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Background: The ratio of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) based on cystatin C and creatinine (eGFRcystatin C/eGFRcreatinine ratio) is related to accumulating atherosclerosis-promoting proteins and increased mortality in several cohorts.Methods: We assessed whether the eGFRcystatin C/eGFRcreatinine ratio is a predictor of arterial stiffness and sub-clinical atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients, who were followed up during 2008 to 2016. GFR was estimated using an equation based on cystatin C and creatinine.Results: A total of 860 patients were stratified according to their eGFRcystatin C/eGFRcreatinine ratio (i.e., 1.1). Intima-media thickness was comparable among the groups; however, presence of carotid plaque was frequent in the 1.1 group, 17.2%, P1.1 group, 1,494.0±252.2 cm/sec, PP=0.007) and 1.95 (P=0.042), respectively. Cox regression analysis demonstrated near or over 3-fold higher risks of the prevalence of high baPWV and carotid plaque in the cystatin C/eGFRcreatinine ratio cystatin C/eGFRcreatinine ratio.

Background: The present study investigated the role of synergistic interaction between hyperuricemia and abdominal obesity as a risk factor for the components of metabolic syndrome.Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study using the data of 16,094 individuals from the seventh Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016 to 2018). The adjusted odds ratios of metabolic syndrome and its components were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression analysis. The presence of synergistic interaction between hyperuricemia and abdominal obesity was evaluated by calculating the additive scales—the relative excess risk due to interaction, attributable proportion due to interaction, and synergy index (SI).Results: There was a synergistic interaction between hyperuricemia and abdominal obesity in hypertriglyceridemia (men: SI, 1.39; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01 to 1.98; women: SI, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.02 to 2.69), and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (men: SI, 2.03; 95% CI, 1.41 to 2.91; women: SI, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.05 to 2.95). There was no significant synergistic interaction between hyperuricemia and abdominal obesity for the risk of high blood pressure (men: SI, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.85 to 1.77; women: SI, 1.53; 95% CI, 0.79 to 2.97), and hyperglycemia (men: SI, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.72 to 1.47; women: SI, 1.39; 95% CI, 0.75 to 2.57).Conclusion: Hyperuricemia and abdominal obesity synergistically increased the risk of hypertriglyceridemia and low HDL-C in both sexes.

Solid oxide electrolyzer cells with an Ni–Fe–yttria-stabilized zirconia (Ni-Fe-YSZ) hydrogen electrode as the cathode, lanthanum strontium ferrite (LSCF)-gadolinia-doped ceria (GDC) air electrode as the anode, and YSZ as the electrolyte were fabricated, and the oxidation protection effect of sacrificial Fe particles was investigated. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that Ni was protected from oxidation under a water vapor atmosphere by sacrificial Fe. Scanning electron microscopy observations suggested that the Ni particles accumulated in the Ni-YSZ hydrogen electrode, which might have been associated with the partial oxidation of Ni during cell operation at 700 °C in 50% H2O/15% H2/35% Ar atmosphere. No appreciable microstructural changes were observed for the Ni–Fe–YSZ hydrogen electrode. Furthermore, the presence of the sacrificial Fe particles could be responsible for the superior durability of the cell, compared with that of the cell featuring the conventional Ni–YSZ hydrogen electrode.

To investigate the association between serum uric acid (UA) and relative hand grip strength (HGS) in comparison with metabolic syndrome components.We analyzed the data of 5247 Korean adults aged ≥ 20 years (2422 men and 2825 women) who participated in the KNHNES VII (2018).Among women, relative HGS was significantly lower in participants with hyperuricemia (1.65 ± 0.04) than in those without (1.95 ± 0.01) and was significantly decreased in the highest quartile (4Q: 1.77 ± 0.02) of serum UA compared with that in the lowest quartile (1Q: 1.98 ± 0.02). Among men, relative HGS was lower in participants with hyperuricemia (3.09 ± 0.04 vs. 3.16 ± 0.02) and decreased in 4Q (3.08 ± 0.03) of serum UA compared with that in 1Q (3.15 ± 0.03); however, these results were not statistically significant. In age- and multivariate-adjusted analyses in men, relative HGS was significantly lower in 4Q compared with that in 1Q in model 1 (adjusted for age), but there were no significant differences in model 2 (adjusted for age, BMI, and waist circumference) and model 3 (adjusted for age, BMI, waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol). Meanwhile, in women, relative HGS was significantly decreased in 4Q compared with that in 1Q in all models.A significant inverse correlation was observed between serum UA levels and relative HGS in women, and their significance was maintained even after adjusting for age and metabolic syndrome components.

