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Social networking (SN) technology has been presented to human beings as a means of communicating, collaborating, connecting, and cooperating to exchange knowledge, skills, news, chat, and to maintain contact with peers world-wide. This article examines SN awareness in the Asia-Pacific (AP) education sector (ES) with a specific focus on the advantages and disadvantages of SN; and investigated whether AP culture influences SN adoption by the ES. An online survey was distributed to 1014 AP students and a total of 826 students responded. Several new advantages of adoption emerged from the data analysis. SN enabled students to accomplish their study tasks more quickly; it allowed them to communicate and collaborate with peers world-wide; and it fostered sustainability. The disadvantages perceived by students include depression, loneliness, and distraction, lack of interest in pursuing traditional activities, and security and privacy concerns. Finally, culture does influence SN adoption by ES institutions in AP countries.

Introduction Management of congenital vascular malformations (CVM) remains a major challenge because treatment carries a substantial risk of morbidity and recurrence of the fundamental problem. The new classification of CVM allows a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment with full integration of the several treatment modalities. The multidisciplinary approach was introduced at our CVM Clinic in 1995 and this report summarizes our results to date. Patients and methods The CVM Clinic is attended by 15 different specialties. These allow application of advanced diagnosis and treatments. The interdisciplinary consultation allows proper application of the various treatment modalities including embolosclerotherapy and surgical therapy. The embolosclerosants utilized are absolute ethanol and N-butyl cyanoacrylate (NBCA). These are used for venous malformations (VM), arteriovenous shunting malformations (AVM), and hemolymphatic malformations (HLM). These agents are used independently and as preoperative adjuncts. Among the 438 patients treated between September 1995 and September 1999, there were 99 patients treated with combinations of embolosclerotherapy. There were 286 sessions, 252 of which were for ethanol sclerotherapy and 247 of these employed ethanol alone and five were combined with NBCA. Independent embolotherapy with NBCA was instituted more recently and has been used in 28 sessions. Perioperative embolosclerotherapy has been performed in 43 sessions, mostly as preliminary preparation to reduce subsequent surgical morbidity. Followup assessment of immediate and interim results after completion of multisession therapy has been done using combinations of noninvasive diagnostic testing. Results The immediate success rate of embolosclerotherapy has been 94.7% (271/286 sessions). There has been an immediate 5.2% failure (15/286 sessions). Failures have largely been due to forced abandonment of the sclerosing procedure due to risk of deep venous thrombosis. Interim results though short-term success following completion of multisession therapy, average 3.2 sessions per patient, were satisfactory. Complications, mostly skin damage from embolosclerotherapy were experienced in 31 patients during the 286 sessions performed on 99 patients. These skin complications were discussed and accepted by the multidisciplinary team which recognized unavoidable morbidity accompanying the ethanol therapy when applied to superficially located lesions. The overall morbidity included complication rate per session (14.7%, 42/286) and 31.3% per patient (31/99). Recovery from the skin complications has been mostly spontaneous but one case in which peroneal nerve palsy occurred became permanent. There has been no recurrence the lesions treated successfully, and this has been confirmed through a battery of noninvasive testing. The average follow-up period after completion of multisession therapy is relatively short with 10.6 months (6.0–32 months) only to meet the condition as interim results. Fourteen patients have undergone surgical ablation after preoperative embolosclerotherapy and the surgical morbidity has been minimal. Conclusion An accurate diagnosis and multidisciplinary treatment strategy for management of CVMs can improve overall treatment success with a reduced morbidity and recurrence over conventional approaches. This study reviews current trends in contemporary diagnosis and clinical management of congenital vascular malformations (CVM) of the peripheral vascular system emphasizing our new multidisciplinary approach.

Gender differences in depressive symptoms among older Chinese were examined based upon data collected from a survey with 497 randomly selected aging Chinese of 60 years or older in Jiangsu, China. A Chinese version of the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale was used. Depressive symptoms correlated with lower levels of education, financial inadequacy, lower levels of satisfaction toward housing, higher levels of worry, and poorer physical health. When controlled for other confounding factors, the effect of gender was not significant. Gender differences were most likely attributed to women's less favorable status in education level, living arrangement, housing condition, and social support.

