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Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent mental disorders during adolescence, and early diagnosis and treatment are important. We aimed to characterize the microstructure of the brain in medication-naïve adolescents with first-episode MDD.Methods: Patients with MDD (N = 31) and healthy controls (N = 27) participated in this study and severity of depressive symptoms, duration of untreated depressive episode, demographic data, and diffuse tensor imaging data were collected. A comparative analysis of patients and healthy controls was performed, and the effect of medication on the brain`s integrity was investigated through comparison before and after 3 months of treatment in the patient group. Tract-based spatial statistics was used for diffusion tensor image analysis.Results: In the patient group, functional anisotropy (FA) values were significantly higher at the genu of the corpus callosum, body of the corpus callosum, and right anterior corona radiata than in healthy controls. After 3 months of treatment, FA values were significantly decreased in the left anterior limb of the internal capsule, left posterior limb of the internal capsule, and left superior longitudinal fasciculus.Limitations: The sample size is relatively small and 3-month treatment period was relatively short.Conclusion: FA values of patients with MDD were increased compared to healthy controls and decreased after treatment. These results suggested that pharmacological treatments in the early stages of MDD might restore the brain`s integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common mental disorder, the onset of which frequently occurs during adolescence. While differences in heart rate variability (HRV) between depressed and healthy participants have previously been observed, results have been inconsistent. This study thus investigated the features of HRV in adolescents with MDD.Methods: We recruited first-episode drug-naïve adolescents aged 13-18 years who had been diagnosed with MDD, and healthy age-matched controls. HRV was measured before and after a 12-week antidepressant treatment. We compared HRV measures between patient group and control group. We also tried to find correlation between HRV measures and depression rating scales.Results: Fifty-seven participants were included (patient group: n = 31; control group: n = 26). The patient group showed a lower normalized high frequency (HF norm), a higher normalized low frequency (LF norm), and a higher LF/HF ratio than did the control group. After treatment, LF was significantly decreased within the patient group compared to baseline. Hamilton Depression Rating Scales and Children's Depression Inventory scores were positively correlated with LF norm and LF/HF ratio, and negatively correlated with HF norm, when included all participants in analysis LIMITATIONS: Sample size of this study was small to assess influences of confounding factors on HRV. And follow up period was relatively short to see impact of pharmacotherapy.Conclusion: An imbalance of the autonomic nervous system might be a meaningful feature of adolescent MDD, and HRV might represent a potential biological marker for pathophysiological changes in MDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prototype real-time (RT) Thomson scattering system was tested in a KSTAR Thomson scattering diagnostic system [1]. For this RT-Thomson system, 155 channels of 5 GS/s digitizer were operated (31 polychromators, each has 5 signal channels used in the KSTAR Thomson scattering system). The 5 Giga Sampling / second (GS/s) digitizer restored the pulsed Thomson scattering signals, and these acquired digital signals were fitted using a pulse function and Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) method to remove noise with high speed on the TS signals [2]. The pulse fitting parameters (pulse height, rising time, falling time and peak position) were applied to calculate plasma parameters like the electron temperature (T e). To reduce the T e calculation time, a neural-network (NN) method was introduced using graphic processor unit (GPU) calculations. These plasma parameters were transmitted to the KSTAR plasma control system (PCS)using a reflective memory (RFM) card. The delay time of this RT-Thomson before transfer to the RFM card measured less than 7 ms for a T e calculation of 31 positions, and the transfer time from the RFM card to the PCS was 6.8 ms. Therefore, at 80.31% of KSTAR long pulse plasma shot # 32,763 (84.15 s), the end-to-end treatment time was less than 50 ms. The uniqueness of this paper is that it uses 5GS/s digitizer, Fast Fourier Transformation FFT fitting method, and neural- network (NN) analysis system, and finally succeeds in transferring Te profile data to the KSTAR PCS system in real- time (80.31% within 50 ms delay) using RFM cards for KSTAR long pulse plasma (84.15 s) for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to gather a homogeneous sample of adolescent patients to analyze the differences in functional connectivity and brain network parameters between suicidal and non-suicidal major depressive disorder (MDD) patients using a data-driven whole-brain approach. Patients recruited at the psychiatry department of Korea University Guro Hospital from November 2014 to March 2020 were diagnosed with MDD, were 13–18 years old, had IQ scores >80, had no family history of psychotic or personality disorders, had no smoking or alcohol consumption history, and were drug-naïve to psychotropic medication. