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Transient ischemia in the whole brain leads to neuronal loss/death in vulnerable brain regions. The striatum, neocortex and hippocampus selectively loose specific neurons after transient ischemia. Just 5 minutes of transient ischemia can cause pyramidal neuronal death in the hippocampal cornu ammonis (CA) 1 field at 4 days after transient ischemia. In this study, we investigated the effects of 5-minute (mild), 15-minute (severe), and 20-minute (lethal) transient ischemia by bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) on behavioral change and neuronal death and gliosis (astrocytosis and microgliosis) in gerbil hippocampal subregions (CA1–3 region and dentate gyrus). We performed spontaneous motor activity test to evaluate gerbil locomotor activity, cresyl violet staining to detect cellular distribution, neuronal nuclei immunohistochemistry to detect neuronal distribution, and Fluoro-Jade B histofluorescence to evaluate neuronal death. We also conducted immunohistochemical staining for glial fibrillary acidic protein and ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (Iba1) to evaluate astrocytosis and microgliosis, respectively. Animals subjected to 20-minute BCCAO died in at least 2 days. BCCAO for 15 minutes led to pyramidal cell death in hippocampal CA1–3 region 2 days later and granule cell death in hippocampal dentate gyrus 5 days later. Similar results were not found in animals subjected to 5-minute BCCAO. Gliosis was much more rapidly and severely progressed in animals subjected to 15-minute BCCAO than in those subjected to 5-minute BCCAO. Our results indicate that neuronal loss in the hippocampal formation following transient ischemia is significantly different according to regions and severity of transient ischemia. The experimental protocol was approved by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (AICUC) of Kangwon National University (approval No. KW-180124-1) on May 22, 2018.

New high-resolution spectra of the eclipsing binary BD+47 378 were obtained on five nights between 2020 and 2021 with the Bohyunsan Observatory Echelle Spectrograph in Korea. We collected the TESS light curve of the system obtained from Sectors 17 to 18, which shows a flat bottom at the secondary eclipse, an O’Connell effect, and oscillation features. From the spectral analysis, the radial velocities (RVs) of the primary and secondary stars were obtained, and the temperature of the brighter and more massive primary component was determined to be 7140 ± 100 K. According to a simultaneous analysis of the double-lined RVs and TESS light curves, the masses and radii of both components are M 1 = 1.69 ± 0.03 M ⊙, M 2 = 0.80 ± 0.02 M ⊙, R 1 = 2.01 ± 0.01 R ⊙, and R 2 = 0.79 ± 0.01 R ⊙, respectively. The primary component of the system is located on the δ Sct and γ Dor instability strips. After subtracting the theoretical light curve from the TESS data, a total of four independent frequencies (5.7235 day−1, 6.2577 day−1, 6.9588 day−1, and 14.7675 day−1) were detected using the multiple frequency analysis. These frequencies are typical of a δ Sct pulsator. The results reveal that BD+47 378 is a detached system consisting of two main-sequence stars with a δ Sct type primary component.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a major health issue. NAFLD can progress from simple hepatic steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). NASH can progress to cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma. Unfortunately, there is no currently approved pharmacologic therapy for NAFLD patients. The six transmembrane protein of prostate 2 (STAMP2), a metalloreductase involved in iron and copper homeostasis, is well known for its critical role in the coordination of glucose/lipid metabolism and inflammation in metabolic tissues. We previously demonstrated that hepatic STAMP2 could be a suitable therapeutic target for NAFLD. In this review, we discuss the emerging role of STAMP2 in the dysregulation of iron metabolism events leading to NAFLD and suggest therapeutic strategies targeting STAMP2.

Although recent studies have demonstrated that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) exposure leads to toxicant-associated steatohepatitis, the underlying mechanism of this condition remains unsolved. Male C57Bl/6 mice fed a standard diet (SD) or 60% high fat diet (HFD) were exposed to the nondioxin-like PCB mixture Aroclor1260 or dioxin-like PCB congener PCB126 by intraperitoneal injection for a total of four times for six weeks. We observed hepatic injury, steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis in not only the Aroclor1260-treated mice fed a HFD but the PCB126-treated mice fed either a SD or a HFD. We also observed that both types of PCB exposure induced hepatic iron overload (HIO). Noticeably, the expression of hepatic lipocalin-2 (LCN2) was significantly increased in the PCB-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)/nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) models. The knockdown of LCN2 resulted in improvement of PCB-induced lipid and iron accumulation in vitro, suggesting that LCN2 plays a pivotal role in PCB-induced NAFLD/NASH. We observed that recombinant FGF21 improved hepatic steatosis and HIO in the PCB-induced NAFLD/NASH models. Importantly, recombinant FGF21 reduced the PCB-induced overexpression of hepatic LCN2 in vivo and in vitro. Our findings indicate that recombinant FGF21 attenuates PCB-induced NAFLD/NASH by modulating hepatic lipocalin-2 expression. Our data suggest that hepatic LCN2 might represent a suitable therapeutic target for improving PCB-induced NAFLD/NASH accompanying HIO.

Background Although major depressive disorder (MDD) has been associated with volumetric abnormalities in the amygdala, studies investigating the association between structural alterations of the amygdala and depression have yielded varying results. Since the amygdala comprises several subregions, it is difficult to detect subtle regional changes by measuring the total amygdala volume. This study aimed to examine the volume in each amygdala subregion in adults with and without a diagnosis of MDD. Methods A total of 147 participants with a current history of major depression and 144 healthy participants ranging in age from 19 to 64 years underwent 3T magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Automatic segmentation of the nine nuclei of the amygdala was performed using FreeSurfer. One-way analysis of covariance, with individual volumes as dependent variables, and age, sex, and total intracranial volume as covariates, was performed to analyze volume differences. Results Patients with MDD had significantly lower volumes of the entire amygdala and subregions, including the lateral nucleus and anterior amygdaloid area, than healthy volunteers (HCs). There were no significant associations between subregion volumes and antidepressant use, illness duration, or depression severity. Limitations Our cross-sectional design cannot provide a causal relationship between the volume change in the amygdala subregion and the risk of MDD. Conclusion Our findings suggest that specific amygdala subregions are more susceptible to volumetric alterations in patients with MDD than in HCs. These findings may advance our understanding of the neuroanatomic basis on MDD.

