Search

Suaeda glauca, a halophyte in the Amaranthaceae family, exhibits remarkable resilience to high salt and alkali stresses despite the absence of salt glands or vesicles in its leaves. While there is growing pharmacological interest in S. glauca, research on its secondary metabolites remains limited. In this study, chemical constituents of the aerial parts of S. glauca were identified using 1D- and 2D-NMR experiments, and its biological activity concerning hair loss was newly reported. Eight compounds, including alkaloids (1~3), flavonoids (4~6), and phenolics (7 and 8), were isolated. The compounds, except the flavonoids, were isolated for the first time from S. glauca. In the HPLC chromatogram, quercetin-3-O-β-d-glucoside, kaempferol-3-O-β-d-glucoside, and kaempferol were identified as major constituents in the extract of S. glauca. Additionally, the therapeutic potential of the extract of S. glauca and the isolated compounds 1~8 on the expressions of VEGF and IGF-1, as well as the regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, were evaluated in human follicle dermal papilla cells (HFDPCs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Among the eight compounds, compound 4 was the most potent in terms of increasing the expression of VEGF and IGF-1 and the regulation of Wnt/β-catenin. These findings suggest that S. glauca extract and its compounds are potential new candidates for preventing or treating hair loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cerebral venous and sinus thrombosis (CVST) can cause increased intracranial pressure, often leading to papilledema. In this study, we investigated the association between papilledema and venous stasis on susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) in CVST. Methods: Patients with CVST between 2008 and 2020 were reviewed. Patients without fundoscopic examination or SWI were excluded in this study. Venous stasis was evaluated and scored for each cerebral hemisphere: each hemisphere was divided into 5 regions according to the venous drainage territories (superior sagittal sinus, Sylvian veins, transverse sinus and vein of Labbé, deep cerebral veins, and medullary veins) and 1 point was added if venous prominence was confirmed in one territory on SWI. The venous stasis score on SWI between cerebral hemispheres with and without papilledema was compared. Results: Eight of 19 patients with CVST were excluded because of the absence of fundoscopic examination or SWI. Eleven patients (26.5 ± 2.1 years) were included in this study. Papilledema was identified in 6 patients: bilateral papilledema in 4 patients and unilateral papilledema in 2 patients. The venous stasis score on SWI was significantly higher (P = 0.013) in the hemispheres with papilledema (median, 4.0; 95% CI, 3.038–4.562) than in the hemispheres without papilledema (median, 2.5; 95% CI, 0.695–2.805). Conclusions: This study shows that higher score of venous stasis on SWI is associated with papilledema. Therefore, the venous stasis on SWI may be an imaging surrogate marker of increased intracranial pressure in patients with CVST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a simple yet effective pipeline for absolute three-dimensional (3D) human pose estimation from two-dimensional (2D) joint keypoints, namely, the 2D-to-3D human pose lifting problem. Our method comprises two simple baseline networks, a 3D conversion function, and a correction network. The former two networks predict the root distance and the root-relative joint distance simultaneously. Given the input and predicted distances, the 3D conversion function recovers the absolute 3D pose, and the correction network reduces 3D pose noise caused by input uncertainties. Furthermore, to cope with input noise implicitly, we adopt a Siamese architecture that enforces the consistency of features between two training inputs, i.e., ground truth 2D joint keypoints and detected 2D joint keypoints. Finally, we experimentally validate the advantages of the proposed method and demonstrate its competitive performance over state-of-the-art absolute 2D-to-3D pose-lifting methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this randomized controlled clinical trial was to assess the short-term clinical effectiveness of sealer-based root canal obturation using calcium-silicate-based sealer (CSBS) and epoxy-resin-based sealer (ERBS). A total of eighty patients (eighty teeth) were enrolled and seventy-two patients (seventy-two teeth) were randomly assigned into four different sealer groups: AH Plus (AH, Dentsply Sirona), ADseal (AD, Meta Biomed), CeraSeal (CS, Meta Biomed), or EndoSeal TCS (ES, Maruchi). At the first visit, root canal treatment was performed using ProTaper. Next, the NiTi file system and passive ultrasonic irritation was applied with 2.5% NaOCl. At the second visit, the teeth were obturated with a sealer-based obturation technique using the assigned sealer. The quality of filling obturation was evaluated with postoperative radiographs in terms of the presence of voids and sealer extrusion. The patients were recalled at 1-week, 1-month, and 3-month intervals, and pain levels were measured using visual analog scales (VAS), and clinical examination performed with percussion and palpation. Radiographs were also taken. The results were statistically compared by using the χ2 test or Fisher exact test. Among the 80 teeth included, 72 teeth received allocated intervention and 71 teeth were included in the analysis (98.6% recall). There was no significant difference among the sealers in void and sealer extrusion (p > 0.05). Postoperative pain was not indicated prominently regardless of the type of sealer. For a 3-month follow-up period, all cases were maintained successfully except for one case from AD. According to the findings, there was no significant difference between CSBS and ERBS in terms of postoperative pain or the healing process, and the variation in filling quality appears to be linked to the properties of each