Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Symptoms in Taiwan's Traditional Industries

Yu, Chi-Yuang,Hsu, Yau-Wen,Chung, Yi-Chan,Tsai, Chih-Hung The Korean Society for Quality Management 2004 The Asian Journal on Quality Vol.5 No.2

The purpose of this study was to analyze the prevalence of self-reported musculoskeletal symptoms among the three Taiwan's traditional industries as lathe, electronics and food by the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ). Moreover, the study was also to make a comparison among the aforesaid industries for revealing their differences. The result of the questionnaire indicated that the symptoms appeared on the three industries were all originated from four parts as neck, shoulders, elbows, and wrists/hands. More than 68% of the interviewers thought that their symptoms might be related to their work. However, the rate of harmful influence resulted from life or job was over 50%. As to the respect of the interviewers' attitude in treating their symptoms, more than 80% of them neglected or just treated the symptoms by massaging or cold/hot compressing and resting. From the questionnaire, the proportion of symptoms discussed in each item indicated that the distribution, in perceiving symptom, of interviewers were not quite identical; however the Chi-square test discovered majority did not reach 0.05 levels, hence the difference among industries were not significant.

An Automatic Environmental Monitoring and Cooling System to Reduce Heat Stress in Dairy Cows

( Yu-chi Tsai ),( Chen-yu Cheng ),( Jih-tay Hsu ),( Shih-torng Dnig ),( Ta-te Lin ) 한국농업기계학회 2018 한국농업기계학회 학술발표논문집 Vol.23 No.1

In tropical and subtropical regions with high temperature and humidity conditions, one of the problems in dairy farm management is the effect of heat stress on animal productivity. Due to this problem, the utilization of an automatic environmental monitoring system for cooling, labor-saving and heat stress reduction is necessary. In this study, an environmental monitoring and automatic cooling system based on an embedded system for dairy farms was designed. The system aims to regulate the environmental condition by means of direct feedback depending on the monitoring of heat stress index (HSI) augmented by dairy cow drinking behavior. The system is composed of two sub-systems: data acquisition and environmental control. The data acquisition module collects images, temperature and humidity data. The cooling system is controlled based on the real-time environmental data, and the historical data are recorded and uploaded to the server for display and analysis. The data are analyzed on the environmental monitoring panel on the farm and on the website, which can be remotely accessed. The control parameters are adjusted using the image results from the dairy cow drinking behavior with a fixed time interval. The results of the conducted experiments show that there is labor saving improvement and an increment in milk production compared to the same period in the previous year when the system was not installed. The automatic environmental monitoring cooling system exhibits high efficiency and can perform real-time control and self-adjustment. The system can be used for fully automated dairy cow system application, as well as dairy cow behavior analysis through both environmental and image information.

An Imaging System for Monitoring the Feeding Behavior of Dairy Cows

( Cheng-yu Kuan ),( Yu-chi Tsai ),( Chen-yu Cheng ),( Jih-tay Hsu ),( Shih-torng Dnig ),( Ta-te Lin ) 한국농업기계학회 2018 한국농업기계학회 학술발표논문집 Vol.23 No.1

In sub-tropical countries, dairy cows tend to experience heat stress problems. This phenomenon may lead to declines in feed intake, milk production, and fertility. Under normal conditions, the dairy cows have a regular feeding and drinking time. For this reason, changes in feeding behavior can be a possible indicator to detect heat stress phenomena that can help farm owners monitor dairy cow health. In order to monitor and record the feeding behavior of dairy cows, an imaging system is proposed herein. The imaging system uses Raspberry Pi 3, as the embedded system, and a camera module to acquire images for dairy cow face detection in front of the feeding area to confirm if the dairy cow is eating. The dairy cow faces are detected through cascade-AdaBoost algorithms which can automatically select weak classifiers to form a strong classifier with fast processing speed in an embedded system. The factors affecting the performance of the dairy cow face detection algorithm have been tested and optimized. The system has been tested in a feeding area in National Taiwan University’s dairy farm, which has 25 dairy cows in total. By converting the frequency of dairy cow face detection into feeding time, the feeding behavior of grouped dairy cows can be analyzed. Furthermore, combining the temperature humidity index (THI) and feeding behavior can provide the farm owners with an index to evaluate the level heat stress of dairy cows.

