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Helical folding of a carbazole–pyridine oligomer generates a tweezer-type binding cavity which allows for the intercalation of a naphthalenediimide guest.

Background Lung cancer is the primary cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The human lung serves as a niche to a unique and dynamic bacterial community that is related to the development of multiple diseases. Here, we investigated the differences in the lung microbiomes of patients with lung cancer. Methods 16S rRNA sequencing was performed to evaluate the respiratory tract microbiome present in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Patients were stratified based on programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression levels and immunotherapy responses. Results In total, 84 patients were prospectively analyzed, of which 59 showed low (Veillonella dispar was dominant in the high-PD-L1 group; the population of Neisseria was significantly higher in the low-PD-L1 group than in the high-PD-L1 group. In the immunotherapy responder group, V. dispar was dominant, while Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria perflava were dominant in the non-responder group. Conclusion The abundances of Neisseria and V. dispar differed significantly in relation to PD-L1 expression levels and immunotherapy responses.

We conducted individual and group interviews with six early childhood teachers to better understand their difficulties in establishing parent–teacher partnerships, and to explore the underlying causes of such difficulties. The results show that all the teachers experienced various challenges in their relationships with parents because of fear of conflict, unexpected struggles, parents' distrust, and unreasonable demands. However, these difficulties interconnect with broader sociocultural and structural factors that teachers cannot overcome simply through their individual efforts. Despite this, under the current system, teachers reported that they had to solve problems by themselves, no matter how unreasonable. In conflict with their intention to collaborate better with parents, the teachers became discouraged, passive, and defensive in their relationships, making it increasingly difficult for parent–teacher partnerships to form. The underlying causes that hinder parent–teacher partnerships and the implications of our findings are discussed.

Background Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a heterogeneous autoimmune disease characterized by the dysregulation of fibroblast function, causing multi-organ damage, which often involves the lungs. Combined interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) is a major cause of death among patients with SSc. Our study aimed to identify the risk factors for mortality and compare the clinical characteristics of patients with SSc-ILD. Methods Patients were retrospectively enrolled between 2010 and 2018 in a tertiary hospital in Korea. Patients with SSc-ILD were classified into two groups depending on the first pulmonary function test or radiologic findings: extensive (n = 46, forced vital capacity [FVC] 20% disease extent on CT scan) or limited (n = 60, FVC ≥ 70% or

BackgroundWe aimed to study whether statin use is associated with lowering the development of interstitial lung disease (ILD) or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).MethodsThe study population was the National Health Insurance Service-Health Screening Cohort (NHIS-HEALS). ILD and IPF cases were identified using the diagnosis codes (J84.1 for ILD and J84.1A for special code for IPF) based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision codes. The study participants were followed up from January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2015. Statins use was defined by the cumulative defined daily dose per 2-year interval and categorized into never-use, less than 182.5, 182.5 to 365.0, 365.0 to 547.5, and 547.5 or more. A Cox model was used to fit a model with a time-dependent variable of statin use.ResultsIncidence rates for ILD with and without statin use were 20.0 and 44.8/100 000 person-year, respectively and those for IPF were 15.6 and 19.3/100 000 person-year, respectively. The use of statins was independently associated with a lower incidence of ILD and IPF in a dose-response fashion (p's for trendInterpretationA population-based cohort analysis found that statin use is independently associated with a decreased risk of ILD and IPF in a dose-response manner.

This study was conducted to examine the effects of starch noodles (dangmyeon; SNs) with different starch sources and porcine intestines (PIs) with different pH on the rehydration stability of Korean blood sausage (sundae). Mungbean SN3 and PI3 (pH 9.18) showed significantly higher values of 80.69%-91.67% and 79.66%-80.98%, respectively, regardless of the drying methods (hot air, vacuum and freeze drying) (p

Unsteady flame propagation within a narrow channel, namely a Hele-Shaw burner, exhibits complicated phenomena. Recently, a new narrow-gap-disk-burner (NGDB) was developed, of which the disk-gap could be varied continuously and precisely. Although various complicated flame structures have been observed successfully, their dependency on the initial ignition has not been clarified. In this study, the volume of the ignition part was varied to introduce disturbance at the ignition stage, and the propagation characteristics of premixed methane and propane flames were investigated. Conclusively, quenching distance was not significantly affected by the ignition volume, especially in propane-rich conditions. In contrast, the flame structure and propagation velocity were sensitive to the ignition volume if it was larger than a critical volume, and when the disk-gap was approximately 1.5 times the quenching distance. A strong initial disturbance could generate complicated cellular structures coupled not only with shear stress but also with heat transfer. These cellular structures could increase the flame propagation velocity when the Lewis number was sufficiently smaller than unity. In contrast, the flame shape became smoother when the disk-gap was sufficiently larger than the quenching distance. Thus, the flame propagation velocity was comparable to the laminar burning velocity when it was less affected by the initial disturbance.

