Our results showed a high overall incidence (32.6%) of three-rooted mandibular first molars in Taiwanese individuals. CBCT could be a valuable tool for identifying an extra distolingual root in mandibular first molars.

No abstract

Whey protein has been widely applied to athletes and the fitness field for muscle growth and performance improvement. Limited studies focused on the beneficial effects of whey on aerobic exercise according to biochemical assessments. In the current study, 12 elite male track runners were randomly assigned to whey and maltodextrin groups for 5 weeks' supplementation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of whey protein on physiological adaptions and exercise performance. During this period, three time points (pre-, post-, and end-test) were used to evaluate related biochemical parameters, body composition, and performance. The post-test was set 1 day after a marathon for injury status evaluation and the end-test was also assessed after 1-week recovery from endurance test. The results showed that the whey group exhibited significantly lower aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, and creatine kinase indicators after the marathon (post-test), as well as at the end-test (p<0.016). The endurance performance in twelve-minute walk/run was also significantly elevated (p<0.012) possibly due to an increase in the muscle mass and amelioration of exercise injuries. In the current study, we demonstrated that whey protein can also be used for aerobic exercise for better physiological adaptation, in addition to resistance training. Whey protein could be also a potential nutrient supplement with a variety of benefits for amateur runners.

Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum Olympic No. 1 (OLP-01) has been shown in previous animal experiments to improve exercise endurance performance, but this effect has not been confirmed in humans, or more particularly, in athletes. Toward this end, the current study combined OLP-01 supplementation with regular exercise training in well-trained middle- and long-distance runners at the National Taiwan Sport University. The study was designed as a double-blind placebo-controlled experiment. Twenty-one subjects (14 males and seven females aged 20–30 years) were evenly distributed according to total distance (meters) traveled in 12 min to one of the following two groups: a placebo group (seven males and three females) and an OLP-01 (1.5 × 1010 colony forming units (CFU)/day) group (seven males and four females). All the participants received placebo or OLP-01 supplements for five consecutive weeks consisting of three weeks of regular training and two weeks of de-training. Before and after the experiment, the participants were tested for 12-min running/walking distance, and body composition, blood/serum, and fecal samples were analyzed. The results showed that OLP-01 significantly increased the change in the 12-min Cooper’s test running distance and the abundance of gut microbiota. Although no significant change in body composition was found, OLP-01 caused no adverse reactions or harm to the participants’ bodies. In summary, OLP-01 can be used as a sports nutrition supplement, especially for athletes, to improve exercise performance.

Nearly monodispersed CuIn 0.7 Ga 0.3 Se 2 (CIGS) nanocrystals were successfully prepared using the thermal decomposition of copper, indium (In), gallium (Ga), and selenium-oleylamine (OLA) complexes via the heating-up process. The phase formation sequence was CuSe-CuInSe 2 -CIGS. The CIGS nanocrystals synthesized using the heating-up process exhibited a single chalcopyrite phase and its chemical composition was close to stoichiometric. However, phase separation of the In-rich and Ga-rich phases was found using the hot-injection method due to the difference in reactivity between In-OLA and Ga-OLA complexes.

By using an optical nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) format data-stream to injection-lock an synchronously modulated Fabry-Perot laser diode at below threshold condition (without DC driving current), an output data-stream with pseudo-return-to-zero (PRZ) format can be generated at bit rate of up to 2.488 Gbit/s. Such an NRZ-to-PRZ format transformation is due to the injectionlocking induced gain-switching of the FPLD with the incoming NRZ data. The PRZ data-stream with a maximum on/off extinction ratio of 12.2 dB is obtained under the optical injecting power of -2 dBm and the RF driving power of 24.4 dBm. The best side-mode suppression ratio of 40 dB and the lowest timing jitter of 0.4 ps for the PRZ data-stream are observed. A power penalty of 1.2 dB is measured at a bit-error rate of 10-9 after NRZ-to-PRZ transformation. In application, the demonstration of an all-optical OR logic gate using the FPLD-based NRZ-to-PRZ transformer is also reported.

No abstract

The new pyrrolyl-linked pincer-type ligand, [C(4)H(2)NH(2-CH(2)NH(t)Bu)(5-CH(2)NMe(2))] (1), that has been employed conveniently in high yield by treatment of (2-t-butylaminomethyl)pyrrole with 1 equiv of formaldehyde and dimethylamine hydrochloride each in diethylether and its corresponding aluminum derivative, [C(4)H(2)N(2-CH(2)NH(t)Bu)(5-CH(2)NMe(2))]AlH(2) (2), that has been generated from Me(3)N.AlH(3) using diethylether as a solvent are described. Furthermore, reactions of 2 with 2 equiv of either 1,3-diphenylpropane-1,3-dione in diethylether or phenyl thioisocyanate in dichloromethane interestingly formed [C(4)H(2)N(2-CH(2)NH(t)Bu)(5-CH(2)NMe(2))]Al(PhCOCHCOPh)(2) (3) and [C(4)H(2)N(2-CH(2)NH(t)Bu)(5-CH(2)NMe(2))]Al(SCHNPh)(2) (4), respectively, following deprotonation or hydroalumination reaction kinetics under a dry nitrogen environment. All of the compounds have been subjected to the X-ray diffraction technique in the solid state as well as characterized by NMR spectra.