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Infiltration of inflammatory cells

Microbial carboxyl and catechol siderophores have been shown to have natural iron-chelating abilities, suggesting that hyaluronic acid (HA) and the catechol compound, gallic acid (GA), may have iron-coordinating activities. Here, a photoresponsive self-gelling hydrogel that was both injectable and could be applied to the skin was developed on the basis of the abilities of HA and GA to form coordination bonds with ferric ions (Fe3+). The conjugate of HA and GA (HA–GA) instantly formed hydrogels in the presence of ferric ions and showed near-infrared (NIR)-responsive photothermal properties. Following their subcutaneous injection into mice, HA–GA and ferric ion formed a hydrogel, which remained at the injection site for at least 8 days. Intratumoral injection of HA-GA/Fe hydrogel into mice allowed repeated exposure of the tumor to NIR irradiation. This repeated NIR irradiation resulted in complete tumor ablation in KB carcinoma cell–xenografted mice and suppressed lung metastasis of 4T1-Luc orthotopic breast tumors. Application of HA-GA/Fe hydrogel to the skin of A375 melanoma-xenografted tumor sites, followed by NIR irradiation, also resulted in complete tumor ablation. These findings demonstrate that single applications of HA–GA/Fe hydrogel have photothermal anticancer effects against both solid tumors and skin cancers.Significance:These findings provide new insights into noninvasive anticancer phototherapy using self-gelling hydrogels. Application of these hydrogels in preclinical models reduces the sizes of solid tumors and skin cancers without surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy.

Self-gelling of HA-GA/Fe hydrogel

Periodontal diseases have been associated with the development of cardiovascular diseases. Accumulating evidences have indicated that Porphyromonas gingivalis , a major periodontopathic pathogen, plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. In the present study, we demonstrated that P. gingivalis lipopolysaccharide (LPS) increases the mRNA and protein expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in rat vascular smooth muscle cells. We showed that the MMP-9 expression induced by P. gingivalis LPS is mediated by the activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in vascular smooth muscle cells. Furthermore, the inhibition of STAT3 activity reduced P. gingivalis LPS-induced migration of vascular smooth muscle cells. Overall, our findings indicate that P. gingivalis LPS stimulates the migration of vascular smooth muscle cells via STAT3-mediated MMP-9 expression.

Mixed metal oxide (MMO) is one of the widely utilized ceramic materials in various industries. In order to obtain high performance, the specific surface area of MMO should be controlled. Calcination of layered double hydroxide (LDH) is a versatile way to prepare MMO with homogeneous metal distribution and well-developed porosity. Although researchers found that the specific surface area of LDH-originated MMO was relatively high, it had not been systematically investigated how the surface area is controlled under a certain parameter. In this review, we summarized LDH-originated MMO with various starting composition, calcination temperature, and pore developing agent in terms of specific surface area and porosity. Briefly, it was represented that MMOs with Mg-Al components generally had higher specific surface area than Mg-Fe or Zn-Al components. Calcination temperature in the range 300–600 °C resulted in the high specific surface area, while upper or lower temperature reduced the values. Pore developing agent did not result in dramatic increase in MMO; however, the pore size distribution became narrower in the presence of pore developing agents.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

For applications involving sodium-ion capacitor (SIC) with high energy and high power, it is necessary to develop cathode materials with high operating voltage, high capacity, and excellent cyclic stability. Prussian blue and its analogs are considered promising candidates for cathode materials owing to their high energy and high stability resulting from their open framework structure. We demonstrate that the Prussian blue-graphene oxide composite (PBGO) can be applied to SIC as a battery-type cathode. PBGO is synthesized by a single-step decomposition method and has a morphology in which graphene oxide covered Prussian blue, which has a uniform cubic structure. PBGO exhibit a high capacity of 165 mAh g-1 at 20 mA g-1, as well as 68 mAh g-1 at a high current density of 4 A g-1. The SIC is fabricated using PBGO as the cathode materials and activated carbon (AC) as a capacitor-type anode, and it exhibit a high specific energy density of 65.3 Wh kg-1 and a superior capacity retention of 78.8% after 10,000 cycles. The use of battery-type cathodes presents a promising strategy for developing SIC with high energy and long lifespan.

