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The thermoelectric figure of merit ZT of GeTe is increased by about 77% through the optimized carrier concentration and hyperconverged electronic structure by Bi doping and CuInTe2 alloying.

Many industrialized areas of the world demand for the nutraceuticals due to rapidly growing health risks linked with higher consumption of processed foods. Tateishi Kazu vegetable soup or miracle soup is widely consumed around the world because of its nutraceutical properties. In the current research, the Tateishi Kazu vegetable soup was made from both organic and nonorganic sources, such as carrot, burdock root, shiitake mushroom, daikon radish, and radish leaves. We analyzed colour, antioxidant properties, cell viability, and mineral and free amino acid contents of both soups. The L∗a∗b and pH values revealed no drastic changes in the colour of the organic soup stored for 96 hours. The essential amino acids were present in higher amounts in an organic soup compared to the nonorganic soup. Similarly, the total mineral contents of the organic soup were higher than the nonorganic soup; however, potassium was the major mineral in both soups. Higher phenolic contents with elevated 2,2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were noticed in organic soup. Moreover, both soups showed considerable reduction in cell viability of HepG2 cells tested through the MTT assay. From the present study, we concluded that the organic Tateishi Kazu vegetable soup can be of great importance to food industry due to the presence of viable nutrients and pharmacological properties.

Here, we report efficient and stable indium phosphide (InP) based inverted red quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) using a new high mobility and deep HOMO level hole transport layer (HTL) and...

Peach, an important fruit crop for its health benefits, is grown in different parts of the world. A huge amount of unripe peaches, which are obtained during fruit thinning or as natural fruit drop,...

Soybean sprouts, a nutritional food product, can contribute to food security because they can be grown within a week and do not require sophisticated technology. The yield and quality of soybean sprouts are influenced by various factors, including seed priming and growing conditions. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of seed soaking in different concentrations of illite, a clay mineral, on the yield and quality of soybean sprouts. Soybean seeds soaked in five concentrations (0.5%, 1%, 3%, 5%, and 10%, w/v) of illite or tap water for 8 h were named IP-0.5, IP-1, IP3, IP-5, IP-10, and control, respectively. The highest sprout yield was found in IP-3, followed by IP-1, and IP-5, which had 11.1%, 8.8%, and 7.4% increments, respectively, compared to the control. The content of vitamin C, mineral element, isoflavone, total polyphenol, and total flavonoid was higher in many of the illite-treated soybean sprouts than in the control. The overall results indicated that pre-soaking soybean seeds in lower concentrations (0.5−3%, w/v) of illite could be helpful to enhance the yield and nutritional value of soybean sprouts in an easy and inexpensive way.

Lemon (Citrus limonBurm. f.) is one of the most widely produced and consumed fruits in the world. The seeds of lemon are generally discarded as waste. The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality characteristics and antioxidant potential of lemon seed oil obtained by four extraction methods (roasted-pressing at 170°C, RP-170; roasted-pressing at 100°C, RP-100; cold-pressing, CP; and supercritical fluid, SF). No significant differences in the viscosity, density, and refractive index were observed in the oil obtained from different methods. In the case of Hunter's value,L(lightness) andb(yellowness) values of SF were higher than those of the others. The oil obtained by the CP method exhibited higher levels of Ca (252.17 mg/kg), Cu (2.38 mg/kg), K (225.98 mg/kg), and Mo (0.47 mg/kg) than that of other methods. The highest contents of total phenols (165.90 mg/mL) and flavonoids (21.69 mg/mL) were significantly high in oil obtained by the SF method. Oleic and linoleic acids consisted of principal fatty acids, which were significantly higher in oil obtained by RP-170. Higher amounts of volatile flavor compounds, such as γ-terpinene, sabinene, and limonene, were observed in CP compared to those observed for the other methods. This study elucidates the effects of different methods of oil extraction on the composition of lemon seed oil and highlights potential applications of these benefits in the food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and/or fragrance industries.

