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Recent technical innovation has driven the evolution of autonomous vehicles. To improve safety as well as on-road vehicular experience, vehicles should be connected with each other or to vehicular networks. Some specification groups, e.g., IEEE and 3GPP, have studied and released vehicular communication requirements and architecture. IEEE's Wireless Access in Vehicular Environment focuses on dedicated and short-range communication, while 3GPP's New Radio V2X supports not only sidelink but also uplink communication. The 3GPP Release 16, which supports 5G New Radio, offers evolved functionalities such as network slice, Network Function Virtualization, and Software-Defined Networking. In this paper, we define and design a vehicular network architecture compliant with 5G core networks to enable and support autonomous driving. As a validation example, a high-definition map needs to contain the context of trajectory for localization and planning of autonomous driving vehicles. We also propose new methods by which autonomous vehicles can push and pull map content efficiently, without causing bottlenecks on the network core. We evaluate the performance of the proposed method via network simulations and our autonomous driving vehicle on the road. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method improves the performance of vehicular content delivery in real-world road environments.

Fas-associated death domain (FADD) is an adapter molecule that bridges the interaction between receptor-interacting protein 1 (RIP1) and aspartate-specific cysteine protease-8 (caspase-8). As the primary mediator of apoptotic cell death, caspase-8 has two N-terminal death-effector domains (DEDs) and it interacts with other proteins in the DED subfamily through several conserved residues. In the tumor necrosis receptor-1 (TNFR-1)-dependent signaling pathway, apoptosis is triggered by the caspase-8/FADD complex by stimulating receptor internalization. However, the molecular mechanism of complex formation by the DED proteins remains poorly understood. Here, we found that direct DED-DED interaction between FADD and caspase-8 and the structure-based mutations (Y8D/I128A, E12A/I128A, E12R/I128A, K39A/I128A, K39D/I128A, F122A/I128A, and L123A/I128A) of caspase-8 disrupted formation of the stable DED complex with FADD. Moreover, the monomeric crystal structure of the caspase-8 DEDs (F122A/I128A) was solved at 1.7 Å. This study will provide new insight into the interaction mechanism and structural characteristics between FADD and caspase-8 DED subfamily proteins.

The adhesion molecule Nectin-4 is a new potential therapeutic target for different types of cancer; however, little is known about its diagnosis significance in endometrial cancer (EC). We found that Nectin-4 expression was significantly higher in EC tissues than in nonadjacent normal tissue. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve value of 0.922 indicated good diagnostic accuracy for Nectin-4 expression in EC. Furthermore, Nectin-4 expression was associated with DNA mismatch repair (MMR) protein deficiency. Notably, the high Nectin-4 expression group of patients with MSH2/6-deficient EC had shorter progression-free survival than that of the low Nectin-4 expression group. The number of lymphovascular space invasion-positive patients in groups with MMR deficiency and high Nectin-4 expression was also increased compared with that in the low Nectin-4 expression group. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that alteration in Nectin-4 and MMR genes is associated with Nectin-4 expression in EC. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that Nectin-4 expression may be a potential biomarker for EC diagnosis and that high Nectin-4 expression in MMR-deficient patients with EC can predict short progression-free survival, thus providing clues to identify patients for adjuvant therapy.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate choroidal hyperreflective foci (HRF) changes in central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) on en-face optical coherence tomography (OCT). Retrospective analysis of 42 patients with unilateral CSC (84 eyes, including fellow eyes for controls) and 42 age- and sex-matched controls. With 4.5 × 4.5 mm macular scans, structural en-face OCT choriocapillaris (CC) slabs were used to calculate the density and number of HRF in acute CSC eyes with serous retinal detachment (SRD), resolved CSC eyes without SRD, unaffected fellow eyes, control eyes, and 1-year follow-up eyes. Based on the 2-disc diameter (3000 μm), the en-face OCT scan was divided into foveal and perifoveal lesion and analyzed to consider the impact of SRF in HRF measurement. Regression analyses were performed on the several factors with HRF number and density in the acute and resolved CSC eyes. The perifoveal density and number of CC HRF was significantly lower in the resolved CSC eyes when compared to the acute CSC eyes (P = 0.002, both), fellow eyes (P = 0.042/density, 0.028/number), and controls (P = 0.021/density, P = 0.003/number). There was no significant difference between the acute CSC eyes, fellow eyes, controls, and 1-year follow-up eyes. As subfoveal choroidal thickness decreased and choroidal vascularity (CVI) increased, the perifoveal density and number of HRF was measured higher with a significant correlation in univariate regression analysis of the acute and resolved CSC eyes (all, P

