Phyling: phylogenetic inference from annotated genomes.

Phyling is a fast, scalable, and user-friendly tool supporting phylogenomic reconstruction of species phylogenies directly from protein-encoded genomic data. It identifies orthologous genes by searching a sample's protein sequences against a Hidden Markov Models marker set, containing single-copy orthologs, retrieved from the BUSCO database. In the final step, users can choose between consensus and concatenation strategies to construct the species tree from the aligned orthologs.

The Association between Diabetic Retinopathy and Macular Degeneration: A Nationwide Population-Based Study.

Objective: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), particularly its exudative form, is a primary cause of vision impairment in older adults. As diabetes becomes increasingly prevalent in aging, it is crucial to explore the potential relationship between diabetic retinopathy (DR) and AMD. This study aimed to assess the risk of developing overall, non-exudative, and exudative AMD in individuals with DR compared to those without retinopathy (non-DR) based on a nationwide population study in Taiwan.

To explore the effects of herbal medicine among cancer patients in Taiwan: A cohort study.

Background: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is widely used by ethnic Chinese communities. TCM is covered by Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) program. We evaluated the efficacy and outcomes of complementary Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) therapy in patients with cancer.

Identification and comparative analysis of long non-coding RNAs in the brain of fire ant queens in two different reproductive states.

Background: Many long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been extensively identified in higher eukaryotic species. The function of lncRNAs has been reported to play important roles in diverse biological processes, including developmental regulation and behavioral plasticity. However, there are no reports of systematic characterization of long non-coding RNAs in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta.

iTARGEX analysis of yeast deletome reveals novel regulators of transcriptional buffering in S phase and protein turnover.

Integrating omics data with quantification of biological traits provides unparalleled opportunities for discovery of genetic regulators by in silico inference. However, current approaches to analyze genetic-perturbation screens are limited by their reliance on annotation libraries for prioritization of hits and subsequent targeted experimentation. Here, we present iTARGEX (identification of Trait-Associated Regulatory Genes via mixture regression using EXpectation maximization), an association framework with no requirement of a priori knowledge of gene function.

The effects of a Chinese herbal medicine (VGHBPH0) on patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia: A pilot study.

Background: The current Western medicine treatment options for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) have various degrees of documented effectiveness. However, the uses of these interventions are limited to specific patient populations or have certain side effects that interfere with patient quality of life. This study evaluated the clinical effects of a Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) on patients with BPH.

The Relationship Between Entrepreneurial Intention and Action: The Effects of Fear of Failure and Role Model.

The purpose of the study was to examine the moderating effect of business role model and fear of failure on the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and behavior. The participants were sampled from 1865 college students who graduated from universities in China from 2012 to 2018. The experimental instrument was comprised of four scales concerning entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial behavior, fear of failure, and business role model.

H3K4 methylation at active genes mitigates transcription-replication conflicts during replication stress.

Transcription-replication conflicts (TRCs) occur when intensive transcriptional activity compromises replication fork stability, potentially leading to gene mutations. Transcription-deposited H3K4 methylation (H3K4me) is associated with regions that are susceptible to TRCs; however, the interplay between H3K4me and TRCs is unknown. Here we show that H3K4me aggravates TRC-induced replication failure in checkpoint-defective cells, and the presence of methylated H3K4 slows down ongoing replication.

Evidence in Asian Food Industry: Intellectual Capital, Corporate Financial Performance, and Corporate Social Responsibility.

Intellectual capital (IC) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) provide a strong link between the enterprise and stakeholders. These strategic approaches are responsible in value formation for better financial performance. This study investigates the mediating effects of corporate financial performance on the relationship between IC components (ICs) and CSR of firms from the food industry in Asia.

Effects of Human, Relational, and Psychological Capitals on New Venture Performance.

Entrepreneurship research has been focusing on intangible capitals of an entrepreneur or entrepreneurial teams. Intellectual capital has been a useful framework for researching entrepreneurship, though the inclusion of intangible capital has not been comprehensive enough. We followed and extended this stream to add psychological capital into the discussion of the relationship between intellectual capital and new venture performance.

Farmers' Work-Life Quality and Entrepreneurship Will in China.

New-generation farmers have become a vital force for entrepreneurship in their hometowns. To better promote farmers to start businesses, it's important to know about their quality of work life. Based on a survey of the quality of work life and entrepreneurship will of farmers from three cities and eight counties in Shandong province of China, this paper analyzed the effects of farmers' quality of work life on their entrepreneurship will in their hometowns using a Logistic regression model.

A bibliometric analysis of acupuncture research in Taiwan from 1988 to 2017.

Background: Since Taiwan's national health insurance system provides residents with easy and affordable access to clinical acupuncture treatment, this study sought to analyze trends in the publication of acupuncture-related research in Taiwan from 1988 to 2017, using a bibliometric method.

