Feasibility assessment and implementation strategies of green care in rural Taiwan

Pursuing the rural idyll for retirement is especially a popular age-old dream for Taiwan people. Farming for health is an emerging trend, which drivers to initiate a green care service based on a combination of agriculture resources and traditional care. The purposes of this study were to assess the feasibility of green care in rural communities and to propose implementation strategies for varied rural area types in Taiwan. This study was conducted with two stags. A feasibility study comprising two aspects of political and environmental feasibilities was assessed in the first stage. The political feasibility was assessed based on social demand and government policies. Accordingly, three alternative models for senior green care participation were proposed, including green occupational therapy (for residents), rural long-stay tourism (for tourists), and agricultural working holiday (for volunteers). The environmental feasibility assessment was conducted in 102 rural communities in northern Taiwan. Five indexes, including the natural environment, rural resources, public facilities, senior care, and community capacity, were used to evaluate the potential of communities for developing green care. The results showed that green care implementing active aging in place in rural areas is feasible. Seventeen communities with plentiful or unique rural resources and high-quality community capacity were recommended as potential communities. In the second stage, a multiple case study was conducted in three communities representing different alternative models of green care. The community leader interviews, on-site investigations, vision forum, and operation workshop were adopted to propose the implementation strategies of green care for three communities, respectively, including human resource, volunteer or tourist management, revenue distribution, and marketing.

     

Deep Cutaneous Neoscytalidium dimidiatum Infection: Successful Outcome with Amphotericin B Therapy

Mycopathologia - Phaeohyphomycosis is a term used to describe a heterogenous group of cutaneous and systemic mycotic infections caused by melanized fungi. Many fungi have been reported as pathogens...     

Effects of Dietary Clostridium butyricum on the Growth,Digestive Enzyme Activity,Antioxidant Capacity,and Resistance to Nitrite Stress of Penaeus monodon

Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins - The present study investigated the effects of the dietary probiotic Clostridium butyricum (CB) on the growth, intestine digestive enzyme activity,...     

Procyanidin B1 promotes in vitro maturation of pig oocytes by reducing oxidative stress

Oxidative stress negatively affects the in vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes. Procyanidin B1 (PB1) is a natural polyphenolic compound that has antioxidant properties. In this study, we investigated the effect of PB1 supplementation during IVM of porcine oocytes. Treatment with 100 μM PB1 significantly increased the MII oocytes rate (p <0.05), the parthenogenetic (PA) blastocyst rate (p <0.01) and the total cell number in the PA blastocyst (p < 0.01) which were cultured in regular in vitro culture (IVC) medium. The PA blastocyst rate of regular MII oocytes activated and cultured in IVC medium supplemented with 100 and 150 μM PB1 significantly increased compared with control (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05). We also evaluated the reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) levels, glutathione (GSH) levels, and apoptotic levels in MII oocytes and cumulus cells following 100 μM PB1 treatment. The results showed that the PB1 supplementation decreased ROS production and apoptotic levels. In addition, PB1 was found to increase Δψm levels and GSH levels. In conclusion, PB1 inhibited apoptosis of oocytes and cumulus cells by reducing oxidative stress. Moreover, PB1 improved the quality of oocytes and promoted PA embryo development. Taken together, our results suggest that PB1 is a promising antioxidant additive for IVM of oocytes.     

Melatonin inhibits triple-negative breast cancer progression through the Lnc049808-FUNDC1 pathway

Melatonin has been reported to have tumor-suppressive effects via comprehensive molecular mechanisms, and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) may participate in this process. However, the mechanism by which melatonin affects the function of lncRNAs in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer, is still unknown. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the differentially expressed mRNAs and lncRNAs in melatonin-treated TNBC cells and the interaction mechanisms. Microarray analyses were performed to identify differentially expressed mRNAs and lncRNAs in TNBC cell lines after melatonin treatment. To explore the functions and underlying mechanisms of the mRNAs and lncRNAs candidates, a series of in vitro experiments were conducted, including CCK-8, Transwell, colony formation, luciferase reporter gene, and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays, and mouse xenograft models were established. We found that after melatonin treatment, FUNDC1 and lnc049808 downregulated in TNBC cell lines. Knockdown of FUNDC1 and lnc049808 inhibited TNBC cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis. Moreover, lnc049808 and FUNDC1 acted as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) for binding to miR-101. These findings indicated that melatonin inhibited TNBC progression through the lnc049808-FUNDC1 pathway and melatonin could be used as a potential therapeutic agent for TNBC.Subject terms: Breast cancer, Non-coding RNAs     

Phosphorene as Cathode Material for High‐Voltage,Anti‐Self‐Discharge Zinc Ion Hybrid Capacitors

