The standard treatment for overactive bladder starts with patient education and behavior therapies, followed by antimuscarinic agents. For patients with urgency urinary incontinence refractory to antimuscarinic therapy, currently both American Urological Association (AUA) and European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines suggested that intravesical injection of botulinum toxin A should be offered. The mechanism of botulinum toxin A includes inhibition of vesicular release of neurotransmitters and the axonal expression of capsaicin and purinergic receptors in the suburothelium, as well as attenuation of central sensitization. Multiple randomized, placebo-controlled trials demonstrated that botulinum toxin A to be an effective treatment for patients with refractory idiopathic or neurogenic detrusor overactivity. The urinary incontinence episodes, maximum cystometric capacity, and maximum detrusor pressure were improved greater by botulinum toxin A compared to placebo. The adverse effects of botulinum toxin A, such as urinary retention and urinary tract infection, were primarily localized to the lower urinary tract. Therefore, botulinum toxin A offers an effective treatment option for patients with refractory overactive bladder.

In eukaryotic cells, mitochondria form a dynamic interconnected network to respond to changing needs at different subcellular locations. A fundamental yet unanswered question regarding this network is whether, and if so how, local fusion and fission of individual mitochondria affect their global distribution. To address this question, we developed high-resolution computational image analysis techniques to examine the relations between mitochondrial fusion/fission and spatial distribution within the axon of Drosophila larval neurons. We found that stationary and moving mitochondria underwent fusion and fission regularly but followed different spatial distribution patterns and exhibited different morphology. Disruption of inner membrane fusion by knockdown of dOpa1, Drosophila Optic Atrophy 1, not only increased the spatial density of stationary and moving mitochondria but also changed their spatial distributions and morphology differentially. Knockdown of dOpa1 also impaired axonal transport of mitochondria. But the changed spatial distributions of mitochondria resulted primarily from disruption of inner membrane fusion because knockdown of Milton, a mitochondrial kinesin-1 adapter, caused similar transport velocity impairment but different spatial distributions. Together, our data reveals that stationary mitochondria within the axon interconnect with moving mitochondria through fusion and fission and that local inner membrane fusion between individual mitochondria mediates their global distribution.

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Insulin-gold nanoclusters exhibit outstanding biocompatibility, photostability, and fluorescence quantum efficiency. However, they have never been used in superresolution microscopy, which requires nonlinear switching or saturation of fluorescence. Here we examine the fluorescence and stimulated emission depletion properties of gold nanoclusters. Their bleaching rate is very slow, demonstrating superior photostability. Surprisingly, however, the best depletion efficiency is less than 70%, whereas the depletion intensity requirement is much higher than the expectation from a simple two-level model. Fluorescence lifetime measurement revealed two distinct lifetime components, which indicate intersystem and reverse intersystem crossing during excitation. Based on population dynamic calculation, excellent agreement of the maximal depletion efficiency is found. Our work not only features the first examination of STED with metallic clusters, but also reveals the significance of molecular transition dynamics when considering a STED labeling. Jakobs, and S. W. Hell, "Diffraction-unlimited all-optical imaging and writing with a photochromic GFP," Nature 478(7368), 204-208 (2011 K. Hsiao, J. T. Cheng, and P. T. Chou, "Insulin-directed synthesis of fluorescent gold nanoclusters: preservation of insulin bioactivity and versatility in cell imaging," Angew. ©2015 Optical Society of America

As financial technology has developed, the Chinese government has deregulated banks. The first Internet-only bank was established in 2014, but the effects of Internet-only banking on traditional banks remain unclear. However, we discussed two stages (2009-2014; 2015-2018), namely before and after the entry of Internet-only banking into the financial market. Data envelopment analysis and regression methods were used to evaluate efficiency and performance and observe changes between banks in different periods, of 20 banks. The highlights of our findings are as follows: First, overall bank efficiency has improved since Internet-only banking entered the financial market. Second, in the era of low-interest spreads, banks are diversifying operational income while improving performance and efficiency. Furthermore, with the development of FinTech and competitive pressure, banks should downsize to strengthen their competitiveness and improve their internal environments. Finally, operating income generated by employees has increased, but profits have decreased, implying that employees are highly skilled and efficient. Thus, banks may be required to offer higher salaries, which reduce profits.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), especially eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have been associated with slower rates of cognitive decline. We investigated the association between omega-3 PUFAs and cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) receiving acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs). This was a prospective cohort study using registered data. Patients with AD receiving AChEIs were recruited from 1 May 2016 to 30 April 2019 and were followed up for two years. Their daily diet record and blood concentration of omega-3 PUFAs were analyzed. Multiple linear and binary logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with cognitive decline (continuous and dichotomized cognitive change). In the research, 129 patients with AD were identified with a mean age of 76.5 ± 6.6. Patients with AD with lower baseline omega-3 PUFAs levels were associated with a higher risk of cognitive decline than those with higher levels (odds ratio [OR] = 1.067, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.012, 1.125; p = 0.016) after adjustment. Patients with AD with a lower baseline DHA (OR = 1.131, 95% CI: 1.020, 1.254; p = 0.020), but not EPA, were associated with a higher risk of cognitive decline. We found that higher Mini-Nutritional Assessment scores (beta = −0.383, 95% CI = −0.182–−0.048, p = 0.001) and total fat (beta = −0.248, 95% CI = −0.067–−0.003, p = 0.031) were independently associated with slow cognitive decline in patients with AD receiving AChEIs. The baseline blood levels of omega-3 PUFAs were associated with cognitive decline in patients with AD receiving AChEIs. Future randomized controlled trials are needed to clarify whether this association is causal.

Due to the severity of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, the United States Federal Reserve aggressively lowered the policy rate to zero and adopted several “unconventional” monetary policies, including “Quantitative Easing (QE).” The literature has long suggested that US monetary policies had strong spillover effects on foreign countries. Accordingly, the governor of Taiwan's central bank, Dr. Fai-Nan Perng, expressed strong concerns about such ripple effects of US policy on the Taiwanese economy. This paper follows Ammer et al. (2016) to use the Federal Reserve's unconventional monetary policy announcements to support the claim that US monetary policy has significant impacts on the Taiwanese economy and financial markets. Also, the spillover effects of pre-crisis “traditional” monetary policies are compared with the spillover effects from implementing “unconventional” policies during and post-crisis. The results show that US monetary policies exert significant impacts on the Taiwanese economy. Finally, we discuss the response of Taiwan's central bank to these spillover effects.

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