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Background The COVID‐19 pandemic affected outpatient care delivery and patients' access to health care. However, no prior studies have documented telehealth use among patients with cardiovascular disease. Methods and Results We documented the number of telehealth and in‐person outpatient encounters per 100 patients with cardiovascular disease and the percentage of telehealth encounters from January 2019 to June 2021, and the average payments per telehealth and in‐person encounters across a 12‐month period (July 2020–June 2021) using the MarketScan commercial database. From February 2020 to April 2020, the number of in‐person encounters per 100 patients with cardiovascular disease decreased from 304.2 to 147.7, whereas that of telehealth encounters increased from 0.29 to 25.3. The number of in‐person outpatient encounters then increased to 280.7 in June 2020, fluctuated between 268.1 and 346.4 afterward, and ended at 268.1 in June 2021, lower than the prepandemic levels. The number of telehealth encounters dropped to 16.8 in June 2020, fluctuated between 8.8 and 16.6 afterward, and ended at 8.8 in June 2021, higher than the prepandemic levels. Patients who were aged 18 to 35 years, women, and living in urban areas had higher percentages of telehealth encounters than those who were aged 35 to 64 years, men, and living in rural areas, respectively. The mean (95% CI) telehealth and in‐person outpatient encounter costs per visit were $112.8 (95% CI, $112.4–$113.2) and $161.4 (95% CI, $160.4– $162.4), respectively. Conclusions There were large fluctuations in telehealth and in‐person outpatient encounters during the pandemic. Our results provide insight into increased telehealth use among patients with cardiovascular disease after telehealth policy changes were implemented during the pandemic.

Training deep learning models on medical images heavily depends on experts’ expensive and laborious manual labels. In addition, these images, labels, and even models themselves are not widely publicly accessible and suffer from various kinds of bias and imbalances. In this paper, chest X-ray pre-trained model via self-supervised contrastive learning (CheSS) was proposed to learn models with various representations in chest radiographs (CXRs). Our contribution is a publicly accessible pretrained model trained with a 4.8-M CXR dataset using self-supervised learning with a contrastive learning and its validation with various kinds of downstream tasks including classification on the 6-class diseases in internal dataset, diseases classification in CheXpert, bone suppression, and nodule generation. When compared to a scratch model, on the 6-class classification test dataset, we achieved 28.5% increase in accuracy. On the CheXpert dataset, we achieved 1.3% increase in mean area under the receiver operating characteristic curve on the full dataset and 11.4% increase only using 1% data in stress test manner. On bone suppression with perceptual loss, we achieved improvement in peak signal to noise ratio from 34.99 to 37.77, structural similarity index measure from 0.976 to 0.977, and root-square-mean error from 4.410 to 3.301 when compared to ImageNet pretrained model. Finally, on nodule generation, we achieved improvement in Fréchet inception distance from 24.06 to 17.07. Our study showed the decent transferability of CheSS weights. CheSS weights can help researchers overcome data imbalance, data shortage, and inaccessibility of medical image datasets. CheSS weight is available at https://github.com/mi2rl/CheSS.

The recently discovered myokines, irisin and fibroblast growth factor-21, have emerged beneficial for metabolic health due to their role in regulating browning. This study examined the effects of high-intensity circuit training on obesity indices, physical fitness, and irisin and fibroblast growth factor-21 levels in inactive female college students. Ten female college students performed high-intensity circuit training (jogging, stretching, squat jumps, arm walking and push-ups, lunge jumps, burpee test, mountain climbers, side steps, and crunches and side crunches exercises). The exercise program consisted of 40 min of circuit training at 60%-80% hear rate reserve and was conducted 3 times per week for 4 weeks. The body composition, physical fitness, and concentration of plasma irisin and fibroblast growth factor-21 were analyzed before and after the exercise. The body weight (P=0.001), waist circumference (P=0.003), and body fat percentage (P=0.003) decreased, while the muscular strength (handgrip strength test, P=0.030; sit-ups test, P=0.024) and cardiorespiratory fitness (P=0.001) increased after the exercise program. However, there were no significant changes in the irisin and fibroblast growth factor-21 levels. These results suggest that high-intensity circuit training could be the ideal type of exercise in inactive female college students to induce a positive change in the obesity indices and physical fitness. Further studies are needed to determine the effects of exercise on the browning factors.