Lumbar transforaminal epidural steroid injections are used widely to alleviate low back radicular pain, but it requires real-time fluoroscopy, which can increase the risk of radiation exposure. Anteroposterior or lateral real-time fluoroscopy can be used during lumbar transforaminal epidural steroid injections, but there have been no comparative studies on the exposure of physicians to radiation from anteroposterior or lateral real-time fluoroscopy. The aim of this study was to compare the cumulative radiation exposure to each body part of the physician according to the method of real-time fluoroscopy when performing lumbar transforaminal epidural steroid injections.A single physician performed lumbar transforaminal epidural steroid injections, and 2 groups of patients were formed based on the method used: group A (anteroposterior real-time fluoroscopy) and group L (lateral real-time fluoroscopy). Dosimeters were placed outside the chest, inside the chest, outside the thyroid collar, inside the thyroid collar, outside the groin, inside the groin, outside the lead gloves, and left rim of the glasses.A total of 200 lumbar transforaminal epidural steroid injections were analyzed, and the radiation exposure was measured by cumulative dose equivalents in mSv. The dose equivalents were lower at every level in group A compared with group L except for outside the groin.The cumulative radiation exposure at all the measurement sites was lower for anteroposterior real-time fluoroscopy compared with lateral real-time fluoroscopy when performing lumbar transforaminal epidural steroid injections, except for outside the groin.

Background: This study investigated the association between serum uric acid (UA) and relative handgrip strength (HGS) using metabolic syndrome components.Methods: We analyzed the data of 5,579 Korean adults aged ≥20 years (2,486 men and 3,093 women) who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey VII (2018).Results: Among women, relative HGS was significantly lower in participants with hyperuricemia (1.61 ± 0.03) than in those without (1.92 ± 0.01) and was significantly decreased in the highest quartile (4Q:1.74 ± 0.02) of serum UA compared with that in the lowest quartile (1Q:1.96 ± 0.02). Among men, relative HGS was lower in participants with hyperuricemia (3.09 ± 0.03 vs. 3.15 ± 0.02) and decreased in the highest quartiles (4Q:3.08 ± 0.03) of serum UA compared with that in the lowest quartile (1Q:3.14 ± 0.03); however, these results were not statistically significant. In age- and multivariate-adjusted analyses in men, relative HGS was significantly lower in 4Q compared with that in 1Q in model 1 (adjusted for age), but there were no significant differences in model 2 (adjusted for age, body mass index, and waist circumference) and model 3 (adjusted for age, body mass index, waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol). Meanwhile in women, relative HGS was significantly decreased in 4Q compared with that in 1Q in all models.Conclusions: An inverse correlation was observed between serum UA levels and relative HGS. These results were particularly significant in women, and their significance was maintained even after adjusting for age and metabolic syndrome components.

CeO2-promoted Ni/Al2O3 catalysts were fabricated by impregnation. The effects of the CeO2 promotion and impregnation order on the microstructural evolution and catalytic durability were investigated for methane steam reforming. The CeO2-promoter nanoparticles resulted in good dispersion and reduced particle size of Ni catalysts. The enhanced durability of CeO2-promoted Ni/Al2O3 catalysts might be associated with the depression of carbon deposition by the presence of CeO2-promoter nanoparticles.

Background Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) has recently emerged as a surgical technique for oropharyngeal cancer. We performed a systematic review to investigate the clinical safety and effectiveness of robotic surgery compared with conventional open surgery in primary oropharyngeal cancer. Methods A literature search was conducted using the English-language databases Ovid-MEDLINE, Ovid-Embase, and the Cochrane Library, as well as local databases containing publications through July 2018. The outcomes included demographic characteristics, adverse events, and complications, as well as oncologic, functional, and surgical outcomes. Results Nine papers (n = 574 patients) met the inclusion criteria. Disease-free survival rate was significantly higher in the TORS group than open surgery group (n = 5 studies, RR: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.24, I2 = 0%). Primary TORS compared with open surgery was associated with lower risks of free flap reconstruction (relative risk [RR]: 0.33, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.12.0.88, I2 = 6%). In subgroup analyses, the time to decannulation reconstruction (N = 2 concurrent studies, mean difference [MD]: −6.71, 95% CI: −8.40, −5.03, I2 = 78%) in the TORS group shortened by 6.7 days than open surgery group. The length of hospital stay showed significant shorter by 1.09 days in three concurrent studies (95% CI -3.49, 1.30, I2 = 72%). Conclusions From current non-randomized studies, TORS could have advantage for disease-free survival and lowering the risk of free flap reconstruction compared to open surgery. However, due to lack of relevant studies, oncologic, functional, surgical outcomes including complications of TORS versus open surgery for oropharyngeal cancer are need to be verified with long-term follow-up comparative studies.

