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Background: Based on the compelling experimental evidence supporting apelin’s beneficial effects on muscle metabolism, our study aimed to evaluate the role of circulating apelin levels as a biomarker for muscle health in humans. Methods: This investigation employed a cross-sectional design, encompassing 237 community-dwelling older adults aged ≥65 years who underwent comprehensive geriatric evaluations in South Korea. Sarcopenia diagnosis was based on Asian-specific criteria, and serum apelin concentrations were determined using enzyme immunoassay techniques. Results: Following adjustment for potential confounding factors, no significant disparities in serum apelin levels were observed between sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic individuals, nor were differences detected based on skeletal muscle mass, strength, or physical performance categories (P = 0.335 to 0.765). Furthermore, circulating apelin concentrations showed no significant correlations with any sarcopenia assessment metrics, including skeletal muscle index, grip strength, gait speed, chair stand test duration, or short physical performance battery score (P = 0.170 to 0.832). Elevations in serum apelin levels were not significantly associated with the risk of sarcopenia or compromised muscle phenotypes (P = 0.452 to 0.896). Additionally, stratification of participants into quartiles based on serum apelin concentrations revealed no significant variations in sarcopenia-related parameters across groups (P = 0.197 to 0.592). Conclusion: These findings suggest that, contrary to previous studies in cellular and animal models where apelin demonstrated a protective impact on muscle homeostasis, such effects may not translate to the human context, and contribute valuable clinical evidence indicating that serum apelin may not serve as a reliable biomarker for sarcopenia.

Background Despite the protective effects of stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1) in stimulating muscle regeneration shown in experimental research, there is a lack of clinical studies linking circulating SDF-1 concentrations with muscle phenotypes. In order to elucidate the role of SDF-1 as a potential biomarker reflecting human muscle health, we investigated the association of plasma SDF-1 levels with sarcopenia in older adults. Methods This cross-sectional study included 97 community-dwelling participants who underwent a comprehensive geriatric assessment at a tertiary hospital in South Korea. Sarcopenia was defined by specific cutoff values applicable to the Asian population, whereas plasma SDF-1 levels were determined using an enzyme immunoassay. Results After accounting for sex, age, and body mass index, participants with sarcopenia and low muscle mass exhibited plasma SDF-1 levels that were 21.8% and 18.3% lower than those without these conditions, respectively (P=0.008 and P=0.009, respectively). Consistently, higher plasma SDF-1 levels exhibited a significant correlation with higher skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) and gait speed (both P=0.043), and the risk of sarcopenia and low muscle mass decreased by 58% and 55% per standard deviation increase in plasma SDF-1 levels, respectively (P=0.045 and P=0.030, respectively). Furthermore, participants in the highest SDF-1 tertile exhibited significantly higher SMI compared to those in the lowest tertile (P=0.012). Conclusion These findings clinically corroborate earlier experimental discoveries highlighting the muscle anabolic effects of SDF-1 and support the potential role of circulating SDF-1 as a biomarker reflecting human muscle health in older adults.

In single-source unsupervised domain adaptation (SUDA), it is often assumed that a single-source domain can cover all target domain features. However, the limitation of labeled samples means that a model trained on a labeled source domain cannot always cover all target representations in practice. Therefore, multi-source unsupervised domain adaptation (MSUDA) has recently become an attractive topic because it can provide richer information than SUDA. In the MSUDA setting, multiple labeled source datasets and an unlabeled target dataset are available. The differently labeled source domains follow distinct distributions to provide different contributions to the target domain. Therefore, when combining multiple source domains into one source domain, the model tends to focus on whichever source domain makes a dominant contribution to the target domain, which induces bias in learning in the MSUDA setting. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a divide-and-conquer-based MSUDA framework that divides the MSUDA problem into multiple tasks (SUDAs) that it then conquers using multiple task-specific models. Each task is a pair that consists of a single source domain and a target domain, and the tasks provide different views on the target domain because each task has a different source domain. Then, they cooperate to supplement their knowledge via collaborative learning. This cooperation between multiple views can suppress noisy information and preserve critical information, thus mitigating the negative transfer problem during DA and significantly boosting the classification accuracy on the target domain as a result. The proposed method achieved state-of-the-art performance on several real-world visual domain adaptation datasets.