To validate a hypothetical path model estimating the health status of patients with insulin-treated type 2 diabetes and to verify the mediating effects of diabetes management self-efficacy, diabetes self-management behaviour and haemoglobin A1c using a multi-mediation model.Diabetes knowledge, personal and social motivations, diabetes management self-efficacy and health behaviours may be interrelated and may directly or indirectly affect the objective and subjective health outcomes of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus receiving insulin treatments.Model testing correlational design.The participants were 193 outpatients with insulin-treated type 2 diabetes. Data were collected between July and November 2019. The collected data were analysed using SPSS version 25.0The model's fit indices were adequate. Diabetes-related knowledge, psychological insulin resistance, family support for diabetes management, diabetes self-care activities and haemoglobin A1c had significant direct effects on subjective health status. Diabetes management self-efficacy had significant indirect effects on subjective health status via diabetes self-care activities and haemoglobin A1c, and mediated the path through which diabetes knowledge, psychological insulin resistance and family support for diabetes management indirectly affect subjective health status. These variables explained 55.0% of the total variance of subjective health status.Diabetes knowledge, psychological insulin resistance, diabetes management family support, diabetes management self-efficacy and diabetes self-care activities were found to be related to the subjective and objective health status.The findings can help health professionals improve diabetes self-care activities and haemoglobin A1c, which will influence subjective health status in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, receiving insulin treatments.

This paper proposes a quantitative model for a new blockchain technology that distributes public ledger in a decentralized manner, referred to as Distributed Decentralized chain (DDC). A clique of k nodes in the P2P network participates in storing a complete copy of blockchain instead of having every node carry an entire copy. The proposed model is k-Queue Variable Bulk Arrival and Static Bulk Service queueing model (k-VBASBS), in which the state is defined by (i,k), where i is the number of slots from 0 upto n in a block on the current node, and k is the number of distributed nodes to store a complete copy of a chain of blocks. Without loss of generality and practicality, it is assumed that there are two different transaction posting rates assumed to take into account the overhead of inter-node (i.e., μ(inter-node)) control-hopping versus the one of the original intra-node posting rate (i.e., μ(intra-node)), and μ(inter-node)μ

Low-income middle-aged women (LMW) who are vulnerable have various physical and psychosocial problems. They need lifestyle interventions to actively cope with these risk factors. This study used a randomized control group pretest-posttest design. LMW aged from 40 to 60 years were recruited and randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 31) and a control group (n = 32). The lifestyle interventions for this study, which were implemented for eight weeks, included nutritional management, physical activity, stress management and cognitive function improvement based on King’s goal attainment theory. The measured outcomes were health-promoting behaviors, Type D personality, cognitive function and body composition. The experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group for health-promoting behaviors (effect size (ES) = 0.68~1.27, p &lt, 0.001~0.014) and cognitive function (ES = 0.79~1.31, p &lt, 0.001~0.005). The negative affectivity (ES = 0.70, p = 0.012) and the prevalence of a Type D personality (x2 = 4.39, p = 0.047) and the systolic blood pressure (ES = 0.65, p = 0.019) decreased significantly in the experimental group compared with the control group. Lifestyle interventions for LMW were effective in improving health-promoting behavior, Type D personality traits and cognitive function.

Background Multiple types of immune cells producing IL-17 are found in the tumor microenvironment. However, their roles in tumor progression and exhaustion of CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) remain unclear. Methods To determine the role of type 17 immunity in tumor, we investigated the growth of B16F10 melanoma and the exhaustion of CD8+ TILs in Il17a −/− mice, Il17a Cre R26 DTA mice, RORγt inhibitor-treated mice, or their respective control mice. Adoptive transfer of tumor-specific IL-17-producing T cells was performed in B16F10-bearing congenic mice. Anti-CD4 or anti-Ly6G antibodies were used to deplete CD4+ T cells or CD11b+Gr-1hi myeloid cells in vivo, respectively. Correlation between type 17 immunity and T cell exhaustion in human cancer was evaluated by interrogating TCGA dataset. Results Depletion of CD4+ T cells promotes the exhaustion of CD8+ T cells with a concomitant increase in IL-17-producing CD8+ T (Tc17) cells in the tumor. Unlike IFN-γ-producing CD8+ T (Tc1) cells, tumor-infiltrating Tc17 cells exhibit CD103+KLRG1−IL-7Rαhi tissue resident memory-like phenotypes and are poorly cytolytic. Adoptive transfer of IL-17-producing tumor-specific T cells increases, while depletion of IL-17-producing cells decreases, the frequency of PD-1hiTim3+TOX+ terminally exhausted CD8+ T cells in the tumor. Blockade of IL-17 or RORγt pathway inhibits exhaustion of CD8+ T cells and also delays tumor growth in vivo. Consistent with these results, human TCGA analyses reveal a strong positive correlation between type 17 and CD8+ T cell exhaustion signature gene sets in multiple cancers. Conclusion IL-17-producing cells promote terminal exhaustion of CD8+ T cells and tumor progression in vivo, which can be reversed by blockade of IL-17 or RORγt pathway. These findings unveil a novel role for IL-17-producing cells as tumor-promoting cells facilitating CD8+ T cell exhaustion, and propose type 17 immunity as a promising target for cancer immunotherapy.

BACKGROUND Because the recurrence rate of stroke increases 1 year after its initial occurrence, it is important to predict quality of life at this stage, although most functions are likely recovered. OBJECTIVES We aimed to construct and verify a model of quality of life in patients 1 year post stroke by considering their characteristics at the time of the stroke based on the Wilson and Cleary model and previous literature. METHODS Participants comprised 288 patients who had experienced their first ischemic stroke and were enrolled in 3 regional stroke centers in South Korea. Data were analyzed using path analysis to identify a model of patients' quality of life 1 year post stroke. RESULTS Age, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, the modified Rankin Scale score, and anxiety had a direct effect on quality of life, whereas type D personality and social support had an indirect effect. Type D personality, age, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, social support, the modified Rankin Scale score, and anxiety explained 32.9% of the total variance in quality of life. CONCLUSIONS When predicting quality of life in a patient 1 year after a stroke, it is important to consider variables such as type D personality, age, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, social support, the modified Rankin Scale score, and anxiety at the time of the first stroke. Interventions to improve the quality of life of patients with stroke should consider these factors.

