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The steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs), evoked by dual-frequency or multi-frequency stimulation, likely contains intermodulation frequency components (IMs). Visual IMs are products of nonlinear integration of neural signals and can be evoked by various paradigms that induce neural interaction. IMs have demonstrated many interesting and important characteristics in cognitive psychology, clinical neuroscience, brain-computer interface and other fields, and possess substantial research potential. In this paper, we first review the definition of IMs and summarize the stimulation paradigms capable of inducing them, along with the possible neural origins of IMs. Subsequently, we describe the characteristics and derived applications of IMs in previous studies, and then introduced three signal processing methods favored by researchers to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of IMs. Finally, we summarize the characteristics of IMs, and propose several potential future research directions related to IMs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Finding a perfect epidermal transplant remains a holy grail of burn surgery. The epidermis is a site of stem cells that allows for epithelial regeneration. The use of cultured epithelial autografts (CEA) for the treatment of major burns was first reported in 1981. CEA requires specialized skills; thus, reports from different burn centers have shown mixed results. Comparing our modern data with past data shows how this field has advanced while maintaining institutional control. We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients admitted between January 1, 1988 and December 31, 2021 for massive burns that were managed with CEA. Patients were divided into pre-defined groups: G1 (early-era) = 1988-1999, G2 (pre-modern-era) = 2000-2010, and G3 (modern-era) = 2011-2021. We compared demographics, %TBSA, presence of inhalation-injury, length of hospital stay (LOS), complications, and mortality. We treated 52 patients with CEA during the study period. In the modern-era, we found 11 patients; in the pre-modern-era, 10; and in the early-era, 31. Injury characteristics, including %TBSA and the presence of inhalation-injury, were not significantly different between the groups. We observed lower mortality rates in G1 and G3 (G1:20% vs. G2:42% vs. G3:27%, P < 0.05), although the predicted mortality was not significantly different between the groups (G1:50% vs. G2:47% vs. G3:49%, NS). Patients in G1 also had a shorter hospital LOS, in days, (G1:90 vs. G2:127 vs. G3:205, P < 0.05). Finally, the surface-area grafted per patient was the highest in G2 (G1:2,000cm2 vs. G2:4,187cm2 vs. G3:4,090cm2, P < 0.01). CEA has not gained popularity despite proven positive outcomes. Our retrospective analysis showed that CEA should be considered as a treatment option for patients with large burns, given proper training and infrastructure., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Burn Association. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background and Purpose: Working memory is critical for individuals and has been found to be improved by electrical stimulation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). However, the effects of different types of transcranial electrical stimulation on working memory are controversial, and the underlying mechanism remains uncertain. In this study, high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) and high-definition transcranial random noise stimulation (HD-tRNS) were applied to the DLPFC to observe the different effects on visual working memory (VWM). The aim was to explore the causal relationship between the electrical activity of the DLPFC and the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) electrical activity and the contralateral delayed activity (CDA)., Methods: Thirty-three healthy subjects received HD-tDCS, HD-tRNS and sham stimulation in a random order. Stimulation was applied to the left DLPFC for 20 min. The subjects underwent a color change-detection task as our VWM task and an auditory digit span test (DST) immediately after stimulation. Event-related potential (ERP) data were collected during the VWM task., Results: The results revealed significant differences between the different types of HD-tES. There was a remarkable increase in VWM capacity following HD-tDCS compared with both HD-tRNS (p a  = 0.038) and sham stimulation (p a  = 0.038). Additionally, the CDA from the PPC differed after stimulation of the DLPFC. Both HD-tDCS and HD-tRNS expanded the maximum CDA amplitude from set size of 4 to 6, whereas after sham stimulation, the maximum CDA was maintained at a set size of 4. Compared with the sham condition, only HD-tDCS induced a noteworthy increase in CDA amplitude (p a  = 0.012). Notably, a significant correlation emerged between the mean CDA amplitude and VWM capacity (p < 0.001, r = - 0.402)., Conclusion: These findings underscore the ability of HD-tDCS to target the DLPFC to augment working memory capacity while concurrently amplifying CDA amplitudes in the PPC through the frontoparietal network. Trial registration ChiCTR2300074898., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose: The current study aims to implement steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) in quantifying the binocular imbalance of amblyopia and to assess the predictive value of SSVEP-derived indices for amblyopic stereoacuity., Methods: We measure frequency-tagged SSVEP responses elicited by each eye (F1 = 6 Hz through the fellow eye; F2 = 7.5 Hz through the amblyopic eye) within a binocular rivalry paradigm among a cohort of anisometropic amblyopic observers (n = 29, mean age: 12 years). Binocular suppression was quantified by assessing the disparity in SSVEP amplitudes between the eyes, while the strength of interocular interaction was evaluated through the intermodulation response at F1+F2 = 13.5 Hz. Subsequent analyses explored the associations between these neural indices and relevant behavioral metrics in amblyopia., Results: Results reveal a significant difference in SSVEP amplitudes elicited from the fellow eye and the amblyopic eye, with the former exhibiting notably higher responses. Moreover, the fellow eye demonstrated prolonged dominance duration compared to its amblyopic counterpart. Furthermore, a negative correlation between binocular suppression and interocular interaction was observed, with stereoacuity showing a significant correlation with binocular suppression. Utilizing stepwise mulptiple linear regression analysis, we established that a predictive model combining binocular suppression and visual acuity of the amblyopic eye provided the best prediction of stereoacuity., Conclusions: These results highlight the potential of binocular suppression, as assessed by SSVEPs within a binocular rivalry paradigm, as a promising neural predictor of stereopsis in amblyopia., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Histone lysine modifications were well-established epigenetic markers, with many types identified and extensively studied. The discovery of histone lysine lactylation had revealed a new form of epigenetic modification. The intensification of this modification was associated with glycolysis and elevated intracellular lactate levels, both of which were closely linked to cellular metabolism. Histone lactylation plays a crucial role in multiple cellular homeostasis, including immune regulation and cancer progression, thereby significantly influencing cell fate. Lactylation can modify both histone and non-histone proteins. This paper provided a comprehensive review of the typical epigenetic effects and lactylation on classical transcription-related lysine sites and summarized the known enzymes involved in histone lactylation and delactylation. Additionally, some discoveries of histone lactylation in tumor biology were also discussed, and some prospects for this field were put forward., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background and Objective: Tinnitus is a neuropathological condition that results in mild buzzing or ringing of the ears without an external sound source. Current tinnitus diagnostic methods often rely on subjective assessment and require intricate medical examinations. This study aimed to propose an interpretable tinnitus diagnostic framework using auditory late response (ALR) and electroencephalogram (EEG), inspired by the gap-prepulse inhibition (GPI) paradigm., Methods: We collected spontaneous EEG and ALR data from 44 patients with tinnitus and 47 hearing loss-matched controls using specialized hardware to capture responses to sound stimuli with embedded gaps. In this cohort study of tinnitus and control groups, we examined EEG spectral and ALR features of N-P complexes, comparing the responses to gap durations of 50 and 20 ms alongside no-gap conditions. To this end, we developed an interpretable tinnitus diagnostic model using ALR and EEG metrics, boosting machine learning architecture, and explainable feature attribution approaches., Results: Our proposed model achieved 90 % accuracy in identifying tinnitus, with an area under the performance curve of 0.89. The explainable artificial intelligence approaches have revealed gap-embedded ALR features such as the GPI ratio of N1-P2 and EEG spectral ratio, which can serve as diagnostic metrics for tinnitus. Our method successfully provides personalized prediction explanations for tinnitus diagnosis using gap-embedded auditory and neurological features., Conclusions: Deficits in GPI alongside activity in the EEG alpha-beta ratio offer a promising screening tool for assessing tinnitus risk, aligning with current clinical insights from hearing research., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The urgent need to develop efficient, durable, and cost-effective oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts for energy conversion and storage has prompted extensive research. Currently available commercial noble metal-based OER catalysts are expensive and exhibit limited long-term stability. In this study, boron-doped diamond composites (BDDCs) consisting of CoFe and CoFe 2 C nanoparticles supported by boron-doped diamond (BDD) particles have been prepared. The BDDC catalyst, prepared through a straightforward annealing process, exhibits exceptional durability (up to 72 h at 10 mA cm -2 ), a low overpotential (306 mV at 10 mA cm -2 ), and modest Tafel slope (58 mV dec -1 ). The coherent interfaces between CoFe/CoFe 2 C nanoparticles and the BDD substrate are essential for enhancing the OER performance. The fabrication method and composite structures presented in this study may facilitate the design and production of promising catalysts., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the effects of physical activity (PA), sleep quality, and sedentary behavior on subthreshold depression (StD) among undergraduates., Methods: This study included 834 undergraduates and assessed the impact of PA time, sleep quality, and sedentary behavior on depression. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to determine cut-off values for StD risk, while the isochronous substitution analysis was performed to evaluate the effects of different activities on depression regulation., Results: Gender, age, and academic grade had no significant influence on depression levels among undergraduates ( p  > 0.05). However, students engaging in sedentary behavior for more than 12.1 h per day or with a Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score above 3.5 were at an increased risk of subclinical depression. Additionally, the isochronous substitution of light-intensity physical activity for other activities (sleep, sedentary behavior, moderate and vigorous intensity physical activity) showed statistically significant effects ( p  < 0.05) in both 5-min and 10-min substitution models, demonstrating a positive effect on alleviating depression., Conclusion: The findings indicate that specific lifestyle factors, particularly high levels of sedentary behavior and poor sleep quality, are crucial determinants of subclinical depression among undergraduates, independent of demographic variables such as gender, age, and academic grade. Notably, light-intensity PA plays a key role in StD regulation, as substituting it with more intense physical activities or improving sleep quality substantially reduces depression scores. Furthermore, the benefits such substitution became more pronounced with the increase in duration of the activity., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Ma, Gao, Yang, Zhang and Ku.)

