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[Abstract] Emergent bioelectronic technologies are underpinned by the organic electrochemical transistor (OECT), which employs an electrolyte medium to modulate the conductivity of its organic semiconductor channel. Here we utilize postpolymerization modification (PPM) on a conjugated polymer backbone to directly introduce glycolated or anionic side chains via fluoride displacement. The resulting polymers demonstrated increased volumetric capacitances, with subdued swelling, compared to their parent polymer in p-type enhancement mode OECTs. This increase in capacitance was attributed to their modified side chain configurations enabling cationic charge compensation for thin film electrochemical oxidation, as deduced from electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance measurements. An overall improvement in OECT performance was recorded for the hybrid glycol/ionic polymer compared to the parent, owing to its low swelling and bimodal crystalline orientation as imaged by grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering, enabling its high charge mobility at 1.02 cm2·V–1·s–1. Compromised device performance was recorded for the fully glycolated derivative compared to the parent, which was linked to its limited face-on stacking, which hindered OECT charge mobility at 0.26 cm2·V–1·s–1, despite its high capacitance. These results highlight the effectiveness of anionic side chain attachment by PPM as a means of increasing the volumetric capacitance of p-type conjugated polymers for OECTs, while retaining solid-state macromolecular properties that facilitate hole transport. Reino Unido. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; EP/T028513/1 República de Corea. Global Research Laboratory program; NRF-2017K1A1A2013153 República de Corea. National Research Foundation of Korea; RF-2021R1A2C101301511 569 República de Corea. National Research Foundation of Korea; 2021R1A2C1013015 República de Corea. National Research Foundation of Korea; 2018M3A7B4070988 República de Corea. National Research Foundation of Korea; 2021R1A4A1022920

To better understand the development of dysphagia in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and to identify possible neuromodulatory target regions of dysphagia, we studied the striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) availability distribution by subtype of dysphagia.In this retrospective cross-sectional study, patients with PD who underwent videofluoroscopic swallowing study and N-(3-[18F]fluoropropyl)-2β-carbon ethoxy-3β-(4-iodophenyl) nortropane (18F-FP-CIT) PET at intervals of less than 1 month were analyzed. The 14 binarized subitem scores of the Videofluoroscopic Dysphagia Scale were analyzed using a voxel-wise Firth's penalized binary logistic regression model, adjusting for age and disease duration at videofluoroscopic swallowing study.Sixty-five patients with PD were finally included. Striatal mapping showed association of decreased DAT availability with 5 subitems with 1 or more clusters surviving the statistical threshold: 1 oral phase and 4 pharyngeal phase subitems. The overlap maps created by superimposing clusters for all 5 statistically significant subitems revealed associations of dysphagia in PD with decreased DAT availability in the bilateral ventral striatum. Of these, 4 subitems belonging to the pharyngeal phase-specific dysphagia were additionally found to be related to dopaminergic degeneration of the bilateral anterior-to-posterior caudate and ventral striatum.These findings suggest that subitem/phase-specific striatal subregional dopaminergic depletion may explain the dysphagia of PD. This dopaminergic degeneration of striatal subregions specific to the phases of dysphagia may serve as a potential target for neuromodulatory brain stimulation through stimulation of cortices functionally connected.

Thermomechanical characteristics in the Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs) have been investigated in depth for the precise modeling and analysis of structures in ultimate thermal environments. On this subject, the micro-mechanical interactions of particles in the mixtures of FGMs is necessary to consider the more accurate estimation of structural model. Therefore, the effective material properties are obtained by using homogenization technique based on Mori-Tanaka scheme (MTS) with temperature-dependent material properties. In this regard, present research studies detail temperature-dependent frequencies and thermal buckling behavior of beam model. Then, the physical neutral surface concept is adopted to formulate the decoupled set of stress–strain relations for the FGM models. Also, the First-order Shear Deformation Theory of Beam with rectangular cross-sectional shape including temperature-dependent shear correction factors is developed to improve the practical applications. Furthermore, the results compared with previous data, and the present model is studied in the broad range of temperatures. Specifically, the correlations of shear correction factors and neutral surface shifts are discussed for the models according to temperature and volume fractions. Finally, the thermal stability and the natural frequencies of vibration behaviors are discussed as a result of the mixture ratio for the materials. Furthermore, the mutual interactions of micro-mechanical behavior with the correction factors are especially investigated for thermomechanical analysis.