BACKGROUND: Moderate-intensity statin role with ezetimibe combination therapy following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has not been thoroughly investigated, particularly compared to high-intensity statin monotherapy. We aimed to investigate the effect of ezetimibe combination with moderate-intensity statin in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease following PCI. METHODS: This was a post-hoc analysis of a subset of patients who underwent PCI in the RACING trial. At 26 centres in South Korea, patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) were randomly assigned to receive either moderate-intensity statin with ezetimibe combination therapy (rosuvastatin 10 mg with ezetimibe 10 mg) or high-intensity statin monotherapy (rosuvastatin 20 mg). The prespecified endpoints of the RACING trial were used. The primary endpoint was the 3-year composite of cardiovascular death, major cardiovascular events, and nonfatal stroke. Event rates between the two groups were compared using log-rank tests, and hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using Cox regression analysis. Consistent with the RACING trial, the primary and secondary efficacy endpoints were evaluated using an intention-to-treatment approach, and the safety endpoints were assessed in the safety population. The RACING trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03044665). FINDINGS: Between Feb 14, 2017, and Dec 18, 2018, 3780 participants were enrolled in the RACING trial. Prior history of PCI was found in 2497 patients (67%, median 64 years, 79% male), and was associated with higher rates of the primary endpoint (hazard ratio [HR], 1.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06–1.69; p = 0.014). Among patients with prior PCI, moderate-intensity statin therapy with ezetimibe combination versus high-intensity statin therapy did not increase the risk of the primary endpoint (HR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.74–1.24; p = 0.781). The proportion of patients with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)

While the postoperative closure rate of idiopathic macular holes (IMH) is quite high, its success rate and visual prognosis differ depending on macular hole (MH) characteristics. This study investigated the IMH progression rate before vitrectomy.This retrospective study compared optical coherence tomography (OCT) taken at baseline and on operation day for patients with stage 2, 3 and 4 IMH to determine the changes in minimum linear diameter (MLD), base diameter (BD), height and MH index (MHI). The IMH progression rate was calculated by dividing each difference in OCT parameters by the time interval.A total of 224 eyes of 216 patients were included. The average time interval from baseline to operation was 35.59 ± 23.43 (7-137) days. Final visual acuity was related to preoperative MLD, BD, best-corrected visual acuity and time interval between baseline and operation (p = 0.005, p = 0.003, p 0.001 and p = 0.005 respectively). Between baseline and operation, the average MLD and BD increased significantly (all p 0.001). The average progression rates of MLD and BD assessed by simple regression analysis were 0.698 μm/day (RThe relatively smaller MHs in stage 2 progress faster than those in stages 3 and 4. Therefore, it would ultimately be beneficial to perform vitrectomy without delay in patients with stage 2 MH.

Mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL) encompasses a rare group of acute leukemia with blasts expressing markers specific to several lineages, which accounts for 2-5% of all newly diagnosed cases of acute leukemia. At present, patients with MPAL are treated with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)-directed chemotherapy. However, the prognosis of MPAL, especially in cases of relapsed/refractory (R/R) disease, remains poor. Blinatumomab, a bispecific T cell-engaging antibody, has shown encouraging outcomes in R/R B cell ALL positive for CD19. Here, we report a patient with CD19+ MPAL who achieved complete remission after treatment with blinatumomab, which may be a therapeutic option for patients with relapsed CD19+ MPAL. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of MPAL treated with blinatumomab in Korea.

How functional genetics research can be applied to improving crop yields is a timely challenge. One of the most direct methods is to produce larger inflorescences with higher productivity, which should be accompanied by a balance between stem cell proliferation and lateral organ initiation in meristems. Unbalanced proliferation of stem cells causes the fasciated inflorescences, which reflect the abnormal proliferation of meristems, derived from the Latin word ‘fascis’, meaning ‘bundle’. Maize, a model system for grain crops, has shown tremendous yield improvements through the mysterious transformation of the female inflorescence during domestication. In this review, we focus on maize inflorescence architecture and highlight the patterns of fasciation, including recent progress.