The 3D modeling of orbital bones in facial CT images is essential to provide a customized implant for reconstructions of orbit and related structures during surgery. However, 3D models of the orbital bone show an aliasing effect and disconnected thin bone in the inter-slice direction because the slice thickness is two to three times larger than the pixel spacing. To improve the inter-slice resolution of facial CT images, we propose a method based on a 2D convolutional neural network (CNN) that uses the spatial information on the sagittal and axial planes and the orbital bone edge-aware (OBE) loss. First, intermediate slices are generated on the sagittal plane. Second, the generated intermediate slices are transformed to an axial image, which is then compared with the original axial image. To generate intermediate slices with an accurate orbital bone structure, the OBE loss considering the orbital bone structure on the sagittal and axial planes is used. To improve the perceptual quality of the generated intermediate slices, the feature map difference loss is additionally used on the axial plane. In the experiment, the proposed method showed the best performance among bilinear and bicubic interpolations, 3D SRGAN, and a 2D CNN-based method. Experimental results confirmed that the proposed method can generate intermediate slices with clear edges of thin bones as well as cortical bones on both the sagittal and the axial plane.

Solid oxide electrolyzer cells consisting of scandia-stabilized zirconia (ScSZ) electrolyte, Ni-yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), and lanthanum strontium ferrite (LSCF)-gadolinia-doped ceria (GDC) were fabricated, and their performance in high-temperature steam electrolysis combined with methane partial oxidation was investigated. The voltage of the electrolyzer cell operated with methane/steam input was significantly reduced compared to that of the cell with air/steam input. The hydrogen production rates at 1.3 V (850 °C) were 4.53 and 1.74 sccm for the electrolyzer cell with methane/steam and air/steam inputs, respectively. On-line gas chromatography analysis confirmed the production of hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the anode side, indicating that methane partial oxidation occurred at the anode side.

Objective This study investigated the association between relative hand grip strength (HGS) and glycemic status, such as impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and diabetes, using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Methods We performed a cross-sectional study using the data from the KNHANES of 27,894 individuals from 2014 to 2019. Relative HGS was defined as the absolute HGS divided by body mass index and divided into quartiles in men and women. Odds ratios (OR) for diabetes and IFG were calculated using multivariate logistic regression analysis. All analyses were stratified by sex, and subgroup analysis was age-stratified. Results The lowest relative HGS quartile had a significant increase in the risk for diabetes (men: OR 2.72, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.12–3.50; women: OR 3.38, 95% CI 2.70–4.24) and IFG (men: OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.15–1.59; women: OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.40–1.84). The ORs for diabetes and IFG according to the decreasing quartiles of relative HGS gradually increased in both sexes (P for trend Conclusion Lower relative HGS was associated with a higher risk of not only diabetes but also IFG in both sexes. These trends were stronger in younger adults than in older adults.

The skin serves as the interface between the body and the environment and plays a fundamental role in innate antimicrobial host immunity. Antiviral proteins (AVPs) are part of the innate host defense system and provide protection against viral pathogens. How breach of the skin barrier influences innate AVP production remains largely unknown. In this study, we characterized the induction and regulation of AVPs after skin injury and identified a key role of TRPV1 in this process. Transcriptional and phenotypic profiling of cutaneous wounds revealed that skin injury induces high levels of AVPs in both mice and humans. Remarkably, pharmacologic and genetic ablation of TRPV1-mediated nociception abrogated the induction of AVPs, including Oas2, Oasl2, and Isg15 after skin injury in mice. Conversely, stimulation of TRPV1 nociceptors was sufficient to induce AVP production involving the CD301b

Crosstalk between T cells, dendritic cells, and macrophages in temporal leukocyte clusters within barrier tissues provides a new concept for T cell activation in the skin. Activated T cells from these leukocyte clusters play critical roles in the efferent phase of allergic contact hypersensitivity (CHS). However, the cytokines driving maintenance and survival of pathogenic T cells during and following CHS remain mostly unknown. Upon epicutaneous allergen challenge, we here report that macrophages produce IL-27 which then induces IL-15 production from epidermal keratinocytes and dermal myeloid cells within leukocyte clusters. In agreement with the known role of IL-15 as a T cell survival factor and growth cytokine, this signaling axis enhances BCL2 and survival of skin T cells. Genetic depletion or pharmacological blockade of IL-27 in CHS mice leads to abrogated epidermal IL-15 production resulting in a decrease in BCL2 expression in T cells and a decline in dermal CD8+ T cells and T cell cluster numbers. These findings suggest that the IL-27 pathway is an important cytokine for regulating cutaneous T cell immunity.

