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The emergence and spread of Staphylococcus aureus, which is resistant to quinolone antibacterial agents, has made it difficult to treat infectious diseases. Accordingly, this study examined the molecular epidemiological characteristics of quinolone-resistant S. aureus (QRSA) to obtain helpful data for treatment. Mutations in mecA and SCCmec typing, gyrA, and gyrB genes were investigated for QRSA strains isolated from the blood culture specimens at a general hospital in Daejeon Metropolitan City. The ciprofloxacin-resistant strains in SCCmec typing were II (44 strains, 73%), IVa (five strains, 8%), III, and V (one strain, 2%); the non-typeable strains (11 strains, 18%), and levofloxacin (LVX) and moxifloxacin (MXF) strains were II (44 strains, 73%), IVa (five strains, 8%), III, and V (one strain, 2%); the non-typeable strains were 10 (17%). In both gyrA and gyrB regions, there were 58 mutations, or 96.7%. In LVX, there were 56 mutations or 93.3%, and in MXF, there were 57 mutations or 95%. Twelve mutations, six mutations each in gyrA and gyrB, were identified for the QRSA strain. The resistance rate for the quinolone antibiotics of QRSA studied was approximately 98%, and 12 mutations, six each in gyrA and gyrB, were identified in the QRSA strain. Therefore, the rational use of antibiotics needs to be improved.

Abstract Introduction Regdanvimab, a neutralising monoclonal antibody (mAb) against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), received approval for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in South Korea in 2021. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in South Korea mandate that new medications be re-examined for safety and effectiveness post-approval in at least 3000 individuals. This post-marketing surveillance (PMS) study was used to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of regdanvimab in real-world clinical care. Methods This prospective, multicentre, phase 4 PMS study was conducted between February 2021 and March 2022 in South Korea. Eligible patients were aged ≥ 18 years with confirmed mild COVID-19 at high risk of disease progression or moderate COVID-19. Patients were hospitalised and treated with regdanvimab (40 mg/kg, day 1) and then monitored until discharge, with a follow-up call on day 28. Adverse events (AEs) were documented, and the COVID-19 disease progression rate was used to measure effectiveness. Results Of the 3123 patients with COVID-19 infection identified, 3036 were eligible for inclusion. Approximately 80% and 5% of the eligible patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 during the delta- and omicron-dominant periods, respectively. Median (range) age was 57 (18–95) years, and 50.6% of patients were male. COVID-19 severity was assessed before treatment, and high-risk mild and moderate COVID-19 was diagnosed in 1030 (33.9%) and 2006 (66.1%) patients, respectively. AEs and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) were experienced by 684 (22.5%) and 363 (12.0%) patients, respectively. The most common ADR was increased liver function test (n = 62, 2.0%). Nine (0.3%) patients discontinued regdanvimab due to ADRs. Overall, 378 (12.5%) patients experienced disease progression after regdanvimab infusion, with extended hospitalisation/re-admission (n = 300, 9.9%) as the most common reason. Supplemental oxygen was required by 282 (9.3%) patients. Ten (0.3%) patients required intensive care monitoring and 3 (0.1%) died due to COVID-19. Conclusion This large-scale PMS study demonstrated that regdanvimab was effective against COVID-19 progression and had an acceptable safety profile when used in real-world clinical practice.

The Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis (IDH) posits that maximal plant biodiversity is attained in environments characterized by moderate ecological disturbances. Although the applicability of the IDH to microbial diversity has been explored in a limited number of studies, there is a notable absence of experimental reports on whether soil microbial ‘activity’ demonstrates a similar response to the frequency or intensity of environmental disturbances. In this investigation, we conducted five distinct experiments employing soils or wetland sediments exposed to varying intensities or frequencies of disturbances, with a specific emphasis on disturbances associated with human activity, such as chemical contamination, hydrologic changes, and forest thinning. Specifically, we examined the effects of bactericide and heavy metal contamination, long-term drainage, tidal flow, and thinning management on microbial enzyme activities in soils. Our findings revealed that microbial enzyme activities were highest at intermediate disturbance levels. Despite the diversity in experiment conditions, each trial consistently demonstrated analogous patterns, suggesting the robustness of the IDH in elucidating microbial activities alongside diversity in soils. These outcomes bear significant implications for ecological restoration and management, as intermediate disturbance may expedite organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycles, crucial for sustaining ecosystem services in soils.

