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Stretchable bioelectronics has notably contributed to the advancement of continuous health monitoring and point-of-care type health care. However, microscale nonconformal contact and locally dehydrated interface limit performance, especially in dynamic environments. Therefore, hydrogels can be a promising interfacial material for the stretchable bioelectronics due to their unique advantages including tissue-like softness, water-rich property, and biocompatibility. However, there are still practical challenges in terms of their electrical performance, material homogeneity, and monolithic integration with stretchable devices. Here, we report the synthesis of a homogeneously conductive polyacrylamide hydrogel with an exceptionally low impedance (~21 ohms) and a reasonably high conductivity (~24 S/cm) by incorporating polyaniline-decorated poly(3,4-ethyl enedioxythiophene:polystyrene). We also establish robust adhesion (interfacial toughness: ~296.7 J/m2) and reliable integration between the conductive hydrogel and the stretchable device through on-device polymerization as well as covalent and hydrogen bonding. These strategies enable the fabrication of a stretchable multichannel sensor array for the high-quality on-skin impedance and pH measurements under in vitro and in vivo circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doctoral education in business schools is focused on a functional approach to research training. While this approach is necessary, it rarely encompasses reflexivity in qualitative research, despite its importance. This paper provides the groundwork for educators in business schools to reconsider the conventional approach to teaching qualitative methods. It draws on my personal and professional experience as a key resource to shape its examination of doctoral education in conducting qualitative research. The paper offers points of reflection on the struggle students may face in conducting rigorous qualitative research without appropriately understanding the influence of self with previous experience, preconceived ideas, feelings, and even appearance. By emphasizing reflexivity, this paper urges business schools to move away from functional training on research conventions to instead improve students' process of discovery by emphasizing interactive and transformational components of qualitative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses All-solid-state batteries are a potential game changer in the energy storage market; however, their practical employment has been hampered by premature short circuits caused by the lithium dendritic growth through the solid electrolyte. Here, we demonstrate that a rational layer-by-layer strategy using a lithiophilic and electron-blocking multilayer can substantially enhance the performance/stability.

Up to the early part of the Joseon period (1392-1910) lecture halls and meditation halls were maintained by the monasteries of the doctrinal and meditational schools, respectively. When the samgha became consolidated into the Seon (Zen) school in the late Joseon period (1600-1910), doctrinal learning was incorporated as part of the three gates of cultivation--meditation, doctrinal studies, and chanting the name of the Buddha Amitābha--which maintained the importance of the three traditions. In the 18th century, Pure Land practices became popular so that assemblies for chanting the name of Amitābha were formed in many areas. This trend continued, and later in the 19th century, Buddha recitation halls became common at monasteries. It was not uncommon for monastics in late Joseon to study at a lecture hall after receiving their precepts and thereafter enter a meditation hall for Seon practices. In the late years of life, he or she would either spend time practicing chanting the name of the Buddha Amitābha at a secluded temple or practice with laypersons. In this way, lecture halls and meditation halls coexisted, providing the backdrop for active debates on meditation and even the nature of the mind. Such context gave way to new developments in practice and thought in Korean Buddhism of the 19th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Botulinum toxin (BoNT) injection is widely used to improve spasticity. However, after the treatment, the patient may experience pain, inflammation, swelling and redness at the injection site. In this case, we addressed deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after BoNT treatment of the upper limb. A male aged 37 years had spasticity and dystonia in his left upper extremity. BoNT-A 100 U was injected into the left biceps brachii and an equal amount into the brachialis to relieve spasticity. After three days, he developed redness and painful swelling in the left upper arm and the next day, through the upper extremity computed tomography venography, DVT was identified in the left cephalic vein. The thrombus resolved after the anticoagulation therapy with rivaroxaban (Xarelto). We hypothesized the role of mainly three mechanisms in the development of DVT in this case: repetitive strenuous activity, relative stasis due to reduced muscle tone, and possible direct mechanical damage to the vessel wall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) contributes to inflammatory conditions inducing conversion of endothelial cells (ECs) into activated fibroblasts, promoting fibrotic diseases. Pro-inflammatory cytokine is the most potent inducer of EndMT. We investigated inhibition of interleukin-1β (IL-1β)-induced EndMT by gemigliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-IV inhibitor. Methods: We exposed human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) to 10 ng/mL IL-1β/20 μM gemigliptin and analyzed the expression of endothelial, smooth muscle, mesenchymal, and osteoblastic markers, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), Smad, and non-Smad signaling pathway proteins. Results: Morphological changes showed gemigliptin blocked IL-1β-induced EndMT, upregulated EC markers, and downregulated smooth muscle and mesenchymal markers. IL-1β activation of HUVECs is initiated by the BMP/Smad and non-smad BMP signaling pathways. Gemigliptin inhibited IL-1β induction of BMP2 and 7, activin receptor type IA, BMP receptor type IA, and BMP receptor type II. Reversal of IL-1β-mediated inhibition of BMP-induced Smad1/5/8, Smad2, and Smad3 phosphorylation by gemigliptin suggests involvement of the Smad pathway in gemigliptin action. In the non-Smad BMP pathway, gemigliptin treatment significantly increased the deactivation of extracellular regulated protein kinase (ERK), p38, and JNK by IL-1β. Gemigliptin treatment suppressed BMP-2-induced expression of key osteoblastic markers including osterix, runt-related transcription factor 2, and hepcidin during IL-1β-induced EndMT. Conclusion: We demonstrated a novel protective mechanism of gemigliptin against fibrosis by suppressing IL-1β-induced EndMT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behçet's disease (BD) is a rare, chronic, auto-inflammatory disorder of unknown origin. Mucocutaneous lesions and pan-uveitis constitute the hallmark of BD. Additionally, vessels of all sizes and types are affected. In this article, we report a 53-year-old female patient diagnosed with neurovascular BD with diplopia, ipsilateral headache and ophthalmoplegia associated with cavernous sinus thrombosis, leading to Tolosa-Hunt-like syndrome. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a patient with complicated cavernous sinus thrombosis in BD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ferroelectric properties and strain behaviors of 0-3-type-ceramic composites were investigated. (100-x)Bi0.5(Na0.75K0.25)TiO3-xBiAlO3 (x = 5, 6, and 7: abbreviated as 95BNKT-5BA, 94BNKT-6BA, and 93BNKT-7BA, respectively, and the three compositions are altogether designated as BNKT-BA) were chosen as a matrix materials, and ferroelectric Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 (f-BNT), Bi0.5(Na0.8K0.2)0.5TiO3 (f-BNKT), and 98.5Bi0.5(Na0.8K0.2)0.5TiO3-1.5BiAlO3 (f-BNKTBA) grains as inclusions. Large f-BNT, f-BNKT, and f-BNKTBA grains strongly affect the ferroelectric properties and strain behaviors of the BNKT-BA matrix in the composite. In 95BNKT-5BA with f-BNT and f-BNKT, negative strain was observed, indicating that the ferroelectric phase is formed and stabilized. 93BNKT-7BA with f-BNT, f-BNKT and f-BNKTBA showed an increase in positive strain, which is associated with low field-induced phase transition. It was found from the strain curve that two contributions, ferroelectric phase stabilization and phase transition activation, were involved in the strain behaviors of the ceramic composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present numerical and experimental demonstration of slowing down the speed of terahertz guiding modes of a metal air-gap waveguide by using a one-dimensional coupled plasmonic cavity. The speed of terahertz guiding modes gets slower as a distance between metal plates of the waveguide decreases because the coupling strength between cavities gets weaker as the distance decreases. The coupled plasmonic cavities in a metal air-gap waveguide could be useful in enhancing the interaction between the guiding modes and matters and manipulating terahertz waves in a time domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated properties of localized modes of one-dimensional terahertz plasmonic crystal films with defects in a metal air-gap waveguide by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy experiments and finite-difference time-domain simulations. A defect was created by varying the width of an air slit at the center of the plasmonic crystal film. The donor (accept)-like defect modes were observed when the width of the defect air slit increases (decreases) from an initial width. The quality factor increases abruptly as the air-gap size decreases, while the defect mode frequency slightly decreases. The high quality-defect mode was examined for terahertz sensor applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A modified charcoal kiln was developed for both thermal therapy and charcoal production. The design of a modified kiln for thermal therapy focused on safety and cleanliness, plus the production of good quality charcoal. Two entrances in the kiln were designed for convenient charcoal production and thermal therapy. A barrier wall designed for noxious gases was installed between the adjoining charcoal kilns for safe thermal therapy. Additionally, a fine dust collector was installed to remove the fine dust generated during charcoal production. To verify the safety of the kiln, fine dust and harmful gases, such as carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and radon (Rn), were measured after the charring process. The quality of the charcoal produced in the thermal therapy kiln was also examined. To evaluate charcoal quality, some physical properties and results from a proximate analysis were evaluated using Korean standards. The measurements of harmful substances and fine dust in the modified charcoal kiln met the criterion of the Ministry of Environment Clean Air Conservation Act in Korea. In addition, there were no noticeable differences in the monthly charcoal characteristics prepared from the thermal therapy kiln, and the charcoal characteristics also met the reference values of the Korea Forest Service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA-reactive compounds are harnessed for cancer chemotherapy. Their genotoxic effects are considered to be the main mechanism for the cytotoxicity to date. Because this mechanism preferentially affects actively proliferating cells, it is postulated that the cytotoxicity is specific to cancer cells. Nonetheless, they do harm normal quiescent cells, suggesting that there are other cytotoxic mechanisms to be uncovered. By employing doxorubicin as a representative DNA-reactive compound, we have discovered a cytotoxic mechanism that involves a cellular noncoding RNA (ncRNA) nc886 and protein kinase R (PKR) that is a proapoptotic protein. nc886 is transcribed by RNA polymerase III (Pol III), binds to PKR, and prevents it from aberrant activation in most normal cells. We have shown here that doxorubicin evicts Pol III from DNA and, thereby, shuts down nc886 transcription. Consequently, the instantaneous depletion of nc886 provokes PKR and leads to apoptosis. In a short-pulse treatment of doxorubicin, these events are the main cause of cytotoxicity preceding the DNA damage response in a 3D culture system as well as the monolayer cultures. By identifying nc886 as a molecular signal for PKR to sense doxorubicin, we have provided an explanation for the conundrum why DNA-damaging drugs can be cytotoxic to quiescent cells that have the competent nc886/PKR pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the interlayer coupling strength (Hin) and GMR ratio of a spin-valve with the top free layer, separated by a nano-oxide layer (NOL). With the total thickness of the top free layer being fixed at 60 Å, the physical properties of the NOL spin-valve were studied with the thickness stfd of the free layer under the inserted NOL and compared with those of the normal spin-valve with the same thickness as tf. It was found that the spin-valve with NOL has a higher GMR ratio than that of the normal spin-valve at the optimal condition (tf=40 Å) after thermal annealing at T =250 °C. The NOL spin-valve also shows a lower Hin than that of the optimal normal spin-valve with tf =40 Å, which is comparable to that of the normal spin-valve with tf =60 Å. This indicates that the enhancement of GMR, while keeping the Hin to be low, can be achieved by inserting a NOL