Myonectin is a muscle-secreted factor that helps maintain homeostasis in the body by regulating several functions, including lipid metabolism. Previous studies suggested that myonectin may play a role in muscle health in an autocrine manner, but its impact on human skeletal muscle is still unclear. We aimed to investigate the relationship of serum myonectin levels with sarcopenia and related muscle parameters. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 142 older adults whose muscle mass, grip strength, gait speed, chair stands, and short physical performance battery (SPPB) were evaluated in the geriatric clinic of a tertiary medical center. Sarcopenia was defined based on Asian-specific cutoff values, and circulating myonectin levels were measured using an enzyme immunoassay. Before and after adjusting for age, sex, and body mass index, the serum myonectin level was not significantly different when the patients were stratified by status of sarcopenia, muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical performance. Furthermore, whether given as a continuous variable or divided into quartile groups, the serum myonectin level had no association with the skeletal muscle mass, grip strength, gait speed, chair stand test, or SPPB score. Our findings did not confirm the potential role of myonectin in muscle metabolism observed in experimental research. Thus, serum myonectin levels cannot predict the risk of sarcopenia in older Asian adults.

Background/Aims Lumican, a small leucine-rich proteoglycan, has shown osteoprotective effects by synchronously stimulating bone formation and suppressing bone resorption. To clarify the role of lumican in human bone metabolism, the association between lumican concentrations and osteoporosis-related phenotypes was evaluated using bone marrow (BM) samples directly reflecting local microenvironments. Methods BM aspirates were obtained from 77 patients during hip surgery for either fragility hip fractures (HF) (n = 29) or osteoarthritis (n = 48) and centrifuged. Concentrations of lumican and biochemical bone markers in BM supernatants were measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assays. Results After considering confounders, lumican concentrations in BM supernatants were 16.9% lower in patients with HF than in controls, with each increase in the standard deviation of lumican concentration being associated with a 61% lower likelihood of HF. The odds ratios for HF decreased linearly with increasing lumican tertiles in BM, with the odds of having fragility HF markedly lower in participants in the highest than in the lowest lumican tertile. Higher lumican level correlated significantly with higher femur neck bone mineral density and higher bone-specific alkaline phosphatase levels, but not with tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b concentrations, in BM supernatants. Conclusions These data clinically validate previous in vitro and animal experiments showing the beneficial roles of lumican for bone homeostasis and suggest that lumican may contribute to a reduction in fracture risk in humans mainly through its stimulation of bone formation.

Background Although muscles and bones interact with each other through various secretory factors, the role of sclerostin, an osteocyte-secreted factor, on muscle metabolism has not been well studied. We investigated the levels of serum sclerostin in Korean older adults with sarcopenia. Methods Blood samples were collected from 129 participants who underwent evaluation of muscle mass and function in an outpatient geriatric clinic of a teaching hospital. Sarcopenia and related parameters were determined using cutoff values for the Asian population. Serum sclerostin levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results The mean age of the participants was 69.6 years, and 20 participants (15.5%) were classified as having sarcopenia. After adjusting for age, sex, and body mass index, serum sclerostin levels were significantly lower in participants with sarcopenia, low muscle mass, or weak muscle strength (P=0.003 to 0.045). Serum sclerostin levels were positively associated with skeletal muscle index and grip strength after adjusting for confounders (P=0.001 and P=0.003), whereas sarcopenic phenotype score showed a negative association (P=0.006). These increases in muscle mass and strength were also dose dependent as serum sclerostin levels increased (P for trends=0.003 and P for trends=0.015). Higher serum sclerostin levels were associated with lower odds ratio (ORs) for sarcopenia, low muscle mass, and weak muscle strength after adjusting for confounders (OR, 0.27 to 0.50; P

Abstract The simulation and design of electronic devices such as transistors is vital for the semiconductor industry. Conventionally, a device is intuitively designed and simulated using model equations, which is a time-consuming and expensive process. However, recent machine learning approaches provide an unprecedented opportunity to improve these tasks by training the underlying relationships between the device design and the specifications derived from the extensively accumulated simulation data. This study implements various machine learning approaches for the simulation acceleration and inverse-design problems of fin field-effect transistors. In comparison to traditional simulators, the proposed neural network model demonstrated almost equivalent results (R2 = 0.99) and was more than 122,000 times faster in simulation. Moreover, the proposed inverse-design model successfully generated design parameters that satisfied the desired target specifications with high accuracies (R2 = 0.96). Overall, the results demonstrated that the proposed machine learning models aided in achieving efficient solutions for the simulation and design problems pertaining to electronic devices. Thus, the proposed approach can be further extended to more complex devices and other vital processes in the semiconductor industry.