Interleukin (IL)-17-secreting invariant natural killer T (NKT) cells are involved in several inflammatory diseases. However, their role in lupus nephritis (LN) has not been fully characterized. Samples from patients with LN or glomerulonephritis and healthy controls were obtained, and elevated IL-17

To analyze the genetic causes of congenital hypothyroidism through the targeted exome sequencing of pediatric patients with congenital hypothyroidism with thyroid glandPermanent, subclinical, and transient hypothyroidism were diagnosed in 15 (75%), three (15%), and two (10%) patients, respectively. Genetic mutations were identified in 16 patients (80% positivity rate). Targeted exome sequencing of eight genes identified 24 variants in these patients: 11Targeted exome sequencing identified the genetic causes of congenital hypothyroidism with thyroid gland

This study aimed to investigate the influence of type D personality on quality of life in patients with lung cancer.A correlational, cross-sectional research design was used. A convenience sample of 136 patients with lung cancer were recruited from an outpatient pulmonology clinic. Data collection was performed using a structured questionnaire between July and August 2019. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, an independent t-test, a one-way ANOVA, the χType D personality was identified in 18.4% of the participants. Patients with type D personality had poorer quality of life and experienced more cancer stigma and more severe symptoms. Type D personality had the strongest association with quality of life among patients with lung cancer, followed by cancer stigma and symptoms. Poor quality of life was associated with non-married status and higher Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group grade.Type D personality, stigma, symptoms, and demographic and clinical factors should be considered when assessing quality of life in patients with lung cancer. Interventions that reflect these factors, including type D personality, may help enhance quality of life for patients with lung cancer in oncology nursing practice.

Local retailers face both challenges and opportunities in this competitive retail landscape. However, what makes these local retailers stand out from large, national stores? Through a quantitative study, this study attempts to understand the factors that create loyalty to local retailers and thus lead to repeat purchases at their stores.

Research addressing the message appeals of online customer reviews has arisen to deepen our understanding of consumer decision-making in online retail environments. Prior research suggests that there are two types of message appeals: emotional and rational (Huang et al., 2013; Kotler & Keller, 2008; Liu et al., 2018; Wu & Wang, 2011). The former can elicit consumers’ emotions to induce purchase willingness, whereas the latter appeals to their cognition and reasoning highlighting product functions and practical benefits. Retailing research (e.g., Kang & Park-Poaps, 2010) to date has widely explored consumers’ shopping orientations, which are largely originated from hedonic and utilitarian conceptions. However, the congruence effect between a message appeal of online customer reviews and shopping orientation has not been sufficiently established. To address this research gap, the purposes of this study were (a) to investigate how a congruence between a message appeal of online reviews and shopping orientation affects perceived relevance of information presented in an online customer review and, in turn, leads to consumers’ purchase intention and (b) to examine the role of cumulative customer satisfaction and overall perceived risk in directly affecting purchase intention as well as in moderating the relationship between perceived relevance and purchase intention. A 2 (message appeal of online customer reviews: emotional vs. rational) x 2 (shopping orientation: hedonic vs. utilitarian) between-subjects experiment was conducted with 227 U.S. participants through Amazon Mechanical Turk. The results confirmed the congruence effect between a message appeal of online customer reviews and shopping orientation, ultimately leading to purchase intention. The participants who had a hedonic (vs. utilitarian) shopping orientation perceived a higher congruence when they viewed an emotional (vs. rational) review than a rational (vs. emotional) one. The relationship between perceived congruence and purchase intention was partially mediated by perceived information relevance. Contrary to the hypothesis, the participants were more willing to purchase a product that has a relevant review when they had been less (vs. more) satisfied with an e-tailer over time. However, both direct and indirect effects of perceived risk were found to be insignificant. The results of this study contribute to the literature on electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) by providing empirical evidence of congruence effects in online customer reviews. In addition, this study extends the findings of prior research by confirming the role of perceived information relevance. This study offers actionable guidelines to practitioners in ways to increase perceived information relevance.

The goal of the study was to explore college students’ social tanning behavior based on their parental attachment and life satisfaction. The data were collected from a sample of 333 college students using a self-administered online survey tool. The questionnaire consisted of multi-item scales measuring parental attachment, life satisfaction, and social tanning behaviors (tanning bed use vs. sun tanning) along with demographic questions. The majority of the participants were female (80.2%) and Caucasian (76.9%), with an average age of 19.8 years. Results suggest that there is an association between having a high parental attachment and engaging in “social sun tanning.” College students who are highly satisfied with their life are less likely to use tanning beds with friends and families. Intervention strategies to deter harmful body-tanning should be designed to consider ways of improving quality of relationships and life.

Current deep learning convolutional neural network (DCNN) -based hand gesture detectors with acute precision demand incredibly high-performance computing power. Although DCNN-based detectors are capable of accurate classification, the sheer computing power needed for this form of classification makes it very difficult to run with lower computational power in remote environments. Moreover, classical DCNN architectures have a fixed number of input dimensions, which forces preprocessing, thus making it impractical for real-world applications. In this research, a practical DCNN with an optimized architecture is proposed with DCNN filter/node pruning, and spatial pyramid pooling (SPP) is introduced in order to make the model input dimension-invariant. This compact SPP-DCNN module uses 65% fewer parameters than traditional classifiers and operates almost 3&times, faster than classical models. Moreover, the new improved proposed algorithm, which decodes gestures or sign language finger-spelling from videos, gave a benchmark highest accuracy with the fastest processing speed. This proposed method paves the way for various practical and applied hand gesture input-based human-computer interaction (HCI) applications.

The slim chain is proposed in this paper in an effort to address and resolve the scalability issue of blockchain-based crypto computing by managing the volume of the blockchain itself. An adequate balancing of computation across on/off-chain is expected to relieve the spatial and temporal overhead of managing the otherwise exponentially growing size of the blockchain by making the blockchain slimmer as much as the volume migrated and kept off-chain than the conventional, as referred to as a slim chain in this paper. As an initial design, a novel theoretical model is proposed to assure the efficacy of the proposed slim chain with specific respect to the dependability from a single transaction's standpoint in a stochastic manner. It is demonstrated that the dependability can be traced with respect to whether the transaction of concern is to write off the chain or read back from off the chain to on-chain, as the transactions writing off the chain are more dependable than reading from off the chain without loss of practicality, as well as the crypto rate and the IPFS rate as IPFS (Inter-Planetary File System) is an off-chain storage considered in this research.

The hybrid chain is proposed in this paper to investigate on a new blockchain network that is to be built across private and main nets, namely, a hybrid chain. Note that the hybrid chain is distinguished from the on/off-balanced chain such that the hybrid chain is across two different (e.g., Hypercubes private net vs. Ethereum main net) while the on/off-balanced chain across on-chain and off-chain (e.g., Ethereum main net vs. cloud). It is essential to build a dependable interface in between private and main nets if business to consumer (or vice versa) transactions are demanded for instance. In the course of interfacing across private and main nets, dependability is to be considered as one of the most critical design factors in order to ensure private transactions stay within the private territory and publicized transactions stay public in the main net, and further in order to facilitate a seamless yet dependable execution of transactions across the border. In this context, the efficacy of the privacy of the private net side and the publicity of the main net side will be addressed and modeled by tracing a transaction's stochastic process at a steady state. A protype for an isolated testing across the Ethereum and Hypercubes open source for validation purpose is proposed along with extensive parametric simulations.

