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In this study, a hybrid bipolar arc plasma stimulation (BAPS) and dual pulse electroporation (DPEP) technique was used to form microchannels, and the effect of highly efficient transformation drug delivery (TDD) on the skin was analyzed. The BAPS technique was applied to pig skin to form a microchannel as a biological sample to measure and observe the plasma as a micropore. During the BAPS, an output voltage of 1 kVpp at 40 kHz was applied at duty rates of 20%, 40%, and 60%. The BAPS technique was applied to the keratin skin layer, and microchannels with an average size of $30\,\,\mu \text{m}\,\,\times 30\,\,\mu \text{m}$ and up to $77\,\,\mu \text{m}\,\,\times 55\,\,\mu \text{m}$ were formed only in the keratin layer without any damage to the dermal layer. Next, DPEP was stimulated to increase the permeability of the endothelial membrane in the structure with the microchannels. The proposed hybrid technique effectively introduces TDD deeper into the employed 20 female subjects skin test with average age of 44 years, and the results in the absorption rate increase about 418%.

Purpose To explore the clinical characteristics and profiles of newly diagnosed glaucoma subtypes in urban Korea. Methods All newly diagnosed glaucoma patients enrolled in the participating ophthalmology outpatient clinics were included. A review of medical history including family history of glaucoma was conducted. The patients underwent complete ophthalmologic examinations including visual field test. The diagnosis of glaucoma was based on the International Society of Geographical and Epidemiological Ophthalmology criteria developed by glaucoma specialists. Results A total of 198,671 patients visited the participating ophthalmology outpatient clinics during the study period (from January 1, 2001 to June 30, 2016), of which 5,530 (2.8%) were diagnosed with glaucoma. The mean age of the newly diagnosed glaucoma patients was 52.0 ± 17.3 years (range, 6 to 89) and 2,830 patients were male (51.2%). The mean untreated intraocular pressure and vertical cup-to-disc ratio of the optic nerve head of newly diagnosed glaucoma eyes were 22.1 ± 10.6 mmHg and 0.66 ± 0.22, respectively. The most frequently observed subtypes of glaucoma were: normal tension glaucoma (33.0%) primary open-angle glaucoma (28.4%), ocular hypertension (11.1%), chronic angle-closure glaucoma (6.8%), neovascular glaucoma (5.2%), glaucoma associated with inflammation (3.8%), acute angle-closure glaucoma (3.3%), and glaucoma associated with aphakia or pseudophakia (2.2%). Conclusions Normal tension glaucoma was the most frequently observed glaucoma subtype in urban ophthalmology outpatient clinics in Korea.

We analyze a time series of global temperature anomaly distributions to identify and estimate persistent features in climate change. We employ a formal test for the existence of functional unit roots in the time series of these densities, and we develop a new test to distinguish functional unit roots from functional deterministic trends or explosive behavior. Results suggest that temperature anomalies contain stochastic trends (as opposed to deterministic trends or explosive roots), two trends are present in the Northern Hemisphere while one stochastic trend is present in the Southern Hemisphere, and the probabilities of observing moderately positive anomalies have increased. We postulate that differences in the pattern and number of unit roots in each hemisphere may be due to a natural experiment which causes human emissions of greenhouse gases and sulfur to be greater in the Northern Hemisphere, decreasing the mean temperature anomaly but increasing the spatial variance relative to the Southern Hemisphere. Together, these results are consistent with the theory of anthropogenic climate change.

Approximately 50% of patients with early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who undergo surgery with curative intent will relapse within 5 years1,2. Detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) at the time of surgery may represent a tool to identify patients at higher risk of recurrence for whom more frequent monitoring is advised. Here we asked whether CellSearch-detected pulmonary venous CTCs (PV-CTCs) at surgical resection of early-stage NSCLC represent subclones responsible for subsequent disease relapse. PV-CTCs were detected in 48% of 100 patients enrolled into the TRACERx study3, were associated with lung-cancer-specific relapse and remained an independent predictor of relapse in multivariate analysis adjusted for tumor stage. In a case study, genomic profiling of single PV-CTCs collected at surgery revealed higher mutation overlap with metastasis detected 10 months later (91%) than with the primary tumor (79%), suggesting that early-disseminating PV-CTCs were responsible for disease relapse. Together, PV-CTC enumeration and genomic profiling highlight the potential of PV-CTCs as early predictors of NSCLC recurrence after surgery. However, the limited sensitivity of PV-CTCs in predicting relapse suggests that further studies using a larger, independent cohort are warranted to confirm and better define the potential clinical utility of PV-CTCs in early-stage NSCLC.