To improve the inter-slice resolution of the orbital bones including cortical and thin bones, we propose an Orbital Bone- Super Resolution (OB-SR) with combined sagittal and axial MAE loss and sagittal Thin-Bone Structure Aware (TSA) loss. Our method consists of three stages: data preprocessing, intermediate slices generation in the sagittal plane and the orbital bone quality improvement in the axial plane. In the intermediate slices generation stage, a 2D CNN consisting of 6 convolutional layers for feature extraction, an up-sampling layer, and 4 convolutional layers for high-frequency detail refinement is performed. The loss is calculated as the sum of the two mean absolute error (MAE) losses to improve the quality of the output image from the up-sampling layer and the last convolutional layer. In the orbital bone quality improvement stage, the generated intermediate slices are compared to the corresponding original axial images using the axial MAE loss. Experimental results showed that our method can generate the intermediate slices with clear orbital bones in the sagittal and axial images and enhances the boundaries of the thin bone.

Sagittal craniosynostosis is the most common craniosynostosis and the premature closure of the sagittal suture makes the skull shape biparietal narrow and elongated. Surgery in infants with sagittal craniosynostosis is a common treatment for correcting the shape of the deformed skull, but the evaluation of the morphological improvement of the skull before and after operation is made by the surgeon’s subjective judgment. Therefore, we propose an efficient method to quantify the shape of the skull before and after surgery based on the mean normal skull model to assess the surgical outcome. In the preprocessing step, to construct the skull model from the pre- and post-operative CT images, each skull model is constructed consisting of the outer surface of the skull. To distinguish individual cranial bones separated by sutures, mean normal skull model is composed of five cranial bones. In the skull model deformation step, to distinguish from the whole bone of the preoperative skull model to the regional bone, the mean normal skull model is deformed into a preoperative skull model, and the deformed mean normal skull model is again deformed into a postoperative skull model. In the regional skull shape index calculation step, to evaluate the degree of expansion and reduction of postoperative skull relative to the preoperative skull, the regional skull shape index is calculated. Experimental results showed that our regional skull shape index can quantify the degree of expansion and reduction of the postoperative skull relative to the preoperative skull of each cranial bone.

Background/Aims Regorafenib has been approved as a second-line systemic therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients after the phase III RESORCE trial. This study analyzed real-world data to assess the clinical effectiveness and safety of regorafenib compared to the RESORCE trial. Methods This multicenter cohort study included HCC patients treated with regorafenib after sorafenib (n = 133). We evaluated the time to progression (TTP), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and safety in patients receiving regorafenib along with the predictors of prognosis. Results The median age was 60 years and 81.2% patients were men. Hepatitis B virus infection (68.4%) was the commonest etiology. Most patients were classified as Child-Pugh A (98.5%) and had extrahepatic metastasis (84%) and vascular invasion (45.1%). This study demonstrated similar characteristics apart from more frequent hepatitis B etiology and more vascular or extrahepatic involvement compared with the RESORCE trial. An objective response rate of 12.5% was obtained for response assessment (n = 112); the disease control rate was 34.8%. Thirty-eight patients died during follow-up. With regorafenib, the median OS, PFS, and TTP were 10.0, 2.7, and 2.6 months, respectively. In the exploratory analysis after sorafenib administration, the median OS was 25.8 months. The rate of response and survival were comparable to those in the RESORCE trial. Child-Pugh score > 5, alpha-fetoprotein > 400 ng/ml, and TTP for sorafenib ≥ median were independently associated with OS. Conclusions This real-word regorafenib study showed comparable effectiveness and safety to the RESORCE trial. Regorafenib improves the prognosis of patients with prolonged TTP during previous sorafenib therapy.

