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Abstract Background Pwani Regional Secretariat in Tanzania implemented the Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health Project (2016–2022) through Direct Health Facility Financing (DHFF), which allocates funds directly to health facilities. This study assessed the impact of the six-year DHFF project in Pwani region. Methods The study utilised District Health Information Software 2 data from 18 intervention health facilities in Pwani region. Control groups comprised an equal number of facilities from Pwani and Dodoma regions where the project was not implemented. Key indicators assessed included ‘ANC 4 + Rate (%)’, ‘Percentage of Mothers tested for Anaemia during ANC’, ‘Caesarean Section Delivery Rate (%)’, ‘Percentage of Mothers and Newborns receiving PNC services within 48 hours’, ‘Delivery Complication Rate (%)’, and ‘SBA Delivery Rate (%)’ which are associated with the project interventions. The impact of the project was analysed using a paired sample t-test comparing baseline and endline data. We evaluated the significance of the dependent variables using one-way ANOVA with control groups, with the Tukey-Kramer test for post hoc analysis. Chi-square test assessed the significance of Caesarean Section Delivery Rate and the relationship between variables and health facility conditions. Pearson correlation test was used for significance between funding size and the change of MNCH variables. Statistical significance at 0.05 was calculated. Results The project showed limited positive impacts, only in the ‘Percentage of Mothers tested for Anaemia during ANC’ (****p

Abstract Irritable bowel syndrome is a chronic disorder affecting the gastrointestinal tract, negatively impacting patients’ quality of life. Here, we aimed to evaluate the effects of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus IDCC 3201 (RH 3201) on irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C). In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, a total of 30 subjects with IBS-C were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive 8 weeks of probiotics administration or placebo. Concerning bowel activities, both irritant bowel movements and discomfort caused by constipation showed significant improvement with RH 3201 at 8 weeks. Symptoms including severity of abdominal bloating, frequency of abdominal bloating, and satisfaction of bowel habits based on the irritable bowel syndrome-severity scoring system also ameliorated in the probiotic group. Analysis of the fecal microbiome revealed that the abundance of Bacteroides cellulosilyticus and Akkermansia muciniphila was higher during the period of RH 3201 administration compared to the placebo. Untargeted metabolome analysis further suggested a correlation between specific metabolites, such as N-acetylornithine, xanthine, and 3-phenylpropionic acid, and the improvement of clinical symptoms. These results indicate that RH 3201 was effective in ameliorating IBS-C, potentially by enriching beneficial microbes and associated metabolites in the gut environment.

Abstract Background High-resolution manometry (HRM) can quantify swallowing pathophysiology to evaluate the status of the pharynx. Sequential 4-channel neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) was recently developed based on the normal contractile sequences of swallowing-related muscles. This study aimed to examine the effects of sequential 4-channel NMES for compensatory application during swallowing and to observe the residual effects after the application of NMES using HRM. Results Sequential 4-channel NMES significantly improved the HRM parameters, with respect to the maximal pressure and area of the velopharynx (VP), maximal pressure and area of the mesopharynx (MP), and upper esophageal sphincter (UES) activation and nadir duration. Furthermore, the improvement in the pressure and area variables of the VP and MP showed a tendency to maintain even when measured after NMES, but there are no significant differences. Conclusions The present study suggests that the sequential 4-channel NMES application of the suprahyoid and infrahyoid muscles during swallowing improves the pressure, area, and time variables of the oropharynx, as measured by HRM, and it is likely that the effects may persist even after stimulation. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov, registration number: NCT02718963 (initial release: 03/20/2016, actual study completion date: 06/24/2016, last release: 10/20/2020).