into the top free layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We quantitatively and analytically investigate the properties of buffer/window junctions and their effects on the energy band alignment and the current-voltage characteristics of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells with solution processed silver nanowire (AgNW) composite window layers. AgNWs are generally embedded in a moderately conductive matrix layer to ensure lateral collection efficiency of charge carriers photogenerated in the lateral gaps present between AgNWs. Studies on the junctions between a buffer and AgNW-composite window layers and their effects on the performances of CIGS thin film solar cells have seldom been addressed. Here, we show that solution processed AgNW-composite window layers could induce defect states at the buffer/window interface, resulting in poor energy band alignment impeding carrier transport in the solar cells. On the basis of our analysis, we suggest an analytical expression of n matrix D i 2 ≥ 3.46 × 10 − 5 ε cm to avoid losses in the power conversion efficiency of the solar cells. n matrix is the carrier concentration in a matrix layer embedding AgNWs, D i is the negative defect density at the buffer/window interface, and ε is the relative dielectric constant of the matrix layer embedding AgNWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tibial aperture fixation with a bioabsorbable interference screw is a popular fixation method in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). An interference screw containing β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) to improve bony integration and biocompatibility was recently introduced. This study aims to compare the clinical outcomes and radiological results of tunnel enlargement effect between the 2 bioabsorbable fixative devices of pure poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) interference screws and β-TCP-containing screws, for tibial interference fixation in ACLR using hamstring autografts.Methods: Eighty consecutive patients who had undergone double-bundle ACLR between 2011 to 2012 were prospectively reviewed and randomly divided into two groups based on the type of tibial interference screw: 28 were assigned to the pure PLLA screw group (Group A), while the other 29 were assigned to the β-TCP-containing screw fixation group (Group B). Clinical evaluations and radiological analyses were conducted in both groups with a minimum 2- year follow-up.Results: There was no significant difference in subjective or objective clinical outcome between the 2 groups. In radiological analyses, the use of a β-TCP-containing screw reduced tunnel widening in the portion of the tunnel with screw engagement compared to the pure PLLA screw, while the use of a β-TCP-containing screw resulted in greater tunnel enlargement in the proximal portion of the tunnel without screw engagement than use of a pure PLLA screw.Conclusion: Use of a β-TCP-containing interference screw in tibial aperture fixation reduced tunnel enlargement in the vicinity of the screw, whereas greater enlargement occurred proximal to the screw end relative to use of a pure PLLA interference screw. These paradoxical enlargements in use of β-TCP containing screws suggest that for reducing tunnel enlargement, the length of the interference screw should be as fit as possible with tunnel length in terms of using soft grafts.Level Of Evidence: II, Prospectively comparative study.Trial Registration: Retrospectively registered with ClinicalTrials.gov. (NCT02754674) , Date of trial registration: February 10, 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aggressive osteoblastoma is a type of bone tumor rarely reported in veterinary literature. Osteoblastoma may be misdiagnosed as an osteosarcoma, which is a well-understood malignant bone tumor. Owing to poor prognosis, animals diagnosed with osteosarcoma are not always treated. In the present case, we diagnosed the tumor as aggressive osteoblastoma on the basis of macroscopic, microscopic, radiographic, and immunohistologic findings. The patient was treated via resections of the osteoblastoma and lived without metastasis for 3 years. This is the first reported case of aggressive feline osteoblastoma of the cervical vertebrae and will be useful for diagnosing and managing aggressive osteoblastoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: To identify dietary practice patterns for Japanese adults and investigate the links between health behaviours and these patterns.Methods and Study Design: A random sample, stratified according to area, sex, and age, of 4570 adults aged 20-80 years completed a survey conducted in 2011 in a city, in Yamagata Prefecture, Northeast Japan.Results: Cluster analysis of 16 dietary practice items revealed four patterns labelled as: low fat, sugar, or salt; emphasis on nutrition; regular breakfast and staples; and meals not snacks. Findings from multiple linear regression analyses showed that those not engaged in habitual physical exercise had lower scores on low fat, sugar, or salt (beta coefficient -0.22: 95% confidence intervals -0.30, -0.14); emphasis on nutrition (-0.17: -0.25, -0.09); meals not snacks; (-0.38: -0.46, -0.3) that other participants. Current smokers had lower scores than never smokers on low fat, sugar, or salt (-0.23: -0.32, -0.14); emphasis on nutrition (-0.28: -0.37, -0.19); regular breakfast and staples (-0.42: -0.51, -0.33) patterns. Compared with nondrinkers, those who had reduced their consumption of alcohol had higher scores on low fat, sugar, or salt (0.19: 0.09, 0.29) and emphasis on nutrition (0.17: 0.07, 0.27). These relationships were adjusted for other dietary practice patterns, sociodemographic factors, body mass index, and the presence of major illness or pain.Conclusions: Findings support an integrated and targeted approach as part of public health policy by considering links between dietary practices and other health behaviours, such as habitual exercise and smoking behaviour that may facilitate changes in dietary practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four species are recognized in the understorey palm genus Johannesteijsmannia (Arecaceae), all of which occur in close geographical proximity in the Malay Peninsula. We hypothesize that overlapping distributions are maintained by a lack of gene flow among species and that segregation along morphological trait or environmental axes confers ecological divergence and, hence, defines species limits. Although some species have sympatric distributions, differentiation was detected among species in morphological and genetic data, corroborating current species delimitation. Differences in niche breadth were not found to explain the overlapping distribution and co-existence of Johannesteijsmannia spp. Four species formed over the last 3 Mya, showing that diversity