Enhancing Cordycepin in Functional Porridge through Rice Varietal Fermentation with Cordyceps militaris (Ascomycetes) and Utilizing Non-Targeted Metabolomics for Process Enhancement.

Cordyceps militaris, a medicinal fungus rich in cordycepin, shows promise in treating diseases such as cancer, respiratory issues, and COVID-19. This study examines the impact of different Taiwanese rice varieties on its solid-state fermentation, focusing on optimizing cordycepin production. The results indicated that the cordycepin yield was indeed affected by the type of rice used. In terms of the fruiting bodies, germ rice resulted in the highest yield (13.1 ± 0.36 mg/g), followed by brown rice (11.9 ± 0.26 mg/g). In the rice culture medium (RCM), brown rice led to the highest yield (4.77 ± 0.06 mg/g). Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and untargeted metabolomics, the study identifies four key volatile components linked to cordycepin, providing insights into developing functional rice porridge products. These findings are significant for advancing cordycepin mass production and offering dietary options for older individuals.

Psychometric analysis of a Taiwan-version pain assessment scale for preterm infants.

AIM: To determine the inter-rater reliability, internal consistency, construct and concurrent validity and feasibility of the pain assessment scale for preterm infants. BACKGROUND: Repeated exposure to painful procedures has an adverse impact on preterm infants' health outcomes. Although many scales are available for assessing these infants' pain, only a few reliably and validly assess pain and no gold standard has been established in clinical practice. DESIGN: Instrument development and psychometric analysis. METHODS: Preterm infants (n = 60) born 27·6-36·3 weeks gestational age were assessed for pain 3 minutes before (phase I), during (phase II), 3 minutes after (phase III) and the tenth minute after (phase IV) heel-stick procedures. Pain scores were independently coded from video recordings and observations by three trained nurses using our pain-assessment scale, premature infant pain profile and visual analogue scale. RESULTS: Scores on the pain assessment scale for preterm infants differed significantly across four phases of heel-stick procedures (F = 56·86, p < 0·0001). Internal consistency was 0·84 and inter-rater reliability was 0·88-0·93. Scores on our pain scale correlated well with scores on the premature infant pain profile (0·74-0·83) and visual analogue scale (0·72-0·81). CONCLUSIONS: The pain assessment scale for preterm infants integrates all possible pain indicators, with each item modified for clinicians' simple and easy pain measurement to potentially yield different information. Our scale is valid, reliable and feasible for preterm infants with gestational age > 27 weeks. Further examination of the scale's psychometrics is recommended with diverse samples of infants and different painful procedures. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The pain assessment scale for preterm infants clearly defines item scoring and weighting, consistently discriminates different levels of pain and helps nurses to recognise infants' pain. Nurses can easily remember the definition of each item, allowing them to use our scale to evaluate preterm infants' pain at any time and to provide pain-relief interventions when needed.

Caregiving and positioning effects on preterm infant states over 24 hours in a neonatal unit in Taiwan.

In this prospective, descriptive study, we used a repeated-measures design to explore the 24-hour effects of caregiving and positioning on preterm infants' states and the factors associated with state changes. Thirty preterm infants (gestational age 27.6-36.1 weeks) were observed for 3 days in the neonatal intensive care unit to record six states: quiet sleep (QS), active sleep, transition, active awake, quiet awake, and fussy or crying. The occurrences of QS increased when infants received no caregiving, social interaction, non-nutritive sucking (NNS), and were laterally positioned. However, QS significantly decreased and fussy or crying state increased when infants received routine and intrusive caregiving. These results suggest that caregiving, NNS, and positioning should be appropriately provided to facilitate infants' sleep, and reduce fussiness or crying.

Relationships between nurse care-giving behaviours and preterm infant responses during bathing: a preliminary study.

AIMS: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between specific nurse care-giving behaviours and preterm infant behavioural responses during bathing and to identify nurse behaviours associated with infant 'stress'. BACKGROUND: Although recent advances in medical technology have improved neonatal intensive care, the high mortality and morbidity rates in preterm infants have not decreased proportionally. As caregivers strive to reduce infant mortality and morbidity, a factor for consideration is which caregiver behaviours are associated with preterm infant well-being. DESIGN: A descriptive correlational design. METHOD: Convenience samples of 24 preterm infants and 12 nurses were recruited. A total of 120 baths were videotaped. Infant and nurse behaviours were measured using the coding schemes developed by the researchers. Pearson coefficient correlation, non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test, t-test and generalised linear models were methods for data analysis. RESULTS: As nurses provided more support, stress was reduced in the infants, and their self-regulation during the bath was enhanced especially by the use of 'containment' and 'positional support'. Conversely, non-therapeutic caregiver behaviours including 'rapid and rough handling' of the baby, 'chatting with other people' and 'inappropriate handling' increased infant 'stress' during the bath. CONCLUSION: The findings provide new information about the link between care-giving and infant responses and how caregivers can better interact with preterm infants during a very sensitive period of brain development. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: How nurses take care of the preterm infants influences their responses to care-giving stimuli. To interact better with the infant during care-giving procedures, nurses need to provide more supportive care-giving behaviours especially 'position support' and 'containment' based on the infant's needs, and avoid care-giving that may be too rough and occur too quickly without attending the baby's stressful signals, positioning the baby in hyperextension posture, or chatting with other people during procedures.

[Survey of parents of children with cancer who look for alternative therapies].

Alternative therapies are regimens that run counter to the mainstream of Western medicine. The main purpose of this study was to investigate and evaluate the alternative medicine with which parents of children with cancer seek to have their children treated. The research took as its subjects the parents of children with cancer who were outpatients or inpatients in six medical centers from September to December, 1999. Data were collected by questionnaire and 110 copies were effective. The results showed that 69.1% of the parents had been seeking alternative therapies. The most popular form of alternative therapy identified by this research was folk and religious therapy (68.4%), followed by Chinese medical treatment (57.9%), followed by special diets (50.0%). Other forms were used, such as herbal and arcanum therapy (13.2%), human electricity (3.9%), meditation (1.3%), and aromatherapy (1.3%). The results also showed that 61.8% of the parents had not discussed the use of the alternative therapies with the children's doctors. Hospital workers, therefore, should try to understand the situations of pediatric patients using alternative therapies, and provide appropriate suggestions to parents of pediatric patients as well as more humane, thoughtful medical care.