Abstract Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) exploits localized surface plasmon resonances in metallic nanostructures to significantly amplify Raman signals and perform ultrasensitive analyses. A critical factor for SERS-based analysis systems is the formation of numerous electromagnetic hot spots within the nanostructures, which represent regions with highly concentrated fields emerging from excited localized surface plasmons. These intense hotspot fields can amplify the Raman signal by several orders of magnitude, facilitating analyte detection at extremely low concentrations and highly sensitive molecular identification at the single-nanoparticle level. In this study, mesoscopic star-shaped gold particles (gold mesostars) were synthesized using a three-step seed-mediated growth approach coupled with the addition of silver ions. Our study confirms the successful synthesis of gold mesostars with numerous sharp tips via the multi-directional growth effect induced by the underpotential deposition of silver adatoms (AgUPD) onto the gold surfaces. The AgUPD process affects the nanocrystal growth kinetics of the noble metal and its morphological evolution, thereby leading to intricate nanostructures with high-index facets and protruding tips or branches. Mesoscopic gold particles with a distinctive star-like morphology featuring multiple sharp projections from the central core were synthesized by exploiting this phenomenon. Sharp tips of the gold mesostars facilitate intense localized electromagnetic fields, which result in strong SERS enhancements at the single-particle level. Electromagnetic fields can be further enhanced by interparticle hot spots in addition to the intraparticle local field enhancements when arranged in multilayered arrays on substrates, rendering these arrays as highly efficient SERS-active substrates with improved sensitivity. Evaluation using Raman-tagged analytes revealed a higher SERS signal intensity compared to that of individual mesostars because of interparticle hot spots enhancements. These substrates enabled analyte detection at a concentration of 10− 9 M, demonstrating their remarkable sensitivity for trace analysis applications.

The study investigated whether omega-3 fatty acids could promote bacterial growth, acid and bile tolerance, and cell adhesion onto Caco-2 cells to develop a multifunctional enteric soft capsule containing probiotics and omega-3 fatty acids. The probiotic strains used were Enterococcus faecium IDCC 2102 and Bacillus coagulans IDCC 1201. Supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids did not significantly affect the growth and viability of either strain at lower concentrations (i.e. 0.5-1.0 w/w %). In comparison, the adhesion ability to Caco-2 cells of both strains was significantly increased (up to 107.5%). Furthermore, Bacillus coagulans IDCC 1201 [1 × 1010 CFU (colony forming unit) per capsule] contained together with omega-3 fatty acids (600 mg per capsule) in the enteric soft capsules showed a stability of over 95% during 12 months of storage at room temperature, which was similar to that of unencapsulated lyophilised probiotics. Thus, these results indicate that multifunctional food supplements in the form of enteric soft capsules are feasible.

Abstract The purpose of study was to evaluate that kallistatin deficiency causes excessive production of reactive oxygen species and exacerbates neuronal injury after cardiac arrest. For in vitro study, kallistatin knockdown human neuronal cells were given ischemia–reperfusion injury, and the oxidative stress and apoptosis were evaluated. For clinical study, cardiac arrest survivors admitted to the ICU were divided into the good (CPC 1–2) and poor (CPC 3–5) 6-month neurological outcome groups. The serum level of kallistatin, Nox-1, H2O2 were measured. Nox-1 and H2O2 levels were increased in the kallistatin knockdown human neuronal cells with ischemia–reperfusion injury (p

Abstract Isozymes are enzymes that catalyze identical biological reactions, yet exhibit slight variations in structures and catalytic efficiency, which enables the precise adjustment of metabolism to fulfill the specific requirements of a particular tissue or stage of development. Methionine aminopeptidase (MetAP) isozymes function a critical role in cleaving N-terminal methionine from nascent proteins to generate functional proteins. In humans, two distinct MetAP types I and II have been identified, with type I further categorized into cytosolic (MetAP1) and mitochondrial (MetAP1D) variants. However, despite extensive structural studies on both bacterial and human cytosolic MetAPs, the structural information remains unavailable for human mitochondrial MetAP. This study was aimed to elucidate the high-resolution structures of human mitochondrial MetAP1D in its apo-, cobalt-, and methionine-bound states. Through a comprehensive analysis of the determined structures and a docking simulation model with mitochondrial substrate peptides, we present mechanistic insights into the cleavage process of the initiator methionine from mitochondrial proteins. Notably, despite the shared features at the active site between the cytosolic and mitochondrial MetAP type I isozymes, we identified distinct structural disparities within the active-site pocket primarily contributed by two specific loops that could play a role in accommodating specific substrates. These structural insights offer a basis for the further exploration of MetAP isozymes as critical players in cellular processes and potential therapeutic applications.