Universities engage in entrepreneurship education to increase social value creation, through students' new opportunities recognition. However, there are not enough of empirical researches on whether the current entrepreneurship education can be differentiated from other curriculum to improve the opportunity recognition process. This study argues that it is very important for cognitive abilities to be manifested as behavior when students in university are new opportunities recognition. For this purpose, the relationship between problem solving ability, innovation behavior, and opportunity perception was verified empirically. This study was conducted on 203 students who took entrepreneurship education courses at Korean universities. The results of this study showed that problem solving ability positively influenced innovation behavior and opportunity perception. Innovation behavior was identified as a key parameter that partially mediated the relationship between problem solving ability and innovation behavior. The implication of this study is to prove the relationship between individual 's problem - solving ability considering the characteristics of education in Korea and the opportunity through innovative behavior and various learning strategies to help entrepreneurship education to design better courses for the future It has important implications for strategic pedagogy that can enhance behavioral elements in development.

Pentraxin-3 (PTX3) is recognized as a modulator of inflammation and a mediator of tissue repair. In this study, we characterized the role of PTX3 on some biological functions of human dental pulp stem cells (HDPSCs). The expression level of PTX3 significantly increased during osteogenic/odontogenic differentiation of HDPSCs, whereas the knockdown of PTX3 decreased this differentiation. Silencing of PTX3 in HDPSCs inhibited their migration and C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) expression. Our present study indicates that PTX3 is involved in osteogenic/odontogenic differentiation and migration of HDPSCs, and may contribute to the therapeutic potential of HDPSCs for regeneration and repair.

Microbial carboxyl and catechol siderophores have been shown to have natural iron-chelating abilities, suggesting that hyaluronic acid (HA) and the catechol compound, gallic acid (GA), may have iron-coordinating activities. Here, a photoresponsive self-gelling hydrogel that was both injectable and could be applied to the skin was developed on the basis of the abilities of HA and GA to form coordination bonds with ferric ions (Fe3+). The conjugate of HA and GA (HA–GA) instantly formed hydrogels in the presence of ferric ions and showed near-infrared (NIR)-responsive photothermal properties. Following their subcutaneous injection into mice, HA–GA and ferric ion formed a hydrogel, which remained at the injection site for at least 8 days. Intratumoral injection of HA-GA/Fe hydrogel into mice allowed repeated exposure of the tumor to NIR irradiation. This repeated NIR irradiation resulted in complete tumor ablation in KB carcinoma cell–xenografted mice and suppressed lung metastasis of 4T1-Luc orthotopic breast tumors. Application of HA-GA/Fe hydrogel to the skin of A375 melanoma-xenografted tumor sites, followed by NIR irradiation, also resulted in complete tumor ablation. These findings demonstrate that single applications of HA–GA/Fe hydrogel have photothermal anticancer effects against both solid tumors and skin cancers. Significance: These findings provide new insights into noninvasive anticancer phototherapy using self-gelling hydrogels. Application of these hydrogels in preclinical models reduces the sizes of solid tumors and skin cancers without surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy.

