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Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with higher risk for fracture. Whether the medical treatment for ADHD would mitigate the risk remains unclear. In this study, we sought to investigate the effect of methylphenidate treatment on risk for fracture, as well the moderational role of treatment duration on the risk of fracture, in a large national sample. Cases less than 18 years old were identified from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database with a new primary diagnosis of ADHD (ICD-9:314) between 1996 and 2013. A total of 6201 cases with ADHD were included as the study cohort. The cases were divided into 3 groups according to the duration of methylphenidate treatment (0, 1-180, and more than 180 days). All groups were followed until the end of 2013 for first diagnoses of fracture (ICD-9 codes 800 to 829). Cox proportional hazards models were applied. Compared to the group without methylphenidate treatment, the risk for fracture was lower among the group treated for more than 180 days. The adjusted hazard ratio was 0.77 (95% Confidence interval: 0.63-0.94). The groups treated for 180 days or fewer had no significant difference in the risk for fracture. In conclusion, methylphenidate treatment was associated with lower risk for fracture among ADHD patients. The association was evident only in the cohort treated for more than 180 days.

Taichung is the center of the Taiwanese precision optical industry. Optics companies are modernized and automated, with most running 24 h production lines. With machines running around the clock, production lines must be assigned engineers to handle unexpected situations. The optical lens industry depends on precision technology. For fully automated production lines, each production process requires an engineer to be on call to troubleshoot production problems in real-time. However, shifts are currently scheduled manually, and the staff of each unit are responsible for scheduling the various production processes for each month. Administrative staff for each engineering department must take half a day to one day to complete the shift for a month, with results that usually do not ensure the best average workload, often leading engineers to question its fairness. Considering the manpower requirements for the actual production line shift and the fairness of balancing shifts, the scope of this study is the shift scheduling of engineering staff in the assembly line to perform different duties during a fixed cycle. The research aims to provide a solution for Glorytek to increase the efficiency of engineering shift scheduling and optimize the allocation of engineering staff. We will compare the duty allocation and efficiency of the current manual shift scheduling system with a new automated one. The results show that the efficiency of shift scheduling arrangements increased by more than 96%, and the maximum number of days of staff attendance (5 days) is less than that for manual assignment (6 days) while still satisfying the shift limits stipulated by the company. Two factors remain when implementing the proposed system. First, due to technical concerns, the internal process of the scheduling arrangement would be shifted from administrative staff to the IT department. Another concern is the inevitable investment in off-the-shelf optimization software.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Among the survivors, depression is one of the most common psychiatric comorbidities. This paper reports the point prevalence of major depressive disorder among breast cancer patients and the association between family support and major depressive disorder. Clinical data were collected from a breast cancer clinic of a general hospital in central Taiwan. Participants included 300 patients who were older than 18 years and diagnosed with breast cancer. Among these individuals, we used Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (a structural diagnostic tool for psychiatric disorders) to ascertain if they had major depressive disorder. We also used the Family Adaptability, Partnership, Growth, Affection, and Resolve score to assess the family support. The point prevalence of major depressive disorder among breast cancer patients was 8.33%, and this was positively associated with insomnia, psychiatric family history, pain severity, and radiotherapy and negatively associated with menopause, cancer duration, hormone therapy, and family support. Family support (adjusted odds ratio =0.87, 95% CI: 0.78-0.98) was found to be an associated factor for major depressive disorder in breast cancer patients after controlling for potential risk factors. Major depressive disorder is a common comorbidity among breast cancer patients. Family support is an important associated factor for these patients. Health care professionals should evaluate mood problems and family support while treating these patients.

Objective The association between antipsychotic use and gastric cancer risk remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the association between antipsychotic exposure and the incidence of gastric cancer. Methods Using a nested case‐control design, a total of 34 470 gastric cancer patients and 163 430 nongastric cancer controls were identified from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database between 1 January 1997 and 31 December 2013. We analyzed the data using a conditional logistic regression model to adjust for possible confounding variables. Results Antipsychotic use was independently inversely associated with gastric cancer risk after controlling for potential confounding factors including income, urbanization, medications, physical and medical illness, aspirin use, nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drug use and triple therapy. In addition, dose‐dependent trends against gastric cancer risk were also shown with individual antipsychotic compounds including thioridazine, haloperidol, sulpiride, clozapine, olanzapine, quetiapine, amisulpride, and risperidone. A sensitivity analysis showed that second‐generation antipsychotics had significant dose‐dependent effects in reducing the risk of gastric cancer risk in patients with and without peptic ulcer disease. Conclusions Antipsychotic use was inversely associated with gastric cancer risk, and dose‐dependent effects against gastric cancer were also seen with several individual antipsychotic compounds. Antipsychotic use was inversely associated with gastric cancer risk, and dose‐dependent effects against gastric cancer were also seen with several individual antipsychotic compounds.

