Search

The burgeoning interest in intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and the widespread adoption of in-vehicle amenities like infotainment have spurred a heightened fascination with vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs). Multi-hop routing protocols are pivotal in actualizing these in-vehicle services, such as infotainment, wirelessly. This study presents a novel protocol called multiple junction-based traffic-aware routing (MJTAR) for VANET vehicles operating in urban environments. MJTAR represents an advancement over the improved greedy traffic-aware routing (GyTAR) protocol. MJTAR introduces a distributed mechanism capable of recognizing vehicle traffic and computing curve metric distances based on two-hop junctions. Additionally, it employs a technique to dynamically select the most optimal multiple junctions between source and destination using the ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm. We implemented the proposed protocol using the network simulator 3 (NS-3) and simulation of urban mobility (SUMO) simulators and conducted performance evaluations by comparing it with GSR and GyTAR. Our evaluation demonstrates that the proposed protocol surpasses GSR and GyTAR by over 20% in terms of packet delivery ratio, with the end-to-end delay reduced to less than 1.3 s on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This retrospective study investigated the long-term incidence and risk of postoperative complications following spinal fusion. This study included 640,366 participants from a National Health Examination cohort in the Republic of Korea. Among them, 11,699 individuals underwent spinal fusion, and 56,667 individuals who underwent non-fusion spinal procedures served as controls. Propensity score matching was used to account for patient characteristics including demographic factors, comorbidities, and other relevant variables. The participants were followed for 8 years to assess the occurrence of cerebrovascular disease (CVD), hemorrhagic infarction (HA), ischemic infarction (II), occlusion and stenosis, and ischemic heart disease (IHD). The incidence rates of CVD and IHD were found to be 27.58 and 31.45 per 1,000 person-years in the spinal fusion group compared to 18.68 and 25.73 per 1,000 person-years in the control group (p <.001), respectively. Patients who underwent spinal fusion had a higher risk of CVD, HA, and IHD than those in the control group (all p <.001). In the subgroup analysis, thoracolumbar and noncervical spinal fusion were associated with a higher risk of CVD, II, and IHD (all p <.005). Patients undergoing thoracolumbar fusion may have an increased association with CVD, II in cerebral arteries, and IHD. This suggests a need for careful consideration of vascular risks in such patient populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preliminary evidence suggests a possible higher incidence of diagnosis of autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIRDs) among patients with a history of COVID-19, but whether this association is specific to SARS-CoV-2 infection is unclear. This study compared the risk for AIRD in patients with a recent SARS-CoV-2 infection versus those with recent influenza infection and those with no infection. Visual Abstract. Long-Term Autoimmune Inflammatory Rheumatic Outcomes of COVID-19: Preliminary evidence suggests a possible higher incidence of diagnosis of autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIRDs) among patients with a history of COVID-19, but whether this association is specific to SARS-CoV-2 infection is unclear. This study compared the risk for AIRD in patients with a recent SARS-CoV-2 infection versus those with recent influenza infection and those with no infection. Background: Some data suggest a higher incidence of diagnosis of autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIRDs) among patients with a history of COVID-19 compared with uninfected patients. However, these studies had methodological shortcomings. Objective: To investigate the effect of COVID-19 on long-term risk for incident AIRD over various follow-up periods. Design: Binational, longitudinal, propensity-matched cohort study. Setting: Nationwide claims-based databases in South Korea (K-COV-N cohort) and Japan (JMDC cohort). Participants: 10 027 506 Korean and 12 218 680 Japanese patients aged 20 years or older, including those with COVID-19 between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021, matched to patients with influenza infection and to uninfected control patients. Measurements: The primary outcome was onset of AIRD (per appropriate codes from the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision) 1, 6, and 12 months after COVID-19 or influenza infection or the respective matched index date of uninfected control patients. Results: Between 2020 and 2021, among the 10 027 506 Korean participants (mean age, 48.4 years [SD, 13.4]; 50.1% men), 394 274 (3.9%) and 98 596 (0.98%) had a history of COVID-19 or influenza, respectively. After propensity score matching, beyond the first 30 days after infection, patients with COVID-19 were at increased risk for incident AIRD compared with uninfected patients (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.25 [95% CI, 1.18 to 1.31]) and influenza-infected control patients (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.30 [CI, 1.02 to 1.59]). The risk for incident AIRD was higher with more severe acute COVID-19. Similar patterns were observed in the Japanese cohort. Limitations: Referral bias due to the pandemic; residual confounding. Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with increased risk for incident AIRD compared with matched patients without SARS-CoV-2 infection or with influenza infection. The risk for incident AIRD was higher with greater severity of acute COVID-19. Primary Funding Source: National Research Foundation of Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the remarkable progress in the development of sweat sensors, self‐powered sweat‐responsive sensing displays that detect sweat in electric signals with simultaneous and direct visualization of the sweat is rarely demonstrated. Here, a self‐powered sweat‐responsive structural color (SC) display enabled by ionomer‐doped block copolymer (BCP) photonic crystals (PCs) is presented. The sweat‐responsive BCP PC is developed by employing a cross‐linking single‐mobile ionomer (SMI) with mobile anions anchored to immobile polycations to a 1‐D BCP PC. The hydrophobic SMI‐doped BCP PC is mechanically robust as well as water and temperature‐resistive, exhibiting ionomer concentration‐dependent full visible SCs. Moreover, the mobile anions periodically confined in the SMI‐doped BCP PC harvest triboelectric energy, giving rise to a high‐power density of ≈0.774 Mw cm−2. Cation‐sensitive SC variation is observed in the SMI‐doped BCP PC, allowing the visualization of sweat containing various cations. A skin‐patchable self‐powered sweat‐responsive display is demonstrated in which kirigami‐patterned SMI‐doped BCP PC incorporated in the display can withstand up to 50% strain during exercise. Sweat from the exercise is visualized via SC display and measured using both ionic resistance changes and triboelectric signals. In addition, the integration of sweat sensing membrane into SMI‐doped BCP PC enables the quantification of sweat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increase in the demand for quality of life following spinal cord injuries (SCIs) is associated with an increase in musculoskeletal (MSK) pain, highlighting the need for preventive measure research.This study aimed to evaluate the incidence and hazards of MSK morbidities among Korean adults with SCIs, as well as the influence of SCI location on MSK morbidities.Patient populations were selected from Korean National Health Insurance Service data (n = 276). The control group included individuals without SCIs (n = 10,000). We compared the incidences and determined the unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of common MSK morbidities (osteoarthritis, connective tissue disorders, sarcopenia, myalgia, neuralgia, rheumatoid arthritis, myositis, and musculoskeletal infections) based on the location of injury (cervical, thoracic, or lumbar).Adults with SCIs had a higher incidence of MSK morbidity (48.45% vs. 36.6%) and a lower survival probability than those without SCIs. The incidence of MSK morbidity and survival probabilities were not significantly different for cervical cord injuries, whereas both measures were significantly different for thoracic and lumbar injuries.SCI increases the risk of MSK morbidity. Lumbar SCI is associated with a higher incidence and risk of MSK morbidity than are cervical or thoracic SCIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of deep learning (DL) and machine learning (ML) has surged in recent years because of their imperative practicalities in different disciplines. Among these feasible workabilities are the noteworthy contributions of ML and DL, especially ant colony optimization (ACO) and whale optimization algorithm (WOA) ameliorated with neural networks (NNs) to identify specific categories of skin lesion disorders (SLD) precisely, supporting even high-experienced healthcare providers (HCPs) in performing flexible medical diagnoses, since historical patient databases would not necessarily help diagnose other patient situations. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of rich investigations respecting the contributory influences of ACO and WOA in the SLD classification, owing to the recent adoption of ML and DL in the medical field. Accordingly, a comprehensive review is conducted to shed light on relevant ACO and WOA functionalities for enhanced SLD identification. It is hoped, relying on the overview findings, that clinical practitioners and low-experienced or talented HCPs could benefit in categorizing the most proper therapeutical procedures for their patients by referring to a collection of abundant practicalities of those two models in the medical context, particularly (a) time, cost, and effort savings, and (b) upgraded accuracy, reliability, and performance compared with manual medical inspection mechanisms that repeatedly fail to correctly diagnose all patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The medical sciences are facing a major problem with the auto-detection of disease due to the fast growth in population density. Intelligent systems assist medical professionals in early disease detection and also help to provide consistent treatment that reduces the mortality rate. Skin cancer is considered to be the deadliest and most severe kind of cancer. Medical professionals utilize dermoscopy images to make a manual diagnosis of skin cancer. This method is labor-intensive and time-consuming and demands a considerable level of expertise. Automated detection methods are necessary for the early detection of skin cancer. The occurrence of hair and air bubbles in dermoscopic images affects the diagnosis of skin cancer. This research aims to classify eight different types of skin cancer, namely actinic keratosis (AKs), dermatofibroma (DFa), melanoma (MELa), basal cell carcinoma (BCCa), squamous cell carcinoma (SCCa), melanocytic nevus (MNi), vascular lesion (VASn), and benign keratosis (BKs). In this study, we propose SNC_Net, which integrates features derived from dermoscopic images through deep learning (DL) models and handcrafted (HC) feature extraction methods with the aim of improving the performance of the classifier. A convolutional neural network (CNN) is employed for classification. Dermoscopy images from the publicly accessible ISIC 2019 dataset for skin cancer detection is utilized to train and validate the model. The performance of the proposed model is compared with four baseline models, namely EfficientNetB0 (B1), MobileNetV2 (B2), DenseNet-121 (B3), and ResNet-101 (B4), and six state-of-the-art (SOTA) classifiers. With an accuracy of 97.81%, a precision of 98.31%, a recall of 97.89%, and an F1 score of 98.10%, the proposed model outperformed the SOTA classifiers as well as the four baseline models. Moreover, an Ablation study is also performed on the proposed method to validate its performance. The proposed method therefore assists dermatologists and other medical professionals in early skin cancer detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Existing studies provide insights into the prevalence and environmental factors associated with allergic rhinitis (AR) and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) globally. However, limitations still persist in these studies, particularly regarding cohort sizes and the duration of follow-up periods, indicating a need for more comprehensive and long-term research in these fields. Our study aimed to investigate the prevalence, long-term trends, and underlying factors of these conditions in the general population of adult participants (≥19 years) in Korea. Method: We analyzed data from adult participants (≥19 years) from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) study to determine the prevalence of AR and CRS from 1998 to 2021. To analyze prevalence trends before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, we employed a weighted linear regression model and obtained β-coefficients with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Between 1998 and 2021, over a span of 24 years, the comprehensive KNHANES study included 146,264 adult participants (mean age: 47.80 years, standard deviation: 16.49 years; 66,177, 49.3% men). The prevalence of AR and CRS increased from 1998 to 2021, with AR prevalence rising from 5.84% (95% CI, 5.57–6.10) in 1998–2005 to 8.99% (8.09–9.91) in 2021 and CRS from 1.84% (1.70–1.97) in 1998–2005 to 3.70% (3.18–4.23) in 2021. However, the increasing trend has slowed down during the COVID-19 pandemic era. Conclusions: The significance of continuous monitoring and focused interventions for AR and CRS is underscored by this study. The observed deceleration in the rising prevalence of AR and CRS during the pandemic indicates the possibility of beneficial impacts from lifestyle modifications triggered by the pandemic. These findings call for additional research to explore potential protective effects in greater depth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the incidence of new retinal artery occlusion (RAO) and retinal vein occlusion (RVO) after the diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) or vaccination against COVID-19 and compare the incidences with the population with neither. Nationwide population-based cohort study. From