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Among various types children's health challenges, neuroblastoma is the most serious solid neoplasm forming outside the cranium. Scomberomorus niphonius is a valuable edible fish that has been widely used for a meal. In this study, we obtained phospholipid extract from the bone of S. niphonius with the supercritical CO2 extraction method and tested anticancer activity with a cell viability assay. The phospholipid showed anticancer activity on neuroblastoma SK‐N‐SH cells, and the anticancer activity was presented with an IC50 of 710.25 ± 28.31 μg/ml, but did not show a significant toxicity on HUVEC cell lines. Western blot was used to detect signaling proteins; Bak, caspase‐9, caspase‐8, caspase‐3, Bax, and IκBα were increased, whereas IKKβ and NFκB were downregulated in experimental groups compared to untreated groups. Gene expression was revealed by RT‐qPCR, and the fold ratio of Apaf‐1, cytochrome‐c, caspase‐9, caspase‐3, and Bax genes' expression was raised in treated groups, implying apoptosis. Gel electrophoresis revealed that the experimental groups had more fragmented DNA than the control group. The study shows that a phospholipid extract from S. niphonius' bone could be used as a biological origin of anticancer activity in neuroblastoma SK‐N‐SH cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: C‐type natriuretic peptide (CNP, NPPC) and its receptor, natriuretic peptide receptor‐B (NPR‐B, NPR2), are critical for endochondral ossification. A monoallelic NPR2 mutation has been suggested to mildly impair long bone growth. This study was performed to identify the NPR2 mutations in Korean patients with idiopathic short stature (ISS). Methods: One hundred and sixteen subjects with nonsyndromic ISS were enrolled in this study, and the NPPC and NPR2 were sequenced. In silico prediction and in vitro functional analysis, using a cell‐based assay, were performed to confirm their protein derangement. Results: Mean age at diagnosis of ISS was 8.0 years, and the height z‐score was −2.65. Three pathogenic variants (R921Q, R495C, and Y598N) and one benign variant (R787W) of the NPR2 were identified, while no novel sequence variant of the NPPC was found in all subjects. Two novel pathogenic mutants (R495C and Y598N) were predicted as highly pathogenic by several computational methods. In vitro study involving stimulation with CNP, R495C‐, and Y598N‐transfected cells showed decreased cGMP production compared to wild type‐transfected cells. Conclusion: Heterozygous NPR2 mutations were found in 2.6% of ISS Korean subjects. This prevalence and the dominant‐negative effect of mutant NPR‐B on growth signals imply that it is one of genetic causes of ISS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to validate body composition analysis using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) against dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA) in children with obesity and to compare agreement between BIA and DXA according to their degree of obesity. Three hundred and sixteen children aged 6‐17 years participated in the Intervention for Childhood and Adolescents Obesity via Activity and Nutrition study. We divided participants by body mass index (BMI) percentile (group 1: mild to moderate obesity; group 2: severe obesity) and compared body composition variables, eg, percentage of body fat (%BF), fat mass (FM), and fat‐free mass (FFM) using BIA and DXA. The %BF and FM of BIA were significantly lower (−1.8% and −0.8 kg, respectively), and the FFM of BIA was significantly higher (1.4 kg) than those of DXA. There were significant negative relationships between the absolute value of differences from BIA and DXA and BMI z‐scores in %BF, FM, and FFM (regression coefficient [β]: −1.39, 95% confidence interval [CI]: −1.81 to −0.97; β: −0.34, 95%CI: −0.61 to −0.06; β: −0.73, 95%CI: −1.03 to −0.44, respectively). The gap of body compositions between BIA and DXA decreased as participants became more obese, and the differences of FM in boys with severe obesity and the differences of %BF and FFM in girls with severe obesity were much less than those in children with mild to moderate obesity. In conclusion, the agreement between DXA and BIA was better for children with severe obesity than for children with mild to moderate obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance Blepharitis is one of the most common conditions. However, no study has yet evaluated the epidemiology by evaluating a large population-based sample. Background To evaluate the incidence and prevalence of clinically diagnosed blepharitis in South Korea. Design Nationwide population-based study. Participants We investigated the Korean National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort, a representative one million-sample of the Korean population, for patients diagnosed with blepharitis according to the Korean Classification of Diseases. Methods Annual and overall incidence and prevalence of blepharitis during the study period (2004-2013) were estimated after excluding chronic blepharitis patients, diagnosed during 2002-2003. Sociodemographic factors and comorbidities associated with blepharitis were evaluated using Cox proportional hazard regression. Main Outcome Measures The first occurrence of blepharitis. Results A total of 1 116 363 individuals over 9 698 118 person-years were evaluated (mean follow up: 8.7 years) from 2004 to 2013. The overall incidence was 1.1 (95% confidence interval, 1.1-1.1) per 100 person-years. The incidence increased with time (0.9 vs. 1.3 per 100 person-years, in 2004 and 2013, respectively) and was higher in female patients (1.3 vs. 0.9 per 100 person-years, respectively). The overall prevalence was 8.1% (95% confidence interval: 8.0-8.1) among subjects aged 40 years or older. Chalazion, gastritis, Sjögren's syndrome, pterygium, rosacea, prostatic hypertrophy, atopy, irritable bowel disease and peptic ulcer were associated with an increased incidence of blepharitis in the multivariable Cox model. Conclusions We found that blepharitis was a relatively common disease and is associated with various ocular and systemic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most existing simulators for WSNs (wireless sensor networks) model battery-powered sensors and provide MAC and routing protocols designed for battery-powered WSNs. Recently, however, increasingly extensive studies of energy harvesting sensor systems require the development of appropriate simulators, but there are few related studies on such simulators. Unlike existing simulators, simulators for energy harvesting WSNs require a new energy model that is integrated with the energy harvesting, rechargeable battery, and energy consuming models. Additionally, the new model must enable applications of the well-known MAC and routing protocols designed for energy harvesting WSNs and have a convenient user-friendly interface. In this work, we design and implement a user-friendly simulator for solar energy harvesting WSNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been many studies performed about increasing network lifetime in wireless sensor networks that involve reducing data size, since the data transmission process takes up a large part of energy consumption. However, reducing data size results in increased delay time due to not only the compression computation time but also the waiting time to gather a sufficient amount of data for compression. Meanwhile, in solar-powered wireless sensor networks, the harvested energy may be surplus to the basic operations of sensor nodes. In this study, such surplus energy is utilized to reduce the delay time between nodes. Nodes with residual energy less than a certain threshold transfer data with compression in order to reduce energy consumption, and nodes with residual energy over the threshold (which means there is surplus energy) transfer data without compression to reduce the delay time between nodes by using the surplus energy. Simulation-based performance verifications show that the technique proposed in this study exhibits optimal performance in terms of both energy and delay times compared with traditional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]