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Background It is widely accepted that cervical interlaminar steroid injection (CIESI) is more effective in treating radicular pain than axial neck pain, but without direct comparison. And the differences of effect after CIESI according to MRI findings are inconsistent. In this retrospective study, we evaluated the therapeutic response of CIESI according to pain sites, durations, MRI findings, and other predictive factors altogether, unlike previous studies, which evaluated them separately. Methods The medical records of 128 patients who received fluoroscopy guided CIESI were analyzed. We evaluated the therapeutic response (more than a 50% reduction on the visual analog scale [VAS] by their second visit) after CIESI by (1) pain site; neck pain without radicular pain/radicular pain with or without neck pain, (2) pain duration; acute/chronic (more than 6 month), and (3) findings of MRI; herniated intervertebral disc (HIVD)/spinal stenosis, respectively and altogether. Results Eighty-eight patients (68%) responded to CIESI, and there were no significant differences in demographic data, initial VAS score, or laboratory findings. And there were no significant differences in the response rate relating to pain site, pain duration, or MRI findings, respectively. In additional analysis, acute radicular pain with HIVD patients showed significantly better response than chronic neck pain with spinal stenosis (P = 0.04). Conclusions We cannot find any sole predictive factor of therapeutic response to the CIESI. But the patients having acute radicular pain with HIVD showed the best response, and those having other chronic neck pain showed the worst response to CIESI.

Background: External ventricular drainage (EVD) is an important procedure for draining excessive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and monitoring intracranial pressure. Generally, EVD is performed in the operating room (OR) under aseptic conditions. However, in emergency circumstances, the operation may be performed in the intensive care unit (ICU) to save neuro-critical time and to avoid the unnecessary transfer of patients. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the risk of EVD-induced CNS infections and their outcomes according to the operating place (ICU versus OR). In addition, we compared mortalities as well as hospital and ICU days between the CNS infection and non-CNS infection groups. Methods: We reviewed medical records, laboratory data and radiographic images of patients who had received EVD operations between January, 2013 and March, 2015. Results: A total of 75 patients (45 men and 30 women, mean age: 58.7 ± 15.6 years) were enrolled in this study. An average of 1.4 catheters were used for each patient and the mean period of the indwelling catheter was 7.5 ± 5.0 days. Twenty-six patients were included in the ICU group, and EVD-induced CNS infection had occurred in 3 (11.5%) patients. For the OR group, forty-nine patients were included and EVD-induced CNS infection had occurred in 7 (14.3%) patients. The EVD-induced CNS infection of the ICU group did not increase above that of the OR group. The ICU days and mortality rate were higher in the CNS infection group compared to the non-CNS infection group. The period of the indwelling EVD catheter and the number of inserted EVD catheters were both higher in the CNS infection group. Conclusions: If the aseptic protocols and barrier precautions are strictly kept, EVD in the ICU does not have a higher risk of CNS infections compared to the OR. In addition, EVD in the ICU can decrease the hospital and ICU days by saving neuro-critical time and avoiding the unnecessary transfer of patients. Therefore, when neurosurgeons decide upon the operating place for EVD, they should consider the benefits of ICU operation and be cautious of EVD-induced CNS infection.

A Gram-stain-negative, facultatively aerobic, cream-coloured, ovoid-shaped, non-motile and psychrotolerant bacterial strain, PAMC 27389T, was isolated from terrestrial soil collected on King George Island, Antarctica. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain PAMC 27389T belongs to the genus Pseudorhodobacter, sharing highest similarities with the type strains of Pseudorhodobacter wandonensis (96.9 %), Pseudorhodobacter antarcticus (96.8 %), Pseudorhodobacter ferrugineus (96.5 %) and Pseudorhodobacter aquimaris (95.4 %). Average nucleotide identity values between strain PAMC 27389T and the type strains of P. wandonensis, P. antarcticus, P. ferrugineus and P. aquimaris were 70.8, 70.9, 71.0 and 70.5 %, respectively and the genome-to-genome distances were 18.4–19.1 %, indicating PAMC 27389T is clearly distinguished from the most closely related Pseudorhodobacter species. The genomic DNA G+C content was 60.1 mol%. Strain PAMC 27389T grew at 0–37 °C (optimally at 15–20 °C), at pH 5.5–9.0 (optimally at pH 6.5–7.0) and in the presence of 0.5–3.0 % (w/v) sea salt (optimally with 0.5 %). It lacked bacteriochlorophyll a. The major fatty acids (>5 %) were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c) and C18 : 1ω7c 11-methyl. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, an unidentified phospholipid, an unidentified aminolipid, an unidentified lipid and three unidentified aminophospholipids. The major respiratory quinone was Q-10. Based on the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genomic data presented, we propose the name Pseudorhodobacter psychrotolerans sp. nov. with the type strain PAMC 27389T ( = KCTC 42640T = JCM 30764T).