In this work, nickel and gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC)-infiltrated lanthanum strontium titanate (LST) anodes are fabricated, and their electrode performances under a hydrogen atmosphere is investigated in terms of the Ni:GDC ratios and cell operating temperature. The Ni/GDC-infiltrated LST anode exhibits excellent electrode performance in comparison with the Ni- or GDC-infiltrated anodes, which is attributed to the synergistic effect of an extended triple-phase boundary length by GDC and good catalytic activity for hydrogen oxidation because of the Ni particles. The polarization resistances (Rp) of Ni/GDC-infiltrated LST are 0.07, 0.08, and 0.12 Ω cm2 at 800, 750, and 700 °C, respectively, which are approximately three orders of magnitude lower than that of the LST anode (68.5 Ω cm2 at 700 °C). The effect of Ni and GDC on the electrochemical performance of LST was also investigated by using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The anode polarization resistance (Rp) is confirmed to be dependent on the content and dispersion state (microstructure) of the Ni and GDC nanoparticles.

CeO₂-promoted Ni/Al₂O₃ catalysts were fabricated by impregnation. The effects of the CeO₂ promotion and impregnation order on the microstructural evolution and catalytic durability were investigated for methane steam reforming. The CeO₂-promoter nanoparticles resulted in good dispersion and reduced particle size of Ni catalysts. The enhanced durability of CeO₂-promoted Ni/Al₂O₃ catalysts might be associated with the depression of carbon deposition by the presence of CeO₂-promoter nanoparticles.

The skin serves as the interface between the body and the environment and plays a fundamental role in innate antimicrobial host immunity. Antiviral proteins are part of the innate host defense system and provide protection against viral pathogens. How breach of the skin barrier influences innate antiviral protein production remains largely unknown. Here, we identify and characterize the induction and regulation of antiviral proteins following skin injury. Transcriptional and phenotypic profiling of cutaneous wounds revealed that skin injury induces high levels of antiviral proteins in both mice and humans, and interleukin (IL)-27 was found to be necessary and sufficient to induce this pattern of expression. Notably, we here link the IL-27-mediated antiviral protein response to a neuro-immune axis. We herein identify how damage to the skin barrier elicits cutaneous nociceptive signaling to activate innate antiviral immune responses. Remarkably, pharmacology or genetic ablation of TRPV1-mediated nociception unveiled that TRPV1 signaling contributes significantly to the induction of antiviral proteins Oas2, Oasl2, and Isg15 via IL-27 in vivo, suggesting that nociception promotes skin antiviral competence through activation of antiviral signaling pathways upon wounding.

Summary Although some data for western norms in orbit shape were reported, the standard norms for Asian orbits were not established yet. The data would be very valuable for the various surgical procedures as well as the production of the appropriate instruments and implants. Therefore, we suggest a Korean orbit mean shape model based on the three-dimensional computer modeling, which includes the analysis of the various parameters with the calculated average value, thereby providing a standard mean shape orbital model that could be used for the Asian patients’ orbital surgeries. This paper would be the first literature that provides the standard orbit model for Asians. We developed orbit-specific computer software (AMC-SWUⓇ) for the production of an orbit mean shape model. The production steps included semi-automatic segmentation, shape reconstruction, statistical shape model generation, and mean shape and variance model production. The study included records of 48 male and 48 female patients who met the inclusion criteria. Three-dimensional facial bone computed tomography (CT) images of 96 patients were obtained, and these images were used to produce a representative mean shape model. The mean models had vertical dimensions of 36.93 and 35.11 mm, horizontal dimensions of 38.49 and 36.79 mm, and rim dimensions of 45.76 and 42.90 mm for males and females, respectively. We developed a realistic, visualized three-dimensional Korean orbit mean shape model and compared its parameters with calculated values. There is a variance in orbital dimensions between the sexes and the orbital changes with age. We also demonstrated orbital anatomic differences between ethnic groups.

For the reconstruction of the orbital wall of the cranio-maxillofacial surgery, the segmentation of the orbital bone is necessary to support the eye globe position and restore the volume and shape of the orbit. However, due to the wide range of intensities of the orbital bones, conventional U-Net-based segmentation shows under-segmentation in the low-intensity thin bones of the orbital medial wall and orbital floor. In this paper, we propose a multi-gray-bone-Net (MGB-Net) for orbital bone segmentation that improves segmentation accuracy of high-intensity cortical bone as well as low-intensity thin bone in head-and-neck CT images. To prevent under-segmentation of the thin bones of the orbital medial wall and orbital floor, a single orbital bone mask is convert into two masks for cortical bone and thin bone. Two SGB-Nets separately are trained on these masks and each cortical and thin bone segmentation result is integrated to obtain the whole orbital bone segmentation result. Experiments show that our MGB-Net achieves improved performance for whole orbital bone segmentation as well as segmentation of thin bone of orbital medial wall and orbital floor.

