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BACKGROUND: Frailty frequently coexists with hypertension in older patients. We aimed to evaluate the association between frailty and positional change in blood pressure, especially orthostatic hypertension. METHODS: Participants were recruited from 12 University hospitals in South Korea. Using a digital device, trained research nurses measured blood pressure in the supine and standing positions. Physical frailty was evaluated using the Korean version of the FRAIL questionnaire, gait speed, and handgrip strength. Orthostatic hypertension was defined as a ≥20-mm Hg increase in systolic blood pressure within 3 minutes of standing and upright systolic blood pressure of ≥140 mm Hg. RESULTS: We analyzed the data of 2065 participants who had been enrolled until December 31, 2022. The mean age was 73.2±5.6 years, and 52.0% were female. The mean blood pressure was 137.1±14.9/75.1±9.7 mm Hg. Among the participants, 1886 (91.3%) showed normal response after standing, but 94 (4.6%) had orthostatic hypertension, and 85 (4.1%) had orthostatic hypotension. Orthostatic hypertension was associated with female sex, obesity, cognitive function, physical frailty, and lower quality of life. In the multivariable analysis, body mass index and frailty status were independently associated with orthostatic hypertension. CONCLUSIONS: Orthostatic hypertension is associated with physical frailty, cognitive impairment, and low quality of life in older patients with hypertension. Therefore, evaluation of orthostatic blood pressure changes to confirm orthostatic hypertension or hypotension in frail older adults will serve as an important diagnostic procedure in vulnerable patients. Further studies are required to identify the underlying mechanisms of this association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study examines the influence of preoperative fatty infiltration (FI) of the subscapularis tendon (SBS) on outcomes following reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (rTSA) with SBS repair. Methods: A cohort of 161 rTSA patients with SBS repair, followed for a mean of 45.3 months, was divided into three groups based on FI: Group A (intact upper and lower portions, n = 85), Group B (intact lower portions, n = 44), and Group C (fatty infiltrated in both portions, n = 32). The mean age was 74.5 years (range: 65–95). Results: Preoperative FI displayed significant disparity among the groups: Group A (1.18 ± 0.60), Group B (2.95 ± 0.56), and Group C (4.0 ± 0.00) (p <.001). Group A exhibited a more positive trend in activities of daily living, particularly in toileting ability (81% in Group A, 68% in Group B, and 72% in Group C), although without statistical significance (p = 0.220). Complication rates varied: Group A had seven acromial fractures (8%), three cases of instability (3%), and six instances of scapular notching (7%). Group B experienced four acromial fractures (9%) and four cases of scapular notching (9%), while Group C had only one case of scapular notching (3%) (p = 0.733). Conclusion: In cases characterized by favorable preoperative SBS quality, there was an elevation in functional internal rotation (IR) post-surgery, accompanied by an increased incidence of postoperative complications. Hence, careful consideration is advised when determining the necessity for SBS repair. Level of Evidence: Level III, retrospective comparative study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is a tertiary bile acid synthesized by the liver and has various functions such as promoting bile secretion, antibacterial effect, inflammatory treatment, cholesterol reduction, and degradation. UDCA seems to be a material that can be applied in many aspects, such as adding it to implant coating materials or wound coatings. However, until now, only experiments and studies have been conducted to administer UDCA orally as a drug. In this paper, research was conducted to serve as a foothold for the application of UDCA to in vitro research. In this study, polymer fibers were prepared using electrospinning technology by mixing UDCA with Polycaprolactone(PCL), a biocompatible polymer. Through various analyses, it was confirmed that UDCA was contained in the electrospun membrane. In addition, it was confirmed that UDCA functions properly through the appearance of antimicrobial properties in antimicrobial experiments. The PCL/UDCA electrospun fiber prepared in this study and the analysis results using it show that UDCA can be applied not only to oral drugs but also to various fields such as wound coverings and stent coating membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, heavy rains caused by climate change have resulted in dam failures due to overtopping. This study presents a design method aiming to prevent overtopping failures by applying gabion retaining walls at the dam crest. Simulations, experiments, and measurements were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of this design. The design framework aims to establish a system in which gabion retaining walls prevent overtopping when water levels exceed the crest of the dam, efficiently draining seepage water into the dam body through vertical filters. Research findings indicate that implementing dam crest core and geomembrane design effectively prevents seepage and saturation of the downstream slope during overtopping events. Notably, the reservoir dam operates in a stable manner, as seepage water passing through the dam body is directed solely to the toe drain. Overall, this design approach suggests its potential as a practical solution by significantly reducing hazards resulting from heavy rainfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between innovative behavior and psychological well-being has been well documented. Organizations believe that innovative behavior is essential for their survival and can increase their effectiveness, promoting employee happiness. However, the causal orientation discrepancies between self-determination theory and conservation of resources theory predict the complexity of this relationship. I examined the curvilinear