Multi-source Unsupervised Domain Adaptation (MUDA) is an approach aiming to transfer the knowledge obtained from multiple labeled source domains to an unlabeled target domain. In this paper, we propose a novel self-training method for MUDA, which includes pseudo label-oriented coteaching and pseudo label decoupling that are attempted for the pseudo label rectification-based MUDA for semantic segmentation. Existing ensemble-based self-training methods which are well-known approaches for MUDA use pseudo labels made from the ensemble of the predictions of multiple models to transfer the knowledge of source domains to the target domain. In these methods, information from multiple models can be contaminated, or errors from incorrect pseudo labels can be propagated. On the other hand, the proposed pseudo label-oriented coteaching trains multiple models by using pseudo labels from the peer model without any integration of pseudo labels. Simultaneously, the pseudo label decoupling method is proposed for rectification of pseudo labels, which updates the models with two pseudo labels only if they disagree. It also alleviates the problem of class imbalance in semantic segmentation, in which dominant classes lead the update for training. The effects of the proposed pseudo label-oriented coteaching and pseudo label decoupling on the performance of semantic segmentation were verified by extensive experiments. The proposed method achieved the best semantic segmentation accuracy compared with the benchmark methods. In addition, we confirmed that the prediction accuracy of small objects was greatly improved by the proposed pseudo label rectification.

Background Despite clinical evidence indicating poor muscle health in subjects with primary aldosteronism (PA), it is still unclear whether the role of aldosterone in muscle metabolism is direct or mediated indirectly via factors, such as electrolyte imbalance or impaired glucose uptake. As one approach to clarify this issue, we investigated the effect of aldosterone on in vitro myogenesis and the potential mechanism explaining it. Methods Myogenesis was induced in mouse C2C12 myoblasts with 2% horse serum. Immunofluorescence, quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, Western blot, viability, and migration analyses were performed for experimental research. Results Recombinant aldosterone treatment suppressed muscle differentiation from mouse C2C12 myoblasts in a dose-dependent manner, and consistently reduced the expression of myogenic differentiation markers. Furthermore, aldosterone significantly increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in myotubes, and treatment with N-acetyl cysteine, a potent biological thiol antioxidant, reversed the decrease of myotube area, myotube area per myotube, nucleus number per myotube, and fusion index due to aldosterone through decreasing oxidative stress. A binding enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay confirmed that mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) interacted with aldosterone in C2C12 myoblasts, while eplerenone, an MR inhibitor, blocked aldosterone-stimulated intracellular ROS generation during myogenesis and markedly attenuated the suppression of in vitro myogenesis by aldosterone. Conclusion These findings support the hypothesis that hypersecretion of aldosterone, like PA, directly contributes to muscular deterioration and suggest that antioxidants and/or MR antagonists could be effective therapeutic options to reduce the risk of sarcopenia in these patients.

Background The C-C motif chemokine ligand 11 (CCL11) has been receiving attention as a potential pro-aging factor. Accordingly, it may be involved in muscle metabolism and sarcopenia, a key component of aging phenotypes. To clarify this potential, we investigated the effects of CCL11 on in vitro muscle biology and its clinical relevance for sarcopenia parameters in older adults. Methods Myogenesis was induced in mouse C2C12 myoblasts with 2% horse serum. Human blood samples were collected from 79 participants who underwent a functional assessment. Thereafter, CCL11 level was measured using a quantikine ELISA kit. Sarcopenia was defined using the Asian-specific guideline. Results Recombinant CCL11 treatment significantly stimulated myogenesis in a dose-dependent manner, and consistently increased the expression of myogenic differentiation markers. Among the C-C chemokine receptors (CCRs), CCR5, not CCR2 and CCR3, was predominantly expressed in muscle cells. Further, the CCR5 inhibitor blocked recombinant CCL11-stimulated myogenesis. In a clinical study, serum CCL11 level was not significantly different according to the status of sarcopenia, low muscle mass, weak muscle strength, and poor physical performance, and was not associated with skeletal muscle index, grip strength, short physical performance battery score, gait speed, and time to complete 5 chair stands, after adjusting for sex, age, and body mass index. Conclusion Contrary to expectations, CCL11 exerted beneficial effects on muscle metabolism at least in vitro system. However, its impact on human muscle health was not evident, suggesting that circulating CCL11 may not be a useful biomarker for sarcopenia risk assessment in older adults.