We propose an automatic segmentation of the orbital bone in 3D maxillofacial CT image with double-bone-segmentation network for reconstruction of the orbital bone. Due to similar intensity value with surrounding tissues and low intensity value in thin bone, there is a limitation of under-segmentation in thin bone. To improve segmentation of thin bone, we divide into cortical and thin bone and apply to single-bone-segmentation network respectively. Experimental results show that our DBS-Net results in the improved segmentation of the orbital bone, especially in thin bone of orbital medial wall and the orbital floor.

Segmentation of the orbital bone is necessary for orbital wall reconstruction in cranio-maxillofacial surgery to support the eyeball position and restore the volume and shape of the orbit. However, orbital bone segmentation has a challenging issue that the orbital bone is composed of high-intensity cortical bones and low-intensity trabecular and thin bones. Especially, the thin bones of the orbital medial wall and the orbital floor have similar intensity values that are indistinguishable from surrounding soft tissues due to the partial volume effect that occurs when CT images are generated. Thus, we propose an orbital bone segmentation method using multi-graylevel FCNs that segment cortical bone, trabecular bone and thin bones with different intensities in head-and-neck CT images. To adjust the image properties of each dataset, pixel spacing normalization and the intensity normalization is performed. To overcome the under-segmentation of the thin bones of the orbital medial wall, a single orbital bone mask is divided into cortical and thin bone masks. Multi-graylevel FCNs are separately trained on the cortical and thin bone masks based on 2D U-Net, and each cortical and thin bone segmentation result is integrated to obtain the whole orbital bone segmentation result. As a result, it showed that multi-graylevel FCNs improves segmentation accuracy of the thin bones of the medial wall compared to a single gray-level FCNs and thresholding.

Scandia (Sc₂O₃)-stabilized zirconia (ScSZ) electrolyte-supported symmetrical solid oxide electrolyzer cells (SOECs), in which lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite (LSCF)-gadolinia (Gd₂O₃)-doped ceria (GDC) composite materials are used as both the cathode and anode, were fabricated and their high temperature steam electrolysis (HTSE) performance was investigated. Current density-voltage curves were obtained for cells operated in 10% H₂O/90% Ar at 750, 800, and 850℃. It was possible to determine the ohmic, cathodic, and anodic contributions to the total overpotential using the three-electrode technique. The HTSE performance was significantly improved in the symmetrical cell with LSCF-GDC electrodes compared to the cell consisting of an Ni-YSZ cathode and LSCF-GDC anode. It was found that the overpotential due to the LSCF-GDC cathode largely decreased and, at a given current density, the total cell voltage decreased, which resulted in the enhanced hydrogen production rate in the symmetrical cell.

In this study, humidity control ceramics with good adsorption/desorption capabilities and high strength were fabricated from drinking-water treatment sludge (DWTS) and Onggi soil. The DWTS powder heat-treated at 800°C and Onggi soil were mixed at weight ratios of 40:60, 50:50, 60:40, and 70:30 and fired at 800–1000°C. With increasing DWTS content, density and flexural strength increased. For the sample with a DWTS:Onggi soil weight ratio of 70:30, porosity and specific surface area decreased with increasing firing temperature, attributed to densification and grain growth at high firing temperatures. From the results obtained, a firing temperature of 800°C is the optimum condition for fabricating humidity control ceramics with good adsorption/desorption capabilities and strength. The maximum adsorbed amount for the sample fired at 800°C was 439 g/㎡.

LaNi 0.6 Fe 0.4 O 3– δ (LNF) powders were synthesized by the glycine–nitrate process and LNF-gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) nanocomposite cathodes for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) were fabricated by infiltration from LNF porous backbones. Electrochemical properties and Cr-poisoning behavior of LNF–GDC cathodes were studied. Single phase perovskite LNF could be obtained at the glycine to nitrate molar ratio of 1:1. The polarization resistance of the LNF–GDC nanocomposite cathode was significantly decreased in comparison with the LNF. This phenomenon was associated with enhanced catalytic activity and enlarged triple-phase boundary (TPB) length by GDC nano particles. In addition, the nanocomposite cathode showed good Cr tolerance under open circuit condition. The LNF–GDC nanocomposite cathodes were expected for use as a potential cathode in intermediate- temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFC).