accumulated within a short time frame and wide range expansion has not occurred, potentially due to a lack of time for dispersal or the evolution of traits to facilitate movement. An assessment of genetic diversity is presented and, as expected, the widest distribution in the genus harbours the highest genetic diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasmonic field enhancement in terahertz (THz) generation is one of the recently arisen techniques in the THz field that has attracted considerable interest. However, the reported levels of enhancement of THz output power in the literature are significantly different from each other, from less than two times to about two orders of magnitude of enhancement in power, which implies the existence of other major limiting factors yet to be revealed. In this work, the contribution of the plasmonic effect to the power enhancement of THz emitters is revisited. We show that the carrier collection efficiency in a THz emitter with plasmonic nanostructures is more critical to the device performance than the plasmonic field enhancement itself. The strong reverse fields induced by the highly localized plasmonic carriers in the vicinity of the nanoelectrodes screen the carrier collections and seriously limit the power enhancement. This is supported by our experimental observations of the significantly enhanced power in a plasmonic nanoelectrode THz emitter in continuous-wave radiation mode, while the same device has limited enhancement with pulsed radiation. We hope that our study may provide an intuitive but practical guideline in adopting plasmonic nanostructures with an aim of enhancing the efficiency of optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Accurately diagnosing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains a challenge, but is crucial for providing proper management for affected patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the frequency of change in diagnosis in Korean patients who were referred to our institution with a diagnosis of IBD. Methods: We enrolled 1,444 patients diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC) and 1,452 diagnosed with Crohn's disease (CD), who had been referred to the Asan Medical Center between January 2010 and December 2014. These patients were assessed and subsequently classified as having UC, CD, indeterminate colitis, possible IBD, or non-IBD. Results: During a median follow-up of 15.9 months, 400 of the 2,896 patients (13.8%) analyzed in this study experienced a change in diagnosis. A change in diagnosis from UC to CD, or vice-versa, was made in 24 of 1,444 patients (1.7%) and 23 of 1,452 patients (1.6%), respectively. A change to a non-IBD diagnosis was the most common modification; 7.5% (108 of 1444) and 12.7% (184 of 1452) of the patients with a referral diagnosis of UC and CD, respectively, were reclassified as having non-IBD. Among the 292 patients who were ultimately determined not to have IBD, 135 (55 UC and 80 CD cases) had received IBD-related medication. Conclusions: There are diagnostic uncertainties and difficulties in relation to IBD. Therefore, precise assessment and systematic follow-up are essential in the management of this condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a human action recognition system from multi-view image sequences. The authors' approach to human action recognition is based on an estimation of local motion from multiple camera views. The authors propose a new motion descriptor, called histogram of motion intensity and direction, to capture local motion characteristics of human activity. After image normalisation, they estimate motion flow using dense optical flow. Using regular grids, they extract local flow motion and estimate the dominant angle and the intensity of optical flow. The histogram of the dominant angle and its intensity are used as a descriptor for each sequence. After the identification of head direction, they concatenate descriptors in each view as a single feature vector from multiple-view sequences. Classification based on the proposed feature vector using support vector machine shows better performance than three-dimensional optical flow-based approaches, but with lower computational requirements. The authors evaluated action recognition on the publicly available i3DPost and the Institut de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA) Xmas Motion Acquisition Sequences database. Experimental results show promising state-of-the-art results and validate the advanced performance of the authors' approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation of the chemical constituents of the stem barks of Ailanthus altissima has resulted in the isolation of six canthinone-type alkaloids, including a new compound, (R)-5-(1-hydroxyethyl)-canthine-6-one (1), and five known compounds (2–6). Moreover, four phenyl propanoids (7–10), two lignans (11 and 12), two triterpenoids (13 and 14) and a fatty acid (15) having previously known chemical structures were isolated during the same course of this study. The structure of the new compound was elucidated by physical (m.p., [α]D) and spectroscopic data (1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 2D NMR, and HR-DART-MS) interpretation and its absolute configuration was determined by electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data and quantum chemical calculations. The inflammatory activities of the isolates were screened on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO), a proinflammatory mediator, in RAW 264.7 cells. Among these isolated compounds, six compounds exhibited significant inhibition of NO production, with IC50 values in the range of 5.92 ± 0.9 to 15.09 ± 1.8 μM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have reported the frequency and distribution of haplogroups among various cattle breeds for verification of their origins and genetic diversity. In this study, 318 complete sequences of the mtDNA control region from four Korean cattle breeds were used for haplogroup classification. 