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Children's Depression Inventory. Structural and functional MRI scans were conducted and analyzed using the CONN toolbox. Of 74 enrolled patients, 62 were analyzed. Regions of interest (ROIs) showing higher betweenness centrality in non-suicidal patients were the left superior temporal gyrus and left supramarginal gyrus. ROIs showing higher betweenness centrality in suicidal patients were the right hippocampus, left intracalcarine cortex, right inferior temporal gyrus, and the lateral visual network. Suicidal patients also showed different resting state functional connectivity profiles from non-suicidal patients. Small sample size. Suicidal patients may overthink and overvalue future risks while having a more negatively biased autobiographical memory. Social cognition and the ability to overcome egocentricity bias seem to weaken. Such features can disrupt cognitive recovery and resilience, leading to more suicidal behaviors. Therefore, increased suicidality is not acquired, but is an innate trait. • Adolescent drug-naïve major depressive disorder patients with/without suicidal behavior were analyzed. • Patients with suicidal behavior showed different network properties compared to non-suicidal patients. • Suicidal patients are associated with certain cognitive weaknesses that could be more innate than acquired. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To measure the effective ion charge Z eff profile, most plasma machines are equipped with a bremsstrahlung measurement system as a filter-scope diagnostic device. In Korean Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) machine, a new type of bremsstrahlung measurement system, called hybrid-type polychromator system, was developed and tested at a single position during the 10th KSTAR plasma campaign [1] . The main idea of this hybrid-type polychromator system is to combine a polychromator system, which can measure the Thomson scattering signal, with a bremsstrahlung signal measurement system. The advantages of this hybrid-type polychromator system include the reduction of diagnostic vacuum windows in the Tokamak or Stellarator, and the measurement of the Z eff parameter with electron temperature ( T e ) and electron density ( n e ) at a same position. In this study, we improve last year's hybrid-type polychromator system. A major improvement is the change in the structure of the optical system. This allows measuring the bremsstrahlung signals more clearly, and four hybrid-type polychromators were equipped to measure the Z eff profile preliminarily. In this paper, we explain the structure of the hybrid-type polychromator and the system's measurement results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Thomson scattering diagnostic system is designed for Versatile Experiment Spherical Torus (VEST) to measure the spatial profiles of the electron temperature. The system is carefully designed to collect a sufficient number of photoelectrons and to reduce the noise sources, since relatively low electron densities and temperatures are expected in VEST due to the limited power capacity at present. The target electron temperature and the density are 10–200 eV and 5 × 10 18 m −3 , respectively which are extrapolated from the data of triple Langmuir probes measuring the edge plasma parameters at R = 0.75 m by assuming a parabolic density profile. The collecting optics is designed to have a wide-view angle and low cost by using a commercial photographic lens of low f-number and high transmittance optical fiber bundle. The bandwidths of the interference filters in the polychromator are designed for reliable measurements within the target electron temperature range. As a photo detector which is coupled with the filters, an avalanche photodiode (APD) with a low dark current and an adequate quantum efficiency near the laser wavelength is selected for the high signal-to-noise ratio. The number of photons transferred to the polychromator and the number of photoelectrons in the APD are calculated. At the commissioning phase, an oscilloscope with a high sampling rate will be adopted to check the necessity of the noise reduction by multi-shot signal accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: The role of C-type lectin receptor, a type of pattern recognition receptor, in otitis media with effusion (OME) is unclear. We assayed the levels of expression of C-type lectin receptor mRNA in children with OME and evaluated its relationship to the presence of bacteria, accompanying diseases, and characteristics of exudates. Subjects and Methods: The study population consisted of 73 children with OME who had undergone ventilating tube insertion. The levels of expression of Dectin-1, MR1, MR2, DC-SIGN, Syk, Card-9, Bcl-10, Malt-1, Src, Dec-205, Galectin-1, Tim-3, Trem-1, and DAP-12 mRNA in middle ear effusion were determined by real-time PCR. The level of expression of each mRNA was correlated with the presence of bacteria, accompanying diseases, and exudates characteristics. Results: The levels of expression of C-type lectin receptor mRNAs were not associated with bacterial presence or exudates characteristics (p >0.05 each). Levels of expression, however, were significantly higher in patients with sinusitis, adenoid vegetation or adenoiditis, and allergic rhinitis (p <0.05 each). Conclusions: Levels