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This cross-sectional, observational study aimed to integrate the analyses of relationships of physical activity, depression, and sleep with cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults using a single model. To this end, physical activity, sleep, depression, and cognitive function in 864 community-dwelling older adults from the Suwon Geriatric Mental Health Center were assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Mini-Mental State Examination for Dementia Screening, respectively. Their sociodemographic characteristics were also recorded. After adjusting for confounders, multiple linear regression analysis was performed to investigate the effects of physical activity, sleep, and depression on cognitive function. Models 4, 5, 7, and 14 of PROCESS were applied to verify the mediating and moderating effects of all variables. Physical activity had a direct effect on cognitive function (effect = 0.97, p < 0.01) and indirect effect (effect = 0.36; confidence interval: 0.18, 0.57) through depression. Moreover, mediated moderation effects of sleep were confirmed in the pathways where physical activity affects cognitive function through depression (F-coeff = 13.37, p < 0.001). Furthermore, these relationships differed with age. Thus, the associations among physical activity, depression, and sleep are important in interventions for the cognitive function of community-dwelling older adults. Such interventions should focus on different factors depending on age.

Defects, such as a black pads and pinholes, are generated on the Ni/Au interface after the electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) process. The contamination of plating solutions, including dissolution of the solder resist (SR), side reaction products, and impurities (Cu, Ni, drag-in), can be a cause of the black pad phenomenon. In this study, electroless Ni plating was investigated to determine the correlation between SR dissolution and black pad generation. Three different SR components, monomer, hardener, and photoinitiator were used to examine the effects of the properties of the coating layer. The surface morphology, plating rate, and phosphorus (P) content of the electroless Ni layer with SR additives were analyzed. The black pad mechanism by SR dissolution was examined by electrochemical analysis including the open circuit voltage (OCV) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) in a three-electrode cell. When a few ppm of SR was added, the OCV increased compared to the pure solution. CV revealed a change in hysteresis loop in the oxidation region upon the addition of SR. The contamination in the solution promotes the oxidation reaction rather than the reduction reaction. Therefore, the content of P in the contaminated solution was higher than that of the pure solution, and defects, such as black pad and pinholes, were observed.

Cholangiocarcinoma is a devastating malignancy with fatal complications that exhibits low response and resistance to chemotherapy. Here, we evaluated the anticancer effects of CG200745, a novel histone deacetylase inhibitor, either alone or in combination with standard chemotherapy drugs in cholangiocarcinoma cells. CG200745 dose-dependently reduced the viability of cholangiocarcinoma cells in vitro and decreased tumour volume and weight in a xenograft model. Administering CG200745 along with other chemotherapeutic agents including gemcitabine, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), cisplatin, oxaliplatin, or gemcitabine plus cisplatin further decreased cholangiocarcinoma cell viability, with a combination index in vitro and in vivo, and acts synergistically when administered in combination with standard chemotherapeutic agents, enabling dose reduction. CG200745 is therefore expected to improve the outcome of cholangiocarcinoma patients who exhibit resistance to conventional therapies.

The advent of porous polymers capable of both CO2 capture and conversion is an emerging research area to tackle ever-increasing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere and also to use CO2 as a sustainable C1 source. Porous cationic polymers, which are analogous to zeolites, with exchangeable counteranions offer ideal platform for the simultaneous capture and conversion of CO2. Here, we report on the porous cationic polymers (Ru-PCPs) with increased number of charges synthesized through condensation reaction between tris(1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione)Ru(II) dichloride and ortho-aromatic amines in AlCl3 at 400 °C. Ru-PCPs exhibited surface areas up to 526 m2 g−1 and CO2 uptake capacities as high as 3.76 mmol g−1, which is among the highest reported to date for porous cationic polymers. The high CO2-philicity of Ru-PCPs originating from the presence of multiple charges and nitrogen sites coupled with the nucleophilic Cl− anions rendered Ru-PCPs as highly efficient heterogeneous catalysts for the conversion of CO2 and propylene oxide to propylene carbonate through atom economy reaction. Notably, unlike previously reported porous cationic organocatalysts which require CO2 pressures of 10–30 bar, Ru-PCPs were shown to operate efficiently even under atmospheric pressure of CO2 mainly arising from the increased number of charges and counteranions.