This paper proposes a novel embedded Markovian queueing model of the M(1,n)/Mn/1 type in order to establish a theoretical foundation to design a blockchain-based system with specific interest in Ethereum. The model assumes variable bulk arrivals of transactions in Poisson distribution, i.e., M(1,n), where n the number of slots across all the mined transactions and static bulk service of transactions in exponential time, i.e., Mn, for posting in the current block, namely, VBASBP. The primary performance measurements to be taken are the average number of slots no matter how many transactions are mined under the assumption of the maximum number of slots per block as specified by n; the average waiting time per slot; and the throughput in terms of the average number of slots to be processed per time. The variable bulk arrival rate is assumed to vary linearly proportional to the size of the transactions in a multiple of per slot, and the static bulk service is assumed to take place when the number of slots in the mined transactions reaches at n, i.e., a bulk processing of multiple transactions in multiple slots for posting in a block. Numerical simulations are conducted on Matlab to demonstrate the efficacy of the model.

Mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) describes the ability of loosely associated migratory cells to form a more adherent sheet-like assembly of cells. MET is a conserved motif occurring throughout organogenesis and plays a key role in regeneration and cancer metastasis, and is the first step in producing induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). To resolve fundamental biological questions about MET and its relation to epithelial to mesenchymal transition and to explore MET’s role in tissue assembly and remodeling requires live models for MET that are amenable to experimentation. Many cases of clinically important MET are inferred since they occur deep with the body of the embryo or adult. We have developed a tractable model for MET, where cellular transitions can be directly observed under conditions where molecular, mechanical, and cellular context can be controlled experimentally. In this methods chapter we introduce a 3 dimensional (3D) tissue model to study mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition using Xenopus laevis embryonic mesenchymal cell aggregates.

Importance There is limited information describing the full spectrum of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the duration of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA detection in children. Objective To analyze the full clinical course and the duration of SARS-CoV-2 RNA detectability in children confirmed with COVID-19 in the Republic of Korea, where rigorous public health interventions have been implemented. Design, Setting, and Participants This case series of children with COVID-19 was conducted in 20 hospitals and 2 nonhospital isolation facilities across the country from February 18, 2020, to March 31, 2020. Children younger than 19 years who had COVID-19 were included. Exposures Confirmed COVID-19, detected via SARS-CoV-2 RNA in a combined nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab or sputum by real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. Main Outcomes and Measures Clinical manifestations during the observation period, including the time and duration of symptom occurrence. The duration of SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection was also analyzed. Results A total of 91 children with COVID-19 were included (median [range] age, 11 [0-18] years; 53 boys [58%]). Twenty children (22%) were asymptomatic during the entire observation period. Among 71 symptomatic cases, 47 children (66%) had unrecognized symptoms before diagnosis, 18 (25%) developed symptoms after diagnosis, and only 6 (9%) were diagnosed at the time of symptom onset. Twenty-two children (24%) had lower respiratory tract infections. The mean (SD) duration of the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in upper respiratory samples was 17.6 (6.7) days. Virus RNA was detected for a mean (SD) of 14.1 (7.7) days in asymptomatic individuals. There was no difference in the duration of virus RNA detection between children with upper respiratory tract infections and lower respiratory tract infections (mean [SD], 18.7 [5.8] days vs 19.9 [5.6] days;P = .54). Fourteen children (15%) were treated with lopinavir-ritonavir and/or hydroxychloroquine. All recovered, without any fatal cases. Conclusions and Relevance In this case series study, inapparent infections in children may have been associated with silent COVID-19 transmission in the community. Heightened surveillance using laboratory screening will allow detection in children with unrecognized SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Macrophages are important innate immune cells that play crucial roles in inflammatory responses. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated macrophage heterogeneity based on biomarkers, functions, and localization. Here, we report a novel stem cell antigen-1 (Sca-1)-positive macrophage population induced in the pathological conditions caused by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Sca-1 is only upregulated in macrophages but not in monocytes and neutrophils upon LPS injection. Sca-1

Aims and objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the magnitude of cancer stigma, social support, coping strategies and psychosocial adjustment among breast cancer survivors and to identify the factors associated with patients' psychosocial adjustment. Background Few studies have examined the association between cancer stigma and adaptation outcomes, which are considered interpersonal stressors for breast cancer survivors. Design A correlational, cross-sectional research design was used. Methods This study was designed based on the stress-coping theory of Lazarus and Folkman. This descriptive cross-sectional study included 158 breast cancer survivors who visited a Korean tertiary hospital. Data collection was performed using a structured questionnaire and electronic medical records between March-May 2018. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, independent t test, one-way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis test, partial correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis and were performed with the SPSS WIN 25.0 program. This study adheres to STROBE guidelines. Results Cancer stigma had the strongest association with psychosocial adjustment among Korean breast cancer survivors, followed by social support and coping strategies. These variables accounted for approximately 44% of the variance in psychosocial adjustment. Conclusion Cancer stigma had the strongest association with psychosocial adjustment. Healthcare professionals should assess patients' cancer stigma to develop patient-tailored stigma management programmes. Relevance to clinical practice Interventions to alleviate cancer stigma should be developed, and social support and coping strategies for breast cancer survivors should be considered in clinical oncology settings.

BACKGROUND Cephalosporin is the most commonly used empirical agent for urinary tract infections (UTIs) in children. However, increasing use of cephalosporins can lead to an increase in resistant pathogens. This study therefore aims to investigate the effects of monotherapy with ampicillin-sulbactam as an alternative to cephalosporins. METHODS All 2- to 24-month-old patients who were hospitalized at Pusan National University Children's Hospital due to a first episode of a febrile UTI during the 2-year period from 2012 to 2014 were included in the study. The subjects were divided into two groups according to their empirical therapy (cefotaxime or ampicillin-sulbactam). We determined the patients' UTI pathogens and their antibiotic susceptibilities and compared the effectiveness and the occurrence of adverse effects of ampicillin-sulbactam and cephalosporin therapy. RESULTS Forty-six patients were treated with cefotaxime (group A) and 41 patients with ampicillin-sulbactam as the empirical antibiotic (group B). The most common pathogen in both groups was Escherichia coli, and antibiotic susceptibilities of the bacterial strains isolated from both groups were similar in ampicillin-sulbactam and cefotaxime. In addition, there was no significant difference in the duration of fever after treatment between the two groups (group A: 2.0 versus group B: 3.0, P = 0.331). There were no treatment failures and no recurrence in either group, even in patients with resistant pathogens. The most common side effect of the antibiotic agents was diarrhea. CONCLUSIONS Ampicillin-sulbactam could be an effective alternative to cephalosporin as empiric antibiotic for the treatment of first-episode UTI in patients under 24 months of age.