There are three regions when watching 360 VR video on HMD, which are Region of Interest viewer is watching, Non-Region of Interest, and shaded region. It is not efficient that streaming entire 360 VR video having over 8k resolution. In this paper, we extracted Field of View by using HMD Tracking and developed Low-Latency Tiled Streaming System based on MPEG-DASH SRD to improve efficiency of computing process and streaming bandwidth by rendering Region of Interest in high quality tiles and the rest of the regions in low quality tiles.

To date, research has rarely focused how a summer camp influences at-risk boys’ motivation and physical activity through a self-determination theory. This study examined changes of motivational and physical measures among at-risk boys participating in a summer sports camp. One hundred at-risk boys, aged 10-13 years, participated in a three week camp session. Two questionnaires and an endurance activity were completed by the boys as pre and post-tests. Results revealed amotivation increased and intrinsic regulation decreased across the camp session. Also, the boys’ endurance performance did not significantly change across the camp period. Findings suggest programs allowing more camper-centered choices and de-emphasizing competition may promote increased motivation and physical performance of at-risk boys.

Background It is often difficult to achieve satisfactory reduction and fixation of both-column acetabular fractures owing to the complexity of the regional anatomy of the pelvis and the fracture configuration, which is commonly associated with a high degree of comminution. Herein, we describe the use of a three-dimensional (3D) patient-specific printed model of the pelvis to facilitate preoperative planning, simulate the fracture reduction procedure, and pre-contour the fixation plates for treating both-column acetabular fractures. Methods The 3D-printed model was constructed using a fused deposition modeling method with computed tomography images as inputs. Operative and clinical outcomes were evaluated for 5 patients with both-column acetabular fractures (mean age: 41.4 years). The status of fracture reduction was classified using the Matta criteria, and the functional outcome was assessed using the modified Merle d'Aubigne score. Results Reduction was classified as excellent in 4 patients and good in 1 patient, and good functional outcomes were achieved in all patients at the final follow-up. The average incision length was 6.9 cm with an average operative time of 124 min. Conclusion We successfully applied 3D printing for the surgical management of both-column acetabular fractures, thereby improving surgical outcomes while achieving good-to-excellent reduction and good medium-term functional outcomes.

Let $v(k, \lambda)$ be the maximum number of vertices of a connected $k$-regular graph with second largest eigenvalue at most $\lambda$. The Alon-Boppana Theorem implies that $v(k, \lambda)$ is finite when $k > \frac{\lambda^2 + 4}{4}$. In this paper, we show that for fixed $\lambda \geq1$, there exists a constant $C(\lambda)$ such that $2k+2 \leq v(k, \lambda) \leq 2k + C(\lambda)$ when $k > \frac{\lambda^2 + 4}{4}$., Comment: 13 pages

Antimicrobial-producing, cold-adapted microorganisms have great potential for biotechnological applications in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Pseudomonas antarctica PAMC 27494, a psychrophile exhibiting antimicrobial activity, was isolated from an Antarctic freshwater sample. Here we report the complete genome of P. antarctica PAMC 27494. The strain contains a gene cluster encoding microcin B which inhibits DNA regulations by targeting the DNA gyrase. PAMC 27494 may produce R-type pyocins and also contains a complete set of proteins for the biosynthesis of adenosylcobalamin and possibly induces plant growth by supplying pyrroloquinoline quionone molecules.

Cryobacterium arcticum PAMC 27867, a psychrotolerant, Gram-positive bacterium, was isolated from a sedimentary rock sample collected at Eureka Spurs in northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Here, we report the genome sequence of C. arcticum PAMC 27867.

Psychrobacter alimentarius PAMC 27889, a Gram-negative, psychrophilic bacterium, was isolated from an Antarctic rock sample. Here, we report the complete genome of P. alimentarius PAMC 27889, which has the nonmevalonate methylerythritol phosphate pathway of terpenoid biosynthesis and a complete gene cluster for benzoate degradation.