Background For understanding and evaluating a more realistic and accurate assessment of ecosystem carbon balance related with environmental change or difference, it is necessary to analyze the various interrelationships between soil respiration and environmental factors. However, the soil temperature is mainly used for gap filling and estimation of soil respiration (Rs) under environmental change. Under the fact that changes in precipitation patterns due to climate change are expected, the effects of soil moisture content (SMC) on soil respiration have not been well studied relative to soil temperature. In this study, we attempt to analyze relationship between precipitation and soil respiration in temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest for 2 years in Gwangneung. Results The average soil temperature (Ts) measured at a depth of 5 cm during the full study period was 12.0 °C. The minimum value for monthly Ts was − 0.4 °C in February 2015 and 2.0 °C in January 2016. The maximum monthly Ts was 23.6 °C in August in both years. In 2015, annual precipitation was 823.4 mm and it was 1003.8 mm in 2016. The amount of precipitation increased by 21.9% in 2016 compared to 2015, but in 2015, it rained for 8 days more than in 2016. In 2015, the pattern of low precipitation was continuously shown, and there was a long dry period as well as a period of concentrated precipitation in 2016. 473.7 mm of precipitation, which accounted for about 51.8% of the precipitation during study period, was concentrated during summer (June to August) in 2016. The maximum values of daily Rs in both years were observed on the day when precipitation of 20 mm or more. From this, the maximum Rs value in 2015 was 784.3 mg CO2 m−2 h−1 in July when 26.8 mm of daily precipitation was measured. The maximum was 913.6 mg CO2 m−2 h−1 in August in 2016, when 23.8 mm of daily precipitation was measured. Rs on a rainy day was 1.5~1.6 times higher than it without precipitation. Consequently, the annual Rs in 2016 was about 12% higher than it was in 2015. It was shown a result of a 14% increase in summer precipitation from 2015. Conclusions In this study, it was concluded that the precipitation pattern has a great effect on soil respiration. We confirmed that short-term but intense precipitation suppressed soil respiration due to a rapid increase in soil moisture, while sustained and adequate precipitation activated Rs. In especially, it is very important role on Rs in potential activating period such as summer high temperature season. Therefore, the accuracy of the calculated values by functional equation can be improved by considering the precipitation in addition to the soil temperature applied as the main factor for long-term prediction of soil respiration. In addition to this, we believe that the accuracy can be further improved by introducing an estimation equation based on seasonal temperature and soil moisture.

This study was carried out to provide a basis for the development of a safety manual for kitchen accident prevention by identifying the safety situation and awareness through risk assessment of kitchen areas. The study was conducted in two phases. First, kitchen accidents and area risk assessment were investigated from February 2014 to September 2014, after which safety awareness of hospital foodservice employees was assessed in a survey. The results of this study were as followes. All of the respondents were women. The evaluation point of kitchen area risk assessment was reduced by 14%. After improvement, an initial score of 108 points decreased to 93 points. The number of accidents was also reduced by 78%; 14 accidents were decreased to three. The most common area of accidents was the kitchen area (58.8%), and burns was the most common accident (35.3%). Most of the employees deemed “enough staff” as the most major factor for good foodservice. “High indoor temperature and poor ventilation in the kitchen area” was chos-en as the most common problem in the foodservice workplace. Taken together, our study quantitatively evaluated safety issues in hospital foodservice kitchen areas and provides a basis for the development of a safety manual for kitchen accident prevention.Key words : safety accidents, hospital foodservice employee, kitchen area risk assessment

Here, we designed biomimetic DNA nanoballs for delivery of multiple antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs). DNA templates with ASOs-complementary sequences were amplified by rolling circle amplification (RCA). RCA products were loaded with two types of ASOs by hybridization, condensed using adenovirus-derived Mu peptide, and coated with hyaluronic acid (HA) for delivery into CD44-overexpressing tumor cells. HA-coated, Mu peptide-condensed, dual ASO-loaded DNA nanoballs (HMA nanoballs) showed considerable cellular entry of Cy5-incorporated RCA product DNA and fluorescent ASOs, whereas Mu peptide-condensed, dual ASO-loaded DNA nanoballs (MA nanoballs) revealed limited uptake. Dual ASOs, Dz13 and OGX-427, delivered by HMA nanoballs could reduce the levels of protein targets and exert anticancer effects. Enhanced tumor distribution was observed for fluorescent HMA nanoballs than the corresponding MA nanoballs. Upon intravenous co-administration with doxorubicin, HMA nanoballs exerted the greatest anti-tumor effects among the groups. These results suggest HMA nanoballs as a nanoplatform for sequence-specific delivery of multiple ASOs and other functional oligonucleotides.

