Fu Jen Catholic University

About: Fu Jen Catholic University is a education organization based out in Taipei, Taiwan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 6842 authors who have published 9512 publications receiving 171005 citations. The organization is also known as: FJU & Fu Jen.

Socialisation of new graduate nurses to practising nurses

Abstract: Aims. The aim of this study was to explore the socialisation experiences of new graduate baccalaureate nurses to practising nurses. Background. How nurses contend with the stress of their professional role has been of interest to both researchers and healthcare administrators over the past 30 years. Work stress of clinical nurses comes mainly from organisational and professional factors. However, few studies have explored the professional and organisational socialisation experiences of new graduate nurses. Design. A qualitative descriptive approach was adopted. Methods. Participants were graduates of a baccalaureate nursing programme and employed full time at four medical centres in Taiwan, their first full-time work experience. Data were collected through semi-structured, open-ended, in-depth interviews, which were transcribed verbatim and analysed by content analysis. Three themes were identified: overwhelming chaos, learning by doing and being an insider. Results. Although the professional socialisation process was hard for the new graduate nurses, they needed much time to increase their knowledge and clinical skills to fulfil clinical needs. However, the hardest work was the organisational socialisation process, which involved fitting into the bureaucratic system, such as maintaining interpersonal relationships with colleagues and familiarising themselves with the ward rules and culture. Neophyte nurse participants were also frustrated by the conflict between professional and organisational values. Conclusions. The study findings show that the transition from new graduate nurse to practising nurse was stressful for these participants, particularly due to the clash between the professional value of patient-oriented nursing care and the organisational value of task-oriented nursing. Relevance to clinical practice. Senior clinical nurses can consider this study’s descriptions of new graduate nurses’ experiences to help them become insiders and provide quality care.

Is there a real estate factor premium

Abstract: In this paper, we study the variation of expected returns on five different asset portfolios in a multi-factor model. We found the presence of a real estate factor, in addition to both a stock factor and a bond factor in asset pricing. This suggests that mutual fund managers should seriously consider including real estate assets in their portfolios, since one cannot capture the real estate factor premium without having some kind of real estate exposure. Another result is that the market segmentation found in previous studies disappears in a more general model of asset pricing in which we allow for multi-factors other than the market factor to affect asset returns. This implies that real estate assets can be treated just like other assets as far as mean-variance efficient asset allocations are concerned. We also have some preliminary evidence that equity REITs and the Russell-NCREIF index are driven by the same underlying real estate factor.

Functional components in soybean cake and their effects on antioxidant activity.

Abstract: The antioxidant activities of four fractions of isoflavones from soybean cake were evaluated and compared with those of ISO-1 and ISO-2 fractions, five isoflavone standards, and mixtures of two or four isoflavone standards, as well as four commercial antioxidants, using DPPH, TEAC, reducing power, metal ion chelating, conjugated diene, and TBARS assays. Both malonylglucoside and glucoside fractions were isolated using preparative chromatography with Diaion HP-20 as adsorbent, whereas acetylglucoside and aglycone fractions were separated with silica gel as adsorbent. The other two fractions, ISO-1 and ISO-2, were soybean cake extracts containing 12 isoflavones for the former and a combination of 4 fractions for the latter. Both acetylglucoside and ISO-1 fractions exhibited the highest efficiency in scavenging DPPH free radicals, whereas all six fractions were effective in inhibiting conjugated diene formation. However, a low reducing power was observed for all six fractions and isoflavone standards. The aglycone fraction and genistein standard showed a pronounced increase of TEAC value and a moderate decrease of TBARs value. For chelating metal ions, both ISO-1 and ISO-2 fractions were the most efficient. Overall, the isoflavone fractions showed a better antioxidant activity than the isoflavone standards, probably caused by the presence of some other functional components such as saponin, flavonoid, and phenolic compounds in soybean cake.

Proton-driven transformable nanovaccine for cancer immunotherapy

Abstract: Cancer vaccines hold great promise for improved cancer treatment. However, endosomal trapping and low immunogenicity of tumour antigens usually limit the efficiency of vaccination strategies. Here, we present a proton-driven nanotransformer-based vaccine, comprising a polymer–peptide conjugate-based nanotransformer and loaded antigenic peptide. The nanotransformer-based vaccine induces a strong immune response without substantial systemic toxicity. In the acidic endosomal environment, the nanotransformer-based vaccine undergoes a dramatic morphological change from nanospheres (about 100 nanometres in diameter) into nanosheets (several micrometres in length or width), which mechanically disrupts the endosomal membrane and directly delivers the antigenic peptide into the cytoplasm. The re-assembled nanosheets also boost tumour immunity via activation of specific inflammation pathways. The nanotransformer-based vaccine effectively inhibits tumour growth in the B16F10-OVA and human papilloma virus-E6/E7 tumour models in mice. Moreover, combining the nanotransformer-based vaccine with anti-PD-L1 antibodies results in over 83 days of survival and in about half of the mice produces complete tumour regression in the B16F10 model. This proton-driven transformable nanovaccine offers a robust and safe strategy for cancer immunotherapy. A shape-changing pH-responsive cancer vaccine delivers antigenic peptides directly to the cytoplasm and boosts the cellular immune response upon activation of the inflammasome pathway, efficiently inhibiting tumour growth and extending survival in animal tumour models.