The Clinical Observation of Inflammation Theory for Depression: The Initiative of the Formosa Long COVID Multicenter Study (FOCuS)

Shu-Tsen Liu(Shu-Tsen Liu),Sheng-Che Lin(Sheng-Che Lin),Jane Pei-Chen Chang(Jane Pei-Chen Chang),Kai-Jie Yang(Kai-Jie Yang),Che-Sheng Chu(Che-Sheng Chu),Chia-Chun Yang(Chia-Chun Yang),Chih-Sung Liang( 대한정신약물학회 2023 CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE Vol.21 No.1

There is growing evidence that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is associated with increased risks of psychiatric sequelae. Depression, anxiety, cognitive impairments, sleep disturbance, and fatigue during and after the acute phase of COVID-19 are prevalent, long-lasting, and exerting negative consequences on well-being and imposing a huge burden on healthcare systems and society. This current review presented timely updates of clinical research findings, particularly focusing on the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying the neuropsychiatric sequelae, and identified potential key targets for developing effective treatment strategies for long COVID. In addition, we introduced the Formosa Long COVID Multicenter Study (FOCuS), which aims to apply the inflammation theory to the pathogenesis and the psychosocial and nutrition treatments of post-COVID depression and anxiety.

Effect of qigong exercise and acupressure rehabilitation program on pulmonary function and respiratory symptoms in patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19: A randomized controlled trial

Shu-ting Liu,Chao Zhan,Yun-jing Ma,Chao-yang Guo,Wei Chen,Xiao-ming Fang,Lei Fang 한국한의학연구원 2021 Integrative Medicine Research Vol.10 No.-

Background There are several effective complementary and integrative therapies for patients with severe COVID-19. The trial aims to evaluate the efficacy and advantages of the qigong exercise and acupressure rehabilitation program (QARP) for treating patients with severe COVID-19. Methods A total of 128 patients with COVID-19 aged 20 to 80 years were recruited and randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to receive QARP plus standard therapies or standard therapies alone. QARP consisted of acupressure therapy and qigong exercise (Liu Zi Jue). The primary outcome was measured with the modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnea scale, and the secondary outcomes included the modified Borg dyspnea scale (MBS), fatigue Scale-14 (FS-14), patient health questionnaire-9 scale (PHQ-9), duration of respiratory symptoms, and vital signs. Results In total, 128 patients completed the clinical trial. The QARP group and standard therapies group showed significant improvements in vital signs (except blood pressure) and clinical scales compared with baseline (p<0.05). The QARP group also showed more significant improvement in the mMRC dyspnea scale (-1.8 [-2.1, -1.6], p=0.018) and modified Borg dyspnea scale (-3.7 [95% confidence intervals (CI) -4.3, -3.1], p=0.045). The duration of cough was 14.3 days (95% CI 12.6, 16.1, p=0.046), and the length of hospital stay was 18.5 days (95% CI 17.0, 20.0, p=0.042) in the QARP group, both of which were significantly reduced compared with the standard therapies group (p<0.05). Conclusion QARP plus standard therapies improved lung function and symptoms such as dyspnea and cough in patients with severe COVID-19 and shortened the length of hospital stay. Therefore, QARP may be considered an effective treatment option for patients with severe COVID-19. Trial registration Clinical Research Information Service Identifier: ChiCTR2000029994 Background There are several effective complementary and integrative therapies for patients with severe COVID-19. The trial aims to evaluate the efficacy and advantages of the qigong exercise and acupressure rehabilitation program (QARP) for treating patients with severe COVID-19. Methods A total of 128 patients with COVID-19 aged 20 to 80 years were recruited and randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to receive QARP plus standard therapies or standard therapies alone. QARP consisted of acupressure therapy and qigong exercise (Liu Zi Jue). The primary outcome was measured with the modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnea scale, and the secondary outcomes included the modified Borg dyspnea scale (MBS), fatigue Scale-14 (FS-14), patient health questionnaire-9 scale (PHQ-9), duration of respiratory symptoms, and vital signs. Results In total, 128 patients completed the clinical trial. The QARP group and standard therapies group showed significant improvements in vital signs (except blood pressure) and clinical scales compared with baseline (p<0.05). The QARP group also showed more significant improvement in the mMRC dyspnea scale (-1.8 [-2.1, -1.6], p=0.018) and modified Borg dyspnea scale (-3.7 [95% confidence intervals (CI) -4.3, -3.1], p=0.045). The duration of cough was 14.3 days (95% CI 12.6, 16.1, p=0.046), and the length of hospital stay was 18.5 days (95% CI 17.0, 20.0, p=0.042) in the QARP group, both of which were significantly reduced compared with the standard therapies group (p<0.05). Conclusion QARP plus standard therapies improved lung function and symptoms such as dyspnea and cough in patients with severe COVID-19 and shortened the length of hospital stay. Therefore, QARP may be considered an effective treatment option for patients with severe COVID-19. Trial registration Clinical Research Information Service Identifier: ChiCTR2000029994

Study on Importance Function for Particle Filter

Liu Lu,Meng Yang,Shu Geng,Shu-fen Wang,Yong-hui Wang 보안공학연구지원센터 2015 International Journal of Multimedia and Ubiquitous Vol.10 No.2

As an important nonlinear filter theory, particle filter is a heated issue in domestic and foreign researches. The option of importance density is one of the key steps of particle filter algorithm. The proper option of importance density can minish the negative influence of filter algorithm caused by degeneracy problem. This paper introduces several widely-used options of importance density systemically, and analyzes their features and applied perspectives respectively. The paper also advances a comprehensive method of importance density, analyzes its technical features, explores the adjudgement and improvement of this method based on various performance, and finally puts forward the necessary further study according to the engineer requirements.