This paper nonparametrically estimates the distribution of world citizens’ income and investigates world income inequality for the period from 1970 to 2010. We consider 188 countries that account for 98.68% of the world population and almost 100% of the world GDP in the year 2010. Various income inequality indices such as the Gini coefficient reveal that the world income inequality dramatically decreased during the 2000s, whereas it only slightly declined from 1970 to 2000, because the across-country inequality component substantially decreased during the 2000s even if the within-country inequality component kept increasing during the 1990s and the 2000s. These findings still hold when we include top income tax data in the analysis. We also propose more sophisticated methods to impute missing top income share data and to combine them with income survey data.

Electrical metal contacts formed with 2D materials strongly affect device performance. Here, we used scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to characterize the interfacial structure formed and physical damage induced between MoS2 and the most commonly used metals, Ti, Cr, Au, and Pd. We further correlated the electrical performance with physical defects observed at the 2D interfacial structure. The contact resistances were higher in the order of Ti, Au, Pd, and Cr contacts, but all 4-point probe mobilities measured with metals in contact with identical quadrilayer MoS2 were ∼65 cm2 V−1 s−1, confirming the reliability of the devices. According to the STEM and EDS analyses, the Ti contact gave rise to a van der Waals gap between the clean quadrilayer MoS2 and the Ti contact. By contrast, Cr migrated into MoS2 while Mo and S counter-migrated into the SiO2 substrate. Au and Pd formed glassy layers that resulted in the migration of Mo and S into the Au and Pd electrodes. These interfacial structures between MoS2 and contact metals strongly correlated with the electrical performance of 2D MoS2 FETs, providing practical guidelines to form van der Waals contacts.

Tungsten diselenide (WSe2) has received significant attention because it shows the pristine ambipolar property arising from the Fermi level located near the midgap and can be converted to uni-polar form. In this study, we observe the formation of tungsten oxide (WOx) on the WSe2 surface after oxygen plasma treatment and show that the p-type WOx dopes WSe2. In our devices that underwent plasma treatment, it was interesting to find a strong correlation between the changes in the work function of WSe2 and a gold electrode, and the channel and contact resistances. The channel resistance changes very sensitively at a rate of 64 meV per dec with the increase in the WSe2 channel work function, which is close to the thermal limit; this indicates the defect-free oxidized WSe2 channel. The carrier transport in the oxidized WSe2 FET is shown to change to a high performance p-type device with greatly reduced channel and contact resistances with the increase in the plasma oxidation time.

Although there was little difference in overall vision-related quality of life (VRQOL) between patients with normal tension glaucoma (NTG) and primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) after controlling for confounding factors, POAG tended to have poorer VRQOL, especially in social functioning and dependency, than NTG.The fundamental goal of treatment of patients with glaucoma is to preserve their VRQOL. The aim of this study was to compare VRQOL between patients with NTG and those with POAG.The self-reported National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25) survey was performed, including clinical, demographic, and socioeconomic data from 506 Korean patients with NTG and 287 with POAG. The mean deviation of the integrated binocular visual field was calculated using the best location method. The NEI VFQ-25 results were evaluated by Rasch analysis to control item difficulty and variation in individual response ability. Propensity score matching was used to control for various confounding factors affecting VRQOL.Although patients with POAG tended to have worse VRQOL than those with NTG, there was no statistically significant between-group difference in ocular pain, near and distance activities, mental health, role difficulties, ability to drive, and the overall composite score. However, the social functioning (P=0.016) and dependency (P=0.026) were significantly poorer in POAG patients.Overall VRQOL in patients with NTG and POAG was found to be similar. However, social functioning and dependency were significantly worse in those with POAG. These findings are relevant to supporting glaucoma patients.