[Purpose] This study aimed to examine the effects of combined hip exercise and passive stretching as a novel treatment method for low back pain (LBP) in older adults.[Methods] Altogether, 20 Koreans with LBP aged 60–79 years (67.3 ± 5.92 years) were randomly assigned to undertake combined exercise (CE; n = 10) or lumbar stabilization exercise (LSE; n = 10). All participants performed their respective exercise program for 25–30 min with an OMNI scale of 6–8 for 8 weeks, three times a week. Body composition, muscle stiffness, pain-visual analog scale (P-VAS), Oswestry disability index, and physical function were evaluated before and after the exercise intervention.[Results] The CE group demonstrated greater improvements in lean body mass (η2 = 0.402, p = 0.003) and percent body fat (η2 = 0.222, p = 0.036) than the LSE group. Both groups demonstrated significant improvements in muscle stiffness, P-VAS scores, and Oswestry disability index scores, although no significant differences were observed between the interventions. All physical function parameters demonstrated a significant improvement in both groups, and the CE group demonstrated greater improvement in the YMCA sit-and-reach (η2 = 0.338, p = 0.007) and straight leg raise tests (η2 = 0.283, p = 0.016) than the LSE group.[Conclusion] CE is comparable to LSE as an effective and successful exercise intervention that reduces muscle stiffness and P-VAS scores. Moreover, CE is more effective than LSE in enhancing the physical function of older adults with LBP.

In this paper, a pulse width modulation (PWM) LED driver is proposed to overcome the challenges of time-multiplexed driving and to enhance the quality of displays sufficient for signage applications. First, adaptive duty cycle restoration (ADCR) compensates for the brightness degradation in low grayscale, where a simple analog timer circuit measures the limited charging time and compensates its effect to ensure the desired emission time. Second, amplitude-segmented PWM (ASPWM) improves the grayscale resolution without increasing the grayscale clock frequency; thus, the electromagnetic interference (EMI) performance is not sacrificed. The proposed LED driver is fabricated in a 0.18-m BCD process. The measurement results show that the driver IC achieves a duty cycle restoration factor (DCRF) greater than 0.95 out of ten samples, whereas the DCRF is limited to 0.67 on average when the ADCR scheme is disabled. Resolution enhancement with the proposed ASPWM is verified, achieving 16-bit grayscale resolution. The prototype driver IC occupies 3.56 mm 3.00 mm of chip area, operated from a 4.5V supply voltage.

Despite the growing interest in dynamic behaviors at the frequency domain, there exist very few studies on molecular orientation-dependent transient responses of organic mixed ionic–electronic conductors. In this research, we investigated the effect of ion injection directionality on transient electrochemical transistor behaviors by developing a model mixed conductor system. Two polymers with similar electrical, ionic, and electrochemical characteristics but distinct molecular orientations were successfully synthesized by varying the co-monomer unit (2,2’-bithiophene or phenylene) in conjunction with a novel 1,4-dithienylphenylene-based monomer. The comprehensive electrochemical analysis suggests that the molecular orientation affects the length of the ion-drift pathway, which is directly correlated with ion mobility, resulting in peculiar OECT transient responses. These results provide the general insight into molecular orientation-dependent ion movement characteristics as well as high-performance device design principles with fine-tuned transient responses.