This study aims to argue fundamental issues on factors associated with revenues of hand injury patients to effectively manage hospitals specialized in hand injuries. The study employes 2,461 patients who entered S hospital from 2008 to 2010 with hand injuries. The followings are the results of the study. First, there is significant difference among occurrence of hand injuries with regard to demographics of patients. That is, it is likely to have longer average length of stay(ALOS) of male over female, of the elderly over infants and toddlers, and vice versa on average daily patient revenues. Also, compared to patients with traffic and labor insurance, patients with health insurance is likely to stay longer at lower daily cost. Fifth, demographics and incidence of hand injuries were significantly associated with average length of stay(ALOS) and average daily patient revenues. That is, male over female, age over 60 over any other age categories, patients with traffic and labor insurances over one with health insurance, cases with laceration, avulsion and bone transplantation over any other types of hand injury patients were factors significantly related to ALOS and average daily patient revenues. In sum, it is needed to focus on education and campaign to raise attentions on preventing various hand injuries. Also, managers at hospitals specialized in hand injuries should pay attention on issues such as reducing ALOS to run the organization effectively.

A Wi-Fi mesh network providing multi-hop wireless connections based on IEEE 802.11 PHY/MAC technology has recently received a significant attention as a network infrastructure that interconnects RFID systems and wireless sensor networks (WSNs). However, the current IEEE 802.11 contention-based MAC protocol cannot fully utilize the network capacity due to eithor frame collisions or unused network resources. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-channel scheduling MAC (MCS-MAC) protocol for Wi-Fi mesh networks. Under the secondary interference model of Wi-Fi mesh networks, the MCS-MAC protocol can maximize the network throughput via activation of collision-free links that has a maximal link weight. Through the simulations, we show that the throughput of the MCS-MAC protocol is at least three times higher than that of existing MAC protocols in Wi-Fi mesh networks.

In 1977, Hoffman gave a characterization of graphs with smallest eigenvalue at least $-2$. In this paper we generalize this result to graphs with smaller smallest eigenvalue. For the proof, we use a combinatorial object named Hoffman graph, introduced by Woo and Neumaier in 1995. Our result says that for every $\lambda \leq -2$, if a graph with smallest eigenvalue at least $\lambda$ satisfies some local conditions, then it is highly structured. We apply our result to graphs which are cospectral with the Hamming graph $H(3,q)$, the Johnson graph $J(v, 3)$ and the $2$-clique extension of grids, respectively., Comment: 26 pages

Because the activation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) is a key factor in the metastatic process, compounds with the ability to inhibit MMP activity have a potential in the treatment of tumor. From the examination of 2000 plant extracts, obovatal isolated from the extract of the leaves of Magnolia obovata THUNB was a potent inhibitor of MMP-2 enzyme in vitro. In human fibrosarcoma cells (HT1080) activated with MMP-2, obovatal inhibited MMP-2 enzyme activity and expression. In addition, the compound blocked migration and invasion of the cells. This study demonstrates that obovatal exerts its anticancer effects through blocking migration and invasion by inhibition of MMP-2 expression and activity, and also will be a good lead molecule for the development of anti-tumor drug.

The hydroxamic acid analogues (2) of the natural product gelastatins (1) were prepared by 1 step conversion reaction. The synthetic analogues (2) showed potent enzymatic inhibitory activities against MMP-2, MMP-9, and TACE IC50's of 6, 23, and 28 nM, respectively. In addition, 2 were able to inhibit TNF-alpha production effectively in mice as well as in a macrophage cell line, RAW 264.7. The protective effect of 2 also was examined on LPS-induced acute septic shock model. The mechanism of TNF-alpha inhibition was examined by RT-PCR and Western blot analyses. The relation of TACE and alpha-secretase was examined using cellular alpha-secretase assays on IMR-32 and SH-SY5Y cell lines. The docking mode of 2 with the catalytic domain of TACE was illustrated to analyze the binding mode for the further analogue design.

Epithelial cysts are benign epithelium-lined lesions that conta in fluid or semisolid material. Most epithelial cysts in the or al cavity occur in the anterior part of the mouth floor. Cysts ari sing on the uvula in a cleft palate patient are rare. Intraoral examination in a 14-month-old boy with a complete cleft lip and palate revealed a cystic lesion on the right uvula. The lesion was excised and push-back palatorrhaphy with Z-plasty on the uvula was performed. Histopathological examination diagnosed an epithelial cyst. We report a case of an epithelial cyst of uvula in a patient with a unilateral complete cleft lip and palate.Key words:Epithelial cyst, Cleft palate, Uvula, Soft palate Introduction Epithelial cysts are benign lesions with epithelial lining containing fluid or semisolid material. These lesions can be found on any part of the body, although 6.9% of them appear at head and neck area and only 1.6% are seen in the oral cavity[1,2]. Most cysts occurring in the oral cavity are located at the anterior part of the mouth floor, and the soft palate or uvula is an unusual site[3-6]. There is no report of an epithelial cyst of the uvula in a cleft palate patient. We present a rare case of an epithelial cyst on the uvula with a cleft lip and palate, with a literature review.