a nationwide population-based cohort, 8 418 590 patients were categorized into control (group 1), COVID-19 infection (group 2), and COVID-19 vaccination (group 3) groups. The cumulative incidence of RAO and RVO was calculated in groups 1, 2, and 3 using the Kaplan–Meier method. We calculated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) based on the Poisson distribution for RAO and RVO according to each group and subgroup using Cox proportional hazards models, with group 1 as the reference. We conducted univariable and multivariable analyses for the risk factors of RAO and RVO according to each subgroup. Cumulative incidence and risks of incidence of RAO and RVO from the index date to day 60. In multivariable analysis, no significant increase in RAO and RVO risks after COVID-19 or COVID-19 vaccination were observed in either men or women. These results were observed consistently across various conditions in sensitivity analyses. In subgroup analysis, individuals who were vaccinated before infection showed no significant increase in RAO or RVO risks in both sexes compared with the control group. In the subgroup analysis of vaccinated patients, the HRs of RAO and RVO for different vaccine types did not show an increase compared with the control group; however, an exception was observed in women who received mRNA-1273 vaccines, who showed a higher RAO HR (4.65; 95% CI, 1.27–17.03; P = 0.021). Within 60 days of COVID-19 diagnosis or vaccination, RAO and RVO occurred rarely. We observed no increase in the HR of RVO and RAO relative to COVID-19 or COVID-19 vaccination except for a possible increase in the RAO HR in women who received mRNA-1273, for which the raw incidence was extremely low. Further investigation is required to validate this result. The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a wrapper‐based technique to improve the classification performance of chest infection (including COVID‐19) detection using X‐rays. Deep features were extracted using pretrained deep learning models. Ten optimization techniques, including poor and rich optimization, path finder algorithm, Henry gas solubility optimization, Harris hawks optimization, atom search optimization, manta‐ray foraging optimization, equilibrium optimizer, slime mold algorithm, generalized normal distribution optimization, and marine predator algorithm, were used to determine the optimal features using a support vector machine. Moreover, a network selection technique was used to select the deep learning models. An online chest infection detection X‐ray scan dataset was used to validate the proposed approach. The results suggest that the proposed wrapper‐based automatic deep learning network selection and feature optimization framework has a high classification rate of 97.7%. The comparative analysis further validates the credibility of the framework in COVID‐19 and other chest infection classifications, suggesting that the proposed approach can help doctors in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-supervised learning (SSL) is a potential deep learning (DL) technique that uses massive volumes of unlabeled data to train neural networks. SSL techniques have evolved in response to the poor classification performance of conventional and even modern machine learning (ML) and DL models of enormous unlabeled data produced periodically in different disciplines. However, the literature does not fully address SSL's practicalities and workabilities necessary for industrial engineering and medicine. Accordingly, this thorough review is administered to identify these prominent possibilities for prediction, focusing on industrial and medical fields. This extensive survey, with its pivotal outcomes, could support industrial engineers and medical personnel in efficiently predicting machinery faults and patients' ailments without referring to traditional numerical models that require massive computational budgets, time, storage, and effort for data annotation. Additionally, the review's numerous addressed ideas could encourage industry and healthcare actors to take SSL principles into an agile application to achieve precise maintenance prognostics and illness diagnosis with remarkable levels of accuracy and feasibility, simulating functional human thinking and cognition without compromising prediction efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are only preliminary studies examining the associations of postnatal antibiotic exposure with food allergy in childhood, and the effect of antibiotic exposure in utero has not been resolved. Thus, we aimed to investigate the effect of prenatal and postnatal antibiotic exposure on the risk of food allergy in childhood. Methods: Using the nationwide birth cohort in South Korea, all 3,163,206 infants (pairing mother; n = 2,322,735) born in South Korea between 2010 and 2017 were included in the analysis. The primary