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Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between interocular asymmetries of corneal hysteresis (CH) and visual field defects in Korean patients with glaucoma.Methods: A total of 444 eyes from 222 participants with glaucoma in at least one eye were enrolled. CH was measured using an ocular response analyzer (Reichert Technologies Inc). Eyes of each participant were classified into “better eye” and “worse eye” based on the mean deviation (MD) value of visual field test. The correlation between interocular differences in intraocular pressure, axial length, central corneal thickness, CH, and MD values was evaluated using Spearman correlation analysis. To exclude the possible effect of antiglaucoma medication on corneal properties, additional analyses were performed on eyes without any glaucoma treatment at the time of CH measurement (treatment-naive group).Results: Median (interquartile range) MD value was –3.71 dB (–6.87 to –1.30 dB) in the better eye and –10.20 dB (–16.32 to –5.62 dB) in the worse eye. When the correlation between the asymmetry of the MD value and asymmetry of intraocular pressure, axial length, central corneal thickness, and CH were evaluated, only interocular differences in CH were significantly associated with interocular differences in MD values (rho = 0.214, p = 0.001). Among the 222 participants, 60 (27.0%) were treatment-naive group. In these eyes, interocular differences in CH were also significantly associated with interocular differences in the MD values (rho = 0.285, p = 0.029).Conclusions: The interocular asymmetry of CH was significantly correlated with the interocular asymmetry of visual field defects in glaucoma.

Along with the rapid growth of the food delivery industry, concerns are growing regarding the management of plastic packaging waste. This study estimates the amount of plastic packaging from online food delivery services in Korea and assesses its environmental effects using life cycle assessments. This study also compares the environmental impacts of the adoption of multi-use containers, the use of recycled materials, and the increase in recycling rates proposed by the Korean government for efficient plastic waste management. A total of 72.93 kt of plastic packaging was consumed by online food delivery in 2020, polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate accounted for 81.48% of the packaging materials consumed. The adoption of multi-use containers is the most environmentally effective alternative, but its negative impact on terrestrial ecotoxicity is approximately 5 times higher than that of others. Although the other two alternatives are 2-6 times less efficient than adopting multi-use containers, they can still play an important role in plastic waste management. Overall, these results provide empirical information on food packaging waste and insights into the sustainable management of plastics. Keywords: Food packaging, Plastic waste, Online food delivery service, Waste management, Environmental impact.

Purpose: Here we report a case of posterior chamber intraocular lens (IOL) dislocation into the subconjunctival space (pesudophacocele) following ocular trauma.Case summary: A 66-year-old male presented with ocular pain and decreased vision in the right eye following trauma with a metallic rod. The patient had a history of trabeculectomy, glaucoma drainage device implantation, transscleral cyclophotocoagulation, and cataract surgery for uveitic glaucoma and a cataract in the right eye. On examination, vision was hand movement, the intraocular pressure was 3 mmHg, and subconjunctival hemorrhage and hyphema were observed. After the resolution of hemorrhage, uveal tissue prolapse was seen nasally behind the corneal limbus and the IOL was found to be dislocated into the nasal subconjunctival space. There were no changes in the filtering bleb and tube compared to the pre-trauma status. The IOL was removed through a conjunctival incision because the patient refused any active treatment.Conclusions: Pesudophacocele developed in a patient who had a history of glaucoma and cataract surgery in the injured eye. The IOL could not be assessed immediately after the trauma because of subconjunctival hemorrhage and hyphema. When the status of IOL is unclear or suspected to be dislocated after trauma, the possibility of pseudophacocele should be considered, in addition to the dislocation into the vitreous cavity.

