News

Congratulations to NTNU Professors being World's Top 2% Scientists

The latest World's Top 2% Scientists list was announced on October 10. 14 faculty members from National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) were listed on the Lifetime Scientific Impact list and 24 faculty members were listed on the Annual Scientific Impact list, the research results are widely recognized internationally.

Quick home test for Parkinson's medication adjustment: Detection of L-DOPA in blood using enzyme colorimetry

Parkinson's disease is a neurological disorder that primarily affects motor performance. L-DOPA is the precursor of dopamine (DA) synthesis in the body and is widely used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. However, because of the side effects associated with these drugs, clinical adjustments to the medication are often required. Therefore, measuring the concentration of L-DOPA in patients is an issue of interest for many researchers. Several methods have been developed to detect the concentration of L-DOPA, such as electrochemical assay and liquid chromatography, but there are still some limitations. In this study, a simple enzymatic colorimetric method was developed to selectively identify and oxidize L-DOPA by oxidative enzymes, resulting in a yellow product that can be identified by the naked eye; the concentration of L-DOPA can be inferred from the color intensity. Therefore, it can be used as a quick and easy estimation of the L-DOPA concentration in the test body, which is expected to be used as an indicator and reference for drug formulation.

Dept. of Special Education Designs A8M Digital Learning Tool for Students in Need

October 15th is the White Cane Safety Day, the Day of the Blind. In order to reduce the learning difficulties of blind students in mathematics, Associate Professor Chien-Huey Sophie Chang of the Department of Special Education of NTNU led a team to develop the "A8M Digital Learning Tool" which is convenient for visually impaired students to read and write mathematics. It is easy to use and enables teachers to communicate well with visually impaired students. Users can listen and read repeatedly with a Braille display, which makes it easier to grasp the structure of complex mathematical formulas.

Detecting the size of primordial black holes with superhorizon perturbations

At the onset of the cosmic journey, the inflationary mechanism produced superhorizon curvature perturbations which affected the future formation of the universe. This study analyzed the growth of superhorizon curvature perturbations in the inflationary universe. Using a simple ultraslow-roll model, we derived the coherence function between any two points in the curvature perturbation. It showed that the causality limits the growth of the curvature perturbation, thereby constraining the important inflationary slow-roll parameters, allowing the universe to produce a large enough primordial black hole. Our research will help estimate how curvature perturbations form primordial black holes in the universe.

How does genetic inheritance affect learning and memory?

This study aims to explore how epigenetic factors affect learning and memory in academic performanc. Previous studies have shown that genetic factors affect about 60% of the variation in scientific learning (Polmin & Haworth, 2008). However, recent studies have indicated that the interaction of genes with the environment (epigenetics) may be the most important factor affecting brain development, brain plasticity, and learning behavior. Environmental factors activate intracellular signaling pathways and alter the state of epigenetic genes. Epigenetic factors affect neuroplasticity through neurophysiology, which in turn regulates learning and memory. One of the epigenetic factors, non-coding small molecule RNA (MicroRNA) is currently considered to be the primary factor regulating brain development and cognitive learning memory. The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between non-coding small molecule RNA in neural pathways related to brain plasticity, cognitive ability, and scientific learning effectiveness. In addition, this study also examined how genetic factors, including genetics and epigenetics, affect adolescent cognitive function and scientific learning memory. Discovering how learning environments interact with genetics will provide important insights into the academic and practical aspects of adaptive learning.