E-commerce retailers are increasingly faced with challenges of finding ways to provide a seamless shopping experience to customers. The checkout process and its related touch points are especially critical in shaping the customer experience. We study the impact of adopting one-click buying, a feature that reduces the number of steps required to place a purchase order to a single click, on subsequent customer behavior. Using quasi-experimental data over a period of 35 months from an online retailer before and after the launch of one-click buying, we find adopting one-click buying is effective in lifting customer purchases and does so by making treated customers purchase more often and more items. The impact of adopting one-click buying on customer purchases after adoption is economically significant, persistent over time, and heterogeneous across customers. Analyzing clickstream data of customer activity online and purchases across product categories, we provide evidence that the increase in purchases is driven by richer engagement through both more visits to the website and more page views on visit and the expansion of purchases across categories. We discuss the implications of our findings for customer experience and targeting. This paper was accepted by Duncan Simester, marketing. Supplemental Material: The data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4716 .

This retrospective study aimed to determine the cut-off points of minimum linear diameter (MLD) and base diameter (BD) at which the progression rate of idiopathic full-thickness macular hole (MH) decreases before vitrectomy. We investigated the difference in MLD and BD between baseline and operation days in 282 eyes of 269 patients with stages 2, 3, and 4 MH using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Each difference in the OCT parameters was divided by the time interval to calculate the MH progression rate. The average time from baseline to operation was 36.02 ± 24.69 (7–197) days. MLD and BD progressed faster in stages 2 and 3 without posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) than in stage 4 with PVD (MLD: p

To investigate the preoperative morphology of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) for prediction of the postoperative visual function in advanced idiopathic epiretinal membrane (ERM). 21 patients (21 eyes) with unilateral idiopathic ERM who underwent pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling were included. Superficial FAZ was measured preoperatively in both eyes using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Area, perimeter, and circularity of FAZ were achieved, and their rationes between the ERM eyes and the contralateral eyes were calculated to analyze the degree of FAZ distortion in diseased eyes. The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central foveal thickness (CFT) were measured at baseline and more than 6 months after surgery. The correlations of the preoperative FAZ rationes with BCVA and CFT were assessed. The FAZ in the eyes with ERM was significantly reduced, and the BCVA was significantly correlated with the area ratio (P = 0.004) and the perimeter ratio (P = 0.005) of the FAZ before surgery. Decimal BCVA changed from 0.326 ± 0.139 to 0.450 ± 0.202 (P = 0.058), and CFT reduced significantly (P = 0.001) after surgery. The preoperative FAZ area and perimeter rationes were significantly correlated with letter score gain (P = 0.001, P < 0.001), and the latter showed significant correlations with the postoperative BCVA (P = 0.031) and CFT reduction ratio (P = 0.008). The preoperative FAZ perimeter ratio is the best predictor of functional and morphological prognosis after surgery in advanced idiopathic ERM.

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the factors affecting recurrence and visual prognosis in patients with treatment-naïve subfoveal polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV). Patients who had received three consecutive intravitreal injections of ranibizumab or aflibercept and had reached remission were enrolled. They were divided into a group without recurrence (group 1, 26 eyes) and a group with recurrence (group 2, 121 eyes) and followed up for at least 5 years. Patients in group 2 received additional treatment for worsening. Logistic regression analysis revealed that a young age of onset (P = 0.001), high choroidal vascularity index (CVI; P = 0.019), and presence of choroidal vascular hyperpermeability (CVH; P = 0.037) were associated with a low risk of recurrence. Multiple regression analysis revealed that recurrence (P = 0.001), greatest linear dimension (P = 0.003), and polyp configuration (single or cluster; P = 0.043) were associated with final visual acuity. Patients without recurrence had a lower age of onset and higher CVI than those with recurrence, and they tended to have CVH. In addition, patients with recurrence, large lesion, and cluster polyps had worse final visual acuity than those without these factors. CVI and CVH may be used to predict recurrence of PCV.

