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Aims: This study aimed to report corneal steep island (CSI) formation following primary pterygium surgery and to identify preoperative pterygium morphological features that predict the likelihood of CSI. Methods: A total of 93 eyes from 84 subjects with primary nasal pterygium, who underwent pterygium excision combined with conjunctival-limbal autograft, were included in this retrospective longitudinal cohort study. CSI was defined using anterior segment swept-source optical coherence tomography (AS SS-OCT). Eyes were divided into two groups: those with postoperative CSI formation (Group 1) and those without postoperative CSI (Group 2). We compared postoperative anterior corneal astigmatism (ACA, in diopters [D]) and root mean square (RMS) values of anterior corneal lower-order (LoA) and higher-order aberrations (HoA) between the groups. Baseline clinical severity grades of pterygium based on the pre-established pterygium body morphology and vascularity, ACA, and AS SS-OCT-guided pterygium morphological profiles (horizontal invasion length [HIL, mm], height [μm], thickness (μm), and residual corneal thickness [RCT]/central corneal thickness [CCT] ratio [RCT/CCT]) were also compared. Results: Postoperative CSI occurred in 26 eyes (28.0%) with a maximum follow-up duration of 22.9±27.4 months. Group 1 exhibited significantly higher postoperative anterior corneal RMS LoA and HoA, as well as the RMS values of the 4th to 6th orders. Although clinical severity grades of pterygium did not differ between groups, baseline ACA was higher in Group 1 (4.56±5.49 D vs. 2.70±3.80 D, P = 0.009). HIL (4.49±0.84 mm vs. 3.77±1.29 mm, P = 0.010) was higher in Group 1, while pterygium height (930.8±84.4 μm vs. 999.3±128.0 μm, P = 0.015) and RCT/CCT ratio (1.07±0.13 vs. 1.14±0.16, P = 0.049) were lower in Group 1. Conclusions: CSI may develop after primary pterygium surgery, particularly in patients with relatively higher preoperative ACA, longer HIL, and shorter height. Given that CSI can significantly increase both lower and higher-order aberrations, it is crucial to anticipate CSI probability and inform patients before surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To propose the optimal value of baseline corneal astigmatism and pterygial morphological profiles for primary pterygium surgery to restore the corneal optical properties. Methods: We analysed 93 eyes from 84 subjects with nasal‐only primary pterygium who underwent pterygium excision with conjunctival‐limbal autograft and were assessed perioperatively using anterior segment swept‐source optical coherence tomography (AS SS‐OCT). We collected data on anterior corneal astigmatism (ACA) and root mean square (RMS) values for anterior corneal lower‐ (LoA) and higher‐order aberrations (HoA) as corneal optical properties using AS SS‐OCT. Using preoperative ACA and four pterygial morphological profiles (horizontal invasion length [HIL], height, thickness and the ratio of residual corneal thickness [RCT] to central corneal thickness [CCT]) measured in AS SS‐OCT, we plotted receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. These curves aimed to determine cut‐off values predicting a perioperative decrease exceeding 50% in ACA, RMS LoA and RMS HoA, as well as postoperative residual ACA higher than 1.25D. Results: Preoperative ACA > 1.42D (AUC = 0.934) and >3.60D (AUC = 0.946) proved most effective in identifying subjects with perioperative decrease exceeding in ACA and RMS LoA, respectively. HIL > 3.34 mm (AUC = 0.941) was most effective in distinguishing subjects with perioperative reduction exceeding 50% in RMS HoA. Preoperative ACA > 5.78D (AUC = 0.776) and HIL > 5.03 mm (AUC = 0.700) significantly distinguished subjects with postoperative residual ACA higher than 1.25D. Conclusion: Optimizing the restoration of corneal astigmatism and aberrations after pterygium surgery may be facilitated by determining the optimal surgical timing based on preoperative ACA and HIL values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a major influence on working patterns worldwide, given the various lockdown periods and the shift to remote working. As people's noise perception is known to be closely linked with their work performance and job satisfaction, investigating the noise perception in indoor spaces, especially in situations where people work from home, is crucial; however, studies on this aspect are limited. Thus, here, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between indoor noise perception and remote work during the pandemic. The study assessed how people who worked from home perceived indoor noise, and how it related with their work performance and job satisfaction. A social survey was conducted with respondents who worked from home during the pandemic in South Korea. A total of 1,093 valid responses were used for data analysis. Structural equation modeling was used as a multivariate data analysis method to simultaneously estimate multiple and interrelated relationships. The results showed that indoor noise