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Globally, cardiac arrest (CA) is a leading cause of death and disability. Asphyxial CA (ACA)-induced kidney damage is a crucial factor in reducing the survival rate. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of antioxidant enzymes in histopathological renal damage in an ACA rat model at different time points. A total of 88 rats were divided into five groups and exposed to ACA except for the sham group. To evaluate glomerular function and oxidative stress, serum levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine (Crtn) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in renal tissues were measured. To determine histopathological damage, hematoxylin and eosin staining, periodic acid-Schiff staining, and Masson's trichrome staining were performed. Expression levels of antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD-1), superoxide dismutase-2 (SOD-2), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were measured by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Survival rate of the experimental rats was reduced to 80% at 6 h, 55% at 12 h, 42.9% at 1 day, and 33% at 2 days after return of spontaneous circulation. Levels of BUN, Crtn, and MDA started to increase significantly in the early period of CA induction. Renal histopathological damage increased markedly from 6 h until two days post-CA. Additionally, expression levels of antioxidant enzymes were significantly decreased at 6 h, 12 h, 1 day, and 2 days after CA. CA-induced oxidative stress and decreased levels of antioxidant enzymes (SOD-1, SOD-2, CAT, GPx) from 6 h to two days could be possible mediators of severe renal tissue damage and increased mortality rate.

International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 382, Iceberg Alley and Subantarctic Ice and Ocean Dynamics, investigated the long-term climate history of Antarctica, seeking to understand how polar ice sheets responded to changes in insolation and atmospheric CO2 in the past and how ice sheet evolution influenced global sea level and vice versa. Five sites (U1534–U1538) were drilled east of the Drake Passage: two sites at 53.2°S at the northern edge of the Scotia Sea and three sites at 57.4°–59.4°S in the southern Scotia Sea. We recovered continuously deposited late Neogene sediments to reconstruct the past history and variability in Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) mass loss and associated changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation. The sites from the southern Scotia Sea (Sites U1536–U1538) will be used to study the Neogene flux of icebergs through “Iceberg Alley,” the main pathway along which icebergs calved from the margin of the AIS travel as they move equatorward into the warmer waters of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). In particular, sediments from this area will allow us to assess the magnitude of iceberg flux during key times of AIS evolution, including the middle Miocene glacial intensification of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, the mid-Pliocene warm period, the late Pliocene glacial expansion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT), and the “warm interglacials” and glacial terminations of the last 800 ky. We will use the geochemical provenance of iceberg-rafted detritus and other glacially eroded material to determine regional sources of AIS mass loss. We will also address interhemispheric phasing of ice sheet growth and decay, study the distribution and history of land-based versus marine-based ice sheets around the continent over time, and explore the links between AIS variability and global sea level. By comparing north–south variations across the Scotia Sea between the Pirie Basin (Site U1538) and the Dove Basin (Sites U1536 and U1537), Expedition 382 will also deliver critical information on how climate changes in the Southern Ocean affect ocean circulation through the Drake Passage, meridional overturning in the region, water mass production, ocean–atmosphere CO2 transfer by wind-induced upwelling, sea ice variability, bottom water outflow from the Weddell Sea, Antarctic weathering inputs, and changes in oceanic and atmospheric fronts in the vicinity of the ACC. Comparing changes in dust proxy records between the Scotia Sea and Antarctic ice cores will also provide a detailed reconstruction of changes in the Southern Hemisphere westerlies on millennial and orbital timescales for the last 800 ky. Extending the ocean dust record beyond the last 800 ky will help to evaluate dust-climate couplings since the Pliocene, the potential role of dust in iron fertilization and atmospheric CO2 drawdown during glacials, and whether dust input to Antarctica played a role in the MPT. The principal scientific objective of Subantarctic Front Sites U1534 and U1535 at the northern limit of the Scotia Sea is to reconstruct and understand how intermediate water formation in the southwest Atlantic responds to changes in connectivity between the Atlantic and Pacific basins, the “cold water route.” The Subantarctic Front contourite drift, deposited between 400 and 2000 m water depth on the northern flank of an east–west trending trough off the Chilean continental shelf, is ideally situated to monitor millennial- to orbital-scale variability in the export of Antarctic Intermediate Water beneath the Subantarctic Front. During Expedition 382, we recovered continuously deposited sediments from this drift spanning the late Pleistocene (from ~0.78 Ma to recent) and from the late Pliocene (~3.1–2.6 Ma). These sites are expected to yield a wide array of paleoceanographic records that can be used to interpret past changes in the density structure of the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, track migrations of the Subantarctic Front, and give insights into the role and evolution of the cold water route over significant climate episodes, including the most recent warm interglacials of the late Pleistocene and the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation.