This study focuses on the discovery of a single-component molecular resist for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography by employing the ionizing radiation-induced decomposition of carbon-fluorine chemical bonds. The target material, DHP-L6 , was synthesized by bonding perfluoroalkyl ether moieties to amorphous dendritic hexaphenol (DHP) with a high glass transition temperature. Upon exposure to EUV and electron beam irradiation, DHP-L6 films exhibited a decreasing solubility in fluorous developer media, resulting in negative-tone images. The underlying chemical mechanisms were elucidated by Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and nanoindentation experiments. These analyses highlighted the possible electron-induced decomposition of C-F bonds in DHP-L6 , leading to molecular network formation via recombination of the resulting C-centered radicals. Subsequent high-resolution lithographic patterning under EUV irradiation showed that DHP-L6 could create stencil patterns with a line width of 26 nm at an exposure dose of 110 mJ cm -2 . These results confirm that single-component small molecular compounds with fluoroalkyl moieties can be employed as patterning materials under ionizing radiation. Nonetheless, additional research is required to reduce the relatively high exposure energy for high-resolution patterning and to enhance the line-edge roughness of the produced stencil., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate whether new-onset periodontitis or apical periodontitis in the adjacent teeth affects osseointegrated dental implants in a beagle dog model., Methods: One control group and 2 experimental groups (periodontitis and apical periodontitis groups) were defined based on the presence of experimental periodontitis or apical periodontitis, with 1 beagle dog randomly assigned to each group. The mandibular second and fourth premolars on both sides of the 3 beagles were extracted. Eight weeks after extraction, 4 bone-level implant fixtures, 2 on both sides of each mandible, were placed in each beagle. Six weeks after implant surgery, healing abutments were connected. After sufficient osseointegration, plaque control was performed in the control group, while periodontitis and apical periodontitis were induced in the experimental groups. The beagles were euthanized for histological analyses 20 weeks after induction of experimental periodontitis. Statistical analyses were performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test with the Bonferroni correction to compare the 3 groups., Results: The implants in the control and apical periodontitis groups were well-maintained, while those in the periodontitis group showed clinical signs of inflammation with bone resorption. The bone-to-implant contact (BIC) and bone area values in the periodontitis group were lower than those in the other groups. The distance between the implant shoulder and the first BIC was significantly greater in the periodontitis group than in the control group ( P <0.05)., Conclusions: The presence of periodontitis in adjacent teeth can pose a risk to dental implants, potentially resulting in peri-implantitis. However, this was not observed for apical periodontitis. Within the limitations of this study, periodontal care is necessary to reduce the impact of periodontitis in adjacent teeth on osseointegrated implants., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported., (Copyright © 2024. Korean Academy of Periodontology.)