BackgroundRecently, we developed a chest compression device that can move the chest compression position without interruption during CPR and be remotely controlled to minimize rescuer exposure to infectious diseases. The purpose of this study was to compare its performance with conventional mechanical CPR device in a mannequin and a swine model of cardiac arrest.Materials and methodsA prototype of a remote-controlled automatic chest compression device (ROSCER) that can change the chest compression position without interruption during CPR was developed, and its performance was compared with LUCAS 3 in a mannequin and a swine model of cardiac arrest. In a swine model of cardiac arrest, 16 male pigs were randomly assigned into the two groups, ROSCER CPR (n = 8) and LUCAS 3 CPR (n = 8), respectively. During 5 minutes of CPR, hemodynamic parameters including aortic pressure, right atrial pressure, coronary perfusion pressure, common carotid blood flow, and end-tidal carbon dioxide partial pressure were measured.ResultsIn the compression performance test using a mannequin, compression depth, compression time, decompression time, and plateau time were almost equal between ROSCER and LUCAS 3. In a swine model of cardiac arrest, coronary perfusion pressure showed no difference between the two groups (p = 0.409). Systolic aortic pressure and carotid blood flow were higher in the LUCAS 3 group than in the ROSCER group during 5 minutes of CPR (p < 0.001, p = 0.008, respectively). End-tidal CO2 level of the ROSCER group was initially lower than that of the LUCAS 3 group, but was higher over time (p = 0.022). A Kaplan-Meier survival analysis for ROSC also showed no difference between the two groups (p = 0.46).ConclusionThe prototype of a remote-controlled automated chest compression device can move the chest compression position without interruption during CPR. In a mannequin and a swine model of cardiac arrest, the device showed no inferior performance to a conventional mechanical CPR device.

Abstract Background We hypothesized that an emergency short-stay ward (ESSW) mainly operated by emergency medicine physicians may reduce the length of patient stay in emergency department without expense of clinical outcomes. Methods We retrospectively analysed adult patients who visited the emergency department of the study hospital and were subsequently admitted to wards from 2017 to 2019. We divided study participants into three groups: patients admitted to ESSW and treated by the department of emergency medicine (ESSW-EM), patients admitted to ESSW and treated by other departments (ESSW-Other) and patients admitted to general wards (GW). The co-primary outcomes were ED length of stay and 28-day hospital mortality. Results In total, 29,596 patients were included in the study, and 8,328 (31.3%), 2,356 (8.9%), and 15,912 (59.8%) of them were classified as ESSW-EM, ESSW-Other and GW groups, respectively. The ED length of stay of the ESSW-EM (7.1 h ± 5.4) was shorter than those of the ESSW-Other (8.0 ± 6.2, P

Mercury (Hg), particularly Hg(II), poses significant environmental and health risks. Despite its known hazards, Hg2+ is widely used in various industries, thereby underscoring the need for simpler, faster, and more cost-effective methods for managing and monitoring Hg2+ emissions. In this study, we developed a colorimetric detection method for Hg2+ that leveraged the optical changes induced by the redox processes and amalgamation reactions between Au nanorod(NR)@Ag core-shell plasmonic nanoparticles and mercury ions. These nanoparticles were synthesized to exhibit distinct optical shifts by adjusting the Ag shell thickness. This enabled the visual detection of Hg2+ concentrations as low as 100 µM. In addition, changes in the optical spectrum of concentrations as low as 10 nM could be detected with UV–vis spectrometry. Furthermore, to account for individual differences in color perception, an automated analysis protocol was developed using ImageJ software for translating the color changes in smartphone-captured images of the solution into quantitative colorimetric data. This novel approach not only enabled the detection of mercury concentrations as low as 10 nM but also offered a simpler and more economical alternative to traditional methods. Furthermore, it demonstrated potential for implementation as on-site application to monitor mercury concentrations via rapid colorimetric reactions.

In response to the low representation of Latinx adults in STEM occupations, this community-based participatory action research study aims to increase the number of middle school youths developing STEM career identities and entering high school with the intention to pursue STEM careers. The students were provided with summer and after-school activities focusing on network science and career development curricula. Using a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design and career narratives, this study examined the changes in STEM and career self-efficacy, as well as career identity. The results show improvements in self-efficacy, an increased number of youths with intentions of pursuing future STEM career opportunities, and deeper reflections on their talents and skills after program participation. This paper also describes the program development and implementation in detail, as well as the adaptations that resulted from COVID-19, for scholars and educators designing similar programs. This study provides promising evidence for the quality of STEM and career development lessons in supporting the emergence of a STEM career identity and self-efficacy.

