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Optimization of the extraction procedure was performed to enhance the antioxidant activity and whitening effect of Sasa quelpaertensis Nakai extract using response surface methodology (RSM). The central composite design, a component of RSM, was utilized to optimize and validate the ethanol extract for antioxidant activity and the hot water extract for the whitening effect, respectively. Activities of antioxidant and whitening were determined by DPPH and tyrosinase inhibition assays. The antioxidant activity was notably influenced by ethanol concentration (p = 0.0344) more than other factors. The optimal conditions for the antioxidant effect were 54% ethanol concentration, 52 °C, and 3 h extraction time, yielding an antioxidant activity of 83.65±1.56%. On the other hand, the whitening effect was significantly impacted by ultrasonic irradiation time (p = 0.0175) compared to other factors. The optimal conditions for whitening were 41 °C, 1:19 of sample-to-solvent ratio, and 8 min of ultrasonic irradiation, achieving a tyrosinase inhibition activity of 51.00±1.80%. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis was conducted to identify compounds such as tricin with antioxidant activity and p-coumaric acid, arbutin with whitening effect under the optimized conditions. The results suggest that the optimized extracts from S. quelpaertensis could be utilized as beneficial cosmeceutical materials.

Abstract Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic impact of body composition parameters based on computed tomography (CT) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received ICI treatment. Methods This retrospective study analyzed the data from advanced NSCLC patients treated with ICI therapy between 2013 and 2019. We included patients with NSCLC who underwent baseline CT scans. The exclusion criteria included patients who received three or more lines of chemotherapy, those with insufficient clinical information, or those without treatment response evaluation. Results A total of 136 patients were enrolled. Among the volumetric body composition parameters, patients in the highest quartiles (Q2–4) of the visceral fat index (VFI) exhibited a higher response rate to ICI therapy than those in the lowest quartile (Q1) of VFI (Q1 vs. Q2–4: 18.2% vs. 43.1%, p = 0.012). Patients with a VFI in Q2–4 had significantly prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) (PFS, Q1 vs. Q2–4: 3.0 months vs. 6.4 months, p = 0.043; OS, Q1 vs. Q2–4: 5.6 months vs. 16.3 months, p = 0.004). Kaplan–Meier analysis based on the VFI and visceral fat Hounsfield unit (HU) revealed that patients with VFI in Q1 and HU in Q2–4 had the worst prognosis. Conclusions Visceral fat volume is significantly associated with treatment outcomes in ICI-treated patients with NSCLC. Moreover, fat quality may impact the treatment outcomes. This finding underscores the potential significance of both fat compartments and fat quality as prognostic indicators. Critical relevance statement Visceral fat volume is significantly associated with treatment outcomes in ICI-treated patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Moreover, fat quality may impact the treatment outcomes. This finding underscores the potential significance of both fat compartments and fat quality as prognostic indicators. Graphical Abstract Key points • We found that visceral fat volume positively correlated with treatment response and survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors. • Additionally, a trend toward a negative correlation between visceral fat attenuation and survival was observed. • The findings highlight the prognostic utility of fat compartments and fat quality.

In this paper, we present GameDepot, a visual analytics system designed to enable interactive analysis of performance testing logs for mobile games. Due to the emergence of computational-heavy mobile games, the performance testing of mobile games has become a crucial practice to strike a balance between user experience, battery life, and thermal management. However, policymakers in device manufacturers face challenges in understanding the complex performance testing logs generated for different game and device combinations. To address this issue, we conduct a design study with ten domain experts and develop GameDepot, a visual analytics system with six tightly coordinated views that provide an overview of thousands of testing sessions and facilitate the identification of abnormal events, such as excessive throttling. We implement a data modeling pipeline based on Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) to support advanced data manipulation operations that are needed in practice, such as measuring the similarity between devices and or predicting the performance of an unseen combination of games and devices. Our evaluation demonstrates that GameDepot not only supports the seven essential tasks we identified during the design study but also facilitates the identification of abnormal sessions.