Background: In order to have an optimal aesthetic plan for correction of nasal tip disharmony, it is crucial to note lip and tip disproportions., Objectives: This study sought to investigate the incidence of pre-operative upper lip malposition in primary rhinoplasty patients., Methods: 150 consecutive primary rhinoplasty patients were included. The position of the upper lip was measured during smiling relative to the incisors and gum line, and categorized as ideal, inadequate incisor show, or excessive gum show. Nasal length was categorized based on soft tissue cephalometic analysis of lifesize photographs as long, ideal and short. Tip projection was categorized as over-projected, ideal and under-projected. Columella was categorized as hanging, ideal or retracted., Results: Standardized photos of 139 primary rhinoplasty patients met inclusion criteria. 49(35%) patients had an ideal upper lip position, 83(60%) inadequate incisor show, and 7(5%) excessive gum show. Sixteen (12%) had a short nose, 45(33%) ideal length and 76(55%) a long nose. 14(10%) had an under-projected tip, 38(28%) an ideal tip projection and 85(62%) an over-projected tip. None of the nasal parameters were predictive of upper lip position. Tip over-projection (OR 3.03, p=0.02) and hanging columella (OR 2.97, p=0.001) were predictive of a long nose. Tip under-projection was predictive of short length (OR 35, p<0.0001)., Conclusions: There is a high incidence of upper lip malposition in patients undergoing primary rhinoplasty. It is vital for the rhinoplasty surgeon to identify it pre-operatively and plan the surgical maneuvers accordingly to prevent exacerbating an insufficient incisor show or excessive gum show., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Aesthetic Society. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Abacus-based mental calculation (AMC) is a widely used educational tool for enhancing math learning, offering an accessible and cost-effective method for classroom implementation. Despite its universal appeal, the neurocognitive mechanisms that drive the efficacy of AMC training remain poorly understood. Notably, although abacus training relies heavily on the rapid recall of number positions and sequences, the role of memory systems in driving long-term AMC learning remains unknown. Here, we sought to address this gap by investigating the role of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) memory system in predicting long-term AMC training gains in second-grade children, who were longitudinally assessed up to fifth grade. Leveraging multimodal neuroimaging data, we tested the hypothesis that MTL systems, known for their involvement in associative memory, are instrumental in facilitating AMC-induced improvements in math skills. We found that gray matter volume in bilateral MTL, along with functional connectivity between the MTL and frontal and ventral temporal-occipital cortices, significantly predicted learning gains. Intriguingly, greater gray matter volume but weaker connectivity of the posterior parietal cortex predicted better learning outcomes, offering a more nuanced view of brain systems at play in AMC training. Our findings not only underscore the critical role of the MTL memory system in AMC training but also illuminate the neurobiological factors contributing to individual differences in cognitive skill acquisition. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://youtu.be/StVooNRc7T8. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: We investigated the role of medial temporal lobe (MTL) memory system in driving children's math learning following abacus-based mental calculation (AMC) training. AMC training improved math skills in elementary school children across their second and fifth grade. MTL structural integrity and functional connectivity with prefrontal and ventral temporal-occipital cortices predicted long-term AMC training-related gains., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Electromyography (EMG) is considered a potential predictive tool for the severity of knee osteoarthritis (OA) symptoms and functional outcomes. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), such as the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) and visual analog scale (VAS), are used to determine the severity of knee OA. We aim to investigate muscle activation and co-contraction patterns through EMG from the lower extremity muscles of patients with advanced knee OA patients and evaluate the effectiveness of an interpretable machine-learning model to estimate the severity of knee OA according to the WOMAC (pain, stiffness, and physical function) and VAS using EMG gait features. To explore neuromuscular gait patterns with knee OA severity, EMG from rectus femoris, medial hamstring, tibialis anterior, and gastrocnemius muscles were recorded from 84 patients diagnosed with advanced knee OA during ground walking. Muscle activation patterns and co-activation indices were calculated over the gait cycle for pairs of medial and lateral muscles. We utilized machine-learning regression models to estimate the severity of knee OA symptoms according to the PROMs using muscle activity and co-contraction features. Additionally, we utilized the Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) to interpret the contribution of the EMG features to the regression model for estimation of knee OA severity according to WOMAC and VAS. Muscle activity and co-contraction patterns varied according to the functional limitations associated with knee OA severity according to VAS and WOMAC. The coefficient of determination of the cross-validated regression model is 0.85 for estimating WOMAC, 0.82 for pain, 0.85 for stiffness, and 0.85 for physical function, as well as VAS scores, utilizing the gait features. SHAP explanation revealed that greater co-contraction of lower extremity muscles during the weight acceptance and swing phases indicated more severe knee OA. The identified muscle co-activation patterns may be utilized as objective candidate outcomes to better understand the severity of knee OA., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Recent studies indicate that both prefrontal and visual regions play critical roles in visual working memory (VWM), with prefrontal regions mainly associated with executive functions, and visual cortices linked to representations of memory contents. VWM involves the selective filtering of irrelevant information, yet the specific contributions of the prefrontal regions and visual cortex in this process remain unclear., Objective: To understand the dynamic causal roles of prefrontal and visual regions in VWM., Methods: The differentiation of VWM components was achieved using a computational model that incorporated a swap rate for non-target stimuli. Single-pulse magnetic transcranial stimulation (spTMS) was delivered to the early visual cortex (EVC) and the inferior frontal junction (IFJ) across different phases of an orientation recall task that with or without distractors., Results: Our results indicate that spTMS over the EVC and IFJ influences VWM particularly when distractors are present. VWM precision can be impacted by spTMS applied to either region during the early retention, while spTMS effect is especially prominent when EVC is stimulated during the late retention phase and when directed at the ipsilateral EVC. Conversely, the probability of accurately recalling the target exhibited comparable patterns when spTMS was administered to either the EVC or IFJ., Conclusions: We highlight the "sensory recruitment" of VWM characterized by critical involvement of EVC particularly in the information-filtering process within VWM. The maintenance of memory content representations necessitates ongoing communication between the EVC and IFJ throughout the entirety of the VWM process in a dynamic pattern., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Neurofeedback (NF) training is a closed-loop brain training in which participants learn to regulate their neural activation. NF training of alpha (8-12 Hz) activity has been reported to enhance working memory capacity, but whether it affects the precision in working memory has not yet been explored. Moreover, whether NF training distinctively influences performance in different types of working memory tasks remains unclear. Therefore, the present study conducted a randomized, single-blind, sham-controlled experiment to investigate how alpha NF training affected the capacity and precision of working memory, as well as the related neural change. Forty participants were randomly and equally assigned to the NF group and the sham control group. Both groups received NF training (about 30 min daily) for five consecutive days. The NF group received alpha (8-12 Hz) training, while the sham control group received sham NF training. We found a significant alpha increase within sessions but no significant difference across sessions. However, the behavioral performance and neural activity in the modified Sternberg task did not show significant change after alpha NF training. On the contrary, the alpha NF training group significantly increased visual working memory capacity measured by the Corsi-block tapping task and improved visual working memory precision in the interference condition in a color-recall task. These results suggest that alpha NF training influences performance in working memory tasks involved in the visuospatial sketchpad. Notably, we demonstrated that alpha NF training improves the quantity and quality of visual working memory., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Despite epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) have shown remarkable efficacy in patients with EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), acquired resistance inevitably develops, limiting clinical efficacy. We found that TET2 was poly-ubiquitinated by E3 ligase CUL7 FBXW11 and degraded in EGFR-TKI resistant NSCLC cells. Genetic perturbation of TET2 rendered parental cells more tolerant to TKI treatment. TET2 was stabilized by MEK1 phosphorylation at Ser 1107, while MEK1 inactivation promoted its proteasome degradation by enhancing the recruitment of CUL7 FBXW11 . Loss of TET2 resulted in the upregulation of TNF/NF-κB signaling that confers the EGFR-TKI resistance. Genetic or pharmacological inhibition of NF-κB attenuate the TKI resistance both in vitro and in vivo. Our findings exemplified how a cell growth controlling kinase MEK1 leveraged the epigenetic homeostasis by regulating TET2, and demonstrated an alternative path of non-mutational acquired EGFR-TKI resistance modulated by TET2 deficiency. Therefore, combined strategy exploiting EGFR-TKI and inhibitors of TET2/NF-κB axis holds therapeutic potential for treating NSCLC patients who suffered from this resistance., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: In proton therapy, a highly steep distal dose penumbra can be utilized for dose conformity, given the Bragg peak characteristic of protons. However, the location of the Bragg peak in patients (i.e., the beam range) is very sensitive to range uncertainty. Even a small shift of beam range can produce a significant variation of delivered dose to tumor and normal tissues, thus degrading treatment quality and threatening patient safety. This range uncertainty issue, therefore, is one of the important aspects to be managed in proton therapy., Purpose: For better management of range uncertainty, range verification has been widely studied, and prompt gamma imaging (PGI) is considered one of the promising methods in that effort. In this context, a PGI system named the gamma electron vertex imaging (GEVI) system was developed and recently upgraded for application to pencil-beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy. Here, we report the first experimental results using the therapeutic spot scanning proton beams., Methods: A homogeneous slab phantom and an anthropomorphic phantom were employed. Spherical and cubic planning target volumes (PTVs) were defined. Various range shift scenarios were introduced. Prompt gamma (PG) measurement was synchronized with beam irradiation. The measured PG distributions were aggregated to improve the PG statistics. The range shift was estimated based on the relative change of the centroid in the measured PG distribution. The estimated range shifts were analyzed by range shift mapping, confidence interval (CI) estimation, and statistical hypothesis testing., Results: The range shift mapping results showed an obvious measured range shift tendency following the true shift values. However, some fluctuations were found for spots that had still-low PG statistics after spot aggregation. The 99% CI distributions showed clearly distributed range shift measurement data. The overall accuracy and precision for all investigated scenarios were 0.36 and 0.20 mm, respectively. The results of one-sample t-tests confirmed that every shift scenario could be observed up to 1 mm of shift. The ANOVA results proved that the measured range shift data could be discriminated from one another, except for 16 (of 138) comparison cases having 1-2 mm shift differences., Conclusions: This study demonstrated the feasibility of the GEVI system for measurement of range shift in spot scanning proton therapy. Our experimental results showed that the proton beam can be measured up to 1 mm of range shift with high accuracy and precision. We believe that the GEVI system is one of the most promising PGI systems for in vivo range verification. Further research for application to more various cases and patient treatments is planned., (© 2023 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.)