This paper presents an efficient hierarchical motion planning framework with a long planning horizon for autonomous driving in structured environments. A 3D motion planning with time information is a non-convex problem because there exists more than one local minimum point and various constraints such as roads and obstacles. Accordingly, to deal with high computational complexity and the problem of falling into a local minimum in an enormous solution space, a decoupled method is utilized, that consists of two steps: Long-term planning and short-term planning. First, the long-term planner provides reasonable far-sighted behavior through two processes. In the first process, a rough path that includes a driving strategy is generated in the 2D spatial space. Then, the jump point search algorithm is utilized with time information on the path to reduce the computational burden of A*, giving an acceptable quality of solution at the same time. In this step, a safe, comfortable, and dynamically feasible trajectory is generated. Next, the short-term planner optimizes a short-sighted trajectory using particle swarm optimization. In this method, a steering angle set is encoded as a particle, resulting in a safe, comfortable, and kinodynamically feasible trajectory. The proposed algorithm is implemented and evaluated in a range of vehicle-in-the-loop simulation scenarios, which include various virtual static and dynamic obstacles generated by Intelligent Driver Model. In the evaluation results, the proposed method reduced the computation time by up to 0.696 s with increasing the step cost by up to about 3%. The proposed algorithm is executed every 100 ms for a planning horizon of 10 seconds, and the average computation time is 31 ms with the worst-case computation time of 94 ms.

Glosses provide an effective way of fostering second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition. Expanding on previous research, we explored how a vocabulary test announcement prior to reading a glossed text influences the reading behaviors and subsequent vocabulary acquisition of L2 learners. The participants of this study comprised 65 Korean undergraduate students. The participants were assigned to either a vocabulary test announcement (TA) or a no test announcement (NTA) group. Thereafter, the researchers read to the participants a short story containing 16 glossed words displayed in the bottom margin. The students’ responses to the reading comprehension test and a battery of vocabulary tests (i.e., form recall, meaning recall, and meaning recognition) were captured immediately and one week after the assessments. The results showed that while processing in-text target words and marginal glosses, no variation in eye-tracking measures (e.g., gaze duration and total reading time) was observed among the TA and NTA groups. In contrast, the TA group spent significantly longer time fixating on bottom-margin target words than the NTA group during eye-tracking measures. Regardless of the testing phase, the vocabulary test results showed that only the form recall scores in the TA group were significantly higher than the NTA group. However, the differences in meaning recall and recognition scores were not significant. Collectively, these results suggest that vocabulary test announcements likely enhance the favorable effects of glossed text, particularly through promoting visual word form acquisition. However, the effects do not strengthen form-meaning associations without compromising L2 learners’ reading comprehension.

To elucidate the role and mechanism of microbes, we combined culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches to investigate differences in gut bacterial composition between sows and weaned pigs. Under anaerobic conditions, several nonselective and selective media were used for isolation from fecal samples. All isolated bacteria were identified and classified through 16S rRNA sequencing, and the microbiota composition of the fecal samples was analyzed by metagenomics using next generation sequencing (NGS) technology. A total of 278 and 149 colonies were acquired from the sow and weaned pig fecal samples, respectively. Culturomics analysis revealed that diverse bacterial genus and species belonged to Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes were isolated from sow and weaned pigs. When comparing culture-dependent and culture-independent analyses, 191 bacterial species and 2 archaeal bacterial species were detected through culture-independent analysis, and a total of 23 bacteria were isolated through a culture-dependent approach, of which 65% were not detected by metagenomics. In conclusion, culturomics and metagenomics should be properly combined to fully understand the intestinal microbiota, and livestock-derived microbial resources should be informed by culturomic approaches to understand and utilize the mechanism of host-microbe interactions.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was designed to assess the efficacy of the parabiotic Bifidobacterium breve IDCC 4401, named BBR 4401, for lowering cholesterol levels. The 66 subjects (per protocol set, n = 60) with low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels between 100 mg/dL and 150 mg/dL were enrolled after a 4-week run-in period (e.g., no probiotics, low cholesterol diet and no food affecting lipid profiles). The two groups were prescribed 1 × 1010 (low-dose) and 1 × 1011 CFU (high-dose), whereas the placebo group was prescribed 97% (w/w) of maltodextrin for 4 weeks. The compliance rates exceeded 97% in the subjects who completed the study. Comparison of the mean changes from baseline between the placebo group and test groups after the 12 weeks of BBR 4401 consumption showed a statistically significant reduction in LDL-C (up to −10.8%, p-value = 0.008) and apolipoproteinB (up to −8.1%, p-value = 0.008). Meanwhile, there were no clinically significant changes in vital signs, clinical pathology tests or electrocardiograms and no significant adverse events were reported during the study period. Concerning bowel habits, the consumption of BBR 4401 alleviated defecation strain, distension and watery feces in the high-dose group. Thus, BBR 4401 may be a safe and functional food for adults with moderate hypercholesterolemia.