product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skyrmion-based devices are an attractive candidate for nonvolatile memory and low-power computation. In a real device, however, skyrmions easily annihilate at device edges, which hampers device applications. Here, we present a novel skyrmion-based logic device, which takes advantage of the skyrmion annihilation (SA) and increases the efficiency of logic operation. An SA half adder (HA) is implemented in a ferromagnet/heavy metal nanotrack by introducing a geometric notch that annihilates the skyrmion. In addition, full adder and n-bit SA ripple-carry adder are demonstrated by directly cascading the SA HAs. The prototype of a 32-bit SA ripple-carry adder consumes energy as low as 0.62 pJ per each operation, which is only 18% of the previously proposed skyrmion adder. Our SA logic gate can, therefore, be a promising candidate for the beyond-CMOS logic device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interfacial electronic structures of a bilayer of fullerene (C60) and zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) grown on vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) thin films deposited using radio frequency sputtering under various conditions were studied using X-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy. The energy difference between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level of the ZnPc layer and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level of the C60 layer was determined and compared with that grown on an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate. The energy difference of a heterojunction on all V2O5 was found to be 1.3~1.4 eV, while that on ITO was 1.1 eV. This difference could be due to the higher binding energy of the HOMO of ZnPc on V2O5 than that on ITO regardless of work functions of the substrates. We also determined the complete energy level diagrams of C60/ZnPc on V2O5 and ITO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the electromagnetic analysis and experimental testing of a tubular linear synchronous machine (TLSM) with a double-sided axially magnetized permanent magnet (AMPM) mover and coreless stator winding by using semianalytical techniques. Using a simple result based on the finite element method (FEM), characteristics of the TLSM with AMPM can be calculated with the semianalytical method easily. The magnetic flux density in the air gap is obtained by using a magnetic vector potential, a 2-D polar coordinate system, and the results of the magnetostatic calculation based on FEM. Based on these solutions, the electromotive force (EMF) is also determined analytically. Then, 2-D FEM is employed to validate the semianalytical method. Finally, experimental testing of the EMF measurements is performed to confirm the results of the semianalytical techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• One-side electric joule heating system that can apply heat flux of up to 10.4 MW/m2 has been newly developed. • Experiment was carried out to evaluate the boiling heat transfer of Hypervapotron channel at 10 bar, 40∼80 subcooling, and 0.108∼0.284 kg/s. • Among the the tevaluated correlations, Shah(error rate:4.75%) and Kandlikar(error rate:16.57 %) correlations were well predicted. The lack of cooling capacity to maintain the thermal steady state of the divertor is becoming a severe engineering problem in preparation for DEMO fusion reactor. But, there is not much literature comparing with the existing sub-cooled flow boilng heat transfer correlation and analyzing the Hypervapotron boiling curve. To simulate the fusion thermal condition, experimental loop that can withstand high temperature (150℃) and high pressure (20 bar) was constructed. And one-side electric joule heating system that can apply heat flux of up to 10.4 MW/m2 was developed. In addition, it was verified that stable operation is possible by confirming that the flow rate and the channel inlet temperature fluctuation rate are 1% or less, respectively. This experiment was carried out to evaluate the boiling heat transfer of Hypervapotron cooling channel at 10 bar, 40 ∼ 80 subcooling, 0.108 ∼ 0.284 kg /s and maximum effective heat flux of 6.87 MW/m2. Among the sub-cooled flow boiling heat transfer correlations, Thom correlation (1965), Jens & Lottes correlation (1951), and Aaladiev correlation (1957) differed significantly from the experimental data. But Shah 1977 (error rate: 4.75 %) and Kandlikar 1998 (error rate: 16.57 %) correlations were well predicted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present two algorithms for aligning two colored point clouds. The two algorithms are designed to minimize a probabilistic cost based on the color-supported soft matching of points in a point cloud to their K-closest points in the other point cloud. The first algorithm, like prior iterative closest point algorithms, refines the pose parameters to minimize the cost. Assuming that the point clouds are obtained from RGB-depth images, our second algorithm regards the measured depth values as variables and minimizes the cost to obtain refined depth values. Experiments with our synthetic dataset show that our pose refinement algorithm gives better results compared to the existing algorithms. Our depth refinement algorithm is shown to achieve more accurate alignments from the outputs of the pose refinement step. Our algorithms are applied to a real-world dataset, providing accurate and visually improved results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An accurate stereo matching method developed by exploiting the two techniques, discrete‐coded structured‐light projection and image‐guided cost volume filtering, is proposed. The former increases the distinctiveness of pixels by projecting a discrete pattern to the scene, and the latter helps to recover accurate object boundaries. In addition, a previous fast cost volume filtering approach is extended to better preserve slanted surfaces, and a suitable post‐processing algorithm