This study empirically assesses the causal effect of the minimum lot size program on farmland values in Taiwan. A unique dataset of 4,032 parcels of farmland drawn from administrative foreclosure auction profiles between 2000 and 2008 and regression discontinuity design were applied to cope with the endogeneity issue of land use regulations. The results of the parametric and nonparametric estimations indicate that the minimum lot size program significantly increases farmland value by approximately 18% and 15%, respectively. Moreover, the program effect is more pronounced for farmland located in urban/suburban areas. In the absence of a tax effect and externality resulting from non-agricultural activities, the significant program effect on farmland values is likely to result from the effect of the program on farmland's option value for future development.

One of the fundamental services a modern government shall furnish is affordable housing. The ratio of the housing price to household income in Taipei has in recent years reached an astonishing figure of 15. Taipei has long suffered from a lack of readily available sites for residential development. In addition to monetary and fiscal policies, a supply-oriented and location-specific measure is therefore called for. In this vein, the supply of public land in the market has become a promising policy alternative. In spite of that, public land is an asset that belongs to all citizens. Therefore, sales of public land shall meet three conditions so as not to violate the requirement of the public interest. First of all, the price of land sold to private developers shall reflect the reasonable price that the parcel expects to fetch in the market. Secondly, the land sold to the developers shall he quickly developed in accordance with its highest and best use, and not instead remain idle. Finally, no excessive profits shall be obtained from the land by the developers when the land is later developed and houses are sold. Our empirical evidence on auctions of public land in Taipei between 2006 and 2014 provides some disappointing findings. On average, public land is worth 1.37 times more than its auctioned price. In addition, nearly 90% of undeveloped public land has been idle for more than three years after being auctioned. Besides, the effective rates of land value tax and land value increment tax are on average 0.155% and 1.01%, respectively. We therefore conclude that the auctioning of public land in Taipei has operated against the public interest. We suggest that the government in future consider both fiscal and physical measures to improve the uses of public land. However, taxation shall remain the cornerstone of the policy package.

Young individuals with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have an elevated risk of influenza because of the difficulty in complying with the behavioral procedures that help protect against influenza. Moreover, the effects of sufficient methylphenidate treatment on influenza have received little attention. This study evaluated the association between ADHD medication usage and influenza and assessed the effect of duration of ADHD treatment on the risk of influenza using a nationwide population-based database. This study investigated methylphenidate usage and the risk of influenza among children and adolescents with ADHD. We identified 5259 young individuals aged less than 18 years who were diagnosed as having ADHD between 1996 and 2013 from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, and we tested whether methylphenidate use affects influenza risk using Cox proportional hazard models. After controlling for confounding factors, the results indicated that influenza risk significantly reduced in the group of ADHD patients who were prescribed methylphenidate for 90 days and more (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.62, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.52-0.75, <0.001), demonstrating a 38% reduction in the risk of influenza in this group. However, this was not observed in the group of ADHD patients who used methylphenidate for 1-90 days (HR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.89-1.05, =0.12). The lower incidence of influenza observed in the group prescribed with methylphenidate for a longer period highlights the importance of compliance to medication and psychoeducation with regard to ADHD management.

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by CAG repeat expansion in the coding region of huntingtin (HTT) protein. The accumulation of mutant HTT (mHTT) contributes to neurotoxicity by causing autophagy defects and oxidative stress that ultimately lead to neuronal death. Interestingly, epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that the prevalence of type-2 diabetes, a metabolic disease mainly caused by defective insulin signaling, is higher in patients with HD than in healthy controls. Although the precise mechanisms of mHTT-mediated toxicity remain unclear, the blockade of brain insulin signaling may initiate or exacerbate mHTT-induced neurodegeneration. In this study, we used an in vitro HD model to investigate whether neuronal insulin signaling is involved in mHTT-mediated neurotoxicity. Our results demonstrated that mHTT overexpression significantly impairs insulin signaling and causes apoptosis in neuronal cells. However, treatment with liraglutide, a GLP-1 analogue, markedly restores insulin sensitivity and enhances cell viability. This neuroprotective effect may be attributed to the contribution of the upregulated expression of genes associated with endogenous antioxidant pathways to oxidative stress reduction. In addition, liraglutide stimulates autophagy through AMPK activation, which attenuates the accumulation of HTT aggregates within neuronal cells. Our findings collectively suggest that liraglutide can rescue impaired insulin signaling caused by mHTT and that GLP-1 may potentially reduce mHTT-induced neurotoxicity in the pathogenesis of HD.

This study addresses the limited research on IT-enabled support for internal staffing by employing a design science research (DSR) methodology to design, develop, and evaluate a mobile-based staffing and task assignment management system (M-STAMS). Tailored to a public university's human resource operations, the artifact leverages cloud and mobile technologies to enhance staff-task matching, operational efficiency, and coordination. A survey of 180 users was conducted using an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) that incorporates user habits as an external factor to assess both technical effectiveness and user acceptance. The results demonstrate that perceived ease of use, usefulness, and habitual technology behavior significantly influence adoption intentions. The findings contribute to digital HRM research by validating the role of mobile technologies in staffing effectiveness and emphasizing the value of DSR in bridging the gap between information systems and human resource specialists to develop socio-technical HR solutions tailored to organizational needs and constraints.