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Objectives: An attention to psychological aspects can clarify the understanding and management of patients with unresolved dizziness/vertigo. Thus, we study the locus of control and the mediation effect of self-efficacy for assessing the relationship between locus of control and dizziness/vertigo in a referral-based dizziness clinic.Methods: We analyzed the dizziness-specific locus of control and self-efficacy using the modified questionnaire in 117 consecutive dizzy patients (34 males; age range, 20–74 years). In addition to the visual analogue scale-dizziness for evaluation of subjective dizziness, the following items were further evaluated; Korean Dizziness Handicap Inventory, Korean Beck Depression Inventory II, and Korean Beck Anxiety Inventory. According to the verification procedure proposed by Hayes, the mediation effect of self-efficacy verifies the relationship between the locus of control and dizziness through analysis.Results: Except the scale of emotion such as anxiety and depression, sex, age, duration of illness, and diagnosis all did not significantly affect the dependent variables. Vestibular migraine (39.3%), vestibulopathy (15.4%), and dizziness associated with anxiety and depression (14.5%) were the most common diagnoses. On all scales, Cronbach’s α ranged from 0.72 to 0.94. In the direct effect, the internal locus of control had a tendency of aggravation of dizziness/vertigo, but in the indirect effect, the higher the internal locus of control, the higher the self-efficacy, and the higher the self-efficacy, the lower the dizziness.Conclusions: In our study, we can assume that the locus of control can impart ambivalent effects on dizziness/vertigo. And the modulation of self-efficacy could be another treatment for patients with unresolved dizziness.

Background: To analyze topographic progression of geographic atrophy with different concentric circles centered on the fovea in correlation with decrease of visual acuity. Methods: We retrospectively analysed 36 eyes of 26 patients diagnosed with geographic atrophy and followed at least 1 year. 1mm circular area at the foveal center were defined as Zone 1, and doughnut shape areas from between 1 and 2 mm to between 5 and 6 mm were defined as Zone 2 to Zone 6. Then, changes of geographic atrophy area in each zone were measured with semi-automatic software. Correlation analysis and regression analysis were performed to determine the relationship between changes in visual acuity and atrophic area in each zone. Result: Mean age was 76.9 years and follow-up period were 3.38 years. The mean atrophic area increased from 8.09 to 16.34 mm2 and visual acuity decreased from 0.39 to 0.69 on logMAR. Mean change of total geographic atrophy area was not significantly correlated with visual acuity decrease. While geographic atrophy progression within Zone 1, Zone 2 and Zone 3 showed significant causal relationship with decrease of visual acuity (all p Conclusion: In contrast to the total geographic atrophy area, progression of geographic atrophy in parafoveal area was significantly correlated with decrease of visual acuity.

Supporting transfers of science big data over Wide Area Networks (WANs) with Data Transfer Nodes (DTNs) requires optimizing multiple parameters within the underlying infrastructure. New solutions for such data movement require new paradigms and technologies, such as NVMe over Fabrics, which provides high-performance data movement with direct remote NVMe device access over traditional fabrics. However, recent NVMe over Fabrics studies have been limited to local storage fabrics. To support increasing demands for the large volume of science data movement during Supercomputing (SC) conferences, we proposed a SCinet DTN-as-a-Service framework orchestrating the desired optimization to meet users, applications, and providers’ requirements. Furthermore, we extend the SCinet DTN-as-a-Service framework to incorporate new techniques, solve optimization issues in data-intensive science and evaluate NVMe over Fabrics with multiple WAN testbeds to examine its performance and discover new opportunities for optimization.

Esculetin is a coumarin-derived compound with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The current study aims to evaluate the therapeutic implications of esculetin on retinal dysfunction and uncover the underlying mechanisms.

