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Background: Whether to sacrifice or spare the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) when papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) involves a functioning RLN remains controversial. Oncological outcomes after shaving PTC with gross remnant on the RLN have been rarely reported. The objective of this study was to evaluate the oncological outcomes of patients who underwent shaving of a PTC from the RLN, leaving a gross residual tumor with the intent of vocal function preservation. Methods: A retrospective, cohort study was conducted in 47 patients who were determined to have PTC invasion of the RLN via intraoperative inspection and underwent tumor shaving with macroscopic remnant (R2 resection) less than 1 cm in length and 4 mm in thickness. Median follow-up period was 93 (range, 60–215) months. The primary endpoint was the recurrence-free survival and the progression-free survival. Secondary endpoints were biochemical outcomes (serum thyroglobulin) and vocal cord function. Results: Of the 47 patients, five (10.6%) patients showed recurrence (central neck, 3; lateral neck, 2) without death or distant metastasis. The RLN was resected along with the tumor in one (2.1%) patient who presented with progression of the residual tumor. Postoperative temporary vocal cord paralysis occurred in six (12.8%) patients without permanent cases. The final nonstimulated serum thyroglobulin was 0.7 ± 1.8 ng/ml. Conclusions: Shaving a tumor from a RLN with gross residual disease may be considered an alternative strategy to preserve vocal function when complete tumor resection with nerve preservation is impossible in patients with PTC invading a functioning RLN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gait disorders can lower the quality of life of patients. Drop foot, a causative factor of deviated gait patterns, renders patients unable to lift their forefoot towards the body. Hence, a light and compact ankle–foot orthosis (AFO), which is the most common treatment for drop foot, must be designed, especially for patients with impaired lower limb muscles as oxygen consumption increases by 30% per 1.96 N load on their foot. Furthermore, the limited range of ankle angles in the first 10% of the gait cycle (GC) is a major drawback for patients with drop foot compared to healthy individuals. This limited range of ankle angles can be improved by gaining support from an AFO composed of shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators (SMA-AFO). Therefore, in this study, an SMA was used to fabricate a soft actuator to reduce the weight of the AFO. An adaptive frequency oscillator (AO) was implemented in real time for continuous gait phase detection. Walk tests were performed on a treadmill with the SMA-AFO attached to the participants (N = 3). The experimental results showed that the participants could lift their forefoot in the dorsiflexion direction with an ankle angle of 8.75° in the first 10% of the GC. Furthermore, the current required to operate the SMA actuator can be supplied to only 45.3% of the GC, reducing the power consumption. Therefore, the proposed SMA-AFO can be used in patients with drop foot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In generative adversarial networks (GANs), a generator network and discriminator network compete in deep learning tasks to generate real images. To reduce the difference between the generated image and actual image, an edge GAN (eGAN) model using edge detection was proposed. This eGAN model can utilize ambient intelligence, a human-centered technology that includes IoT, smart cities, and autonomous driving. Ambient intelligence is essential for the interconnection between humans and objects. The eGAN model was used to make this connectivity more accurate and reliable. Edge detection is an edge feature that extracts the boundaries of an image and generate images in a fast manner; however, because its threshold is arbitrarily set, the connectivity may be unstable. To solve this problem and improve the performance of the eGAN model, we analyzed various GAN models and edge detection methods and proposed a new edge detection technology using threshold settings. This edge detection method sets the threshold value for images, thereby increasing the accuracy of edge connection and reducing the loss error between the image generated by the eGAN model and actual image. To evaluate the performance of the eGAN model, the error between the generated image and actual image was compared by applying the GAN and eGAN models to the same image dataset. Consequently, it was found that the performance of the eGAN model improved by 21% in comparison to the existing GAN model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spiral shape of intestinal pathogen Campylobacter jejuni is critical for invasion of intestinal mucosa epithelial cells. Insofar as this cell