Wrinkles, one of the most common signs of aging, are primarily caused by the continuous contraction of muscles. Muscle contraction is induced by the binding of acetylcholine (ACh), released at the neuromuscular junction, to nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) present on the muscle cell surface. In this study, we aimed to develop a wrinkle-improving peptide that inhibits the binding of ACh to nAChR using peptide phage display technology. Our peptide showed a remarkably high binding affinity to nAChR subunit α1, with a value below 1 µM, and was found to inhibit the action of ACh through its interaction with these receptors. Furthermore, it increased collagen synthesis in skin cells and upregulated the expression of the aquaporin-3 (AQP3) and hyaluronan synthase-2 (HAS2) genes. These results confirm that the peptide effectively inhibits muscle contraction and enhances skin elasticity and hydration, contributing to its wrinkle-reducing effects. Clinical studies on humans observed significant improvement in wrinkles after three weeks of use, with substantial reduction observed after six weeks. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate the efficacy of the peptide (named Medipep) in reducing wrinkles.

Introduction: TMEM16 family proteins are involved in a variety of functions, including ion transport, phospholipid scrambling, and the regulation of membrane proteins. Among them, TMEM16F has dual functions as a phospholipid scramblase and a nonselective ion channel. TMEM16F is widely expressed and functions in platelet activation during blood clotting, bone formation, and T cell activation. Despite the functional importance of TMEM16F, the modulators of TMEM16F function have not been sufficiently studied.Method: In this study, we generated TMEM16F-specific affibodies by performing phage display with brain-specific TMEM16F (hTMEM16F) variant 1 purified from GnTi− cells expressing this variant in the presence of digitonin as a detergent. Purified human TMEM16F protein, which was proficient in transporting phospholipids in a Ca2+-dependent manner in proteoliposomes, was coated onto plates and then the phage library was added to fish out TMEM16F-binding affibodies. For the validation of interaction between affibodies and TMEM16F proteins, ELISA, bio-layer interferometry, and size exclusion chromatography were conducted.Results and Discussion: As a result, the full sequences of 38 candidates were acquired from 98 binding candidates. Then, we selected 10 candidates and purified seven of them from E. coli expressing these candidates. Using various assays, we confirmed that two affibodies bound to human TMEM16F with high affinity. These affibodies can be useful for therapeutical and diagnostic applications of TMEM16F-related cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Future studies will be required to investigate the effects of these affibodies on TMEM16F function.

This study investigates the current situation of medical technologists for blood collection, which is considered the most important step for diagnosis. The survey enrolled 650 medical technologists working in hospitals and medical check centers in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam. We found that each medical technologist performed blood collection for about 100 patients. There was more than one blood collection failure per day, with more than one case of pain and filing of civil complaints per year. Hence, there was a high work burden on the medical technologists. Cases where a medical technologist was stabbed with a used needle occurred more than once a year, and about 15% of them received infection control and treatment because of stab wounds. Additionally, more than half of the participants suffered from musculoskeletal disorders and mental stress due to blood collection work. Unlike administering intravenous and intramuscular injections using the same needle, no fee is charged for blood collection. Based on the results of this study, it will be possible to improve the safety and rights of medical technologists by calculating the actual fee for blood collection work and assigning a relative value score.

Prosthetic joint infection (PJI) is one of the most serious complications of joint replacement surgery among orthopedic surgeries and occurs in 1 to 2% of primary surgeries. Additionally, the cause of PJIs is mostly bacteria from the Staphylococcus species, accounting for more than 98%, while fungi cause PJIs in only 1 to 2% of cases and can be difficult to manage. The current gold-standard microbiological method of culturing synovial fluid is time-consuming and produces false-negative and -positive results. This study aimed to identify a novel, accurate, and convenient molecular diagnostic method. The DreamDX primer–hydrolysis probe set was designed for the pan-bacterial and pan-fungal detection of DNA from pathogens that cause PJIs. The sensitivity and specificity of DreamDX primer–hydrolysis probes were 88.89% (95% CI, 56.50–99.43%) and 97.62% (95% CI, 87.68–99.88%), respectively, compared with the microbiological method of culturing synovial fluid, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) was 0.9974 (*** p < 0.0001). It could be concluded that the DreamDX primer–hydrolysis probes have outstanding potential as a molecular diagnostic method for identifying the causative agents of PJIs, and that host inflammatory markers are useful as adjuvants in the diagnosis of PJIs.