of expression of C-type lectin receptor mRNA may be associated with the pathogenesis of OME, being significantly higher in patients with than without accompanying sinusitis, adenoid vegetation or adenoiditis, and allergic rhinitis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Internet music market is a new profit-making entity and is growing rapidly due to its extension into the mobile device market. Introduction of the portable multimedia player (PMP), which is the next generation of MP3-players, will influence a customer’s audio and video service preference. The Internet music market needs to develop a new business model (BM) for PMPs. This article examines new BMs for customer preference via a conjoint analysis. In addition, we investigate customers’ willingness to pay (WTP) using a multinomial logit model. The study helps with the decision-making procedure for designing a BM adaptable to new technology development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A 10-week feeding experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary lipid source and n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids (n-3 HUFA) level on growth, body composition and blood chemistry of juvenile starry flounder. Three replicate groups of fish (average weight 1.9 g) were fed diets containing different n-3 HUFA levels ranging from 0.0% to 2.7% adjusted by either lauric acid as sole lipid source or different proportions of corn oil, linseed oil and squid liver oil at 10% of total lipid. Survival was not affected by dietary lipid source or n-3 HUFA level. Weight gain, feed efficiency and protein efficiency ratio of fish fed the diets containing squid liver oil were significantly higher than those fed the diets containing lauric acid, corn oil or linseed oil as the sole lipid source. However, there were no significant differences in weight gain, feed efficiency and protein efficiency ratio among fish fed the diets containing different n-3 HUFA levels ranging from 0.6% to 2.7%. Dietary n-3 HUFA requirement when using a broken line model was estimated at 0.9% for weight gain of fish. Crude lipid content of fish fed the diet containing lauric acid was significantly lower than that of other groups. Fatty acid compositions of neutral and polar lipid of fish were directly reflected by dietary fatty acid composition. The highest 14:0, 18:2n-6, 18:3n-3 and n-3 HUFA contents were observed in fish fed the diets containing lauric acid, corn oil, linseed oil and squid liver oil, respectively. The contents of n-3 HUFA in fish linearly increased with increasing dietary squid liver oil. Plasma cholesterol concentration and aspartate aminotransferase activity were affected by dietary lipid sources. These results indicate that dietary n-3 HUFA are essential and a value of at least 0.9% of n-3 HUFA in the diet could be recommended for optimum growth and efficient feed utilization of juvenile starry flounder. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Recent advances in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have resulted in many studies on resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in depressed patients. Previous studies have shown alterations between multiple brain areas, such as the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and basal ganglia, but there are very few prospective studies with a longitudinal design on adolescent depression patients. We therefore investigated the change in positive rsFC in a homogeneous drug-naïve adolescent group after 12 weeks of antidepressant treatment. Functional neuroimaging data were collected and analyzed from 32 patients and 27 healthy controls. Based on previous literature, the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), insula, hippocampus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) were selected as seed regions. Seed-to-voxel analyses were performed between pre- and post-treatment states as well as between the patients and controls at baseline. The positive rsFC between the right DLPFC and the left putamen/right frontal operculum were shown to be higher in patients than in the controls. The positive rsFC between the left DLPFC and left putamen/left lingual gyrus was also higher in the patients than in the controls. The positive rsFC between the right dorsal ACC and the left precentral gyrus had reduced after the 12-week antidepressant treatment. Regions involved in the frontolimbic circuit showed changes in the positive rsFC in the depressed adolescents as compared to in the healthy controls. There were also significant changes in the positive rsFC after 12-weeks of antidepressant treatment. The involved regions were associated with emotional regulation, cognitive functioning, impulse control, and visual processing. • Resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) is altered in patients with depression. • rsFC of depressed adolescents was analyzed pre- and post-12-week-treatment. • Connectivity in regions involved in the frontolimbic circuit showed alterations. • Regions associated with emotional regulation, cognitive functioning, and impulse control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Upgrade of Thomson scattering system on VEST has been performed. • The laser input power is increased up to 2.8 times by injection system improvement. • Optical fiber bundle replaces a single core fiber to increase the signal level 2.1 times. • Oscilloscope envelope mode is utilized to measure