The carbon isotopic composition of alkenones (δ13C37:2) can be used as a pCO2 proxy, although the applicability of this method is still controversial. In this study, the present oceanic pCO2 was reconstructed by analysing the δ13C37:2 of sinking particles collected by sediment traps in the East Sea/Japan Sea. The reconstructed pCO2 was compared with observed pCO2 to examine the applicability of this method. We applied the same method to marine sediments of core 05PC-21 to reconstruct the past pCO2 of the East Sea for the last 190 cal ka BP. The seasonal variation patterns of pCO2 which was reconstructed from the δ13C37:2 of sinking particles in the water column corresponded with those of observed oceanic pCO2. The pCO2 was relatively low in spring, and increased in summer. In consideration of the factors that can affect the seasonal variation of the pCO2, sea surface temperature seems to be a main factor. However, from January to March, there would be an influence of a deepening of the mixed layer depth and the vertical mixing of seawater. In April, the pCO2 decreased by a phytoplankton bloom. During the last 190 cal ka BP, oceanic pCO2 values and its variation pattern which were reconstructed by analysing the δ13C37:2 of marine sediment were similar to those of atmospheric pCO2 that were reconstructed from ice cores at high latitudes. These suggest that the carbon isotopic composition of alkenones (δ13C37:2) can be used as a proxy of long-term change in the partial pressure of atmospheric CO2.

Direct integration of nanostructures into macroscopic substrates is very important for their practical applications. In this work, we report a simple method that can be introduced for the Sn-catalyzed growth of alumina nanowires on ceramic substrates such as porous disk, monolith, and foam. Our study focuses on the role of the Sn catalysts in the formation mechanisms governing nanowire growth. Using the proposed approach, hair- or grass-like tufts of 20 nm diameter nanowires grow on the surface of the ~3 μm diameter Sn particles, in a tip growth mechanism. The nanowires of α-phased polycrystalline structure grow and are packed via a complex process involving batch-by-batch, branching, and amalgamation growth. The detailed observations reveal that the Sn catalyst is key to tailoring the growth patterns of the nanowires. In addition, cathodoluminescence studies highlight the potential optical applications of the alumina nanowires.

Mg doped a-plane GaN layers with MgN interlayers were grown on r-plane sapphire substrates by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition. Nonpolar Mg doped a-plane GaN without MgN exhibited a rough surface morphology, with both various sized, and large number of faceted pits. Meanwhile, nonpolar p-type GaN layers using MgN exhibited improved surface morphology, with typical stripe features along the [0 0 0 1] direction, and reduced faceted triangular pits on the surface, leading to increased hole concentration and crystal quality. The effect of insertion of MgN interlayers and their characteristics in Mg doped a-plane GaN were estimated by Hall-effect measurement, atomic force microscopy (AFM), cathode luminescence (CL), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscope (TEM) measurement.

We report the synthesis of carbon-encapsulating carbonate apatite nanowires through vapor–solid growth by heat-treatment of biomass comprising calcium compounds such as CaC2O4 or CaCO3 at 900 °C using both PH3 and C2H2 as the reactants. The thermal decomposition of CaC2O4 or CaCO3 to CaO with increasing temperature (CaC2O4 → CaCO3 + CO → CaO + CO2) is the key to achieving the growth of such core–shell nanowires. First, vapor-phase reactions between the gaseous calcium species generated from the derived CaO and gaseous molecules derived from thermal reactions of the reactants (PH3 and C2H2) lead to the oriented growth of core–shell nanowires along the [001] plane. Second, the CO2 generated during the decomposition of CaCO3 may be primarily responsible for the incorporation of carbonate ions into the apatite structure. Nanowire growth with knots along the growth direction reveals that our approach is very controllable. Additional demonstrations using kenaf fibers further verify that other types of biomass too are usable.