We compared the predictive validity of Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) scores assigned by a licensed clinician to scores assigned by a graduate student across a sample of 82 juvenile offenders. Although both raters completed in-depth training and practice scoring cases, the graduate student had no prior clinical experience. The raters showed a high level of agreement in their scoring for 11 reliability check cases (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC(A,1) = .90 for PCL:YV Total score), but the scores assigned by the licensed clinician were better predictors of post-release recidivism (area under the curve, AUC = .77) than those assigned by the graduate student (AUC = .45). There was more variability in the scores assigned by the licensed clinician than those assigned by the graduate student, suggesting that more experienced clinicians’ willingness to assign both high and low scores may help explain rater differences in predictive validity.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome is the primary cause of death in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. Our study aims to determine the association between serum markers and mortality in COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure. This retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in South Korea. Forty-three patients with COVID-19, who required high flow nasal cannulation or mechanical ventilation from Feb 2020-Jan 2021, were included. Demographic and laboratory data were analyzed at baseline and on Day 7 of admission. Older age was associated with mortality. Serum creatinine, troponin, procalcitonin, and soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) at baseline were more elevated in the non-survivor group; however, were not associated with mechanical ventilator use on Day 7 PaO2/FiO2 ratio, lymphocyte and platelet counts, lactate dehydrogenase, IL-6, c-reactive protein, and sIL-2R on Day 7 were significantly associated with mortality. Delta sIL-2R (Day 7-Day 0) per standard deviation was significantly higher in the non-survivor group (adjusted hazard ratio 3.225, 95% CI 1.151-9.037, p=0.026). sIL-2R could predict mortality in COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure, not mechanical ventilator use. Its sustained elevation suggests a hyper-inflammatory state, and mirrors the severity of COVID-19 in patients with respiratory failure; therefore, warrants further attention.

국가인권위원회는 모든 개인이 가지는 불가침의 기본적 인권을 보호하고 그 수준을 향상시킴으로써 인간으로서의 존엄과 가치를 실현하고 민주적 기본질서의 확립에 이바지하고자 설립된 독립 국가 기관으로(국가인권위원회법 제1조, 제3조 제2항), 2001년 출범 이후 우리나라 인권의 발전에 중요한 역할을 하였다고 평가된다. 한편, 국가인권위원회법 제19조에 따른 국가인권위원회의 업무 중 중요하지 않은 업무는 없을 것이나, ‘인권침해행위 및 차별행위에 대한 조사와 구제’라는 업무는 진정인 및 진정인과 이해관계가 상반되는 피진정인이 존재하고, 원칙적으로 조사 과정을 거쳐야 하며, 조사 이후 구체적인 침해행위의 존부 판단과 그에 따른 구체적인 구제방안들이 도출되어야 하기 때문에 국가인권위원회가 그러한 과정에서 개인이 가지는 불가침의 기본적 인권을 보호하고 그 수준을 향상시키기 위하여 지켜야 할 기본적인 절차들이 반드시 필요하고 그 중요성도 매우 높다고 할 것이다. 현재 국가인권위원회는 해당 업무와 관련하여 국가인권위원회 규칙인 인권침해 및 차별행위 조사구제규칙을 두고 있으나, 해당 규정들은 문서의 송달방법, 전화 진정시의 처리 방법, 진정 보완 시의 진정 접수 시점에 대한 판단, 피진정인에 대한 의견진술기회 부여 절차, 결정문 작성 여부, 사건기록 열람ㆍ복사시의 처리 방법 등에 대하여 문제점이 많은 것으로 보이므로, 조속히 개정되어야 할 것으로 보인다.