We investigated changes in anterior chamber (AC) structure after miosis in phakic eyes and pseudophakic eyes with glaucoma. In this prospective study, patients scheduled for glaucoma implant surgery were examined using anterior segment optical coherence tomography before and after miosis. Four AC parameters (AC angle, peripheral anterior chamber (PAC) depth, central anterior chamber (CAC) depth, and AC area) were analyzed before and after miosis, and then compared between phakic and pseudophakic eyes. Twenty-nine phakic eyes and 36 pseudophakic eyes were enrolled. The AC angle widened after miosis in both the phakia and pseudophakia groups (p = 0.019 and p &lt, 0.001, respectively). In the phakia group, CAC depth (p &lt, 0.001) and AC area (p = 0.02) were significantly reduced after miosis, and the reductions in PAC depth, CAC depth, and AC area were significantly greater than in the pseudophakia group (all p &lt, 0.05). Twenty-five patients (86.2%) in the phakia group and 17 (47.2%) in the pseudophakia group had reduced CAC depth (p = 0.004). Although miosis increased the AC angle in both groups, AC depth decreased in most phakic eyes and a substantial number of pseudophakic eyes. Preoperative miosis before glaucoma implant surgery may interfere with implant tube placement distant from the cornea during insertion into the AC.

Purpose: We hypothesized that the thickness map from macular ganglion cell analysis (GCA) acquired from spectral-domain optical coherence tomography can be used to differentiate retinal vein occlusion (RVO) from glaucoma. Methods: In this retrospective case control study, 37 patients with resolved RVO and 74 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) were enrolled. Two independent examiners diagnosed patients with RVO or POAG based on the topographic pattern in the GCA thickness map. Inter-observer agreement for a decision between RVO and POAG was assessed using kappa statistics. Diagnostic specificity and accuracy were calculated. Results: Inter-observer agreement was good, with a kappa value of 0.765 (95% confidence interval, 0.634&ndash, 0.896, p &lt, 0.001). The diagnostic specificity of RVO from POAG using the GCA thickness map was 93.2% and diagnosis accuracy was 80.4%. Conclusions: An irregular GCA thickness map represents a simple and convenient differential diagnostic clue to distinguish RVO from POAG.

Purpose: To evaluate changes in macular thickness in patients continuing prostaglandin analog (PGA) treatment during the perioperative period involving bromfenac treatment. Methods: Patients with glaucoma who were using a topical PGA were randomly assigned to two groups in this randomized controlled trial: PGA continuing study group and PGA discontinued glaucoma control group. Patients without ocular diseases other than cataract were enrolled into the non-glaucomatous group. After the cataract surgery, the patients used bromfenac twice per day for 4 weeks. Optical coherence tomography was performed in all patients preoperatively and at 1 month postoperatively. Changes in macular thickness were compared among the three groups. Results: There were 32 eyes in the study group, 33 eyes in the glaucoma control group, and 58 eyes in the non-glaucomatous group. We found statistically significant postoperative changes in central macular thickness in all groups (4.30 &plusmn, 8.01 &mu, m in the PGA continuing group, 9.20 &plusmn, 13.88 &mu, m in the PGA discontinued group, and 7.06 &plusmn, 7.02 &mu, m in the non-glaucomatous group, all p &lt, 0.008), but no significant difference among the three groups (p = 0.161). Cystoid macular edema occurred in only one patient in the non-glaucomatous group (p = 0.568). Conclusions: Continuous use of PGAs during the perioperative period was not significantly associated with increased macular thickness after uncomplicated cataract surgery. In the absence of other risk factors (e.g., capsular rupture, uveitis, or diabetic retinopathy), discontinuing PGAs for the prevention of macular edema after cataract surgery with postoperative bromfenac treatment is unnecessary in patients with glaucoma.

Purpose: We compared the clinical factors, including anterior chamber tube parameters, in patients with and without corneal endothelial cell damage after Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) implantation. Methods: In this retrospective and comparative case series, patients who underwent AGV implantation were enrolled consecutively. Serial specular microscopy was performed before and after AGV implantation. Patients were divided into two groups depending on whether there was a significant decrease in corneal endothelial cell density (ECD), which was determined by each patient&rsquo, s rate of ECD change (%/year), calculated using linear regression analyses. Tube parameters such as the tube-cornea distance (TCD) and tube-cornea angle (TCA) were measured with anterior segment optical coherence tomography. Clinical factors related to the rate of ECD change were evaluated with regression analyses and compared between the two groups. The tipping point at which tube parameters became significantly associated with the rate of ECD change was identified with broken stick regression analyses. Results: There were 30 eyes (32.3%) with ECD damage (group 1) and 63 eyes (67.7%) without damage (group 2). The mean rate of ECD change (%/year) was &minus, 18.82 &plusmn, 22.97 and 2.14 &plusmn, 2.93 in groups 1 and 2, respectively (p &lt, 0.001). The TCA was the only clinical factor associated with the rate of ECD change (regression coefficient, &beta, = 1.254, p &lt, 0.001). The tipping point in the TCA was 26.70&deg, (95% confidence interval, CI: 23.75&ndash, 29.64&deg, ). The mean TCD (mm) was 0.98 &plusmn, 0.38 and 1.26 &plusmn, 0.39 (p = 0.002), and the mean TCA (degrees) was 28.67 &plusmn, 7.79 and 36.35 &plusmn, 5.35 (p &lt, 0.001) in groups 1 and 2, respectively. Conclusions: A wider TCA was protectively associated with the rate of ECD change, and the TCA was significantly narrower in patients with ECD damage. When inserting a tube into the anterior chamber, surgeons should therefore try to secure a wide TCA of about 30&deg, In patients with a narrow TCA after AGV implantation, increased attention should be directed toward whether ECD decreases continuously.

