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Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is increasingly prevalent on a global scale and is connected to chronic health issues including diabetes, obesity, and inflammation. This study aimed to investigate the association between VDD and various clinical parameters including glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), body mass index (BMI), and inflammatory markers. This cross-sectional cohort study included Korean men and women aged 50 years and older (290 men, 125 women); VDD was classified as serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels below 20 ng/mL. Vitamin D deficiency was more prevalent in men (64.5%) compared to that in women (35.2%). Men with VDD had higher fat mass and HbA1c levels, lower muscle strength, and worse physical performance. Among women, VDD was associated with higher BMI, HbA1c, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and creatinine levels. In women, 25(OH)D levels exhibited an inverse relationship with HbA1c, BMI, and TNF-α concentrations. However, there were no differences in the levels of interleukin-6 and interleukin-1 beta according to vitamin D status in both men and women. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to higher HbA1c, BMI, and inflammatory markers in older Korean women, thus warranting the maintenance of sufficient vitamin D levels for overall health.

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of a 4-week training using a laboratory index on the competition record of elite female middle-distance runners.METHODS: A female, middle-distance, trained runner with the following characteristics: age, 20 years; height, 168.7 cm; weight, 64.3 kg; 27.2% fat; and VO2max, 56.4 VO2 mL/kg/min; volunteered to participate in this study. Before the training program, the participant took part in a 1,500-m track and field national event in April and the onset of blood lactate threshold was analyzed using (OBVA/ vOBLA), VO2max/vVO2max, and tVO2max tests. After completing the 4-week training program, the participant again took part in the 1,500-m track and field national event in May and her parameters were reassessed using the OBVA/vOBLA, VO2max/vVO2max, and tVO2max tests.RESULTS: Pre- and post-training indicate that vVO2max did not improve; however, tVO2max (206 seconds pre-training vs. 251.51 seconds post-training) and VO2max (56.4 vs. 59.3 VO2 mL/kg/min)significantly. However, this improvement in relative VO2 was due to weight loss, and the absolute value of VO2 (3.63 vs. 3.62 L/min) did not change. The 1,500-m race record in track and field events decreased significantly from a pre-training value of 5 minutes 03 seconds to a post-training value of 4 minutes 52 seconds. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that utilizing laboratory indicators including vOBLA, vVO2max, and tVO2max may be extremely valuable when prescribing training programs for middle-distance runners.

Background We evaluated the effect of depressive mood on long-term visit-to-visit blood pressure (BP) variability (BPV) in primary care patients in Korea.Methods The Family Cohort Study in Primary Care (FACTS) used a prospective cohort that was established to investigate the relationship between the familial environment and health in Korean primary care patients. Depressive mood was assessed as a score of 21 points or more on a Korean-type Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale. BP was measured at the initial visit and first and second follow-up visits. BPV was calculated using the average of the differences between the measurements at the initial visit and first follow-up visit and at the first and second follow-up visits. High visit-to-visit BPV was defined when the average difference fell within the fourth quartile. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association of high BPV with depressive mood and a range of variables.Results Of the 371 participants, 43 (11.6%) had depressive mood according to the depression score. In multivariate analysis, the odds ratio (OR) (OR: 2.26, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11–4.60) for high systolic BP (SBP) variability in participants with depressive mood was more than twice that in participants without depressive mood. Additionally, older age (OR: 31.91, 95% CI: 3.74–272.33 among participants aged ≥ 70 years) and use of antihypertensive medication (OR: 1.77, 95% CI: 1.02–3.05) were associated with high SBP variability.Conclusions Depressive mood was associated with high visit-to-visit SBP variability in primary care patients. Older age and use of antihypertensive medication were also associated with high SBP variability.

Supplementary Tables 1-4, Figures 1-4, Legends and Methods from Metastasis-Associated Protein 1 Transgenic Mice: A New Model of Spontaneous B-Cell Lymphomas

Metastasis-associated protein 1 (MTA1), a component of the nuclear remodeling complex and the founding homologue of the MTA family, has been implicated in metastasis, but definitive causative evidence in an animal model system is currently lacking. Here, we show that MTA1 overexpression in transgenic mice is accompanied by a high incidence of spontaneous B cell lymphomas including diffuse large B cell lymphomas (DLBCL). Lymphocytes and lymphoma cells from MTA1-TG mice are hyperproliferative. Lymphomas were transplantable and of clonal origin and were characterized by down-regulation of p27Kip1 as well as up-regulation of Bcl2 and cyclin D1. The significance of these murine studies was established by evidence showing a widespread up-regulation of MTA1 in DLBCL from humans. These findings reveal a previously unrecognized role for the MTA1 pathway in the development of spontaneous B cell lymphomas, and offer a potential therapeutic target in B cell lymphomas. These observations suggest that MTA1-TG mice represent a new model of spontaneous DLBCL associated with high tumor incidence and could be used for therapeutic intervention studies. [Cancer Res 2007;67(15):7062–7]

