Neuroprotective Effects of Erinacine A on an Experimental Model of Traumatic Optic Neuropathy.

Erinacine A (EA), a natural neuroprotectant, is isolated from a Chinese herbal medicine, Hericium erinaceus. The aim of this study was to investigate the neuroprotective effects of EA in a rat model of traumatic optic neuropathy. The optic nerves (ONs) of adult male Wistar rats were crushed using a standardized method and divided into three experimental groups: phosphate-buffered saline (PBS control)-treated group, standard EA dose-treated group (2.64 mg/kg in 0.5 mL of PBS), and double EA dose-treated group (5.28 mg/kg in 0.5 mL of PBS). After ON crush, each group was fed orally every day for 14 days before being euthanized. The visual function, retinal ganglion cell (RGC) density, and RGC apoptosis were determined using flash visual-evoked potentials (fVEP) analysis, retrograde Fluoro-Gold labelling, and TdT-dUTP nick end-labelling (TUNEL) assay, respectively. Macrophage infiltration of ON was detected by immunostaining (immunohistochemistry) for ED1. The protein levels of phosphor-receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase1 (pRIP1), caspase 8 (Cas8), cleaved caspase 3 (cCas3), tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, tumour necrosis factor receptor1 (TNFR1), interleukin (IL)-1ß, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), haem oxygenase-1 (HO-1), and superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) were evaluated by Western blotting. When comparing the standard EA dose-treated group and the double EA dose-treated group with the PBS-treated group, fVEP analysis showed that the amplitudes of P1−N2 in the standard EA dose group and the double EA dose-treated group were 1.8 and 2.4-fold, respectively, higher than that in the PBS-treated group (p < 0.05). The density of RGC in the standard EA dose-treated group and the double EA dose-treated group were 2.3 and 3.7-fold, respectively, higher than that in the PBS-treated group (p < 0.05). The TUNEL assay showed that the standard EA dose-treated group and the double EA dose-treated group had significantly reduced numbers of apoptotic RGC by 10.0 and 15.6-fold, respectively, compared with the PBS-treated group (p < 0.05). The numbers of macrophages on ON were reduced by 1.8 and 2.2-fold in the standard EA dose-treated group and the double EA dose-treated group, respectively (p < 0.01). On the retinal samples, the levels of pRIP, Cas8, cCas3, TNF-α, TNFR1, IL-1ß, and iNOS were decreased, whereas those of Nrf2, HO-1, and SOD1 were increased in both EA-treated groups compared to those in the PBS-treated group (p < 0.05). EA treatment has neuroprotective effects on an experimental model of traumatic optic neuropathy by suppressing apoptosis, neuroinflammation, and oxidative stress to protect the RGCs from death as well as preserving the visual function.

Developing a Rule-Based Expert System to Infer Customized Care Plans for Long Term Care Patients.

Systems of long-term care are needed in aging society to meet the needs of older people. In rapidly increasing demand for long-term care, how to ensure the quality of long-term care is an important issue. Therefore, we designed a rule-based expert system that automatically generates customized care plans based on the assessment results. Aims to provide health providers a useful tool in long term patients management.

Photovoltaic properties of dye-sensitized solar cells associated with amphiphilic structure of ruthenium complex dyes.

Photovoltaic properties of Ru(2,2'-bipyridine-4,4'-bicarboxylic acid)(4,4'-bis(11-dodecenyl)-2,2'-bipyridine)(NCS)(2) (denoted as Ru-C) related to its adsorption behavior onto the mesoporous titanium oxide (TiO(2)) were investigated in association with its amphiphilic structure compared with those of Ru(4,4'-dicarboxy-2,2'-bipyridine)(2)(NCS)(2) (commonly known as N3 dye). Both dyes tended to aggregate and form vesicles in their acetonitrile/tert-butanol solutions. As the vesicles were adsorbed to TiO(2), the dyes which did not participate in bonding to TiO(2) would re-dissolve into the solution and create the voids on the surface of TiO(2). The voids for N3 dyes would be filled in time, whereas a great deal of voids for Ru-C dye remained, presumably due to its aliphatic side chains retarding further adsorption. The dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) using Ru-C dye has lower power conversion efficiency compared with N3 dye, which is partly due to the remaining voids that increase the charge recombination. Besides, the N3 dye that is capable of injecting the excited electrons from both ligands to TiO(2) also enhances the photocurrent. Therefore, although using amphiphilic dye for DSSC may have a merit of long term stability, its tendency of void formation on TiO(2) mesoporous layer needs to be concerned.

How complex documentation with Personal Digital Assistants could be?

The researchers have demonstrated that the PDA could be used for complex documentation and well accepted by users. This study examined whether the researchers could make the PDA system still keep great usability when the contents of information were requested to increase from 262 to 513 questions. Two independent convenience samples from the Veterans Medical Care system in Taiwan and the questionnaire designed based on Technology Acceptance Model were used in this study. Results showed that mobile device such as PDA could still be used for complex documentation with 513 assessment questions, designed with a set of effective screen interface design principles. This is encouraging for the mobile health because its success depends on the use of mobile devices.

