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Cardiac tissue damage following ischemia leads to cardiomyocyte apoptosis and myocardial fibrosis. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), an active polyphenol flavonoid or catechin, exerts bioactivity in tissues with various diseases and protects ischemic myocardium; however, its association with the endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) is unknown. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) pretreated with transforming growth factor β2 (TGF-β2) and interleukin 1β (IL-1β) were treated with EGCG to verify cellular function. In addition, EGCG is involved in RhoA GTPase transmission, resulting in reduced cell mobility, oxidative stress, and inflammation-related factors. A mouse myocardial infarction (MI) model was used to confirm the association between EGCG and EndMT in vivo. In the EGCG-treated group, ischemic tissue was regenerated by regulating proteins involved in the EndMT process, and cardioprotection was induced by positively regulating apoptosis and fibrosis of cardiomyocytes. Furthermore, EGCG can reactivate myocardial function due to EndMT inhibition. In summary, our findings confirm that EGCG is an impact activator controlling the cardiac EndMT process derived from ischemic conditions and suggest that supplementation with EGCG may be beneficial in the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

InGaN-based micro-light-emitting diodes have a strong potential as a crucial building block for next-generation displays. However, small-size pixels suffer from efficiency degradations, which increase the power consumption of the display. We demonstrate strategies for epitaxial structure engineering carefully considering the quantum barrier layer and electron blocking layer to alleviate efficiency degradations in low current injection regime by reducing the lateral diffusion of injected carriers via reducing the tunneling rate of electrons through the barrier layer and balanced carrier injection. As a result, the fabricated micro-light-emitting diodes show a high external quantum efficiency of 3.00% at 0.1 A/cm2 for the pixel size of 10 × 10 μm2 and a negligible Jmax EQE shift during size reduction, which is challenging due to the non-radiative recombination at the sidewall. Furthermore, we verify that our epitaxy strategies can result in the relaxation of self-heating of the micro-light-emitting diodes, where the average pixel temperature was effectively reduced.

Indoor organic photovoltaics (OPVs) show immense potential as a reliable energy harvester for powering emerging Internet of Things devices because of their unique optoelectrical properties. The extremely low number of charge carriers under indoor lighting conditions in comparison to 1-sun conditions necessitates different techniques to optimize the performance of indoor OPVs. In this study, an indium tin oxide (ITO) surface was modified using a water-soluble β-cyclodextrin–polyacryloyl hydrazide (CD–PAH). The abundant amine functional groups on the polyacryloyl hydrazide arms induce a vacuum-level shift owing to their excellent electron-withdrawing ability. Consequently, the work function (WF) of ITO decreased from 4.5 to 4.1 eV, providing a suitable energy-level alignment between ITO and the photoactive layer. The photovoltaic performance of inverted poly(3-hexylthiophene):indene-C60 bisadduct-based OPVs with the surface-treated ITO was evaluated under various lighting conditions. The average power conversion efficiency of the optimized OPV increased substantially from 1.2 ± 0.1% to 3.5 ± 0.1% under 1 sun illumination and 2.4 ± 0.2% to 8.1 ± 0.4% under light-emitting diode illumination. This remarkable performance improvement can be attributed to the excellent transmittance, smooth surface morphology, and suitable WF of the surface-modified ITO.

We demonstrate the successful remote oxygen scavenging of HZO-based capacitors, highlighting the significant enhancement of remanent polarization, switching voltage, endurance, and retention.

Recently, the performance of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) has increased with the advent of non-fullerene acceptors, and significant efforts have been devoted to improving the performance via the side-chain engineering of Y6 and its derivatives.

Recently, the bulk heterojunction (BHJ)-based photoactive layer has been favored over the planar heterojunction (PHJ)-based photoactive layer for organic photovoltaics (OPVs), owing to the evitable thickness limit of the latter induced by the low mobility of charge carriers. However, under dim indoor light conditions, the PV performance becomes immune to the resistive components of the PHJ OPVs, such as a thick photoactive layer, thereby rendering them attractive for operating indoors. In this study, we devise and demonstrate indoor OPVs with a PHJ-based photoactive layer constituting poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) and indene-C60 bisadduct (ICBA). The performance of the PHJ OPVs was optimized by modulating the thickness of the ICBA layer under a 1000 lx light-emitting diode lamp. OPVs with a 65 nm-thick ICBA layer exhibited excellent indoor performance with a power conversion efficiency of 15.3 ± 0.3%, comparable to that of the reference BHJ OPVs (15.0 ± 0.2%). No noticeable performance degradation was observed by increasing the thickness of the PHJ-based photoactive layer; instead, a thick photoactive layer only enhanced the light absorption, resulting in excellent indoor performance with a higher photocurrent.