Purpose To evaluate the peripapillary microvasculature changes in patients with epiretinal membrane (ERM) following pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling using swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA). Method Medical records and multimodal imaging data of 33 eyes after PPV for ERM were retrospectively reviewed. Peripapillary SS-OCTA images of 6×6 mm2 were recorded at at pre- and post-operatively every 6 months for 1 year. A semi-automated method was used to analyzed SS-OCTA images, excluding the optic disc area, using the MATLAB software. The peripapillary vessel density (pVD) of superficial capillary plexus (SCP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP) was quantified in four quadrants (superior, inferior, nasal and temporal). Result The mean pVD in SCP and DCP decreased at 6- and 12-months follow-up. In sectoral analysis, superior, inferior, and temporal quadrants pVD in SCP and DCP were significantly reduced at 1 year after vitrectomy (all p < 0.05). Meanwhile, inferior quadrants pVD in SCP and DCP showed the earliest significant reduction at 6-months (p = 0.022 and 0.048, respectively). A reduction of post-operative mean pVD in DCP was significantly greater in patients with diabetic retinopathy (p = 0.043). Conclusion Peripapillary capillary density significantly decreased after surgical removal of ERM. Vitrectomy with ILM peeling can cause peripapillary microvascular damage starting in inferior sector.

Duy-Thuc Nguyen,1 Min-Hwan Kim,1 Na-Young Yu,1 Min-Jun Baek,1 Kyung-Sun Kang,2 Ki Won Lee,3 Dae-Duk Kim1 1College of Pharmacy and Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; 2Adult Stem Cell Research Center and Research Institute for Veterinary Science, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; 3Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of KoreaCorrespondence: Dae-Duk Kim, College of Pharmacy and Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea, Tel +82-2-880-7870, Fax +82-2-873-9177, Email ddkim@snu.ac.krPurpose: Orobol is an isoflavone that has a potent skin protection effect. The objective of this study was to prepare a novel bentonite-based composite formulation of orobol to enhance topical skin delivery.Methods: The composition was optimized based on the orobol content in the composite and the in vitro release studies, followed by the in vitro and in vivo hairless mouse skin deposition studies. Physicochemical characterizations of the composite formulation were performed by powder X-ray refractometry (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo toxicity studies were conducted in human keratinocytes and in hairless mouse, respectively.Results and Discussions: The in vitro release of orobol from the bentonite composites was higher than that from the suspension, which was further increased with the addition of phosphatidylcholine. The composite formulation significantly enhanced the in vitro and in vivo skin deposition of orobol in hairless mouse skin compared to the orobol suspension. Moreover, the addition of phosphatidyl choline not only improved the dissolution and incomplete release of orobol from the bentonite composite but also enhanced the deposition of orobol in the skin. XRD histograms and SEM images confirmed that the enhanced dissolution of orobol from the composite was attributed to its amorphous state on bentonite. The in vitro and in vivo toxicity studies support the safety and biocompatibility of the orobol-loaded bentonite composite formulation.Conclusion: These findings suggest that the orobol-loaded bentonite composite formulation could be a potential topical skin delivery system for orobol.Keywords: orobol, bentonite, composite, phosphatidylcholine, skin, topical delivery

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of breastfeeding women with gestational diabetes and to understand the meaning of breastfeeding for them and its encompassing context. Methods: Qualitative data were collected by interviewing 15 mothers with gestational diabetes. The transcript data from 5 focus group interviews and 2 individual interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: A core theme and 10 sub-themes emerged. The core theme that emerged was "the maternal commitment enabled for a limited time a way to compensate for guilt." Because mothers had to control their blood sugar levels before childbirth, they were worried about whether it would harm the newborn baby and thus searched for dietary information. After the babies were born and separated from their mothers, they were free from gestational diabetes. Mothers then felt guilty about their unhealthy bodies when they were pregnant. This regret provides a motivational context for breastfeeding. However, the mothers realized that breastfeeding requires commitment and dedication and that they need breastfeeding support, such as being provided practical help. Conclusion: The results showed that the breastfeeding intention of women with gestational diabetes might originate from their feelings of guilt. Therefore, an integrated breastfeeding program that combines the empathetic support of women with similar experiences and that shares practical information from experts should be implemented in a structured and systematic way.