Objectives No randomized controlled trials have evaluated the comparative outcomes of cefazolin versus nafcillin for methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) bacteraemia. Methods A prospective observational cohort study including all S. aureus bacteraemia was conducted at 10 hospitals. Patients (≥15 years) with MSSA bacteraemia who received cefazolin or nafcillin as definitive antibiotics were included. The rates of treatment failure (premature discontinuation of antibiotics because of adverse effects, switching of antibiotics because of clinical failure, all-cause mortality within 1 month, or recurrence) were compared between the cefazolin and nafcillin groups. Propensity score matching analyses were performed to balance the factors influencing the selection of antibiotics. Results Among the 242 included cases, the bones and joints (36.8%) were the most common sites of infection and 60.7% of the patients had sepsis. The overall treatment failure rate was 43.8% (106/242). All-cause mortality within 1 month was 6.2% (15/242). After propensity score matching, the treatment failure rate of cefazolin was lower than that of nafcillin (30.4% (24/79) vs. 49.4% (39/79), p 0.015) because of a higher rate of discontinuation caused by adverse events. When the data were limited to patients with sepsis, the treatment failure rates of both groups were not significantly different. Approximately 22% (24/110) of MSSA isolates exhibited a cefazolin-inoculum effect (CIE) that had significant impact on the failure rate and mortality of the cefazolin group. Conclusions Cefazolin might be recommended as an adequate and better-tolerated treatment for MSSA bacteraemia in the absence of CIE.

AIM To investigate the image quality and radiation dose of ultralow-dose (ULD) and low-dose (LD) lower-extremity computed tomography (CT) angiography (LE-CTA) using the advanced modelled iterative reconstruction (ADMIRE) algorithm to detect peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in comparison with standard-dose (SD) CT. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred and seven consecutive patients were examined using LE-CTA at 70 kVp and a dual-source scanner to achieve three image sets using 30% (ULD), 70% (LD), and 100% (SD) tube loads. Qualitative analysis was conducted by examining the three image sets for overall quality. The image quality of arterial segments was analysed by two independent readers. In addition, the CT dose index (CTDIvol) was measured in the three image sets. RESULTS The mean overall quality scores were 3.4±0.6 for ULD CT, 3.9±0.3 for LD CT, and 3.9±0.2 for SD CT. Both readers scored the arterial segments as 2–4 (adequate–excellent) in the three image sets. In addition, 89.4% (93/104) and 54.8% (57/104) segments of PAD with calcified plaques were scored 4 between SD and LD CT and between SD and ULD CT, respectively, and 45.2% (47/104) segments had a lower score by one point in ULD CT compared with SD CT. The mean CTDIvol was 4.1±1.1 mGy for SD CT, 2.9±0.8 mGy for LD CT, and 1.2±0.3 mGy for ULD CT. CONCLUSIONS LD/ULD CT at 70 kVp using ADMIRE reconstruction enables a reduction in the radiation dose while enabling adequate evaluation or follow-up of PAD based on LE-CTA.