We investigated the safety and efficacy of pemetrexed monotherapy in patients with lung adenocarcinoma and various renal conditions, including chronic kidney disease. We also analyzed whether baseline renal function affected progression-free survival (PFS). We retrospectively analyzed 71 patients who received maintenance-and second-line pemetrexed monotherapy. Patients were divided into two groups according to estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR): fair eGFR (>60 mL/min/1.73 m2) and lower eGFR (59 mL/min/1.73 m2 or less). The safety and efficacy were evaluated for each group. Median ages were 73.2 years in the lower eGFR group (n=28) and 64.5 years in the fair eGFR group (n=43). Patients with a lower eGFR achieved a median PFS of 4.7 months, while the median PFS for patients with a fair eGFR was 2.7 months. The difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (p=0.075). Both groups showed treatment-related low-grade hematological and non-hematological adverse events. Pemetrexed monotherapy is safe and effective in patients with lung adenocarcinoma with a lower eGFR.

This article introduces Human–Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCIL) established at Seoul National University, Korea, in 2009. We first summarized the history of foundation, achievement, and collaboration for the last 10 years. Then, we delineated our current research directions related to information visualization. Finally, we presented our facilities and equipment to adequately support the research.

Intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPSs) are at the core of protecting an enterprise's network. In general, IDPSs use pre-defined rules to detect potential attacks. As the size of an organization grows and new types of intrusions appear, the quantity and complexity of the rules also increase. Moreover, IDPSs generate an overwhelming number of logs that are challenging to handle and analyze. For a more effective and integrative analysis and management of the rules and logs, we propose a novel visual analytics tool, Hyperion. Hyperion interactively visualizes rules to help users understand how the IDPS rules are managed and applied to the enterprise's network entities. Hyperion also provides effective visualizations to enable users to visually analyze the type, period, traffic, and frequency of attacks in addition to a traditional count-based timeline visualization. Finally, Hyperion enables users to interactively simulate the effect of a change in parameters of a detection rule. These features can help streamline the security control cycle consisting of rule application, information collection, log analysis, and rule revision.

Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) is a life-threatening syndrome caused by various etiologies. DAH has rarely been reported to be associated with metastatic angiosarcoma. However, due to the rarity of complications, it may not be well-recognized by most clinicians. Herein, we report the case of a 70-year-old man with newly diagnosed metastatic cardiac angiosarcoma presenting with DAH. After an immediate bronchoalveolar lavage study and bronchoscopic biopsy, the patient was successfully treated with paclitaxel chemotherapy. Although most patients with this phenomenon have an extremely grave prognosis in previous literature, our experience showed that appropriate evaluation and treatment may be beneficial.

Background: Traditionally believed to be an integral part of multiple myeloma (MM) treatment, the role of hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) is being challenged. As such, we sought to evaluate the impact of HSCT in the era of novel agents. Methods: A multicenter, retrospective, longitudinal cohort study was carried out between January 2016 and December 2018. A total of 55 patients who received VTD (bortezomib-thalidomide-dexamethasone) as first-line treatment and KRd (carfilzomib-lenalidomide-dexamethasone) as second-line treatment were analyzed for outcomes. Results: The enrolled patients were divided into Group 1, defined as those who continued KRd treatment until progression ( n = 41), versus Group 2, defined as those who underwent HSCT after a certain number of cycles of KRd ( n = 14). Both groups showed a generally favorable response to KRd, with overall response rate (ORR) of 87.9% and clinical benefit rate of 92.8% after a median of seven cycles in Group 1, and ORR 92.8% and clinical benefit rate 100% after median of five cycles in Group 2. However, significantly poorer progression-free survival (PFS) ( p = 0.004) was observed in Group 1 (median 12 months) compared with Group 2 (median not reached). Multivariate analyses identified HSCT after KRd as potential risk factors associated with PFS. Also, in Group 1, bortezomib refractoriness was associated with significantly shorter PFS compared with those who were responsive (median 12 months versus 14 months, respectively, p = 0.039). Conclusions: In conclusion, even with the advent of novel agents, HSCT still remains a valuable treatment modality with additive efficacy.