Design and development of interface design principles for complex documentation using PDAs.

The screen interface has been believed to be the major barrier for the adoption of PDAs in healthcare. The study objectives were to design a set of screen interface design principles for complex documentation using PDAs and to examine nurses' perception of the ease of use and usefulness of the application. A 21-page Chinese version of the interRAI MDS-HC home-care assessment tool composed of more than 250 assessment questions was used for the application. A WiFi Palm-based PDA was used. A convenience sample of 60 subjects, primarily nurses newly trained to use the MDS-HC assessment tool, were invited to evaluate the PDA system in terms of Davis' Technology Acceptance Model. The final information structure of the PDA application consisted of 18 categories composed of 262 questions over 63 screens. Subjects could move to any assessment question in less than two taps without a memory burden and finish the question in one tap. Respectively, close to 95% and 93% of the subjects agreed that, overall, the system was easy to use and useful for their work. We conclude the screen interface challenge for complex documentation using PDAs can be improved and managed to achieve to a very high usability.

Is PDA good for complex documentation in healthcare?

The screen interface has been believed to be the major barrier for the adoption of mobile devices with small display in healthcare. The study objective was to evaluate nurses' perception of the ease of use and usefulness of PDA application, designed with customerized design principles. The PDA application consisted of 18 categories composed of 262 questions over 63 screens, which was designed based on a 21-page Chinese version of the interRAI MDS-HC homecare assessment tool. A WiFi Palm(c)-based PDA was used. A convenience sample of 60 subjects was invited for evaluation in terms of Davis' Technology Acceptance Model. Results show that close to 95% and 93% of the subjects agreed, overall, the system was easy to use and useful for their work. We conclude that PDAs can be improved and managed to achieve to a very high usability with right interface design principles.

The evaluation of using road-map guided Excel VBA training to promote nursing informatics in Taiwan.

In Taiwan nursing informatics is taking off. It is therefore strategically important to educate our nurses what nursing informatics is in a short time. We used a method of road-map guided Excel VBA to educate our nurses how to cope with their informatics needs. An eight-day training program based on this concept was implemented in the one regional hospital and a survey was done at the end of the program to evaluate the participants' perception of the training program. The results show very high acceptance and positive outcomes. We suggest that the method of road-map guided Excel VBA might be a promising strategy to promote nursing informatics internationally Taiwan.

Analysis of the gap between nurses' expectations and satisfaction on a home-made discharge planning system.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the nurses' expectations and satisfactory on this system. A questionnaire composed of ease-to-use and usefulness questions under Expectation before Implementation, Perception after Implementation and Satisfaction was designed for evaluation. We observed that even the system was designed with very simple IT techniques and passive cooperation with IT people, it could still positively valued by the users if they could participate the entire process. However, more IT resources and better team work is important to design a system which can meet users' expectation.

Detection of single-nucleotide polymorphisms using gold nanoparticles and single-strand-specific nucleases.

The current study reports an assay approach that can detect single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and identify the position of the point mutation through a single-strand-specific nuclease reaction and a gold nanoparticle assembly. The assay can be implemented via three steps: a single-strand-specific nuclease reaction that allows the enzyme to truncate the mutant DNA; a purification step that uses capture probe-gold nanoparticles and centrifugation; and a hybridization reaction that induces detector probe-gold nanoparticles, capture probe-gold nanoparticles, and the target DNA to form large DNA-linked three-dimensional aggregates of gold nanoparticles. At high temperature (63 degrees C in the current case), the purple color of the perfect match solution would not change to red, whereas a mismatched solution becomes red as the assembled gold nanoparticles separate. Using melting analysis, the position of the point mutation could be identified. This assay provides a convenient colorimetric detection that enables point mutation identification without the need for expensive mass spectrometry. To our knowledge, this is the first report concerning SNP detection based on a single-strand-specific nuclease reaction and a gold nanoparticle assembly.

Is the quality of our national quality-and-accreditation-label-awarded health websites still good in the non-campaign period?

The national quality and accreditation label awarding approach has been used to assist people for finding quality health web information since 2002 in Taiwan. We examined the quality of those ever awarded websites during the non-campaign period using the same accreditation process and criterions. The results show a little worse quality performance, mainly caused by the website connection problem.

Developing an SDK of usability-engineered handheld evaluation aid.

Handheld devices are useful tools to collect date at practice settings. However, it takes time and is very challenging for healthcare professionals to design a usability-engineered system. This study is to upgrade our practically-proven easy to use and effective handheld systems to an SDK. The SDK are composed of Excel-based form designer and Palm-based template. We have successfully tested the prototype in developing a 407-question homecare evaluation support system.

Are Google or Yahoo a good portal for getting quality healthcare web information?

We examined the ranks of 50 award-won health websites in Taiwan against the search results of two popular portals with 6 common diseases. The results showed that the portal search results do not rank the quality web sites reasonably.