This paper investigates whether the Chinese RMB has become more influential (than the U.S. dollar) in determining the exchange rates of East Asian currencies in recent years. We use a regression method with time-varying coefficients to trace changes in coefficients over time. The empirical results show that the RMB's effects on East Asian currencies were near zero before 2008, but since then have significantly increased and taken over the role of the U.S. dollar in some countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines). In Singapore and Thailand, the RMB is still a non-factor. South Korea shows an interesting pattern, in that the role of the RMB swings over time, with an increase in the past couple of years. We conjecture that the trade share with China has a positive influence on the role of the RMB. In conclusion, given the small absolute value of the regression coefficient on RMB, although the RMB has attained a more significant status in the currency market, it is too early to talk about the creation of an RMB bloc in East Asia.

Recently, active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays have widely been used for user-interface applications on smartphones. Since frequent interactions between a user and a display which come from such applications tend to incur big display power consumption, the display power efficiency should be managed exactly and fast. For this purpose, a high-accurate and fast power model for AMOLED displays is greatly required for efficient power management. In this paper, we propose a novel high-accurate and fast power model for AMOLED displays, which is developed using a multiple regression technique to account for the dependency between R, G, and B channels and is polished using various performance optimization techniques. Then, the proposed model is applied to five AMOLED display panels of a CHIMEI panel and Galaxy S1, 3, 5, and 7 panels from SAMSUMG. The average error rates are obtained on these panels for four well-known image datasets. The proposed model shows the lowest error rate of 1.29% on Galaxy S7, while the simple model and Park’s model show the error rates of 6.91% and 6.57%, respectively. In addition, in order to guarantee the fast execution time of the proposed power model on smartphones, we implement performance optimizations to the model. For runtime application, the proposed power model is implemented at the operating system level of the Android smartphone equipped with Exynos 4412. The optimized power model shows an average execution time of approximately 7.77 milli-seconds per image displayed on the panel with 720x1280 resolution. Consequently, the proposed power model is shown to be very fast and accurate, and thus it is highly useful in smartphones with AMOLED displays.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of the study was to evaluate vision-related quality of life in Korean glaucoma patients and to explore the associated factors. METHODS A total of 907 glaucoma patients were recruited from the prospectively designed LIGHT (Life quality of the glaucoma patient who underwent treatment) study organized by the Korean Glaucoma Society. Basic questionnaire that included items related to socioeconomic status, comorbidity, and lifestyle, and the validated Korean version of the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25) were collected. The Rasch score, a logit-based interval scale estimate to summarizing the NEI VFQ-25 responses, was calculated. The univariate and multivariable regression models were used to evaluate associations between the Rasch score and variables. RESULTS The mean patient age was 58.1±14.1 years, visual field mean deviation (VF MD) of the better and worse eyes was -4.92±6.14 and -9.77±8.31 dB, binocular-integrated VF (IVF) MD was -3.55±5.31 dB, respectively. The lower NEI VFQ-25 Rasch score showed a significant association with the presence of other ocular diseases (P=0.020), a high school level of education or less [vs. university (P=0.006), vs. graduate school or higher (P=0.019)], an anxious personality [vs. a moderate personality (P

Recent reports show varying results regarding peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness after intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering glaucoma surgery. We hypothesised that different levels of the preoperative IOP influence RNFL thickness. A total of 60 patients (60 eyes) with glaucoma, who underwent glaucoma surgery and had a stable postoperative mean IOP