Videos contain visual and auditory information. Visual information in a video can include images of people, objects, and the landscape, whereas auditory information includes voices, sound effects, background music, and the soundscape. The audio content can provide detailed information on the story by conducting a voice and atmosphere analysis of the sound effects and soundscape. Metadata tags represent the results of a media analysis as text. The tags can classify video content on social networking services, like YouTube. This paper presents the methodologies of speech, audio, and music processing. Also, we propose integrating these audio tagging methods and applying them in an audio metadata generation system for video storytelling. The proposed system automatically creates metadata tags based on speech, sound effects, and background music information from the audio input. The proposed system comprises five subsystems: (1) automatic speech recognition, which generates text from the linguistic sounds in the audio, (2) audio event classification for the type of sound effect, (3) audio scene classification for the type of place from the soundscape, (4) music detection for the background music, and (5) keyword extraction from the automatic speech recognition results. First, the audio signal is converted into a suitable form, which is subsequently combined from each subsystem to create metadata for the audio content. We evaluated the proposed system using video logs (vlogs) on YouTube. The proposed system exhibits a similar accuracy to handcrafted metadata for the audio content, and for a total of 104 YouTube vlogs, achieves an accuracy of 65.83%.

The recent technological development trend in the automobile market is in the huge flow of MECA (Mobility, Electrification, Connectivity, Autonomous). The role of the seat is to provide convenience functions in addition to providing safe and comfortable performance. The development of autonomous driving technology reduces fatigue during long-term driving, but on the contrary, the risk of drowsy driving due to overconfidence in the autonomous driving system is increasing. In this study, the massage function was developed by utilizing the existing pneumatic system, and the contents of research on objectification through medical verification of the effect of preventing drowsy driving and recovering from fatigue due to long-term driving are described.

This study sought to assess the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization and to examine the sex-stratified associations between IPV and suicidal ideation in South Korea. This study used nationally representative longitudinal survey data from 2011 to 2020 of the Korean Welfare Panel Study of 9732 married adults at baseline. Participants were annually asked about IPV experiences of verbal abuse, physical threat, or physical assault over the past year in 2011–2019. Suicidal ideation in the past year was assessed in the following year 2012–2020 of IPV experiences. Using multilevel logistic regression models, we examined the associations between IPV and suicidal ideation among married adults. The prevalence of verbal abuse, physical threat, and physical assault was respectively 19.8%, 3.0%, and 1.4% in females ( n = 5056); and 18.8%, 2.7%, and 1.0% in males ( n = 4676). After adjusting for potential confounders (e.g., lifetime suicidal ideation and random effects of individuals and households) in the same year when participants had IPV experiences, all types of IPV experiences were statistically associated with suicidal ideation in the following year among both females and males, except for physical threat among males. We found a statistically significant association between physical threat and suicidal ideation among females (adjusted odds ratio: 2.22, 95% confidence interval: 1.62, 3.04), whereas no association was observed among males. Our findings suggest that public health interventions related to suicidal behaviors that can be attributable to experiencing IPV are necessary among both females and males in South Korea.

Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) at work has been neglected in occupational health research despite its importance for female workers’ health. This study investigated the association between hours of working alone and poor menstrual health among 740 cosmetics saleswomen in South Korea. Hours of working alone in a day were classified into 4 categories. MHM was measured by asking “Over the past six months, have you ever experienced that you could not change your sanitary pad when you need to change it at work?” We also measured the experience of dermatopathy due to unchanged sanitary pads. Cosmetics saleswomen who worked alone for 3 h or more in a day reported a higher prevalence of ever being unable to change the sanitary pads (prevalence ratio [PR] 1.84, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.37–2.46) and dermatopathy due to unchanged sanitary pads (PR 2.06, 95% CI: 1.18–3.59) than those who worked alone less than 1 h in a day.