morphology plays a role in the pathology of C. jejuni infection, its restructuring by pharmacological intervention could be an unexplored means to prevention of infection. We recently described that peptidoglycan hydrolase 3 (Pgp3) is involved in the spiral-shape formation of C. jejuni. We report herein the design and synthesis of the hydroxamate-based inhibitors targeting Pgp3. C. jejuni cells exposed to these inhibitors changed from the helical- to rod-shaped morphology, comparable to the case of the pgp3-deletion mutant. Evidence for the mechanism of action was provided by crystal structures of Pgp3 in complex with inhibitors, shedding light into the binding modes of inhibitors within the active site, supported by kinetics and molecular-dynamics simulations. C. jejuni exposed to these inhibitors underwent the morphological change from helical- to rod-shaped bacteria, an event that reduce the ability for invasion of the host cells. This proof of concept suggests that alteration of morphology affects the interference with the bacterial infection. Peptidoglycan hydrolase 3 (Pgp3) inhibitors are designed that can change the helical morphology of Campylobacter jejuni to rod-shaped and decrease its virulence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) is generally used to diagnose dysphagia and oropharyngeal aspiration during swallowing movement. Patients and bolus-feeding operators (such as occupational therapist and speech language pathologist) may undergo multiple VFSS procedure, placing them at risk for more radiation exposure due to increased scan time. The present study investigated the dose–area product, effective dose of various protocols, and summarized dose reports from various studies of VFSS. The PubMed database searched for relevant publications reporting radiation dose in the VFSS procedure. 13 articles were selected to be reviewed. This systematic review involved 13 peer-reviewed articles that reported the specific dose of the VFSS procedure. The articles were categorized into three types: operator radiation dose, adult patient radiation dose, and pediatric radiation dose. The operator dose reports showed that the operators' scattering exposure, equivalent dose (across the whole body, eyes, and hands), and annual effective dose were significantly lower than the annual dose limit of 20 mSv. Both adult and pediatric patient dose reports showed that the effective dose, which was estimated from recorded dose–area product, was significantly lower than the annual background exposure of 2.4 mSv in various protocols. The present literature review suggested that the radiation dose of VFSS by modified barium swallowing is acceptable in both operators and patients. However, various radiation protection strategies should be conducted during the procedure to reduce the risk of stochastic effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chalcones are hydrophobic polyphenols with poor aqueous solubility. In this study, we prepared a new aspirin-conjugated chalcone derivative-loaded nanoparticle (AS-DK143-loaded NP) using mPEG-PLA co-polymer which, in an aqueous environment, spontaneously forms a micellar formulation with an average particle size of 22.55 nm. Exposure to varying concentrations of AS-DK143 NP significantly diminished the cell viability of 4T1 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. In tumor regression and biodistribution studies in 4T1-luc cell bearing mice, AS-DK143 NPs were shown to selectively target cancer cells and significantly reduce tumor size. These properties suggest anti-cancer efficacy, combined with low toxicity to healthy tissues, indicating a potential role as a safer alternative to currently available chemotherapy agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the determination of iodine in 123 different types of foods was conducted. Iodine-selective electrode, microwave digestion/inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and tetramethylammonium hydroxide extraction/ inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (TMAH/ICP-MS) methods were tested to achieve the highest recoveries for the determination of iodine. Among them, TMAH/ICP-MS method was the most effective with respect to analytical recoveries (90–99%), limits of detection (0.013 µg/kg) and quantification (0.04 µg/kg) values. The intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations for iodine SRM were <4.8% and <10.8%, respectively. Iodine content in food samples showed a wide range of variations: 0.4–4 µg/100 g for fruits and vegetables, 4 µg/100 g for cereals and grain products, 15 µg/100 g for meat, 36 µg/100 g for milk, 137 µg/100 g for infant formula and 2.3–394 mg/100 g for seafood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The suprahyoid muscles play a major role in safe swallowing in the pharyngeal phase. Therefore, it is clinically important to design a therapeutic approach for strengthening the suprahyoid