Purpose: To clarify the long-term visual prognosis and prognostic factors for vision loss in patients with vitreoretinal lymphoma (VRL).Methods: This retrospective longitudinal study included 64 consecutive patients with VRL. We analyzed the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), optical coherence tomography findings, and clinical features at every visit. Significant vision loss was defined as a final BCVA ≥0.5 logMAR. Predictors of significant vision loss following treatment were evaluated using univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses. Results: We included 64 eyes of 64 patients (mean age, 64.2±10.9 years), and 49 patients (76.6%) showed bilateral ocular involvement. The mean follow-up duration was 35.4±25.8 months. At diagnosis, 36 (56.3%), 17 (26.6%), and 11 (17.2%) patients had primary, secondary, and concurrent VRL, respectively. All patients received intraocular methotrexate injections (mean, 16.3±5.9 injections). The mean BCVA improved from 0.46±0.33 at diagnosis to 0.39±0.32 1 month after treatment initiation. Vision improved significantly after treatment (final mean BCVA, 0.29±0.29). Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that baseline BCVA and retinal/subretinal infiltration were significantly correlated with vision loss.Conclusion: In this study, a good visual outcome was maintained for >35 months in patients with VRL. Baseline BCVA and retinal/subretinal infiltration were significant predictors of vision loss after treatment for VRL.

Purpose To evaluate the choriocapillaris (CC) flow changes in branched retinal vascular obstruction (BRVO) on optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Methods Retrospective analysis of 29 patients with unilateral BRVO (58 eyes, including unaffected fellow eyes for controls). 4.5 x 4.5 mm macular scans were divided into 4 quadrants. Serial analyses were conducted on CC flow voids of the opposite quadrant to the active occluded area in BRVO eyes. Each of the quadrants were also compared to the occluded quadrant of resolved eyes and the contralateral quadrant of fellow eyes by matched data analysis. A regression analysis was performed on the several parameters (Choroidal thickness; CT, Choroidal vascularity index; CVI, Central macular thickness; CMT, The number of intravitreal injections) and CC flow voids. Results The CC flow void increased sequentially: The uninvolved quadrant of acute BRVO-affected eyes, that of resolved eyes after 3-month/1-year, the contralateral quadrant of fellow eye, the involved (occluded) quadrant of resolved eyes. There were significant correlations between initial CMT, the number of injections and the CC flow void of uninvolved quadrants (P = 0.025, 0.031, respectively), and between the involved (occluded) quadrants and fellow CT (P = 0.029). Conclusion CC flow void of uninvolved macular areas decreased significantly in eyes with acute BRVO, suggesting that CC changes were limited to the blocked area and a compensatory mechanism would work in surrounding areas.

Purpose Silicone oil (SO) is commonly used for tamponade purposes in retinal detachment (RD) surgery, but the long-term visual prognosis after removal of the oil, and in particular, what is known about the recurrence of RD after SO removal, remains unclear. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the long-term vision prognosis after SO removal, and to understand the frequency and characteristics of RD recurrence. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical charts of 1017 eyes of patients with a diagnosis of RD who had a pars plana vitrectomy with SO tamponade between January 2009 and December 2018. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was obatained before and after vitrectomy and also at the last visit. After SO removal, the group who showed improvement in visual acuity and the group who did not were compared. The anatomical results were compared between the group in which the retina was detached again after SO removal and the group in which the retina was not detached. To determine whether the duration of SO tamponade affects RD recurrence, further analysis was performed by dividing subgroups according to SO tamponade duration. RD recurrence, visual acuity, SO tamponade period were investigated. Results Mean follow-up period was 56.65 ± 72.02 months. An average SO tamponade period was 6.68 ± 11.39 months. The average logMAR BCVA was 1.75 ± 0.91 before SO injection, 1.60 ± 0.75 before SO removal and 1.29 ± 0.96 after the removal. After SO removal, 926 of the 1017 (91.1%) patients had well attached retina without recurrence. There was no significant difference in visual acuity before SO removal in re-detachment group compared to no re-detachment group, but visual acuity of re-detachment group was worse than no re-detachment group after SO removal (p Conclusion The prognosis for final vision is generally good when performing surgery using SO in RD, but considering the complications that arise after surgery, long-term retention of SO is not recommended and the timing of SO removal should be considered.