Social media platforms are an indispensable part of entrepreneurship practices. They offer entrepreneurs a platform for business growth and brand development. However, little is known about the effect of social media use on identifying entrepreneurial opportunities. Utilizing social cognition theory, this research focuses on how certain factors—prior knowledge, alertness, and social media—may impact two aspects of opportunity: the discovery and the creation of entrepreneurial opportunity. This study focuses on the investigation of the moderating role of social media use on entrepreneurial opportunities. The findings have important practical and academic implications for how social media impacts entrepreneurship and can be used to increase the ability of entrepreneurs to find new opportunities.

As the fourth industrial revolution has been emerging, there are concerns of labor forces being replaced by technology, recent interest on the work-life balance, and the quality of employment has received attention. This study investigates the role of technology startups on employment and innovative performance. Using empirical data from workplace panel data provided by the Korea Labor Institute, this study reveals that technology startups impact the employment quality and innovative performance by the action of technological innovation. The results highlight the quality of employment as a driver for innovative performance in technology startups. The results of this study will provide practical implications for enhancing technology entrepreneurship.

Despite the progress of conventional vaccines, improvements are clearly required due to concerns about the weak immunogenicity of these vaccines, intrinsic instability in vivo, toxicity, and the need for multiple administrations. To overcome such problems, nanotechnology platforms have recently been incorporated into vaccine development. Nanocarrier-based delivery systems offer an opportunity to enhance the humoral and cellular immune responses. This advantage is attributable to the nanoscale particle size, which facilitates uptake by phagocytic cells, the gut-associated lymphoid tissue, and the mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue, leading to efficient antigen recognition and presentation. Modifying the surfaces of nanocarriers with a variety of targeting moieties permits the delivery of antigens to specific cell surface receptors, thereby stimulating specific and selective immune responses. In this review, we introduce recent advances in nanocarrier-based vaccine delivery systems, with a focus on the types of carriers, including liposomes, emulsions, polymer-based particles, and carbon-based nanomaterials. We describe the remaining challenges and possible breakthroughs, including the development of needle-free nanotechnologies and a fundamental understanding of the in vivo behavior and stability of the nanocarriers in nanotechnology-based delivery systems.

Nucleic acid-based bioactive substances have recently emerged as a new class of next-generation therapeutics, but their development has been limited by their relatively weak delivery into target cells. Cationic liposomes have been studied as a means to enhance the stability of nucleic acid therapeutics in the bloodstream and improve their cellular delivery. As nucleic acid therapeutics, siRNA and plasmid DNA have been extensively tested for delivery using cationic liposomes. This review discusses recent progress in the application of cationic liposomes for the delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics.