A Gram-stain-negative, obligately aerobic, cream-coloured, non-gliding, motile with a single polar flagellum and rod-shaped bacterium, designated IMCC34151T, was isolated from tidal flat sediment of the Yellow Sea, Republic of Korea. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain IMCC34151T belonged to the genus Pelagibacterium of the family Hyphomicrobiaceae and shared 94.7–96.8 % sequence similarities to Pelagibacterium species. Whole-genome sequencing of strain IMCC34151T revealed a genome size of 3.2 Mbp and a DNA G+C content of 62.6 mol%. The strain contained summed feature 8 (C18 : 1 ω7c and/or C18 : 1 ω6c), C19 : 0cyclo ω8c and C16 : 0 as the major fatty acids and ubiquinone-10 (Q-10) as the major respiratory quinone. The polar lipids detected in the strain were phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, two unidentified glycolipids and 12 unidentified lipids. On the basis of its phylogenetic and phenotypic characteristics, strain IMCC34151T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Pelagibacterium , for which the name Pelagibacterium sediminicola sp. nov. (type strain IMCC34151T =KACC 19595T=NBRC 113420T) is proposed.

Two Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, yellow-pigmented bacterial strains, designated IMCC34758T and IMCC34759T, were isolated from freshwater. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the two strains formed a distinct clade within the genus Flavobacterium and they shared 97.9 % sequence similarity. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA–DNA hybridization values (dDDH) between the two strains were 85.5 and 30.2 %, respectively, indicating that they are separate species. The two strains showed ≤98.5 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, 80.6–81.3 % of ANI and 24.7–25.1 % of dDDH values to closely related species of the genus Flavobacterium , indicating that the two strains each represent novel Flavobacterium species. The respiratory quinone detected in both strains was menaquinone-6 (MK-6). The major polar lipids of the two strains were phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified aminolipid, an unidentified aminophospholipid and an unidentified polar lipid. The DNA G+C contents of strains IMCC34758T and IMCC34759T were 34.0 and 34.1 mol%, respectively. The major fatty acids of the two strains were very similar to each other, comprising iso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 1 G, anteiso-C15 : 0 and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1 ω6c and/or C16 : 1 ω7c). Phenotypic characteristics including enzyme activities and carbon source utilization differentiated the two strains from other Flavobacterium species. Based on these results, strains IMCC34758T and IMCC34759T were considered to represent novel species in the genus Flavobacterium , for which the names Flavobacterium hydrophilum (IMCC34758T=KACC 19591T=NBRC 113423T) and Flavobacterium cheongpyeongense (IMCC34759T=KACC 19592T=NBRC 113424T) are proposed, respectively.

The role of p53 in genotoxic therapy-induced metabolic shift in cancers is not yet known. In this study, we investigated the role of p53 in the glycolytic shift in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines following irradiation. Isogenic p53-null radioresistant cancer cells established through cumulative irradiation showed decreased oxygen consumption and increased glycolysis with compromised mitochondria, corresponding with their enhanced sensitivity to drugs that target glycolysis. In contrast, radioresistant cancer cells with wild-type p53 preserved their primary metabolic profile with intact mitophagic processes and maintained their mitochondrial integrity. Moreover, we identified a previously unappreciated link between p53 and mitophagy, which limited the glycolytic shift through the BNIP3-dependent clearance of abnormal mitochondria. Thus, drugs targeting glycolysis could be used as an alternative strategy for overcoming radioresistant cancers, and the p53 status could be used as a biomarker for selecting participants for clinical trials.

Unsteady flame propagation of air-premixed methane and propane flames was investigated in a new mesoscale disk burner, of which disk-gap could be precisely varied. To begin with, the quenching disk-gaps on the flammability limits were measured. In most cases, with the slight increase of the disk-gap, cellular flame structures could be generated. The initiation of such cellular structures could be explained by the thermally induced hydrodynamic instability, and it could be enhanced if the Lewis number was sufficiently small. When the disk-gap was sufficiently larger than a critical value (approximately 1.5 times the quenching distance), the cellular flame structure changed into a smooth one in the azimuthal direction. With a further increase of the disk-gap, the flame propagation velocities approached to constant values. These values were comparable to the laminar burning velocities except for the propane-rich conditions, in which much larger propagation velocities were observed. The flame stretch effects (coupled with Le-effects) within a narrow space were suspected as the reason. The structural transition of the premixed flame could be investigated successfully through various disk-gaps, from the smallest quenching-scale to the ordinary large scales via whole mesoscales including Hele–Shaw scales.