Purpose: Several technical aspects of the Fick method limit its use intraoperatively. A data-driven modification of the Fick method may enable its use in intraoperative settings., Methods: This two-center retrospective observational study included 57 (28 and 29 in each center) patients who underwent off-pump coronary artery bypass graft (OPCAB) surgery. Intraoperative recordings of physiological data were obtained and divided into training and test datasets. The Fick equation was used to calculate cardiac output (CO-Fick) using ventilator-determined variables, intraoperative hemoglobin level, and SvO 2 , with continuous thermodilution cardiac output (CCO) used as a reference. A modification CO-Fick was derived and validated: CO-Fick-AD, which adjusts the denominator of the original equation., Results: Increased deviation between CO-Fick and CCO was observed when oxygen extraction was low. The root mean square error of CO-Fick was decreased from 6.07 L/min to 0.70 L/min after the modification. CO-Fick-AD showed a mean bias of 0.17 (95% CI 0.00-0.34) L/min, with a 36.4% (95% CI 30.6-44.4%) error. The concordance rates of CO-Fick-AD ranged from 73.3 to 87.1% depending on the time interval and exclusion zone., Conclusions: The original Fick method is not reliable when oxygen extraction is low, but a modification using data-driven approach could enable continuous estimation of cardiac output during the dynamic intraoperative period with minimal bias. However, further improvements in precision and trending ability are needed., (© 2023. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists.)

As(V)-loaded granular activated carbon was regenerated through electrocoagulation assisted by elution with NaCl. Adsorption of As(V) by activated carbon was highest at pH 6, and subsequent desorption in water was highest at pH 11, followed by pH 3. Lower initial pH improved arsenic removal during electrocoagulation, NaCl concentration was insignificant, but removal increased with current density. Adding Fe(II) before electrocoagulation led to an improved removal efficiency up to a concentration of 30 mg/L. Regeneration of As(V)-loaded activated carbon increased with current density and time up to a maximum of 85%. An increase in NaCl concentration to 6000 mg/L further improved regeneration to 92%. Regeneration at a lower current density only dropped slightly from 54% to 51% when doubling activated carbon concentration, demonstrating excellent scalability. Repeated adsorption-desorption tests were performed, where 81% and 69% regeneration were obtained after four regenerations with NaCl concentrations of 6000 and 750 mg/L, respectively. NaCl concentration in the tested range did not influence electrocoagulation but improved regeneration through elution. The combination of electrocoagulation and elution facilitated a higher regeneration efficiency, meanwhile removing As(V) from the solution through adsorption on iron hydroxide. PRACTITIONER POINTS: As(V)-loaded activated carbon was regenerated by electrocoagulation with elution. Regeneration increased with regeneration time and current density up to 85%. Addition of 6000 mg/L NaCl further increased regeneration to 93%. Regeneration of 82% was achieved after four regenerations. NaCl did not affect electrocoagulation but improved regeneration through elution., (© 2024 Water Environment Federation.)

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the long-term cumulative survival rate (CSR) of dental implants with micro-threads in the neck over a 10-year follow-up period and to examine the factors influencing the survival rate of dental implants., Methods: This retrospective study was based on radiographic and dental records. In total, 151 patients received 490 Oneplant ® dental implants with an implant neck micro-thread design during 2006-2010 in the Department of Periodontology of Seoul National University Dental Hospital. Implant survival was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was used to identify the factors influencing implant failure., Results: Ten out of 490 implants (2.04%) failed due to fixture fracture. The CSR of the implants was 97.9%, and no significant difference was observed in the CSR between external- and internal-implant types (98.2% and 97.6%, respectively, P =0.670). In Cox regression analysis, 2-stage surgery significantly increased the risk of implant failure (hazard ratio: 4.769, P =0.039). There were no significant differences in influencing factors, including sex, age, implant diameter, length, fixture type, location, surgical procedure, bone grafting, and restoration type., Conclusions: Within the limitations of this retrospective study, the micro-thread design of the implant neck was found to be favorable for implant survival, with stable clinical outcomes., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported., (Copyright © 2024. Korean Academy of Periodontology.)

Crossmodal associations between stimuli from different sensory modalities could emerge in non-synesthetic people and be stored in working memory to guide goal-directed behaviors. This chapter reviews a plethora of studies in this field to summarize where, when, and how crossmodal associations and working memory are processed. It has been found that in those brain regions that are traditionally considered as unimodal primary sensory areas, neural activity could be influenced by crossmodal sensory signals at temporally very early stage of information processing. This phenomenon could not be due to feedback projections from higher level associative areas. Sequentially, neural processes would then occur in associative cortical areas including the posterior parietal cortex and prefrontal cortex. Neural oscillations in multiple frequency bands may reflect brain activity in crossmodal associations, and it is likely that neural synchrony is related to potential neural mechanisms underlying these processes. Primary sensory areas and associative areas coordinate together through neural synchrony to fulfil crossmodal associations and to guide working memory performance., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.)

Purpose: Recent investigations observed substantial enhancements in binocular balance, visual acuity, and stereovision among older children and adults with amblyopia by patching the amblyopic eye (i.e., inverse patching) for 2 h daily over 2 months. Despite these promising findings, the precise neural mechanisms underlying inverse patching remain elusive. This study endeavors to delve deeper into the neural alterations induced by inverse patching, focusing on steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs). We specifically investigate the changes in SSVEPs following monocular deprivation of either the fellow eye or the amblyopic eye in older amblyopic children and adults., Method: Ten participants (17.60 ± 2.03 years old; mean ± SEM), clinically diagnosed with anisometropic amblyopia, were recruited for this study. Each participant underwent a 120 min patching session on their fellow eye on the first day, followed by a similar session on their amblyopic eye on the second day. Baseline steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) measurements were collected each day prior to patching, with post-patching SSVEPs measurements obtained immediately after the patching session. The experimental design incorporated a binocular rivalry paradigm, utilizing SSVEPs measurements., Results: The results revealed that inverse patching induced a heightened influence on neural plasticity, manifesting in a reduction of interocular suppression from the fellow eye to the amblyopic eye. In contrast, patching the fellow eye demonstrated negligible effects on the visual cortex. Furthermore, alterations in interocular suppression subsequent to inverse patching exhibited a correlation with the visual acuity of the amblyopic eye., Conclusion: Inverse patching emerges as a promising therapeutic avenue for adolescents and adults grappling with severe anisometropic amblyopia that proves refractory to conventional interventions. This innovative approach exhibits the potential to induce more robust neural plasticity within the visual cortex, thereby modulating neural interactions more effectively than traditional amblyopia treatments., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Hu, Chen, Ku and Yu.)