The quality of pavements in tropical climates is negatively affected by the frequent wet and dry cycles during the rainy season, as well as by issues related to overloading from heavy trucks and traffic congestion. Contributing to this deterioration are factors such as acid rainwater, heavy traffic oils, and municipal debris. In light of these challenges, this study aims to assess the viability of a polymer-modified asphalt concrete mixture. This study investigates the feasibility of a polymer-modified asphalt concrete mixture with the addition of 6% crumb rubber powder from waste car tires and 3% epoxy resin to counter the harsh conditions of tropical climate weather. The study involved subjecting test specimens to five to 10 cycles of contaminated water (100% rainwater + 10% used oil from trucks), curing for 12 h, and air drying in a chamber of 50 °C for 12 h to simulate critical curing conditions. The specimens underwent fundamental laboratory performance tests such as the indirect tensile strength test, dynamic modulus test, four points bending test, and Cantabro test, as well as the double load condition in the Hamburg wheel tracking test to determine the effectiveness of the proposed polymer-modified material in actual conditions. The test results confirmed that the simulated curing cycles had a critical impact on the durability of the specimens, with the greater curing cycles leading to a significant drop in the strength of the material. For example, the TSR ratio of the control mixture dropped from 90% to 83% and 76% after five and 10 curing cycles, respectively. Meanwhile, the modified mixture showed a decrease from 93% to 88% and 85% under the same conditions. The test results revealed that the effectiveness of the modified mixture outperformed the conventional condition in all tests, with a more prominent impact observed under overload conditions. Under double conditions in the Hamburg wheel tracking test and a curing condition of 10 cycles, the maximum deformation of the control mixture sharply increased from 6.91 to 22.7 mm, whereas the modified mixture increased from 5.21 to 12.4 mm. Overall, the test results confirm the durability of the polymer-modified asphalt concrete mixture under harsh tropical climate conditions, promoting its application for sustainable pavements, especially in Southeast Asian countries.

This study compared the characteristics of posterior vitreous detachment (PVD)-related and glaucomatous optic disc hemorrhage (DH). Fundus photographs of eyes with PVD-related DH (PVD group) and glaucomatous DH (glaucoma group) were reviewed. The shape, type, layer, location (clock-hour sector), and DH/disc area (DH/DA) ratio of DH were investigated. In the PVD group, DH presented as a flame (60.9%), splinter (34.8%), and dot or blot (4.3%) shape. However, most of the glaucomatous DH revealed a splinter shape (92.3%), followed by a flame shape (7.7%, p p = 0.003). Both PVD-related and glaucomatous DH were most commonly observed in the 7 o’clock sector. In the PVD group, DH was also found in the 2 and 5 o’clock sectors (p = 0.010). Mean DH/DA ratio in PVD group (0.15 ± 0.19) was greater than in glaucoma group (0.04 ± 0.04, p

An emerging problem associated with the increased global demand for electric vehicles (EVs) is the post-use of lithium-ion batteries installed in them. Discarded batteries maintain 70–80% of their performance; thus, they are highly valuable recycling resources. Accordingly, technologies that complement the intermittency of renewable energy by integrating discarded EV batteries into battery energy storage systems (BESSs) are receiving attention. Here, the economic feasibility of a residential solar photovoltaic (PV) + reused BESS (RBESS) integrated system in three emerging countries (Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam) was analyzed by comparing its performance with that of diesel power generation and central grid-supplied power. The proposed system had a higher economic feasibility than diesel power generation (55.9% lower LCOE) but a lower economic feasibility than the central grid-supplied power (282.7% higher LCOE) in all three countries. Additionally, we conducted a sensitivity analysis by incorporating the investment cost, government subsidy, and social cost of greenhouse gas emissions. In conclusion, the Philippines is the best country for grid parity with the integrated system, following Indonesia and Vietnam. This study examined both the economic and social benefits of the proposed system as a countermeasure to climate change and the virtuous resource cycle.