The purpose of this study was to develop a mammography-based deep learning (DL) model for predicting the risk of breast cancer in Asian women. This retrospective study included 287 examinations in 153 women in the cancer group and 736 examinations in 447 women in the negative group, obtained from the databases of two tertiary hospitals between November 2012 and March 2022. All examinations were labeled as either dense breast or nondense breast, and then randomly assigned to either training, validation, or test sets. DL models, referred to as image-level and examination-level models, were developed. Both models were trained to predict whether or not the breast would develop breast cancer with two datasets: the whole dataset and the dense-only dataset. The performance of DL models was evaluated using the accuracy, precision, sensitivity, specificity, F1 score, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). On a test set, performance metrics for the four scenarios were obtained: image-level model with whole dataset, image-level model with dense-only dataset, examination-level model with whole dataset, and examination-level model with dense-only dataset with AUCs of 0.71, 0.75, 0.66, and 0.67, respectively. Our DL models using mammograms have the potential to predict breast cancer risk in Asian women.

A combined usage of animal and plant proteins-mixture could aid to solve environmental and social problems arising from the use of animal protein alone, while also improving the taste and texture of plant protein. Protein mixtures could be a better protein source due to the high availability of amino acids in the body compared with single proteins. Consuming proteins with probiotics can provide more beneficial health effects by helping to hydrolyze protein and absorb amino acids in the body. In this study, coadministration of an animal and plant protein mixture with a high concentration of probiotics was investigated to increase protein digestibility and amino acids absorbability in a mice model. Lactiplantibacillus plantarum IDCC 3501, which has the maximum ability to hydrolyze a protein mixture, composed of soybean protein and milk protein, was selected, and the changes in mice (C57BL/6J, male, six weeks) were investigated after the coadministration of protein mixture and 5 × 108 or 5 × 109 CFU/mL of L. plantarum for eight weeks. Normal diet, high-protein diet (HPD), and HPD supplementing L. plantarum were separately administered to mice. Food and water consumption of the mice did not differ depending on diet type. Measurements of the serum concentrations of amino acids showed that the absorption of aspartate, glutamate, isoleucine, leucine, valine, and lysine increased when high concentrations of protein and probiotics were administered. Thus, high L. plantarum concentrations could be a protein diet supplementation to improve health by promoting the absorption of amino acids.

Abstract Age-related weakness due to atrophy and fatty infiltration in oropharyngeal muscles may be related to dysphagia in older adults. However, little is known about changes in the oropharyngeal muscle activation pattern in older adults. This was a prospective and experimental study. Forty healthy participants (20 older [> 60 years] and 20 young [

Fibrosis, also known as organ scarring, describes a pathological stiffening of organs or tissues caused by increased synthesis of extracellular matrix (ECM) components. In the past decades, mounting evidence has accumulated showing that the coagulation cascade is directly associated with fibrotic development. Recent findings suggest that, under inflammatory conditions, various cell types (e.g., immune cells) participate in the coagulation process causing pathological outcomes, including fibrosis. These findings highlighted the potential of anticoagulation therapy as a strategy in organ fibrosis. Indeed, preclinical and clinical studies demonstrated that the inhibition of blood coagulation is a potential intervention for the treatment of fibrosis across all major organs (e.g., lung, liver, heart, and kidney). In this review, we aim to summarize our current knowledge on the impact of components of coagulation cascade on fibrosis of various organs and provide an update on the current development of anticoagulation therapy for fibrosis.