An osteochondral lesion of the talus (OLT) is a lesion involving the talar articular cartilage and its subchondral bone. OLT is a known cause of chronic ankle pain after ankle sprains in the active population. The lesion causes deep ankle pain associated with weight-bearing, impaired function, limited range of motion, stiffness, catching, locking, and swelling. There are 2 common patterns of OLTs. Anterolateral talar dome lesions result from inversion and dorsiflexion injuries of the ankle at the area impacting against the fibula. Posteromedial lesions result from inversion, plantar flexion, and external rotation injuries of the ankle at the area impacting against the tibial ceiling of the ankle joint. Early diagnosis of an OLT is particularly important because the tibiotalar joint is exposed to more compressive load per unit area than any other joint in the body. Failure of diagnosis can lead to the evolution of a small, stable lesion into a larger lesion or an unstable fragment, which can result in chronic pain, joint instability, and premature osteoarthritis. A 43-year-old man, with a history of ankle sprain one year previously, visited our pain clinic for continuous right ankle pain after walking or standing for more than 30 minutes. There was a focal tenderness on the posteromedial area of the right talus. Imaging studies revealed a posteromedial OLT classified as having a geode form according to the FOG (fractures, osteonecroses, geodes) radiological classification and categorized as a stage 2a lesion on magnetic resonance imaging. The patient was scheduled for aspiration and osteoplasty with hydroxyapatite under arthroscopic and fluoroscopic guidance. A 26-gauge needle was inserted to infiltrate local anesthetics into the skin over the cyst and ankle joint. An arthroscope was placed into the joint to approach the OLT. The arthroscopic view showed that there was no connection between the OLT and the cyst of the talus body. A 13-gauge bone biopsy needle was inserted into the cyst, and aspiration was performed. Aspirated fluid from the cyst was originally white and clear; however, it changed to a blood-tinged, reddish color due to mixing with the incisional blood. After aspiration, contrast medium was injected, and the shape of the spread was observed. Bone cement comprising hydroxyapatite was injected to fill the bone defect of the cyst. A 1.5 mL volume of cement was injected into the talus under vigilant fluoroscopic and arthroscopic monitoring to prevent its dissemination into the joint. There was no cement leakage into the vessels or articular space. Postoperative fluoroscopy and computed tomography images showed bone cement filling of the defect. In the present case, arthroscopic and fluoroscopic guidance was used for aspiration of an OLT and for performing percutaneous osteoplasty with hydroxyapatite for one defect; this treatment decreased pain upon weight bearing and enabled a return to work without any restrictions one week after the procedure. The purpose of this report was to highlight the presence of OLT in chronic ankle pain and to review its management strategies. Key words: Ankle, bone fracture, cartilage fracture, calcium polyacrylate-hydroxyapatite cement, cementoplasty, endoscopy, osteochondritis dissecans, pain, sprain, talus.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of social anonymity on community quality and find out mediating factors that affect the relationship between social anonymity and community quality in online community sites. This study focuses on the factors such as self expression, self control, and community ties to investigate their mediating roles on the relationship between social anonymity and community quality. Also, discussion quality and information quality are used to measure online community quality. The results of this study show that social anonymity is directly related to discussion quality but not related to information quality. As for the mediating effects, self expression, self control and community ties are all shown to have strong mediating effects on the social anonymity and community quality relationship.

Our research attempted to identify the behavioral process of knowledge transfer by examining the effects of IT human capability, human character, trust, and cooperative learning on it in an IT outsourcing situation. By analysing data collected from vendor and client matched-pair samples of 87 IT outsourcing projects, we found that both the client's and the vendor's character influenced trust, trust affects on cooperative learning, and the cooperative learning influence on knowledge transfer. More importantly, it we found that the client's IT human capability had a direct impact on cooperative learning and knowledge transfer. This indicated that client's IT human capability was a crucial factor in effective knowledge transfer during IT outsourcing. It also implied that client firms should identify and retain some IT personnel who can apply vendors' competencies in IT practice and respond effectively to any technological challenges.

The purpose of this study is to verify the effectiveness of the entrepreneurship curriculum and the educational program recognized by students and graduates. This paper has studied the improvement of curriculum and educational programs operated by the Graduate School of Entrepreneurship by using Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA). This study was conducted on students and graduates who attended entrepreneurship graduate schools designated by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) in Korea. The results of the questionnaire survey were tested the differences of curriculum courses by paired-sample t test and its improvement was analyzed through Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA). According to the research analysis, there was a difference in the preference of the curriculum and the educational program recognized by graduate students and graduates. The results of this study suggested academic and practical implications. In academic terms, this study classified the subject and educational curriculums of entrepreneurship graduate programs through the analysis of importance-satisfaction. In practical terms, this study suggested implications for the improvement of curriculum and educational programs for the activation of entrepreneurship graduate schools.