BACKGROUND: During one-leg standing (OLS), optimum activity of the gluteus medius (Gmed), multifidus (MF), and quadratus lumborum (QL) muscles relies upon maintaining neutral lumbopelvic alignment. However, no studies have examined how using pressure biofeedback during OLS affects the activity of these muscles and the concomitant alignment of the pelvis and trunk. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of pressure biofeedback on the activity of the Gmed, MF, and QL and the femoropelvic and trunk lean angles during OLS. METHODS: Twenty-four healthy males performed OLS with (PB+) and without (PB-) pressure biofeedback. For all OLS conditions, a pressure sensor was placed between the lateral surface of the humerus on the non-supporting side and the wall. Under the PB- condition, participants performed preferred OLS while the examiner measured the maximum pressure caused by trunk lean. Under the PB+ condition, participants were asked to perform at a threshold of 50% of the maximal pressure (PB+ 1 condition) and with minimal change in pressure (PB+ 2 condition). Muscle activities of MF, QL, and Gmed as well as the femoropelvic and trunk lean angles were measured under various OLS conditions. RESULTS: The activity of the Gmed, MF, and QL was greater under both PB+ conditions than under the PB- condition (p< 0.05). Also, both PB+ conditions resulted in a greater femoropelvic angle and reduced trunk lean angle. There were no significant differences in muscle activity, femoropelvic angle, or trunk lean angle between PB+ 1 and PB+ 2 (p> 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that pressure biofeedback is a useful modality for increasing the activity of the Gmed and trunk muscles, especially the MF muscle on the non-supporting leg side, and for preventing compensatory movements such as trunk deviation and pelvic lateral deviation during OLS.

Objective: With the scenario of limited labeled dataset, this paper introduces a deep learning-based approach that leverages Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) severity recognition performance using fundus images combined with wide-field swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA). Methods: The proposed architecture comprises a backbone convolutional network associated with a Twofold Feature Augmentation mechanism, namely TFA-Net. The former includes multiple convolution blocks extracting representational features at various scales. The latter is constructed in a two-stage manner, i.e., the utilization of weight-sharing convolution kernels and the deployment of a Reverse Cross-Attention (RCA) stream. Results: The proposed model achieves a Quadratic Weighted Kappa rate of 90.2% on the small-sized internal KHUMC dataset. The robustness of the RCA stream is also evaluated by the single-modal Messidor dataset, of which the obtained mean Accuracy (94.8%) and Area Under Receiver Operating Characteristic (99.4%) outperform those of the state-of-the-arts significantly. Conclusion: Utilizing a network strongly regularized at feature space to learn the amalgamation of different modalities is of proven effectiveness. Thanks to the widespread availability of multi-modal retinal imaging for each diabetes patient nowadays, such approach can reduce the heavy reliance on large quantity of labeled visual data. Significance: Our TFA-Net is able to coordinate hybrid information of fundus photos and wide-field SS-OCTA for exhaustively exploiting DR-oriented biomarkers. Moreover, the embedded feature-wise augmentation scheme can enrich generalization ability efficiently despite learning from small-scale labeled data.