Interstitial lung disease (ILD), particularly idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), has a poor prognosis. Corticosteroids are widely used in the treatment of acute exacerbation of ILD (AE-ILD). This study aimed to clarify the causes of AE-ILD, determine the efficacy of corticosteroids for treating AE-ILD, and detect differences in the mortality rate among subgroups of ILD. This was an observational retrospective single-center study. Patients with ILD who presented to the emergency department with acute respiratory symptoms from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2018, were included. Patients with AE-ILD were classified into two groups depending on the prednisolone dose: low dose (0 to 1.0 mg/kg) or high dose (>1.0 mg/kg). Mortality rates between patients with and without IPF were compared. This study included 182 patients with AE-ILD, including IPF (n=117) and non-IPF (n=65). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that corticosteroid dose (HR:0.221, CI:0.102–0.408, PP=0.006), and mechanical ventilation within 3 days of hospitalization (HR:4.205, CI:2.059–8.589, P1 mg/kg prednisolone) in patients with AE-non-IPF-ILD. However, this was not the case in patients with AE-IPF.

Background: The incidence of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and mortality related to the disease have steadily increased in recent years. The risk of cancer is approximately eight times higher in IPF patients than in the general population. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the severity of IPF is related to the time interval between IPF diagnosis and lung cancer diagnosis and to the stage of lung cancer at diagnosis. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we reviewed the medical records of patients with lung cancer after IPF diagnosis from two tertiary hospitals in South Korea between 2003 and 2018. We identified 61 patients diagnosed with lung cancer at least 3 months after being diagnosed with IPF. Results: The included patients had a mean age of 71.0 years, and all but one were men (98.4%). The interval between IPF diagnosis and lung cancer diagnosis was not related to the gender-age-physiology (GAP) stage (p=0.662). However, in cox proportional hazard models, a higher GAP stage was significantly correlated with an advanced lung cancer stage (odds ratio 11.1, p=0.003). Conclusions: The lung cancer stage at diagnosis was higher in patients with a higher GAP stage than in those with a lower GAP stage. Physicians should consider implementing more frequent surveillance with computed tomography scans for patients with advanced IPF.

Premixed flame propagation within a narrow combustion space has been an important issue in combustion studies. Recently, it was found that flame-induced instabilities are very sensitive to the length-scale of the combustion space. However, experimental results obtained at higher pressures have not been sufficient. In this study, the propagation characteristics of methane and propane premixed flames were investigated using a new narrow-gap disk burner, of which the disk gap and the initial pressure could be varied precisely while the volume was kept constant. Quenching distances were measured during increase of the initial pressure to 4 bar. Flame propagation characteristics were compared with variation of the disk gap, the equivalence ratio, and the initial pressure. Significant changes were found in the trends of the flame propagation velocity and flame shape. Cellular flame structures were observed when the disk gap was slightly larger than the quenching distance regardless of the Lewis number. In contrast, smooth flames could form when the disk gap was sufficiently larger than the quenching distance. The elevated pressure enhanced flame oscillation and cellular structures (if they could be generated) regardless of Lewis number of mixtures. The relationship between the pressure and the flame propagation was evaluated, and a mechanism for the flame instability is discussed herein.

The effects of slightly acidic electrolyzed water ice (SAEW-ice) and grapefruit seed extract ice (GSE-ice) on changes in brown sole quality during storage were determined using microbial, chemical, and sensory analyses to prolong the shelf life of brown sole. Microbiological analyses showed that GSE-ice storage was more effective for inhibiting the growth of total plate count, Pseudomonas, and H2S-producing bacteria than SAEW-ice storage. Chemical indexes of brown sole showed that SAEW-ice and GSE-ice storage extended the shelf life of fish compared with TW-ice. Sensory scores following GSE-ice storage were higher than those following storage under the other conditions. Taken together, the present study indicated that the quality of brown sole was maintained for 9–10 days in TW-ice, and 11–12 days in SAEW-ice and 12–13 days in GSE-ice. Therefore, ice storage using SAEW-ice and GSE-ice effectively extended the shelf life of brown sole.