is also suggested for the proposed method. The performance of the proposed method is experimentally verified by comparing the results with those of other algorithms qualitatively and quantitatively in an indoor environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to define the location of the accessory infraorbital foramen (AIOF) with reference to accessible external landmarks in order to facilitate orbital and oculoplastic surgical procedures in the maxillofacial region. Forty-four hemifaces from 25 cadavers were dissected. The lateral canthus, subnasal point, and lacrimal caruncle were used as anatomic reference points. The AIOF was observed in 8 of the 44 hemifaces (18.2%) and was situated at a mean distance of 7.2 mm superomedial to the IOF. The horizontal distance from the lacrimal caruncle to the AIOF was 0.3 mm. In all cases the AIOF was situated at a point that was no more than 8 mm from the intersection point of a vertical line passing through the lacrimal caruncle and an oblique line joining the lateral canthus and the subnasal point. Surgeons anesthetizing or performing surgical procedures in the maxillofacial region should be aware of the frequency of the AIOF (18.2%) and its location (on the superomedial side of the IOF). We propose that injecting at the intersection point of a vertical line passing through the lacrimal caruncle and an oblique line joining the lateral canthus and the subnasal point would successfully block the accessory branch of the infraorbital nerve. Likewise, surgeons operating in this region should be aware of the location of the AIOF in order to avoid inadvertent iatrogenic injury to a duplicated infraorbital nerve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an urgent need for better detection and understanding of vascular abnormalities at the micro-level, where critical vascular nourishment and cellular metabolic changes occur. This is especially the case for structures such as the midbrain where both the feeding and draining vessels are quite small. Being able to monitor and diagnose vascular changes earlier will aid in better understanding the etiology of the disease and in the development of therapeutics. In this work, thirteen healthy volunteers were scanned with a dual echo susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) sequence, with a resolution of 0.22 ​× ​0.44 ​× ​1 ​mm3 at 3T. Ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxides (USPIO) were used to induce an increase in susceptibility in both arteries and veins. Although the increased vascular susceptibility enhances the visibility of small subvoxel vessels, the accompanying strong signal loss of the large vessels deteriorates the local tissue contrast. To overcome this problem, the SWI data were acquired at different time points during a gradual administration (final concentration ​= ​4 ​mg/kg) of the USPIO agent, Ferumoxytol, and the data was processed to combine the SWI data dynamically, in order to see through these blooming artifacts. The major vessels and their tributaries (such as the collicular artery, peduncular artery, peduncular vein and the lateral mesencephalic vein) were identified on the combined SWI data using arterio-venous maps. Dynamically combined SWI data was then compared with previous histological work to validate that this protocol was able to detect small vessels on the order of 50 ​μm–100 ​μm. A complex division-based phase unwrapping was also employed to improve the quality of quantitative susceptibility maps by reducing the artifacts due to aliased voxels at the vessel boundaries. The smallest detectable vessel size was then evaluated by revisiting numerical simulations, using estimated true susceptibilities for the basal vein and the posterior cerebral artery in the presence of Ferumoxytol. These simulations suggest that vessels as small as 50 ​μm should be visible with the maximum dose of 4 ​mg/kg. • Low dose Ferumoxytol was used in imaging the midbrain microvasculature. • Multiple timepoints provided useful temporal information and enhanced SWI-SNR. • Novel SWI combination helped reduce blooming artifacts to reveal smaller vessels. • Complex division-based unwrapping helped improve quality of post-contrast QSM. • Histology/simulations were used to determine detectability of sub-voxel vessels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-term durability of carotid artery stenting (CAS) may be determined by various factors; however, residual stenosis is a known risk factor for in-stent restenosis. The authors of this article utilized cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) in angiosuite to investigate plaque features affecting the character and quality of stent expansion after CAS.Forty-two CAS cases with both pre- and post-CAS CBCT evaluations were included in this retrospective analysis. Five features derived from pre-CAS images were tested: (1) eccentricity, (2) overballoon, (3) maximum plaque thickness, (4) calcification barrier, and (5) stenotic degree. For post-CAS CBCT, stent configuration was assessed if the stent was expanded and oval or round in shape as well as outward or inward in orientation. Variables were tested if they were associated with oval expansion, outward expansion, and 20% residual stenosis after CAS.Oval or outward expansion is directly related to residual stenosis. The oval expansion was associated with maximum plaque thickness, and outward expansion was associated with the presence of a calcification barrier. Variables related to > 20% residual stenosis were the maximum plaque thickness, calcification barrier, and pre-CAS stenotic degree.CBCT for carotid stenosis may provide valuable information about plaque features, especially calcification features that may interfere with the angioplasty effect, as well as the characteristics and quality of stent expansion. Residual stenosis > 20% was associated with calcification barrier, maximum plaque thickness, and pre-CAS stenotic degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]