The infraspinatus muscle has a crucial role in shoulder stability. Although axial shoulder rotation is useful for selective activation of the infraspinatus, no study has examined the influence of exercise position on axial shoulder rotation during shoulder external rotation (ER) exercises. Thus, this study investigated the muscle activity in the infraspinatus, posterior deltoid, and middle trapezius during shoulder ER exercises performed with and without controlled axial shoulder rotation in 2 different positions.Twenty healthy subjects performed prone external rotation (PER) exercises with and without pressure biofeedback and seated external rotation (SITER) exercises with and without posterior humeral head gliding. Muscle activity during each ER exercise was measured using surface electromyography.Exercise strategy (P.001) and position (P.001) had a significant main effect on muscle activity in the infraspinatus and posterior deltoid. However, no significant interaction between strategy and position was observed. For muscle activity in the middle trapezius, strategy and position had a significant interaction effect (P = .014). Muscle activity in the infraspinatus increased significantly with the use of strategies to control axial shoulder rotation, whereas muscle activity in the posterior deltoid and middle trapezius decreased significantly. For all 3 muscles, greater activity was observed in the prone position than the seated position.We suggest that PER with pressure biofeedback can be useful to improve selective activation of the infraspinatus muscle while further eliciting infraspinatus muscle activity.

Purpose: To investigate the baseline characteristics in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) during 7 years according to the need for additional treatments after intravitreal ranibizumab (RBZ) loading injections.Methods: The medical records of 32 patients treated with intravitreal RBZ loading for DME during 7 years were reviewed. After three-consecutive monthly RBZ injections, additional treatment was decided according to the patient’s response to RBZ loading. Based on whether the patients received treatment with or without additional injections, including intravitreal antivascular endothelial factor or steroid injection, they were divided into the “no add (NA)” or “add” groups, respectively. The baseline best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), macular volume (MV), central subfoveal thickness, and other clinical factors were analyzed, and their 7-year changes were compared between the two groups.Results: The BCVA of the NA group was better than that of the add group at 2, 3, 5, and 7 years (year 2, 3, and 5; p < 0.01, respectively). Baseline MV was significantly smaller in the NA group than in the add group (10.72 ± 0.88 μm vs. 11.98 ± 1.64 μm, p = 0.008). The DME duration before treatment in the NA group was significantly shorter than in the add group (1.03 ± 0.98 years vs. 1.91 ± 1.33 years, p = 0.042). The proportion of patients with serous retinal detachment or cystic macular edema was significantly lower in the NA group than in the add group (35.3% vs. 73.3%, p = 0.042). The NA group had smaller MV until 2 years than the add group (year 1, p = 0.002; year 2, p = 0.006).Conclusions: The DME pat ients without additional treatments during 7 years after the initial loading treatment had shorter duration of DME and diffuse retinal thickening morphologic type with lower MV at baseline, and better long-term visual prognosis.

Esculetin is a natural lactone that is commonly derived from coumarins. According to previous experiments using human cancer cells, esculetin has potent antitumor activity; it also inhibits proliferation and induces the apoptosis of cancer cells. In the present study, the anti-proliferative effect of esculetin on the submandibular salivary gland tumor cell line, A253, was evaluated via

We investigated the potential probiotic properties of Limosilactobacillus fermentum KGC1601 isolated from Panax ginseng. Ginseng cultivated in an experimental field of the Korea Ginseng Research Institute was fermented, followed by single colony selection from MRS agar. We performed 16s-rRNA sequencing and whole-genome analysis to identify L. fermentum and evaluate the biosafety parameters of this strain, respectively. We confirmed this strain was susceptible to six antibiotics, as proposed by the European Food Safety Authority, did not produce biogenic amines, and did not exhibit any hemolytic activity. Acid resistance and bile salt tolerance, which are essential properties of a probiotic agent, were investigated. Notably, distinguishing properties of this strain were that it exhibited excellent bile salt tolerance and anti-inflammatory effects. The excellent bile salt tolerance was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. Through qRT-PCR and ELISA studies, it was revealed that L. fermentum KGC1601 pre-treatment up-regulates anti-inflammatory cytokines and down-regulates pro-inflammatory cytokines in RAW 264.7 cells. Consequently, we suggested that L. fermentum KGC1601 can be safely used as a potential anti-inflammatory functional probiotic agent.