For in-vehicle network communication, the controller area network (CAN) broadcasts to all connected nodes without address validation. Therefore, it is highly vulnerable to all sorts of attack scenarios. This research proposes a novel intrusion detection system (IDS) for CAN to identify in-vehicle network anomalies. The statistical characteristics of attacks provide valuable information about the inherent intrusion patterns and behaviors. We employed two real-world attack scenarios from publicly available datasets to record a real-time response against intrusions with increased precision for in-vehicle network environments. Our proposed IDS can exploit malicious patterns by calculating thresholds and using the statistical properties of attacks, making attack detection more efficient. The optimized threshold value is calculated using brute-force optimization for various window sizes to minimize the total error. The reference values of normality require a few legitimate data frames for effective intrusion detection. The experimental findings validate that our suggested method can efficiently detect fuzzy, merge, and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks with low false-positive rates. It is also demonstrated that the total error decreases with an increasing attack rate for varying window sizes. The results indicate that our proposed IDS minimizes the misclassification rate and is hence better suited for in-vehicle networks.

High-risk human papilloma virus (HR HPV) infection is a major factor leading to the development of uterine cervical cancer. Data suggest that alterations in lipid metabolism are related to the pathogenesis of cervical cancer. Specifically, the uptake of exogenous fatty acids and their intracellular storage in lipid droplets enables cancer cells to survive and adapt to the changing tumor environment.We compared the immunohistochemical expression of fatty acid transport protein 4 (FATP4), and cluster of differentiation 36/fatty acid translocase (CD36/FAT) in normal cervical epithelium, low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) tissues of the uterine cervix. We also investigated the clinicopathological implications of these fatty acid transporters in SCC.Compared with that in normal cervical tissues, the expression of FATP4 was lower in LSIL (p=0.002), HSIL (p=0.006), and SCC (p=0.001). In contrast, CD36 expression was higher in SCC tissues than in normal cervical tissues (p0.001). In normal cervical tissues, HR HPV-infected lesions exhibited a decrease in FATP4 (p0.001) and an increase of CD36 (p=0.134), compared to those that were not infected with HR HPV. High CD36 expression was associated with a shorter recurrence-free survival (p0.001). However, high FATP4 levels showed no significant correlation with the clinicopathological parameters of SCC.Altered expression levels of FATP4 and CD36 are unique features that might be related to HR HPV infection and promote tumorigenesis and progression of cervical cancer.

Protest tourism is visiting a destination with the major aim of viewing or participating in protests. This qualitative study examined the motivations of Hong Kong protest tourists as a starting point for future exploration of distinctions between this emerging type of tourism and other existing categories. Five primary motivations were revealed. Two push motivations were the desire to (1) have special, new experiences that few others have experienced; and (2) experience tourist offerings first-hand. Three pull motivations were created by sites providing tourists the opportunity to (i) see a one-time historical event; (ii) share the moment with local citizens, even if indirectly; and (iii) experience real-time events with a local guide. The findings point to unique temporal and geographic aspects of the interplay between protest tourist motivations and the unique merging of the subject and object of tourism, shedding light on how different tourism experiences can be framed.

Fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) is one of the prospective tools for privacypreserving machine learning (PPML), and several PPML models have been proposed based on various FHE schemes and approaches. Although the FHE schemes are known as suitable tools to implement PPML models, previous PPML models on FHE encrypted data are limited to only simple and non-standard types of machine learning models. These non-standard machine learning models are not proven efficient and accurate with more practical and advanced datasets. Previous PPML schemes replace non-arithmetic activation functions with simple arithmetic functions instead of adopting approximation methods and do not use bootstrapping, which enables continuous homomorphic evaluations. Thus, they could not use standard activation functions and could not employ a large number of layers. The maximum classification accuracy of the existing PPML model with the FHE for the CIFAR-10 dataset was only 77% until now. In this work, we firstly implement the standard ResNet-20 model with the RNS-CKKS FHE with bootstrapping and verify the implemented model with the CIFAR-10 dataset and the plaintext model parameters. Instead of replacing the non-arithmetic functions with the simple arithmetic function, we use state-of-the-art approximation methods to evaluate these non-arithmetic functions, such as the ReLU, with sufficient precision [1]. Further, for the first time, we use the bootstrapping technique of the RNS-CKKS scheme in the proposed model, which enables us to evaluate a deep learning model on the encrypted data. We numerically verify that the proposed model with the CIFAR-10 dataset shows 98.67% identical results to the original ResNet-20 model with non-encrypted data. The classification accuracy of the proposed model is 90.67%, which is pretty close to that of the original ResNet-20 CNN model..., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures

Pseudogymnoascus is a psychrophilic fungus, which is a genus widely distributed in cold regions around the world. Recently, the presence of Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), the causative agent of white-nose syndrome (WNS) belonging to Pseudogymnoascus, has been reported in neighboring countries of Korea. However, no investigation on Pd has been reported in Korea. In this study, cave-inhabiting bats and their habitats were investigated in terms of the diversity of cave fungi, and we tried to confirm the presence of Pd. Three caves suspected of hosting Pd were selected, and 83 environmental and 53 bat samples were collected. A total of 154 fungal strains belonging to 31 different genera were isolated, and 20 of 154 were confirmed to belong to Pseudogymnoascus. Pd-diagnostic PCR was performed to check whether Pd was present in the isolated Pseudogymnoascus, and seven positives were confirmed. However, phylogenetic analyses revealed that no isolates belonged or were closely related to the clade with Pd. Although samples were collected from limited areas, undescribed Pseudogymnoascus species were isolated, and it was confirmed that Korean isolates were distributed in various clades. In conclusion, it is hypothesized that Korean Pseudogymnoascus presents high diversity.

Until recent, there are no ideal small diameter vascular grafts available on the market. Most of the commercialized vascular grafts are used for medium to large-sized blood vessels. As a solution, vascular tissue engineering has been introduced and shown promising outcomes. Despite these optimistic results, there are limitations to commercialization. This review will cover the need for extrusion-based 3D cell-printing technique capable of mimicking the natural structure of the blood vessel. First, we will highlight the physiological structure of the blood vessel as well as the requirements for an ideal vascular graft. Then, the essential factors of 3D cell-printing including bioink, and cell-printing system will be discussed. Afterwards, we will mention their applications in the fabrication of tissue engineered vascular grafts. Finally, conclusions and future perspectives will be discussed.

In solid tumors, glycolytic cancer or stromal cells export lactates through monocarboxylate transporter (MCT) 4, while oxidative cancer or stromal cells take up lactates as metabolic fuels or signaling molecules through MCT1. CD147 acts as a chaperone of MCT1 or MCT4. Unlike solid tumors, malignant lymphomas have a peculiar tumor microenvironment. To investigate the metabolic phenotype of malignant lymphoma associated with lactate transport, we analyzed immunohistochemical expressions of MCT1, MCT4, and CD147 in 247 cases of various malignant lymphomas. Surprisingly, both MCT1 and MCT4 were diffusely expressed on tumor cell membranes in all cases (11/11, 100%) of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) (+) anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). In contrast, only MCT1 was diffusely expressed in tumor cells of ALK(-) ALCL, as well as in B-cell, natural killer/T-cell, T-cell, and classic Hodgkin lymphomas. In these lymphomas, MCT4 expression was mostly localized to adjacent stromal cells. The pattern of diffuse membranous MCT1 and partial MCT4 expressions in tumor cells was observed in 1 case each of peripheral T-cell lymphoma (1/15, 6.7%) and multiple myeloma (1/34, 2.9%). CD147 was diffusely expressed in all types of lymphoma tumor and/or stromal cells. In conclusion, ALK(+) ALCL has a unique metabolism showing high coexpression of MCT1 and MCT4 in tumor cells. Because only ALK(+) ALCL overexpresses MCT4, immunostaining for MCT4 together with ALK is very useful for differential diagnosis from ALK(-) ALCL or peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Moreover, dual targeting against MCT1 and MCT4 would be an appropriate therapeutic approach for ALK(+) ALCL.

Introduction The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of switching to teneligliptin from other dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) inadequately controlled despite treatment with a stable dose of other DPP-4 inhibitors. Methods Patients with glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) ≥ 7% despite taking DPP-4 inhibitors other than teneligliptin, with or without other antidiabetic agents, for at least 3 months were enrolled in this study. Patients on DPP-4 inhibitors administered prior to participation in this study were switched to 20 mg teneligliptin once daily and the dose was maintained for the 52-week study period. The primary endpoint was the change in HbA1c at week 12. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and the blood lipid profile were also evaluated. Adverse events were monitored for safety assessment. Results At weeks 12, 24, and 52, the HbA1c values significantly decreased by − 0.39, − 0.44, and − 0.52%, respectively, compared to the baseline value (p