disturbance significantly affected annoyance and work performance. Annoyance with indoor noise affected job satisfaction. Job satisfaction was found to have a significant impact on work performance, particularly on two dimensions of the work performance that are crucial for achieving organizations' goals. Moreover, one dimension of the work performance had a significant impact on annoyance. The study proposed that reducing negative perception of indoor noise and improvement of job satisfaction can lead to the maximization of one's work performance when working from home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In apartment houses, noise between floors can disturb pleasant living environments and cause disputes between neighbors. As a means of resolving disputes caused by inter-floor noise, noises are recorded for 24 hours in a household to verify whether the inter-floor noise exceeded the legal standards. If the noise exceeds the legal standards, the recorded sound is listened to, and it is checked whether the noise comes from neighboring households. When done manually, this process requires time and is costly, and there is a problem of whether the listener's judgments of the sound source are consistent. This study aims to classify inter-floor noise according to noise sources by using a convolutional neural network model. A total of 1,515 sound sources of data recorded for 24 h from three households were annotated, and 40 4s audio clips of six noise sources, including "Footsteps," "Dragging furniture," "Hammering," "Instant impact (dropping a heavy item)," "Vacuum cleaner," and "Public announcement system" were identified. Moreover, datasets of 16 classes using ESC50's urban sound category audio were used to distinguish the inter-floor noise heard indoors from the external noise. Although DenseNet, ResNet, Inception, and EfficientNet are models that use images as their domains, they showed an accuracy of 91.43–95.27% when classifying the inter-floor noise dataset. Among the reviewed models, ResNet showed an accuracy of 95.27±2.30% as well as a highest performance level in the F1 score, precision, and recall metrics. Additionally, ResNet showed the shortest inference time. This paper concludes by suggesting that the present findings can be extended in future research for monitoring acoustic elements of indoor soundscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The amniotic membrane (AM) is the transparent innermost layer of the placenta and it facilitates rapid wound healing in a diversity of ocular surface disorders. However, extended periods of cryopreservation before use induce significant impairment of cell viability due to oxidative stresses and inflammatory responses. We investigated the effect of supplementing ulinastatin (ULI), a known serine protease inhibitor, and relevant mechanisms of action in AM preservation solution through the hypothermic continuum on inflammatory and apoptotic signals and viability of AM tissue. Materials and methods: The expression of inflammatory signal factors, including high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB), receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 3 (RIPK3) and anti-TNF-inducible gene 6 (TSG-6) which is a TNF-α-inducible anti-inflammatory protein, and the expression of apoptotic signal factors, including caspase (Cas)-9 and Cas-8, the initiators, and Cas-3, the executioner caspase and Bax were analyzed with or without ULI during hypothermic preservation of human AM. Subsequently, the actual viability of human AM tissue was verified with or without ULI supplementation throughout hypothermic continuum (both hypothermic- and cryopreservation). Results: Hypothermic AM preservation with ULI for 48 h resulted in downregulated expression of cold-inducible inflammatory factors, including HMGB1 and NF-κB, as well as RIPK3. In addition, ULI suppressed apoptotic signals related with Cas-9, Cas-8, and Cas-3 under hypothermic conditions. Furthermore, ULI supplementation during hypothermic- and cryopreservation of AM significantly enhanced viability of AM tissue and amniotic epithelial cells. Conclusions: Supplementation of ULI during human AM preservation through the hypothermic continuum may be a feasible dual anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic strategy that enhances the viability of AM tissue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Angiogenin (ANG), a component of tears, is involved in the innate immune system and is related with inflammatory disease. We investigated whether ANG has an immune modulatory function in human corneal fibroblasts (HCFs).Methods: HCFs were cultured from excised corneal tissues. The gene or protein expression levels of interleukin (IL)-1beta (β), IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, complements, toll-like receptor (TLR)4, myeloid differentiation primary response gene (MYD)88, TANK-binding kinase (TBK)1, IkappaB kinase-epsilon (IKK-ε) and nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) were analyzed with or without ANG treatment in tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α)- or lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory HCFs by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Western blotting and immunocytochemistry. Inflammatory cytokine profiles with or without ANG were evaluated through immunodot blot analysis in inflammatory HCFs. Corneal neovascularization and opacity in a rat model of corneal alkali burn were evaluated after application of ANG eye drops.Results: ANG decreased the mRNA levels of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α receptor (TNFR)1, 2, TLR4, MYD88, and complement components except for C1r and C1s and elevated the mRNA expression of IL-4 and IL-10. Increased signal intensity of IL-6, IL-8 and monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1 and MCP-2 induced by TNF-α or LPS was weakened by ANG treatment. ANG reduced the protein levels of IKK-ε by either TNF-α and LPS, and decreased TBK1 production induced by TNF-α, but not induced by LPS. The expression of NF-κB in the nuclei was decreased after ANG treatment. ANG application lowered corneal neovascularization and opacity in rats compared to controls.Conclusion: These results demonstrate that ANG reduces the inflammatory response induced by TNF-α or LPS in HCFs through common suppression of IKK-ε-mediated activation of NF-κB. This may support the targeting of immune-mediated corneal inflammation by using ANG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates several factors that have not been specified in the standard for dynamic stiffness, compressibility, and long-term deformation; these factors can be used to evaluate the acoustic and physical performances of resilient materials. The study is intended to provide basic data for deriving the factors that need to be additionally reviewed through the standards. Since magnitude of dynamic stiffness changes with an increase in loading time, it is necessary to examine the setting of the loading time for a load plate under test conditions. Samples of size 300×300 mm, rather than 200×200 mm, yielded more reliable results for compressibility measurement. Since the test to infer long-term deformation of resilient materials after a period of 10 years in some samples showed variation characteristics different from those specified in the standards, it is recommended that the test method should be reviewed through ongoing research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Zinc finger protein known to induce squamous metaplasia and regulate vitamin A expression has been few investigated as tear protein. We investigated tear protein variations in patients with dry eye syndrome (DES). Materials and methods: Tears from healthy subjects as control and patients with DES were collected. Tear proteins were separated by one-dimensional electrophoresis. The protein bands were analyzed by nano liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results: Compared to the controls, significant down-regulation of lactoferrin and lysozyme was detected, while significant up-regulation was observed for serum albumin in patients with DES. DES grade 4 patients showed different protein patterns. Zinc-finger motif-enhancer binding-protein-1 gamma and bromodomain adjacent to zinc finger domain 2B were detected in DES grade 4 patients. Conclusions: Tear protein changes are valuable to diagnosis DES. Zinc finger proteins may be associated with pathophysiology of severe DES. Further studies are needed to better understand the relationship of zinc finger proteins in tear of patients with DES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Installing resilient materials between the slab and the Ondol layer is known as the most popular method of reducing floor impact sound in Korean apartments. The Ondol layer is made up of lightweight concrete and mortar constructed on the upper part of the resilient material, and is a typical heating system used for all types of residential buildings in Korea. In Korea, lightweight impact sound and heavyweight impact sound are considered when evaluating the floor impact sound. The resilient materials used can be categorized according to dynamic stiffness. Resilient materials with a low dynamic stiffness reduce the lightweight floor impact sound level. In this study, to examine the relationship between dynamic stiffness and heavyweight impact sound level, the dynamic stiffness and floor impact sound level of 51 resilient materials were measured. The impact sound level of each of these resilient materials, whose dynamic stiffness was measured, was measured before and after installation, and the level difference (ΔL) was analyzed. The measurement results show that, if the dynamic stiffness of single-layered resilient materials is known, the dynamic stiffness of multi-layered structures of resilient materials can be predicted. Also, as the dynamic stiffness of resilient materials decreased, the heavyweight impact sound level also decreased, and there was a correlation between the dynamic stiffness and the heavyweight impact sound. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]