Background Current population-based data on the incidence of asthma in Korean adults are scarce, although the cross-sectional prevalence study had been conducted. Moreover, estimates of asthma incidence in elderly are rare. Objective We aimed to investigate the annual incidence of asthma among Korean adults and identify differences in the asthma incidence according to demographic and socioeconomic characteristics over the study period 2004–2012. Methods A population-based cohort study was conducted using the 2002–2014 National Health Insurance Service–National Sample Cohort (NHIS-NSC). It consisted of 1,025,340 randomly selected participants, comprising 2.2% of the total eligible Korean population in 2002. Among these, 746,816 adults older than 20 years receiving National Health Insurance were included in the study. The cohort consisted of 746,816 adults aged over 20 years with National Health Insurance (NHI). We defined cases as a person with two or more physician claims with a primary diagnosis of asthma (ICD 10 code J45 or J46) and asthma medications within at least 1-year interval. Age- and sex-specific incidence rates were determined by dividing the total number of adults newly diagnosed with asthma by the total number of person-years (PY) accumulated. The incidence rates were age-adjusted to according to the 2005 Korean population census. Poisson regression analysis was used to calculate sex- and age-adjusted incidence rates and to test the difference in incidence trends according to age, sex, and income groups. Trends in incidence over time were assessed using Joinpoint Regression Software. We analyzed the trend of each line segment using the annual percent change (APC), and the overall trend for the whole study period (2004–2012), using the average APC (AAPC). Results The incidence rate was significantly increasing until 2008(APC 13.8), and from 2008 to 2012, it showed decreasing trend although not significant (APC −2.9), The crude incidence rate per 1000 person-years was 4.53 in 2004, 8.04 in 2008, 7.08 in 2012, respectively. Age and sex adjustment did not change this trend. Incidence for women was higher than for men and the difference was constant according to the year. Incidence rates increased with age and this difference increased over calendar time. There were no significant differences in the incidence of asthma by five income groups. Conclusion Our population-based cohort study observed that the incidence of asthma in Korean adults (2004–2012) has not increased from 2008 onward, directly indicating the stabilization of asthma incidence as suggested in previous studies. Further studies are needed to investigate the decrease in asthma incidence rate and high incidence in susceptible groups.

The excavator is used in a variety of construction environments. There are many kinds of risk like falling rocks or harmful dust. The excavator cabin protects the operator not only from these harmful environments but also provides a comfortable working environment. By the way, the excavator cabin consumes a lot of energy for cabin air conditioner. For this reason, the research is required to reduce energy consumption. This study suggests the air conditioning system for excavator using forced exhaust. First, the forced exhaust system simulated by AMESim tool and surveyed the applicability. Using AMESim simulation, it was investigated the effect of cabin inside temperature by intake flow rate and intake air temperature. The experiment executed using the 1.5 ton excavator and field tested according to the intake flow rate. Finally, verified the applicability on the air conditioning system for excavator using forced exhaust.

Estimation of the nares-to-epiglottis and nares-to-vocal cords distances would facilitate the selection of properly sized nasopharyngeal airways and appropriate positioning of a fibreoptic bronchoscope in young children. The purposes of this study were to measure the nares-to-epiglottis and nares-to-vocal cords distances and to create an algorithm to predict these distances based on anatomical landmarks and paediatric characteristic data.Two hundred and eleven children, aged 1-10 yr, undergoing elective surgery were investigated. After induction of general anaesthesia, the distances from the nares to the epiglottis/vocal cords were measured using a nasogastric tube. After intubation, the distances from the lateral border of the nose to the ipsilateral mandible angle (nares-to-mandible distance) and the tragus of the ear (nares-to-tragus distance) were measured using a tape measure.The nares-to-epiglottis and nares-to-vocal cords distances were significantly correlated with the age, weight, height, and external measurements (P0.001). By stepwise multiple linear regression analysis, formulas were obtained for the nares-to-epiglottis distance (cm)=2.606+0.058×height (cm)+0.231×the nares-to-mandible distance (cm)-0.304 (gender) (r(2)=0.754) and for the nares-to-vocal cords distance (cm)=4.947+0.06×height (cm)+0.228×nares-to-mandible distance (cm)-0.283 (gender) (r(2)=0.803).The nares-to-epiglottis and nares-to-vocal cords distances can be predicted using the height and the nares-to-mandible distance in young children.Clinical Research Information Service KCT0000150.

The effects of transient ischemic attack (TIA) on pure tone average of low frequencies (PTA-low), of middle frequencies (PTA-mid), and of high frequencies (PTA-high), and audiometric configurations, which were classified by cluster analysis, were analyzed in older subjects. TIA showed significant positive association with PTA-high [β coefficient (β) ± standard error (SE) = 8.63 ± 2.81, p = 0.002] after adjusting for age, sex, hypertension, and coronary artery disease. Besides, multinomial logistic regression for audiogram patterns showed that the moderate 8-kHz dip pattern (β ± SE = 1.70 ± 0.78, p = 0.029) was significantly more prevalent in the TIA group after adjusting for age, sex, and mean hearing level at all frequencies. We concluded that TIA without an obvious infarct lesion could contribute to hearing degeneration in older subjects, especially in high frequencies.