We previously constructed a VGG-16 based artificial intelligence (AI) model (image classifier [IC]) to predict the invasion depth in early gastric cancer (EGC) using endoscopic static images. However, images cannot capture the spatio-temporal information available during real-time endoscopy—the AI trained on static images could not estimate invasion depth accurately and reliably. Thus, we constructed a video classifier [VC] using videos for real-time depth prediction in EGC. We built a VC by attaching sequential layers to the last convolutional layer of IC v2, using video clips. We computed the standard deviation (SD) of output probabilities for a video clip and the sensitivities in the manner of frame units to observe consistency. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of IC v2 for static images were 82.5%, 82.9%, and 82.7%, respectively. However, for video clips, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of IC v2 were 33.6%, 85.5%, and 56.6%, respectively. The VC performed better analysis of the videos, with a sensitivity of 82.3%, a specificity of 85.8%, and an accuracy of 83.7%. Furthermore, the mean SD was lower for the VC than IC v2 (0.096 vs. 0.289). The AI model developed utilizing videos can predict invasion depth in EGC more precisely and consistently than image-trained models, and is more appropriate for real-world situations.

Due to the instability of the aggregate supply and demand chain, it is expected that the price of aggregate will increase, consequently increasing construction expenses. Therefore, achieving a stable aggregate supply and demand chain by developing alternative aggregates and implementing environmentally friendly aggregate collection plans that do not affect the natural ecosystem are mandatory. To address the issues of natural aggregate shortage and treating circulating fluidized bed boiler fly ash (CFBA), an artificial aggregate was manufactured by using CFBA with BFS and MT added AA, as a possible replacement for natural aggregate. The optimum artificial aggregate mix had a specific gravity of 2.47 and a water absorption rate of 4.05% after aging for 28 days. Over time, the number of gel pores in the artificial aggregate increases, and the porosity decreases. In other words, C–S–H formation in CFBA causes the size of the large pores that appear in the initial hydration to decline, attributed to the continuously generated C–S–H, and hence the number of gel pores increases, leading to a decrease in the porosity. XRD measurement of the artificial aggregate confirmed the presence of calcium silicate (C–S–H), calcium aluminosilicate (C–S–A–H), Al2O3–Fe2O3–mono, and calcium hydride. Comparing the compressive strength of ISO standard aggregate mortar and manufactured artificial aggregate mortar, the initial compressive strength of CFBA was ~ 80% of that of the standard aggregates; however, the compressive strength of CFBA increased with aging. As a result of synthesizing an artificial aggregate using self-hydric FA, it is possible to use some substitution of natural aggregate.

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a widely accepted alternative therapy for Clostridioides difficile infection and other gastrointestinal disorders. Thorough donor screening is required as a safety control measure to minimize transmission of infectious agents in FMT. We report the donor screening process and outcomes at a fecal microbiota bank in Korea. From August 2017 to June 2020, the qualification of 62 individuals as FMT donors was evaluated using clinical assessment and laboratory tests. Forty-six (74%) candidates were excluded after clinical assessment; high body mass index (>25) was the most common reason for exclusion, followed by atopy, asthma, and allergy history. Four of the remaining 16 (25%) candidates failed to meet laboratory test criteria, resulting in a 19% qualification rate. FMT donor re-qualification was conducted monthly as an additional safety control measure, and only three (5%) candidates were eligible for repeated donation. As high prevalence of multidrug-resistant organisms (55%) and Helicobacter pylori (44%) were detected in qualified donors during the screening, a urea breath test was added to the existing protocol. The present results emphasize the importance of implementing a donor re-qualification system to minimize risk factors not identified during initial donor screening.

Conventional hot mix asphalt overlaying on trench infrastructure typically necessitates extended cooling times for further works and can have adverse effects on buried components, such as electricity cables and hot water pipes. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the use of warm guss mastic asphalt (at an installation temperature of 160 °C) as an overlaying material for mini-trenches, which can reduce the cooling time required for traffic opening and improve the efficiency of the construction process. This research involved two stages: first, lab testing and related research results were used to generate the thermal conductivity and specific heat necessary for simulation work. Second, a finite element model analysis was conducted to evaluate the thermal transmission of the overlaying surface and the buried conduit based on the summer pavement temperature distribution through the Korean Pavement Research Program. Afterward, the field test bed was constructed to verify the simulation. The results indicate that the optimal thickness of the overlaying material and the concrete covering should be designed to ensure thermal durability and meet traffic opening requirements. The overlaying depth of the mini trench using warm mix guss mastic asphalt should be less than 100 mm to meet with the traffic opening time, while the thickness of the concrete covering should be designed to be more than 100 mm to ensure thermal durability. Additionally, the findings suggest that the application of warm guss asphalt could reduce the opening time by 30 min to 1 h and 25 min compared to conventional hot guss asphalt materials. When the pavement surface temperature for the traffic opening is controlled at 50 °C, the asphalt mixture requires at least 2 h to 5 h to meet the cooling criteria for traffic opening, respectively. Overall, this research confirms the potential benefits and optimal use of warm guss mastic asphalt in the construction process of mini-trenches.