A staircase effect is noted in the fabrication of metal frameworks for removable partial dentures (RPDs) when using stereolithography apparatus (SLA). It affects the adaptation of the definitive metal framework depending on the layer thickness setting. However, studies on the effect of the layer thickness setting on the adaptation of metal frameworks are lacking.The purpose of this in vitro study was to determine the optimal layer thickness through comparative analysis of the adaptation of SLA-fabricated metal frameworks with different layer thickness settings.A total of 15 metal RPD frameworks were SLA-fabricated by using 3 different layer thickness settings (16 μm, 50 μm, and 100 μm). The adaptation of the frameworks was measured by using the silicone replica technique, sectioned at the canine, first molar, and second molar regions by using a guide. The thickness of the light-body silicone was measured with a digital microscope at 3 points in each of the 3 areas. The measurements of the adaptation were statistically analyzed using the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test and post hoc Mann-Whitney U test with Bonferroni correction.The gaps measured in each area showed statistically significant differences in all 3 groups (P.05). In the anterior, middle, and posterior areas, the 16-μm metal framework group showed the narrowest gaps (207 ±46 μm, 195 ±49 μm, and 188 ±40 μm, respectively). The 3 groups showed statistically significant differences in total gaps in the RPD frameworks relative to the layer thickness settings (P.05); the total gap was lowest (197 ±42 μm) for the 16-μm group.For SLA, 50 μm is the recommended layer thickness considering the effect of layer thickness settings on the adaptation of the RPD framework and the fabrication time.

Computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) systems are increasingly used to fabricate removable complete dentures. However, comparisons and analyses of the trueness and adaptation of the socketed surface of denture bases produced by milling (MIL) and digital light processing (DLP) are lacking.The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate and compare the trueness and socketed surface adaptation of denture bases fabricated by using additive and subtractive manufacturing.Based on a denture base standard tessellation language (STL) file, a total of 15 denture bases were produced by using DLP (horizontal and vertical direction) and MIL. The intaglio and cameo surfaces of the fabricated denture bases were scanned with a dental scanner. The scanned intaglio and cameo surfaces were overlapped with the corresponding reference denture base STL file for trueness evaluation. In addition, the ridge lap STL file of the diagnostic tooth arrangement, in which reverse normal was performed, was superimposed on the socketed surface of the denture base of all groups to evaluate adaptation.The root mean square (RMS) values of trueness and adaptation showed statistically significant differences (P.05). For the trueness RMS value of the intaglio surface of the denture base, the MIL-denture base (MDB) group had the lowest value of 150 ±6 μm, whereas the vertical denture base (VDB) of the DLP group was the largest with 328 ±4 μm. For the trueness RMS value of the cameo surface, the MDB group was the lowest with 50 ±1 μm, whereas the VDB group was the largest with 334 ±24 μm. For the adaptation RMS value of the socketed surface of the denture base, the MDB group was the lowest with 44 μm, whereas the VDB group was the largest with 117 ±2 μm.Within the limits of this in vitro study, the MDB group showed better trueness and socketed surface adaptation than the DLP groups (HDB and VDB).

Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) is an attractive target for developing immune modulators to enhance innate immunity against ssRNA virus infections, including hepatitis C and COVID-19. Ten 3-(5-hydroxyphenyl)-5-phenyl-2-pyrazolines were tested using TLR7 reporter cells, overexpressing TLR7 and the NF-κB-inducible SEAP reporter gene to discover a novel TLR7 agonist enhancing innate immunity. Of these, 2-(3-(2-hydroxynaphthalen-1-yl)-5-(4-methoxyphenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)thiazol-4(5H)-one (compound 6) showed the best TLR7 agonistic activity, and further experiments were carried out to study the immune-modulatory capability of compound 6. Treatment with compound 6 rapidly induced phosphorylation of IRAK4, IKKα/β, IκBα, and p65/RelA in THP1 monocytic cells. In addition, it increased the expression of NF-κB-regulated innate cytokines, such as TNFα and IL1β, in THP1 monocytic cells. These data suggest that compound 6 induces an innate immune response by agonizing TLR7 activity in THP1 human monocytic cells. Therefore, compound 6 can be used as an innate immune modulator to develop antiviral agents and vaccine adjuvants.