Although previous studies have shown correlation between regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rScO 2 ) and mixed venous oxygen saturation (SvO 2 ), there is a lack of pragmatic information on the clinical applicability of these findings, such as tracking ability. We retrospectively analyzed continuous intraoperative recordings of rScO 2 and SvO 2 obtained from a pulmonary artery catheter and either of two near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) devices (INVOS 5100C, Medtronic; O3, Masimo) during off-pump cardiopulmonary bypass (OPCAB) surgery in adult patients. The ability of rScO 2 to track SvO 2 was quantitatively evaluated with 5 min interval changes transformed into relative values. The analysis included 176 h of data acquired from 48 subjects (26 and 22 subjects for INVOS and O3 dataset, respectively). The area under ROC of the left-rScO 2 for detecting change of SvO 2  ≥ 10% in INVOS and O3 datasets were 0.919 (95% CI 0.903-0.936) and 0.852 (95% CI 0.818-0.885). The concordance rates between the interval changes of left-rScO 2 and SvO 2 in INVOS and O3 datasets were 90.6% and 91.9% with 10% exclusion zone. rScO 2 can serve as a noninvasive tool for detecting changes in SvO 2 levels, a critical hemodynamic measurement., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Purpose: The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the survival and failure rates of RESTORE ® implants over a follow-up period of 10-15 years at a university dental hospital and to investigate the factors affecting the survival rate of these dental implants., Methods: A total of 247 RESTORE ® dental implants with a resorbable blast media (RBM) surface inserted in 86 patients between March 2006 and April 2011 at the Department of Periodontology of Seoul National University Dental Hospital were included. Patients with follow-up periods of less than 10 years were excluded, and data analysis was conducted based on dental records and radiographs., Results: Over a 10- to 15-year period, the cumulative survival rate of the implants was 92.5%. Seventeen implants (6.88%) were explanted due to implant fracture (n=10, 4.05%), peri-implantitis (n=6, 2.43%), and screw fracture (n=1, 0.4%). The results of univariate regression analysis using a Cox proportional hazards model demonstrated that implants placed in male patients (hazard ratio [HR], 4.542; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.305-15.807; P =0.017) and implants that supported removable prostheses (HR, 15.498; 95% CI, 3.105-77.357; P =0.001) showed statistically significant associations with implant failure., Conclusions: Within the limitations of this retrospective study, the RESTORE ® dental implant with an RBM surface has a favorable survival rate with stable clinical outcomes., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported., (Copyright © 2023. Korean Academy of Periodontology.)

Facial repetition suppression, a well-studied phenomenon characterized by decreased neural responses to repeated faces in visual cortices, remains a subject of ongoing debate regarding its underlying neural mechanisms. Our research harnesses advanced multivariate analysis techniques and the prowess of deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) in face recognition to bridge the gap between human electroencephalogram (EEG) data and DCNNs, especially in the context of facial repetition suppression. Our innovative reverse engineering approach, manipulating the neuronal activity in DCNNs and conducted representational comparisons between brain activations derived from human EEG and manipulated DCNN activations, provided insights into the underlying facial repetition suppression. Significantly, our findings advocate the fatigue mechanism as the dominant force behind the facial repetition suppression effect. Broadly, this integrative framework, bridging the human brain and DCNNs, offers a promising tool for simulating brain activity and making inferences regarding the neural mechanisms underpinning complex human behaviors., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Background: The optimal extent of mediastinal lymph node dissection is still under debate. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic impact of complete dissection of right paratracheal lymph nodes (LNs) in right-sided non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and evaluate the potential patient population who will particularly benefit from right paratracheal node dissection (RPND)., Methods: Between January 2009 and December 2019, we retrospectively reviewed 2650 patients with primary right-sided NSCLC who underwent pulmonary surgery with lymphadenectomy in the Western China Lung Cancer Database. A total of 2447 patients received both 2R and 4R LNs dissection (complete RPND group), 162 patients received only 2R or 4R LNs dissection (incomplete RPND group), and 41 patients received neither 2R nor 4R LNs dissection (no RPND group). Overall survival (OS) was analyzed., Results: The metastasis rates in stations 2R and 4R were 6.5% and 8.0%, respectively. In stage N2 patients, the frequency of involvement of stations 2R/4R was 74.8%. The complete RPND group had a significantly better survival than the incomplete and no RPND group (5-year OS, 79.5% vs. 72.7% vs. 65.5%; p < 0.001). In the multivariate analysis, status of RPND (incomplete RPND vs. complete RPND: HR 1.45, 95% CI: 1.10-1.90; p = 0.009; no RPND vs. complete RPND: HR 2.25, 95% CI: 1.37 to 3.69; p = 0.001), age, gender, tumor size, histological type, pTNM stage, pT stage, pN stage, and adjuvant treatment were independent factors for OS., Conclusions: Complete RPND brings survival benefits to patients with right-sided NSCLC. We suggest complete RPND as a standard procedure for patients with right-sided NSCLC., (© 2023 The Authors. Thoracic Cancer published by China Lung Oncology Group and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

Neurofeedback (NF) is a promising method to self-regulate human brain activity for cognition enhancement. Due to the unclear results of alpha NF training on working memory updating as well as the impact of feedback modality on NF learning, this study aimed to understand further the underlying neural mechanism of alpha NF training effects on working memory updating, where the NF learning was also compared between visual and auditory feedback modalities. A total of 30 participants were assigned to Visual NF, Auditory NF, and Control groups. Working memory updating was evaluated by n-back (n =2,3) tasks before and after five alpha upregulation NF sessions. The result showed no significant difference in NF learning performance between the Visual and Auditory groups, indicating that the difference in feedback modality did not affect NF learning. In addition, compared to the control group, the participants who achieved successful NF learning showed a significant increase in n-back behavioral performance and P3a amplitude in 2-back and a significant decrease in P3a latency in 3-back. Our results in n-back further suggested that successful alpha NF training might improve updating performance in terms of the behavioral and related event-related potential (ERP) measures. These findings contribute to the understanding of the effect of alpha training on memory updating and the design of NF experimental protocol in terms of feedback modality selection., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Attention can be deployed among external sensory stimuli or internal working memory (WM) representations, and recent primate studies have revealed that these external and internal selections share a common neural basis in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, it remains to be elucidated how PFC implements these selections, especially in humans. The present study aimed to further investigate whether PFC responded differentially to the peripheral and central retrospective cues (retro-cues) that induced attention selection among WM representations. To achieve this, we combined magnetoencephalography (MEG, Experiment 1) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS, Experiment 2) with an orientation-recall paradigm. Experiment 1 found that a peripheral retro-cue with 100% reliability had a greater benefit on WM performance than a central retro-cue, while this advantage of peripheral over central cues vanished when the cue reliability dropped to 50% (non-informative). MEG source analysis indicated that the 100% peripheral retro-cue elicited earlier (∼125 ms) PFC responses than the central retro-cue (∼275 ms). Meanwhile, Granger causality analysis showed that PFC had earlier (0-200 ms) top-down signals projecting to the superior parietal lobule (SPL) and the lateral occipital cortex (LOC) after the onset of peripheral retro-cues, while these top-down signals appeared later (300-500 ms) after the onset of central retro-cues. Importantly, PFC activity within this period of 300-500 ms correlated with the peripheral advantage in behavior. Moreover, Experiment 2 applied TMS at different time points to test the causal influence of brain activity on behavior and found that stimulating PFC at 100 ms abolished the behavioral benefit of the peripheral retro-cue, as well as its advantage over the central retro-cue. Taken together, our results suggested that the advantage of peripheral over central retro-cues in the mnemonic domain is realized through faster top-down control from PFC, which challenged traditional opinions that the top-down control of attention on WM required at least 300 ms to appear. The present study highlighted that in addition to the causal role of PFC in attention selection of WM representations, timing was critical as well and faster was better., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background/purpose of This Study: It has been recommended that individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) be vaccinated against Coronavirus disease - 19 (COVID-19). Recently, we documented the incidence of side effects (SEs) after COVID-19 immunization among individuals with IBD in Japan. However, the study did not show differences between the types of IBD or the patients' clinical backgrounds. In this survey, we aimed at investigating whether the frequency of SEs differed among patients with IBD., Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among adult patients with IBD at Kobe University between March 2022 and September 2022., Results: Total 195 patients, including 134 with ulcerative colitis (UC) and 61 with Crohn's disease (CD), completed the questionnaire and were included in the analysis. Of these, 92.3%, 91.3% and 44.1% received the initial, second and third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, respectively. The frequency of local symptoms following the initial, second and third dose of the vaccine was comparable between patients with UC and CD (69.6% vs. 72.7%, 64.2% vs. 69.1% and 63.5% vs. 73.9%, respectively). Muscle pain after the initial and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine was more common among patients treated with corticosteroids (58.1% vs. 37.6% and 60.0% vs. 31.8%, p < 0.05). Female sex, younger age and current or former smoking were associated with an increased incidence of fever or chills after the initial dose of the vaccine (p < 0.05). In contrast, corticosteroid use was identified as a factor associated with an increased incidence of muscle pain after the initial dose of vaccine (p < 0.05)., Conclusion: The use of corticosteroids could increase the risk of muscle pain following COVID-19 vaccination. Additionally, factors such as female sex, younger age and current or former smoking can affect the incidence of fever or chills. This information should encourage patients with IBD to get vaccinated against COVID-19., (© 2023. Indian Society of Gastroenterology.)