Circadian rhythm disturbance caused by shift work has adverse effects on the metabolic homeostasis of the liver. Disruption of the metabolic homeostasis of the liver causes fat accumulation in the liver. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between shift work and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among male workers in the steel manufacturing industry of Korea.Based on medical examination data collected in June 2020, 2,511 male subjects from one steel manufacturing company in Korea were selected in total. NAFLD was evaluated using abdominal ultrasound, which was performed by two experienced radiologists. The multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed by adjusting for age, physical activity, smoking history, alcohol consumption, body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, blood glucose, lipidemia, liver function test, employment duration, and hepatotoxic materials exposure status.Compared to daytime workers, the odds ratio (OR) of moderate-severe NAFLD in shift workers was 1.449 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.028-2.043). Compared to daytime workers, the ORs of moderate-severe NAFLD were significantly higher for the group that engaged in total shift work for more than 20 years (OR, 2.285; 95% CI, 1.051-4.970), the group that was not allowed to sleep during night shift work (OR, 1.463; 95% CI, 1.030-2.078), and the group that consumed food during night shift work (OR, 1.580; 95% CI, 1.093-2.284).There was a correlation between shift work and moderate-severe NAFLD in male steel manufacturing workers. There will be a need for more research related to the correlation of shift work with steatohepatitis and cirrhosis in the future.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has scarcely been utilized in large-scale manufacturing and industrial processes due to its low productivity, even though it possesses several advantages for improving the device performance. The major cause of its low productivity is the slow growth rate, which is determined by the amount of chemisorbed precursor. The slow growth rate of ALD has become even more critical due to the introduction of heteroleptic-based precursors for achieving a higher thermal stability. In this study, we investigated the theoretical and experimental chemisorption characteristics of the Ti(CpMe5)(OMe)3 precursor during the ALD of TiO2. By density functional theory calculations, the relationship between the steric hindrance effect and the chemistry of a chemisorbed precursor was revealed. Based on the calculation result, a way for improving the growth per cycle by 50% was proposed and demonstrated, successfully.

Atomic layer deposited TiO2- and Al2O3-based high-k gate insulators (GIs) were examined for the Ge-based metal-oxide-semiconductor field effective transistor (MOSFET) application. The single-layer TiO2 film showed a too high leakage current to be used as a useful GI. Interposing a thin Al2O3 layer at the TiO2/Ge interface was very effective in decreasing the leakage current. However, the resulting Al2O3/TiO2 interface induced various adverse charge effects, including the density of the slow trapping sites, fixed dipole charge, while the Al2O3/Ge interface had a low density of fast carrier trapping sites, especially after the forming gas annealing (FGA) at 400 °C. Therefore, the Al2O3/TiO2 stacked-layer could not be a viable GI on the Ge-substrate. In contrast, the Al-doped TiO2 (ATO) film showed highly promising performance as the GI on the Ge-substrate. The 5.8-nm-thick ATO film resulted in an equivalent oxide thickness of 1.24 nm and leakage current density of 3.2 × 10−2 A cm−2 at a flat band voltage of −1 V, which was lower than that of the TiO2 film by ∼three orders of magnitude. The slow trap density, fixed charge density, and interface trap density values of the ATO/Ge structure after the FGA were ∼1 × 1012 cm−2, ∼1.9 × 1011 cm−2, and ∼5 × 1011 cm−2 eV−1, respectively. The k value of the ATO was ∼27.

Background: We investigated the prevalence of and the factors associated with a high risk of osteoporotic fractures in Korean patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Methods: This was a multicenter, retrospective study including 219 AS patients from five university hospitals; the control group was selected by matching age and sex with those of the AS patients. The fracture risk was evaluated based on bone mineral density (BMD) measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and the fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX) with/without BMD. Results: The mean age of the patients was 47.6 years, and 144 (65.8%) patients were men. According to the WHO criteria and FRAX with/without BMD, the candidates for pharmacological treatment were 44 (20.1%), 20 (13.2%), and 23 (15.1%) patients, respectively, significantly more than those in the healthy control group. Among them, the proportion of patients receiving osteoporosis treatment was 39.1–75%. In logistic regression analysis, menopause was an independent factor for the high risk of fracture according to the WHO criteria and FRAX with/without BMD. C-reactive protein level (odds ratio (OR) 3.8 and OR 6) and glucocorticoid use (OR 1.5 and OR 1.7) were associated with a high risk of osteoporotic fracture based on FRAX without BMD and osteoporosis diagnosed according to the WHO criteria. Conclusions: Our study suggests that both FRAX and WHO criteria may be complementary for treatment decisions to reduce osteoporotic fractures in patients with AS.