Studies have been conducted on the development of healthcare programs for older adults in rural areas, not only in Asia but also in Europe and the United States. However, these reports have been limited by largely non-comprehensive results, lack of demand surveys, or programs with no systematic development. The purpose of this study was to develop an integrated healthcare program for rural older adults and investigate the effects of the program. A nonequivalent control group pretest&ndash, posttest design was used. Subjects were aged over 65 and lived in the rural community. The integrated healthcare program involved 12 three-hour sessions over 12 weeks. Compared with the control group, the experimental group demonstrated significant differences in both upper extremities strengths (t = 2.74, p = 0.008, t = 2.03, p = 0.047), static balance (z = &minus, 2.38, p = 0.017), dynamic balance (t = &minus, 4.82, p &lt, 0.001), loneliness (t = &minus, 3.02, p = 0.003), and role self-efficacy (t = 2.39, p = 0.020), but no differences for ego integration (t = 1.51, p = 0.137). To improve physical, mental, and social health of the rural older adults, we developed an integrated healthcare program. The program improved physical functions, loneliness, and role self-efficiency of the rural older adults. Therefore, it is recommended that healthcare professionals actively apply this program in primary healthcare institutes and elsewhere.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the influence of type-D personality on quality of life (QoL) in patients with primary brain tumours. METHODS We performed descriptive cross-sectional study between July 2018 and March 2019. A convenience sample of 293 patients was recruited from an outpatient neurosurgery clinic. RESULTS Type-D personality was identified in 34.1% of subjects. Type-D patients had poorer QoL and experienced more severe symptoms and interference with life. Poor QoL was associated with lower education, no spouse and lower family income. Symptoms were the most significant factor affecting QoL, followed by type-D personality, income and education. CONCLUSION Symptoms, type-D personality and demographic factors should be considered when assessing QoL in patients with primary brain tumours. Interventions that reflect these characteristics, including type-D personality, may help improve QoL for patients with primary brain tumours.

Mucociliary epithelium provides the first line of defense by removing foreign particles through the action of mucus production and cilia-mediated clearance. Many clinically relevant defects in the mucociliary epithelium are inferred as they occur deep within the body. Here, we introduce a tractable 3D model for mucociliary epithelium generated from multipotent progenitors that were microsurgically isolated from Xenopus laevis embryos. The mucociliary epithelial organoids are covered with newly generated epithelium from deep ectoderm cells and later decorated with distinct patterned multiciliated cells, secretory cells, and mucus-producing goblet cells that are indistinguishable from the native epidermis within 24 h. The full sequences of dynamic cell transitions from mesenchymal to epithelial that emerge on the apical surface of organoids can be tracked by high-resolution live imaging. These in vitro cultured, self-organizing mucociliary epithelial organoids offer distinct advantages in studying the biology of mucociliary epithelium with high-efficiency in generation, defined culture conditions, control over number and size, and direct access for live imaging during the regeneration of the differentiated epithelium.

Background and Aims Elderly population is increasing and the age starting dialysis treatment is also increasing. It could be an ethical issue that we should do or not do start dialysis treatment in the oldest old people such as 10th decade. We investigated duration of dialysis therapy via patients age using National Health Insurance calim data to know dialysis survival of patients via their age. Method Korean National Health Insurance Database was used and excerpted data from the insurance claim of ICD code of dialysis. We included all new patients starting dialysis more than 3 months between 2004 and 2013 and compared dialysis duration among the age group. Patients on dialysis before 2003 were excluded, and patients on kidney transplantation were also excluded. Results Total 208,202 dialysis patients were included via dialysis insurance calim code from about 50,000,000 South Korean population during the year 2003 to 2015. 126,448 patients were excluded due to dialysis before 2003, < 3 months of dialysis duration, kidney transplatation, and to have missing data. Among the final 81,754 patients, 73,969 were hemodialysis and 7,785 were peritoneal dialysis. 47,798 were men and 33,956 were wemen. Observed median dialysis duration of each aged group of 20-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71-80, 81-90, and >90 were 5.4 (2.2 - 18.3), 5.0 (1.8 - 17.7), 4.2 (1.5 - 15.1), 3.5 (1.2 - 12.6), 2.7 (0.9 - 10.1), 1.8 (0.5 - 7.1), 1.3 (0.3 - 4.9) years, respectively (p < 0.0001). Comparing with age under 40, dialysis survival hazard ratio of > 40, > 50, > 60, > 70, > 80, and > 90 were 1.493, 2.452, 3.762, 6.113, 9.787, and 15.326, respectively (p < 0.0001). Survival probability of the patients by the age was demonstrated in the figure 1. Lowest socio-econonic status and highest Charson-Comorbidity group showed highest hazard ratio of dialysis mortality, and peritoneal dialysis showed longer dialysis duration (HR 0.704, 95% CI of 0.69 - 0.74, p < 0.0001). Conclusion We concluded that dialysis durability by the age was rapidly decreased after 70 years old. As the longest patients survival of > 90 years were less than 5 years, we should consider patients’ general performance when starting dialysis of oldest old patients.

Background Proximal femoral fracture (PFF), such as intertrochanteric femoral fracture or femur neck fracture, and its management are crucial issues to surgeons. PFF has been dramatically is becoming exponentially prevalent, and it is at high risk of complication and mortality because it is frequently associated with serious trauma and advanced age, especially in patients treated with anticoagulants or antiplatelet agents. Surgical management is essential for the treatment of PFF. Unfortunately, current surgical procedures have been related to accompanied by vascular complications, including laceration, hemorrhage, thrombosis, embolism, intimal flap tear and pseudoaneurysm. Furthermore, these vascular injuries following surgical management of PFF are potentially limb- and life-threatening. Of the complications after operation of PFF, femoral arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is rare, but remains a challenging problem because it is frequently associated with significantly high mortality and morbidity and is very difficult to treat. Methods A systematic literature review was conducted using the PRISMA guidelines with no language restriction. We searched scientific publications via PubMed, Embase, Cochrane central register of controlled trial, Google Scholar, the KoreaMed and the Research Information Sharing Service database. The goal of this study was to report on the incidence, clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment, associated complications, morbidity and mortality of femoral AVF caused by PFF and to draw special attention to its prevention and management. Results A total of 7 case reports on femoral AVF associated with operation of PFF were identified, and one our case was added to the systematic analysis. Of the 8 cases, 4 were male and 4 were female under the age of 67.87±18.44; 6 (75.0%) survived without any events, 1 (12.5%) survived with a sequela of peroneal nerve impairment, and 1 (12.5%) died of multi-organ failure and hypovolemia. Conclusions The incidence of femoral AVF associated with PFF is extremely low, though it appears to increase with the rising frequency of PFF. With a very few exceptions, complications following internal fixation are potentially limb- and life-threatening. There is still no definite consensus on the standardized diagnostic or therapeutic modalities. Therefore, surgeons should keep in mind that this serious complication requires early diagnosis and prompt treatment, which should not be underestimated. Femoral AVF following operation of PFF should be meticulously managed, because untreated fistulae result in serious unexpected complications including renin-mediated hypertension, high-output heart failure and venous and/or arterial insufficiency. Surgical treatment is still the gold standard for such cases, but in limited cases endovascular procedures using embolization and closure device can be a good treatment option.