Objective Conventional computer-aided diagnosis using convolutional neural networks (CNN) has limitations in detecting sensitive changes and determining accurate decision boundaries in spectral and structural diseases such as scoliosis. We devised a new method to detect and diagnose adolescent idiopathic scoliosis in chest X-rays (CXRs) employing the latent space’s discriminative ability in the generative adversarial network (GAN) and a simple multi-layer perceptron (MLP) to screen adolescent idiopathic scoliosis CXRs. Materials and methods Our model was trained and validated in a two-step manner. First, we trained a GAN using CXRs with various scoliosis severities and utilized the trained network as a feature extractor using the GAN inversion method. Second, we classified each vector from the latent space using a simple MLP. Results The 2-layer MLP exhibited the best classification in the ablation study. With this model, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curves were 0.850 in the internal and 0.847 in the external datasets. Furthermore, when the sensitivity was fixed at 0.9, the model’s specificity was 0.697 in the internal and 0.646 in the external datasets. Conclusion We developed a classifier for Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) through generative representation learning. Our model shows good AUROC under screening chest radiographs in both the internal and external datasets. Our model has learned the spectral severity of AIS, enabling it to generate normal images even when trained solely on scoliosis radiographs.

Objectives: To determine the costs and trends of telehealth utilization before and during the COVID-19 pandemic for patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Methods: We calculated the proportions of patients with CVD who used telehealth before (January 2019-February 2020) and during (March 2020-April 2021) the pandemic using MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters. We compared the trends of telehealth utilization among CVD patients by sex, age, claim type, payment plan, and rural/urban status. We calculated mean, SD, median, and IQR of total and average telehealth costs. Results: The results show that telehealth utilization spiked in March 2020 and further rapidly increased and peaked in April 2020. Telehealth utilization increased from 0.021% in March 2019 to 6.7% in March 2020 and from 0.024% in April 2019 to 39.8% in April 2020. After peaking in April 2020, telehealth utilization rapidly fell in May-June 2020 and then gradually decreased before rebounding in October-December 2020. It resumed the decline through April 2021 remained much higher than the prepandemic level. Telehealth utilization was higher during the pandemic for females than males; for younger age groups (aged 18-44 or 45-64) than older age group (aged 65+); for commercial claims than Medicare supplemental insurance; for capitated insurance plans than non-capitated insurance plans; and for patients in urban areas than rural areas. From March 2020-February 2021, the mean (SD) telehealth cost per visit was $115.7 (66) (median [IQR], $104.8 [$75.8-$139.4]), with patient out-of-pocket cost $25.5 (42.8) (median [IQR], $10 [$0-$30]), insurance cost $90.4 (71.0) (median [IQR], $83 [$45.3-$121.3]), and the mean (SD) number of telehealth utilizations per patient was 1.67 (1.8) (median [IQR], 1 [1-2]). Conclusions: Policymakers, health care practitioners, and insurance companies should be aware of trends and costs of telehealth utilization among patients with CVD. Our results show that telehealth would facilitate better management of CVD. Our results may inform future policies and practices to meet the increased demand for telehealth.

In an effort to overcome limitations when validating a code input model for the containment of a nuclear power plant, two integrated leakage rate tests (ILRTs) performed at a CANDU 6 plant were simulated with a MELCOR input model consisting of 51 control volumes. Leakages were assumed to occur at the volumes enclosed within the containment wall. The initial conditions were set to the measurements at the time when the atmosphere stabilization phase was started. The analysis was then carried out until the end of the main test phase. The analysis results show reasonable agreement with the measurements of temperature and vapor pressure, whereas they show deviations with regard to pressure and local temperatures in the middle and lower regions. In addition, a sensitivity analysis of the effects of the heat structure model and the manner by which thermodynamic variables can be lumped was carried out. This study revealed that the ILRT is useful for validating the containment input model. However, available data with which to verify the appropriateness of modeling flow paths and heat structures are limited. Based on the insights obtained, we suggest that an elaborate ILRT be carried out during the commissioning stage with more detailed test provisions and analysis methods to allow this specific application.