Extravillous trophoblast cells (EVTs) secreted by the uterine cavity may help overcome limitations associated with prenatal testing currently in use. EVTs are isolated using a routine safe liquid-based Pap test (called ThinPrep), however, the ThinPrep solution contains alcohol that hinders the isolation of intact EVTs. We compared the trophoblastic cell isolation efficiency of two different methods of fixation: Thinprep (pre-fixation method) and formalin (post-fixation method). We analyzed EVTs from 20 pregnant women (5&ndash, 20 weeks of gestation) who underwent invasive prenatal testing. The percentages of placental &beta, human chorionic gonadotropin (&beta, hCG)-expressing cells were calculated. The presence of XY chromosomes were used to confirm pure trophoblast cells by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The &beta, hCG-positive cells obtained from pre- and post-fixation were 66.4 &plusmn, 13.3% and 83.2 &plusmn, 8.1% (p = 0.003), respectively, and fluorescence-positive cells were 11.1 &plusmn, 2.1% and 23.8 &plusmn, 4.8%, respectively (p = 0.001). Post-fixation was found to be more efficient in isolating non-trophoblast cells than pre-fixation. For the successful clinical application of trophoblast retrieval and isolation from the cervix in prenatal genetic testing, each step should be optimized for consistent and reliable results.

Objective: We present prenatal diagnosis of rec(18)dup(18q)inv(18)(p11.2q21.2)pat owing to paternal pericentric inversion in a fetus. Case report: A 37-year-old woman was diagnosed with multiple anomalies on a prenatal ultrasound scan at 17 weeks and 5 days of gestation. She underwent amniocentesis at 20 weeks and 2 days. Conventional karyotyping of amniocyte showed 46, XX, der(18). She was thus referred for genetic counseling; cytogenetic analysis revealed a 46, XY karyotype, inv(18)(p11.2q21.2), of the father. Therefore, based on the results of the father, the fetal karyotype was defined as 46, XX, rec(18)dup(18q)inv(18)(p11.2q21.2)pat. Array comparative genomic hybridization of amniocytes to obtain specific information showed a 3-Mb deletion of 18p11.31p11.32 (136227_3100353)x1 and a 23.7-Mb duplication of 18q21.31-q23 (54222717_77957375) × 3. Conclusion: Maternal serum screening produces normal results for 18p-/18q+ syndrome, but it can be diagnosed by fluorescent in situ hybridization, quantitative-fluorescent polymerase chain reaction, or array comparative genomic hybridization test by observing abnormal findings on ultrasound. Keywords: 18p deletion, 18q duplication, Chromosome 18 pericentric inversion, Recombinant chromosome 18

Background/Aims Functional dyspepsia (FD) is characterized as chronic recurrent upper gastrointestinal symptoms in the absence of any organic disorder. We hypothesized that duodenal low-grade inflammation activates superficial afferent nerve sprouting, thereby contributing to hypersensitivity in patients with FD. Methods A prospective case-control study was conducted in a tertiary referral center. FD was defined using the Rome III criteria. Standardized endoscopic biopsies were performed in the stomach and duodenum. Hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemical staining for major basic proteins were performed to detect granulated eosinophil-derived granules, and S-100 staining was performed to detect fine nerve fibers. Results A total of 51 patients with FD (82% female; mean age 35.8 ± 13.4 years) and 35 controls were enrolled. Activated eosinophil counts in the duodenum were significantly higher in patients with FD than in controls (41.4% vs 17.1%, P = 0.005). Microscopic duodenitis was more frequently detected in patients with FD than in controls. Fine nerve fibers were more abundant in patients with FD than in controls (45.1% vs 11.4%, P = 0.029). The abundance of fine nerve fibers highly correlated with the degree of activated eosinophils. Conclusion Duodenal low-grade inflammation, such as mucosal eosinophilic accumulation with degranulation, promoted mucosal enteric nerve fiber density and sprouting in patients with FD. (J Neurogastroenterol Motil 2019;25:212-221)

This study presented the utility across approaches (robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) and laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) or open radical prostatectomy (ORP)), across disease states after surgery, and also across functional outcomes for localized prostate cancers. The utility was measured using the time trade-off method. This survey was based on a scenario that describes the state of health in detail and considers surgical methods, short-term adverse effects following RP, disease-specific conditions, and additional treatments 1 year following RP. This study analyzed 393 men; the utility values are as follows: first, health status postoperatively showed that the utility value decreased in patients who underwent ORP versus those who underwent LRP. The utility value for ORP and LRP versus RARP was reduced by ~0.028 (10 days per year) and 0.008 (3 days per year), respectively. Second, the utility value based on adverse effects after RP indicated that erectile dysfunction caused a greater reduction in efficacy than urinary incontinence. Regarding erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence, the efficacy was reduced to ~0.137 (50 days per year) and 0.111 (41 days per year), respectively, as compared to a health state without adverse effects based on no evidence of disease status. In conclusion, the disutility was much greater due to the side effects than the disutility due to the difference in the surgical method. In particular, the disutility of erectile dysfunction was bigger than that of the urinary incontinence.