The B cell translocation gene 1 (BTG1) and BTG2 play a key role in a wide range of cellular activities including proliferation, apoptosis, and cell growth via modulating a variety of central biological steps such as transcription, post-transcriptional, and translation. BTG1 and BTG2 have been identified by genomic profiling of B-cell leukemia and diverse lymphoma types where both genes are commonly mutated, implying that they serve as tumor suppressors. Furthermore, a low expression level of BTG1 or BTG2 in solid tumors is frequently associated with malignant progression and poor treatment outcomes. As physiological aspects, BTG1 and BTG2 have been discovered to play a critical function in regulating quiescence in hematopoietic lineage such as Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and naïve and memory T cells, highlighting their novel role in maintaining the quiescent state. Taken together, emerging evidence from the recent studies suggests that BTG1 and BTG2 play a central anti-proliferative role in various tissues and cells, indicating their potential as targets for innovative therapeutics. [BMB Reports 2022; 55(8): 380-388].

Recently, microplastics (MPs) became a big name in the world since their presence in bodies of different species, environmental media, and even in bottled drinking water was frequently reported. Several studies reported MPs’ potential threat to health of humans, animals and the ecosystem. Therefore, it is of great importance to develop reliable technologies for removing MPs in the environment. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are widely studied and applied for the decomposition of different refractory contaminants in the environment. Because reactive oxygen species produced in AOPs could effectively degrade many pollutants, several AOPs were applied for MPs decomposition. Homogeneous and heterogeneous AOPs, including photolysis, UV/H2O2, O3, UV/visible light-induced photocatalysis, and heat activated PS and PMS, could effectively decompose various types of MPs with different sizes. However, the decomposition mostly occurred on the surface of MPs even though several studies reported complete removal of MPs. Interestingly, several studies demonstrated that treated MPs could become pollutant carriers for animals and human beings by adsorbing contaminants in the environment. However, a limited number of studies on MPs removal by AOPs are available and only few types of AOPs are recently studied even though current studies demonstrated the potential of AOPs for complete MPs removal. Therefore, more effort must be put into investigating different AOPs for complete removal of MPs in the environment. AOPs will play a key role for MPs removal in the environment in the near future, definitely.

A paratracheal cyst is an air-filled cyst lined by a ciliated epithelium, commonly referred to as a tracheal diverticulum. The most common location of paratracheal cysts is the right side of posterolateral tracheal wall. It occurs in 0.3% to 8.1% of the total population. Most paratracheal cysts are asymptomatic and discovered incidentally on routine radiologic examination. Rarely, however, symptoms such as cough or fever are encountered and chronic infection of the paratracheal cyst usually present itself like a tucoberculosis or a tumor. There are few case reports of deep neck infection caused by a paratracheal cyst. We report a case of retropharyngeal abscess resulting from an infected paratracheal cyst.

Two types of small molecule nonfullerene acceptors (IDICO1 and IDICO2) based on 2,2′-((2Z,2′Z)-((4,4,9,9-tetrahexyl-4,9-dihydro-s-indaceno[1,2-b:5,6-b′]dithiophene-2,7-diyl)bis(methanylylidene))bis(3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-indene-2,1-diylidene))dimalononitrile (IDIC) are synthesized by attaching octyl side-chains onto terminal end groups. The alkyl substitution increases the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (−3.81 to −3.86 eV) of the two acceptors, compared to that of IDIC (−3.94 eV). Interestingly, the IDICO1 and IDICO2 films have higher integrated absorption coefficients (1.49 × 107 cm−1) than the IDIC (1.29 × 107 cm−1) film. Also, the electron mobilities of IDICO1 and IDICO2 are approximately twice as high as that of IDIC. The terminal octyl substitution also improves the miscibility with a donor polymer (PBDB-T) to form well-intermixed blends with a decreased π–π stacking distance. As a result, their photovoltaic devices exhibit significant improvements in both the open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current density, compared to those of the reference PBDB-T:IDIC device, exhibiting maximum power conversion efficiencies of up to 9.64%, 20.4%, and 1.68% under 1-sun, 1000-lx LED, and halogen lamp illumination, respectively, which are significantly higher than those of PBDB-T:IDIC (7.2%, 11.7%, and 1.2%, respectively). It is worth noting that a maximum power density of 141.4 μW cm−2 is achieved for the PBDB-T:IDICO2-based device under a halogen lamp, which is the highest value reported to date among those achieved under indoor lighting conditions.