Audit logs are different from other software logs in that they record the most primitive events (i.e., system calls) in modern operating systems. Audit logs contain a detailed trace of an operating system, and thus have received great attention from security experts and system administrators. However, the complexity and size of audit logs, which increase in real time, have hindered analysts from understanding and analyzing them. In this paper, we present a novel visual analytics system, LongLine, which enables interactive visual analyses of large-scale audit logs. LongLine lowers the interpretation barrier of audit logs by employing human-understandable representations (e.g., file paths and commands) instead of abstract indicators of operating systems (e.g., file descriptors) as well as revealing the temporal patterns of the logs in a multi-scale fashion with meaningful granularity of time in mind (e.g., hourly, daily, and weekly). LongLine also streamlines comparative analysis between interesting subsets of logs, which is essential in detecting anomalous behaviors of systems. In addition, LongLine allows analysts to monitor the system state in a streaming fashion, keeping the latency between log creation and visualization less than one minute. Finally, we evaluate our system through a case study and a scenario analysis with security experts.

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is a biodegradable plastic with great potential for tackling plastic waste and marine pollution issues, but its commercial applications have been limited due to its poor processability. In this study, surface-modified cellulose nanocrystals were used to improve the mechanical properties of PHA composites produced via a melt-extrusion process. Double silanization was conducted to obtain hydrophobically treated CNC-based fillers, using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS). The morphology, particle size distributions, and surface characteristics of the silanized CNCs and their compatibility with a PHA polymer matrix differed by the organosiloxane treatment and drying method. It was confirmed that the double silanized CNCs had hydrophobic surface characteristics and narrow particle size distributions, and thereby showed excellent dispersibility in a PHA matrix. Adding hydrophobically treated CNCs to form a PHA composite, the elongation at break of the PHA composites was improved up to 301%, with little reduction of Young’s modulus, compared to pure PHA. Seemingly, the double silanized CNCs added played a similar role to a nucleation agent in the PHA composite. It is expected that such high ductility can improve the mechanical properties of PHA composites, making them more suitable for commercial applications.

Background : /Aims: Obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB) accounts for 5% of all gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding cases. Dynamic contrast-enhanced multidetector-row CT (DCE-MDCT) is not generally recommended in OGIB patients due to its low sensitivity. However, it can be used to quickly and simply diagnose OGIB according to some guidelines. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of DCE-MDCT in OGIB patients. Methods : : We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 362 patients who underwent DCE-MDCT between March 2009 and January 2014. A total of 45 patients diagnosed with OGIB were included in this study. Their baseline characteristics and treatment procedure were analyzed retrospectively. The positive rates of DCE-MDCT for the detection of bleeding and associated factors were assessed. Results : : The mean age of the patients was 59 years, and males represented 51.1%. Melena was the most common symptom (44.4%). Positive rate of DCE-MDCT findings was 20.0% (9/45). Among these patients, intraluminal contrast extravasation was found in 5 patients (55.6%) and intraluminal hematoma or mass lesions were found in 2 patients each (22.2%). Thirty nine patients (86.7%) underwent conservative management, and 6 patients (13.3%) underwent specific treatment, such as endoscopic treatment, embolization, or surgery. Patients who showed positivity in DCE-MDCT more frequently received specific treatment compared with those who were negative (44.4% vs. 5.6%, p=0.010). Conclusion : s: Although DCE-MDCT showed a low positive rate (20.0%), positive findings of DCE-MDCT could lead to specific treatment. Positive DCE-MDCT findings play a useful role in the management of patients with OGIB. (Korean J Gastroenterol 2016;67:198-206)

The effect of drying on the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose was determined by analysis of porosity and crystallinity. Fiber hornification induced by drying produced an irreversible reduction in pore volume due to shrinkage and pore collapse, and the decrease in porosity inhibited enzymatic hydrolysis. The drying effect index (DEI) was defined as the difference in enzymatic digestibility between oven- and never-dried pulp, and it was determined that more enzymes caused a higher DEI at the initial stage of enzymatic hydrolysis and the highest DEI was also observed at the earlier stages with higher enzyme dosage. However, there was no significant difference in the DEI with less enzymes because cellulose conversion to sugars during hydrolysis did not enhance enzymatic hydrolysis due to the decrease in enzyme activity. The water retention value (WRV) and Simons’ staining were used to measure pore volume and to investigate the cause of the decrease in enzymatic hydrolysis. A decrease in enzyme accessibility induced by the collapse of enzymes’ accessible larger pores was determined and this decreased the enzymatic hydrolysis. However, drying once did not cause any irreversible change in the crystalline structure, thus it seems there is no correlation between enzymatic digestibility and crystalline structure.