A Generalized Image Interpolation-based Reversible Data Hiding Scheme with High Embedding Capacity and Image Quality

( Yuan-yu Tsai ),( Jian-ting Chen ),( Yin-chi Kuo ),( Chi-shiang Chan ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2014 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.8 No.9

Jung and Yoo proposed the first image interpolation-based reversible data hiding algorithm. Although their algorithm achieved superior interpolation results, the embedding capacity was insufficient. Lee and Huang proposed an improved algorithm to enhance the embedding capacity and the interpolation results. However, these algorithms present limitations to magnify the original image to any resolution and pixels in the boundary region of the magnified image are poorly manipulated. Furthermore, the capacity and the image quality can be improved further. This study modifies the pixel mapping scheme and adopts a bilinear interpolation to solve boundary artifacts. The modified reference pixel determination and an optimal pixel adjustment process can effectively enhance the embedding capacity and the image quality. The experimental results show our proposed algorithm achieves a higher embedding capacity under acceptable visual distortions, and can be applied to a magnified image at any resolution. Our proposed technique is feasible in reversible data hiding.

Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Receptor-α Subunit Targeting Suppresses Metastasis in Advanced Thyroid Cancer In Vitro and In Vivo

( Ching-ling Lin ),( Ming-lin Tsai ),( Yu-hsin Chen ),( Wei-ni Liu ),( Chun-yu Lin ),( Kai-wen Hsu ),( Chien-yu Huang ),( Yu-jia Chang ),( Po-li Wei ),( Shu-huey Chen ),( Li-chi Huang ),( Chia-hwa Lee 한국응용약물학회 2021 Biomolecules & Therapeutics(구 응용약물학회지) Vol.29 No.5

Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy. Patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancers, such as papillary and follicular cancers, have a favorable prognosis. However, poorly differentiated thyroid cancers, such as medullary, squamous and anaplastic advanced thyroid cancers, are very aggressive and insensitive to radioiodine treatment. Thus, novel therapies that attenuate metastasis are urgently needed. We found that both PDGFC and PDGFRA are predominantly expressed in thyroid cancers and that the survival rate is significantly lower in patients with high PDGFRA expression. This finding indicates the important role of PDGF/PDGFR signaling in thyroid cancer development. Next, we established a SW579 squamous thyroid cancer cell line with 95.6% PDGFRA gene insertion and deletions (indels) through CRISPR/Cas9. Protein and invasion analysis showed a dramatic loss in EMT marker expression and metastatic ability. Furthermore, xenograft tumors derived from PDGFRA geneedited SW579 cells exhibited a minor decrease in tumor growth. However, distant lung metastasis was completely abolished upon PDGFRA gene editing, implying that PDGFRA could be an effective target to inhibit distant metastasis in advanced thyroid cancers. To translate this finding to the clinic, we used the most relevant multikinase inhibitor, imatinib, to inhibit PDGFRA signaling. The results showed that imatinib significantly suppressed cell growth, induced cell cycle arrest and cell death in SW579 cells. Our developed noninvasive apoptosis detection sensor (NIADS) indicated that imatinib induced cell apoptosis through caspase-3 activation. In conclusion, we believe that developing a specific and selective targeted therapy for PDGFRA would effectively suppress PDGFRA-mediated cancer aggressiveness in advanced thyroid cancers.

Mesenchymal Stem Cell Secreted-Extracellular Vesicles are Involved in Chondrocyte Production and Reduce Adipogenesis during Stem Cell Differentiation

Tsai Yu-Chen,Cheng Tai-Shan,Liao Hsiu-Jung,Chuang Ming-Hsi,Chen Hui-Ting,Chen Chun-Hung,Zhang Kai-Ling,Chang Chih-Hung,Lin Po-Cheng,Huang Chi-Ying F. 한국조직공학과 재생의학회 2022 조직공학과 재생의학 Vol.19 No.6

