Search

The article presents a study which developed a standardized version of the peripheral blood smear (PBS) reporting format according to the International Society of Hematology (ICSH) recommendations and system that allowed automatic descriptions of quantitative values of complete blood count (CBC) data in this reporting format. Topics include components of the automated PBS reporting system and automatically described quantitative results and qualitative results in the PBS smear reporting system.

Achieving both mechanical robustness and facile healing in self-healable supramolecular materials remains a challenge. This study presents a complementary design for a self-healable supramolecular plastic material, namely, ureidopyrimidinone (UPy)-end functionalized star poly(ε-caprolactone-co-ε-decalactone) (USPCD), based on the kinetics of sequence-biased statistical copolymerization, which depend on the bulkiness of monomers. The copolymerization results in phase separation, wherein the soft phases bear UPy hydrogen bonds and the hard phases contain crystalline bonds. The soft phases can induce a dynamic exchange of UPy moieties and consequent facile healing, whereas the hard phases can contribute to mechanical versatility. Eventually, the composition and sequence control of repeating units in the USPCD significantly affect the mechanical and healing characteristics. USPCD92, with ∼8 mol% poly(ε-decalactone) (PDL) adjacent to the UPy-end moieties, exhibits a super-tough plastic behavior (∼44 MJ m−3), rather than rubber-like behavior, with an excellent healing performance of ∼99% at 50 °C after 10 min treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To explore whether gait and/or balance disturbances are associated with the onset of Alzheimer's dementia (AD) among older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Design: This study employed a longitudinal retrospective cohort design. Methods: We obtained data from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center's Uniform Data Set collected from 35 National Institute on Aging Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers between September 2005 and December 2021. The mean age of participants (n = 2692) was 74.5 years with women making up 47.2% of the sample. Risk of incident AD according to baseline gait and/or balance disturbances as measured using the Postural Instability and Gait Disturbance Score, a subscale of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Motor Score, was examined by the Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusting for baseline demographics, medical conditions and study sites. The mean follow‐up duration was 4.0 years. Results: Among all the participants, the presence or the severity of gait and/or balance disturbances was associated with an increased risk of AD. The presence or the severity of gait and/or balance disturbances was associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer's dementia among the subgroups of female and male participants. Conclusion: Gait and/or balance disturbances may increase the risk of developing AD, regardless of sex. Impact: Gait and/or balance disturbances among community‐dwelling older adults with amnestic MCI may need to be frequently assessed by nurses to identify potential risk factors for cognitive decline. No patient or public contribution: Given the secondary analysis, patients, service users, caregivers or members of the public were not directly involved in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While motor coordination problems are frequently reported among individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD), the effects of the disease on the performance of multi-limb movements and the brain changes underlying impaired coordination are not well-documented. Objective: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine differences in brain activity during a task that involved the coordination of nonhomologous limbs (i.e., ipsilateral hand and foot) in individuals with and without PD. Methods: Participants included 20 PD and 20 healthy control participants (HC). They were instructed to generate force in a coordinated manner by simultaneously contracting their ipsilateral hand and foot. PD were tested off their antiparkinsonian medication and on their more affected side, whereas the side in controls was randomized. Results: Although both groups were able to coordinate the two limbs to produce the expected level of force, PD had a slower rate of force production and relaxation compared to HC. Additionally, their globus pallidus and primary motor cortex were underactive, whereas their pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) and lateral cerebellum were overactive relative to HC. Importantly, in PD, the fMRI activity within the pre-SMA correlated with the rate of force decrease. Conclusion: Multi-limb force control deficits in PD appear to be related to widespread underactivation within the basal ganglia-cortical loop. An overactivation of higher-level motor regions within the prefrontal cortex and lateral cerebellum may reflect increased cognitive control and performance monitoring that emerges during more complex motor tasks such as those that involve the coordination of multiple limbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the penetration of distributed energy resources (DER) has increased, research on direct current (DC) power