Objective Peripheral vertigo is one of the most common causes of the emergency department (ED) visits. It can impair balance and might predispose patients to injuries after discharge. The purpose of this study was to determine whether peripheral vertigo is associated with an increased risk of trauma. Methods This matched-cohort study used the nationally representative dataset of de-identified claim information of 1 million randomly sampled individuals from a real Korean population, from 2002 to 2013. The exposure cohort included patients who visited EDs for new-onset peripheral vertigo without prior or concurrent injury. Each patient was randomly matched to five unexposed individuals (also without previous injury) by incidence density sampling. The primary outcome was a new injury within 1 year. The secondary outcomes were various injury subtypes. The time-dependent effect of the exposure was modeled using the extended Cox model. Age, sex, comorbidities, and household income level were included as covariates. Results A total of 776 and 3,880 individuals were included as the exposure and comparison cohorts, respectively. The risks of trunk injury and upper extremity injury were significantly higher in the exposure cohort. Extended Cox models with multivariable adjustment showed significantly increased risk for up to 1 year, with the first 1-month; 1 month to 3 months; and 3 months to 1 year hazard ratios of 5.23 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.83–9.64); 1.50 (95% CI, 1.02–2.20); and 1.37 (95% CI, 1.11–1.68), respectively. Conclusion Patients visiting EDs for acute peripheral vertigo are at a higher risk of a new injury for up to a year.

Pores are the microscopic openings in the skin that emit oils and sweat. Pores can appear larger due to acne, sun damage, or increased sebum production, a waxy and oily substance that causes oily skin. Investigating and extracting sebum from facial pores is essential for treating skin issues as the enlargement of the pores causes higher susceptibility of the skin to microbe aggressions and inflammatory reactions. In this study, we assessed the volumetric size of pores before and after the sebum extraction using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). To properly estimate the volume of the sebum before and after extraction, multiple cross-sectional OCT images were selected. The area of a single pixel was calculated from the OCT images using the scanning range. Furthermore, an algorithm was developed to use the pixel area to calculate the full volumetric size of the skin pore. This research illustrates the use of a high-resolution microscopic analysis using SD-OCT in dermatological research and can operate as a guideline for future research investigations in evaluating non-destructively wounded tissue analysis, underlying skin biochemistry, and facial statistical approaches in skin parameters for moisturizer treatment.

Abstract Background In order to quantitatively measure short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in microbial samples, sample preparation and analytical conditions using gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) were established. Methods The extraction of SCFAs with ethyl ether-hexane (1:1, v/v) followed by the aminopropyl solid phase extraction (SPE) was carried out. An acid-modified poly(ethylene glycol) GC column was used for the chromatographic separation of four volatile fatty acids. Results Good linearity was obtained with r > 0.999 in the calibration range. The limits of quantification (LOQs) of the analytical method were in the ranges of 5.71 to 11.20 μg/mL. The overall recoveries excluding acetic acid ranged between 96.51 and 108.83% with relative standard deviations (RSD) below 10% for the entire procedure from the results of matrix spiking experiments at three concentration levels. Conclusion The analytical method was validated in accordance with the requirements of the international guideline. The method enables the use of the most commonly used technology without derivatization and the elimination of interferences in the sample matrix.

Teachers serving students with special needs, students from low-income backgrounds, students with disabilities, and students from underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds experienced a myriad of challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to assess whether and to what extent teachers received resources during the pandemic, and to evaluate the impact of this on their perceptions of student academic engagement. Using the American Teacher Panel (ATP) data collected in October 2020, this research found that 41% of teachers working with diverse and marginalized students did not receive any resources tailored specifically for students with special needs. Teacher experiences with resources were clustered into four groups: Most Supported (35%), Least Supported (41%), Moderately Supported A (16%; received support primarily with students with disabilities), and Moderately Supported B (8%; received support primarily with students with racial/ethnic backgrounds). Across the four groups of teachers, teacher groups classified as less supported were more likely to be teaching in more urbanized settings with larger size schools than the other teacher groups. Additionally, they perceived their students as attending less often and being less ready for grade-level coursework than their counterparts. Discussions for school leaders and counselors are outlined to emphasize the importance of teacher support for effective education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Korea’s suicide rate has increased steadily in recent years and it has become the leading cause of death among Korean youth. This paper aims to propose suicide risk identification strategies for South Korean youth by identifying profiles of suicide risk alongside reported somatic complaints. For several reasons, somatic complaints are more commonly reported than mental health concerns in Korea, where somatic complaints are likely to be representative of larger mental health worries. Nationally representative data of Korean first-year middle school students were used to identify mental health profiles by examining reported suicidal ideation, depression, and social anxiety and the prediction effect of reported somatic symptoms within these profiles. Results indicated that female students reported a greater level of suicidal ideation, depression, and social anxiety compared to male students. Each gender (females and males) exhibited five different mental health profile groups, which ranged from low risk to high risk. Somatic symptoms (sleep, stomach ache, tiredness, breathing, appetite, headache, fever, nausea) significantly predicted each profile group, with sleep issues serving as the strongest predictor for risk across both genders and all groups. Therefore, for mental health professionals working with Korean youth, it is encouraged to identify and recognize somatic complaints as potentially representative of mental health concerns and suicidality risk.