Studying the Strain Effect on Silicon Atomic Wires

Shu-Tong Chang,Shu-Hui Liao,Hsiao-Chun Huang,Chee-Wee Liu,Chung-Yi Lin 한국물리학회 2008 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.53 No.6

The transport properties of a Si3 atomic wire system, which is formed by a Si3 cluster connected to two lithium electrodes with bias applied, is studied using the simulator Virtual NanoLab that is constructed based on the non-equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) scheme. We investigated the Si3 atomic wire system under three strain conditions (tensile, compressive and shear). Different trends in the I-V characteristics are observed for the three cases at various applied biases. The transmission spectrum T(E, Vb), as a function of energy and applied biases, are analyzed. The interactions among eigenstates of the molecular projected self-consistent Hamiltonian (MPSH) strongly affect the transport properties of the system.

The white gene in Nilaparvata lugens and its expression pattern under two different survival stresses

Shu Hua Liu,Bao Jun Yang,Ai YingWang,Ju Luo,Jian Tang 한국응용곤충학회 2018 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.21 No.2

The brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål), is a serious pest of rice. Chemical control and pestresistant rice breeding are always two major management strategies of BPH. In order to keep effective control, understanding the detoxification mechanism of this insect pest appears to be high important. In addition to be an eye pigment transporter, White protein is also important for its non-eye roles, such as a potential target for insecticides and Bt toxin. In this study, we characterized the full-length white orthologues gene in N. lugens (Nlwhite). NlWhite, the deduced protein of Nlwhite, has feature motifs of the eye pigment transporter. Knocking down Nlwhite transcript, the compound eye color partially changed to white. Nlwhite can be detected in all developmental stages and body parts, indicating that it is not a developmental or tissue-specific expression gene. The expression levels of Nlwhite were all significantly upregulated in both pymetrozine-selection and Mudgoselection BPH strains, which were selected for several generations. These results indicated that NlWhite participated in the detoxification not only for the exogenous insecticides but also for the endogenous toxic substance.

Survey on UAV Vertical Application based on 5G Technology

Shu-Zhi Liu,Seung-Hoon Hwang(황승훈) 한국통신학회 2020 한국통신학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2020 No.11

Impact of Test Environment on the Accuracy of Wi-Fi Fingerprint-Based Indoor Positioning System

Shu-Zhi Liu,Amir Haider,Seung-Hoon Hwang 한국통신학회 2019 한국통신학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2019 No.1

Consideration of Environments for Intelligent and connected vehicles with 5G

Shu-Zhi Liu,Seung-Hoon Hwang 한국통신학회 2020 한국통신학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2020 No.2

Shareholdings of Board Members and Corporate Performance: A Panel Quantile Regression Analysis

Shu-Bing Liu,Shun-Jen Hsueh,Tsung-Pao Wu 연세대학교 동서문제연구원 2017 Global economic review Vol.46 No.3

This paper investigates the impact of board member shareholdings on corporate performance in China and Taiwan, and employs unbalanced panel data over the period 2005– 2009. In view of the inconsistent empirical findings in the literature and the limitations of least squares regressions, this study adopts a quantile regression method including fixed effects (FE) models. An important finding is that a significant, positive relationship exists between the shareholdings of board members and accounting measures of performance, and this relationship only exists for the more profitable firms in China, while a uniformly significant and positive relationship exists across all quantiles between the shareholdings of board members and accounting measures of performance in Taiwan. These findings, which cannot be obtained using a FE model, suggest that board members can influence firm performance through holding shares in most Taiwan firms and profitable Chinese firms.

Plant-mediated insect vector-virus interactions

Shu-Sheng Liu 한국응용곤충학회 2017 한국응용곤충학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2017 No.04

The interactions of vector-virus-plant have important ecological and evolutionary implications. In this presentation, I will use the case studies on the whitefly vectors, begomoviruses, and plants to illustrate the complexity, consequences and mechanisms of this type of tripartite interactions. The interactions between begomoviruses and their whitefly vectors via their shared host plants can be mutualistic, neutral or negative depending on the species/strains of each type of the organisms involved. With regard to the mechanisms of plant-mediated positive effects of the viruses on whiteflies, three case studies indicate that suppression of jasmonic acid/salicylic acid related plant defence plays an important role. Our recent studies show that the order of arrival of the interacting vector insects and viruses on the plants may also alter the physiological feature and consequences of the interactions. Future efforts in this area should try to expand the number and diversity of case studies in order to reveal the patterns of interactions, to unravel the molecular and biochemical mechanisms of the interactions using a multidisciplinary approach, and to examine the virus-plant-vector interactions in the field and in natural plant communities.