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The method presented herein is associated with the Lab Resource article titled “Generation of αMHC-EGFP knock-in in human pluripotent stem cell line, SNUe003-A-3, using CRISPR/CAS9-based gene targeting” [1]. The cardiac muscle-specific protein, α-myosin heavy chain (αMHC), is encoded by the human MYH6 gene, which is expressed in both the atria and ventricles during embryonic development and is predominantly expressed in the atria after birth [2]. Herein, the methods used to achieve CRISPR/SpCas9-mediated introduction of an EGFP reporter into αMHC, the target locus in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for cardiac lineage tracing and clinical cell sorting are described. The CRISPR-Cas9 system enables efficient replacement of the stop codon in the last exon of αMHC with a 2A non-joining peptide (T2A)-EGFP cassette. First, hPSCs are transfected with the donor construct and Cas9/sgRNA plasmids via electroporation and selected with neomycin for approximately 3 weeks. Thereafter, the established cell line exhibits typical characteristics of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). When these cells differentiate into cardiomyocytes, the expression of EGFP is confirmed using confocal microscopy, flow cytometry analysis, and immunostaining. • The line enables monitoring of cell maturation events during human cardiac development. • The line is a valuable platform for cardiotoxicity tests and drug screening. • This method has already been employed in two original studies, as previously reported for reporter cell line generation using CRISPR/Cas9.

COVID-19 is an unprecedented pandemic that has impacted the whole world. The pandemic made researchers and educators realize the critical need to prepare for future disasters. This study explored a context-specific case for elementary online learning where we investigated how elementary school teachers transitioned to emergency remote teaching (ERT) from face-to-face to online learning during the pandemic. A case study approach was used to explore South Korean elementary teachers' ERT approaches and experiences during COVID-19. Using the CIPP (Context, Input, Process, and Product) framework, we sought to understand how the transition occurred from the perspectives of the teachers. The analysis uncovered several themes that fall under each category of the framework. In terms of context, limited technological aptitude and lack of training in online instructional design as well as policy issues and socio-economic differences were identified as key factors in assessing the current state of the ERT. In terms of input, instructors' efforts as well as support from in and out of school were discussed. Student interaction and engagement were identified as key factors in understanding the process of ERT. Lastly, learning outcomes, instructional strategies, and systemic transformation emerged as products of ERT.

TUBB3 is a structural neuronal protein important for multiple neuronal functions including axonal guidance and maturation. This study aimed to generate a human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) line with a TUBB3-mCherry reporter using CRISPR/SpCas9 nuclease. The stop codon in the last exon of TUBB3 was replaced with a T2A-mCherry cassette using CRISPR/SpCas9-mediated homologous recombination. The established TUBB3-mCherry knock-in cell line exhibited typical pluripotent characteristics. The mCherry reporter faithfully replicated the endogenous level of TUBB3 upon induction of neuronal differentiation. The reporter cell line could contribute to the investigation of neuronal differentiation, neuronal toxicity, and neuronal tracing.

The cardiac muscle-specific protein, α-myosin heavy chain (αMHC), is a major component of cardiac muscle filaments involved in cardiac muscle contraction. Here, we established an αMHC-enhanced fluorescent protein (EGFP) knock-in human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) line by linking the EGFP gene to the C-terminal region of αMHC via a 2A non-joining peptide using CRISPR/Cas9 nuclease. The EGFP reporter precisely reflected the endogenous level of αMHC upon the induction of cardiac differentiation. This reporter cell line will be a valuable platform for cardiotoxicity tests, drug screening, and investigating the pathological mechanisms of cardiomyocytes.

Recently, generative AI has been at the center of disruptive innovation in various settings, including educational sectors. This article investigates ChatGPT, which is one of the most prominent generative AI in the market, to explore its usefulness and potential for instructional design. Four researchers used a set of prompts to generate a course map for an online course that is aimed to teach the topic of makerspace and conducted SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of using generative AI for instructional design. The findings suggest that there is promise in using ChatGPT as an efficient and effective tool for creating course maps, yet it still requires the domain knowledge and instructional design expertise to warrant quality and reliability of the tool.

Brachyury is an embryonic nuclear transcription factor required for mesoderm formation and differentiation. Here, we introduced an mCherry reporter into the C-terminus of Brachyury in the human pluripotent stem cell line SNUhES3 using the CRISPR/Cas9 nuclease approach. Successful gene editing was verified by DNA sequencing. SNUhES3-Brachyury-mCherry cells expressed pluripotent stem cell markers, exhibited a normal karyotype, and could generate all three germ layers. This cell line expressed the red fluorescence protein mCherry upon the induction of mesoderm differentiation. This reporter cell line could be used to monitor mesodermal population enrichment during mesodermal differentiation.

