An Unusual Bioconjugate of Glycerol and Poly(γ-Glutamic Acid) Produced by Bacillus subtilis C1

( Ing Lung Shih ),( Jane Yii Wu ),( Pei Jen Wu ),( Ming Hau Shen ) 한국미생물생명공학회 2005 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.15 No.5

Principled practical knowledge in bridging practical and reflective experiential learning: case studies of teachers’ professional development

Xin Pei Voon,Lung-Hsiang Wong,Wenli Chen,Chee-Kit LOOI 서울대학교 교육연구소 2019 Asia Pacific Education Review Vol.20 No.4

“Heuristic approach” is a teachers’ professional development (TPD) method supported by principled practical knowledge (PPK) which focuses on principled practical guidance that develops teachers’ capacity in innovative learning designs. This study reports the key features of the design and implementation of a TPD programme aimed at facilitating teachers’ experiential learning in designing and implementing seamless inquiry science learning (SISL). The TPD is based on the notion of fast and frugal heuristics which are supported by PPK and lead to actual classroom action. Two teacher case studies were analysed to investigate the teachers’ learning trajectory underpinned by an experiential learning framework throughout the TPD programme. As learners of innovative pedagogy, the teachers explored the design and implementation of SISL with their students. The findings indicate that the TPD programme had a positive impact on three aspects of teachers’ experiential learning: (a) acquiring new pedagogy; (b) improving knowledge and skills in the seamless inquiry science lesson (SISL) design and implementation; (c) nurturing reflective practices in teachers concerning the designing and implementation of SISL lessons. The teachers’ professional reflection and growth through experiential learning processes demonstrate how heuristic-based TPD engaged them as creative and professional lesson designers, resulting in meaningful changes in classroom practices. Our data analysis concluded that the heuristic-based TPD should be designed in such a way that it is authentic, reflective, practice-based and focused on meaningful tasks for the teachers.

Enhancing elderly long-term care service using Kinect exergame

Tien-Lung Sun,Ta-Min Hung,Chia-Hsuan Lee,Chien-Hua Huang,Chun Pei 대한인간공학회 2014 대한인간공학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2014 No.5

Kinect based somatosensory exergame is useful to support long-term care as it can motivate chronic rehabilitation patients or elderly with decreasing motor ability to do physical exercise in a pleasant and interesting gaming environment. Dynamic game difficulty adjustment (DDA) technique is implemented in all games to keep players engaged and adhered to the game. For long-term care service, game difficulty has to be manually adjusted as players are not able to or not willing to adjust game settings by themselves. To support manually difficulty adjustment, it is important to conduct player experience study to understand the impact of different game settings or gaming parameters on game difficulty. This paper evaluates the difficulty of a Kinect exergame using objective player experiences derived from Kinect sensor and gameplay based player experience. Specifically, a Kinect exergame for upper arm exercise is developed and deployed to a nursing center at central Taiwan. The challenge (psychological difficulty) and intensity (physiological difficulty) of the game are analyzed using hand movement speed derived from Kinect sensor (objective player experience) and game score (gameplay based experience). The results show that the objective player experience derived from Kinect sensor can help understand the exergame intensity. With cross reference to game performance, subjects who are more engaged in the exergame can be identified. Specifically, analysis of the hand movement speed shows that the Kinect exergame considered in this work does not present enough physiological difficulty (intensity) to elderly with level-4 muscle power but does present difficulty to elderly with level-3 muscle power. Subjects with level-3 muscle power who are engaged in the game can be identified from their game scores. As the optimum difficulty level as well as other game settings varies from individual to individual, an important task in exergame design is to dynamically adjust its challenge and intensity so that elderly players can be engaged in and adhered to the game. The results of this paper show that player experiences derived from Kinect sensor and gameplay performance can help game developers better understand, and hence adjust, the game difficulty levels.