Output voltage and self‐discharge rate are two important performance indices for supercapacitors, which have long been overlooked, though these play a very significant role in their practical application. Here, a zinc anode is used to construct a zinc ion hybrid capacitor. Expanded operating voltage of the hybrid capacitor is obtained with novel electrolytes. In addition, significantly improved anti‐self‐discharge ability is achieved. The phosphorene‐based zinc ion capacitor exploiting a “water in salt” electrolyte with a working potential can reach 2.2 V, delivering 214.3 F g^?1 after 5000 cycles. The operating voltage is further extended to 2.5 V through the use of an organic solvent as the electrolyte; the solvent is prepared by adding 0.2 m ZnCl₂ into the tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate in propylene carbonate (Et₄NBF₄/PC) solvent, and it exhibits 105.9 F g^?1 even after 9500 cycles. More importantly, the phosphorene‐based capacitors possess excellent anti‐self‐discharge performance. The capacitors retain 76.16% of capacitance after resting for 300 h. The practical application of the zinc ion capacitor is demonstrated through a flexible paper‐based printed microcapacitor. It is believed that the developed zinc ion capacitor can effectively resolve the severe self‐discharge problem of supercapacitors. Moreover, high‐voltage zinc ion capacitors provide more opportunities for the application of supercapacitors.     

Covalently linking the Escherichia coli global anaerobic regulator FNR in tandem allows it to function as an oxygen stable dimer

Glutathione (GSH) serves as an important anti-oxidant in the brain by scavenging harmful reactive oxygen species that are generated during different molecular processes. The GSH level in the brain provides indirect information on oxidative stress of the brain. We report in vivo detection of GSH non-invasively from various brain regions (frontal cortex, parietal cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum) in bilateral hemispheres of healthy male and female subjects and from bi-lateral frontal cortices in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). All AD patients who participated in this study were on medication with cholinesterase inhibitors. Healthy young male (age 26.4±3.0) and healthy young female (age 23.6±2.1) subjects have higher amount of GSH in the parietal cortical region and a specific GSH distribution pattern (parietal cortex>frontal cortex>hippocampus ~ cerebellum) has been found. Overall mean GSH content is higher in healthy young female compared to healthy young male subjects and GSH is distributed differently in two hemispheres among male and female subjects. In both young female and male subjects, statistically significant (p=0.02 for young female and p=0.001 for young male) difference in mean GSH content is found when compared between left frontal cortex (LFC) and right frontal cortex (RFC). In healthy young female subjects, we report statistically significant positive correlation of GSH content between RFC and LFC (r=0.641, p=0.004) as well as right parietal cortex (RPC) and left parietal cortex (LPC) (r=0.797, p=0.000) regions. In healthy young male subjects, statistically significant positive correlation of GSH content was observed between LFC and LPC (r=0.481, p=0.032) regions. This statistical analysis implicates that in case of a high GSH content in LPC of a young male, his LFC region would also contain high GSH and vice versa. The difference in mean of GSH content between healthy young female control and female AD patients in RFC region (p=0.003) and difference in mean of GSH content between healthy young male control and male AD patients (p=0.05) in LFC region is found to be statistically significant. It is the first scientific report correlating alteration (in selective brain regions) of GSH level with clinical status of male and female subjects using non-invasive imaging technique.     

Specific inherent optical quantities of complex turbid inland waters, from the perspective of water classification

For optically complex turbid productive waters, the optical behavior of suspended particles is the keynote of characterizing the unordered variations of inherent optical properties (IOPs). Multiple bio-optical measurements and sampling of optically active substances were performed in Lake Taihu, Lake Chaohu, and Lake Dianchi, and Three Gorges reservoir of China, in 2008, 2009, and 2010. On the basis of obtaining adequate observation data, we developed an improved and robust water classification approach, by which complex water conditions were divided into three types, i.e., Type 1 (Normalized Trough Depth at 675 nm, hereafter NTD675, ≥0.092), Type 2 (0 < NTD675 < 0.092), and Type 3 (NTD675 ≤ 0). Furthermore, the specific inherent optical quantities for suspended particles, including the specific absorption coefficient of non-algal particles (a*(nap)), the specific absorption coefficient of phytoplankton (a*(ph)), and the specific scattering coefficient of the suspended particles (b*(p)), were determined for the three classified types of waters. The validation results showed that our proposed values for these specific inherent optical quantities presented relatively high predictive accuracies, with most mean absolute percentage errors (MAPE) near 30%, and more importantly, performed much better than that of non-classified waters. Additionally, relative contributions of phytoplankton and non-algal particles to the total particulate absorption and scattering, as well as the spectra, were also analyzed, and the differences among the three classified types of waters were clarified. Overall, the results obtained in this study provide us with new knowledge for understanding complex varied inherent optical properties of highly turbid productive waters.