Abstract Background Saururus chinensis leaves have been used as traditional medicine in Korea for pain, intoxication, edema, and furuncle. According to previous reports, these leaves exert renoprotective, neuroprotective, and antioxidant effects by attenuating inflammatory responses. However, the beneficial effect of Saururus chinensis leaves on arthritis has not been elucidated. Thus, we evaluated the water extract of Saururus chinensis leaves (SHW) using type II collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mice models. Methods Quantitative analysis of major components from SHW was performed by HPLC. Arthritis was induced by injection of type II collagen. Each group was orally administered SHW (100 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg). Methotrexate (MTX) was used as a positive control. Serum levels of interleukin-6, TNF-alpha, and type II collagen IgG in the animal models were measured using ELISA. Histological features were observed by H&E staining. Results Quantitative analysis of SHW showed the contents as 56.4 ± 0.52 mg/g of miquelianin, 7.75 ± 0.08 mg/g of quercetin 3-O-(2”-O-β -glucopyranosyl)-α-rhamnopyranoside, and 3.17 ± 0.02 mg/g of quercitrin. Treatment with 500 mg/kg SHW decreased the serum level of Interleukin-6 (IL-6), TNF-alpha, and collagen IgG in the CIA model. Moreover, SHW treatment diminished the swelling of hind limbs and monocyte infiltration in blood vessels in CIA animal models. The results indicate that SHW could decrease CIA-induced arthritis in vivo. Conclusions The results indicate that SHW could be used to improving arthritis by reducing inflammatory factors (IL-6 and TNF-alpha). However, further experiments are required to determine how SHW influences signal transduction in animal models.

People who have difficulty moving owing to problems in walking spend their lives assisted by wheelchairs. In the past, research has been conducted regarding the application of various technologies to electric wheelchairs for user convenience. In this study, we evaluated a method of applying an autonomous driving function and developed an autonomous driving function using ROS. An electric wheelchair with a control unit designed to enable autonomous driving was used to test the basic performance of autonomous driving. The effectiveness of the technology was confirmed by comparing the results of autonomous driving with those of manual driving on the same route. It is expected that the evaluation and improvement of the usability and ride quality as well as additional studies will help improve the mobility convenience of physically disabled persons.

This study investigates how L1-Korean L2-English learners perform with regard to articles in both explicit and implicit tasks. It also examines the role of L1-transfer from Korean demonstratives to English definites in L2 article production. 21 native English speakers and 27 adult intermediate L1-Korean L2-English learners were tested. The participants completed an elicited imitation task (EIT, implicit) and a forced-choice task (FCT, explicit). In the EIT, participants repeated sentences with and without articles, while stating whether the sentence matched the picture. In the FCT, participants chose the correct article for each item. The same sentences were used in both tasks. The results showed that in the FCT, learners were target-like in anaphoric contexts, supplying "the," but very frequently overused "a" in non-anaphoric (bridging) contexts, suggesting that they equate definiteness with previous-mention. In the EIT, learners were less target-like than native speakers, yet the patterns of the two groups were similar. We consider possible explanations for the different results obtained in the two tasks.

Within engineering education, informal, out-of-school making experiences and parent-child interactions within home environments are both considered as a promising context for the development of engineering discourse and practices. However, less is known about how parents support children's engagement in engineering learning, particularly when they are foregrounded with making that use materials and technologies that can introduce sources of uncertainty. To understand both the opportunities and uncertainties of centering making within parent--child engineering learning experiences, this study examines how parents' use of epistemic supports differ between engineering design tasks with technology and engineering design tasks without technology, and within the different phases in the engineering design process. The study further investigates how parents exhibit epistemic uncertainties differently between engineering design tasks. Building on the notion of guided participation to frame engineering learning and making as co-constructed through multiple situated interactions, this study demonstrates that: (a) parents are skilled knowledge practitioners for their children's engagement of engineering learning through the use of various epistemic supports; (b) the presence of technology in the engineering design tasks prompt different types of epistemic practices and engineering design phases; (c) opportunities and tensions co-emerge when parents experience epistemic uncertainty about STEM concepts or troubleshooting during engineering design tasks with technology. We discuss implications for the design of engineering design tasks within home environments that extend the use of parents' epistemic supports.

Introduction Muscle strength is known to play an important role in the health of older adults. The health burden of cigarette smoking among older adults remains significant. We investigated the association between smoking cessation and dynapenia among older lifetime smokers in Korea. Methods This study is a secondary dataset analysis of cross-sectional data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2016– 2019. We included 1450 participants aged 65–79 years, excluding those who had never smoked. Dynapenia was defined as grip strength