Semi-supervised domain adaptation (SSDA) is a promising technique for various applications. It can transfer knowledge learned from a source domain having high-density labeled samples to a target domain having limited labeled samples. Several previous works have attempted to reduce the distribution discrepancy between source domain and target domain by using adversarial-based or entropy-based methods. These works have improved the performance of SSDA. However, there are still lacunae in producing class-wise domain-invariant features, which impair the improvement of the classification accuracy in the target domain. We propose a novel mapping function using explicit class-wise matching that can make a better decision boundary in the embedding space for superior classification accuracy in the target domain. In general, in a target domain with low-density label samples, it is more challenging to create a well-organized distribution for the classification than in a source domain where rich label information is available. In our mapping function, a representative vector of each class in the embedding spaces of the source and target domains is derived and aligned by using class-wise matching. It is observed that the distribution in the embedding space of the source domain can be effectively reproduced in the target domain. Our method achieves outstanding accuracy of classification in the target domain compared with previous works on the Office-31, Office-Home, Visda2017 and DomainNet datasets.

Abstract Background Apelin, an active endogenous peptide, has been recently receiving great attention as a promising target for antiaging intervention, primarily based on results from genetically altered mice. To validate previous experimental data and investigate the possible role of apelin in humans, in this study, we examined serum apelin level in relation to frailty and its associated parameters in a cohort of ambulatory, community-dwelling older adults. Methods Blood samples were collected from 80 participants who underwent a comprehensive geriatric assessment, and apelin level was measured using an enzyme immunoassay kit. Phenotypic frailty and deficit-accumulation frailty index (FI) were assessed using widely validated approaches, proposed by Fried and Rockwood groups, respectively. Results After adjustment for sex, age, and body mass index, serum apelin level was found to be not significantly different according to phenotypic frailty status (P = 0.550) and not associated with FI, grip strength, gait speed, time to complete 5 chair stands, and muscle mass (P = 0.433 to 0.982). To determine whether the association between serum apelin level and frailty has a threshold effect, we divided the participants into quartiles according to serum apelin level. However, there were no differences in terms of frailty-related parameters and the risk for frailty among the quartile groups (P = 0.248 to 0.741). Conclusions The serum apelin level was not associated with both phenotypic frailty and functional parameters in older adults, despite its beneficial effects against age-related physiologic decline in animal models. Further large-scale longitudinal studies are necessary to understand the definite role of circulating apelin in frailty risk assessment.

Purpose Overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms might be affected by weather, but only a few clinical studies have investigated this issue. We investigated seasonal variations in OAB-drug prescription rate (DPR) in men using nationwide claims data in Korea. Methods A total of 2,824,140 men aged over 18 years were included from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment service – National Patient Sample data between 2012 and 2016. Depending on the monthly average temperature, the seasons were divided into 3 groups, namely, hot (June, July, August, and September), intermediate (April, May, October, and November), and cold (January, February, March, and December) seasons. OAB-DPR was estimated using the claims data, and differences in its rate were examined among the 3 seasonal groups. Results The overall OAB-DPR was 1.97% (55,574 of 2,824,140). The OAB-DPR were 0.38%, 0.63%, 0.92%, 1.74%, 4.18%, 7.55%, and 9.69% in the age groups of under 30, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and over 80 years, respectively; thus, the prescription rate increased with age (P

Skeletal muscle and bone are highly interrelated, and previous proteomic analyses suggest that lumican is one of muscle-derived factors. To further understand the role of lumican as a myokine affecting adjacent bone metabolism, we investigated the effects of lumican on osteoblast biology. Lumican expression was significantly higher in the cell lysates and conditioned media (CM) of myotubes than those of undifferentiated myoblasts, and the known anabolic effects of myotube CM on osteoblasts were reduced by excluding lumican from the CM. Lumican stimulated preosteoblast viability and differentiation, resulting in increased calvaria bone formation. The expression of osteoblast differentiation markers was consistently increased by lumican. Lumican increased the phosphorylation of ERK, whereas ERK inhibitors completely reversed lumican-mediated stimulation of Runx2 and ALP activities in osteoblasts. Results of a binding ELISA experiment in osteoblasts show that transmembrane integrin α2β1 directly interacted with lumican, and an integrin α2β1 inhibitor attenuated the stimulation of ERK and ALP activities by lumican. Taken together, the results indicate that muscle-derived lumican stimulates bone formation via integrin α2β1 and the downstream ERK signal, indicating that this is a potential therapeutic target for metabolic bone diseases.

