[Establishing Age-Friendly Community Guidelines in Taiwan].

As Taiwan heads steadily toward becoming a super-aged society, the impact of aging on society at large will become increasingly extensive and intense. Therefore, establishing an age-friendly environment in Taiwan is an important issue for the government. Feasible guidelines for age-friendly communities are necessary to ensure that appropriate social welfare measures are enacted to achieve the national goal of aging in place. The first draft of the guideline questionnaire was developed based on the World Health Organization Guidelines for Age-Friendly Cities, a literature review, and input from seven experts on aging. Three rounds of questionnaire surveys were then conducted to assess the correctness, appropriateness, and importance of the guidelines, with amendments, additions, and deletions made based on the experts' responses until they all expressed a high degree of satisfaction with all of the guidelines. The Taiwan Age-friendly Community Guidelines document discussed in this article includes 38 guidelines that address the eight facets of "outdoor spaces and buildings", "transportation", "housing", "social participation", "respect and social inclusion", "civil participation and employment", "communication and information", and "community support and health services". The guidelines document describes in detail the goals of age-friendly communities in specific and easy-to-understand terms. Moreover, it provides a reference for frontline personnel in the community to promote age-friendly environs.

Developing Indicators of Age-Friendliness in Taiwanese Communities through a Modified Delphi Method.

This study developed indicators of age-friendliness for communities in Taiwan that conform to international standards by referring to the World Health Organization Checklist of Essential Features of Age-Friendly Cities and Taiwan's existing indicators. The first stage of the research was based on the WHO's framework and involved a literature review to identify candidate indicators. In the second stage, experts' opinions were collected through a modified Delphi method, and the indicators were screened and revised on the basis of their importance, community enforceability, and generality. The third stage focused on practical feasibility. External parties were invited to offer their opinions regarding the indicators, which were adjusted accordingly. After three rounds of review and re-examination based on the modified Delphi method, the final set of indicators comprised five core indicators and five optional indicators. These indicators can be used to monitor various aspects of communities and determine their age-friendliness.

Doubled production of cordycepin analogs in cultured Cordyceps militaris by addition of Andrea droppings.

Cordyceps sinensis is a traditional Chinese medicine with various biological activities. With its limited natural supply, cultured C. militaris has become the major alternative source, and the culture conditions may affect the chemical compositions. To improve the production of chemical ingredients, C. militaris was cultured with three different media, including rice only, rice plus 3% tea leaves, and rice plus 3% droppings of Andraca theae. The fractions of dried C. militaris cultured with rice were chromatographic separated to afford ten compounds: phenylalanine, dimerumic acid, nicotinic acid, tryptophan, N6-(2-hydroxyethyl)-adenosine, uracil, uridine, cordycepin, ergosterol, and mannitol. Of these, in the cultured medium of rice plus 3% Andraca droppings, the amount of one major compound cordycepin is about two folds than the highest reported data, and dimerumic acid and N6-(2-hydroxyethyl)-adenosine were isolated for the first time from this species.[Figure: see text].

Tea silkworm droppings as an enriched source of tea flavonoids.

Andraca droppings is the waste excreted from the tea biter Andraca theae. Its chemical constituents and potential medical use, unlike those of the traditional Chinese medicine silkworm droppings, have not been reported yet. To explore new nutraceuticals, the chemical constituents of this substance were investigated. Since the bioactive ingredients are generally present in the EtOAc-soluble fraction, this fraction, obtained from the ethanolic extract of the dried Andraca droppings by liquid-liquid partitioning, was separated by chromatographic methods, including Sephadex LH-20, centrifugal partition chromatography, and RP-18 columns, to produce 14 compounds (1-14). They were characterized as 1,7-dimethyl xanthine (1), three benzoic acids (2, 3, and 5), and 10 flavonoids (4, 6-14). The amount of compounds 6, 7, 10, 13, and 14 in the droppings were 1.7-15.5-fold compared to those of tea leaves. In addition, 1,7-dimethyl xanthine (1) was found present only in the Andraca droppings but absent in tea leaves. Therefore, except for compound 1, which might be transformed from caffeine by microflora in the insect, the compounds were believed not to be absorbed by the worm gut and excreted directly. The present study suggests the Andraca droppings are an enriched source of the bioactive flavonoids from tea leaves and are potential as a useful nutraceutical.

Rhombic-Shaped Channel Stent with Enhanced Drug Capacity and Fatigue Life.

A drug-eluting stent with rhombic-shaped drug reservoirs is proposed, aimed at providing long-term drug delivery and enhanced fatigue life. Unique rhombic-shaped reservoirs or channels on the stent struts can increase the total drug capacity and improve the stress distribution for longer fatigue life, without compromising other important clinical attributes. Our rhombic-shaped channel stent increases the total drug capacity by multiple times. Its fatigue safety factor, even with the large rhombic cutouts on the stent struts, could be 50% higher than that of the conventional drug-eluting stent. A pulsed fiber-optic laser and a series of expansions and heat treatments were used to make the first prototype of our rhombic-shaped channel stent. This new concept may open up a wide variety of new treatment options and opportunities for the medical industry in the future.