The presence of a per-fluoroalkyl group (C-F group) due to a low polarizability and high lipophilicity induces a relative metabolic stability and im-proves the bioavailability of the modified heterocycles compar-ed to its hydrocarbon analogues.A vast amount of literature has been published on the use of Lewis acid catalysts

A general method has been developed for the solid phase synthesis of drug-like 7-aryl-benzo[b][1,4]oxazin-3(4H)-one derivatives 6. The method relies on a novel, microwave irradiation promoted cyclization reaction of the BOMBA resin bound, N-substituted-α-(2-chloro-4-bromophenoxy)acetamide 3 that takes place via a Smiles rearrangement. The 7-bromobenzo[ 1,4]oxazine 4, produced in this process is converted to 7-aryloxazin analogs 5 by utilizing Suzuki coupling with various substituted arylboronic acids. Finally, the target 7-aryl-benzo[b][1,4]oxazin-3(4H)-ones 6 are liberated from the resin by treatment with 5% TFA. The progress of the reactions involved in this preparative route can be monitored by using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy on a single bead. The target compounds, obtained by using this five-step sequence, are produced in high yields and purities.

During the past decade, coordination-driven self-assembly with Pt or Pd acceptors has drawn much attention and been successfully applied for the production of various discrete 2D or 3-D supramolecules. Well-matched pre-designed donors and metal-containing acceptors have provided discrete self-assembles in an almost quantitative yield. Exclusive production of discrete ensembles rather than oligomeric or polymeric structures has been unique and interesting outcome in that similar result can not be expected with other synthetic methodologies. This result could be ascribed to the fact that the coordination between metal and ligand is thermodynamically controlled and the formation of discrete entities favors in enthalpy over that of oligomeric forms. Thus, the right combination of donor and acceptor in the type of their reacting elements and bond angles was crucial for the effective production of discrete selfassemblies. Most of the reactions required specific donor and acceptors with fixed-bond angles, and the shape of supramolecular product was decided by the fixed-bond angles used. Only a few flexible ligands in the presence of template molecules self-assembled into discrete entities. Recently, ligands with variable bond angles were successfully applied without assistance of any template for the synthesis of discrete supramolecules via coordination-driven self-assembly. The important and challenging next question might be their applicability of self-assembled supramolecules. Some of their useful functions were reported as an optical sensor, reaction catalyst or molecular switch. However, their known applicability to date is rather restricted and needs to be searched for further uses. In this sense, we are interested in the synthesis of discrete supramolecules containing a fluorene moiety since fluorene-based compounds are regarded as excellent fluorescent materials and often used as emitting materials in eletroluminescent devices. Herein, we report the preparation of fluorene-substituted pyridyl ligand 1 (Scheme 1) then describe the non-templated self-assembly of this ligand into discrete supramolecules 2-3 upon reaction with platinum or palladium acceptors 4-5 (Scheme 2). The synthesis of bidentate ligand 1 was achieved in a moderate yield (43%) by palladium-mediated coupling of commercially available 2,7-dibromofluorene with an excess of 4-ethynyl pyridine using the reported conditions. The self-assembly of supramolecules 2-3 was performed in NMR solvents for the facile monitor by NMR analysis. An acetone-d6/D2O solution of 1 and organoplatinum acceptor 4 was heated at 60 C for 4 h. Anion exchange with KPF6

The purpose of our work was to examine the effectiveness of information system sourcing from the perspective of service quality and maintenance efforts. We empirically found that there were significant differences in service quality, but not in maintenance efforts, between insourced and outsourced systems. We also found that the level of service quality and maintenance efforts across system sourcing types varied as a system grew older. Our results suggested that outsourcing may not always be the correct choice for reducing costs and increasing efficiency over the long term. This work also considered the effect of issues like productivity gains from a reduced need for system maintenance and the cost savings achieved by choosing sourcing options wisely.

Sustainability and entrepreneurship are often regarded as binary concepts that have a tradeoff relationship, meaning that the higher the social and environmental consideration, the lower the private and economic benefits. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of individual sustainability orientation on opportunity recognition and sustainable entrepreneurship intention, and examine whether it has a tradeoff relationship with entrepreneurship orientation. The result of this study shows that sustainability orientation has a positive relationship with opportunity recognition and entrepreneurship intention related to sustainability. Analysis of the moderating effects of entrepreneurship orientation reveals the positive effect with sustainability orientation but negative effect with opportunity recognition on sustainable entrepreneurship intention. This study would suggest implications to entrepreneurs on how to balance sustainability and entrepreneurship and promote sustainability entrepreneurship.