Although sepsis is heterogeneous, data on sepsis patients with normal lactate levels are very limited. We explored whether hypotension at the time of sepsis recognition (i.e., time zero) was significant in terms of survival when lactate levels were normal in sepsis patients.This was a prospective multicenter observational study conducted in 19 hospitals (20 intensive care units [ICUs]). Adult sepsis patients with normal lactate levels (≤2 mmol/L) admitted to ICUs were divided by the mean arterial pressure (MAP) at time zero into hypotensive (65 mmHg) and non-hypotensive groups (≥65 mmHg).Of 2,032 patients with sepsis (not septic shock), 617 with normal lactate levels were included in the analysis. The hypotensive group (n = 237) was characterized by higher rates of abdominal or urinary infections, and bacteremia, while the non-hypotensive group (n = 380) was characterized by higher rates of pulmonary infections and systemic inflammatory response. However, the Simplified Acute Physiology Score 3 and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (excluding the cardiovascular score) were not different between the groups. During sepsis resuscitation, the rates of antibiotic administration within 1, 3, and 6 h of time zero were higher in the hypotensive than non-hypotensive group (P0.05 for all time points), and the amounts of pre-ICU fluids given were also higher in the hypotensive group. However, despite a higher rate of vasopressor use in the hypotensive group, ICU and in-hospital mortality rates were not different between the groups (12.7% vs. 13.9%, P = 0.648; 19.4% vs. 22.4%, P = 0.382, respectively). In multivariable analysis, the use of appropriate antibiotics and early lactate measurement were significant risk factors for in-hospital mortality.In sepsis patients with normal lactate levels, neither hypotension nor vasopressor use adversely impacted the hospital outcome. Our results emphasize the importance of early interventions and appropriate use of antibiotics regardless of whether a patient is or is not hypotensive.

A laboratory-scale experiment was conducted to reproduce plasma with properties similar to re-entry plasma and measure the plasma density using a microwave reflectometer system. To reproduce a similar re-entry plasma, a high-temperature refractory anode vacuum arc plasma method was used among arc plasma discharge methods, and arc plasma having high temperature, high speed, and high-density plasma characteristics was discharged inside a vacuum chamber. A hot refractory anode made of tungsten was used to show high-temperature plasma characteristics, and high-density plasma characteristics were demonstrated using re-evaporation around the anode. In addition, high-speed plasma characteristics were exhibited using a brass cathode. This kind of arc plasma discharge has a high temperature and is characterized by high fluctuation. It was determined that a microwave reflectometer system with good spatial resolution and non-invasiveness would be suitable to measure plasma with these characteristics. The reflection coefficient was measured using a reflector system by comparing the voltage between the traveling wave applied to the plasma and the reflected wave reflected by the plasma, and the technique of analyzing the plasma density using the difference between these reflection coefficients was used. In this study, the plasma density according to the pressure change was typically measured as 1012–1013 cm−3, which showed a similar tendency to the result of measuring the actual re-entry plasma density.

This study aims to measure the trueness of zirconia crowns with different build directions of materials fabricated using the stereolithography (SLA) method. The anatomic contour crown of prepped maxillary right first molar was designed using CAD software to obtain the standard tessellation language (STL) file. Two different build directions were set for the crowns using Materialize Magics software. One group was built with a margin base platform, while the other group was built in the direction opposite to the occlusal surface base platform. The 20 crown-shaped parts were printed. The STL files of scanned printing zirconia crowns were superimposed each segment by the 3D analysis software. The two groups were statistically analyzed using t-tests. Significant differences were found in the marginal and internal discrepancies between the groups. The build direction had a significant influence on the accuracy of the zirconia crown. The results indicate the most effective build direction for manufacturing SLA 3D-printed crowns.

