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This study introduces a data-to-data (D2D) translation approach that utilizes a conditional adversarial learning framework to generate hypothetical data at the meteorological imager (MI) sensor on the communication, ocean, and meteorological satellite (COMS). The proposed D2D model produces virtual 10-min data from actual 30-min data by exploiting the 10-min temporal resolution (TR) of the advanced MI (AMI) on GEO-KOMPSAT-2A during the overlapping observation period of the two satellites. Specifically, the D2D model uses one visible (VIS) at 0.64 μm channel and four infrared channels (3.8, 6.9, 10.8, and 12.3 μm) from AMI of the actual 30-min data from April 2020 to April 2022 to train and test the model. Subsequently, the D2D model is applied to simulate hypothetical 10-min-TR COMS data using the 30-min COMS observation data from September 2019 to March 2020 during the coexistence period of the two satellites. Regression-calibrated COMS data alleviated the spectral response function differences between MI and AMI sensors. The proposed D2D method exhibits excellent statistical performance, with an average root-mean-square error of 0.056 for the VIS channel and 3.237 K, 1.005 K, 3.251 K, and 3.184 K for 3.8 μm, 6.9 μm, 10.8 μm, and 12.2 μm channels, respectively. The findings of this study are expected to facilitate various types of remote sensing research and applications using long-term data with AMI and AMI-like past MI data.

Air pollutants adversely affect human health, and thus a global improvement in air quality is urgent. A Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) was mounted on the geostationary Chollian 2B satellite in 2020 to observe the spatial distribution of air pollution, and sequential observations have been released since July 2022. The reliability of GEMS must be analyzed because it is the first payload on the geostationary Earth orbit satellite to observe trace gases. This study analyzed the initial results of GEMS observations such as the aerosol optical depth and vertical column densities (VCD) of ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and formaldehyde (HCHO), and compared them with previous studies. The correlation coefficient of O3 ranged from 0.90 (Ozone Monitoring Instrument, OMI) to 0.97 (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument, TROPOMI), whereas that of NO2 ranged from 0.47 (winter, OMI and OMPS) to 0.83 (summer, TROPOMI). GEMS yielded a higher VCD of NO2 than that of OMI and TROPOMI. Based on the sources of O3 and NO2, GEMS observed the maximum VCD at a different time (3–4 h) to that of the ground observations. Overall, GEMS can make observations several times a day and is a potential tool for atmospheric environmental analysis.

Vasopressin local infiltration is useful in gynecological surgery because it can reduce hemorrhage. Depending on the activities of the sympathetic system and the renin–angiotensin system, reactions to vasopressin may differ and predicting its systemic effects is difficult. Because life-threatening complications can occur, infiltration with vasopressin should be administered with caution. A 42-year-old female patient was diagnosed with uterine leiomyomas. During a robot-assisted laparoscopic myomectomy, 50 U of vasopressin, which is ten-times the recommended dose, was accidentally infiltrated. Subsequently, bradycardia with a heart rate of 25 bpm occurred, which recovered within 3 minutes. Peripheral perfusion indices and the diameter of the radial and brachial arteries also decreased markedly and recovered within 1 hour. The surgery was concluded without additional events. The patient was discharged 2 days later with no abnormal findings. Because vasopressin infiltration can cause life-threatening complications, it is necessary to determine the extent of patient reactions to vasopressin using measures such as the peripheral perfusion index or radial and brachial artery diameters. These measures may also help to predict the occurrence of complications.

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) has developed many product algorithms including that for soil moisture (SM) retrieval for the geostationary satellite Geo-Kompsat-2A (GK-2A) launched in December 2018. This was developed through a five-year research project owing to the significance of SM information for hydrological and meteorological applications. However, GK-2A’s visible and infrared sensors lack direct SM sensitivity. Therefore, in this study, we developed an SM algorithm based on the conversion relationships between SM and the temperature vegetation dryness index (TVDI) estimated for various land types in the full disk area using two of GK-2A’s level 2 products, land surface temperature (LST) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) SM data for calibration. Methodologically, various coefficients were obtained between TVDI and SM and used to estimate the GK-2A-based SM. The GK-2A SM algorithm was validated with GLDAS SM data during different periods. Our GK-2A SM product showed seasonal and spatial agreement with GLDAS SM data, indicating a dry-wet pattern variation. Quantitatively, the GK-2A SM showed annual validation results with a correlation coefficient (CC) >0.75, bias TVDI-based SMs often occurred in dry Australian regions during dry seasons due to the high LST sensitivity of GK-2A TVDI. We determined that relationships between TVDI and SM had positive or negative slopes depending on land cover types, which differs from the traditional negative slope observed between TVDI and SM. The KMA is currently operating this GK-2A SM algorithm.