For early diagnosis and evaluation of skull deformities, quantification of the severity of skull deformity and automatic classification between the skull deformities are necessary. 3D CT images, which are commonly used to diagnose skull deformities, are prone to inter-observer variability depending on clinical experience. In this paper, we propose 2D and 3D shape indices by considering prominent areas such as restricted growth or compensative growth in the skull of the representative planes and by considering the degree of regional bone deformation of deformed skull relative to the normal skull. In experimental results, the 2D and 3D shape indices showed 13.89% and 16.67% improvement in the overall accuracy compared to TCI, respectively. The combined 2D and 3D indices showed best performance with 95.83% overall accuracy.

Our aim was to develop a novel method for characterizing common skull deformities with high sensitivity and specificity, based on two-dimensional (2D) shape descriptors in computed tomography (CT) images.Between 2003 and 2014, 44 normal subjects and 39 infants with craniosynostosis (sagittal, 29; bicoronal, 10) enrolled for analysis. Mean age overall was 16 months (range, 1-120 months), with a male:female ratio of 56:29. Two reference planes, sagittal (S-plane: through top of lateral ventricle) and coronal (C-plane: at maximum dimension of fourth ventricle), were utilized to formulate three 2D shape descriptors (cranial index [CI], cranial radius index [CR], and cranial extreme spot index [CES]), which were then applied to S- and C-plane target images of both groups.In infants with sagittal craniosynostosis, CI in S-plane (S-CI) usually was1.0 (mean, 0.78; range, 0.67-0.95), with CR consistently at 3 and a characteristic CES pattern of two discrete hot spots oriented diagonally. In the bicoronal craniosynostosis subset, CI was1.0 (mean 1.11; range, 1.04-1.25), with CR at -3 and a CES pattern of four discrete diagonally oriented hot spots. Scatter plots underscored the highly intuitive joint performance of CI and CES in distinguishing normal and deformed states. Altogether, these novel 2D shape descriptors enabled effective discrimination of sagittal and bicoronal skull deformities.Newly developed 2D shape descriptors for cranial CT imaging enabled recognition of common skull deformities with statistical significance, perhaps providing impetus for automated CT-based diagnosis of craniosynostosis.

We propose an automatic vessel segmentation method of vertebral arteries in CT angiography using combined circular and cylindrical model fitting. First, to generate multi-segmented volumes, whole volume is automatically divided into four segments by anatomical properties of bone structures along z-axis of head and neck. To define an optimal volume circumscribing vertebral arteries, anterior-posterior bounding and side boundaries are defined as initial extracted vessel region. Second, the initial vessel candidates are tracked using circular model fitting. Since boundaries of the vertebral arteries are ambiguous in case the arteries pass through the transverse foramen in the cervical vertebra, the circle model is extended along z-axis to cylinder model for considering additional vessel information of neighboring slices. Finally, the boundaries of the vertebral arteries are detected using graph-cut optimization. From the experiments, the proposed method provides accurate results without bone artifacts and eroded vessels in the cervical vertebra.

Spherical Ni and Ni0.95M0.05(M=Cu, Cr, Co, Fe) nano-particles were synthesized using hydrazine reduction method. The objective of this study is to investigate how the different metallic species affect the reduction rate when nano-sized metallic particles are synthesized by the precipitation method. It was found that the pH and reaction temperature had significant influence over the size and morphology of the synthesized metallic nano-particles. Ni0.95Cu0.05 solution showed highest reduction precipitation rate, while Ni0.95Cr0.05 showed slowest rate among the metallic species investigated in this study. At higher reaction temperature, the precipitated metallic particles showed higher degree of crystallinity. The particles synthesized at higher the pH had smaller surface area because the surface of the particles became smoother. It was found that the crystallographic lattice either contract or expand depending on the substituting metallic species. It is concluded from this study that the morphology and size of the spherical Ni and Ni0.95M0.05 nano-particles can be controlled by solution temperature and pH as well as metallic species added. This is due to different reaction rate resulted from difference in reduction potential and activation energy at different temperature and pH.