Chronic exposure to some environmental polluting chemicals (EPCs) is strongly associated with metabolic syndrome, and insulin resistance is a major biochemical abnormality in the skeletal muscle in patients with metabolic syndrome. However, the causal relationship is inconsistent and little is known about how EPCs affect the insulin signaling cascade in skeletal muscle. Here, we investigated whether exposure to 100 pM of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD) as a low dose of dioxin induces insulin resistance in C2C12 myocytes. The treatment with TCDD inhibited the insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and translocation of glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4). The low-dose TCDD reduced the expression of insulin receptor β (IRβ) and insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1 without affecting the phosphorylation of Akt. The TCDD impaired mitochondrial activities, leading to reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and the blockage of insulin-induced Ca2+ release. All TCDD-mediated effects related to insulin resistance were still observed in aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)-deficient myocytes and prevented by MitoTEMPO, a mitochondria-targeting ROS scavenger. These results suggest that low-dose TCDD stress may induce muscle insulin resistance AhR-independently and that mitochondrial oxidative stress is a novel therapeutic target for dioxin-induced insulin resistance.

Parkinson’s disease (PD), characterized by degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, share pathogenic features with obesity, including mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress. Paraoxonase 2 (PON2) is an inner mitochondrial membrane protein that is highly expressed in dopaminergic neurons and is involved in the regulation of mitochondrial oxidative stress. However, no drug targeting PON2 has ever been developed for the treatment of PD. Here, we show that vutiglabridin, a clinical phase 2-stage drug for the treatment of obesity, has therapeutic effects in PD models, targeting mitochondrial PON2. Vutiglabridin penetrates into the brain, binds to PON2, and restores 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+)-induced mitochondrial dysfunction in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Knockdown of PON2 by lentiviral shRNA infection abolished the effects of vutiglabridin on mitochondria. In mice, vutiglabridin significantly alleviated motor impairments and damage to dopaminergic neurons in 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced PD model, and these effects were also abolished in PON2-knockdown mice, suggesting that vutiglabridin is neuroprotective via PON2. Extensive in vitro and in vivo assessment of potential neurotoxicity showed vutiglabridin to be safe. Overall, these findings provide support for the clinical development of vutiglabridin as a novel PON2 modulator for the treatment of PD.One Sentence SummaryTargeting paraoxonase-2 by a clinical-stage compound vutiglabridin provides neuroprotective effects in preclinical models of Parkinson’s disease.

Herbal formulae (HFs) are representative interventions in Korean medicine (KM) for the prevention and treatment of various diseases. Here, we proposed a machine learning-based approach for HF recommendation with enhanced interpretability and applicability. A dataset consisting of clinical symptoms, Sasang constitution (SC) types, and prescribed HFs was derived from a multicenter study. Case studies published over 10 years were collected and curated by experts. Various classifiers, oversampling methods, and data imputation techniques were comprehensively considered. The local interpretable model-agnostic explanation (LIME) technique was applied to identify the clinical symptoms that led to the recommendation of specific HFs. We found that the cascaded deep forest (CDF) model with data imputation and oversampling yielded the best performance on the training set and holdout test set. Our model also achieved top-1 and top-3 accuracies of 0.35 and 0.89, respectively, on case study datasets in which clinical symptoms were only partially recorded. We performed an expert evaluation on the reliability of interpretation results using case studies and achieved a score close to normal. Taken together, our model will contribute to the modernization of KM and the identification of an HF selection process through the development of a practically useful HF recommendation model.

Sasang constitutional medicine is a unique concept in Korean medicine that can provide valuable insights into personalized healthcare and disease treatment. In this study, we combined network analysis and information entropy to systematically investigate the related information of Sasang constitutional (SC) types. A feature network was constructed using SC type and clinical information. The SC type-associated features and feature classes were identified using statistical analysis and entropy ranking. The patient network was constructed based on SC-type-associated features. We found that the feature network was closely connected within the features of the same classes and between several feature class pairs, including the symptom class. Most of the separation values between the feature classes, including the symptom class, were negative. In addition, we found 42 clinical features related to the SC type, and two important classes -personality and cold/heat- that increase the entropy ranking of the SC type. In the patient network, we found sparsely connected modules between SC types and a positive separation value between the Taeeumin–Soeumin and Taeeumin–Soyangin pairs. Our data-driven approach provides a deeper understanding of modernized forms of SC types and suggests that SC type is a practically useful concept for stratified healthcare and personalized medicine.