Tungtungmadic acid (3-caffeoyl-4-dihydrocaffeoyl quinic acid) is a new chlorogenic acid derivative that was isolated from the Salicornia herbacea. The structure of tungtungmadic acid was determined using chemical and spectral analysis. The antioxidant activity of tungtungmadic acid was evaluated using various antioxidant assays, including free radical scavenging, lipid peroxidation and hydroxyl radical-induced DNA strand breaks assays. Tungtungmadic acid (IC50 = 5.1 microM and 9.3 microM) was found to have higher antioxidant activity in the DPPH scavenging assay as well as in the iron-induced liver microsomal lipid peroxidation system. In addition, the tungtungmadic acid was also effective in protecting the plasmid DNA against strand breakage induced by hydroxyl radicals.

The focused crawler is a topic-driven document-collecting crawler that was suggested as a promising alternative of maintaining up-to-date web document Indices in search engines. A major problem inherent in previous focused crawlers is the liability of missing highly relevant documents that are linked from off-topic documents. This problem mainly originated from the lack of consideration of structural information in a document. Traditional weighting method such as TFIDF employed in document classification can lead to this problem. In order to improve the performance of focused crawlers, this paper proposes a scheme of locality-based document segmentation to determine the relevance of a document to a specific topic. We segment a document into a set of sub-documents using contextual features around the hyperlinks. This information is used to determine whether the crawler would fetch the documents that are linked from hyperlinks in an off-topic document.

Inclusion complex (IC) compounds such as 4,4′-oxydianiline (ODA) with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin (DM-β-CD) or heptakis(2,3,6-tri-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin (TM-β-CD) were newly prepared by a simple solution method using water or methanol. These ICs were reacted with 4,4′-hexafluoroisopropylidenediphthalic anhydride (6FDA) in N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) to form a polyamic acid intermediate, which imidized thermally to novel pseudopolyimiderotaxanes (Mw: 8400–31 100, contents of β-CDs: 4.3–11.2%). Polymers were characterized by FTIR, 1H NMR, and XRD. They showed good solubility in tetrahydrofuran, chloroform, methylene chloride, as well as polar aprotic solvents. All the β-CDs in the polymers were degraded under 380°C and polyimide moieties were stable up to 490°C in a N2 stream.

We propose a simple method for forming massive and uniform three-dimensional (3-D) cell spheroids in a multi-level structured microfluidic device by gravitational force. The concept of orienting the device vertically has allowed spheroid formation, long-term perfusion, and retrieval of the cultured spheroids by user-friendly standard pipetting. We have successfully formed, perfused, and retrieved uniform, size-controllable, well-conditioned spheroids of human embryonic kidney 293 cells (HEK 293) in the gravity-oriented microfluidic device. We expect the proposed method will be a useful tool to study in-vitro 3-D cell models for the proliferation, differentiation, and metabolism of embryoid bodies or tumours.

With a proliferation of IEEE 802.11 WLAN technology, Wi-Fi mesh networks (WMNs) have received a considerable attention as a promising solution to provide a cost-efficient high-bandwidth Internet access to nomadic stations, such as lap-top computers and smartphones. However, the capacity of a WMN is still limited due to the frame collisions in its contention-based MAC protocols. In this paper, we present a distributed throughput-maximal scheduling (D-TMS) MAC protocol which overlays the distributed link-activation (DLA) algorithm over the IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol. The DLA algorithm activates a set of collision-free links by exchanging the control frames between neighbor mesh routers only. With an adaptive data-transmission period, the D-TMS MAC protocol attains a better throughput-delay performance for a wide range of traffic condition. The simulation results show that the D-TMS MAC protocol achieves much higher throughput than the IEEE 802.11 MAC protocols.

Cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) have been attractive targets for the development of anticancer therapeutic agents. In an effort to generate a new class of anti-Cdk inhibitors, we synthesized aryl aminopyrimidines and examined the effect of these compounds in both in vitro kinase assays and cultured cells. Two of these compounds, BMI-1026 and BMI-1042, induced a strong cell cycle alteration with potent inhibitory activities against cyclin-dependent kinases, collectively known as Cdks. Characterization of BMI-1026 revealed that it imposes a potent G(2)-M arrest and mild G(1)-S and S arrests. In vitro biochemical analyses and in vivo time-lapse microscopy studies revealed that it induces a mitotic catastrophe and precocious mitotic exit even in the presence of nocodazole. These defects appeared to lead to apoptotic cell death in tumorigenic cell lines. Consistent with the induction of mitotic defects and apoptosis, BMI-1026 imposed a selective sensitivity to proliferating versus differentiating or growth-arrested mouse keratinocytes. These data suggest that BMI-1026 could be developed as a potential anti-Cdk1 chemotherapeutic agent.