Sodium ion batteries have been recently proved to be a cost-effective and promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries for next generation high-energy applications. However, the sluggish intercalation kinetics in batteries greatly forbid the efficient high power operation.[1] Recently, sodium hybrid capacitors (NHCs) emerged as a promising energy storage system to retain high specific energy at high power conditions. Benefiting from the simultaneous sodium intercalation/deintercalation in battery type electrode and anionic adsorption/desorption in capacitor type electrode, a fast kinetics in NHCs have been achieved. However, the poor sodium ion storage in battery electrode along with limited anionic adsorption in commercial electrode diminish the output performance of NHCs. The research on NHCs is still in a nascent stage and requires deep investigation to improve energy retention and cycle stability at high power. The kinetics in both battery and capacitor type electrodes must be synergistically improved to achieve a high energy.[2] In this work, we developed a high performing NHC with metal oxide nanoparticles embedded in graphene network as a battery electrode along with a highly mesoporous carbon derived from bio-mass precursor as a capacitor electrode. The highly favorable architecture in both the electrodes showed an enhanced capability towards ion storage (Shown in Ragone plot). A high energy retention at high power condition along with ultra-high stability have been achieved. The detailed results will be presented and discussed in detail. References [1] J. R. Miller, P. Simon, Science 2008, 321, 651. [2] R. Thangavel, B. Moorthy, D. K. Kim, Y.-S. Lee, Adv. Energy Mater. 2017, 1602654. Figure 1

Here, we report reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets anchoring receptor-specific polyaptamer nanothreads for targeted drug delivery. DNA polyaptamer nanothreads of protein tyrosine kinase 7 receptor (PTK7) were synthesized by rolling cycle amplification. To strengthen the anchoring of polyaptamer nanothreads onto rGO, oligoT bridge domain was introduced between each repeating PTK7 aptamer sequence. As compared to PTK7 polyaptamer nanothreads alone, PTK7 polyaptamer nanothreads with 22-mer oligoT bridges (PNT) showed higher anchoring capacity onto rGO nanosheets. Nanothread-coated surface morphology of PNTrGO was observed. Coating of PNT did not affect the sizes of rGO, but reduced the zeta potential. In PTK7-negative Ramos cells, the uptake of PNT-anchored rGO (PNTrGO) did not differ from that of oligoT-bridged scrambled polyaptamer-anchored rGO (SNTrGO). However, in CCRF-CEM leukemia cells overexpressing PTK7, the uptake of PNTrGO was 2.1-fold higher than that of SNTrGO after 15 min pulse. In vivo distribution to CCRF-CEM tumor tissues was 2.8-fold higher in PNTrGO than in SNTrGO at 48 h post-injection. In CCRF-CEM xenografted mice, intravenously administered doxorubicin (Dox)-loaded PNTrGO showed the higher antitumor activity than other groups, reducing the tumor weight down to 12% of tumor weights of untreated mice. These results suggest the potential of PNTrGO for target-specific drug delivery nanoplatform.

A new approach wherein steric interactions between substituents of unsymmetrical bis(4-pyridyl)acetylene ligands dictate the self-selection of single isomers of [4+4] self-assembled squares is presented. Each [4+4] self-assembly is characterized by multinuclear 31P and 1H NMR spectroscopies and Electrospray Ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). NMR spectroscopic studies are used to provide a means of evaluating the efficiency of bulky substituents at proximal or remote positions relative to the Pt-N bonding motif to direct self-selection. Molecular modeling using the MMFF force field is utilized to determine the relative energy of different isomers of each assembly, and modeling results reasonably explain the trend in self-selectivity with varying pyridyl substitution.

m-Iodosylbenzoic acid performs iodinations of arenes in the presence of iodine at room temperature in acetonitrile. Separation of pure products is conveniently achieved by scavenging any aryl iodide by ion exchange with IRA-900 (hydroxide form). The reduced form of the reagent, m-iodobenzoic acid, can be easily recovered from the ion exchange resin or from the basic aqueous solution by simple acidification with HCl.