Enhancing Elderly Long-Term Care Service Uing Kinect Exergame

( Tien Lung Sun ),( Ta Min Hung ),( Chien Hua Huang ),( Chia Hsuan Lee ),( Chun Pei ) 한국감성과학회 2014 춘계학술대회 Vol.2014 No.-

Kinect based somatosensory exergame is useful to support long-term care as it can motivate chronic rehabilitation patients or elderly with decreasing motor ability to do physical exercise in a pleasant and interesting gaming environment. Dynamic game difficulty adjustment (DDA) technique is implemented in all games to keep players engaged and adhered to the game. For long-term care service, game difficulty has to be manually adjusted as players are not able to or not willing to adjust game settings by themselves. To support manually difficulty adjustment, it is important to conduct player experience study to understand the impact of different game settings or gaming parameters on game difficulty. This paper evaluates the dif-ficulty of a Kinect exergame using objective player experiences derived from Kinect sensor and gameplay based player experience. Specifically, a Kinect exergame for upper arm exercise is developed and deployed to a nursing center at central Taiwan. The challenge (psychological difficulty) and intensity (physiological difficulty) of the game are analyzed using hand movement speed derived from Kinect sensor (objective player experience) and game score (gameplay based experi-ence). The results show that the objective player experience derived from Kinect sensor can help understand the exergame intensity. With cross reference to game performance, subjects who are more engaged in the exergame can be identified.

Cerebral Microbleeds in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease

Li-Kai Tsai,Pei-Lung Chen,Hsin-Hsi Tsai,Ya-Fang Chen,Ping-Chun Wu,Jiann-Shing Jeng,Jenq-Wen Huang,Tzong-Shinn Chu,Juliana Tze-Wah Kao 대한뇌졸중학회 2020 Journal of stroke Vol.22 No.1

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Investors’ Herd Behavior: Rational or Irrational?

Shih-Chuan Tsai,William T. Lin,Pei-Yau Lung 한국증권학회 2013 Asia-Pacific Journal of Financial Studies Vol.42 No.5

This study examines the relationships between the herding of various investor groups and trading noise in the Taiwan stock market to determine whether any of the investor groups tend to herd rationally. The study uses a unique and comprehensive data set on intraday transactions and limit order books of the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE). We calculate the high-frequency herding measures and trading noise in a call auction market. We find that institutional investors are likely to be informed traders and herd rationally based on superior information. Institutional investors’ herding has a negative impact on trading noise. Their buy (sell) herding predicts positive (negative) future market returns. By contrast, the herding of individual investors tends to contain limited information, as it increases trading noise; the buy (sell) herding of individuals is negatively correlated with future market returns. These findings are more significant for stocks with higher turnover.

Significant down-regulation of growth hormone receptor expression revealed as a new unfavorable prognostic factor in hepatitis C virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma

( Ching-chih Lin ),( Ta-wei Liu ),( Ming-lun Yeh ),( Yi-shan Tsai ),( Pei-chien Tsai ),( Chung-feng Huang ),( Jee-fu Huang ),( Wan-long Chuang ),( Chia-yen Dai ),( Ming-lung Yu ) 대한간학회 2021 Clinical and Molecular Hepatology(대한간학회지) Vol.27 No.2

Background/Aims: Growth hormone (GH) is the main regulator of somatic growth, metabolism, and gender dimorphism in the liver. GH receptor (GHR) signaling in cancer is derived from a large body of evidence, although the GHR signaling pathway involved in the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related HCC, remains unclear. We aimed to explore the expression of GHR and analyze its association with clinicopathologic features and prognosis of patients with chronic hepatitis C and HCC. Methods: The expression of GHR mRNA was investigated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in paired tumors and adjacent non-tumorous (ANT) liver tissues of 200 patients with chronic hepatitis C and HCC. Western blotting and immunofluorescence assays using the HCV-infected Huh7.5.1 cell model was performed. Results: GHR mRNA was significantly lower in HCV-HCC tissues than in corresponding ANT liver tissues. GHR mRNA and protein levels also decreased in the HCV-infected Huh7.5.1 cell model. Notably, lower GHR expression was associated with age of >60 years (P=0.0111) and worse clinicopathologic characteristics, including alpha-fetoprotein >100 ng/mL (P=0.0403), cirrhosis (P=0.0075), vascular invasion (P=0.0052), pathological stage II-IV (P=0.0002), and albumin ≤4.0 g/dL (P=0.0055), which were linked with poor prognosis of HCC. Most importantly, the high incidence of recurrence and poor survival rates in patients with a low ratio of tumor/ANT GHR (≤0.1) were observed, indicating that low expression levels of GHR had great risk for development of HCC in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates a significant down-regulation of GHR expression as a new unfavorable independent prognostic factor in patients with chronic hepatitis C and HCC. (Clin Mol Hepatol 2021;27:313-328)