muscles for safe and normal swallowing. This study aimed to investigate the activation of suprahyoid muscles by resistance training using kinesiology taping (KT). We enrolled 23 healthy adults. All participants performed saliva swallowing five times at 5 s intervals in three conditions (without KT, 50% stretch with KT, and 80% stretch with KT). KT in the I and reverse V shapes was pulled vertically from the hyolaryngeal complex to the sternum and medially from the superior surface of the clavicle, respectively. Another KT horizontally covered the hyolaryngeal complex to enhance the movement restriction of the hyolaryngeal complex during swallowing. Activation of the suprahyoid muscles during swallowing in the two conditions was measured using surface electromyography. In addition, a 0-10 numerical rating self-report scale was used to evaluate the required effort and the resistance felt during swallowing. Both KT 50% and 80% were significantly higher in surface electromyography (sEMG) mean value, peak value, required effort, and resistance felt during swallowing compared to normal swallowing (p < 0.05). In addition, KT 80% was significantly higher in sEMG value, peak value, required effort, and resistance felt during swallowing than KT 50% (p < 0.05). This study demonstrated that KT applied to the area under the hyolaryngeal complex improves activation of the suprahyoid muscle during swallowing. Therefore, KT applied as resistance during swallowing is considered to have therapeutic potential in dysphagia rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assembly of the peptidoglycan is crucial in maintaining viability of bacteria and in defining bacterial cell shapes, both of which are important for existence in the ecological niche that the organism occupies. Here, eight crystal structures for a member of the cell-shape-determining class of Campylobacter jejuni, the peptidoglycan peptidase 3 (Pgp3), are reported. Characterization of the turnover chemistry of Pgp3 reveals cell wall d,d-endopeptidase and d,d-carboxypeptidase activities. Catalysis is accompanied by large conformational changes upon peptidoglycan binding, whereby a loop regulates access to the active site. Furthermore, prior hydrolysis of the crosslinked peptide stem from the saccharide backbone of the peptidoglycan on one side is a pre-requisite for its recognition and turnover by Pgp3. These analyses reveal the noncanonical nature of the transformations at the core of the events that define the morphological shape for C. jejuni as an intestinal pathogen. Peptidoglycans (PG) define bacterial cell shapes. Here, the authors provide mechanistic insights into the peptidoglycan peptidase 3 (Pgp3) from the spiral shaped human pathogen Campylobacter jejuni by determining its crystal structure alone and in complex with synthetic cell-wall PG derivatives, and they further show that the enzyme has both d,d-endopeptidase and d,d-carboxypeptidase activities [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of heat type, sample type, temperature and time on the heat-induced conversion of gingerols to shogaols in ginger were studied by an UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS. Heat treatments greatly induced the conversion of gingerols to shogaols in ginger. As the temperature increased, the faster conversion of gingerols into shogaols were observed. However, the efficiency of the heat-induced conversion differed greatly with the heat types. Moist heat treatment induced significantly higher quantity of shogaols than dry heat treatment. The moist heat treatment at 120 °C for 360 min induced the highest conversion, reaching to 2991 mg 6-shogaol per kg ginger. In addition, dry-heat induced conversion was affected by the sample type. The dry-heat treatment on dried powder induced significantly higher quantity of shogaols than that on sliced fresh ginger. This represents the first systematic comparative study on the heat and sample types on the heat-induced conversion of gingerols into shogaols in ginger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ten compounds (1-10) isolated from the seeds of Cassia tora were evaluated for tyrosinase inhibition. Compounds 3, 4, and 7 inhibited tyrosinase enzymatic activity in a dose-dependent manner, with IC50 values of 3.0 ± 0.8, 7.0 ± 0.4, and 9.2 ± 3.4 μM, respectively. Kinetic analyses revealed a mechanism consistent with competitive inhibition. In silico molecular docking showed that compounds 3 and 4 docked in the active site of tyrosinase, whereas 7 interacted with Ala246 and Val248 at outside of the active site, and His244 and Glu256 at inside. Additionally, compounds 3, 4, and 7 suppressed melanogenesis in α-MSH-treated B16F10 melanoma cells at a concentration of 10 μM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The presentation of Fig. 1 was incorrect. The correct version of Fig. 1 is given below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]