Background Although urinary angiotensinogen (AGT) and renin reflect intrarenal renin-angiotensin system activity and are enhanced in proteinuric chronic kidney disease, the clinical value of urinary AGT and renin levels during antiproteinuric treatment has yet to be determined. We investigated the clinical usefulness of initial urinary AGT or renin to determine the antiproteinuric effects of angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). Methods This multicenter, prospective, single-arm study included 205 patients with overt proteinuria (urinary protein/creatinine ratio [uPCR] ≥ 1 mg/mg) enrolled between April 2009 and December 2011. All patients were treated with valsartan. The urinary AGT/creatinine ratio (uAGT/Cr) was measured at the baseline and 24 weeks, and the renin/creatinine ratio (uR/Cr) was measured at the baseline. Fifty-six patients were followed-up for 5 years. Results The mean age was 47.6 years and 51.2% were male. The mean uPCR was 2.32 mg/mg and the mean eGFR was 63.2 mL/min/1.73m2. Natural logarithms (ln) (uAGT/Cr), ln(uR/Cr), and diabetes mellitus were associated with proteinuria decrement (decrease in uPCR ≥1 mg/mg). Ln(uAGT/Cr) was an independent predictor for proteinuria decrement (OR 1.372, 95% CI, 1.068–1.762, P = 0.013). Among the 56 patients followed-up for 5 years, Δln(uAGT/Cr) at 24 weeks was an independent predictor for uPCR P = 0.003). Conclusions Our study demonstrates the potential role of both baseline urinary AGT and changes in urinary AGT during the initial 24 weeks as surrogate markers predicting the antiproteinuric effects of ARBs in patients with overt proteinuria.

This paper proposes a real-time chain and a novel embedded Markovian queueing model with variable bulk arrival (VBA) and variable bulk service (VBS) in order to establish and assure a theoretical foundation to design a blockchain-based real-time system with particular interest in Ethereum. Based on the proposed model, various performances are simulated in a numerical manner in order to validate the efficacy of the model by checking good agreements with the results against intuitive and typical expectations as a baseline. A demo of the proposed real-time chain is developed in this work by modifying the open source of Ethereum Geth 1.9.11. The work in this paper will provide both a theoretical foundation to design and optimize the performances of the proposed real-time chain, and ultimately address and resolve the performance bottleneck due to the conventional block-synchrony by employing an asynchrony by the real-time deadline to some extent.

Background Few studies have examined the effect of atopic dermatitis (AD) on the resolution of food allergies in Asia, and the predictors of egg allergy resolution are not yet well defined. Objective We evaluated whether AD severity could predict the resolution of egg allergy. Methods This retrospective cohort study included infants under 24 months of age diagnosed with IgE-mediated egg white allergy. We included subjects who completed a 60-month follow-up. Open oral food challenges (OFCs) and serologic tests were performed at the time of initial diagnosis and at 36 ± 3 and 60 ± 3 months. Results We analyzed 68 patients (39 boys and 29 girls). OFCs were performed in 88.2% of the patients. The egg allergy remission rates were 23.5% and 47.1% by 3 and by 5 years of age, respectively. Persistent egg allergy was significantly associated with moderate to severe AD and house dust mite sensitization. Kaplan-Meier curve analysis revealed that patients with moderate to severe AD had higher persistent egg allergy rates than patients with no and mild AD (p = 0.012). Multivariable analysis identified moderate to severe AD as strongly associated with persistent egg allergy (p = 0.001). Conclusions In this study, 47.1% of infants had resolved egg white allergies at 60 months. Moderate to severe AD may be a practical and important prognostic factor for persistent egg allergy in clinical settings.

The extracellular sulfatases (exSulfs) sulfatase 1 (Sulf1) and sulfatase 2 (Sulf2) are well-known regulators of cell signaling and metabolism. In addition, exSulfs mediate the up- or downregulatory effects of cytokines on angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced expression of hypertensive mediators in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). Previously, we demonstrated that interleukin-10 (IL-10)-induced dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase-1 (DDAH-1) expression was mediated by Ang II subtype 2 receptor (AT2 R) and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation, and that IL-10-mediated inhibition of Ang II-induced proliferation of SHRs VSMC was partially associated with DDAH-1. In this study, we examined the effects of exSulfs on IL-10-induced DDAH-1 expression, abrogation of Ang II-induced DDAH-1 downregulation, and inhibition of Ang II-induced proliferation of SHRs VSMC. IL-10-induced DDAH-1 expression and abrogation of Ang II-induced DDAH-1 downregulation were attenuated in Sulf1 siRNA-transfected SHRs VSMC. However, Sulf2 did not affect IL-10-induced DDAH-1 expression and abrogation of Ang II-induced DDAH-1 downregulation. Downregulation of Sulf1 inhibited IL-10-induced AT2 R expression and the synergistic effects of IL-10 on Ang II-induced AT2 R expression. Additionally, Sulf1 downregulation inhibited IL-10-induced AMPK activity and abrogation of Ang II-induced decrease in AMPK activity. Moreover, the IL-10-mediated inhibition of Ang II-induced proliferation was not detected in Sulf1 siRNA-transfected SHRs VSMC; IL-10-mediated inhibition of Ang II-induced VSMC proliferation was mediated via the AT2 R pathway and AMPK activation. Specifically, IL-10-induced DDAH-1 expression, abrogation of Ang II-induced DDAH-1 downregulation, and inhibition of Ang II-induced proliferation, which is mediated by the AT2 R pathway and AMPK activation, are mainly mediated by Sulf1 activity in SHRs VSMC. These results suggest that Sulf1, and not Sulf2, mediates the IL-10-induced inhibition of Ang II-induced hypertensive effects in SHRs VSMC.