The effect of diabetes and prediabetes on the prevalence, complications and mortality in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Cheng Han Ng,Kai En Chan,Yip Han Chin,Rebecca Wenling Zeng,Pei Chen Tsai,Wen Hui Lim,Darren Jun Hao Tan,Chin Meng Khoo,Lay Hoon Goh,Zheng Jye Ling,Anand Kulkarni,Lung-Yi Loey Mak,Daniel Q Huang,Mark C 대한간학회 2022 Clinical and Molecular Hepatology(대한간학회지) Vol.28 No.3

Background/Aims: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is closely associated with diabetes. The cumulative impact of both diseases synergistically increases risk of adverse events. However, present population analysis is predominantly conducted with reference to non-NAFLD individuals and has not yet examined the impact of prediabetes. Hence, we sought to conduct a retrospective analysis on the impact of diabetic status in NAFLD patients, referencing non-diabetic NAFLD individuals. Methods: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2018 was used. Hepatic steatosis was defined with United States Fatty Liver Index (US-FLI) and FLI at a cut-off of 30 and 60 respectively, in absence of substantial alcohol use. A multivariate generalized linear model was used for risk ratios of binary outcomes while survival analysis was conducted with Cox regression and Fine Gray model for competing risk. Results: Of 32,234 patients, 28.92% were identified to have NAFLD. 36.04%, 38.32% and 25.63% were non-diabetic, prediabetic and diabetic respectively. Diabetic NAFLD significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), stroke, chronic kidney disease, all-cause and CVD mortality compared to non-diabetic NAFLD. However, prediabetic NAFLD only significantly increased the risk of CVD and did not result in a higher risk of mortality. Conclusions: Given the increased risk of adverse outcomes, this study highlights the importance of regular diabetes screening in NAFLD and adoption of prompt lifestyle modifications to reduce disease progression. Facing high cardiovascular burden, prediabetic and diabetic NAFLD individuals can benefit from early cardiovascular referrals to reduce risk of CVD events and mortality.

Feline mammary carcinoma-derived extracellular vesicle promotes liver metastasis via sphingosine kinase-1-mediated premetastatic niche formation

Yi-Chih Chang,Hao-Ping Liu,Hsiao-Li Chuang,Jiunn-Wang Liao,Pei-Ling Kao,Hsun-Lung Chan,Ter-Hsin Chen,Yu-Chih Wang 한국실험동물학회 2023 Laboratory Animal Research Vol.39 No.4

Background: Feline mammary carcinoma (FMC) is one of the most prevalent malignancies of female cats. FMC is highly metastatic and thus leads to poor disease outcomes. Among all metastases, liver metastasis occurs in about 25% of FMC patients. However, the mechanism underlying hepatic metastasis of FMC remains largely uncharacterized. Results: Herein, we demonstrate that FMC-derived extracellular vesicles (FMC-EVs) promotes the liver metastasis of FMC by activating hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) to prime a hepatic premetastatic niche (PMN). Moreover, we provide evidence that sphingosine kinase 1 (SK1) delivered by FMC-EV was pivotal for the activation of HSC and the formation of hepatic PMN. Depletion of SK1 impaired cargo sorting in FMC-EV and the EV-potentiated HSC activation, and abolished hepatic colonization of FMC cells. Conclusions: Taken together, our findings uncover a previously uncharacterized mechanism underlying liver-metastasis of FMC and provide new insights into prognosis and treatment of this feline malignancy.

The Presence of Borrelia valaisiana-Related Genospecies in Ticks and a Rodent in Taiwan

Chun-Man Huang,Hsi-Chieh Wang,Ying-Chun Lin,Shih-Hui Chiu,Ying-Shun Kao,Pei-Lung Lee,Hsiu-I Wang,Ruei-Chen Hung,Huang-I Chan,Ho-Sheng Wu,Chuen-Sheue Chiang,Jung-Jung Mu 한국미생물학회 2010 The journal of microbiology Vol.48 No.6

A field survey was conducted to investigate the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) in six counties of Taiwan. Spirochetes were successfully isolated from one rodent ear sample out of 485 rodent ears and 53live, fed tick (Ixodes granulatus) samples. The spirochetes were confirmed to be B. burgdorferi s.l. by real-time PCR. In addition, 23 of 113 tick samples were tested positive for Borrelia DNA according to real-time PCR. The Borrelia isolate from the rodent and the 23 Borrelia DNA samples from the ticks were identified as B. valaisiana-related genospecies by phylogenetic analysis based on flagellin gene sequences. These findings suggest that the Borrelia valaisiana-related strains are maintained in a zoonotic cycle between tick vectors and reservoir hosts in Taiwan.