the regulatory framework is still abstract. To follow the footstep of ‘Bayh-Dole Act’ in the United States, Taiwan promulgate ‘Science and Technology Basic Act’ in 1999. Subsequent amendments were done in 2003 and 2005 respectively. In 2011, the law has gone through another major modification, which obliges the government to raise annual budget for science and technology development, to provide substantial supports in human resources as well as infrastructure improvement, and to waive the research results from national property regulation. In addition, the establishment of an ad hoc research fund for Academia Sinica was consented. All these relaxations in law help create room for more research and development freedom. Nonetheless, detailed bylaws making does not catch up accordingly. As a re-sult, either public servants in national research organizations or national university teachers are still subject to the old restraints. Moreover, relaxations in law also attract the attentions of patent trolls as an easy access for them to try to take advantage of the research results for generating profits. This paper proposes both shortterm and long-term solutions to better the current regulatory framework. Detailed implementation rules with legally binding forces are needed to further define ‘march-in rights’ in terms of scope and procedures. Long-term solution is also suggested to make a new law to regulate research activities between academia and the industrial sector

The isotopic composition of dissolved cadmium in the water column of the West Philippine Sea

The dissolved concentration and isotopic compositions of cadmium (Cd) in the seawater of the West Philippine Sea were determined. In general, Cd isotopic composition in the water column decreased with depth, with ε114/110Cd (ε114/110Cd = [(114Cd/110Cd)sample / (114Cd/110Cd)NIST 3108 - 1]×10000) ranging from +7.2 to +10.1 in the top 60 m, from +4.8 to +5.1 between 100 and 150 m, peaking at +8.2 at 200 m, decreasing from +4.5 to +3.3 from 400 to 1000 m, and remaining constant at +3.0 from 1000 m and deeper. Different to a Rayleigh fractionation model, the isotopic composition and log scale concentrations of Cd do not exhibit a linear relationship. However, from the deep water to thermocline, the variations in Cd concentration and ε114/110Cd are relevant to the variations of temperature and salinity, indicating that water mixing is the dominant processes determining the concentration and isotopic composition in the interval. At 200 m where North Pacific Tropic Water dominates the water mass, the elevated ε114/110Cd could be linked to the composition in the upper portions of the water mass. In the top 150 m, the ε114/110Cd varies similarly to the phytoplankton community structures, implying that Cd uptake by various phytoplankton species may be associated with the isotopic variation. However, the effects of atmospheric inputs to the ε114/110Cd in the surface water cannot be excluded. A box model calculation is used to constrain the contributions of various processes to the Cd isotopes of surface water, and the results indicate that the Cd concentration and isotopic composition in most of the water body of the region are controlled by physical mixing, while the effects of biological fractionation and atmospheric inputs are limited in the euphotic zone

Data from: Egg rejection and clutch phenotype variation in the plain prinia (Prinia inornata)

Avian hosts of brood parasites can evolve anti-parasitic defenses to recognize and reject foreign eggs from their nests. Theory predicts that higher inter-clutch and lower intra-clutch variation in egg appearance facilitates hosts to detect parasitic eggs as egg-rejection mainly depends on the appearance of the egg. Therefore, we predict that egg patterns and rejection rates will differ when hosts face different intensity of cuckoo parasitism. We tested this prediction in two populations of the plain prinia (Prinia inornata): Guangxi in mainland China with high diversity and density of cuckoo species, and Taiwan where there is only one breeding cuckoo species, the Oriental cuckoo (Cuculus optatus). As expected, egg patterns were similar within clutches but different among clutches (polymorphic eggs) in the mainland population, while the island population produced more uniform egg morphs. Furthermore, the mainland population showed a high rate of egg rejection, while the island population exhibited dramatically reduced egg grasp-rejection ability in the absence of parasitism by the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). Our study suggests that prinias show lower intra-clutch consistency in egg colour and lose egg-rejecting ability under relaxed selection pressure from brood parasitism

En Bloc Resection for Lung Cancer with Chest Wall Invasion

The aim of this study was to retrospectively assess the results of en bloc chest wall plus lung resection for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) invading the chest wall. Methods: From January 1986 to December 2000, of 1,820 patients having surgery for NSCLC, 42 (2.3%) patients with neoplasms involving the chest wall underwent en bloc chest wall and lung resection. Patient demographics, preoperative symptoms, operative procedures, tumor cell type and size, removed nodal status, and pathologic stage were summarized. The 5-year survival rates of the groups were compared. Results: Postoperative staging revealed 28 were T3N0M0, 4 were T3N1M0, and 10 were T3N2M0. The in-hospital mortality rate was 11.9% (5/42). The mean age was 79.0 ± 2.8 years in the patients who died of complications, which was significantly older than the mean age of 67.9 ± 8.1 years in the patients who survived the surgery (p = 0.005). The overall 5-year survival was 28.4%. The 5-year survival was significantly longer in the patients with negative (N0) nodal metastasis than in those with N1 and/or N2 nodal metastasis (39.6% versus 7.1%, p = 0.01). Eleven patients had tumor involvement of the parietal pleura. Thirty-one patients had tumor involvement of the soft tissue and/or bone. There was no significant difference of 5-year survival rate between the patients with involvement of the parietal pleura only and the patients with involvement of the parietal pleura and the soft tissue and/or bone (10.9% versus 33.5%, p = 0.94). Conclusion: En bloc resection for bronchogenic carcinoma invading the chest wall provides a favorable prognosis in cases without nodal metastasis. Significant postoperative mortality is associated with old age (> 80 years). The 5-year survival rate is not significantly different between the patients with involvement of the parietal pleura only and the patients with involvement of the parietal pleura and the soft tissue and/or bone

Ex Vivo Model to Evaluate the Antibacterial and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Gelatin–Tricalcium Phosphate Composite Incorporated with Emodin and Lumbrokinase for Bone Regeneration

Tricalcium phosphate (TCP) has gained attention due to its interconnected porous structures which promote fibrovascular invasion and bony replacement. Moreover, when gelatin is added and crosslinked with genipin (GGT), TCP exhibits robust biocompatibility and stability, making it an excellent bone substitute. In this study, we incorporated emodin and lumbrokinase (LK) into GGT to develop an antibacterial biomaterial. Emodin, derived from various plants, possesses antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. LK comprises proteolytic enzymes extracted from the earthworm Lumbricus rubellus and exhibits fibrinolytic activity, enabling it to dissolve biofilms. Additionally, LK stimulates osteoblast activity while inhibiting osteoclast differentiation. GGT was combined with emodin and lumbrokinase to produce the GGTELK composite. The biomedical effects of GGTELK were assessed through in vitro assays and an ex vivo bone defect model. The GGTELK composite demonstrated antibacterial properties, inhibiting the growth of S. aureus and reducing biofilm formation. Moreover, it exhibited anti-inflammatory effects by reducing the secretion of IL-6 in both in vivo cell experiments and the ex vivo model. Therefore, the GGTELK composite, with its stability, efficient degradation, biocompatibility, and anti-inflammatory function, is expected to serve as an ideal bone substitute