A 10-year-old female patient presented with a rapidly growing nodular mass lesion on her right frontal area. On skull radiography and computed tomography (CT) imaging, this mass had a well-demarcated punch-out lesion with a transdiploic, exophytic soft tissue mass nodule on the frontal scalp. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging revealed the presence of a 1.5×1.2×1 cm sized calvarial lesion. This lesion was hypointense on T1 and heterogenous hyperintense on T2 weighted MR images, and exhibited heterogeneous enhancement of the soft tissue filling the punch-out lesion after intravenous administration of gadolinium. En block removal of the tumor with resection of the rim of the normal bone was performed. The pathological diagnosis was intravascular papillary endothelial hyperplasia (IPEH). After surgery, no recurrence was found for 8 months. IPEH is a rare and benign reactive lesion usually found in thrombosed subcutaneous blood vessels. Involvement of skull bone is rare. In this article, we present a case of IPEH involving the calvarium, in a 10-year-old woman.

The mechanisms of void formation during the cooldown and freezing of lithium coolant within the primary loop of SP‐100 type systems are investigated. These mechanisms are: (a) homogeneous nucleation, (b) heterogeneous nucleation, (c) normal segregation of helium gas dissolved in liquid lithium, and (d) shrinkage of lithium during freezing. To evaluate the void formation potential due to segregation, a numerical scheme that couples the freezing and mass diffusion processes in both the solid and liquid regions is developed. The results indicated that the formation of He bubbles is unlikely by either homogeneous or heterogeneous nucleation during the cooldown process. However, homogeneous nucleation of He bubbles following the segregation of dissolved He in liquid Lithium ahead of the solid‐liquid interface is likely to occur. Results also show that total volume of He void is insignificant when compared to that of shrinkage voids.

Objective : High-molecular-weight hydroxyethyl starch (HES) compromises blood coagulation more than does low-molecular-weight HES. We compared the effects of low- and high-molecular-weight HES for the treatment of vasospasm and investigated the dose relationship with each other. Methods : Retrospectively, in a series of consecutive 102 patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), 35 patients developed clinical symptoms of vasospasm of these fourteen patients were treated with low-molecularweight HES for volume expansion while the other 21 received high-molecular-weight HES as continuous intravenous infusion. Prothrombin time (PT), partial thromboplastin time (PTT), fibrinogen level, and platelet count were all measured prior to initiation, during treatment and after termination of therapy for symptomatic vasospasm. The total dose of HES ranged from 5 L to 14 L and median infusion duration was 10 days. Results : A more pronounced PTT prolongation was observed in high-molecular-weight HES group compared with low-molecular-weight HES group. No other coagulation parameters were altered. Dosage (=duration) shows a positive correlation with PTT. Clinically, significant bleeding episodes were noted in four patients who received high-molecular-weight HES. Conclusion : Coagulopathy was developed in direct proportion to molecular weight of starch and dosages. We propose the extreme caution in the administration of HES solution for the vasospasm treatment.

Object: The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of improvement in environmental condition on hand washing compliance and the incidences of overall and site-specific nosocomial infection in neurosurgical patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) and to determine the risk factors of nosocomial infection. Method: The design of facilities in the ICU was changed. Then nurses' hand washing compliance and the incidence of nosocomial infection in all neurosurgical, patients hospitalized for more than 48 hours in ICU, were investigated from July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004 (second survey). Hand washing compliance and overall and site-specific nosocomial infection rates during that period were compared with the results of the first survey, which was conducted from April 1, 2002 to March 31, 2003. Results: The rate of hand washing compliance increased from 25.65% to 47.90%. The overall nosocomial infection rates during the first and second survey were 42.51% and 28.80% (p=0.02) respectively. Risk factors associated with the incidence of nosocomial pneumonia were the length of hospital day, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, the use of ventilator and the presence of tracheostomy, and those associated with the incidence of nosocomial urinary tract infections were the duration of urinary catheter, the presence of diabetes mellitus and female gender. Conclusion: These results showed that the improvement in environmental condition was an important factor in increasing hand washing compliance and in decreasing the incidence of nosocomial infection.