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is an advanced therapeutic procedure to manage choledocholithiasis and pancreatobiliary malignancy. On occasion, ERCP failure is encountered due to difficulties in cannulation. We assessed the safety and feasibility of cap-assisted ERCP via analyzing cases in which cannulation was complicated by periampullary diverticulum. Between November 2013 and March 2014, ERCP procedures were performed in 346 patients in our tertiary medical center. Among the 73 patients who had a periampullary diverticulum, conventional ERCP failed in 5 patients due to hidden papilla (n=3) or use of tangential approach (n=2). As a rescue method, needle knife fistulotomy and selective biliary cannulation using cap-fitted forward-viewing endoscopy were successfully used in 4 patients without major complications. Based on our experience, cap-fitted forward-viewing endoscopy was relatively easy to measure the exact position of papilla and to perform biliary cannulation properly. Therefore, we recommend using cap-assisted ERCP by forward-viewing endoscopy as a useful and safe alternative to manage patients in whom cannulation is complicated by periampullary diverticulum.

This cross-sectional study compares in-person school reopening decisions by student sociodemographic characteristics among elementary schools in New York State.

This paper aims at studying how to express and be used the characteristics of New age consciousness in the popular culture. New age consciousness is used interchangeably with new age movement. The philosophy of new age is based on humanism, which the infinite potential power of human can change the human himself and the earth forward to be shown the new age of peace, hope and love in an instant. This consciousness is based on the Western secret art and Eastern consciousness against the Christianity and has begun to develop in the alternative religion influenced by Postmodernism and Counterculture movement on 1970`s which is against the corruption of American society on 1960`s. However, new age consciousness has tried to change to a social movement for the culture, the peace, the happiness of mankind and the healing society rather than a religion idea because of the limitation of the theory itself. Nevertheless, the new age culture contains the characteristics of the religion, and the characteristics has been easily borrowed to the mess media and infiltrated to us. In a broad sense, the religion includes both own religion beliefs and behavior and the social movements and tendencies about the established religion which pursues the holy and the highest value. The religion is valued as a complex culture phenomenon, which the religion presents the right direction and the meaning of life as well as contributes to the maintenance of social order and the social unification. For this reason, the religion and the culture have a deep relationship between mess media and needs to be captured and listen to religious longing lurking deep within the human consciousness in order to give the audience impressed and fun. In the study, the characteristics of New age such as reincarnation, illusion, meditation, monism and pantheism is analyzed for what affects students studying mess media and the popular culture. And then the study is analyzed the characteristics of new age consciousness in the animation through `Avatar`. This study shed new light on the influence of religion which is ideological identity of popular culture, and I expect to be a little help to have the insight to examine the mess media with a various angles.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to survey male high school students on their MERS(Middle East Respiratory Syndrome)-related knowledge, risk perception, and health behaviors and to identify the factors affect- ing health behaviors during the MERS outbreak in Korea. Methods: The subjects in this study were 144 students in a male high school. Data were collected through self-reported questionnaires in July, 2015. The collected data were analyzed by ANOVA, Pearson's correlation and multiple regression using SPSS/WIN 21.0. Results: The proportion of correct answers to questions testing MERS-related knowledge was 71.6% among male high school students; their health behaviors were rated at 48.9%; and their risk perception rate was 1.8 out of 4. There was a positive correlation between knowledge, risk perception, and health behaviors. Knowledge and risk perception explained 15.1% of the variance in health behaviors. Conclusion: To improve students' health behaviors, their risk perception and knowledge over MERS should be strengthened. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and implement efficient and feasible MERS education programs for high school students.

BackgroundPulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive chronic disease with poor outcomes. One reason for poor prognosis is the lack of understanding regarding individual variability in response to treatment. Idiopathic PAH (IPAH) patients with bone morphogenetic protein receptor type 2 (BMPR2) mutations have distinct phenotypes that are crucial for individualized therapy but evidence regarding their prevalence and clinical features in the Korean population is lacking. Therefore, the present study aimed to screen Korean IPAH patients for BMPR2 mutations and analyze their clinical phenotypes.MethodsWe enrolled 73 unrelated IPAH patients for BMPR2 mutation screening between March 2010 to November 2015 from 11 hospitals in Korea. Thirty-three lineal family members from 6 families of BMPR2 mutation carriers were also screened.ResultsAmong 73 patients, 16 (22%) had BMPR2 mutations. Mutation carriers were younger (27 vs. 47 years; p = 0.02) and had a higher mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) than non-carriers (64 vs. 51 mmHg; pConclusionThe prevalence of BMPR2 mutations in Korean IPAH patients was 22%. Mutation carriers were younger and had a poorer hemodynamic profile compared with the non-carriers.Clinical trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov NCT01054105.