The unwanted detachment of organs such as flowers, leaves, and fruits from the main body of a plant (abscission) has significant effects on agricultural practice. Both timely and precise regulation of organ abscission from a plant is crucial as it influences the agricultural yield. The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) has become a model system for research on organ abscission. Here, we characterized four tomato natural abscission variants named jointless (j), functionally impaired jointless (fij), functionally impaired jointless like (fij like), and normal joint (NJ), based on their cellular features within the flower abscission zones (AZ). Using eight INFLORESCENCE DEFICIENT IN ABSCISSION (SlIDA) genes and eight HAESA genes (SlHAE) identified in the genome sequence of tomato, we analyzed the pattern of gene expression during flower abscission. The AZ-specific expression for three tomato abscission polygalacturonases (SlTAPGs) in the development of flower AZ, and the progression of abscission validated our natural abscission system. Compared to that of j, fij, and fij like variants, the AZ-specific expression for SlIDA, SlIDL2, SlIDL3, SlIDL4, and SlIDL5 in the NJ largely corelated and increased with the process of abscission. Of eight SlHAE genes examined, the expression for SlHSL6 and SlHSL7 were found to be AZ-specific and increased as abscission progressed in the NJ variant. Unlike the result of gene expression obtained from natural abscission system, an in silico analysis of transcriptional binding sites uncovered that SlIDA genes (SlIDA, SlIDL6, and SlIDL7) are predominantly under the control of environmental stress, while most of the SlHSL genes are affiliated with the broader context in developmental processes and stress responses. Our result presents the potential bimodal transcriptional regulation of the tomato IDA-HAE module associated with flower abscission in tomatoes.

The emergence of new technologies and the era of IoT which will be based on compute-intensive applications. These applications will increase the traffic volume of today’s network infrastructure and will impact more on emerging Fifth Generation (5G) system. Research is going in many details, such as how to provide automation in managing and configuring data analysis tasks over cloud and edges, and to achieve minimum latency and bandwidth consumption with optimizing task allocation. The major challenge for researchers is to push the artificial intelligence to the edge to fully discover the potential of the fog computing paradigm. There are existing intelligence-based fog computing frameworks for IoT based applications, but research on Edge-Artificial Intelligence (Edge-AI) is still in its initial stage. Therefore, we chose to focus on data analytics and offloading in our proposed architecture. To address these problems, we have proposed a prototype of our architecture, which is a multi-layered architecture for data analysis between cloud and fog computing layers to perform latency- sensitive analysis with low latency. The main goal of this research is to use this multi-layer fog computing platform for enhancement of data analysis system based on IoT devices in real-time. Our research based on the policy of the OpenFog Consortium which will offer the good outcomes, but also surveillance and data analysis functionalities. We presented through case studies that our proposed prototype architecture outperformed the cloud-only environment in delay-time, network usage, and energy consumption.

Direct identification of the proteins targeted by small molecules can provide clues for disease diagnosis, prevention, and drug development. Despite concentrated attempts, there are still technical limitations associated with the elucidation of direct interactors. Herein, we report a target-ID system called proximity-based compound-binding protein identification (PROCID), which combines our direct analysis workflow of proximity-labeled proteins (Spot-ID) with the HaloTag system to efficiently identify the dynamic proteomic landscape of drug-binding proteins. We successfully identified well-known dasatinib-binding proteins (ABL1, ABL2) and confirmed the unapproved dasatinib-binding kinases (e.g., BTK and CSK) in a live chronic myeloid leukemia cell line. PROCID also identified the DNA helicase protein SMARCA2 as a dasatinib-binding protein, and the ATPase domain was confirmed to be the binding site of dasatinib using a proximity ligation assay (PLA) and in cellulo biotinylation assay. PROCID thus provides a robust method to identify unknown drug-interacting proteins in live cells that expedites the mode of action of the drug.

To evaluate the choriocapillaris (CC) flow in central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) and determine the relationship between CC flow void with the choroidal thickness (CT) and choroidal vascularity index (CVI).Retrospective analysis of 20 patients with CSC (40 eyes, including unaffected fellow eyes) and 20 age- and sex-matched controls. After compensation with optical coherence tomography (OCT) en-face structural image, the CC flow void (%) was measured using the phansalkar threshold with a window radius of 3 and 15 pixels. The mean CC flow voids of acute CSC, recovered-acute CSC, unaffected fellow, and control eyes were compared by matched data analysis. A regression analysis was performed on the choroidal parameters (CT and CVI) and CC flow voids.The CC flow void had an increasing tendency in the following order: control, fellow, recovered-acute CSC, and acute CSC eyes. Acute/recovered comparison showed a significant P value (0.008) in the foveal lesion. Recovered/fellow and fellow/control presented significant P values regardless of location to fovea (all0.05). There were significant positive correlations between CT and CC flow void (P 0.05) in the acute CSC, recovered-acute CSC eyes.The CC flow on OCT angiography decreased in acute CSC eyes, especially in the foveal lesion, with a published compensation method. The findings suggest that unmodulated choroidal blood flow contributed to partially reversible diminished CC flow.