Springback, an elastic material recovery after the unloading of stamping tools, causes variations and inconsistencies of final part dimensions. Recently, narrow and long surround molding parts around door frame are applied to high grade automobiles, but there are great difficulties in their die development, construction and tryout because of several springback modes including vertical movement and twist during flange forming process of them. So it is very important to predict springback`s quantities of a surround molding part and, moreover, to compensate the die for them adequately, when they can`t be corrected by the restrike operation. This paper presents a case study based on the die design for a surround molding part made of stainless steel. The forming and springback predictions, carried out using PAMSTAMP 2G, are reported and compared with the measurement data of the prototype. The predicted springback results were acceptable, so the processes of compensating die using Automatic Die Compensation Module of PAMSTAMP 2G were performed iteratively until the tolerances between the designed shape and the simulation data were satisfied.

This study was conducted to investigate effects of the brown seaweed residues supplementation on in vitro fermentation, and milk yield and milk composition of dairy cows. Therefore, two experiments consisting of an in vitro and an in vivo growth trial were used. In in vitro experiment, brown seaweed residues(BSR) was supplemented in basal diet with 0, 1, 2 and 4% respectively, and incubated for 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24 h. The pH value, ammonia-N and VFA were investigated. The pH value tended to increase with increasing BSR during the incubation. Particularly, pH was significantly higher in BSR treatments compared with control at 9 h(p < 0.05). While, ammonia-N concentration was not significantly different across treatments during the whole incubation. BSR supplementation did not affect total VFA production, but acetate was linearly increased in BSR treatments compared with control at 12 h(p < 0.05), and its concentration was highest(92.70 mM) in 4% BSR among treatments. The concentration of iso-butyrate tended to increase in BSR treatments in comparison to control during the incubation. In addition, the concentration of iso-valerate was higher in BSR treatments compared with control at 12 and 24 h. In growth trial, BSR was added(800 g/d/animal) to diets of dairy cow. Dry matter intake was not affected by BSR supplementation, but daily milk yield(kg) significantly increased in BSR treatment compared with control(p < 0.05). However, milk composition(%) and milk yield(kg) were not significantly different between treatments. Milk fat(% and kg/d) tended to slightly decrease in BSR treatment compared with control(3.59% and 1.06 kg/d vs. 3.32% and 1.01 kg/d). The contents of C16:0 and C20:4 in milk significantly increased in BSR treatment compared with control reflecting from dietary fatty acid composition. The content of C18:0 in milk which is end product of biohydrogenation of C18 unsaturated fatty acids in the rumen significantly increased in BSR treatment compared with control(p < 0.05). C18:2 content in milk tended to decrease, but tended to increase trans-11 C18:1 and CLA contents in milk in BSR treatment compared with control. In conclusion, it could be summarized that BSR may stabilize rumen pH, and it could improve milk yield and CLA content in milk with more than 4% of diet. Therefore, BSR could be beneficially used in dairy diets

The problem of stabilising first-order plus dead-time unstable processes using PID controllers is considered. The D-partition technique is applied to characterise the stability domain in the space of system and controller parameters. Moreover, analytical expressions are derived for describing the stability domain boundaries. These analytical expressions can be used to construct the complete set of stabilising PID controller parameters for open-loop unstable time-delay processes. They can also be used to investigate the effect of time delay on the stabilisability of the process.

Park et al. (Econometric Theory 16 (2000) 855) and Gijbels et al. (J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 94 (1999) 220) derived the limit distributions of the two most popular nonparametric estimators, FDH and DEA, of a boundary in a setting where the density or intensity of the data has a sharp or fault-type boundary. In this paper, we extend their results to the general case where the density or intensity may decrease to zero or infinity at a speed of power α −1 ( α >0) of the distance from the boundary.

CVD-Ru represents a critically important class of materials for BEOL interconnects that provides Cu reflow capability. The results reported here include superior gap-fill performance, a solution for plausible integration issues, and robust EM / TDDB properties of CVD-Ru / Cu reflow scheme, by iterative optimization of process parameters, understanding of associated Cu void generation mechanism, and reliability failure analysis, thereby demonstrating SRAM operation at 10 nm node logic device and suggesting its use for future BEOL interconnect scheme.

We consider the problem of constructing observers for infinite dimensional systems with unknown inputs. It is shown that under some conditions, there exists an observer estimating the state of infinite dimensional systems with unknown input disturbances. Results from the geometric theory of infinite dimensional linear systems are utilized to present equivalent conditions in terms of the system operators.