Objective: Hyperprolactinemia and associated side effects often occur with antipsychotics. The authors investigated the effect of adjunctive treatment with aripiprazole on hyperprolactinemia and psychopathology in patients with schizophrenia maintained with haloperidol. Method: Fifty-six patients with hyperprolactinemia taking haloperidol were enrolled. Haloperidol dose was fixed; aripiprazole was dosed at 15 mg/day for the first 4 weeks, then 30 mg/day for the following 4 weeks. Serum prolactin, haloperidol, and aripiprazole levels were measured. Symptoms and side effects were assessed with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, Clinical Global Impression symptom scale, Simpson-Angus Rating Scale, and Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale at weeks 1,2,4,6, and 8. Results: Prolactin levels of patients receiving aripiprazole significantly decreased over time, demonstrating a significant time effect and a time-by-group interaction. In the aripiprazole group, 88.5% of patients at week 8 had prolactin levels normalize compared to 3.6% of patients receiving placebo. Among 11 female patients with menstrual disturbances randomly assigned to aripiprazole, seven patients regained menstruation during the study, whereas none receiving placebo did. Plasma levels of haloperidol were not significantly altered. No significant time effect and time-by-group interactions on BPRS, Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, and Simpson-Angus Rating Scale scores were noted. Conclusions: Adjunctive aripiprazole treatment reversed hyperprolactinemia in both sexes, resulting in reinstatement of menstruation in female patients, with no significant effects on psychopathology and extrapyramidal symptoms. Aripiprazole has higher affinity to dopamine D2 receptors than haloperidol, which is the likely cause of this observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 21-year-old man underwent wedge resection for treatment of pneumothorax. This patient had been diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMTD) and had a history of surgical treatment of scoliosis, pneumothorax, foot deformity, and arm dislocation. Additionally, the patient showed signs of muscle weakness and atrophy in the upper and lower extremities. CMTD is genetically associated with motor and sensory neuropathy and reportedly has an association with malignant hyperthermia or a delayed muscle relaxation mechanism. In the present case, total intravenous anesthesia was performed with a combination of propofol and remifentanil, and rocuronium was administered as a neuromuscular blocking agent. Surgery was performed without delayed muscle relaxation or any other specific intraoperative adverse events.

A 7-year-old child underwent surgical excision of a benign mesothelioma of the pleura near the right lower lung. Although insertion of a wire-reinforced endotracheal tube through the left main bronchus was attempted for one-lung ventilation to secure the surgical field of view, the attempt failed. Therefore, an endotracheal tube was inserted into the trachea, and an Arndt endobronchial blocker (Cook Medical, Bloomington, IN, USA) was placed in the right intermediate bronchus under bronchoscopic guidance to selectively block the right lower and middle lobes. The surgery was performed while ventilating the right upper lobe and left lung, and no specific intraoperative adverse events occurred.

This paper proposes a live broadcast traffic model for an internet protocol (IP)-based terrestrial digital broadcasting system to transmit dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (DASH) media. The IP-based terrestrial digital broadcasting systems such as Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0 transmit media content (e.g., full high definition and ultra-high definition) in units of DASH segment files. Although the DASH segment file has the same quality and playback time, the size of each DASH segment file can vary according to the media composition. The transmission resource of the terrestrial broadcasting system has increased the transmission capacity of broadcasting with new technologies. However, the transmission capacity is still limited and fixed compared to wired broadcasting networks. Therefore, a problem occurs with the efficiency of broadcasting resources and transmission delay when transmitting a variable segment file to a terrestrial digital broadcasting network. In this paper, the resource efficiency and transmission delay results that occur when transmitting the actual DASH segment file are simulated through the live broadcast traffic model, and the maximum delay time that a viewer accessing the terrestrial broadcast can experience is presented.