Outbound telemarketing is an efficient direct marketing method wherein telemarketers solicit potential customers by phone to purchase or subscribe to products or services. However, those who are not interested in the information or offers provided by outbound telemarketing generally experience such interactions negatively because they perceive telemarketing as spam. In this study, therefore, we investigate the use of deep learning models to predict the success of outbound telemarketing for insurance policy loans. We propose an explainable multiple-filter convolutional neural network model called XmCNN that can alleviate overfitting and extract various high-level features using hundreds of input variables. To enable the practical application of the proposed method, we also examine ensemble models to further improve its performance. We experimentally demonstrate that the proposed XmCNN significantly outperformed conventional deep neural network models and machine learning models. Furthermore, a deep learning ensemble model constructed using the XmCNN architecture achieved the lowest false positive rate (4.92%) and the highest F1-score (87.47%). We identified important variables influencing insurance policy loan prediction through the proposed model, suggesting that these factors should be considered in practice. The proposed method may increase the efficiency of outbound telemarketing and reduce the spam problems caused by calling non-potential customers.

DNA repair mechanisms maintain genomic integrity upon exposure to various types of DNA damage, which cause either single- or double-strand breaks in the DNA. Here, we propose a strategy for the functional study of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human DNA repair genes XPD/ERCC2, RAD18, and KU70/XRCC6 and the checkpoint activation gene ATR that are essentially involved in the cell cycle and DNA damage repair. We analyzed the mutational effects of the DNA repair genes under DNA-damaging conditions, including ultraviolet irradiation and treatment with genotoxic reagents, using a Saccharomyces cerevisiae system to overcome the limitations of the human cell-based assay. We identified causal variants from selected SNPs in the present analyses. (i) R594C SNP in RAD3 (human XPD/ERCC2) caused severe reductions in the growth rate of mutant cells upon short-wavelength UV irradiation or chemical reagent treatment. (ii) The growth rates of the selected variants in RAD18, YKU70, and MEC1 were similar to those of wild-type cells on methyl methanesulfonate and hydroxyurea treated media. (iii) We also assessed the structural impact of the SNPs by analyzing differences in the structural conformation and calculating the root mean square deviation, which is a measure of the discordance of the Cα atoms between protein structures. Based on the above results, we propose that these analytical approaches serve as efficient methods for the identification of causal variants of human disease-causing genes and elucidation of yeast-cell based molecular mechanisms.

Xanthii Fructus (XF) is known as a medicinal plant. It has been used as a traditional medicine because of its high biological efficacy. However, there have been few comprehensive studies on the specific chemical composition of the plant and consequently, the information is lacking for the mechanism of the natural product metabolites in humans. In this study, an efficient analytical method to characterize and discriminate two species of Xanthii Fructus (Xanthium canadense Mill. and Xanthium sibiricum Patrin ex Widder) was established. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polar metabolites, and fatty acids were classified by integrated sample preparation, which allowed a broad range for the detection of metabolites simultaneously. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) followed by a multivariate statistical analysis was employed to characterize the chemical compositions and subsequently to discriminate between the two species. The results demonstrate that the two species possess obviously diverse chemical characteristics of three different classifications, and discriminant analysis was successfully applied to a number of chemical markers that could be used for the discrimination of the two species. Additional quantitative results for the selected chemical markers consistently showed significant differences between the two species.

Deep learning is a fast-growing field of research, in particular, for autonomous application. In this study, a deep learning network based on various sensor data is proposed for identifying the roads where the vehicle is driving. Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) unit and ensemble learning are utilized for network design and a feature selection technique is applied such that unnecessary sensor data could be excluded without a loss of performance. Real vehicle experiments were carried out for the learning and verification of the proposed deep learning structure. The classification performance was verified through four different test roads. The proposed network shows the classification accuracy of 94.6% in the test data.