71 polymorphic sites and 66 haplotypes were found in these sequences. Consistent with the genetic patterns in previous reports, four haplogroups (T1, T2, T3, and T4) were identified in Korean cattle breeds. In addition, T1a, T3a, and T3b sub-haplogroups were classified. In the phylogenetic tree, each haplogroup formed an independent cluster. The frequencies of T3, T4, T1 (containing T1a), and T2 were 66%, 16%, 10%, and 8%, respectively. Especially, the T1 haplogroup contained only one haplotype and a sample. All four haplogroups were found in Chikso, Jeju black and Hanwoo. However, only the T3 and T4 haplogroups appeared in Heugu, and most Chikso populations showed a partial of four haplogroups. These results will be useful for stable conservation and efficient management of Korean cattle breeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report an experimental method to overcome the long processing time required for fabricating graphite films by a transfer process from a catalytic layer to a substrate, as well as our study of the growth process of graphite films using a pulsed laser deposition combined with in-situ monitoring based on reflection high-energy electron diffraction technique. We monitored the structural evolution of nano-crystalline graphite films directly grown on AlN-coated Si substrates without any catalytic layer. We found that the carbon films grown for less than 600 s cannot manifest the graphite structure due to a high defect density arising from grain boundaries; however, the carbon film can gradually become a nano-crystalline graphite film with a thickness of approximately up to 5 nm. The Raman spectra and electrical properties of carbon films indicate that the nano-crystalline graphite films can be fabricated, even at the growth temperature as low as 850 °C within 600 s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general and efficient method was developed for the asymmetric synthesis of 1,3,4,6-tetrasubstituted 2,5-diketopiperazines. The asymmetric nucleophilic substitution of L-amino acid-derived α-bromo tertiary amides with aliphatic primary amines followed by spontaneous cyclization provides a rapid access to diverse 1,3,4,6-tetrasubstituted-2,5-diketopiperazines with high diastereoselectivities of up to 99:1 dr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design: A retrospective observational and case control study. Purpose: To identify appropriate treatment options according to the types of surgical site infections (SSI) in instrumented posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF). Overview of Literature: There has been no agreement or consensus with regard to this matter. Methods: Thirty-two consecutive SSIs were included and followed for more than one year. The elapsed time to diagnosis (ETD) according to the type of SSI was analyzed. The treatment options for each type and consequent clinical results were reviewed. The risk factors of removing the implants were analyzed. Results: There were 6/32 (19%) superficial incisional, 6/32 (19%) deep incisional, and 20/32 (62%) organ/space infection cases (SII, DII, and O/SI, respectively) (p =0.002). ETD was 8.5±2.3 days in SII, 8.7±2.3 days in DII, and 164.5±131.1 days in O/SI (p =0.013). All cases of SII and DII retained implants and were treated by repeated irrigation and secondary closure. Among O/SIs, 10/20 were treated conservatively. Nine out of ten underwent posterior one stage simultaneous revision (POSSR) and in one case, the cage was removed anteriorly. Those who had ETDs longer than 3 months showed a significant risk of implant removal (p =0.008, odds ratio [OR]=40.3). The Oswestry disability index (ODI) improved from 47.3% to 33.8% in SII, from 55.0% to 32.3% in DII, and from 53.4% to 42.1% in O/SI (p =0.002). There was no difference among the three groups (p =0.106); however, there was a partial correlation between ETD and final ODI (r =0.382, p =0.034). Conclusions: Latent O/SI was the most common type of SSI in PLIF. In cases of SII and DII, early aggressive wound management and secondary closure was effective and implant removal was not necessary. In some cases of O/SI, implant removal was unavoidable. However, implant removal could be averted by an earlier diagnosis. POSSR was feasible and safe. Functional outcomes were improved; however, disability increased as ETD increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sleep duration holds considerable importance as an indicator of mental/physical health. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between sleep duration, mental health, and chronic disease prevalence in Koreans.Methods: Of 31,596 subjects eligible for the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey V (2010-2012), 17,638 participants who answered items on sleep duration (aged ≥ 19 yrs) were analyzed in a cross-sectional study. Association between sleep duration, mental health, and chronic disease prevalence was assessed using logistic regression, and adjusted for various socioeconomic and lifestyle characteristics.Results: Short or long sleep duration showed correlations with mental health, and items of significance showed gender-specific patterns. Women displayed significant associations with stress and depressive symptoms, and men with stress, thoughts of suicide, and psychiatric counseling. While stress was related with short sleep duration in both genders, depressive symptoms showed a relationship with long duration in men, and short duration in women. Prevalence of any chronic disease was associated with ≤ 6 h sleep when adjusted for factors including mental health, and among chronic diseases, cancer and osteoarthritis showed associations with short sleep duration, while diabetes and dyslipidemia were associated with normal sleep duration.Conclusions: Mental health problems were associated with sleep duration with gender-specific patterns. Associations with osteoarthritis, cancer, diabetes, dyslipidemia and abnormal sleep duration persisted after adjustment for mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report an effect of photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) by space layer doping in InAs/ GaAs quantum dot solar cells (QDSC) and δ-doped QDSC grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The PCEs of QDSC and δ-doped QDSC without anti-reflection coating were 10.8% and 4.3%, respectively. The QDSC had about four electrons per QD, and its ideality factor was temperatureindependent, which implies that recombination of electron-hole pairs is suppressed by strong potential barriers around charged dots. From the deep level transient spectroscopy measurements, four defect levels, including QD with the activation energy ranges from 0.08 eV to 0.50 eV below GaAs conduction band edge, appeared. Especially, the M1 defect (Ec-0.14 eV) was newly formed in δ-doped QDSC and its density was higher than those of M3 (Ec-0.35 eV) and M4 (Ec-0.50 eV) levels in QDSC. These results suggest that the photo-carriers recombining at M1 defect might be responsible for the reduction of PCE in δ-doped QDSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated fractional quantumHall (QH) statesin Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene using transconductance fluctuationmeasurements. A variety of odd-denominator fractional QH states withνQH→ νQH+ 2 symmetry, as previously reported, are observed. However, surprisingis that also particle-hole symmetric states are clearly resolved inthe same measurement set. We attribute their emergence to the reversalof orbital states in the octet level scheme induced by a strong localcharge imbalance, which can be captured by the transconductance fluctuations.Also the even-denominator