Peanut shell; a byproduct of an important leguminous crop, peanut; is a potential source of different functional compounds. Antioxidant activities, secondary metabolites and amino acid contents in peanut shells of six Korean cultivars were studied in the present study. Peanut shells showed remarkable antioxidant potentials with high amounts of total polyphenol (428.1–739.8 µg gallic acid equivalents/g), flavonoid (142.6–568.0 µg quercetin equivalents/g), and amino acid (5.76–34.56 mg/g) contents. 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS), superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity, and reducing power potential of the peanut shells were considerable. The results suggest that the shells of Korean peanut cultivars could be a potential source of natural antioxidants and functional compounds for various industrial uses including cosmetics. Keywords: Antioxidant activity, Cosmetic, Free amino acid, Peanut shell, Polyphenol

We examined the adaptability of Korean winter forage crops such as Italian ryegrass, barley, oat, and triticale in Uzbekistan. The overall growth before wintering was slightly different between Uzbekistani and Korean varieties, but there was no significant difference among winter forage crops. The heading date of the Korean triticale 'Shinyoung' was the earliest, (April 4), and the heading date of the Uzbekistani triticale 'Frack cerebristy' was quite late, (April 25). The heading date of the Korean Italian ryegrass 'Kowinearly' was four days earlier than that of 'Kowinmaster,' on April 13, and that of the Korean barley ‘Youngyang’ and ‘Yuyeon’ were five days earlier than that of the Uzbekistani barley ‘Bolgaly’. The maximum dry matter yield of winter forage crop was from Uzbekistan triticale, 'Frack cerebristy', which was 13,536 kg/ha. The dry matter yield of Uzbekistan barley was 8,222 kg/ha. Compared with Uzbekistan barley, 'Bolgaly', yields of Korean barley 'Youngyang' and 'Yuyeon', Korean oat 'Samhan', and Korean Italian ryegrass 'Kowinearly' and 'Kowinmaster' were 59∼64%, 125%, and 113∼133%, respectively.

The objective of this study was to prepare low-alcoholic takju. Low-alcohol (3.06%) and dealcoholized (0.04–0.28%) takju samples were prepared by adopting bentonite clarification, heat and reverse osmosis treatments. The dealcoholization of takju, in most cases, significantly (p

Due to the negative consequences of synthetic herbicides use and their reducing effectiveness due to development of resistant weeds, promotion of eco-friendly weed management approaches is emphasized. Weed suppression by intercropping is basically attributed to increasing competition between the crop plants and weeds and/or the allelopathy effect of some crop plants. The effect of root extracts of maize or soybean on beggarticks and goosegrass weeds, as well as the effect of sole cropping of corn or soybean on weed occurrence and growth were investigated. The germination and seedling vigor of the two weeds were significantly (P < 0.05) inhibited with the maize root extract compared to those with soybean. Similarly, 420.52% low amount of fresh weeds was collected from the maize-grown pots (37.03 g) compared to that of the soybean-grown pots (155.72 g). The results of this study revealed that intercropping of soybean with maize could be an effective option to reduce the weed problem although comprehensive field studies are necessary for practical applications.

Background Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) should be considered for patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) having estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥ 30 mL/min/1.73 m2 and urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) > 30 mg/g. However, SGLT2i is currently underprescribed among eligible, at-risk patients for CKD progression. We analyzed prescription patterns and barriers to initiating SGLT2i in patients with T2D and CKD in real practice. Methods A total of 3,703 consecutive outpatients with T2D from four teaching hospitals during six months (2019 ~ 2020) were reviewed. Five eGFR categories (G1, ≥ 90; G2, 60–89; G3ab, 30–59; G4-5, < 30 mL/min/1.73 m2) and three UACR categories (A1, < 30; A2, 30–300; A3, > 300 mg/g) were used to define CKD status. Results Overall, 25.8 % patients received SGLT2i in the following eGFR and albuminuria categories: G1 (A1, 31 %; A2, 48 %; A3, 45 %); G2 (A1, 18 %; A2, 24 %; A3, 30%); and G3 (A1, 9 %; A2, 7 %; A3, 13 %). Total prevalence estimate of CKD was 33.8 % (n = 1,253), of whom 25.6 % patients received SGLT2i. We defined eGFR ≥ 45 mL/min/1.73 m2 and UACR ≥ 30 mg/g as high-risk CKD group eligible for SGLT2i (n = 905), of whom 32.9 % patients were treated with an SGLT2i. In this high-risk group, SGLT2i initiation showed negative correlations with age ≥ 65 years and recent hospitalization. Conversely, HbA1c level, body mass index (BMI), presence of diabetic retinopathy, and previous heart failure events were positively correlated with SGLT2i initiation. Conclusions Only 32.9 % of T2D with CKD eligible for SGLT2i is currently treated with SGLT2i in real-world clinical practice. The older patient group and clinical inertia are the main barriers to initiate SGLT2i for eligible patients. Clinicians should change the glucocentric approach and focus on reducing renal events in T2D.