periodic large data for each burst. • Time resolution is improved to 1 ms with new burst laser and fast DAQ systems. A Thomson scattering diagnostic system was developed and successfully measured electron temperature and density of core plasma (R = 0.35 m) in Versatile Experiment Spherical Torus (VEST). However, the current system is able to measure only a single time point in a shot. Therefore, upgrade of the Thomson scattering system has been prepared and is in progress to obtain the time evolution. The upgrade is focused on three parts. First, the laser injection system is improved by introducing a burst mode laser with the energy of 2 J and repetition rate of 1 kHz for 10 ms. Furthermore, the laser injection optics is improved to minimize the optical loss. Second, minimum etendue limit of the collection optics is increased by employing a fiber bundle of three single-core fibers. Finally, a data acquisition system is prepared to record the burst laser signals for high sampling rate. Oscilloscope envelope mode is adopted and tested for measuring ten burst laser signal with 1.25 GS/s. Through the upgrade, the time evolution of electron temperature and density is expected to be measured in a single shot with enhanced signal-to-noise ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Thomson scattering (TS) system has been developed on Versatile Experiment Spherical Torus (VEST) to measure the electron temperature and the density. In VEST, it is quite challenging to measure TS signals because the energy of the utilized pulsed laser and the target electron density are low, 0.85 J and ∼5 × 1018 m−3, respectively. Furthermore, the difficulties caused by filter specifications have to be resolved because of the use of commercial interference filters with broad bandwidth and poor blocking at the laser wavelength. Therefore, we especially optimize the placement order of the filter sets based on the evaluation of the relative errors to overcome the poor spectral resolution. In addition, the amount of the stray light that penetrating filters is reduced by vacuum components such as baffles, louvres, and a viewing dump. With the careful installation and the optimization of the system, we can develop an efficient Thomson scattering system. Recently, TS signals have been successfully measured from the ohmic plasmas, and the electron temperature and the density are determined by analyzing the signals with the Bayesian method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scaffolds for the production of cultivated meat, a promising sustainable meat alternative, should exhibit physical and chemical properties that enable three-dimensional animal cell culture, along with biological characteristics that support cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation. Additionally, the scaffold should be crafted from edible materials and offer textural similarities to meat and have minimal influence on flavor and taste. Herein, an edible alginate-based alginate-cellulose hydrogel (ACe-gel) scaffold derived from the brown alga Undaria pinnatifida is developed. In terms of physical characteristics, the scaffold had porosity (119.5 ± 37.2 μm) and moisture-holding capacity (73.03 ± 3.82, 68.66 ± 9.54, and 84.17 ± 9.94 at 25 °C, 37 °C, and 60 °C, respectively) suitable for three-dimensional culture and differentiation of bovine muscle stem cells (bMuSCs). Accordingly, the scaffold was superior to a commercial alginate scaffold in terms of the attachment and proliferation of bMuSCs (5.5-fold over 72 h), and its performance was comparable with that of a lyophilized collagen scaffold (7.8-fold over 72 h, compared with the pure alginate). The bMuSCs cultured on the ACe-gel scaffold were capable of differentiating into muscle fibers, as verified by gene expression profile analysis. Furthermore, the scaffold exhibited minimal heavy metal contents and distinct seaweed odorants, while the stress-strain characteristics of the scaffold cultured with bMuSC (Young's modulus of raw ACe-gel: 285.19 ± 83.37 kPa, cooked ACe-gel meat: 880.60 ± 485.60 kPa) closely resembled that of meat (raw beef: 267.76 ± 156.42 kPa, cooked beef: 1331.94 ± 762.43 kPa). These findings highlight that the seaweed-derived and animal-free ACe-gel scaffold has strong potential for utilization as a food technology for cultured meat production in the future. [Display omitted] • The alginate-cellulose hydrogel (ACe-gel) from brown algae is developed for cultivated meat. • The ACe-gel possesses chemicophysical properties conducive to 3D animal cell culture. • The ACe-gel provides an environment for differentiation of bovine muscle stem cells. • The ACe-gel has the potential to emulate the textural characteristics of traditional meat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights from the article: Machine learning classification of first-onset drug-naïve MDD using structural MRI We wanted to know whether it is possible to reliably train a predictive classification with a high accuracy even in the first-onset drug-naïve adolescent MDD just using structural MRI without using any other clinical data. A total of six classification models were used to build the adolescent MDD classification model: treebased bagging, random forest, multi-layered feedforward neural network, adaptive boosting, gradient boosting machine, and support vector machine.