fractional QH state at filling −1/2is observed. However, contrary to a previous study on a suspendedgraphene layer [Kiet al. Nano Lett.2014, 14, 2135],the particle-hole symmetric state at filling 1/2 is detected as well.These observations suggest that the stability of both odd and evendenominator fractional QH states is very sensitive to local transverseelectric fields in bilayer graphene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a method for finding the enhanced heading and position of pedestrians by fusing the Zero velocity UPdaTe (ZUPT)-based pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) and the kinematic constraints of the lower human body. ZUPT is a well known algorithm for PDR, and provides a sufficiently accurate position solution for short term periods, but it cannot guarantee a stable and reliable heading because it suffers from magnetic disturbance in determining heading angles, which degrades the overall position accuracy as time passes. The basic idea of the proposed algorithm is integrating the left and right foot positions obtained by ZUPTs with the heading and position information from an IMU mounted on the waist. To integrate this information, a kinematic model of the lower human body, which is calculated by using orientation sensors mounted on both thighs and calves, is adopted. We note that the position of the left and right feet cannot be apart because of the kinematic constraints of the body, so the kinematic model generates new measurements for the waist position. The Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) on the waist data that estimates and corrects error states uses these measurements and magnetic heading measurements, which enhances the heading accuracy. The updated position information is fed into the foot mounted sensors, and reupdate processes are performed to correct the position error of each foot. The proposed update-reupdate technique consequently ensures improved observability of error states and position accuracy. Moreover, the proposed method provides all the information about the lower human body, so that it can be applied more effectively to motion tracking. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is verified via experimental results, which show that a 1.25% Return Position Error (RPE) with respect to walking distance is achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein we report a detailed investigation of a highly robust hybrid system (sensitizer/TiO2/catalyst) for the visible-light reduction of CO2 to CO; the system comprises 5'-(4-[bis(4-methoxymethylphenyl)amino]phenyl-2,2'-dithiophen-5-yl)cyanoacrylic acid as the sensitizer and (4,4'-bis(methylphosphonic acid)-2,2'-bipyridine)ReI(CO)3Cl as the catalyst, both of which have been anchored on three different types of TiO2 particles (s-TiO2, h-TiO2, d-TiO2). It was found that remarkable enhancements in the CO2 conversion activity of the hybrid photocatalytic system can be achieved by addition of water or such other additives as Li+, Na+, and TEOA. The photocatalytic CO2 reduction efficiency was enhanced by approximately 300% upon addition of 3% (v/v) H2O, giving a turnover number of =570 for 30 h. A series of Mott-Schottky (MS) analyses on nanoparticle TiO2 films demonstrated that the flat-band potential (Vfb) of TiO2 in dry DMF is substantially negative but positively shifts to considerable degrees in the presence of water or Li+, indicating that the enhancement effects of the additives on the catalytic activity should mainly arise from optimal alignment of the TiO2 Vfb with respect to the excited-state oxidation potential of the sensitizer and the reduction potential of the catalyst in our ternary system. The present results confirm that the TiO2 semiconductor in our heterogeneous hybrid system is an essential component that can effectively work as an electron reservoir and as an electron transporting mediator to play essential roles in the persistent photocatalysis activity of the hybrid system in the selective reduction of CO2 to CO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: We attempted to investigate the prognosis of signet-ring cell carcinoma (SRC) patients who underwent curative surgery by comparing them with age-, sex-, and stage-matched non-mucinous adenocarcinoma (NMAC) patients. Methods: Between January 2003 and December 2011, 19 patients with primary SRC of the colorectum underwent curative surgery. Four SRC patients under the age of 40 were excluded, and the clinicopathological data of 15 patients (7 men; median age, 56 years) were reviewed and compared with the data of 75 NMAC patients matched by age, sex, and pathologic stage. Results: The median follow-up duration was 30.1 months for the SRC group and 43.7 months for the NMAC group (P =0.141). Involvement of the left side of the colon (73.3% vs. 26.7%, P =0.003) and infiltrative lesions such as Borrmann types 3 and 4 (85.7% vs. 24.0%, P =0.001) were more common in the SRC group than in the NMAC group. The five-year overall survival rate was significantly lower for patients with SRC than for those with NMAC (46.0% vs. 88.7%, hazard ratio, 6.99; 95% confidence interval, 2.33−20.95, P =0.001). Conclusions: Patients with even resectable primary colorectal SRC had a poorer prognosis than age-, sex-, and stage-matched colorectal NMAC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), one of the oldest anticancer therapeutic agents, is increasingly being administered in cancer chemotherapy. In the present study, the anticancer effects of 5-FU combined with corosolic acid (CRA) were determined in SNU-620 human gastric carcinoma cells and the underlying mechanisms were examined. A combination treatment of 5-FU and CRA inhibited the viability of cells additively. Furthermore, apoptotic activity following combination treatment was found to be stronger than that of the single treatments, as observed using an Annexin V/propidium iodide assay. The protein level of Bcl-2 was decreased significantly by the combination treatment, whereas the protein level of Bim was increased. The release of mitochondrial cytochrome c was increased as a result of the combination treatment, however, the combination treatment additively increased caspase-3 and poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavages. Additionally, the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway, which is highly activated in gastric cancer, was regulated by 5-FU and CRA, and additive mTOR/eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1 (4-EBP1) inhibition was observed with the combination treatment. Additional rapamycin treatment along with the combination treatment of 5-FU and CRA showed a more marked inhibition of mTOR/4-EBP1 in the cells, as well as increased apoptosis and antiproliferation. Thus, these data indicate that CRA enhances the anticancer activities of 5-FU via mTOR inhibition in SNU-620 