Abstract Background Concomitant use of clopidogrel and proton pump inhibitor (PPI) is common, but PPI may reduce the antiplatelet effects of clopidogrel in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We evaluated the impact of PPI use on clinical outcomes in post-PCI patients, by incorporating P2Y12 reaction unit (PRU) and CYP2C19 genotyping results. Methods From a multicenter registry of patients who underwent PCI with drug-eluting stent implantation and received clopidogrel-based dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT), patients who were prescribed a PPI at the time of PCI (PPI users) were compared to those who were not (non-users). The primary outcome included all-cause death, myocardial infarction, stent thrombosis, or cerebrovascular accident at 12 months. Major bleeding (Bleeding Academic Research Consortium [BARC] types 3–5) and gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding (BARC types 3–5) were important secondary outcomes. The adjusted outcomes were compared using a 1:1 propensity-score (PS) matching and competing risk analysis. Results Of 13,160 patients, 2,235 (17.0%) were prescribed PPI, with an average age of 65.4 years. PPI users had higher on-treatment PRU levels than non-users. After PS matching, the primary outcome occurred in 51 patients who were PPI users (cumulative incidence, 4.7%) and 41 patients who were non-users (cumulative incidence, 3.7%; log-rank p = 0.27). In carriers of both CYP2C19 loss-of-function alleles, PPI use was linked to an increased risk of the primary outcome (hazard ratio, 3.22; 95% confidence interval, 1.18–8.78). The incidence of major bleeding and GI bleeding (BARC types 3–5) was comparable between PPI users and non-users in the PS-matched cohort. Conclusions In post-PCI patients receiving clopidogrel-based DAPT, PPI use was not linked to an increased risk of adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events, but there was a small but significant increase in on-treatment PRU. Future research using a more individualized approach would further elucidate these interactions and guide evidence-based clinical practices.

Abstract Background This study investigated the mediating effects of self-efficacy and social support on the relationship between stress and burnout among infection control nurses (ICNs) during an emerging infectious disease pandemic. Methods The study participants encompassed 210 ICNs with at least six months’ experience in an infection control unit at a general hospital in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were analyzed using independent t-tests or one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), while descriptive statistics were performed using SPSS/WIN 26.0 software. Hayes’s PROCESS macro 4.2 software was used to verify the significance of the indirect effects of the mediators. Results Stress had a significant positive effect on burnout (β = 0.80, p

Abstract The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union has established regulations on automated decisions in Article 22 with the proliferation of artificial intelligence. In response, the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) of South Korea, serving as a counterpart to the GDPR, has recently incorporated provisions for automated decisions under Article 37-2 through an amendment. Although the PIPA follows a distinct legal framework from the GDPR, it is crucial to ensure an equivalent level of protection for fundamental rights. Recognising this concern, this study analyses the differences between the PIPA and GDPR regarding automated decisions, focusing on three aspects: format, target, and content. This analysis identifies that the PIPA lacks comprehensive safeguards for data subjects in certain aspects compared to the GDPR. First, regarding the format, the PIPA grants the right to object rather than establishing a general prohibition to automated decisions, posing limitations in protecting individuals who are unable to effectively exercise their rights. Second, in terms of the target, the PIPA regulates a completely automated status at the overall system level, creating a regulatory vacuum for a multi-stage profiling system. Third, concerning the content, the PIPA faces several technical and practical limitations that remain unresolved in delineating the content of the right to explanation. Building upon this analysis, this study proposes potential legislation and interpretation remedies to address these concerns based on each aspect.

Low-light images often lack visibility and information, and traditional methods of adjusting camera sensitivity and exposure time can result in visual quality degradation. In this paper, we propose a low-light enhancement method that utilizes two novel approaches to address these issues. The first approach involves using multi-band NIR (Near Infra-red) to preserve structural components, while a transformer-based cross-attention module efficiently calculates the correlation between NIR and RGB for effective fusion. The second approach involves implementing dual-teacher knowledge distillation, where normal- and mid-light teacher networks transfer low-light enhancement knowledge to the student. Our proposed method produces better color and detail restoration results than existing methods, particularly in ultra low-light environments. We also provide our own datasets for two different low-light conditions, enabling wide evaluations and ablation studies.

Planetary health is crucial to human well-being, ecosystem sustainability, and biodiversity preservation. In this context, camera traps are an effective remote sensing tool for monitoring biodiversity. Given the rising importance of understanding biodiversity patterns and trends, this study examines possible factors influencing camera-trap studies and provides bibliometric insights from 2377 publications indexed in the Web of Science (WoS). To explore the potential drivers of camera-trap research growth, we used a logistic model based on specific variables, including global gross domestic product, temperature growth, a planetary health measure the declining living planet index, and human population growth. The living planet index was identified as a statistically significant driver of camera-trap research growth (p-value

Purpose: This study criticizes the existing benchmarks of the national equity fund specified by the National Pension Service and proposes alternative benchmarks. Design/methodology/approach: First, this study investigates whether the existing benchmarks returns are affected by the value and momentum factors. Second, we examine the effects of different factors on the benchmark returns of internal and outsourcing investments. Third, we propose three benchmarks by including the value factor and/or momentum factor. Finally, the Sharpe ratios of return-to-risk are used to measure these proposed benchmarks compared to the existing benchmarks. Findings: First, the existing benchmarks of internal and outsourcing investments are associated with value and momentum factors, which have been observed in many other countries. Second, the Sharpe ratios of the three proposed benchmarks - value oriented, momentum oriented, and value & momentum oriented - are always better than the existing benchmarks. Third, the Sharpe ratio of the value oriented benchmark is better than that of the momentum oriented and value & momentum oriented benchmarks. Finally, the Sharpe ratios are better with increased investment weights of value and/or momentum. Research limitations/implications: This study uses the Sharpe ratio to measure the return-to-risk relationship. There could be other measures to capture the relationship. Originality/value: This is the first research to analyze the national pension equity fund with proposed benchmarks in the Korean market.