Zhutian Township

Researchers are conducting a prospective cohort study to create and validate personalized disease risk prediction models for adults living in the community in Taiwan. This study focuses on combining health information from multiple sources, including hearing tests, lifestyle questionnaires, wearable devices, and health records, to better understand how people progress from good health to early or chronic disease. The study aims to improve early risk identification and support personalized health management using machine learning techniques. Participants aged 18 years and older will complete a structured questionnaire about their demographics, family and personal disease history, and lifestyle habits like exercise, sleep, smoking, and alcohol use. They will undergo pure tone hearing tests and wear a smartwatch for two weeks to collect continuous data such as heart rate and physical activity. Study staff will help with device setup and app installation. With participant consent, their personal health records and national health insurance data will be linked for long-term follow-up. During the study, participants will be monitored through questionnaires, hearing assessments, and smartwatch data collection. Researchers will analyze the combined data to identify important predictors of disease progression and build risk models. Data privacy is strictly maintained by de-identifying information after linkage. The main outcome is how well the personalized risk models perform, assessed after data collection and validation. Participation involves initial assessments and two weeks of wearable monitoring, with extended health outcome tracking through linked databases.

Researchers are evaluating a social prescribing intervention aimed at promoting health in community-dwelling older adults aged 55 years and above. This study combines a 4-week mindfulness meditation program followed by a 12-week walking-pole exercise program to explore improvements in physical function, psychological well-being, and sleep quality. The goal is to support healthy aging through this combined mind-body and community-based intervention. The intervention begins with weekly group mindfulness sessions focusing on breathing, body awareness, relaxation, emotional regulation, and positive psychological practices, supported by guided home audio exercises. This is followed by a 12-week group walking-pole exercise program emphasizing muscle strength, balance, mobility, and overall health promotion relevant to older adults. Both phases are led by trained instructors in community settings, with the mindfulness phase aimed at enhancing psychological readiness before physical exercise. Participants will undergo assessments at baseline, after the mindfulness phase week 5, after completing the full 16-week intervention week 17, and again 3 months post-intervention. These evaluations include the Five Times Sit-to-Stand Test and measures of mood, well-being, sleep quality, and continued engagement in healthy behaviors. The study monitors physical and psychological health changes and the maintenance of benefits after the program ends.

This trial investigates the effects of intensive lifestyle interventions on weight loss and cardiometabolic risks in obese adults with metabolic syndrome. It enrolls 200 participants aged 20 to 65 years with metabolic syndrome and a body mass index BMI between 27.0 and 45.0 kgm2. The study aims to compare an intensive lifestyle intervention ILI involving time-restricted eating and increased physical activity with a usual lifestyle intervention ULI over 24 weeks, followed by medication treatment and long-term follow-up to assess sustained weight loss and metabolic improvements. Participants in the ILI group follow a daily 168 fasting pattern eating within 8 hours and fasting for 16 hours, walk more than 10,000 steps daily, and reduce their calorie intake by 500 kcals per day with specific macronutrient distribution. They use a mobile app and a wearable device Fitbit Inspire 2 to track diet and physical activity. The ULI group maintains their usual meal timing and lifestyle. After 24 weeks, both groups are randomly assigned to receive either a GLP-1 receptor agonist Rybelsus or an SGLT-2 inhibitor Forxiga for 26 weeks, with the ILI group continuing their lifestyle regimen. Following medication, all participants are monitored for an additional 52 weeks to evaluate long-term weight maintenance. During the study, researchers collect data on body measurements, biochemical and metabolic variables, and imaging studies including DEXA and abdominal MRI at baseline and follow-ups. Step counts are objectively measured in the ILI group using wearable devices. The primary outcome is the change in metabolic syndrome severity score after achieving more than 5% weight loss at 24 weeks. The study also assesses weight reduction and liver fat content during medication intervention and tracks the sustainability of weight loss over a total of 2.5 years of participation.