The aim of this study was to examine genetic variations underlying the early neurodevelopmental outcome of developmental disabilities (DDs). The study cohort consisted of 191 children with DDs. Diagnosis was assessed at baseline and at the index age (72-84 months). Exome sequencing was conducted and putative risk variants were identified. According to the diagnostic improvement, children were categorized into the improvement group (n = 19) and the non-improvement group (n = 172). Compared to the non-improvement group, the improvement group had lower number of risk variants in known DD genes and haploinsufficient genes, and lower number of overall putative risk variants. Our results may serve as a preliminary basis for developing a model that informs clinical outcome by sequencing analysis.

Advanced physical sensors based on carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane (CNT/PDMS) nanocomposites have recently attracted much attention for potential applications such as wearable and flexible electronic devices. In this work, a CNT/PDMS sponge was fabricated and their capacitive as well as resistive response was investigated by impedance characterization with an equivalent circuit model. The newly defined gauge factor, which considers simultaneously both the piezocapacitive and piezoresistive effects of CNT/PDMS sponge sensors, showed a significantly improved sensitivity. This work provides important information for a better understanding of CNT/PDMS nanocomposites and their sensing performance.

ZIF-derivatized catalysts have shown high potential in catalysis. Herein, bean sprout-like Co-TiO2/Ti nanostructures were first synthesized by thermal treatment at 800 °C under Ar-flow conditions using sacrificial ZIF-67 templated on Ti sheets. It was observed that ZIF-67 on Ti sheets started to thermally decompose at around 350 °C and was converted to the cubic phase Co3O4. The head of the bean sprout structure was observed to be Co3O4, while the stem showed a crystal structure of rutile TiO2 grown from the metallic Ti support. Cu sputter-deposited Co-TiO2/Ti nanostructures were also prepared for photocatalytic and electrocatalytic CO2 reduction performances, as well as electrochemical oxygen reaction (OER). Gas chromatography results after photocatalytic CO2 reduction showed that CH3OH, CO and CH4 were produced as major products with the highest MeOH selectivity of 64% and minor C2 compounds of C2H2, C2H4 and C2H6. For electrocatalytic CO2 reduction, CO, CH4 and C2H4 were meaningfully detected, but H2 was dominantly produced. The amounts were observed to be dependent on the Cu deposition amount. Electrochemical OER performances in 0.1 M KOH electrolyte exhibited onset overpotentials of 330–430 mV (vs. RHE) and Tafel slopes of 117–134 mV/dec that were dependent on Cu-loading thickness. The present unique results provide useful information for synthesis of bean sprout-like Co-TiO2/Ti hybrid nanostructures and their applications to CO2 reduction and electrochemical water splitting in energy and environmental fields.

Terpyridine-functionalized Ti nanospike electrodes (TiNS-SiTpy) were developed and applied to cyclic voltammetry and amperometry of Ln (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb) ions and mixed Eu (III) + Ln (III) ions in a 0.1 M NaClO4 electrolyte. Electrodeposition was successfully performed over TiNS-SiTpy electrodes, which were fully examined by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction crystallography, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL), and PL decay kinetics. The Gd and Tb ions were found to increase PL intensities with 10× longer lifetimes of 1.32 μs and 1.03 μs, respectively, compared with that of the electrodeposited Eu sample. The crystal phase and the oxidation states were fully examined for the mixed Ln (Eu + Gd and Eu + Tb) complex structures.

Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) has abundantly been used as a catalyst, and its catalytic activity has been tailored by loading transition metals. Herein, γ-Al2O3 nanosheets were prepared by the solvothermal method, and transition metals (M = Co, Ni, Cu, Rh, Pd, Ag, Ir, Pt, and Au) were loaded onto the nanosheets. Big data sets of thermal CO oxidation and photocatalytic CO2 reduction activities were fully examined for the transition metal-loaded Al2O3 nanosheets. Their physicochemical properties were examined by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction crystallography, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was found that Rh, Pd, Ir, and Pt-loading showed a great enhancement in CO oxidation activity while other metals negated the activity of bare Al2O3 nanosheets. Rh-Al2O3 showed the lowest CO oxidation onset temperature of 172 °C, 201 °C lower than that of bare γ-Al2O3. CO2 reduction experiments were also performed to show that CO, CH3OH, and CH4 were common products. Ag-Al2O3 nanosheets showed the highest performances with yields of 237.3 ppm for CO, 36.3 ppm for CH3OH, and 30.9 ppm for CH4, 2.2×, 1.2×, and 1.6× enhancements, respectively, compared with those for bare Al2O3. Hydrogen production was found to be maximized to 20.7 ppm during CO2 reduction for Rh-loaded Al2O3. The present unique pre-screening test results provided very useful information for the selection of transition metals on Al2O3-based energy and environmental catalysts.