In this work, the thermoelastic dissipation (TED) for circular-cross-sectional micro/nanoring model is studied including the single-phase-lag (SPL) time based on the non-Fourier heat conduction model. The toroidal solid ring is simple to manufacture and thus the potential is high for future development. Also, the present model is more precise than the 1D or 2D beam or rectangular-cross-sectional ring because the governing equation is established by 3D coordinate system. Moreover, the SPL shows the delay time of heat-flux and is especially important in cryogenic or ultrafast-vibration environments. In this regard, characteristics of the TED is mainly analyzed according to the lagging time, geometrical shape, mode number and temperature, etc. Using the experimental data in literatures, the effectiveness of this work is verified to represent the investigations. The spectra of the TED with the phenomenon of multiple peaks are presented, and then the results can be grouped and compared with previous works. Moreover, the temperature distribution is graphically described to explain the SPL mechanism.

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is a non-enveloped, icosahedral virus of the Circoviridae family, with a small, circular, single-stranded DNA genome. PCV2 infections cause substantial economic losses in the pig industry worldwide. Currently, commercially produced PCV2 vaccines are expensive, whereas plant-based expression systems can produce recombinant proteins at low cost for use as vaccines. In this study, recombinant PCV2 capsid protein (rCap) was transiently expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana and purified by metal affinity chromatography, with a yield of 102 mg from 1 kg plant leaves. Electron microscopy confirmed that purified rCap self-assembled into virus-like particles (VLPs) at neutral pH. It was shown to provoke a strong immune response in guinea pigs. The results indicate that plant systems can enable production of large amounts of proteins to serve as candidates for subunit vaccines.

Korean cosmetics sales workers in department stores face harmful working environments, including limited restroom access, working long hours in a standing position, and customer violence. This study investigated health disparities between cosmetics saleswomen and the general population of working women in South Korea. We assessed the prevalence of health indicators, including physician-diagnosed disease, using a cross-sectional survey of 860 Korean cosmetics saleswomen in September 2018. Health indicators of cosmetics saleswomen were compared to those of general working women from the nationally representative datasets (e.g., National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort). We estimated age-standardized prevalence ratios (SPRs) for health outcomes, including physical, mental, and health-related behavioral conditions. Cosmetics saleswomen were more likely to be diagnosed or treated for physical and mental conditions (e.g., cystitis SPR: 4.03, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.48-4.65; plantar fasciitis SPR: 23.48, 95% CI: 18.12-29.93; varicose vein SPR: 38.41, 95% CI: 32.18-45.49; and depression SPR: 11.18, 95% CI: 8.53-14.40) compared to general working women. Prevalence of smoking and hazardous alcohol consumption was also higher among cosmetics saleswomen than those of general women workers. Given our findings, further research is needed to identify work-related risk factors that could deteriorate cosmetic sales workers’ health in South Korea.

This study examined the association between perceived discrimination and healthcare avoidance and delay (HAD) among transgender adults in South Korea (hereafter Korea). We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional survey of 244 Korean transgender adults in 2017. Discrimination within the last 12 months was categorized into four groups based on the reason(s) of discrimination experienced: (1) ‘never experienced' discrimination, (2) ‘only due to transgender identity,' (3) ‘due to reason(s) other than transgender identity,' and (4) ‘due to both transgender identity and other reason(s).' Korean transgender adults who experienced discrimination ‘only due to transgender identity’ and ‘due to both transgender identity and other reason(s)’ reported 1.91-times (95% CI 1.02–3.55) and 1.96-times (95% CI 1.32–2.92) higher prevalence of past 12-month HAD, respectively, than those who had no such experiences. Our findings suggest that institutional efforts are needed to protect transgender people from discrimination, which can contribute to improved access to healthcare among transgender populations in Korea.

Thermoelastic damping (TED) is one of the significant factor to design the high-efficiency sensors or resonators. Up to now, the single-phase-lagging (SPL) has been analyzed for the various TED mod...