This article reports on the synthesis of materials containing both a fluoroalkyl group and a diazonaphthoquinone (DNQ) moiety as well as the fabrication of negative- and positive-tone stencil patterns. Additionally, the photoreaction mechanism that contributes to the pattern formation process is discussed, and the application of these materials is explored in the pixel-formation process in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays. Fluoroalkylated diazonaphthoquinone ( R F 2D1 ) was synthesized using chemically binding a DNQ unit, which can be converted into carboxylic acid derivatives having stronger polarity, with two fluorinated alkyl chains. The purified compound is found to be soluble in a nonpolar fluorous solvent and can be uniformly coated as a thin film. When the thin film of R F 2D1 is exposed to 365 nm UV light, its solubility in a fluorous solvent decreases due to the Wolff rearrangement and subsequent hydrolysis of a ketene moiety. In contrast, when a mixture of R F 2D1 and a hydrophobic, fluorinated copolymer is tested for the patterning process, the copolymer delays the conversion of the ketene intermediate to carboxylic acid, resulting in the dissolution of the exposed areas in the fluorous solvent. Finally, the applicability of these materials in micropatterning is demonstrated by adopting them in the orthogonal photolithography process to create pixels of OLEDs.

The prospects of gaining reward and avoiding punishment widely influence human behavior. Despite of numerous attempts to investigate the influence of motivational signals on working memory (WM), whether the valence and the magnitude of motivational signals interactively influence WM performance remains unclear. To investigate this, the present study used a free-recall working memory task with EEG recording to compare the effect of incentive valence (reward or punishment), as well as the magnitude of incentives on visual WM. Behavioral results revealed that the presence of incentive signals improved WM precision when compared with no-incentive condition, and compared with punishing cues, rewarding cues led to greater facilitation in WM precision, as well as confidence ratings afterward. Moreover, event related potential (ERP) results suggested that compared with punishment, reward led to an earlier latency of late positive component (LPC), a larger amplitude of contingent negative variation (CNV) during the expectation period, and a larger P300 amplitude during the sample and delay periods. Furthermore, reward advantage over punishment in behavioral and neural results were correlated, such that individuals with larger CNV difference between reward and punishment conditions also report greater distinction in confidence ratings between the two conditions. In sum, our results demonstrate what and how rewarding cues cause more beneficial effects than punishing cues when incentivizing visual WM., (© 2023 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

It is said that our species use mnemonics - that "magic of memorization" - to engrave an enormous amount of information in the brain. Yet, it is unclear how mnemonics affect memory and what the neural underpinnings are. In this electroencephalography study, we examined the hypotheses whether mnemonic training improved processing-efficiency and/or altered encoding-pattern to support memory enhancement. By 22-day training of a digit-image mnemonic (a custom memory technique used by world-class mnemonists), a group of children showed increased short-term memory after training, but with limited gain generalization. This training resulted in regular odd-even neural patterns (i.e., enhanced P200 and theta power during the encoding of digits at even- versus odd- positions in a sequence). Critically, the P200 and theta power effects predicted the training-induced memory improvement. These findings provide evidence of how mnemonics alter encoding pattern, as reflected in functional brain organization, to support memory enhancement., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Background: Steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) by flickering sensory stimuli has been widely applied in the brain-machine interface (BMI). Yet, it remains largely unexplored whether affective information could be decoded from the signal of SSVEP, especially from the frequencies higher than the critical flicker frequency (an upper-frequency limit one can see the flicker)., New Method: Participants fixated on visual stimuli presented at 60 Hz above the critical flicker frequency. The stimuli were pictures with different affective valance (positive, neutral, negative) in distinctive semantic categories (human, animal, scene). SSVEP entrainment in the brain evoked by the flickering stimuli at 60 Hz was used to decode the affective and semantic information., Results: During the presentation of stimuli (1 s), the affective valance could be decoded from the SSVEP signals at 60 Hz, while the semantic categories could not. In contrast, neither affective nor semantic information could be decoded from the brain signal one second before the onset of stimuli., Comparison With Existing Method(s): Previous studies focused mainly on EEG activity tagged at frequencies lower than the critical flickering frequency and investigated whether the affective valence of stimuli drew participants' attention. The current study was the first to use SSVEP signals from high-frequency (60 Hz) above the critical flickering frequency to decode affective information from stimuli. The high-frequency flickering was invisible and thus substantially reduced the fatigue of participants., Conclusions: We found that affective information could be decoded from high-frequency SSVEP and the current finding could be added to designing affective BMI in the future., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest All authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Amino acid transporters play an important role in supplying nutrition to cells and are associated with cell proliferation. L-type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1) is highly expressed in many types of cancers and promotes tumor growth; however, how LAT1 affects tumor development is not fully understood., Methods: To investigate the role of LAT1 in intestinal tumorigenesis, mice carrying LAT1 floxed alleles that also expressed Cre recombinase from the promoter of gene encoding Villin were crossed to an Apc Min/+ background (LAT1 fl/fl ; vil-cre; Apc Min/+ ), which were subject to analysis; organoids derived from those mice were also analyzed., Results: This study showed that LAT1 was constitutively expressed in normal crypt base cells, and its conditional deletion in the intestinal epithelium resulted in fewer Paneth cells. LAT1 deletion reduced tumor size and number in the small intestine of Apc Min/+ mice. Organoids derived from LAT1-deleted Apc Min/+ intestinal crypts displayed fewer spherical organoids with reduced Wnt/β-catenin target gene expression, suggesting a low tumor-initiation capacity. Wnt3 expression was decreased in the absence of LAT1 in the intestinal epithelium, suggesting that loss of Paneth cells due to LAT1 deficiency reduced the risk of tumor initiation by decreasing Wnt3 production., Conclusions: LAT1 affects intestinal tumor development in a cell-extrinsic manner through reduced Wnt3 expression in Paneth cells. Our findings may partly explain how nutrient availability can affect the risk of tumor development in the intestines., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation has been employed to treat drug dependence, reduce drug use and improve cognition. The aim of the study was to analyze the effectiveness of intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) on cognition in individuals with methamphetamine use disorder (MUD)., Methods: This was a secondary analysis of 40 MUD subjects receiving left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-DLPFC) iTBS or sham iTBS for 20 times over 10 days (twice-daily). Changes in working memory (WM) accuracy, reaction time, and sensitivity index were analyzed before and after active and sham rTMS treatment. Resting-state EEG was also acquired to identify potential biological changes that may relate to any cognitive improvement., Results: The results showed that iTBS increased WM accuracy and discrimination ability, and improved reaction time relative to sham iTBS. iTBS also reduced resting-state delta power over the left prefrontal region. This reduction in resting-state delta power correlated with the changes in WM., Conclusions: Prefrontal iTBS may enhance WM performance in MUD subjects. iTBS induced resting EEG changes raising the possibility that such findings may represent a biological target of iTBS treatment response.