A flexible and cost-effective electromechanical device for tactile sensing based on ZnO nanorods (ZnO NRs) grown on fabrics is developed. Sensing performance and the electromechanical properties of ethylcellulose/polyurethane-coated ZnO NRs on fabric substrates were tested by the LCR meter, force transducer, vibrator, and pulse analyzer. The peak-to-peak output voltage at an applied force of 21.5 N dropped considerably for the wool-, nylon-, and PP substrates and reached to the order of 3.84 mV, 1.8 mV and 4.1 mV, respectively. Furthermore, the frequency dependency of the dissipation factors revealed abrupt changes at low frequencies, while these changes were negligible at high frequencies.

The work appeared a featured female character in the Disney animation film begins with `Snow White` released in 1937. After then, the 11 female characters appeared included `Tangled` in 2010. Female characters reveal their identity due to obedient, family-oriented and marriage with prince and then gradually develop to heroine who leads to man, and is independent, pioneering, and sometimes saves the nation. Nevertheless, the ending of the Disney animation was still not escape the institutional, traditional discourse. Female characters are followed to meet the featured actor kissing and marriage, or was to show the virtues of sacrifice for the actor. However, Elsa in `Frozen` is the character with an independent identity compared with the patriarchy, male chauvinism and heterosexual dichotomous discourse given so far in Disney. In this study, it is to explain the change of gender identity in the character of Elsa through Queer theory that deconstructs the distinction between sex and gender, and is constituted by the actions typed and performed the gender concept, and is dismantling the dichotomy itself such as male/female, heterosexual/homosexual. The performative of Queer make the boundaries between lesbian-gay, sexuality and heterosexual ambiguous. It can be said that the performative has political nature resisted to the dominant discourse through these parodiable strategy. The performative showed of Elsa is in the boundaries between the sisterhood and the heterosexual. When analyzed in a heterosexual perspective Elsa`s identity is to be understood as simply just love the intimacy of a sister and a sister. On the other hand, if you focused on the relationship between women and the relationship between Elsa and Anna is recognized as the point of view of homosexuality. Because if you look at the concept of lesbian continuum, the homosexual love in the female characters of Disney seems like a bond between women, easier than heterosexual love can be hidden sexual desires. Elsa has developed into a performative identity through the expression of performative and the inhibitory of queer identity. And then the her sorcery that was initially contraindicated and the presence of a fear became to the `lesbian phallus`. The sorcery that can be seen the signifying phallus against to the privileges of heterosexual patriarchy is recognized in the world of Arendal. Elsa is a new women featuring Disney characters. as this character is analysised by Queer theory, this study seeks to expand the area of the various character analysis methods.

$\small{L}$ -아르기닌의 알칼리성과 보습성을 식품에 활용하는 연구의 일환으로 폴리인산염 대신에 $\small{L}$ -아르기닌을 0.25, 0.5, 1.0% (w/w) 첨가하여 소시지를 제조하고, 각각의 pH, 보수력, 유화 안정성 및 조직감을 조사하였다. 소시지의 pH는 $\small{L}$ -아르기닌의 첨가량에 비례하여 증가하였으며, 수분함량은 $\small{L}$ -아르기닌을 0.25% 이상, 유화 안정성은 0.5% 이상, 경도와 전단력은 1.0%를 첨가한 결과가 폴리인산나트륨을 0.5% 첨가한 소시지의 특성과 유사하였다. 인산염 0.5%와 $\small{L}$ -아르기닌 0.5% 첨가 소시지에 대하여 관능 평가를 실시하였다. 조직감은 인산염을 사용한 시료가 $\small{L}$ -아르기닌을 첨가한 시료보다, 맛과 전체적인 기호도에서도 $\small{L}$ -아르기닌을 첨가한 소시지가 다소 우수한 것으로 평가되었다. 이상의 결과로부터 소시지 제조시 $\small{L}$ -아르기닌은 인산염 대체 소재로 활용될 수 있으며 첨가량은 0.5%가 적절함을 확인할 수 있었다. 【$\small{L}$ -Arginine was applied to processed pork sausages and evaluated as a substitute for commonly used inorganic polyphosphate. Processed pork sausage was prepared with an addition of 0.25, 0.5, and 1.0% (w/w) $\small{L}$ -arginine. Quality characteristics of the processed pork sausages were than evaluated in terms of pH, moisture content, emulsion stability and textural properties. The pH of sausage increased with increasing $\small{L}$ -arginine concentration. Moisture content of 0.25% $\small{L}$ -arginine sausage, emulsion stability of 0.5% $\small{L}$ -arginine sausage, and textural properties of 1.0% $\small{L}$ -arginine sausage were similar to those of 0.5% polyphosphate sausage, respectively. In terms of sensory evaluation, taste and overall acceptability of 0.5% $\small{L}$ -arginine sausage were slightly higher than those of 0.5% polyphosphate sausage and textural properties were reversed. According to sensory score and quality characteristics, $\small{L}$ -arginine had a potential as a substitute for inorganic polyphosphate and the optimum concentration of $\small{L}$ -arginine was around 0.5%.】