The article reports on the adjunctive aripirazole effective for reducing hyperprolactinemia. Investigators studied the effect of adjunctive treatment with aripiprazole on hyperprolactinemia and psychopathology in 56 patients with schizophrenia. Adjunctive aripiprazole reversed hyperprolactinemia in both sexes, causing reinstatement of menstruation in female patients, with no significant effect on psychopathology and extrapyramidal symptoms

Background: This study investigated the effectiveness and safety of pharmacopuncture for pain relief and functional improvement in patients with traffic accident (TA)-induced acute tension headaches. Methods: The study employed a parallel, single-centered, pragmatic, randomized controlled trial design. Eighty patients complaining of acute tension headaches were randomized into the integrative Korean medicine treatment (IKM treatment) group and the pharmacopuncture group on suboccipital muscles (suboccipital muscles pharmacopuncture + IKM treatment), with 40 participants assigned to each group. The patients in the pharmacopuncture group underwent pharmacopuncture as an add-on therapy, consisting of three sessions. Both groups were reassessed 2 months post-intervention. To assess the outcomes, the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) for Headache, NRS for Neck Pain, Headache Disability Index, Headache Impact Test-6, EuroQol 5-Dimension, and Patient Global Impression of Change were used. Results: The improvement in the outcomes of the pharmacopuncture group was significantly greater than that of the comparison group on day 4 of hospitalization in terms of pain (difference in NRS of headache -2.59, 95% CI -3.06 to -2.12; NRS of Neck pain -1.05, 95% CI -1.50 to -0.59) and function (difference in HDI -24.78, 95% CI, -31.79 to -17.76; HIT-6 -6.13, 95% CI, -9.47 to -2.78). Additionally, in 2 months of follow-up, the recovery rate of headache was significantly higher in the pharmacopuncture group than in the comparison group. Conclusions: The pharmacopuncture group demonstrated superior outcomes in symptom improvement than the comparison group did, providing insights into novel and useful applications of pharmacopuncture in the clinical practice of Korean medicine.

In glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) of pancreatic β-cells, the rise of free cytosolic Ca 2+ concentration through voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) triggers the exocytosis of insulin-containing granules. Recently, mechanically induced insulin secretion pathways were also reported, which utilize free cytosolic Ca 2+ ions as a direct regulator of exocytosis. In this study, we aimed to investigate intracellular Ca 2+ responses on the HIT-T15 pancreatic β-cell line upon low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) stimulation and found that ultrasound induces two distinct types of intracellular Ca 2+ oscillation, fast-irregular and slow-periodic, from otherwise resting cells. Both Ca 2+ patterns depend on the purinergic signaling activated by the rise of extracellular ATP or ADP concentration upon ultrasound stimulation, which facilitates the release through mechanosensitive hemichannels on the plasma membrane. Further study demonstrated that two subtypes of purinergic receptors, P 2 X and P 2 Y, are working in a competitive manner depending on the level of glucose in the cell media. The findings can serve as an essential groundwork providing an underlying mechanism for the development of a new therapeutic approach for diabetic conditions with further validation., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Azacitidine, a deoxyribonucleic acid hypomethylating agent, is used in the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome. Common adverse effects of azacitidine include bone marrow suppression, injection site reactions, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and fatigue. This report focuses on pleuropericardial effusions, an infrequently reported and potentially reversible adverse effect of azacitidine. In this case report, pleuropericardial effusion manifested as the sole radiographic finding in the evaluation of cough occurring during the eighth cycle of treatment with azacitidine. Symptoms and radiographic abnormalities resolved with corticosteroids and diuretics, and the patient could continue with therapy.

In recent years, ultrasound has gained attention in new biological applications due to its ability to induce specific biological responses at the cellular level. Although the biophysical mechanisms underlying the interaction between ultrasound and cells are not fully understood, many agree on a pivotal role of Ca 2+ signaling through mechanotransduction pathways. Because Ca 2+ regulates a vast range of downstream cellular processes, a better understanding of how ultrasound influences Ca 2+ signaling could lead to new applications for ultrasound. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of ultrasound-induced Ca 2+ mobilization in human mesenchymal stem cells using 47 MHz focused ultrasound to stimulate single cells at low intensities (~ 110 mW/cm 2 ). We found that ultrasound exposure triggers opening of connexin 43 hemichannels on the plasma membrane, causing release of ATP into the extracellular space. That ATP then binds to G-protein-coupled P 2 Y 1 purinergic receptors on the membrane, in turn activating phospholipase C, which evokes production of inositol trisphosphate and release of Ca 2+ from intracellular stores.