transmission and distribution has been actively performed. The DC system has the advantage of high-power transmission efficiency. However, it has a very large and rapid increase in fault current in the DC system directly after a fault occurs. As one of the countermeasures, studies on the application of the superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) into the DC system have been conducted to protect major facilities from DC fault current, which is expected to alleviate the power burden on the DC circuit breaker through its quench operation. Among the studied DC SFCLs, the trigger-type DC SFCL using a transformer, which can achieve the peak DC fault current-limiting operation, has been suggested. However, the DC fault current-limiting operation, in the case of the DC SFCL with a current-limiting reactor (CLR), was analyzed to not be effectively executed in the steady state since the transient state directly follows the fault occurrence. In this paper, the DC fault current-limiting operation of a twice-quench trigger type SFCL using a transformer considering magnetizing current and its CLR was analyzed. Through DC fault current-limiting experiments according to the inductance of its current-limiting reactor (CLR), the effective current-limiting design of twice-quench trigger type SFCL using a transformer was described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite the high vaccination coverage rate, in-hospital transmission of measles continues to occur in South Korea. We present a measles outbreak in which two healthcare workers (HCWs) with presumptive evidence of measles immunity were infected by a patient with typical measles at a single hospital in South Korea. This facilitated the evaluation of measles seroprevalence in all HCWs. Methods: In 2018, suspected patients and contacts exposed during a measles outbreak were investigated based on their medical histories and vaccination status. Cases were confirmed by the detection of measles-specific immunoglobulin M or RNA. After the measles outbreak in 2018, measles IgG testing was conducted on a total of 972 HCWs for point-prevalence, including those exposed to the measles. In addition, we have routinely performed measles IgG tests on newly employed HCWs within one week of their hire date since 2019. The measles vaccine was administered to HCWs who tested negative or equivocally negative for IgG antibodies. Results: An index patient who returned from China with fever and rash was diagnosed with measles at a hospital in Korea. Two additional HCWs were revealed as measles cases: one was vaccinated with the two-dose measles–mumps–rubella (MMR) vaccine, and the other, who was born in 1967, was presumed to have immunity from natural infection in South Korea. All three patients harbored the same D8 genotype. No additional measles cases were identified among the 964 contacts of secondary patients. A total of 2310 HCWs, including those tested during the 2018 outbreak, underwent measles IgG tests. The average age at the time of the test was 32.6 years, and 74.3% were female. The overall seropositivity of measles was 88.9% (95% confidence interval, 87.5–90.1). Although the birth cohorts between 1985 and 1994 were presumed to have received the measles–rubella (MR) catch-up vaccination in 2001, 175 (89.3%) HCWs were born after 1985 among the 195 seronegative cases. Conclusion: Despite high population immunity, imported measles transmission occurred among HCWs with presumed immunity. This report underscores the importance of understanding the prevalence of measles susceptibility among newly employed HCWs. This is important for policymaking regarding hospital-wide vaccinations to prevent the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Much of our understanding of the deficits in force control in Parkinson's disease (PD) relies on findings in the upper extremity. Currently, there is a paucity of data pertaining to the effect of PD on lower limb force control. Objective: The purpose of this study was to concurrently evaluate upper- and lower-limb force control in early-stage PD and a group of age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Methods: Twenty individuals with PD and twenty-one healthy older adults participated in this study. Participants performed two visually guided, submaximal (15% of maximum voluntary contractions) isometric force tasks: a pinch grip task and an ankle dorsiflexion task. PD were tested on their more affected side and after overnight withdrawal from antiparkinsonian medication. The tested side in controls was randomized. Differences in force control capacity were assessed by manipulating speed-based and variability-based task parameters. Results: Compared with controls, PD demonstrated slower rates of force development and force relaxation during the foot task, and a slower rate of relaxation during the hand task. Force variability was similar across groups but greater in the foot than in the hand in both PD and controls. Lower limb rate control deficits were greater in PD with more severe symptoms based on the Hoehn and Yahr stage. Conclusions: Together, these results provide quantitative evidence of an impaired capacity in PD to produce submaximal and rapid force across multiple effectors. Moreover, results suggest that force control deficits in the lower limb may become more severe with disease progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]