Background: Postoperative hypoparathyroidism is a major complication of thyroidectomy that occurs when the parathyroid glands are inadvertently damaged during surgery. Although intraoperative images are rarely used to train AI because of its complex nature, our group recognized the potential of training AI to intraoperatively detect parathyroid glands using various augmentation methods. The aim of the present study was to train an effective artificial intelligence (AI) model to detect parathyroid glands during thyroidectomy and evaluate its accuracy. Methods: Video clips of the parathyroid gland were collected during thyroid lobectomy procedures. Confirmed parathyroid images were used to form three types of datasets according to augmentation status: baseline, geometric transformation, and generative adversarial network-based image inpainting. The average precision was set as the primary outcome regarding the performance of parathyroid detection performance. Findings: The performance of the AI model in detecting parathyroid glands based on baseline data was 77%. This performance was enhanced by applying both geometric transformation and image inpainting augmentation methods. Between the two, the geometric transformation data augmentation dataset demonstrated superior results compared to that of the image inpainting model. The average precision was 79% in the transformation dataset vs. 78.6% in the inpainting dataset. However, when the model was subjected to images of a completely different thyroidectomy approach, image inpainting methods proved to be more effective compared to both geometric transformation and baseline (46% vs. 37% vs. 33%). Conclusions: Our study demonstrated the utility of our AI model, which, when aided with appropriate augmentation methods, is potentially an effective and generalizable tool for intraoperative identification of parathyroid glands during thyroidectomy. Furthermore, this technology has significant potential to be easily extended to identifying important structures during other surgical procedures in general. Funding Information: Basic Science Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea [NRF-2019R1C1C1008384]. Declaration of Interests: We declare no competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: Institutional review board approval was acquired (GDIRB2019-359), and research was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki in its latest form.

A procedure for the seismic fragility assessment of nuclear power plants by applying ground motions compatible with the conditional probability distribution of a conditional spectrum (CS) is presented with a case study of a containment building. Three CSs were constructed using different control frequencies to investigate the influence of the control frequency. Horizontal component-to-component directional variability was introduced by randomly rotating the horizontal axes of the recorded ground motions. Nonlinear lumped mass stick models were constructed using variables distributed by Latin hypercube sampling to model the uncertainty. An incremental dynamic analysis was performed, and seismic fragility curves were calculated. In addition, a seismic input based on a uniform hazard response spectrum (UHRS) was applied to the seismic fragility assessment for comparison. By selecting a control frequency dominating the seismic response, the CS-based seismic input produces an enhanced ‘high confidence of low probability of failure’ capacity and lower seismic risk than the UHRS-based seismic input.

3D NAND flash memory has enhanced its areal density by more than 50% per year by virtue of the aggressive development of 3D WL stacking technology for the recent three consecutive years [1]–[3]. Also storage market still requires more bits for diverse digital applications. [4]

This study was carried out to determine the effect of different concentrations of Bacillus subtilis (0, 1, 3, 5, and 7%) on the antioxidant potential and biochemical constituents of traditional Korean fermented soybean, Cheonggukjang (CKJ). The antioxidant capacity was studied using the reducing power, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2-azinobis (3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) assays and the total phenolic contents (TPC) were measured using the Folin–Ciocalteu method. CKJ prepared using 1% B. subtilis revealed the highest TPC (5.99 mg/g), total amino acids (7.43 mg/g), DPPH (94.24%), and ABTS (86.03%) radical-scavenging activity and had the highest value of palmitic acid (11.65%), stearic acid (2.87%), and linolenic acid (11.76%). Results showed that the calcium, iron, sodium, and zinc contents increased in the CKJ prepared using 7% B. subtilis from 1481.38 to 1667.32, 41.38 to 317.00, 48.01 to 310.07, and 32.82 to 37.18 mg/kg respectively. In conclusion, the present results indicate that the fermentation of soybean with B. subtilis (KCTC 13241) significantly augments the nutritional and antioxidant potential of CKJ and it can be recommended as a health-promoting food source.