Microalgae and bacteria are known to be closely associated in diverse environments. To isolate dominant bacterial species associated with a green alga, Dunaliella tertiolecta, a photoreactor culture of the microalga was investigated using culture-based and culture-independent approaches. The bacterial community structure of the algal culture showed that the most abundant bacterial species under the culture conditions was related to the genus Winogradskyella. The closely related amplicon sequences, showing ≥ 99.5% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to one of the isolates, designated IMCC-33238T, constituted > 49% of the bacterial community and was therefore regarded as the most dominant species in the algal culture. Strain IMCC33238T was characterized by Gramstaining-negative and orange-colored rods. Phylogenetic analyses of the 16S rRNA genes as well as whole genome sequences revealed that strain IMCC33238T belonged to Winogradskyella and shared more than 97.2% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Winogradskyella species. The strain contained iso-C15:1 G, iso-C15:0, iso-C15:0 3-OH, and summed feature 3 (C16:1ω6c and/or C16:1ω7c) as major fatty acids and MK-6 as the predominant quinone. The polar lipids found in strain IMCC33238T were phosphatidylethanolamine, two unidentified aminolipids, and three unidentified lipids. The genome of strain IMCC33238T was 3.37 Mbp in size with 33.9 mol% G + C content and proteorhodopsin. Many genes encoding folate and vitamin production are considered to play an important role in the bacteria-algae interaction. On the basis of phylogenetic and phenotypic characteristics, strain IMCC33238T represents a novel species in the genus Winogradskyella, for which the name Winogradskyella algicola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is IMCC33238T (= KACC 21192T = NBRC 113704T).

Multi-head attention mechanism is capable of learning various representations from sequential data while paying attention to different subsequences, e.g., word-pieces or syllables in a spoken word. From the subsequences, it retrieves richer information than a single-head attention which only summarizes the whole sequence into one context vector. However, a naive use of the multi-head attention does not guarantee such richness as the attention heads may have positional and representational redundancy. In this paper, we propose a regularization technique for multi-head attention mechanism in an end-to-end neural keyword spotting system. Augmenting regularization terms which penalize positional and contextual non-orthogonality between the attention heads encourages to output different representations from separate subsequences, which in turn enables leveraging structured information without explicit sequence models such as hidden Markov models. In addition, intra-head contextual non-orthogonality regularization encourages each attention head to have similar representations across keyword examples, which helps classification by reducing feature variability. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed regularization technique significantly improves the keyword spotting performance for the keyword "Hey Snapdragon"., Comment: Accepted to ASRU 2019

Background This study aimed to investigate stress, depression, sleeping time, physical activity, and dietary patterns as factors causing weight gain and investigate which of these factors have a greater effect on weight gain. Methods Data were obtained from the seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2016. Among the respondents, 3,163 adults aged 19-64 years were included in the survey, after excluding non-responders and those with diseases that may affect weight change. The t-test and chi-square test were used to analyze the relationship between weight gain and general characteristics. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate weight changes according to stress, depression, sleep time, physical activity, and dietary patterns and evaluate the odds ratios (ORs) for measuring these associations. Results Participants in the weight gain group were younger and more likely to be obese than those in the control group. Factors that could cause weight gain among women were stress awareness (OR, 1.271; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.012-1.597), physical inactivity (OR, 1.250; 95% CI, 1.018-1.535), and skipping breakfast (OR, 1.277; 95% CI, 1.028-1.587). Depression was significantly associated with weight gain among women, but not after adjusting for other variables. There were no significant associations with sleeping time. None of these factors in men were significantly associated with weight gain. Conclusion Stress awareness was significantly associated with weight gain among women, while other psychological factors were not significantly associated with weight gain.

Inhibition of key molecules related to ferroptosis, cystine/glutamate antiporter and glutathione peroxidase, may induce eradication of chemotherapy/radiotherapy-resistant cancer cells. The present study investigated whether ferroptosis could overcome head and neck cancer (HNC) resistance to cisplatin treatment. Three cisplatin-resistant HNC cell lines (AMC-HN3R, -HN4R, and -HN9R) and their parental lines were used. The effects of cystine and glutamate alteration and pharmacological and genetic inhibition of cystine/glutamate antiporter were assessed by measuring viability, death, reactive oxygen species production, protein expression, and preclinical mouse tumor xenograft models. Conditioned media with no cystine or glutamine excess induced ferroptosis of both cisplatin-sensitive and -resistant HNC cells without any apparent changes to necrosis and apoptosis markers. The cystine/glutamate antiporter inhibitors erastin and sulfasalazine inhibited HNC cell growth and accumulated lipid reactive oxygen species, thereby inducing ferroptosis. Genetic silencing of cystine/glutamate antiporter with siRNA or shRNA treatment also induced effective ferroptotic cell death of resistant HNC cells and enhanced the cisplatin cytotoxicity of resistant HNC cells. Pharmacological and genetic inhibition of cystine/glutamate antiporter significantly sensitized resistant HNC cells to cisplatin in vitro and in vivo. Pharmacological and genetic inhibition of cystine/glutamate antiporter overcomes the cisplatin resistance of HNC cells by inducing ferroptosis.