PURPOSE This study aimed to compare the accuracy (trueness and precision) of interim crowns fabricated using DLP (digital light processing) according to post-curing time. MATERIALS AND METHODS A virtual stone study die of the upper right first molar was created using a dental laboratory scanner. After designing interim crowns on the virtual study die and saving them as Standard Triangulated Language files, 30 interim crowns were fabricated using a DLP-type 3D printer. Additively manufactured interim crowns were post-cured using three different time conditions-10-minute post-curing interim crown (10-MPCI), 20-minute post-curing interim crown (20-MPCI), and 30-minute post-curing interim crown (30-MPCI) (n = 10 per group). The scan data of the external and intaglio surfaces were overlapped with reference crown data, and trueness was measured using the best-fit alignment method. In the external and intaglio surface groups (n = 45 per group), precision was measured using a combination formula exclusive to scan data (10C2). Significant differences in accuracy (trueness and precision) data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis H test, and post hoc analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test with Bonferroni correction (α=.05). RESULTS In the 10-MPCI, 20-MPCI, and 30-MPCI groups, there was a statistically significant difference in the accuracy of the external and intaglio surfaces (P

Despite the facile fabrication of geometry-controlled vertical silicon nanocolumn arrays (vSNAs), metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) showed critical limitations for producing vSNAs, particularl...

Conventional fabrication of complete denture metal bases is being replaced by the computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) systems. However, a comparative analysis of subtractive and additive CAD-CAM manufacturing techniques is lacking.The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare the adaptation of complete denture metal bases fabricated by milling (subtractive manufacturing) and stereolithography apparatus (SLA) and digital light processing (DLP) (additive manufacturing).Thirty metal bases were manufactured by using the milling (MIL group), SLA (SLA group), and DLP (DLP group) techniques. The silicone replica technique was used to evaluate the adaptation of the complete denture metal bases, and 30 silicone blocks were fabricated. The silicone block was cut equally in the canine, first molar, and second molar areas. The gap between the model and the metal base was measured by using a digital microscope at the 3 locations, and the measured data were statistically analyzed by using a statistical software program (α=.05).The gaps measured at the 3 areas showed significant differences in all 3 groups (P.05). At the anterior, middle, and posterior areas, the SLA group showed the narrowest gap (302 ±31 μm, 241 ±39 μm, 201 ±43 μm, respectively). The SLA group also had the narrowest total gap of the metal bases (218 ±33 μm).The adaptation of the fabricated metal bases varied significantly across the techniques used but fell within a clinically allowable range. The SLA group was the most precise in the fabrication of complete denture metal bases. Further studies are required to analyze the effects of the layer thickness setting, wax elimination, and casting temperature on the adaptation of metal bases manufactured by using SLA.

This paper proposes a method to classify food types and to estimate meal intake amounts in pre- and post-meal images through a deep learning object detection network. The food types and the food regions are detected through Mask R-CNN. In order to make both pre- and post-meal images to a same capturing environment, the post-meal image is corrected through a homography transformation based on the meal plate regions in both images. The 3D shape of the food is determined as one of a spherical cap, a cone, and a cuboid depending on the food type. The meal intake amount is estimated as food volume differences between the pre-meal and post-meal images. As results of the simulation, the food classification accuracy and the food region detection accuracy are up to 97.57% and 93.6%, respectively.

Molecular doping of organic semiconductors has been widely utilized to modulate the charge transport characteristics and charge carrier concentration of active materials for organic electronics such as organic photovoltaics, organic light-emitting diodes, and organic field-effect transistors. For the application of molecular doping to organic electronics, the fundamentals of molecular doping should be thoroughly understood in terms of doping mechanism, host and dopant materials, doping methodologies, and post-doping properties such as doping-induced structural/energetic disorder and doping stability. In this report, the fundamental understanding of molecular doping, types of dopants, doping methods, and their practical applications as organic field-effect transistors, organic photovoltaics, and organic thermoelectric are reviewed. Finally, key strategies for efficient molecular doping may exceed the trade-off relation between device performance and structural disorder.