Background: Although urinary angiotensinogen (AGT) and renin reflect intrarenal renin-angiotensin system activity and are enhanced in proteinuric chronic kidney disease, the clinical value of urinary AGT and renin levels during antiproteinuric treatment has yet to be determined. We investigated the clinical usefulness of initial urinary AGT or renin to determine the antiproteinuric effects of angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). Methods: This multicenter, prospective, single-arm study included 205 patients with overt proteinuria (urinary protein/creatinine ratio [uPCR] ≥ 1 mg/mg) enrolled between April 2009 and December 2011. All patients were treated with valsartan. The urinary AGT/creatinine ratio (uAGT/Cr) was measured at the baseline and 24 weeks, and the renin/creatinine ratio (uR/Cr) was measured at the baseline. Fifty-six patients were followed-up for 5 years. Results: The mean age was 47.6 years and 51.2% were male. The mean uPCR was 2.32 mg/mg and the mean eGFR was 63.2 mL/min/1.73m 2 . Natural logarithms (ln) (uAGT/Cr), ln(uR/Cr), and diabetes mellitus were associated with proteinuria decrement (decrease in uPCR ≥ 1 mg/mg). Ln(uAGT/Cr) was an independent predictor for proteinuria decrement (OR 1.372, 95% CI, 1.068–1.762, P = 0.013). Among the 56 patients followed-up for 5 years, Δln(uAGT/Cr) at 24 weeks was an independent predictor for uPCR < 1 mg/mg at 5 years (OR 0.379, 95% CI, 0.20–0.715, P = 0.003). Conclusions: Our study demonstrates the potential role of both baseline urinary AGT and changes in urinary AGT during the initial 24 weeks as surrogate markers predicting the antiproteinuric effects of ARBs in patients with overt proteinuria.

3′-Sialyllactose (3′-SL), a natural prebiotic, maintains immune homeostasis and exerts anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic effects. Although regulatory T cells (Tregs) prevent excessive inflammation and maintain immune tolerance, the effect of 3′-SL on Treg regulation is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effect of 3′-SL on Treg responses in atopic dermatitis (AD) pathogenesis. Oral administration of 3′-SL reduced AD-like symptoms such as ear, epidermal, and dermal thickness in repeated topical application of house dust mites (HDM) and 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB). 3′-SL inhibited IgE, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α secretion and markedly downregulated AD-related cytokines including IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-13, IL-17, IFN-γ, TNF-α, and Tslp through regulation of NF-κB in ear tissue. Additionally, in vitro assessment of Treg differentiation revealed that 3′-SL directly induced TGF-β-mediated Treg differentiation. Furthermore, 3′-SL administration also ameliorated sensitization and elicitation of AD pathogenesis by suppressing mast cell infiltration and production of IgE and pro-inflammatory cytokines in mouse serum by mediating the Treg response. Furthermore, Bifidobacterium population was also increased by 3′-SL administration as prebiotics. Our data collectively show that 3′-SL has therapeutic effects against AD progression by inducing Treg differentiation, downregulating AD-related cytokines, and increasing the Bifidobacterium population.

High mobility group box chromosomal protein 1 (HMGB-1) released from injured cells plays an important role in the development of arthritis. This study investigated the anti-angiogenic effects of cilostazol in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) of mice, and the underlying mechanisms involved. The expressions of HIF-1α, VEGF, NF-κB p65 and SIRT1 in synovial fibroblasts obtained from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients were assessed by Western blotting, and in vitro and in vivo angiogenesis were analyzed. Tube formations by human microvascular endothelial cells (HMVECs) were significantly increased by direct exposure to HMGB1 or to conditioned medium derived from HMGB1-stimulated RA fibroblasts, and these increases were attenuated by cilostazol, the latter of which was blocked by sirtinol. HMGB1 increased the expression of HIF-1α and VEGF and concomitantly increased nuclear NF-κB p65 and DNA binding activity, but these effects of HMGB1 were inhibited by cilostazol. SIRT1 protein expression was time-dependently decreased (3–24 hr) by HMGB1, which was recovered by pretreatment with cilostazol (1–30 µM) or resveratrol, accompanying with increased SIRT1 deacetylase activity. In the tibiotarsal joint tissues of CIA mice treated with vehicle, HIF-1α- and VEGF-positive spots and CD31 staining were markedly exaggerated, whereas SIRT1 immunofluorescence was diminished. These variables were wholly reversed in cilostazol (30 mg/kg/day)-treated mice. Furthermore, number of blood vessels stained by von Willebrand factor antibody was significantly lower in cilostazol-treated CIA mice. Summarizing, cilostazol activated SIRT1 and inhibited NF-κB-mediated transcription, thereby suppressing the expression of HIF-1α and VEGF. In addition, cilostazol caused HIF-1α deacetylation by enhancing SIRT1 activity and reduced VEGF production, thereby had an anti-angiogenic effect in vitro studies and in CIA murine model.

Injury, surgery, and disease often disrupt tissues and it is the process of regeneration that aids the restoration of architecture and function. Regeneration can occur through multiple strategies including stem cell expansion, transdifferentiation, or proliferation of differentiated cells. We have identified a case of regeneration in Xenopus embryonic aggregates that restores a mucociliated epithelium from mesenchymal cells. Following disruption of embryonic tissue architecture and assembly of a compact mesenchymal aggregate, regeneration first restores an epithelium, transitioning from mesenchymal cells at the surface of the aggregate. Cells establish apico-basal polarity within 5 hours and a mucociliated epithelium within 24 hours. Regeneration coincides with nuclear translocation of the putative mechanotransducer YAP1 and a sharp increase in aggregate stiffness, and regeneration can be controlled by altering stiffness. We propose that regeneration of a mucociliated epithelium occurs in response to biophysical cues sensed by newly exposed cells on the surface of a disrupted mesenchymal tissue., The role of tissue mechanics in the regeneration of mucociliated epithelium in Xenopus is unclear. Here, the authors show that Xenopus ectoderm aggregates undergo epithelial-like phenotypic transition prior to differentiation of mucus-secreting goblet cells to enable regeneration.