This paper discusses a version of the ICM method in which the contextual information is modeled by Markov random fields (MRF). To select the feature, a new local MRF model with a fitting block neighborhood is introduced. This model extracts contextual information not only from the relative intensity levels but also from the geometrically directional position of neighboring cliques. Feature selection depends on each block's contribution to the local variance. They discriminates it into binary regions, context and background. Boundary between two regions is also distinctive. The proposed algorithm performs segmentation using directional block fitting procedure which confines merging to spatially adjacent elements and generates a partition such that pixels in unified cluster have a homogeneous intensity level. From experiment with ink rubbed copy images, this method is determined to be quite effective for feature identification. In particular, the new algorithm preserves the details of the images well, without over-and under-smoothing problem occurring in general iterated conditional modes (ICM). It should be noted that the smoothing effect is not serious in this approach.

In this paper, the effect of load impedance was presented and analyzed based on the lumped model for human body communication. The signal loss decreased as the load impedance increased, but it was saturated gradually because of the leakage impedance.

In this paper, the measurement results on the signal interference of human body communication are presented. A real human body is used in the measurement. Also, the measurement results are analyzed by EM simulation. Finally, the frequency band where the human body communication can be used without the interruption by signal interference is proposed based on the measurement and simulation results.

In this paper, the measurement results on the effects of ground electrode according to the transmission distance are presented. A biological tissue-equivalent phantom has been used in the measurement of a previous paper, but a real human body is used in this paper. Also, the measurement results are analyzed by EM simulation. In the previous papers K. Fujii et al. (2003)-(2002), the simulation model for human body has been composed of only muscle tissue. In this paper, a more accurate model composed of muscle and other tissues is used during the simulation. Finally, the method by which a ground electrode can be used more efficiently is proposed based on the measurement results.

Design and applications of Yield Management test patterns on memory products have been reviewed. Evaluations are made for Y.M. patterns and conventional T.K. patterns in terms of their ability to faithfully point out process deviations/defects and to predict CP yield. It s assessed that Y.M. patterns are superior to T.K. patterns in terms of the previous criteria. Finally, design guidelines will be also discussed.

A cost effective enhancement/depletion mode pHEMT MMIC process on 6-inch GaAs wafer is demonstrated by using 0.5/spl mu/m gate-length optical stepper pHEMT technology. E-mode and D-mode gates are deposited simultaneously in this process simplification. The E-mode pHEMT exhibits a pinch-off voltage of +0.22V (defined at 0.1mA/mm), and a maximum extrinsic transconductance of 400mS/mm at room temperature. The off-state current of E-mode device is typically 0.15/spl mu/A/mm at V/sub gs/=0V and V/sub ds/=3V. This current is extreme low and is suitable for high density digital circuits with minimized power consumption. On the other hand, a pinch-off voltage of -0.75V and a transconductance of 370mS/mm has been measured for D-mode pHEMT. Due to excellent DC/RF characteristics and good uniformity of E/D pHEMTs from optimized optical gate lithography and front-side process, the D-mode switch and E-mode digital control circuit constitute a monolithic solution to RF control circuits in WLAN and cell phone applications.

Epitaxial lift-off (ELO) technique was used for the first time to transplant AlGaAs/GaAs Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBT's) to Si substrates. Both preprocessed (devices processed before transplantation) and postprocessed (devices processed after transplantation) ELO HBT's on Si were demonstrated in this study. The characteristics of those HBT's on Si with either technique show nearly identical characteristics of the HBT's on GaAs without transplantation, indicating the film quality is maintained after transplantation. Devices with a high current gain of 550 were transplanted without any degradation, and the current gain is not limited by the ELO process. This current gain value is the highest reported for GaAs HBT's on Si with any techniques. >

A technique in switch mode power conversion, the TT CONVERTER, is presented. It finds applications in DC to DC conversion (both continuous and discontinuous conduction mode), battery management, offline power factor correction, quasi-resonant switching, isolation, load sharing, and multiple output converters. Theoretical aspects and experimental results are discussed. >

This paper describes steam temperature and drum boiler reduced models. They can be derived from a singular perturbation method. Before model reduction, nonlinear dynamic models are divided into two: that is, steam generation system and steam-heating system. The object of steam-heating system control is superheater steam temperature. After designing a steam temperature controller, a drum boiler singularly perturbed system is presented. By selecting controller gains properly, the reduced order drum boiler models may be derived. The drum boiler is a natural recirculation type. The input is fuel and feedwater flow. The output is drum level and main steam flow. >