In a previous study, the conserved arginine residue at position 306 of Streptomyces clavuligerus deacetoxycephalsoporin C synthase (scDAOCS), when mutated to leucine, resulted in 191% increase in converting ampicillin to its expanded cephalosporin moiety compared with that of the wild-type enzyme. However, the role of this residue in eliciting the improved enzymatic activity is not well understood. In this study, probing the molecular basis of amino acid substitutions at position 306 has underscored its importance for engineering various improvements in the ring expansion activity. Structural modeling using SwissPdbViewer revealed that R306 is surrounded by a hydrophobic cleft formed by residues Y184, L186, W297, I298, and V303. Hence, the improved activity achieved by the R306L mutation was probably because of better hydrophobic packing in this region. To evaluate the role of amino acids at position 306 of scDAOCS and its influence on the molecular status of the enzyme at this locality, alteration to 18 other amino acids was done by site-directed mutagenesis. The effects of each substitution on the enzyme activity were determined by bioassay using penicillin substrates: ampicillin, penicillin G, phenethicillin, and carbenicillin. Results obtained showed a drastic reduction in enzyme activity when R306 was replaced with charged or polar residues, thus emphasizing the importance of hydrophobic packing around this site. The bioassay results also illustrated that apart from leucine, substitutions to nonpolar residues, isoleucine and methionine, were able to improve the ampicillin conversion activity of scDAOCS by 168 and 113% of the wild-type enzyme activity, respectively. Similar trend of effects from each mutation was also observed for penicillin G, phenethicillin, and carbenicillin conversions. The enhanced enzyme activities were supported by spectrophotometric assay indicating that all these mutants have lower K(m) values (R306L: 1.09 mM; R306I: 2.64 mM; R306M: 5.68 mM) than the wild-type enzyme (8.33 mM), resulting in improvement in the enzyme's substrate binding affinity. Hence, this mutational study of amino acids situated at 306 of scDAOCS has provided a better understanding of the significance of specific amino acid residues at this position which can improve its ring-expansion activity when given a plethora of beta-lactam substrates to generate corresponding, possibly new, cephalosporins.

The purpose of this study was to examine oral health attitudes/behavior and gingival self-care levels of Korean dental hygiene students (n = 271). A questionnaire known as HU-DBI (Korean version) was administered to each class. Higher scores of the HU-DBI indicate better oral health attitudes/behavior. The student's gingival self-care level was scored as excellent (+2), good (+1), questionable (0), poor (-1), or very poor (-2) according to the criteria of the Oral Rating Index (ORI) for youth. The mean score of the HU-DBI was 6.40, and that of the ORI was +0.12. Most samples scored 0 or +1. The mean HU-DBI scores of year-2 and year-3 students (7.06, and 7.61 respectively) were significantly greater than that of year-1 students (5.23) (P<0.001). Twenty-three percent of the students reported a belief that they may eventually require false teeth. Half stated that they put off going to the dentist until they had toothache. Year-1 students were more likely to have this attitude compared to year-3 students. HU-DBI scores were significantly associated with ORI scores (r = 0.315; P<0.001). The differences in the HU-DBI and ORI scores across the level of education were highly significant.

The hepatitis B virus X (HBX) protein has been implicated in both hepatitis B virus-related pathogenesis and also in diverse cellular processes. The diversity of its activities may be mediated through its interaction with cellular organelles. However no clearly defined subcellular localization of HBX is available. We report here the localization of HBX in the proteasome complexes using green fluorescent protein tag. A new proteasome-targeting domain has also been defined in HBX by deletion study. Furthermore, a functional role of HBX in the cellular processes mediated by the proteasome complexes has been suggested by its cell cycle-independent localization in the proteasome. Further analysis of the functional role of HBX in the proteasome complexes should provide more information on the underlying mechanism of HBX ativities.

Objectives: To provide intra-familial evidence on the horizontal transmission of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) mutant G145R., Methods: Serum samples from family members of 10 vaccinated infants who carried this G145R mutant were collected. The presence of the mutant was analysed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing., Results: The G145R mutant was identified in family members of three of the 10 infants. In family 1, the mutant found initially in child 1 was identified in another child and the father. In families 2 and 3, the G145R mutant detected previously in child 1 was detected in the father. Additional mutations in HBsAg were identified in at least two members in family 1 and 2, suggesting horizontal transmission of the mutant among them. The G145R mutant was found in samples with high levels of neutralizing antibody against HBV (anti-HBs). In addition, liver damage was seen in one G145R carrier infant., Conclusions: The G145R mutant could be transmitted horizontally among family members, and this could occur in the presence of high levels of anti-HBs. Improvement of detection system for the G145R and other HBsAg mutant will be needed for their effective control., (Copyright 2000 The British Infection Society.)