This study was conducted to investigate the carcass characteristics and nutritional composition of longissimus lumborum (LL) muscle of domestic steer beef (Hanwoo and Holstein born and raised in Korea) and imported beef (Angus imported from Australia, raised for about 6 months in Korea). A total of twelve steers (4 steers per each breed and quality grade 2) were slaughtered, LL muscles were separated and stored at for 7 days. The pH values of Holstein meat were notably higher than those of Hanwoo, and WHC values were similar between Hanwoo and Holstein, but Angus showed some differences. The WHC of the LL muscle from Hanwoo was better than those from Holstein and Angus when stored for fourteen days. The CIE , , and values of the LL muscle from Hanwoo were significantly higher than those of Angus at day 7 (p

Bioinformatic tools and databases for glycobiology and glycomics research are playing increasingly important roles in functional studies. However, to verify hypotheses generated by computational glycomics with empirical functional assays is only an emerging field. In this study, we predicted glycan epitopes expressed by a cancer-derived mucin, MUC1, by computational glycomics. MUC1 is expressed by tumor cells with a deficiency in glycosylation. Although numerous diagnostic reagents and cancer vaccines have been designed based on abnormally glycosylated MUC1 sequences, the glycan and peptide sequences responsible for immune responses in vivo are poorly understood. The immunogenicity of synthetic MUC1 glycopeptides bearing Tn or sialyl-Tn antigens have been studied in mouse models, while authentic glyco-epitopes expressed by tumor cells remain unclear. To examine the immunogenicity of authentic cancer derived MUC1 glyco-epitopes, we expressed membrane bound forms of MUC1 tandem repeats in Jurkat, a mutant cancer cell line deficient of mucin-type core-1 β1-3 galactosyltransferase activity, and immunized mice with cancer cells expressing authentic MUC1 glyco-epitopes. Antibody responses to individual glyco-epitopes were determined by chemically synthesized candidate MUC1 glycopeptides predicted through computational glycomics. Monoclonal antibodies can be generated toward chemically synthesized glycopeptide sequences. With RPAPGS(Tn)TAPPAHG as an example, a monoclonal antibody 16A, showed 25-fold higher binding to glycosylated peptide (EC50=9.278±1.059 ng/ml) compared to its non-glycosylated form (EC(50)=247.3±16.29 ng/ml) as measured by ELISA experiments with plate-bound peptides. A library of monoclonal antibodies toward authentic MUC1 glycopeptide epitopes may be a valuable tool for studying glycan and peptide sequences in cancer, as well as reagents for diagnosis and therapy.

This paper dealt with developing conceptual model for making public policy on consumer product safety. The matters of consumer safety, public health and environmental protection are essential parts of making policy for consumer products. Moreover, policy authority should consider all measures based on consumer safety. In the process making regulations, policy authority has to have some methods to prevent errors on treating eligible persons as persons disqualified under uncertainty decision making of public policy. To recognize and ensure fairness on public policy, policy authority needs to establish basic policy making and fundamental concepts. Therefore, we developed conceptual model for consumer products safety, CPSPcon in this paper. The conceptual model is one part of SSM(Soft System Methodology) and can support specific policy target. The CPSPcon model can assist in evaluation of responses to an adapting or considering model.