Energy recycling and production using abundant atmospheric CO2 and H2O have increasingly attracted attention for solving energy and environmental problems. Herein, Pt-loaded Ti sheets were prepared by sputter-deposition and Pt4+-reduction methods, and their catalytic activities on both photocatalytic CO2 reduction and electrochemical hydrogen evolution were fully demonstrated. The surface chemical states were completely examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy before and after CO2 reduction. Gas chromatography confirmed that CO, CH4, and CH3OH were commonly produced as CO2 reduction products with total yields up to 87.3, 26.9, and 88.0 μmol/mol, respectively for 700 °C-annealed Ti under UVC irradiation for 13 h. Pt-loading commonly negated the CO2 reduction yields, but CH4 selectivity was increased. Electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity showed the highest activity for sputter-deposited Pt on 400 °C-annealed Ti with a HER current density of 10.5 mA/cm2 at −0.5 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). The activities of CO2 reduction and HER were found to be significantly dependent on both the nature of Ti support and the oxidation states (0,II,IV) of overlayer Pt. The present result could provide valuable information for designing efficient Pt/Ti-based CO2 recycle photocatalysts and electrochemical hydrogen production catalysts.

A devotion to music in Chinese classical texts is worth noticing. Early Chinese thinkers saw music as a significant part of human experience and a core practice for philosophy. While Confucian endorsement of ritual and music has been discussed in the field, Daoist understanding of music was hardly explored. This paper will make a careful reading of the Xiánchí 咸池 music story in the Zhuangzi, one of the most interesting, but least noticed texts, and reconstruct a Zhuangzian perspective from it. While sounds had been regarded as mere building blocks of music and thus depreciated in the hierarchical understanding of music in the mainstream discourse of early China, sound is the alpha and omega of music in the Zhuangzian perspective. All kinds of sounds, both human and natural, are invited into musical discourse. Sound is regarded as the real source of our being moved by music, and therefore, musical consummation is depicted as embodiment through sound.

Ectopic pregnancy (EP) is diagnosed based on laboratory values and ultrasonography (US) findings. Evaluation for suspected EP should begin with a quantitative measurement of the serum β-human chorionic gonadotropin levels and transvaginal US. MR imaging is not preferentially performed in the evaluation of EP; however, if the findings of transvaginal US are uncertain, MR imaging can be used, as it has the advantages of superior soft-tissue contrast resolution and a wide scanning range. Identifying the exact location of implantation transfer using MR imaging can help in the diagnosis and establishment of treatment strategies for ectopic pregnancies, including laparoscopy. In particular, as the incidence of heterotopic pregnancy has increased with the recent increase in use of assisted reproductive technology, the scope of application of MR imaging is expected to expand further. This pictorial essay describes the various manifestations of EP and related conditions on MR imaging and US. Familiarity with the clinical setting and the US and MR imaging features of EP and associated conditions can lead to a more accurate diagnosis and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) presents a global health challenge, characterized by significant morbidity and mortality. However, the role of natural killer T (NKT) cells in human ARDS remains poorly understood. Therefore, this study explored the numerical and functional status of NKT cells in patients with ARDS, examining their clinical relevance and interactions with macrophages and fibroblasts during various stages of the syndrome. Methods: Peripheral blood from 40 ARDS patients and 30 healthy controls was analyzed, with paired samples of peripheral blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from seven ARDS patients. We measured levels of NKT cells, cytokines, CD69, programmed death-1 (PD-1), and annexin-V using flow cytometry, and extracellular matrix (ECM) protein expression using realtime PCR. Results: ARDS patients exhibited decreased circulating NKT cells with elevated CD69 expression and enhanced IL-17 production. The reduction in NKT cells correlated with PaO2/FiO2 ratio, albumin, and C-reactive protein levels. Proliferative responses to a-galactosylceramide (a-GalCer) were impaired, and co-culturing NKT cells with monocytes or T cells from ARDS patients resulted in a reduced a-GalCer response. Increased and activated NKT cells in BALF induced proinflammatory cytokine release by macrophages and ECM protein expression in fibroblasts. Conclusion: ARDS is associated with a numerical deficiency but functional activation of circulating NKT cells, showing impaired responses to a-GalCer and altered interactions with immune cells. The increase in NKT cells within BALF suggests their role in inducing inflammation and remodeling/fibrosis, highlighting the potential of targeting NKT cells as a therapeutic approach for ARDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]