IMPORTANCE Although goniotomy is known to be successful in treating congenital glaucoma, its effect in adult glaucoma patients remains unclear. BACKGROUND To evaluate the efficacy and safety of goniotomy performed simultaneously with cataract surgery in treatment of open-angle glaucoma (OAG). DESIGN Retrospective comparative study. PARTICIPANTS A total of 76 patients with moderately controlled OAG (intraocular pressure [IOP] ≤ 21 mmHg using medications) undergoing cataract surgery. METHODS Comparison of patients who underwent the conventional goniotomy during cataract surgery (combined goniotomy group) with those who underwent cataract surgery alone (phaco group). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Changes in IOP and medications, and complications through 12 months. RESULTS Baseline IOP was 18.2 ± 2.4 mmHg in the combined goniotomy group and 17.4 ± 1.9 mmHg in the phaco group; number of medications was 2.6 ± 1.1 and 2.4 ± 0.9, respectively (P > 0.05). The reduction in IOP and medication use from baseline in the combined goniotomy group was significantly greater at 12 months compared to the phaco group (-3.1 ± 2.9 mmHg vs -1.3 ± 2.4 mmHg and -1.2 ± 0.9 vs -0.7 ± 0.9, respectively, both P

Previous authors have pointed out that energy consumption changes both over time and nonlinearly with income level. Recent methodological advances using functional coefficients allow panel models to capture these features succinctly. In order to forecast a functional coefficient out-of-sample, we use functional principal components analysis (FPCA), reducing the problem of forecasting a surface to a much easier problem of forecasting a small number of smoothly varying time series. Using a panel of 180 countries with data since 1971, we forecast energy consumption to 2035 for Germany, Italy, the US, Brazil, China, and India.

We introduce a panel model with a nonparametric functional coefficient of multiple arguments. The coefficient is a function both of time, allowing temporal changes in an otherwise linear model, and of the regressor itself, allowing nonlinearity. In contrast to a time series model, the effects of the two arguments can be identified using a panel model. We apply the model to the relationship between real GDP and electricity consumption. Our results suggest that the corresponding elasticities have decreased over time in developed countries, but that this decrease cannot be entirely explained by changes in GDP itself or by sectoral shifts.

We propose a novel approach to measure and analyze the short-run effect of temperature on monthly sectoral electricity demand. This effect is specified as a function of the density of temperatures observed at a high frequency with a functional coefficient, in contrast to conventional methods using a function of monthly heating and cooling degree days. Our approach also allows non-climate variables to influence the short-run demand response to temperature changes. Our methodology is demonstrated using Korean electricity demand data for residential and commercial sectors. In the residential sector, we do not find evidence that the non-climate variables affect the demand response to temperature. In contrast, we show conclusive evidence that the non-climate variables influence the demand response in the commercial sector. In particular, commercial consumers are less responsive to cold temperatures when controlling for the electricity price relative to city gas. They are more responsive to the price when temperatures are cold. The estimated effect of the time trend suggests that seasonality of commercial demand has increased in the winter but decreased in the summer.

PURPOSE To evaluate the influence of biometric variables on refractive outcomes after cataract surgery in angle-closure glaucoma (ACG) patients. METHODS In this case-control study, 42 ACG patients, 40 open-angle glaucoma (OAG) patients, and 35 controls without glaucoma who had undergone conventional cataract surgery were enrolled consecutively. Electronic medical records, including preoperative biometric variables (keratometric diopter, axial length, anterior chamber depth, and lens thickness), the refractive change (RC), and the absolute value of refractive change (ARC) were reviewed. RESULTS In the control and OAG patients, the anterior chamber depth was negatively correlated with the ARC (r = -0.344, p = 0.043 and r = -0.431, p = 0.006, respectively), whereas there was no correlation in the ACG patients. Lens thickness was positively correlated with the RC, but not with the ARC, in the control and OAG groups (r = 0.391, p = 0.020 and r = 0.501, p = 0.001, respectively). In contrast, lens thickness in the ACG group was not correlated with the RC but was positively correlated with the ARC (r = 0.331, p = 0.032). CONCLUSIONS In contrast with the anterior chamber depth, preoperatively measured lens thickness may be a useful predictor of the direction of the RC after cataract surgery in control and OAG patients. However, in ACG patients, a thicker lens was correlated with a larger RC, regardless of the direction of the shift (hyperopic or myopic).