A cardinal feature that distinguishes clinically high-risk neuroblastoma from low-risk tumors is telomere maintenance. Specifically, neuroblastoma tumors with either active telomerase or alternative lengthening of telomeres exhibit aggressive growth characteristics that lead to poor outcomes, whereas tumors without telomere maintenance can be managed with observation or minimal treatment. Even though the need for cancer cells to maintain telomere DNA—in order to sustain cell proliferation—is well established, recent studies suggest that the neural crest origin of neuroblastoma may enforce unique relationships between telomeres and tumor malignancy. Specifically in neuroblastoma, telomere structure and telomerase activity are correlated with the adrenergic/mesenchymal differentiation states, and manipulating telomerase activity can trigger tumor cell differentiation. Both findings may reflect features of normal neural crest development. This review summarizes recent advances in the characterization of telomere structure and telomere maintenance mechanisms in neuroblastoma and discusses the findings in the context of relevant literature on telomeres during embryonic and neural development. Understanding the canonical and non-canonical roles of telomere maintenance in neuroblastoma could reveal vulnerabilities for telomere-directed therapies with potential applications to other pediatric malignancies.

To develop an automatic algorithm to analyze dystrophic lesions on photographic images of corneal dystrophy. The dataset included 32 images of corneal dystrophy. The dystrophic area was manually segmented twice. Manually labeled dystrophy areas were compared with automatically segmented images. First, we manually removed the light reflex from the image of the cornea. Using an automatic approach, we extracted the brown color of the iris. Then, the program detected the circular region of the pupil and the corneal surface. A whitish dystrophy area was defined based on the image intensity on the iris and the pupil. The sliding square kernel was applied to clearly define the dystrophic region. For the manual analysis and the twice automatic approach, the Dice similarity was 0.804 and 0.801, respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.807 and 0.806, respectively. The total number of distinct dystrophic areas showed no significant difference between the manual and automatic approaches according to the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (p

본 연구의 목적은 스톱모션 애니메이션 제작 활동이 유아의 이야기 꾸미기 능력과 창의성에 미치는 영향을 알아보는 데 있다. 연구대상은 서울특별시에 위치한 2개 어린이집에 재원중인 만5세 유아 50명(실험집단 25명, 비교집단 25명)이었다. 실험집단은 10주 동안 14차시에 걸쳐서 스톱모션 애니메이션 제작 활동을 실시하였고, 비교집단은 누리과정에 입각한 생활주제 중심 언어활동 및 미술활동을 하였다. 연구결과, 실험집단의 이야기 꾸미기 능력 점수가 비교집단의 점수보다 통계적으로 유의미한 차이가 있는 것으로 나타났으나 창의성 점수에는 통계적으로 유의미한 차이가 나타나지 않았다. 이러한 연구결과는 스톱모션 애니메이션 제작 활동이 만 5세 유아의 이야기 꾸미기 능력을 증진시키는데 효과적임을 알 수 있다. 이는 스톱모션 애니메이션 제작 활동이 유아의 이야기 꾸미기 능력 향상에 효과적인 교수학습 방법이 될 수 있음을 시사하는 것이므로 유아교육현장에서 스톱모션 애니메이션 제작활동은 확대되어야 할 것이다.

Background/aims It is important that shoulder rehabilitation programmes incorporate exercises that selectively activate the infraspinatus. In this study, changes in infraspinatus and posterior deltoid electromyography activity during a sitting external rotation exercise with and without the use of a humeral head posterior gliding strategy were investigated. Methods A total of 12 healthy men participated in this study. The activity of the infraspinatus and posterior deltoid was measured during the sitting external rotation exercise, performed with and without humeral head posterior gliding. Differences in the electromyography activity of the infraspinatus and posterior deltoid, with and without humeral head posterior gliding, were analysed using paired t-tests. Results Infraspinatus activity was significantly higher with humeral head posterior gliding than without it (PConclusions Based on these results, humeral head posterior gliding is recommended for the selective activation of the infraspinatus when performing shoulder external rotation exercises, with the shoulder abducted at 90°.