Background: Gene fusion occurs when a part of one gene fuses with a part of another gene by genome rearrangement and may possess oncogenic properties. Bile duct cancer (BDC) are one of the most lethal malignancy, but lack of proper diagnostic or prognostic markers. Our aim was to investigate BDC specific fusion genes found in patient's specimens and its clinical significance. Method : We extracted total RNA from five BDC tissues and normal tissues from the same patients. RNA sequencing was performed and the result data was analyzed using ChimeraScan, Jaffa or FusionCatcher softwares to detect gene fusion. The expression of the detected novel fusion gene was confirmed by ddPCR using tissues from the operated BDC patients and its clinical significance was analyzed with medical information of the patients. Result : We found 52 BDC specific fusion genes by RNA sequencing and we identified novel BDC specific fusion gene, PUM1-TRAF3 by bioinformatics analysis. Total 55 patients with BDC who underwent curative surgery were evaluated to investigate clinical significance of PUM1-TRAF3. There were 28 patients (50.1%) who expressed PUM1-TRAF3 by ddPCR. Patients with PUM1-TRAF3 presented higher rate of female gender (57.1 vs. 25.9, p=0.019), advanced stage (25% vs. 3.7%, p=0.025) and recurrence rate (64.7 vs. 48.1%, p=0.080) compared to patients without PUM1-TRAF3. Disease free survival (DFS) was 12.1 vs. 29.8 (p=0.078) and overall survival was 26.1 vs. 36.6 (p=0.239) between the patients with PUM1-TRAF3 and without PUM1-TRAF3. In multivariated analysis by cox-regression, expression of PUM1-TRAF3 (HR 2.86, p=0.023), advanced stage (HR 2.69, p=0.041), higher CA19-9 (HR 1.00, p=0.011) and positive resection margin (HR 4.57, p=0.002) were significantly associated with short DFS.Conclusion : In this study, we identified novel BDC-specific fusion gene, PUM1-TRAF3. Expression of PUM1-TRAF3 was confirmed in patient's tissues and associated with short DFS in operated BDC patients. PUM1-TRAF3 can be a potent biomarker in BDC. Citation Format: Dawoon E. Jung, Kahee Kim, Chanyang Kim, Soo Been Park, Jung Hyun Jo, Hee Seung Lee, Si Young Song. Identification of novel fusion gene, PUM1-TRAF3, as potent biomarker in bile duct cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4337.

An immunochromatographic assay (ICA) strip is one of the most widely used platforms in the field of point-of-care biosensors for the detection of various analytes in a simple, fast, and inexpensive manner. Currently, several approaches for sequential reactions in ICA platforms have improved their usability, sensitivity, and versatility. In this study, a new, simple, and low-cost approach using automatic sequential-reaction ICA strip is described. The automatic switching of a reagent pad from separation to attachment to the test membrane was achieved using a water-swellable polymer. The reagent pad was dried with an enzyme substrate for signal generation or with signal-enhancing materials. The strip design and system operation were confirmed by the characterization of the raw materials and flow analysis. We demonstrated the operation of the proposed sensor by using various chemical reaction-based assays, including metal-ion amplification, enzyme-colorimetric reaction, and enzyme-catalyzed chemiluminescence. Furthermore, by employing C-reactive protein as a model, we successfully demonstrated that the new water-swellable polymer-based ICA sensor can be utilized to detect biologically relevant analytes in human serum.

In this study, TiO2 nanofibers with a high aspect ratio and a large specific surface area were synthesized using the electrospinning technique, and the effect of calcination temperature on their crystal structure, diameter, specific surface area and photocatalytic activity was systematically investigated. The electrospun, as-prepared PVP/TTIP nanofibers were several tens of micrometers in length with a diameter of 74 nm. TiO2 nanofibers with an average diameter of 50 nm were prepared after calcination at various temperatures. The calcination temperature significantly influenced the photocatalytic and material properties of TiO2 including grain size and specific surface area. When compared to other nanostructured TiO2 materials, such as commercial TiO2 nanoparticles (P25, Degussa), the TiO2 nanofibers exhibited greater photocatalytic activity for the degradation of acetaldehyde and ammonia.

Gene fusion occurs when a part of one gene fuses with or attaches to a part of another gene by genome rearrangement and the result in gene fusion may possess oncogenic properties; fused gene may be translated into a unique protein that may promotes cancer properties. Bile duct cancer are one of the most lethal cancer types with low 5-year survival rates, but lack of proper diagnostic or prognostic markers. Our aim was to investigate bile duct cancer specific fusion genes found in patient’s specimens. We extracted total RNA from five bile duct cancer tissues and normal tissues from the same patients. We performed RNA sequencing and the result data was analyzed using ChimeraScan, Jaffa or Fusionchacher softwares to detect gene fusion. To identify the cancer somatic fusion gene, the fusion occurred in normal tissues and previously reported fusion genes found in normal tissues were excluded and the fusion occurred in coding region was included. As a result, we found 52 bile duct cancer tissue specific- fusion genes. We analyzed the expression of selected fusion genes in 30 bile duct cancer patients and cancer cell lines by qRT-PCR. As a result we observed two novel bile duct cancer specific fusion genes. We cloned one of the fusion genes and transfected into the bile duct cancer cell lines SNU-1196 to assess, and increase in cell motility was observed in vitro. These findings indicate the presence of novel fusion genes as well as its possible application for the early diagnosis or prognosis of bile duct cancer. Citation Format: Kahee Kim, Dawoon Esther Jung, Mi-kyoung Seo, Sang Woo Kim, Si Young Song. Identification of bile duct cancer specific fusion genes in patient tissues [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4398. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4398