In this study, ruthenium (Ru) thin films were grown on Ta2O5, Si, Ru, and Pt substrates (Ta2O5, Ru, and Pt are thin films, and Si is a bulk wafer) through atomic layer deposition (ALD) using (2,4-dimethyloxopentadienyl)(ethylcyclopentadienyl)Ru [Rudense®] and oxygen as the Ru precursor and the reactant, respectively, at substrate temperatures ranging from 250 °C to 270 °C and ALD chamber pressures ranging from 0.5 Torr to 2.5 Torr. The Ru films showed a high growth rate of 0.83 A cy−1 except on Pt substrates and negligible incubation cycles. Ru metallic phases were confirmed via resistivity and crystalline structure analyses. A different preferred crystalline orientation of the Ru films was obtained on Pt substrates as compared to other substrates, which resulted in lower growth rates. A smooth and uniform surface was obtained at low thickness; however, the surface morphology abruptly deteriorated as the thickness of the Ru films increased on the Ta2O5 and Si substrates, which was not the case for metallic substrates. Ammonia (NH3) treatment was adopted to enhance the surface morphology of the Ru films by suppressing excessive growth of the RuOx layer, where the adsorbed nitrogen atoms inhibited excessive chemical adsorption of the precursor molecules. The surface roughness and the number of protrusions decreased with appropriate NH3 treatment, while the structural and chemical properties of the metallic Ru films remained unaffected.

The inventory inspection using autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is beneficial in terms of cost, time, and safety of human workers. However, in typical warehouses, it is very challenging for the autonomous UAVs to do inventory task motions safely because aisles are narrow and long, and the illumination is poor. Prior autonomous UAVs are not suitable for such environments, since they suffer from either localization methods prone to disturbance, drift and outliers, or expensive sensors. We present a low-cost sensing system with an extended Kalman filter (EKF)-based multi-sensor fusion framework to achieve practical autonomous navigation of UAVs in warehouse environments. To overcome the inherent drift, outliers, and disturbance problems of naive UAV localization methods, we suggest 1) exploiting component test of Mahalanobis norm to reject outliers efficiently, 2) introducing pseudo-covariance to incorporate a visual SLAM algorithm, and 3) recognizing floor lanes to get absolute information–as robust data fusion methods. Exemplar results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the methods. The proposed system has been successfully implemented for diverse cyclic inventory inspection tasks in a materials warehouse.

A mnemonic-opto-synaptic transistor (MOST) that has triple functions is demonstrated for an in-sensor vision system. It memorizes a photoresponsivity that corresponds to a synaptic weight as a memory cell, senses light as a photodetector, and performs weight updates as a synapse for machine vision with an artificial neural network (ANN). Herein the memory function added to a previous photodetecting device combined with a photodetector and a synapse provides a technical breakthrough for realizing in-sensor processing that is able to perform image sensing and signal processing in a sensor. A charge trap layer (CTL) was intercalated to gate dielectrics of a vertical pillar-shaped transistor for the memory function. Weight memorized in the CTL makes photoresponsivity tunable for real-time multiplication of the image with a memorized photoresponsivity matrix. Therefore, these multi-faceted features can allow in-sensor processing without external memory for the in-sensor vision system. In particular, the in-sensor vision system can enhance speed and energy efficiency compared to a conventional vision system due to the simultaneous preprocessing of massive data at sensor nodes prior to ANN nodes. Recognition of a simple pattern was demonstrated with full sets of the fabricated MOSTs. Furthermore, recognition of complex hand-written digits in the MNIST database was also demonstrated with software simulations.

Barley sprouts are known to have several effective physiological activities. In this study, the anti-obesity effect of a barley sprout hot water extract (BSE) was confirmed. Saponarin was quantitatively analyzed in BSE using HPLC, and the inhibitory effect on 3T3-L1 pre-adipocyte differentiation into adipocytes was confirmed by Oil Red O staining, TG assay, and Western blotting. In addition, the inhibitory effect of BSE on adipocyte growth was confirmed through glucose uptake and lipolysis of adipocytes. C57/BL/6N mice were induced to obesity with a high-fat diet, and BSE was administered to confirm the effect on an animal model. Weight gain, morphological changes in adipose tissue, changes in the food efficiency ratio, and blood biochemical changes were observed, and an improvement effect on fatty liver was confirmed. As a result, the anti-obesity effect of BSE was confirmed in vitro, and it was confirmed that this effect was also effective in vivo and that it could be helpful in the treatment of obesity-related diseases.

The steady increase in imaging studies has led to the incidental discovery of many renal masses. Although most incidental solid renal masses are asymptomatic and small in size, they are mostly malignant renal cancers necessitating accurate diagnosis. Small-sized masses are more likely to be benign tumors; therefore, access is needed according to size. Because most malignant tumors are renal cell carcinoma, and most benign tumors are angiomyolipoma and oncocytoma. Knowledge of common imaging findings of these tumors is helpful for diagnosis and management. However, imaging techniques are often insufficient to characterize solid renal masses which are discovered incidentally in radiological examinations, especially small-sized masses. Herein, we describe the imaging features characteristic of incidental solid renal masses and discuss their management in cases when an accurate diagnosis could or could not be made.

The growth behaviors of atomic-layer-deposited (ALD) Ru thin films using the RuO4 precursor and N2/H2 mixed reduction gas on Ta2O5 thin-film/Si substrates were examined. The Ru films deposited on t...