Purpose To analyze choroidal structure using subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) and choroidal vascularity index (CVI) in Macular Telangiectasia (MacTel) type 2. Methods Medical records of 43 eyes with MacTel type 2 and 30 sex and age-matched healthy eyes were retrospectively reviewed. Their SFCT and CVI were measured using the SS-OCT scan passing through the central fovea and image binarization. The difference in baseline SFCT and CVI from each group and their yearly changes up to second year of follow up were analyzed. The baseline characteristics of the groups were also compared. Results The baseline characteristics, including CVI and SFCT, of the MacTel group and the control group were not significantly different, except for BCVA. The mean CVI of MacTel group were 64.59 ± 2.92%, 63.76 ± 2.67%, and 62.97 ± 2.74% (p < 0.001) whereas that of control group were 63.33 ± 2.45%, 63.04 ± 2.46%, and 63.43 ± 2.25% (p = 0.636) at baseline, 1 and 2 years, respectively. The mean SFCT of MacTel group were 324.65 ± 89.65μm, 326.14 ± 93.11μm, and 322.65 ± 91.77μm (p = 0.436), whereas that of control group were 304.30 ± 51.86 μm, 300.86 ± 52.64μm, and 298.55 ± 53.71μm (p = 0.275) at baseline, 1 and 2 years, respectively. Conclusion CVI decreases at a faster rate in MacTel type 2 in comparison with healthy subjects. This may suggest possible choroidal involvement in the progression of MacTel type 2.

Purpose To identify the effects of superoxide dismutase (SOD)3 on diabetes mellitus (DM)-induced retinal changes in a diabetic rat model. Methods Diabetic models were established by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ) in Sprague-Dawley rats. After purification of the recombinant SOD3, intravitreal injection of SOD3 was performed at the time of STZ injection, and 1 and 2 weeks following STZ injection. Scotopic and photopic electroretinography (ERG) were recorded. Immunofluorescence staining with ɑ-smooth muscle actin (SMA), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF), Flt1, recoverin, parvalbumin, extracellular superoxide dismutase (SOD3), 8-Hydroxy-2’deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and tumor necrosis factor-ɑ (TNF-ɑ) were evaluated. Results In the scotopic ERG, the diabetic group showed reduced a- and b-wave amplitudes compared with the control group. In the photopic ERG, b-wave amplitude showed significant (p < 0.0005) reduction at 8 weeks following DM induction. However, the trend of a- and b-wave reduction was not evident in the SOD3 treated group. GFAP, Flt1, 8-OHdG and TNF-ɑ immunoreactivity were increased, and ɑ-SMA, PEDF and SOD3 immunoreactivity were decreased in the diabetic retina. The immunoreactivity of these markers was partially recovered in the SOD3 treated group. Parvalbumin expression was not decreased in the SOD3 treated group. In the diabetic retinas, the immunoreactivity of recoverin was weakly detected in both of the inner nuclear layer and inner plexiform layer compared to the control group but not in the SOD3 treated group. Conclusions SOD3 treatment attenuated the loss of a/b-wave amplitudes in the diabetic rats, which was consistent with the immunohistochemical evaluation. We also suggest that in rod-dominant rodents, the use of blue on green photopic negative response (PhNR) is effective in measuring the inner retinal function in animal models of diabetic retinopathy. SOD3 treatment ameliorated the retinal Müller cell activation in diabetic rats and pericyte dysfunction. These results suggested that SOD3 exerted protective effects on the development of diabetic retinopathy.

The advances made in genome technology have resulted in significant amounts of genomic data being generated at an increasing speed. As genomic data contain various privacy-sensitive information, security schemes that protect confidentiality and control access are essential. Many security techniques have been proposed to safeguard healthcare data. However, these techniques are inadequate for genomic data management because of their large size. Additionally, privacy problems due to the sharing of gene data are yet to be addressed. In this study, we propose a secure genomic data management system using blockchain and local differential privacy (LDP). The proposed system employs two types of storage: private storage for internal staff and semi-private storage for external users. In private storage, because encrypted gene data are stored, only internal employees can access the data. Meanwhile, in semi-private storage, gene data are irreversibly modified by LDP. Through LDP, different noises are added to each section of the genomic data. Therefore, even though the third party uses or exposes the shared data, the owner’s privacy is guaranteed. Furthermore, the access control for each storage is ensured by the blockchain, and the gene owner can trace the usage and sharing status using a decentralized application in a mobile device.