Gintonin, newly extracted from ginseng, is a glycoprotein that acts as an exogenous lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) receptor ligand. This study aimed to demonstrate the in vivo preventive effects of gintonin on gastric damage. ICR mice were randomly assigned to five groups: a normal group (received saline, 0.1 mL/10 g, p.o.); a control group (administered 0.3 M HCl/ethanol, 0.1 mL/10 g, p.o.) or indomethacin (30 mg/kg, p.o.); gintonin at two different doses (50 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg, p.o.) with either 0.3 M HCl/ethanol or indomethacin; and a positive control (Ranitidine, 40 mg/kg, p.o.). After gastric ulcer induction, the gastric tissue was examined to calculate the ulcer index. The expression of gastric damage markers, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), and LPA2 and LPA5 receptors, were measured by Western blotting. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule (PECAM-1), Evans blue, and occludin levels in gastric tissues were measured using immunofluorescence analysis. Both HCl/ethanol- and indomethacin-induced gastric ulcers showed increased TNF-α, IL-6, Evans blue permeation, and PECAM-1, and decreased COX-2, PGE2, occludin, and LPA5 receptor expression levels. However, oral administration of gintonin alleviated the gastric ulcer index induced by HCl/ethanol and indomethacin in a dose-dependent manner. Gintonin suppressed TNF-α and IL-6 expression, but increased COX-2 expression and PGE2 levels in mouse gastric tissues. Gintonin intake also increased LPA5 receptor expression in mouse gastric tissues. These results indicate that gintonin can play a role in gastric protection against gastric damage induced by HCl/ethanol or indomethacin.

Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra, GG) is one of the most frequently used herbal medicines worldwide, and its various biological activities have been widely studied. GG is reported to have neurological properties such as antidepressant, anxiolytic, and anticonvulsant effects. However, its hypnotic effects and the mechanism of GG and its active compounds have not yet been demonstrated. In this study, GG ethanol extract (GGE) dose-dependently potentiated pentobarbital-induced sleep and increased the amount of non-rapid eye movement sleep in mice without decreasing delta activity. The hypnotic effect of GGE was completely inhibited by flumazenil, which is a well-known γ-aminobutyric acid type A-benzodiazepine (GABA(A)-BZD) receptor antagonist, similar to other GABA(A)-BZD receptor agonists (e.g., diazepam and zolpidem). The major flavonoid glabrol was isolated from the flavonoid-rich fraction of GGE; it inhibited [(3)H] flumazenil binding to the GABA(A)-BZD receptors in rat cerebral cortex membrane with a binding affinity (K(i)) of 1.63 μM. The molecular structure and pharmacophore model of glabrol and liquiritigenin indicate that the isoprenyl groups of glabrol may play a key role in binding to GABA(A)-BZD receptors. Glabrol increased sleep duration and decreased sleep latency in a dose-dependent manner (5, 10, 25, and 50mg/kg); its hypnotic effect was also blocked by flumazenil. The results imply that GGE and its flavonoid glabrol induce sleep via a positive allosteric modulation of GABA(A)-BZD receptors.

Robotic technology designed to assist rehabilitation can potentially increase the efficiency of and accessibility to therapy by assisting therapists in providing consistent training for extended periods of time and collecting data to assess progress [...]

Since the discovery of perchlorate in water system, the public has been concerned about its human health effect. In practice it was reported that chronic exposure to perchlorate may lead to damage in thyroid hormone activity. This study introduced a method of perchlorate reduction, using autotrophic bacteria which utilise hydrogen as an electron donor. Two experiments were conducted to compare the effects of acute and chronic perchlorate toxicity on bacterial perchlorate reduction potential. One was a batch-fed operation generating acute toxicity and another was a continuous-fed operation generating chronic toxicity. Acclimation period of the batch-fed operation was 14 days while that of the continuous-fed operation was 31 days as commensurate with double. Lots of batch tests using the mixed culture passing through acclimation were conducted to figure out kinetics of biological perchlorate reduction. The maximum perchlorate utilisation rate (qmax) of the mixed culture acclimated by acute toxicity was 2.92 mg ClO4−/mg dry-weight (DW)/d, while that of chronic toxicity was 0.27 mg ClO4−/mg DW/d. Half-maximum rate constants (Ks) of acute and chronic toxicity were 567.3 and 25.6 mg ClO4−/L respectively. This result showed that acute toxicity acclimated the mixed culture more rapidly and produced a higher activity for biological perchlorate reduction than chronic toxicity.

Alcohol-related injuries are significantly more serious than non-alcohol-related injuries. However, there have been few data on the relationship between alcohol consumption and injury in the Korea. This study was designed to determine the absence or presence of alcohol consumption at the time of injury and the relationship between the quantity of alcohol and the extent of injury.The study subjects consisted of trauma patients aged 15 years or older with the emergency department admission at 5 emergency medical centers. With the informed consent, patients were screened using the questionnaire and blood alcohol concentration. The subjects were divided into 2 groups according to the blood alcohol concentration level: the nonintoxicated and intoxicated groups. The demographic characteristics, cause of injury, injury severity, and length of hospitalization were compared between the 2 groups.Of a total of 407 cases, there were 123 cases in the intoxicated group and 284 cases in the nonintoxicated group. As to the severity of injury, an Abbreviated Injury Scale was significantly higher in the head and face. Injury Severity Score was higher in intoxicated group with marginal statistical significance. There was no significant difference in the total length of hospitalization, but the length of intensive care unit admission was significantly longer in the intoxicated group than in the nonintoxicated group.There may be no significant correlation between alcohol consumption and injury severity. However, injury severity may increase with increasing quantity of alcohol and be greater in head injuries.