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Adenovirus has been detected in a wide range of hosts like dogs, foxes, horses, bats, avian animals, and raccoon dogs. Canine adenoviruses with two serotypes host mammals and are members of the mastadenovirus family. Canine adenovirus type 1 (CAdV-1) and canine adenovirus type 2 (CAdV-2) cause infectious canine hepatitis and infectious bronchial disease, respectively. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of CAdV-1 and 2 in wild Nyctereutes procyonoides in Korea in 2017–2020 from 414 tissue samples, including the liver, kidney, lung, and intestine, collected from 105 raccoon dog carcasses. Only CAdV-2 was detected in two raccoon dogs, whereas CAdV-1 was not detected. Tissue samples from raccoon dogs were screened for CAdV-1 and CAdV-2 using conventional PCR. Adenovirus was successfully isolated from PCR positive samples using the Vero cell line, and the full-length gene sequence of the isolated viruses was obtained through 5’ and 3’ rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). The major genes of the isolated CAdV-2/18Ra54 and CAdV-2/18Ra-65 strains showed the closest relationship with that of the CAdV-2 Toronto A26/61 strain isolated from Canada in 1976. There is no large mutation between CAdV-2, which is prevalent worldwide, and CAdV-2, which is prevalent in wild animals in Korea. In addition, it is still spreading and causing infections. The Toronto A26/61 strain, which showed the most similarity to CAdV-2/18Ra-54, was likely transmitted to wild animals through vaccinated companion animals, suggesting that further research is needed on safety measures surrounding animal vaccination. This study provides information on the genetic characteristics and prevalence of canine adenovirus in domestic wild animals and provides a better understanding of canine adenovirus.

White-nose syndrome (WNS), caused by Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), is a lethal fungal disease that affects hibernating bats in North America. Recently, the presence of Pd was reported in countries neighboring Korea. However, Pd has not been investigated in Korea. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the presence of Pd in Korean bats. Altogether, wings from 241 bats were collected from 13 cities and cultured. A total of 79 fungal colonies were isolated, and two isolates were identified as Pd using polymerase chain reaction. Of the nine bat species captured in 13 cities, Pd was isolated only from Myotis petax in Goryeong. Atypical, curved conidia were observed in two isolated fungal colonies. Although histological lesions were not observed by hematoxylin and eosin or periodic acid–Schiff staining, fungal invasion was observed in the tissue sections. Taken together, these results confirmed the presence of Pd in Korean bats and suggest the possibility of WNS outbreaks in Korean bats. This is the first report of the isolation and molecular analysis of Pd from Korean bats.

Adenovirus has been detected in a wide range of hosts like dogs, foxes, horses, bats, avian animals, and raccoon dogs. Canine adenoviruses with two serotypes host mammals and are members of the mastadenovirus family. Canine adenovirus type 1 (CAdV-1) and canine adenovirus type 2 (CAdV-2) cause infectious canine hepatitis and infectious bronchial disease, respectively. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of CAdV-1 and 2 in wild

White-nose syndrome (WNS), caused by

The frequency and magnitude of large ulvoid macroalgal blooms (green tides) have increased in recent years, causing concern for the collapse of benthic ecosystems. Ulva intestinalis is commonly considered a bloom-forming species and it is necessary to understand how variation in environmental conditions affects its ecophysiology in order to predict its bloom potential. To address this, we conducted a laboratory experiment to examine how variation in abiotic factors influences early development and growth in U. intestinalis. Specifically, germling growth characteristics were observed in primary thallus disks (PTD) and early filamentous stages (EFS) under exposure to gradients in salinity, temperature, and light and in concentrations of ammonium and phosphate over a period of 27 days. Our results show that growth in EFS occurred under all salinity and temperature conditions except for the highest salinity (S = 50) and temperature (25 °C) conditions examined. Growth in the EFS was also reduced under low light (

We designed novel thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials by combining the electron donor 10,10-diphenyl-5,10-dihydrodibenzo[b,e][1,4]azasiline (DDA) with the electron acceptor triphenylphosphine oxide (PO) unit (mDDA-PO and o-mDDA-PO) and compared their characteristics with those of a reference material using 1,3-Bis(N-carbazolyl)benzene (mCP) as an electron donor (mCP-PO) for blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT calculations, we obtained the electron distributions of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) as well as the energies of the lowest singlet (S1) and lowest triplet (T1) excited states. The calculated energy difference (ΔEST) between the S1 and T1 states of mDDA-PO (0.16 eV) and o-mDDA-PO (0.07 eV) were smaller than that of mCP-PO (0.48 eV). The results showed that o-mDDA-PO is a suitable blue OLED emitter because it has sufficiently small ΔEST values, which is favorable in a reverse-intersystem process crossing from the T1 state to S1 states, as well as an emission wavelength of 446.7 nm.