Cancer secretome is a reservoir for aberrant glycosylation. How therapies alter this post- translational cancer hallmark and the consequences thereof remain elusive. Here, we show that an elevated secretome fucosylation is a pan-cancer signature of both response and resistance to multiple targeted therapies. Large-scale pharmacogenomics revealed that fucosylation genes display widespread association with resistance to these therapies. In cancer cell cultures, xenograft mouse models, and patients, targeted kinase inhibitors distinctively induced core fucosylation of secreted proteins less than 60 kDa. Label-free proteomics of N-glycoproteomes identified fucosylation of the antioxidant PON1 as a critical component of the therapy-induced secretome (TIS). N-glycosylation of TIS and target core fucosylation of PON1 are mediated by the fucose salvage-FUT8-SLC35C1 axis with PON3 directly modulating GDP-Fuc transfer on PON1 scaffolds. Core fucosylation in the Golgi impacts PON1 stability and folding prior to secretion, promoting a more degradation-resistant PON1. Global and PON1-specific secretome de-N-glycosylation both limited the expansion of resistant clones in a tumor regression model. We defined the resistance-associated transcription factors (TFs) and genes modulated by the N-glycosylated TIS via a focused and transcriptome-wide analyses. These genes characterize the oxidative stress, inflammatory niche, and unfolded protein response as important factors for this modulation. Our findings demonstrate that core fucosylation is a common modification indirectly induced by targeted therapies that paradoxically promotes resistance., Competing Interests: MA There is currently a pending patent filing for the biomarker signature revealed in this study for which MBDA is listed as an inventor (application number: 10-2021-0048888 (2021-04-15)). The authors declare that they have no other competing interests, JC There is currently a pending patent filing for the biomarker signature revealed in this study for which JC is listed as an inventor (application number: 10-2021-0048888 (2021-04-15)). The authors declare that they have no other competing interests, IY There is currently a pending patent filing for the biomarker signature revealed in this study for which IY is listed as an inventor (application number: 10-2021-0048888 (2021-04-15)). The authors declare that they have no other competing interests, JK, PS, DL, RC, RD, SK, MK, YK, GP, HR, SC, TK No competing interests declared, DK, HS is currently employed at ProtanBio Inc, a disease biomarker venture company of Seoul National University. The authors declare that they have no other competing interests, PK There is currently a pending patent filing for the biomarker signature revealed in this study for which PK is listed as an inventor (application number: 10-2021-0048888 (2021-04-15)). The authors declare that they have no other competing interests, JC There is currently a pending patent filing for the biomarker signature revealed in this study for which J-YC is listed as an inventor (application number: 10-2021-0048888 (2021-04-15)). J-YC is CEO of ProtanBio Inc, a disease biomarker venture company of Seoul National University. The authors declare that they have no other competing interests, YK There is currently a pending patent filing for the biomarker signature revealed in this study for which Yoosik K is listed as an inventor (application number: 10-2021-0048888 (2021-04-15)). The authors declare that they have no other competing interests, (© 2023, Aldonza, Cha et al.)

Carbon-fluorine bonds in fluorinated molecules can undergo homolytic cleavage reactions when electrons are injected, and the resulting radicals combine to form network structures characterized by reduced solubility. This crosslinking chemistry suggests a new category of patterning materials that function under electron beam (e-beam) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithographic conditions. Although this chemistry enables the production of 50 nm or smaller-sized features of simple fluoroalkylated polymers, it is limited by the need for relatively large amounts of irradiation energy to achieve required solubility changes. Therefore, this study was undertaken to devise a sensitivity-enhancing strategy based on a synergistic combination of radical crosslinking and hydrogen-bonding interactions between highly fluoroalkylated copolymers. An alternating copolymer was synthesized using tert -butoxystyrene and a fluoroalkylated maleimide, the former of which produces active hydrogens through catalytic acidolysis reactions. When the polymer was blended with a catalytic amount of a photoacid generator and subjected to lithographic patterning tests under e-beam and EUV irradiation, the deprotection reactions of tert -butoxy moieties proceeded at room temperature and led to a solubility decrease. We presume the small number of hydroxyl moieties produced formed an intermolecular hydrogen-bonding network, which acted synergistically with the covalent crosslinks generated by C-F bonds. When 30 nm features of copolymer thin films were fabricated by EUV lithography, sensitivity was improved by 25-34% without significant deterioration of pattern quality, especially line-edge roughness. These results demonstrate that EUV resists with improved patterning capabilities can be achieved by combining catalytic acidolysis reactions and noncatalytic crosslinking chemistry.

Asthma is a common respiratory disease that is affected by air pollutants and meteorological factors. In this study, we developed models that predict the daily number of patients receiving treatment for asthma using air pollution and meteorological data. A neural network with long short-term memory (LSTM) and fully connected (FC) layers was used. The daily number of asthma patients in the city of Seoul, the capital of South Korea, was collected from the National Health Insurance Service. The data from 2015 to 2018 were used as the training and validation datasets for model development. Unseen data from 2019 were used for testing. The daily number of asthma patients per 100,000 inhabitants was predicted. The LSTM-FC neural network model achieved a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.984 (P < 0.001) and root mean square error of 3.472 between the predicted and original values on the unseen testing dataset. The factors that impacted the prediction were the number of asthma patients in the previous time step before the predicted date, type of day (regular day and day after a holiday), minimum temperature, SO 2 , daily changes in the amount of cloud, and daily changes in diurnal temperature range. We successfully developed a neural network that predicts the onset and exacerbation of asthma, and we identified the crucial influencing air pollutants and meteorological factors. This study will help us to establish appropriate measures according to the daily predicted number of asthma patients and reduce the daily onset and exacerbation of asthma in the susceptible population., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Aim: Sorafenib was previously considered a first-line treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with macroscopic portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT). This case-matched analysis was performed to evaluate the best first-line treatment for HCC in patients with macroscopic PVTT., Methods: The HCC patients with Vp2 (PVTT invaded into a second-order portal branch), Vp3 (first-order portal branch), and Vp4 (main trunk or contralateral portal vein) PVTT who underwent hepatectomy and those treated with sorafenib were included. Treatment results were compared between the two modalities for each PVTT category, and a propensity analysis was performed for patients with Vp3 and Vp4 (Vp3/4)., Results: The median survival times (MSTs) of patients with Vp2, Vp3, and Vp4 PVTT who underwent hepatectomy were 21.4, 13.6, and 14.9 months, respectively; the MSTs for those with Vp2, Vp3, and Vp4 PVTT who received sorafenib treatment were 6.9, 5.5, and 3.6 months, respectively, with a significant difference. In a propensity-matched cohort of patients with Vp3/4 PVTT (36 patients in each), the MST of patients who underwent hepatectomy (15.1 months) was significantly better than the patients treated with sorafenib (4.5 months)., Conclusion: Hepatectomy can be associated with prolonged survival in HCC patients with macroscopic PVTT., (© 2022 Japanese Society of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery.)