outcome was the diagnosis of food allergy, and the observation period was between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2020. We implemented four different designs for the study, which consisted of a full unmatched cohort, 1:1 propensity‐matched cohort, sibling comparison cohort, and health screening cohort along with multiple subgroup analyses. Results: During the follow‐up period (median 6.92 years [IQR, 4.72–9.00]) of the 3,161,858 infants (52.6% male) in the birth cohort, 29,973 (1.9%) were diagnosed with food allergies. After a 1:1 propensity score matching, the use of antibiotics increased the risk of overall food allergy (prenatal [HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.04–1.09] and postnatal [HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.01–1.10] periods). The association was more significantly accentuated when antibiotic exposure was used in the short term, and the children were born preterm or with low birthweight; however, a trimester‐specific effect was not observed. We observed more pronounced risks of food allergy in the health screening cohort (prenatal, 17%; postnatal, 15%), thus addressing the adverse effects of critical factors including maternal BMI, smoking status, and type of infant feeding. Similar trends were observed across all four differnt cohorts. Conclusion: This study reported a moderate association between early‐life antibiotic use and subsequent food allergy during childhood throughout four different designs of analyses. This study suggests that clinicians need to consider the risks and benefits of antibiotics when administering antibiotics to individuals in the prenatal and postnatal periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common functional gastroduodenal disorder with a high socioeconomic burden, little is known about its global prevalence. Thus, we performed a comprehensive study to estimate long-term trends in the prevalence of FD. We searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, and Google Scholar from 1990 to 2022 for population-based studies that reported the prevalence of FD in adults (≥ 18 years old) according to Rome I, II, III, or IV criteria. The prevalence of FD was extracted from included studies to obtain pooled prevalence with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and 95% prediction intervals. Subgroup analysis was performed according to certain characteristics, including geographic region. A total of 44 studies met the eligibility criteria, including 256,915 participants from 40 countries across six continents. The overall global pooled prevalence of FD was 8.4% (95% CI 7.4–.9.5). The prevalence was the highest in Rome I (11.9%; 95% CI 5.1–25.4) and lowest in Rome IV (6.8%; 95% CI 5.8–7.9). Developing countries showed a higher prevalence than developed countries (9.1% versus 8.0%), and prevalence was higher in women, irrespective of the definition used (9.0% versus 7.0%). The pooled prevalence gradually decreased from 1990 to 2020 (12.4% [8.2–18.3] in 1990–2002 versus 7.3% [6.1–8.7] in 2013–2020). The prevalence of FD differs by country, economic status, geographical region, and sex, and the global prevalence has been gradually declining. Despite the heterogeneity of sample population, our study estimates the current global burden of FD and provides information to heath care policy decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Methods Results Conclusions Methimazole (MMI) and propylthiouracil (PTU) are commonly used for patients with thyrotoxicosis. Agranulocytosis and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)‐associated vasculitis (AAV) is associated with high morbidity and mortality, requiring appropriate interventions. In this study, we compared adverse drug effects associated with MMI and PTU using a real‐world large pharmacovigilance database.We searched all Individual Case Safety Reports reported to be associated with MMI and PTU, from VigiBase between 1967 and June 2, 2021. We conducted disproportionality analysis (case/non‐case analysis) to analyze the difference in reported adverse drug reactions (ADRs) between antithyroid drugs (case) and the entire database (non‐cases). We further analyzed information for the cases of agranulocytosis and AAV.Among 11 632 cases of ADRs reported after MMI intake, agranulocytosis occurred in 1633 cases and AAV occurred in 41 cases. For 5055 cases of ADRs reported after PTU intake, agranulocytosis occurred in 459 cases and AAV occurred in 110 cases. Agranulocytosis occurred after a median of 28 days after PTU intake and 33 days after MMI intake. More than 95% of the agranulocytosis cases were classified as serious, but most of them (65.1% for PTU and 70.4% for MMI) were reported to have recovered after dechallenge actions; mostly drug withdrawal. AAV occurred after a median of 668 days after PTU intake, and 1162 days after MMI intake.This is a pharmacoepidemiological study investigating agranulocytosis and AAV caused by MMI and PTU. Through this research, we could provide more specific insights into a safe prescription of antithyroid drugs in a real‐world setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although food labeling on food packages is crucial for promoting a healthy diet, limited research has been conducted on how the COVID-19 pandemic (hereinafter “the pandemic”) has affected food labeling awareness. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the changes in trends in food labeling awareness, comprehension, and usage in South Korea during the pandemic. We utilized a nationwide, large-scale, and long-term dataset provided by the Korea Community Health Survey (KCHS) from 2014 to 2022 (total = 1,756,847 participants). This allowed the researchers to assess the long-term trends in the prevalence of food labeling awareness, comprehension, and usage. Furthermore, we investigated the factors associated with awareness specifically related to the pandemic. In total, 1,756,847 adults (54.19% women) participated in this study. The upward slope in overall food labeling awareness became less pronounced and even exhibited a downward slope during the pandemic (βdiff − 1.759; 95% CI − 1.874 to − 1.644). The upward slope in food labeling comprehension and usage became more pronounced during the pandemic (comprehension: βdiff 0.535; 95% CI 0.436–0.634; usage: βdiff 0.693; 95% CI 0.601–0.785). The vulnerability factors associated with lower food labeling awareness during the pandemic included older age, male, obesity, residing in rural areas, lower household income, lower educational level, smoking, and increased alcohol consumption. This study analyzed the 9-year trend in the prevalence of food labeling awareness, comprehension, and usage based on nationally representative data of adults in South Korea from 2014 to 2022. Our findings suggest that personalized nutrition strategies are needed to recognize vulnerable groups with risk factors and improve food labeling awareness among Korean adults during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study prospectively assessed the efficacy and safety of 532-nm diode laser glottoplasty in patients with sulcus vocalis. Methods: A prospective human trial was performed from August 2016 to September 2021. 532-nm diode laser glottoplasty was performed in 30 consecutive patients with sulcus vocalis who suffered from voice problems. Patients underwent acoustic aerodynamic, perceptual, stroboscopic, and Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) evaluations before and 1, 6, and 12 months after laser glottoplasty. Results: Most subjective parameters showed significant improvement (P < 0.05) at 6 months after laser glottoplasty and remained stable at 12 months. Most objective parameters showed significant improvement (P < 0.05) at 12 months after laser glottoplasty. Complications during follow-up included mild vocal fold vibration reduction in 3.3% of patients (1/30) and persistent vocal fold edema in 3.3% of patients (1/30). Conclusions: Statistically significant voice improvement at 12 months after 532-nm diode laser glottoplasty was achieved without serious complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential of physical activity in preventing mental health issues has garnered interest among health professionals. We conducted a systematic umbrella review of evidence supporting the relationship between physical activity and the prevention of mental health complications. Our findings revealed a significant association between higher physical activity levels and reduced risk of depression (OR = 0.77, 95% CI 0.72 – 0.82). This association was consistent across various age groups, sex, and geographical regions. Interestingly, low and moderate-intensity physical activity showed the most significant protective effects against depression (low-intensity: OR = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.75–0.56; moderate-intensity: OR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.72–0.87). Our analysis also showed significant associations between higher physical activity levels and prevention of anxiety disorders (OR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.61–0.82). However, the evidence regarding the association between physical activity and psychosis/schizophrenia risk was less clear. These findings underscore the physical activity's potential as a preventative measure against mental health complications, highlighting the importance of promoting physical activity in mental health interventions. • Higher levels of physical activity significantly reduced the risk of depression. • Physical activity also notably decreased the risk of incident anxiety. • Physical activity did not lower psychosis/schizophrenia risk after adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]