human gastric carcinoma cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcohol consumption increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. However, its effects on prediabetes or early diabetes have not been studied. We investigated endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in the pancreas and liver resulting from chronic alcohol consumption in the prediabetes and early stages of diabetes. We separated Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats, a type-2 diabetic animal model, into two groups based on diabetic stage: prediabetes and early diabetes were defined as occurrence between the ages of 11 to 16 weeks and 17 to 22 weeks, respectively. The experimental group received an ethanol-containing liquid diet for 6 weeks. An intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test was conducted after 16 and 22 weeks for the prediabetic and early diabetes groups, respectively. There were no significant differences in body weight between the control and ethanol groups. Fasting and 120-min glucose levels were lower and higher, respectively, in the ethanol group than in the control group. In prediabetes rats, alcohol induced significant expression of ER stress markers in the pancreas; however, alcohol did not affect the liver. In early diabetes rats, alcohol significantly increased most ER stress-marker levels in both the pancreas and liver. These results indicate that chronic alcohol consumption increased the risk of diabetes in prediabetic and early diabetic OLETF rats; the pancreas was more susceptible to damage than was the liver in the early diabetic stages, and the adaptive and proapoptotic pathway of ER stress may play key roles in the development and progression of diabetes affected by chronic alcohol ingestion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic properties of tricin derivatives from Zizania latifolia. Topics discussed include isolation of flavone and flavonolignans with repeated silica gel and ODS column chromatography, several subtances including cascade of nitric oxide (NO), cytokines, and growth factors, which regulates inflammation, and preparative-liquid chromatography (prep-LC).

Two new flavonolignan glycosides, tricin-4'-O-(threo-β-guaiacylglyceryl) ether 7''-O-β-D-glucopyranose (4) and tricin-4'-O-(erythro-β-guaiacylglyceryl) ether 7''-O-β-D-glucopyranose (5) were isolated from the roots of Zizania latifolia, together with tricin-7-O-β-D-glucopyranose (1), tricin-4'-O-(threo-β-guaiacylglyceryl) ether 7-O-β-D-glucopyranose (2), and tricin-4'-O-(erythro-β-guaiacylglyceryl) ether 7-O-β-D-glucopyranose (3). Their structures were identified on the basis of spectroscopic techniques, including HR-ESI/MS, 1D-NMR (1H, 13C, DEPT), 2D-NMR (gCOSY, gHSQC, gHMBC), and IR spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration and/or biopsy (EUS-FNA/B) have been used to diagnose subepithelial tumors (SETs) and extraluminal lesions in the gastrointestinal tract. Our group previously reported the usefulness of EUS-FNA/B for rectal and perirectal lesions. This study reports our expanded experience with EUS-FNA/B for rectal and perirectal lesions in terms of diagnostic accuracy and safety. We also included our new experience with EUS-FNB using the recently introduced ProCore needle. Methods: From April 2009 to March 2014, EUS-FNA/B for rectal and perirectal lesions was performed in 30 consecutive patients. We evaluated EUS-FNA/B performance by comparing histological diagnoses with final results. We also investigated factors affecting diagnostic accuracy. Results: Among 10 patients with SETs, EUS-FNA/ B specimen results revealed a gastrointestinal stromal tumor in 4 patients and malignant lymphoma in 1 patient. The diagnostic accuracy of EUS-FNA/B was 50% for SETs (5/10). Among 20 patients with non-SET lesions, 8 patients were diagnosed with malignant disease and 7 were diagnosed with benign disease based on both EUS-FNA/B and the final results. The diagnostic accuracy of EUS-FNA/B for non-SET lesions was 75% (15/20). The size of lesions was the only factor related to diagnostic accuracy (P=0.027). Two complications of mild fever and asymptomatic pneumoperitoneum occurred after EUS-FNA/B. Conclusions: The overall diagnostic accuracy of EUS-FNA/B for rectal and perirectal lesions was 67% (20/30). EUS-FNA/B is a clinically useful method for cytological and histological diagnoses of rectal and perirectal lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foeniculum vulgare Mill. (fennel) is used to flavor food, in cosmetics, as an antioxidant, and to treat microbial, diabetic and common inflammation. No study to date, however, has assessed the anti-inflammatory effects of fennel in experimental models of inflammation. The aims of this study were to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of fennel in model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury. Mice were randomly assigned to seven groups (n=7∼10). In five groups, the mice were intraperitoneally injected with 1% Tween 80-saline (vehicle), fennel (125, 250, 500μ l/kg), or dexamethasone (1 mg/kg), followed 1 h later by intratracheal instillation of LPS (1.5 mg/kg). In two groups, the mice were intraperitoneally injected with vehicle or fennel (250μ l/kg), followed 1 h later by intratracheal instillation of sterile saline. Mice were sacrificed 4 h later, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and lung tissues were obtained. Fennel significantly and dose-dependently reduced LDH activity and immune cell numbers in LPS treated mice. In addition fennel effectively suppressed the LPS-induced increases in the production of the inflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha, with 500μ l/kg fennel showing maximal reduction. Fennel also significantly and dose-dependently reduced the activity of the proinflammatory mediator matrix metalloproteinase 9 and the immune modulator nitric oxide (NO). Assessments of the involvement of the MAPK signaling pathway showed that fennel significantly decreased the LPS-induced phosphorylation of ERK. Fennel effectively blocked the inflammatory processes induced by LPS, by regulating pro-inflammatory cytokine production, transcription factors, and NO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the external validity of knee osteoarthritis trials through a systematic review of randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trials. Materials and methods: Randomized trials were identified by searches conducted in PubMed, SCOPUS, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Then, the number of patients who were screened for eligibility, the number of patients who were eligible, and the number of patients who were randomized in each trial were identified. Results: Overall, 345 reports presenting 352 trials were included in the analysis. Of the trials that reported quantitative recruitment