Performing an accurate canalith repositioning procedure (CRP) is important for treating benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, because inadequate rotational head angles can result in ineffective otolith mobilization and consequent treatment failure. Specialists-guided Epley maneuver reportedly had mean errors of 13.7°-24.4° while they were significantly larger (40.0°-51.5°) when self-administered. Similar results were obtained for the Barbeque maneuver: mean errors were 9.2°-13.0° by the specialists while they were significantly larger (22.9°-28.6°) when self-administered. Our study aimed to validate the feasibility of an inertial measurement unit sensor-based CRP (IMU-CRP) by analyzing the differences in accuracy in the rotational angles, comparing them with education-based conventional CRP (EDU-CRP). A pilot validation was also performed by analyzing the treatment success rate of IMU-CRP in patients with BPPV. This single-institution prospective, comparative effectiveness study examined 19 participants without active vertigo or prior knowledge of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo and CRP. Participants conducted the Epley and Barbeque roll maneuvers without and with auditory guidance (EDU-CRP vs. IMU-CRP, respectively) twice, and head rotation accuracies were compared. Differences in target angles based on the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery guidelines were considered errors. For BPPV participants, treatment success was assessed based on the presence or absence of nystagmus, vertigo, and dizziness. For all the Epley and Barbeque roll maneuvers steps, the absolute errors were smaller for IMU- than for EDU-CRPs, with significant differences in steps 2-4 and 3-6 of the Epley and Barbeque roll maneuvers, respectively. A learning effect was found in steps 4 and 5 of the Barbeque roll maneuver but not in the Epley maneuver. The treatment success rates after 1 h were 71.4% and 100% for the Epley and Barbeque roll maneuvers, respectively. Real-time feedback on head rotation angles induced more appropriate movements in the Epley and Barbeque roll maneuvers. A guiding device based on head monitoring providing real-time auditory feedback may increase the self-administered CRP success rates in treating benign paroxysmal positional vertigo., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are recommended to receive the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine. However, a recent survey showed that patients with IBD are more hesitant to receive the vaccine than the general population. Detailed information on the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine is necessary to encourage vaccination among patients with IBD., Aim: To investigate the frequency of side effects following COVID-19 vaccination in patients with IBD in Japan., Study Design: a cross-sectional survey was conducted using a questionnaire administered to adult patients with IBD in a tertiary medical facility., Results: Among the participants who answered the questionnaire, 92.6%, 91.5%, and 41.5% of the participants had received their first, second, and third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, respectively. Of the vaccinated participants, 88.3%, 86.3%, and 89.0% experienced side effects after receiving the first, second, and third doses of the vaccine, respectively. The incidences of fever, chills, and headaches were significantly higher among female participants than among male participants (p < 0.05). However, the frequencies of most side effects were comparable between the BNT162b2 mRNA and mRNA-1273 vaccines., Conclusion: The findings of our survey can help encourage patients with IBD to receive the COVID-19 vaccine., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

The continuous cropping obstacles of melons have become increasingly serious in recent years. To investigate this, we explored the effects and mechanisms of Bacillus subtilis C3 in control of the continuous cropping obstacles of melon. We provide a novel interaction model of the occurrence factors of continuous cropping obstacles. The dominant pathogen isolated from melon soil was Fusarium. Their hyphae were used as food to cultivate root-knot nematodes. The main phenolic acids in melon soil promoted the growth of Fusarium and indirectly increased the number of root-knot nematodes, but they also had direct toxic effects on melon root-knot nematodes. The simultaneous inoculation of the three had the strongest inhibitory effect on melon seedlings, while the inhibitory effect of paired inoculation was weaker than that of single inoculation. Therefore, the three balance each other, forming a vicious cycle. Bacillus subtilis C3 weakened the negative effects of this cycle on melon by eliminating phenolic acids and inhibiting the growth of Fusarium and root-knot nematodes. Simultaneously, they also alleviated the continuous cropping obstacles of melon by improving the composition and structure of the rhizosphere microbial community. Our results might be useful for the effective control of the continuous cropping obstacles of melon. IMPORTANCE The soil environment, crop growth and fruit quality of melons are negatively affected by long-term continuous cropping. It is important to study the mechanism of continuous cropping obstacles and their biological control. In this study, we propose a novel interaction model of the occurrence factors of continuous cropping obstacles. The dominant phenolic acids, pathogenic fungi, and root-knot nematodes from melon soil balance each other, forming a vicious cycle. Bacillus subtilis C3 weakened the negative effects of this cycle on melon by eliminating phenolic acids and inhibiting the growth of Fusarium and root-knot nematodes. In addition, C3 also improved the composition and structure of the melon rhizosphere microbial community. These results advance the study of the occurrence mechanism of continuous cropping obstacles and demonstrate an efficient and environmentally friendly biological control scheme.

Background: Humans perform object recognition using holistic processing, which is different from computers. Intermodulation responses in the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) of scalp electroencephalography (EEG) have recently been used as an objective label for holistic processing., New Method: Using stereotactic EEG (sEEG) to record SSVEP directly from inside of the brain, we aimed to decode Chinese characters from non-characters with activation from multiple brain areas including occipital, parietal, temporal, and frontal cortices., Results: Semantic categories could be decoded from responses at the intermodulation frequency with high accuracy (80%-90%), but not the base frequency. Moreover, semantic categories could be decoded with activation from multiple areas including temporal, parietal, and frontal areas., Comparison With Existing Method(s): Previous studies investigated holistic processing in faces and words with frequency-tagged scalp EEGs. The current study extended the results to stereotactic EEG signals directly recorded from the brain., Conclusions: The human brain applies holistic processing in recognizing objects like Chinese characters. Our findings could be extended to an add-on feature in the existing SSVEP BCI speller., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that there are no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Embryonic stem cells have been a popular research topic in regenerative medicine owing to their pluripotency and applicability. However, due to the difficulty in harvesting them and their low yield efficiency, advanced cell reprogramming technology has been introduced as an alternative. Dental stem cells have entered the spotlight due to their regenerative potential and their ability to be obtained from biological waste generated after dental treatment. Cell reprogramming, a process of reverting mature somatic cells into stem cells, and transdifferentiation, a direct conversion between different cell types without induction of a pluripotent state, have helped overcome the shortcomings of stem cells and raised interest in their regenerative potential. Furthermore, the potential of these cells to return to their original cell types due to their epigenetic memory has reinforced the need to control the epigenetic background for successful management of cellular differentiation. Herein, we discuss all available sources of dental stem cells, the procedures used to obtain these cells, and their ability to differentiate into the desired cells. We also introduce the concepts of cell reprogramming and transdifferentiation in terms of genetics and epigenetics, including DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNA. Finally, we discuss a novel therapeutic avenue for using dental-derived cells as stem cells, and explain cell reprogramming and transdifferentiation, which are used in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported., (Copyright © 2022. Korean Academy of Periodontology.)

Background and Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the occurrence and prognosis of dental implant proximity or direct contact with the adjacent tooth and to evaluate the symptoms and complications in both the implant and the adjacent tooth. We then elaborate on treatment modalities and discuss the prevention of this phenomenon., Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted based on the dental clinical and radiographic records of 43 patients with implant-tooth proximity of <1.0 mm or direct implant-tooth contact. Multivariate Bayesian logistic regression was performed to examine the influence of individual variables on correcting major clinical variables., Results: In the multivariate regression analysis, the rate of occurrence of tooth symptom decreased by about 95% with every increase of 1.0 mm distance between implant and tooth (odds ratio [OR] = 0.1, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.004-0.680, p = 0.024). In the case of implant-tooth root proximity in the anterior area, the OR of peri-implantitis occurrence was 30.4-fold greater than in posterior sites (OR = 30.4, 95% CI: 1.189-785.914, p = 0.040)., Conclusion: Implant-tooth root proximity or direct implant-tooth contact is an iatrogenic factor that causes various complications, including devitalization of the adjacent tooth and peri-implantitis. Proactive prevention with surgical stents and intra-operative periapical radiographs is needed. If proximity or contact is found during surgery, repositioning of the fixture to the correct location is recommended in order to maintain peri-implant health and prevent complications., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)