Purpose: To evaluate the dynamic range of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and optic nerve head (ONH) parameters measured using optical coherence tomography (OCT) in conditions ranging from nonglaucomatous status to advanced glaucoma by longitudinal observation.Methods: A total of 15 eyes from 12 participants with glaucoma progression from a nonglaucomatous status to advanced glaucoma were included. The RNFL and ONH parameters were compared between the nonglaucomatous and advanced stages within the same eye. The absolute and relative changes in OCT parameters were analyzed.Results: The median highest intraocular pressure was 42.5 mmHg (interquartile range, 37.5 to 54.5 mmHg), and the final mean deviation of the visual field test was –24.68 dB (interquartile range, –23.93 to –31.13 dB). The median relative changes in RNFL thickness were –40.6% in the overall area, and –51.9%, –21.4%, –51.1%, and –41.8% in the superior, nasal, inferior, and temporal quadrants, respectively (all p < 0.05). Relative changes in the rim area, disc area, average cup to disc ratio, vertical cup to disc ratio, and cup volume were –56.64%, 0.59%, 62.10%, 66.0%, and 337.90%, respectively (all p < 0.05, except for disc area with a p-value of 0.753).Conclusions: The dynamic range of the RNFL thickness ranged from 40.6% to 51.9%, and the dynamic range of the ONH parameters ranged from 56.64% to 337.90%. During the course of glaucoma progression, the cup volume showed the widest dynamic range. However, the disc area did not show significant changes.

This study describes the epidemiological characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) based on reported cases from long-term care facilities. As of April 20th, 2020, 3 long-term care facilities in a metropolitan area of South Korea had reported cases of COVID-19. These facilities’ employees were presumed to be the sources of infection. There were 2 nursing hospitals that did not report any additional cases. One nursing home had a total of 25 cases, with an attack rate of 51.4% (95% CI 35.6–67.0), and a fatality rate of 38.9% (95% CI 20.3–61.4) among residents. The results from this study suggest that early detection and maintenance of infection control minimizes the risk of rapid transmission.

We describe the epidemiology of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in a call center in South Korea. We obtained information on demographic characteristics by using standardized epidemiologic investigation forms. We performed descriptive analyses and reported the results as frequencies and proportions for categoric variables. Of 1,143 persons who were tested for COVID-19, a total of 97 (8.5%, 95% CI 7.0%–10.3%) had confirmed cases. Of these, 94 were working in an 11th-floor call center with 216 employees, translating to an attack rate of 43.5% (95% CI 36.9%–50.4%). The household secondary attack rate among symptomatic case-patients was 16.2% (95% CI 11.6%– 22.0%). Of the 97 persons with confirmed COVID-19, only 4 (1.9%) remained asymptomatic within 14 days of quarantine, and none of their household contacts acquired secondary infections. Extensive contact tracing, testing all contacts, and early quarantine blocked further transmission and might be effective for containing rapid outbreaks in crowded work settings.