data, the median proportion of screened patients who were eligible for participation was 71.9% (interquartile range: 52.7 to 86.5%) and the median proportion of eligible patients who were randomized in a trial was 92.9% (interquartile range: 82.5 to 100%). The median proportion of screened patients who were randomized in a trial was 67.9% (interquartile range: 48.9 to 92.9%), indicating that three patients were screened for every two patients randomized in trials. When this median value was considered as a reference point, trials conducted for 34% of individual treatments randomized lower proportions of screened patients. Conclusion: Knee osteoarthritis trials were excellently generalizable. However, the generalizability should be considered in relation to all clinical information shown in trials, since a great number of treatments appear to be tested on highly selected patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light-emitting diodes have been tested as alternative light sources in plant growth facilities. It was discovered that growth of green perilla is specifically promoted by blue light. In this study, we investigated whether growth promotion of blue light differed at different bandwidths of 5 nm intervals in the 430-470 nm spectra. Cool white fluorescent lamps were used as the control. Leaf area, leaf fresh weight, and leaf dry weight increased more than 30% at bandwidths shorter than 450 nm. Similarly, plant height, stem fresh weight, stem dry weight, and stem diameter increased over two- to four-fold at bandwidths shorter than 445 nm. Anthocyanin content also increased at wavelengths shorter than 445 nm. These findings indicate that blue light shorter than 450 nm promotes highly leaf and stem growth of green perilla than that longer than 451 nm does. Thus, employing blue light shorter than 450 nm in plant growth facility lighting systems could provide a practical advantage for producing quality perilla leaves for fresh vegetables. © 2014 Friends Science Publishers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microorganisms interact with each other within a community. Within the same community, some microorganisms tend to co-exist, whereas some others tend to avoid each other. The association among microorganisms can be revealed by computing the correlation between their abundance patterns that are measured through metagenomic sequencing across multiple communities. In this paper, we built an association network among microorganisms from the human oral microbiome. To improve its accuracy, we adopted a network deconvolution algorithm to filter out indirect associations, and we used an ensemble of three correlation measures to filter out the false-positive associations. When applying on the metagenomic data from human oral samples, experimental results showed that phylogenetically close microorganisms formed highly correlated network clusters. Additionally, most of the identified mutually exclusive associations were related to the order Lactobacillales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) is a rare peroxisomal disorder, that is rapidly progressive, neurodegenerative, and recessive, and characteristically primary affects the central nervous system white matter and the adrenal cortex. X-ALD is diagnosed basaed on clinical, radiological, and serological parameters, including elevated plasma levels of very long chain fatty acids (VLCFA), such as C24:0 and C26:0, and high C24:0/C22:0 and C26:0/C22:0 ratios. These tests are complemented with genetic analyses. A 7.5-year-old boy was admitted to Department of Pediatrics, Chungnam National University Hospital with progressive weakness of the bilateral lower extremities. Brain magnetic resonance imaging confirmed clinically suspected ALD. A low dose adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation test revealed parital adrenal insufficiency. His fasting plasma levels of VLCFA showed that his C24:0/C22:0 and C26:0/C22:0 ratios were significantly elevated to 1.609 (normal, 0-1.390) and 0.075 (normal, 0-0.023), respectively. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral whole blood samples collected from the patient and his family. All exons of ABCD1 gene were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using specific primers. Amplified PCR products were sequenced using the same primer pairs according to the manufacturer's instructions. We identified a missense mutation (p.Arg163Leu) in the ABCD1 gene of the proband caused by the nucleotide change 488G>T in exon 1. His asymptomatic mother carried the same mutation. We have reported an unpublished mutation in the ABCD1 gene in a patient with X-ALD, who showed increased ratio of C24:0/C22:0 and C26:0/C22:0, despite a normal VLCFA concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes the use of flexible capacitive electrodes for reducing motion artifacts in a wearable electrocardiogram (ECG) device. The capacitive electrodes have conductive foam on their surface, a shield, an optimal input bias resistor, and guarding feedback. The electrodes are integrated in a chest belt, and the acquired signals are transmitted wirelessly for ambulatory heart rate monitoring. We experimentally validated the electrode performance with subjects standing and walking on a treadmill at speeds of up to 7 km/h. The results confirmed the highly accurate heart rate detection capacity of the developed system and its feasibility for daily-life ECG monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facial expressions convey personal characteristics and subtle emotional states. This paper presents a new framework for modeling subtle facial motions of different people with different types of expressions from high-resolution facial expression tracking data to synthesize new stylized subtle facial expressions. A conceptual facial motion manifold is used for a unified representation of facial motion dynamics from three-dimensional (3D) high-resolution facial motions as well as from two-dimensional (2D) low-resolution facial motions. Variant subtle facial motions in different people with different expressions are modeled by nonlinear mappings from the embedded conceptual manifold to input facial motions using empirical kernel maps. We represent facial expressions by a factorized nonlinear generative model, which decomposes expression style factors and expression type factors from different people with multiple expressions. We also provide a mechanism to control the high-resolution facial motion model from low-resolution facial video sequence tracking and analysis. Using the decomposable generative model with a common motion manifold embedding, we can estimate parameters to control 3D high resolution facial expressions from 2D tracking results, which allows performance- driven control of high-resolution facial expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]