• The plasma startup recipe and each component of auxiliary devices are checked to support the tokamak physics experiments. • This process will conduct regularly for each KSTAR campaign in the future. At the beginning of every KSTAR campaign, during the plasma commissioning period, a stable tokamak plasma operation condition is aimed to be established to support various physics experiments throughout the rest of the KSTAR campaign. To achieve this, considering the KSTAR's superconducting operation, the plasma startup recipe is confirmed, and every component of auxiliary devices for fuel, heating, and diagnostics must be checked. A robust plasma startup scenario has been secured at the beginning of every plasma commissioning period for all plasma experiments. Then, the commissioning work deals with the plasma shaping and the auxiliary devices for fueling and heating. As the last stage, the radial profile diagnostics are tested by moving the plasma boundary and varying the operating toroidal magnetic field for cross-validation in a dedicated session. This paper explains in detail the established routine process for plasma commissioning in the KSTAR campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ITER Real-Time Framework (RTF) is a software suite designed and developed to facilitate the implementation of various real-time applications for ITER plant systems. The main driver to implement RTF was the Plasma Control System (PCS). RTF was designed as a base and development environment for PCS. However, due to its universal architecture, it can also be applied in other systems requiring real-time control or data processing. This paper presents the demonstration system to evaluate RTF in Thomson Scattering (TS) diagnostics. The system was developed to validate the integration of data acquisition hardware with RTF and check it in real-time data processing applications. The presented system covers the whole path of data acquisition, processing and archiving required for a typical Instrumentation and Control (I&C) system for ITER diagnostics. The main components of the RTF-based application developed for the system are device support for the pulsed giga-sample analog-to-digital converter, functional blocks implementing algorithms for analysing pulses from polychromator and calculating plasma electron temperature as well as interfaces for archiving raw data and publishing the measurement results. The overriding goal of the presented work was a detailed functional and performance evaluation of the implemented RTF-based system. The system was tested in laboratory using simulated data and in tokamak conditions at Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR). During the test campaign at KSTAR, the developed RTF-based application was integrated into the Thomson Scattering system and tested during regular operation of the tokamak with signals from a real polychromator. The results of measurements and performance evaluation are presented and discussed in the paper. • ITER Real-Time Framework (RTF) was evaluated for diagnostic I&C systems. • Integration of ITER RTF with high-speed switched capacitor digitizer is proposed. • Demonstration system for Thomson Scattering diagnostics is developed. • Initial results of functional and performance verification at KSTAR are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photodamage is extrinsically induced by overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and it increases the risk of various skin disorders. Therefore, discovery of novel biomarkers of photodamage is important. In this study, using LC–MS/MS analysis of epidermis from UVB-irradiated hairless mice, we identified 57 proteins whose levels changed after UVB exposure, and selected 7 proteins related to the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle through pathway analysis. Dihydrolipoyl dehydrogenase (DLD) was the only TCA cycle-associated protein that showed a decreased expression after the UVB exposure. We also performed targeted analysis to detect intermediates and products of the TCA cycle using GC–TOF-MS. Interestingly, malic acid and fumaric acid levels significantly decreased in the UVB-treated group. Our results demonstrate that DLD and its associated metabolites, malic acid and fumaric acid, may be candidate biomarkers of UVB-induced skin photoaging. Additionally, we showed that Aloe vera , a natural skin moisturizer, regulated DLD, malic acid and fumaric acid levels in UVB-exposed epidermis. Our strategy to integrate the proteome and targeted metabolite to detect novel UVB targets will lead to a better understanding of skin photoaging and photodamage. Our study also supports that A. vera exerts significant anti-photodamage activity via regulation of DLD, a novel UVB target, in the epidermis. Biological significance This study is the first example of an integration of proteomic and metabolite analysis techniques to find new biomarker candidates for the regulation of the UVB-induced skin photoaging. DLD, malic acid, and fumaric acid can be used for development of cosmeceuticals and nutraceuticals regulating the change of skin metabolism induced by the UVB overexposure. Moreover, this is also the first attempt to investigate the role of the TCA cycle in photodamaged epidermis. Our integration of the proteomic and targeted metabolite analyses will lead to a better understanding of the unidentified photobiological results from UVB-irradiated models and can elicit new diagnostic and treatment strategies based on altered metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]