Previous studies have investigated the role of inflammatory markers in suicidality of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) or panic disorder (PD). However, few studies have investigated associations between serum inflammatory cytokine levels and suicidality. We hypothesized that MDD and PD status might be significantly associated with serum inflammatory cytokines and that we could predict levels of improvement in suicide ideation intensity using serum inflammatory biomarkers in patients with MDD and PD. For this study, 41 patients with MDD, 52 patients with PD, and 59 healthy control (HC) subjects were enrolled. Psychological measurements and serum inflammatory markers such as interleukin (IL) -6, -10, interferon (IFN)-γ, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and C reactive protein (CRP) were examined. A total of five visits were completed during 12 weeks. After controlling for confounding factors, log-transformed IL-6 (ln_IL-6) at baseline (MDD: 0.297 ± 0.626; PD: 0.342 ± 0.723; HC: -0.121 ± 0.858; p = 0.007,0.0017, 0.05/30) and mean ln_IL-6 (MDD: 0.395 ± 0.550, PD: 0.249 ± 0.544, HC: -0.139 ± 0.622, p = 0.002,0.0017, 0.05/30) levels were trends towards significantly higher in patients with MDD and PD than in HC. In MDD patients, a higher level of basal ln_TNF-α was a significant predictor of ΔSSI (changes in SSI scores between baseline and week 12) even after controlling for changes of depression symptoms and baseline SSI scores (standardized β = 0.541, p = 0.002 0.0028, 0.05/18). In conclusion, we could predict ΔSSI using baseline inflammatory biomarkers for patients with MDD.

Fused aromatic networks (FANs) have been studied in efforts to overcome the low physicochemical stability of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), while preserving crystallinity. Herein, we describe the synthesis of a highly stable and crystalline FAN (denoted as Pz-FAN) using pyrazine-based building blocks to form porphyrazine (Pz) linkages via an irreversible reaction. Unlike most COFs and FANs, which are synthesized from two different building blocks, the new Pz-FAN is formed using a single building block by self-cyclotetramerization. Controlled and optimized reaction conditions result in a highly crystalline Pz-FAN with physicochemical stability. The newly prepared Pz-FAN displayed a high magnitude (1.16×10

Exposure to particulate matter is a causative factor of dry eye disease. We aimed to investigate the beneficial effect of eye drops containing aucubin on dry eye disease induced by urban particulate matter (UPM). Dry eye was induced in male SD rats (6 weeks old) by topical exposure to UPM thrice a day for 5 d. Eye drops containing 0.1% aucubin or 0.5% aucubin were topically administered directly into the eye after UPM exposure for an additional 5 d. Tear secretion was evaluated using a phenol red thread tear test and corneal irregularity. The oxidative damage in the lacrimal gland was evaluated using TUNEL and immunohistochemical staining. The topical administration of aucubin significantly attenuated UPM-induced tear hyposecretion (control group: 9.25 ± 0.62 mm, UPM group: 4.55 ± 0.25 mm, 0.1% aucubin: 7.12 ± 0.58 mm, and 0.5% aucubin: 7.88 ± 0.75 mm) and corneal irregularity (control group: 0.00 ± 0.00, UPM group: 3.40 ± 0.29, 0.1% aucubin: 1.80 ± 0.27, and 0.5% aucubin: 1.15 ± 0.27). In addition, aucubin also reduced the UPM-induced apoptotic injury of lacrimal gland cells induced by oxidative stress through the increased expression of HMGB1 and RAGE. These findings indicate that the topical administration of aucubin eye drops showed a beneficial effect against UPM-induced abnormal ocular changes, such as tear hyposecretion and lacrimal gland damage. Therefore, our results reveal the pharmacological activities of aucubin in dry eye disease.