BACKGROUND: Thoracic lymph node (LN) evaluation is essential for the accurate diagnosis of lung cancer and deciding the appropriate course of treatment. Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is considered a standard method for mediastinal nodal staging. This study aims to build a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) for the automatic classification of metastatic malignancies involving thoracic LN, using EBUS-TBNA. METHODS: Patients who underwent EBUS-TBNAs to assess the presence of malignancy in mediastinal LNs during a ten-month period at Severance Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea, were included in the study. Corresponding LN ultrasound images, pathology reports, demographic data, and clinical history were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 2,394 endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) images of 1,459 benign LNs from 193 patients, and 935 malignant LNs from 177 patients, were collected. We employed the visual geometry group (VGG)-16 network to classify malignant LNs using only traditional cross-entropy for classification loss. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of predicting malignancy were 69.7%, 74.3%, and 72.0%, respectively, and the overall area under the curve (AUC) was 0.782. We applied the new loss function to train the network and, using the modified VGG-16, the AUC improved to a value of 0.8. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy improved to 72.7%, 79.0%, and 75.8%, respectively. In addition, the proposed network can process 63 images per second on a single mainstream graphics processing unit (GPU) device, making it suitable for real-time analysis of EBUS images. CONCLUSIONS: Deep CNNs can effectively classify malignant LNs from EBUS images. Selecting LNs that require biopsy using real-time EBUS image analysis with deep learning is expected to shorten the EBUS-TBNA procedure time, increase lung cancer nodal staging accuracy, and improve patient safety.

Soil salinity is one of the major environmental stresses that restrict the growth and development of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) worldwide. In Arabidopsis, the calcium signaling pathway mediated by calcineurin B-like protein 4 (CBL4) and CBL-interacting protein kinase 24 (CIPK24) plays a critical role in salt stress response. In this study, we identified and isolated two tomato genes similar to the Arabidopsis genes, designated as SlCBL4 and SlCIPK24, respectively. Bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) and pull-down assays indicated that SlCBL4 can physically interact with SlCIPK24 at the plasma membrane of plant cells in a Ca2+-dependent manner. Overexpression of SlCBL4 or superactive SlCIPK24 mutant (SlCIPK24M) conferred salt tolerance to transgenic tomato (cv. Moneymaker) plants. In particular, the SlCIPK24M-overexpression lines displayed dramatically enhanced tolerance to high salinity. It is notable that the transgenic plants retained higher contents of Na+ and K+ in the roots compared to the wild-type tomato under salt stress. Taken together, our findings clearly suggest that SlCBL4 and SlCIPK24 are functional orthologs of the Arabidopsis counterpart genes, which can be used or engineered to produce salt-tolerant tomato plants.

OBJECTIVES: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks in general hospitals are particularly risky because they not only overburden the regional healthcare delivery system, but also increase the possibility of community transmission. This study shares an experience of a COVID-19 outbreak response in a general hospital in Gyeonggi Province, Korea.METHODS: Since the first COVID-19 confirmed case was recognized in Hospital A on March 29, 2020, the Immediate Response Team of Gyeonggi Province and Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency devised a plan to conduct an epidemiological investigation and minimize the paralysis of hospital functions. Apart from the epidemiological investigation, a risk assessment of the hospital and management of contacts, including patients and workers, were also undertaken.RESULTS: In total, 72 confirmed cases were identified, including 26 hospitalized patients, 16 healthcare personnel, 7 visitors, and 22 cases identified externally. The majority of the confirmed cases were exposed in Ward B or were contacts of people exposed in Ward A (58.3% of 72 cases). Among healthcare personnel, caregivers were found to be the most vulnerable to COVID-19 in this outbreak.CONCLUSIONS: Preparation for all possible situations in medical facilities is important because it is difficult to find alternative resources. The findings of this study provide information on controlling the further transmission of COVID-19 and furnish evidence of the importance of ordinary management skills to be prepared for COVID-19.

1D hollow Co0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4-PANI nanofibers were synthesized through sequential processes of electrospinning, heat treatment in air, and chemical polymerization of polyaniline. The morphology and photocatalytic properties of heterostructured Co0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4-PANI as photocatalysts were investigated by SEM, TEM, XRD, TGA, and photocatalysis experiments of methyl orange under visible-light irradiation. The hollow Co0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4-PANI nanofibers showed a high photocatalytic degradation efficiency of 92% within 120 min and a kinetic constant of 115-times higher than hollow Co0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4 nanofibers. These high photocatalytic properties are attributed to both unique 1D hollow nanofiber morphology with macroporous hollow core, PANI/Co0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4/PANI shell and the heterojunction structure composed of Co0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4 and PANI. In addition, the outstanding magnetic properties of the hollow Co0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4-PANI nanofibers with its inherent spinel structure facilitate the recovery of the photocatalyst.