relationship between innovative behavior and psychological well-being, as well as the moderating effects of empowering leadership and work engagement on this relationship. Analysis revealed an inverted U-shaped relationship between innovative behavior and psychological well-being, which was strengthened by empowering leadership and work engagement. Furthermore, psychological well-being positively influenced in-role performance. By revealing the effects on performance, this study contributes to the literature on innovation and positive organizational behavior, and provides practical implications and suggestions for future research on possible nonlinearities among the examined variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objectives: Lumbar lordotic curvature (LLC), closely associated with low back pain (LBP) when decreased, is infrequently assessed in clinical settings due to the spatiotemporal limitations of radiographic methods. To overcome these constraints, this study used an inertial measurement system to compare the magnitude and maintenance of LLC across various sitting conditions, categorized into three aspects: verbal instructions, chair type, and desk task types. Methods: Twenty-nine healthy participants were instructed to sit for 3 min with two wireless sensors placed on the 12th thoracic vertebra and the 2nd sacral vertebra. The lumbar lordotic angle (LLA) was measured using relative angles for the mediolateral axis and comparisons were made within each sitting category. Results: The maintenance of LLA (LLAdev) was significantly smaller when participants were instructed to sit upright (−3.7 ± 3.9°) compared to that of their habitual sitting posture (−1.2 ± 2.4°) (p = 0.001), while the magnitude of LLA (LLAavg) was significantly larger with an upright sitting posture (p = 0.001). LLAdev was significantly larger when using an office chair (−0.4 ± 1.1°) than when using a stool (−3.2 ± 7.1°) (p = 0.033), and LLAavg was also significantly larger with the office chair (p < 0.001). Among the desk tasks, LLAavg was largest during keyboard tasks (p < 0.001), followed by mouse and writing tasks; LLAdev showed a similar trend without statistical significance (keyboard, −1.2 ± 3.0°; mouse, −1.8 ± 2.2°; writing, −2.9 ± 3.1°) (p = 0.067). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that strategies including the use of an office chair and preference for computer work may help preserve LLC, whereas in the case of cueing, repetition may be necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The learning accuracy of neuromorphic computing that mimics the biological brain, is affected by the conductance‐modulation characteristics of an artificial synapse. In ferroelectric‐based devices, these characteristics are implemented using a distribution of polarization values. Therefore, the distribution in a ferroelectric thin film with various external voltage signals is investigate. As polarization switching proceeds with voltage pulse, the domains of the switched polarization become larger. In ferroelectric‐gate field effect transistors, the channel layer assumed to lie beneath the ferroelectrics experiences a local conductance change, according to the polarization distribution of the ferroelectric layer. It is found that small clusters with high conductivity become large clusters in the channel layer as the polarization switching proceeds. When the additional pulses are applied, the high conductive regions eventually connect (i.e., percolate) in the channel layer and the conductance of the layer is greatly increased. Adjusting the height of the applied voltage can slow down or speed up this phenomenon. Also, the nanosecond voltage pulses are employed and the width of the conductive pathway is adjusted. It enables to fine‐tune the conductance of the channel layer. It demonstrates that conductance modulation is optimized with an appropriate voltage pulse train pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe the new and improved version 2 of the ozone profile research product from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on the Aura satellite. One of the major changes is to switch the OMI L1b data from collection 3 to the recent collection 4 as well as the accompanying auxiliary datasets. The algorithm details are updated on radiative transfer model calculation and measurement calibrations, along with the input changes in meteorological data, and with the use of a tropopause-based ozone profile climatology, an improved high-resolution solar reference spectrum, and a recent ozone absorption cross-section dataset. A super Gaussian is applied to better represent OMI slit functions instead of a normal Gaussian. The effect of slit function errors on the spectral residuals is further accounted for as pseudo-absorbers in the iterative fit process. The OMI irradiances are averaged into monthly composites to reduce noise uncertainties in OMI daily measurements and to cancel out the temporal variations of instrument characteristics that are common in both radiance and irradiance measurements, which was previously neglected due to use of climatological composites. The empirical soft calibration spectra are re-derived to be consistent with the updated implementations and derived annually to remove the time-varying systematic biases between measured and simulated radiances. The "common mode" correction spectra are derived from remaining residual spectra after soft calibration as a function of solar zenith angle. The common mode is included as a pseudo-absorber in the iterative fit process, which helps to reduce the discrepancies of ozone retrieval accuracy between lower and higher solar zenith angles and between nadir and off-nadir pixels. Validation with ozonesonde measurements demonstrates the improvements of ozone profile retrievals in the troposphere, especially around the tropopause. The retrieval quality of tropospheric column ozone is improved with respect to the seasonal consistency between winter and summer as well as the long-term consistency before and after the row-anomaly occurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]