Background: Extended endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress may initiate apoptotic pathways in cancer cells, and ER stress has been reported to possibly increase tumor death in cancer therapy. We previously reported that caspase-8 played an important role in compound K-induced apoptosis via activation of caspase-3 directly or indirectly through Bid cleavage, cytochrome c release, and caspase-9 activation in HL-60 human leukemia cells. The mechanisms leading to apoptosis in A549 and SK-MES-1 human lung cancer cells and the role of ER stress have not yet been understood. Methods: The apoptotic effects of compound K were analyzed using flow cytometry, and the changes in protein levels were determined using Western blot analysis. The intracellular calcium levels were monitored by staining with Fura-2/AM and Fluo-3/AM. Results: Compound K-induced ER stress was confirmed through increased phosphorylation of eIF2α and protein levels of GRP78/BiP, XBP-1S, and IRE1α in human lung cancer cells. Moreover, compound-K led to the accumulation of intracellular calcium and an increase in m-calpain activities that were both significantly inhibited by pretreatment either with BAPTA-AM (an intracellular Ca2+ chelator) or dantrolene (an RyR channel antagonist). These results were correlated with the outcome that compound K induced ER stress-related apoptosis through caspase-12, as z-ATAD-fmk (a specific inhibitor of caspase-12) partially ameliorated this effect. Interestingly, 4-PBA (ER stress inhibitor) dramatically improved the compound K-induced apoptosis. Conclusion: Cell survival and intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis during ER stress in human lung cancer cells are important factors in the induction of the compound K-induced apoptotic pathway. Keywords: apoptosis, calcium, compound K, ER stress, lung cancer cells

Soybean sprouts have been established as an important year-round vegetable in Korea, China, and Japan for a long time. Very few studies on quality of soybean sprouts during storage have been reported so far although considerably large number of reports have been available for production techniques. Since persimmon fruit powder is reported to have positive influence on yield and nutritional value of soybean sprouts, the objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of persimmon fruit powder on quality of soybean sprouts during storage at room temperature (20±1°C) and at low temperature (4±1°C). Bacterial count was low in treated soybean sprouts as compared to that of untreated control. Vitamin C content was high in treated soybean sprouts but the rate of its depletion was high in untreated control sample. Chlorophyll content was not affected during storage at room temperature. Storage caused decrease in hardness of soybean sprouts and the rate of decrement in hardness was higher at untreated control than in treated samples. This study showed that soybean seeds soaking in water containing persimmon fruit powder could help reduce bacterial infection, resist in depleting vitamin C content, and maintain the texture of soybean sprouts during storage.

Seed starch content (SSC) greatly affects the taste, flavour and processing properties of soy foods. The objective in this study was to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) for SSC in soybean. A total in 169 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross in ‘Williams 82’ and ‘PI 366121’ were grown for three consecutive years. The SSC of the RILs displayed continuous variation with transgressive segregation and hence amenable for QTL mapping. Nine significant QTL exhibiting 5.6–11.3% of the total phenotypic variation (PVE) were identified. The QTL qSTR06_2 showed highest PVE (9.1–11.3%) at LOD values of 4.25–5.39. No stable QTL over 3 years were identified, indicating strong environmental influence on SSC. The QTL qSTR11_1 and qSTR20_1 were found to colocalize with some of the previously reported QTL for sucrose content in soybean, implying the interrelationship between starch and sucrose biosynthesis. As the carbohydrate components may affect key constituents such as oil and protein in soybean seed, findings of the study may be useful in breeding soybeans with improved seed composition.

Acceptance of green tea, a health promoting functional food material, could be increased if its flavor is improved. Persimmon seeds and leaves are likely potential options for green tea improvement since they contain a large number of volatile flavor compounds. In the present study, amino acids, volatile flavor compounds, and antioxidant potentials of persimmon tea (PT) prepared with green tea were investigated. PT contained 8 essential amino acids, most of which are associated with learning ability and memory as well as stroke and neurodegenerative diseases prevention. Total free amino acid was high in persimmon seed tea (273.37-300.61 µg/mL) as compared to persimmon leaf tea (179.75-198.44 µg/mL). Total phenol content of persimmon leaf tea ranged from 333.07 to 348.87 GAE µg/g and that of seed tea from 324.63 to 356.73 GAE µg/g. Some of the volatile flavor compounds such as 2-undecanone; furfural; 5-methyl furfural; benzoic acid, methyl ester; benzaldehyde, 4-methyl; and phenol, 2,4-bis (1,1-dimethylethyl) were found in persimmon leaf and seed tea. The results of the present study suggest that persimmon leaf and seed could offer good options to enhance the preference of green tea along with its nutritional value. Key words: Acceptance, green tea, nutritional value, persimmon leaf, persimmon seed.