Agronomic characteristics of 150 adzuki bean ( W.F. Wight) germplasm collected in Korea were investigated in order to establish basic data for the improvement of crop breeding. Growth types were classified as 3 types of indeterminate type, determinate type, and semideterminate type, of which indeterminate type was the highest percentage of 96.6%. Seed color were classified as 8 colors of which dark brown took 66.5% in 150 adzuki bean germplasm. Days from seeding to maturity showed the range from 89 to 142 days with 115 days in the average and the highest frequency proportion was 37.2% of the group from 131 to 140 days, and the next was 27.3% of the group from 121 to 130 days among 150 germplasm. Pod length showed the range from 5.9 to 10.1 cm with 7.8 cm in the average and the highest frequency distribution of it was the group from 7.1 to 8.0 cm with the proportion of 45.1% and the next was the group from 8.1 to 9.0 cm with the proportion of 32.2%. Number of pods per plant showed the range from 5.0 to 132.5 pods with 28.5 pods in the average and the highest frequency distribution of it was the group from 11.0 to 20.0 pods with the proportion of 30.8% and the next was the group from 21.0 to 30.0 pods with the proportion of 28.6%. Number of seeds per pod showed the range from 5.3 to 11.3 seeds with 8.2 seeds in the average and the highest frequency proportion of it was the group from 7.1 to 8.0 seeds, which occupied 32.2% among 150 germplasm. 89.3% of 150 germplasm showed the resistance to shattering of grains at harvest period. 100 grain weight showed the range from 5.7 to 23.0 g with 12.9 g in the average and the highest frequency proportion of it was the group from 9.01 to 13.0 g, which occupied 43.3% and the next was the group from 13.01 to 17.00 g with the proportion of 28.5% of 150 germplasm.

The genetic diversity plays a significant role in determining a species' survival and perseverance. Endangered species often lack genetic variation, which makes them vulnerable to numerous dangers of extinction including selection, genetic drifts and human interference. Knowing an endangered species' genetic background greatly enhances conservation efforts since it reveals why, what and how to conserve that species. Cotoneaster wilsonii is an endangered plant species endemic to Ulleung island, but not enough genetic research has been done on this taxon for its effective conservation plans. In this study, three populations of C. wilsonii in Ulleung island underwent allozyme analysis through starch gel electrophoresis. 10 loci were analyzed and F-statistics was calculated. Overall data indicated that C. wilsonii possessed low genetic diversity with intense inbreeding, heterozygote deficiency and low differentiation among populations. These results implied that C. wilsonii was recently introduced to the Ulleung island from ancestor species, and did not have much time to differentiate. Current status of C. wilsonii habitats is very fragile and vulnerable, with increasing tourism constantly threatening the species' survival. It is very likely that C. wilsonii will become extinct in near future unless organized conservation protects its populations and genetic diversity.

Natural Killer T (NKT) cells are a unique type of innate immune cells which exert paradoxical roles in animal models through producing either Th1 or Th2 cytokines and activating dendritic cells. Alpha-galactosylceramide (αGalCer), a synthetic antigen for NKT cells, was found to be safe and immune stimulatory in cancer and hepatitis patients. We recently developed microparticle-formulated αGalCer, which is selectively presented by dendritic cells and macrophages, but not B cells, and thus can avoid the anergy of NKT cells. In this study, we have examined the immunogenicity of microparticles containing αGalCer and protein vaccine components through sublingual injection in mice. The results showed that sublingual injection of microparticles containing αGalCer and ovalbumin triggered IgG responses in serum (titer >1:100,000), which persisted for more than 3 months. Microparticles containing ovalbumin alone also induced comparable level of IgG responses. However, immunoglobulin subclass analysis showed that sublingually injected microparticles containing αGalCer and ovalbumin induced 20 fold higher Th1 biased antibody (IgG2c) than microparticles containing OVA alone (1:20,000 as compared to 1:1000 titer). Sublingual injection of microparticles containing αGalCer and ovalbumin induced secretion of both IgG (titer >1:1000) and IgA (titer =1:80) in saliva secretion, while microparticles containing ovalbumin alone only induced secretion of IgG in saliva. Our results suggest that sublingual injection of microparticles and their subsequent trafficking to draining lymph nodes may induce adaptive immune responses in mucosal compartments. Ongoing studies are focused on the mechanism of antigen presentation and lymphocyte biology in the oral cavity, as well as the toxicity and efficacy of these candidate microparticles for future applications.