BACKGROUND: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are derived from internal cellular compartments, and have potential as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in degenerative disease associated with aging. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have become a promising tool for functional EVs production. This study investigated the efficacy of EVs and its effect on differentiation capacity. METHODS: The characteristics of MSCs were evaluated by flow cytometry and stem cell differentiation analysis, and a production mode of functional EVs was scaled from MSCs. The concentration and size of EVs were quantitated by Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA). Western blot analysis was used to assess the protein expression of exosomespecific markers. The effects of MSC-derived EVs were assessed by chondrogenic and adipogenic differentiation analyses and histological observation. RESULTS: The range of the particle size of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs)- and Wharton’s jelly -MSCs-derived EVs were from 130 to 150 nm as measured by NTA, which showed positive expression of exosomal markers. The chondrogenic induction ability was weakened in the absence of EVs in vitro. Interestingly, after EV administration, type II collagen, a major component in the cartilage extracellular matrix, was upregulated compared to the EV-free condition. Moreover, EVs decreased the lipid accumulation rate during adipogenic induction. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that the production model could facilitate production of effective EVs and further demonstrated the role of MSC-derived EVs in cell differentiation. MSC-derived EVs could be successfully used in cell-free therapy to guide chondrogenic differentiation of ADSC for future clinical applications in cartilage regeneration.

Initial Factors Influencing Duration of Hospital Stay in Adult Patients With Peritonsillar Abscess

Yu-Hsi Liu,Hsing-Hao Su,Yi-Wen Tsai,Yu-Yi Hou,Kuo-Ping Chang,Chao-Chuan Chi,Ming-Yee Lin,Pi-Hsiung Wu 대한이비인후과학회 2017 Clinical and Experimental Otorhinolaryngology Vol.10 No.1

Objectives. To review cases of peritonsillar abscess and investigate the initial clinical factors that may influence the duration of hospitalization. To determine the predictive factors of prolonged hospital stay in adult patients with peritonsillar abscess. Methods. Subjects were adults hospitalized with peritonsillar abscess. We retrospectively reviewed 377 medical records from 1990 to 2013 in a tertiary medical center in southern Taiwan. The association between clinical characteristics and the length of hospital stay was analyzed with independent t-test, univariate linear regression and multiple linear regression analysis. Results. The mean duration of hospitalization was 6.2±6.0 days. With univariate linear regression, a prolonged hospital stay was associated with several variables, including female gender, older ages, nonsmoking status, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, band forms in white blood cell (WBC) counts, and lower hemoglobin levels. With multiple linear regression analysis, four independent predictors of hospital stay were noted: years of age (P<0.001), history of diabetes mellitus (P<0.001), ratio of band form WBC (P<0.001), and hemoglobin levels (P<0.001). Conclusion. In adult patients with peritonsillar abscess, older ages, history of diabetes mellitus, band forms in WBC counts and lower hemoglobin levels were independent predictors of longer hospitalization.

An Image Hiding Scheme by Linking Pixels in the Circular Way

( Chi-shiang Chan ),( Yuan-yu Tsai ),( Chao-liang Liu ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2012 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.6 No.6

The proposed method in this paper is derived from Mielikainen`s hiding method. However, there exist some significant differences between two methods. In Mielikainen`s method, pixels are partitioned into pairs and a LSB matching function is applied to two pixels for hiding. On the contrary, the proposed method partitions pixels into groups with three pixels in each group. The bits of pixels in each group are linked by using an exclusive OR (XOR) operator in a circular way. If the number of different values between the calculated XOR values and the secret bits is smaller than or equal to 2 in a group, the proposed method can guarantee that at most one pixel is needed to be modified by adding/subtracting its value to/from one, and three secret bits can be embedded to three pixels. Through theoretical analysis, the amount of the embedded secret data in the proposed method is larger than those in other methods under the same amount of pixel modifications. Taking real images in our experiments, the quality of stego-images in the proposed method is higher than those in other methods.

Role-Balance Based Multi-Secret Images Sharing using Boolean Operations

( Chi-shiang Chan ),( Yung-chen Chou ),( Yi-hui Chen ),( Yuan-yu Tsai ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2014 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.8 No.5

In 2011, Chen and Wu proposed their method of sharing n secret images to n+1 shadow images through the concept of a Boolean-based Visual Secret Sharing (VSS) method. However, the shadow images produced by this method are not equally important. If the participant who owns an important shadow image does not want to cooperate with other participants, most secret images can not be reconstructed. In the proposed method, the relationship between the shadows images and secret images are designed in a circular way mostly. Each shadow image only relates to two secret images. This means that if one participant refuses to cooperate with other participants, there are only two secret images which can not be reconstructed. Moreover, our proposed method only needs to produce n shadow images and n secret images can be shared to them.

Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Symptoms in Taiwan`s Traditional Industries

( Chi Yuang Yu ),( Yau Wen Hsu ),( Yi Chan Chung ),( Chih Hung Tsai ) 한국품질경영학회 2004 The Asian Journal on Quality Vol.5 No.2