Methods: Data on the scholarly literature from 1988 to 2017 were retrieved through Web of Science searches for the keywords acupunct*, acupoint*, electroacupunct*, electro-acupunct*, acupre*, auricular acupunc*, and auricular needle* in study titles.

Results: A total of 539 acupuncture-related articles published from 1988 to 2017 were identified and analyzed.

The Evaluation of Professional Divisions of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Taiwan through Patient Visit Records of 2012.

For decades, professional divisions have been represented as the main structural divisions in Western medicine throughout the world. In Taiwan, medical policymakers are also interested in designing professional divisions of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Therefore, this study evaluated the current status and potentiality of professional divisions of TCM in Taiwan using data from the year 2012 obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database; the database provides information regarding age and gender of TCM physicians (TCMPs); total visit counts; contracted medical institution codes; groupings of diseases classified under International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes; numbers of children and female patients seeking treatment; and claim disposition codes used by each TCMP.

p-type Mesoscopic nickel oxide/organometallic perovskite heterojunction solar cells.

In this article, we present a new paradigm for organometallic hybrid perovskite solar cell using NiO inorganic metal oxide nanocrystalline as p-type electrode material and realized the first mesoscopic NiO/perovskite/[6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) heterojunction photovoltaic device. The photo-induced transient absorption spectroscopy results verified that the architecture is an effective p-type sensitized junction, which is the first inorganic p-type, metal oxide contact material for perovskite-based solar cell. Power conversion efficiency of 9.

Optimizing information in Next-Generation-Sequencing (NGS) reads for improving de novo genome assembly.

Next-Generation-Sequencing is advantageous because of its much higher data throughput and much lower cost compared with the traditional Sanger method. However, NGS reads are shorter than Sanger reads, making de novo genome assembly very challenging. Because genome assembly is essential for all downstream biological studies, great efforts have been made to enhance the completeness of genome assembly, which requires the presence of long reads or long distance information.

Stimulated release of photosensitizers from graft and diblock micelles for photodynamic therapy.

To understand the effect of photosensitizer (PS) release from graft copolymer based micelles in photodynamic therapy (PDT), the two pH-sensitive and non-pH-sensitive graft copolymers, (poly(N-vinyly caprolactam)-g-poly(D,L-lactide) and poly(N-vinyly caprolactam-co-N-vinyl imidazole)-g-poly(D,L-lactide)), were synthesized and utilized for the encapsulation of protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) for in vitro and in vivo PDT studies. Photochemical internalization (PCI) was utilized to study the localization of pH- and non-pH-sensitive micelles uptake in the lysosome. After non-toxic light treatment, PPIX was found in the nucleus with pH-sensitive micelles, while PPIX was still localized in the lysosomal organism with the non-pH-sensitive micelles, as observed by confocal microscopy.

Unilateral lower lung field opacities on chest radiography: a comparison of the clinical manifestations of tuberculosis and pneumonia.

Background: The radiological manifestations of lower lung field (LLF) tuberculosis (LLFTB) are similar to those of LLF pneumonia (LLFP), making diagnosis challenging. The aim of this study was to determine if there are differences in the clinical manifestations of LLFTB and LLFP in patients with unilateral LLF opacities.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of patient records to identify those with unilateral LLF opacities who were subsequently diagnosed with LLFTB or LLFP.

"Cough officer screening" improves detection of pulmonary tuberculosis in hospital in-patients.

Background: Current tuberculosis (TB) reporting protocols are insufficient to achieve the goals established by the Stop TB partnership. Some countries have recommended implementation of active case finding program. We assessed the effect of Cough Officer Screening (an active screening system) on the rate of TB detection and health care system delays over the course of four years.

Graft and diblock copolymer multifunctional micelles for cancer chemotherapy and imaging.

Multifunctional mixed micelles that constructed from poly(HEMA-co-histidine)-g-PLA and diblock copolymer PEG-PLA with functional moiety was developed in this study. The mixed micelles had well defined core shell structure which was evaluated by TEM. The functional inner core of poly(HEMA-co-histidine)-g-PLA exhibited pH stimulate to enable intracellular drug delivery and outer shell of PEG-b-PLA with functional moiety Cy5.

Standalone CMAC control system with online learning ability.

A cerebellar model articulation controller (CMAC) control system, which contains only one single-input controller implemented by a differentiable CMAC, is proposed in this paper. In the proposed scheme, the CMAC controller is solely used to control the plant, and no conventional controller is needed. Without a preliminary offline learning, the single-input CMAC controller can provide the control effort to the plant at each online learning step.

Mixed micelle systems formed from critical micelle concentration and temperature-sensitive diblock copolymers for doxorubicin delivery.

Mixed micelles formed by critical micelle concentration (Cmc) character's diblock copolymer, and temperature-sensitive character's diblock copolymer were studied for their capabilities in improving stability with and without drug. Experimental results showed that this type of mixed micellar systems possessed complementary effects in adjusting external temperature shift (storage vs. body temperature) and concentration change (dilution after intravenous injection).