BACKGROUND/AIMS Gastrointestinal (GI) diseases impose a heavy economic burden. We aimed to provide the first report on the health care utilization and costs of GI diseases in Korea. METHODS We collected the data from all insurance claims database of National Health Insurance Corporation in Korea and the cause of death database in 2007 of Korea National Statistical Office. We compiled information about all digestive disease as a primary diagnosis on clinic visits, hospitalization, and cause of death from these databases. RESULTS Seventeen million people (35.6%) had a diagnosis of GI diseases during the year 2007. Among them, the proportion of patients with upper GI diseases was prevalent in 54.9% (9.5 million patients/year). The 1/4 patients in out-patients clinic had any one of gastroesophageal reflux disease, irritable bowel syndrome and constipation. Thirteen percent of the total direct cost in 2007 was attributed to all GI diseases, which was 3,649 billion won (0.4% of GDP). The patients with hospitalization occupied by 5% of all patients with GI diseases, however, attributed to 58.9% of GI-related direct costs. GI malignancy was the major cause of medical expenses in hospitalization. Stomach cancer continues to be the leading cause of GI-related death in Korea. CONCLUSIONS GI diseases causes a heavy socioeconomic burden with high morbidity of functional GI disorders in outpatients care and high mortality of GI malignancy in inpatient care. This report highlights the healthcare utilization burden of GI diseases for researchers and public health policy maker to create new directions of integrated researches and health care plan.

Introduction: We previously utilized an administrative dataset, created for the purpose of recording diagnoses and visit/test charges at patient encounters, to identify that just 22% of over 20,000 screen eligible patients in the safety-net health system serving Fort Worth, Texas were up to date with colorectal cancer(CRC) screening(Gupta ‘09). While this study suggested that administrative data may be used to efficiently assess screening, the validity this approach has not been extensively studied. Further, test indication(screening vs. nonscreening), and the quality of test performance are not discernible from administrative data, which do not serve as a complete medical record. Understanding the validity of test use measurements, and quality of test use are critical for optimizing screening. We hypothesized that while administrative coding would be accurate for test use capture, many tests would be for non-screening indications, and further, that direct chart review would provide insight into test performance quality. Primary aims: 1) Determine validity of using administrative data coding for CRC test completion to measure screening test use, and 2) Evaluate test performance quality. Methods: Test use was determined by administrative coding for: 1) Fecal occult blood test(FOBT), 2) Barium enema, 3) Sigmoidoscopy, 3) Colonoscopy(COLO), or 5) No screening over a 5-year period(Gupta CEBP, DDW ‘09). 100 subjects from each category were randomly selected for medical chart abstraction, which served as the validation gold standard. A tool validated for determining accuracy of Medicare screening test claims data(Schenck ‘07) was adapted to abstract test indication(screening vs. sign/symptom evaluation), presence of test completion, and quality parameters. Agreement was estimated by the Kappa(κ) statistic. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize test indication and quality. Results: Agreement between the administrative database and chart abstraction was almost perfect for FOBT(κ=0.83, 95%CI:0.75-0.90) and COLO(κ=0.91, 95%CI:0.85-0.96), and fair for sigmoidoscopy(κ=0.39, 95%CI:0.28-0.49) and barium enema(κ=0.21, 95%CI:0.12-0.29). 40% of tests were for the indication of screening. Test quality, and record of quality parameters were variable. For example, among subjects with positive FOBT, follow-up COLO was noted as recommended for 46%, and bowel preparation quality and cecal intubation were undocumented for 42% and 17% of COLO, respectively. Conclusions: Administrative data have validity for CRC test completion measurement. For assessment of test indication and quality, medical chart review, or implementation of alternate data systems are required.