Background and Objective: Since methomyl shows a highly significant toxicity, the clinical outcome of acute methomyl pesticide intoxication is extremely critical. Methomyl is a kind of carbamate poisons. Similar to intoxications with other carbamate insecticides, methomyl intoxication inhibits the activity of acetylcholinesterase, which is contained within synaptic junctions between neurons. Most of the methomyl intoxication cases present with symptoms of cholinergic excess, which provokes respiratory failure, cardiovascular failure, and/or cardiorespiratory failure. Methomyl poisoning in humans has not yet been fully evaluated and most studies have reported sporadic cases or series of intoxication. Methomyl poisoning remains a continuing challenge, because this difficult-to-treat clinical condition is frequently associated with significantly high mortality and morbidity. We evaluated the usefulness of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the treatment of methomyl intoxication. Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted using the PRISMA guidelines without language restriction. We searched for scientific publications via PubMed, Embase, Cochrane central register of controlled trial, Google Scholar, the KoreaMed, and the Research Information Sharing Service database. The goal of this study was to report on incidence, associated complications, and morbidity/mortality of methomyl poisoning, and to draw special attention to its management with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Results: Only 1 case of a child treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for carbamate or organophosphate intoxication was identified in the literature. After carbamate or organophosphate intoxication, the patient suffered from severe complications including neurological deficits, renal insufficiency, and severe respiratory failure. This child was treated with continuous hemofiltration and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, but expired after 38 days of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. In case of our patient, he recovered from the methomyl intoxication after 7 days of VA-ECMO. Conclusions: With only a few exceptions, acute methomyl poisoning is potentially life-threatening and has high incidences of morbidity and mortality. Therefore, physicians should keep in mind the possibility of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for the quick support of intoxication. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support might be an alternative to overcome the cholinergic excess, such as respiratory failure, cardiovascular failure, and/or cardiorespiratory failure, especially in the case of severe acute methomyl intoxication.

In modern smart factories, quality estimation is vital for maximum productivity. However, quality estimation by definition relies on an imbalanced dataset, as most smart factories are highly efficient. In this research, we propose a guided quality estimation system that can recognize faulty data among a highly imbalanced production dataset. We also propose a customized LSTM model that is trained to ensure high accuracy in the quality estimation system. This is achieved by our proposed batch-wise balanced training method. Moreover, traditional means of evaluation for this type of method are not suitable, again due to the highly imbalanced nature of the dataset. Thus, a proper evaluation metric is also discussed. The proposed customized LSTM model with custom batch-wise SMOTE + ENN achieved 99.9% accuracy with an f1 score of 95%. This new proposed method for the imbalanced smart factory quality estimation will improve drastically and give pathway to more improved quality. Finally, we discuss practical implementation for the edge server consisting of the proposed guided production estimation system and real-time visualization. Feasibility analysis of this virtual environment-based application of the proposed framework ensured low computational overhead and faster processing.

We present the orbital period variations of 14,127 contact eclipsing binaries (CEBs) based on the OGLE-III\&IV observations in the Galactic bulge. New times of minimum lights for the CEBs were derived by binary modeling for the full seasonal light curves, which were made from survey observations at an interval of 1 year. The orbital period changes of the systems were classified based on the statistical inference, multiple-hypothesis testing error measure, and visual inspection of the eclipse timing diagrams. As the results, we identified 13,716 CEBs with a parabola, 307 CEBs with a sinusoid, and 104 CEBs with the two variations. The period distributions of the inner close binaries and the outer companions were in the ranges of $0.235-0.990$ days and $5.0-14.0$ years, respectively. In our sample of 13,820 CEBs showing a parabolic variation, the highest decreasing and increasing period rates were determined to be $\dot P=-1.38\pm0.06\times10^{-5}$ day year$^{-1}$ for OGLE-BLG-ECL-169991 and $\dot P=+8.99\pm0.44\times10^{-6}$ day year$^{-1}$ for OGLE-BLG-ECL-189805, respectively. The secular period change rates were distributed almost symmetrically around zero, and most of them lie within $\dot P=\pm5.0\times10^{-6}$ day year$^{-1}$., 19 pages, 8 figures

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on hemodialysis have poor nutritional status and associated problems such as inflammation and sarcopenia. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) is an important measure of uremic toxins, and urea reduction is a marker of hemodialysis efficacy. However, a low protein diet for lower BUN could aggravate malnutrition in patients, and optimal pre-dialysis BUN is not defined. We investigated the association of pre-dialysis BUN with patients' comorbidities and the relationship between pre-dialysis BUN and serum albumin as a nutrient marker. Among the 67 patients, the average pre- and post-dialysis BUN were 59.2 and 15.0 mg/dL, respectively, serum creatinine was 10.1 mg/dL, and the average serum albumin was 4.0 g/dL. Patients' age was negatively correlated with serum creatinine (r=-0.277, p0.05) and albumin (r=-0.453, p0.001). Predialysis BUN showed a significant positive correlation with serum albumin (r=0.287, p0.05) and creatinine (r=0.454, p0.001). However, the predialysis BUN was not significantly related to diabetes, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, or cerebrovascular disease. Hemodialysis patients with high pre-dialysis BUN and high serum creatinine could be regarded as having good nutritional status. The significance of this study lies in the potential utility of pre-dialysis blood urea nitrogen as an indicator of the nutritional status of patients. Liberal protein intake might be recommended to adequately dialyzed patients.

Purpose Three observations drove this study. First, 2′-5′-oligoadenylate synthetase-like protein (OASL) is a negative regulator of type I interferon (IFN). Second, type I IFN plays a central role during virus infections and the pathogenesis of various diseases, including asthma. Third, influenza A virus (IAV) causes non-eosinophilic asthma. To evaluate the potential relationships between OASL, type I IFN, and pulmonary innate immune cells in IAV-induced acute airway inflammation by using Oasl1-/- mice. Methods Asthma was induced in wild-type (WT) and Oasl1-/- mice with IAV or ovalbumin (OVA). Airway hyperreactivity (AHR) and immune cell infiltration in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids were measured. The immune cells in the lungs were analyzed by flow cytometry. To investigate the ability of type I IFN to shape the response of lung type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s), IFN-α was treated intratracheally. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) sorted from bone marrow and ILC2s sorted from lungs of naive mice were co-cultured with/without interferon-alpha receptor subunit 1 (IFNAR-1)-blocking antibodies. Results In the IAV-induced asthma model, Oasl1-/- mice developed greater AHR and immune cell infiltration in the BAL fluids than WT mice. This was not observed in OVA-induced asthma, a standard model of allergen-induced asthma. The lungs of infected Oasl1-/- mice also had elevated DC numbers and Ifna expression and depressed IAV-induced ILC2 responses, namely, proliferation and type 2 cytokine and amphiregulin production. Intratracheal administration of type I IFN in naïve mice suppressed lung ILC2 production of type 2 cytokines and amphiregulin. Co-culture of ILC2s with pDCs showed that pDCs inhibit the function of ILC2s by secreting type I IFN. Conclusions OASL1 may impede the IAV-induced acute airway inflammation that drives AHR by inhibiting IAV-induced type I IFN production from lung DCs, thereby preserving the functions of lung ILC2s, including their amphiregulin production.