Alteration in stress response seems to affect the development of psychiatric disorders. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether baseline peripheral biomarkers could predict the reduction of stress response among patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and panic disorder (PD). Patients with MDD (n = 41) and PD (n = 52) and healthy controls (HC, n = 59) were selected and regularly followed up with five visits for 12 weeks. The severity of stress at every visit was assessed using the Stress Response Inventory (SRI), and peripheral biomarkers were measured by blood tests at baseline and 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interferon (IFN)-γ, C-reactive protein (CRP), adiponectin, and leptin levels were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Reduction of stress response was defined as the difference in SRI score between baseline and 12 weeks divided by the baseline score. SRI scores were significantly (p < 0.0001) higher in patients with MDD and PD than in HC at every visit after adjusting for variables. In multivariable linear regression, adiponectin levels at baseline were significantly associated with reduction of stress response in patients with PD. When adiponectin increased 1 mg/l, stress response decreased 0.781 points (β = −0.781, S.E. = 0.220, p = 0.001). Among the subscales of SRI, somatization had a moderate negative correlation with adiponectin levels (r = −0.469). There was no significant association between baseline peripheral biomarkers and reduction of stress response in patients with MDD. Our study showed an inverse association between baseline adiponectin levels and stress response changes in patients with PD, but not in patients with MDD. Thus, differentiated approaches for assessing and treating stress responses of patients with PD and MDD might be helpful. Larger and longitudinal studies are necessary to establish the role and mechanism of action of adiponectin in regulating stress responses in PD.

After the Constitutional Court of Korea ruled that the provision of involuntary admissions was unconstitutional, as it violates personal freedom, the Mental Health and Welfare Act was amended in 2016. The current study explores involuntary admission and discharge experiences, after the law's revision, from a patient-centered perspective and suggests future directions to protect human rights. Data were collected from seven persons with mental illness and three family members through in-depth individual interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. Persons with mental illness were still not guaranteed full autonomy and the right to receive proper treatment due to lack of mental health resources. The burden on family caregivers was amplified by stricter admission requirements. These results indicate the need for human rights–friendly emergency services, including peer crisis shelters and procedural assistance services. The government should develop community-based mental health services to ensure continuity of care without imposing public responsibility on family members. [ Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 60 (8), 27–35.]

An approach for the construction of the tricyclic framework of naturally occurring cyclocalopin A is described. The establishment of the crucial intermediate α-methylene bis-γ,δ-lactone involves a [2 + 2 + 1]-cyclocarbonylation of newly introduced allenyl glyoxylate via direct methods using Mo(CO)

Background: The worldwide paradigm shift from a medical-centered system to patient-centered care has caused the need for recognition of actual (practical) medical service from laypeople. In South Korea, intrinsic healthcare use characteristics such as the ‘Herd Behavior’ lead to the predominant use of metropolitan-based major hospitals causing inconveniences including long traveling: waiting hours but short treatment time. To define this issue, illustrating the individual’s perceptions of an ideal health care system are should take precedence. This study aimed to explore and describe the perceptions of laypeople in South Korea of ideal health care services based on their experiences with medical service utilization.Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews. Thirteen people were interviewed through three focus group interviews and one in-depth individual interview. The research question was to identify what medical services would be from laypeople’s perspective. Qualitative data were analyzed using the thematic analysis method and visualized through a word cloud generated using MAXQDA software.Results: Six themes were derived from the visualized words and an incremental analysis stage to explore perceptions of desirable medical services. Participants had difficulties finding a suitable hospital without expert guidance. Sometimes they felt like money-making objects, resulting in distrust of medical professionals. They expressed the desire for their essential needs to be met regardless of their economic status.Conclusions: This study provides a portrait of laypeople’s experiences related to health care services in the South Korean context, where medical services are predominantly provided by private hospitals with public insurance coverage. It is necessary to embrace users’ perceptions related to this fundamental policy issue to improve the medical system by incorporating a stronger emphasis on people-centeredness.