Metagenome sampling bias for geographical location and lifestyle is partially responsible for the incomplete catalog of reference genomes of gut microbial species. Here, we present a substantially expanded microbiome catalog, the Human Reference Gut Microbiome (HRGM). Incorporating newly assembled 29,082 genomes from 845 fecal samples collected from three under-represented Asian countries—Korea, India, and Japan—the HRGM contains 232,098 non-redundant genomes of 5,414 representative prokaryotic species, >103 million unique proteins, and >274 million single-nucleotide variants. This is an over 10% increase from the largest reference database. The newly assembled genomes were enriched for members of the Bacteroidaceae family, including species associated with high-fiber and seaweed-rich diet. Single-nucleotide variant density was positively associated with the speciation rate of gut commensals. Ultra-deep sequencing facilitated the assembly of genomes of low-abundance taxa, and deep sequencing (>20 million read pairs) was needed for the profiling of low-abundance taxa. Importantly, the HRGM greatly improved the taxonomic and functional classification of sequencing reads from fecal samples. Finally, mapping homologous sequences for human auto-antigens onto the HRGM genomes revealed the association of commensal bacteria with high cross-reactivity potential with autoimmunity. The HRGM (www.mbiomenet.org/HRGM/) will facilitate the identification and functional analysis of disease-associated gut microbiota.

Solar photovoltaic technology is one of the most well established new and renewable energy technologies. Many researchers have undertaken wide research and development in this sector, including material and system design. To protect the exhaustion of global terrestrial land and to avoid the occupation of extensive farmlands, solar photovoltaic (PV) developers, as well as policymakers, have pursued various solutions, including the development of floating solar PV (FPV). This study consists of a technological and economic perspective to analyze the floating solar PV system. The authors utilize remote sensing results to predict FPV efficiency and measure energy yield from the system while also developing an economics analysis on an FPV project by comparison with ground-based solar PV (GPV). The results from the remote sensing method found that the lake has a cooler temperature than the ground, with an annual difference of around 8 °C. FPV efficiency was also shown to be around 0.61% higher than GPV in terms of the prediction. FPV economic parameter comparison also resulted in 3.37 cents/kWh lower levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), and 6.08% higher internal rate of return (IRR) compared to GPV in the base scenario.

We herein describe rapid and accurate clinical testing for COVID-19 by nicking and extension chain reaction system-based amplification (NESBA), an ultrasensitive version of NASBA. The primers to identify SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA were designed to additionally contain the nicking recognition sequence at the 5′-end of conventional NASBA primers, which would enable nicking enzyme-aided exponential amplification of T7 RNA promoter-containing double-stranded DNA (T7DNA). As a consequence of this substantially enhanced amplification power, the NESBA technique was able to ultrasensitively detect SARS-CoV-2 genomic RNA (gRNA) down to 0.5 copies/μL (= 10 copies/reaction) for both envelope (E) and nucleocapsid (N) genes within 30 min under isothermal temperature (41 °C). When the NESBA was applied to test a large cohort of clinical samples (n = 98), the results fully agreed with those from qRT-PCR and showed the excellent accuracy by yielding 100% clinical sensitivity and specificity. By employing multiple molecular beacons with different fluorophore labels, the NESBA was further modulated to achieve multiplex molecular diagnostics, so that the E and N genes of SARS-CoV-2 gRNA were simultaneously assayed in one-pot. By offering the superior analytical performances over the current qRT-PCR, the isothermal NESBA technique could serve as very powerful platform technology to realize the point-of-care (POC) diagnosis for COVID-19.