We demonstrated an InGaN/GaN-based, monolithic, white light-emitting diode (LED) without phosphors by using morphology-controlled active layers formed on multi-facet GaN templates containing polar and semipolar surfaces. The nanostructured surface morphology was controlled by changing the growth time, and distinct multiple photoluminescence peaks were observed at 360, 460, and 560 nm; these features were caused by InGaN/GaN-based multiple quantum wells (MQWs) on the nanostructured facets. The origin of each multi-peak was related to the different indium (In) compositions in the different planes of the quantum wells grown on the nanostructured GaN. The emitting units of MQWs in the LED structures were continuously connected, which is different from other GaN-based nanorod or nanowire LEDs. Therefore, the suggested structure had a larger active area. From the electroluminescence spectrum of the fabricated LED, monolithic white light emission with CIE color coordinates of x = 0.306 and y = 0.333 was achieved via multi-facet control combined with morphology control of the metal organic chemical vapor deposition-selective area growth of InGaN/GaN MQWs.

Gene fusion occurs when a part of one gene fuses with or attaches to a part of another gene by genome rearrangement and the result in gene fusion may possess oncogenic properties; fused gene may be translated into a unique protein that may promotes cancer properties. Pancreatic cancer and bile duct cancer are one of the most lethal cancer types with low 5-year survival rates, but lack of proper diagnostic or prognostic markers. Our aim was to investigate pancreatobilliary- specific fusion genes found in patient's specimens. We used TRIzol to extract total RNA from seven pancreatic cancer tissues and normal tissues from the same patients, and five bile duct cancer tissues and normal tissues from the same patients. Total RNA was assessed for RNA sequencing and the result data was analyzed using ChimeraScan to detect gene fusion. To identify the cancer somatic fusion gene, the fusion occurred in normal tissues and previously reported fusion genes found in normal tissues were excluded and the fusion occurred in coding region was included. As a result, we found 87 pancreatic cancer tissue specific- and 52 bile duct cancer tissue specific- fusion genes. We then selected fusion genes that either one of the gene has been reported to express in cancer tissues. We confirmed the expression of selected fusion genes by RT-PCR in cancer and normal tissues as well as in cancer cell lines. As a result we observed novel pancreatobilliary cancer specific fusion genes. These findings indicate the presence of novel fusion genes as well as its possible application for the early diagnosis or prognosis of pancreatic and bile duct cancer. Citation Format: Kahee Kim, Dawoon E. Jung, Mi-kyoung Seo, Sang Woo Kim, Si Young Song. Identification of pancreatobilliary cancer specific fusion genes in patient tissues. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 101.

The presence of artificial holes in single-grain REBa2Cu3O7−y (RE123, RE: rare-earth elements) bulk superconductors can facilitate oxygen diffusion into superconducting grains through the increased surface area. In addition to the enhancement of oxygen diffusion, the mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of bulk superconductors can be improved by filling holes with a metallic conductive phase. This study presents a new and simple hole-making process for single-grain RE123 bulk superconductors. Artificial holes 3 or 5 mm in diameter were made for Gd1.5Ba2Cu3O7−y (Gd1.5) powder compacts prior to the sintering/melt growth process using specially designed pressing dies. The die pressing neither induced cracking in powder compacts nor influenced thermal procedures for the Gd123 growth. Single-grain Gd1.5 bulk superconductors with holes were successfully fabricated by a top-seeded melt growth (TSMG) process using Gd1.5 powder compacts with holes. The die pressing was proven as a time-saving process in comparison with the conventional method which makes holes in sintered or melt-processed hard bodies by mechanical drilling. The detailed fabrication process of single-grain Gd1.5 bulk superconductor with holes, magnetic levitation forces, and magnetic flux density, estimated for the single-grain Gd123 bulk superconductors with holes, are reported.