Thermoelectric properties of the hot-pressed Bi2(Te0.85Se0.15)3 alloy were investigated with the addition of BN powders as phonon scattering centers. The Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity of the alloy increased as the volume fraction of BN increased. Although the thermal conductivity of the alloy decreased as the volume fraction of BN increased due to the reduction of Kel, the lattice thermal conductivity varied little. The figure-of-merit of the alloys, 1.6×l0-3/K without the addition of BN, decreased as the volume fraction of BN increased because the increment of the electrical resistivity was much larger than the decrement of the thermal conductivity due to grain refinement.

Thermoelectric properties of the (Bi0.2Sb0.8)2Te3 alloy, fabricated by mechanical alloying and hot-pressing, were investigated with addition of BN and WO3 powders as phonon scattering centers. The Seebeck coefficient and the electrical resistivity of the hot-pressed (Bi0.2Sb0.8)2Te3 alloy increased with increasing the volume fraction of BN and WO3. Although the thermal conductivity of the hot-pressed (Bi0.2Sb0.8)2Te3 alloy decreased with increasing the volume fraction of BN and WO3 due to the reduction of κel, the lattice thermal conductivity was not lowered. The figure-of-merit of the hot-pressed (Bi0.2Sb0.8)2Te3 alloy, 3.05 × 10−3/K without addition of BN and WO3, decreased with increasing the volume fraction of BN and WO3, because the increment of the electrical resistivity was much larger than the decrement of the thermal conductivity due to the grain refinement.

Object The authors propose that anterior callosotomy—thought to have some advantages over total callosotomy—is not superior to total callosotomy for prevention of seizure propagation or other complications. Methods The study comprised 34 patients in whom generalized epilepsy syndrome or frontal lobe seizures with a secondary generalization were diagnosed. Preoperatively, all patients suffered from disabling drop attacks or intense head-drop seizures, and some patients also experienced other types of seizures. The male/female ratio was 22:12, and patients ranged in age between 1 to 19 years (mean 8.7 years). The follow-up period ranged from 1.08 to 5.0 years (mean 2.58 years). Seizure outcome, parental assessment of daily function, and parental satisfaction with the outcome was assessed postoperatively. Results After undergoing 1-stage total callosotomy, drop attacks disappeared completely in 25 patients during the follow-up period, and in 6 patients the frequency of drop attacks decreased to < 10% of baseline. With regard to other types of seizures, seizures resolved completely in 12 patients, and in another 18 seizure frequency decreased. Two patients experienced a transient disconnection syndrome for 2 and 4 weeks. One patient experienced ataxic hemiparesis for 3 weeks before it completely abated. The overall daily function of the patients improved, and all parents were satisfied with the surgical outcome. Conclusions For pediatric generalized epilepsy syndrome, 1-stage total callosotomy will be the first choice in treatment for controlling generalized seizures.

Thermoelectric properties of the polycrystalline (Bi/sub 1-x/Sb/sub x/)/sub 2/Te/sub 3/ (0/spl les/x/spl les/1) alloys, prepared by various powder metallurgy such as mechanical alloying and melting/grinding, were measured and compared with the characteristics of single crystals. Contrary to the p-type behavior of the single crystals in all compositions of 0/spl les/x/spl les/1, a p-n transition occurred at about 0.67 mol% Sb/sub 2/Te/sub 3/ for the alloys prepared by powder metallurgy. Among the p-type (Bi/sub 1-x/Sb/sub x/)/sub 2/Te/sub 3/ (x/spl ges/0.7) processed by powder metallurgy, (Bi/sub 0.2/Sb/sub 0.8/)/sub 2/Te/sub 3/ exhibited the highest figure-of-merit of 3.05/spl times/10/sup -3//K. Thermoelectric properties of the hot-pressed (Bi/sub 0.2/Sb/sub 0.8/)/sub 2/Te/sub 3/ with addition of BN powders as scattering centers were also investigated.