Abstract The DAMA/LIBRA collaboration has reported the observation of an annual modulation in the event rate that has been attributed to dark matter interactions over the last two decades. However, even though tremendous efforts to detect similar dark matter interactions were pursued, no definitive evidence has been observed to corroborate the DAMA/LIBRA signal. Many studies assuming various dark matter models have attempted to reconcile DAMA/LIBRA’s modulation signals and null results from other experiments, however no clear conclusion can be drawn. Apart from the dark matter hypothesis, several studies have examined the possibility that the modulation is induced by variations in detector’s environment or their specific analysis methods. In particular, a recent study presents a possible cause of the annual modulation from an analysis method adopted by the DAMA/LIBRA experiment in which the observed annual modulation could be reproduced by a slowly varying time-dependent background. Here, we study the COSINE-100 data using an analysis method similar to the one adopted by the DAMA/LIBRA experiment and observe a significant annual modulation, however the modulation phase is almost opposite to that of the DAMA/LIBRA data. Assuming the same background composition for COSINE-100 and DAMA/LIBRA, simulated experiments for the DAMA/LIBRA without dark matter signals also provide significant annual modulation with an amplitude similar to DAMA/LIBRA with opposite phase. Even though this observation does not directly explain the DAMA/LIBRA results directly, this interesting phenomenon motivates more profound studies of the time-dependent DAMA/LIBRA background data.

In this paper, we propose the WaveBYOL model, which can learn general-purpose audio representations directly from raw waveforms based on the bootstrap your own latent (BYOL) approach, a Siamese neural network architecture. WaveBYOL does not extract features in a handcrafted manner, and the model learns general-purpose audio representations from raw waveforms by itself. Thus, the model can be easily applied to various downstream tasks. The augmentation layer in the WaveBYOL model is designed to create various views from the time domain of the raw audio waveforms; the encoding layer is designed to learn representations by extracting features from the views, which are augmented audio waveforms. We assess the representations learned by WaveBYOL by conducting experiments with seven audio downstream tasks under both frozen-model evaluation and fine-tuning settings. The accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score are observed as performance evaluation metrics of the proposed model, and the accuracy score is compared with those of the existing models. In most downstream tasks, WaveBYOL achieves competitive performance compared to that of the recently developed state-of-the-art models such as contrastive learning for audio (COLA), BYOL for audio (BYOL-A), self-supervised audio spectrogram transformer (SSAST), audio representation learning with teacher-student transformer (ATST), and DeLoRes. Our implementation and pretrained models are located on GitHub.

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite a successful vaccination programme, the emergence of mutated variants that can escape current levels of immunity mean infections continue. Herein, we report the development of CT-P63, a broad-spectrum neutralizing monoclonal antibody. In vitro studies demonstrated potent neutralizing activity against the most prevalent variants, including Delta and the BA.1 and BA.2 sub-lineages of Omicron. In a transgenic mouse model, prophylactic CT-P63 significantly reduced wild-type viral titres in the respiratory tract and CT-P63 treatment proved efficacious against infection with Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2 with no detectable infectious virus in the lungs of treated animals. A randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled, Phase I, single ascending dose study in healthy volunteers (NCT05017168) confirmed the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of CT-P63. Twenty-four participants were randomized and received the planned dose of CT-P63 or placebo. The safety and tolerability of CT-P63 were evaluated as primary objectives. Eight participants (33.3%) experienced a treatment-emergent adverse event (TEAE), including one grade ≥3 (blood creatine phosphokinase increased). There were no deaths, treatment-emergent serious adverse events, TEAEs of special interest, or TEAEs leading to study drug discontinuation in the CT-P63 groups. Serum CT-P63 concentrations rapidly peaked before declining in a biphasic manner and systemic exposure was dose proportional. Overall, CT-P63 was clinically safe and showed broad-spectrum neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2 variants in vitro and in vivo.

The fire brigade non-suppression probability model is a major factor that should be considered in evaluating fire-induced risk through fire probabilistic risk assessment (PRA), and also uncertainty is a critical consideration in support of risk-informed performance-based (RIPB) fire protection decision-making. This study developed an optimal integrated probabilistic fire brigade non-suppression model considering uncertainty of parameters based on the Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach on electrical fire which is one of the most risk significant contributors. The result shows that the log-normal probability model with a location parameter (μ) of 2.063 and a scale parameter (σ) of 1.879 is best fitting to the actual fire experience data. It gives optimal model adequacy performance with Bayesian information criterion (BIC) of −1601.766, residual sum of squares (RSS) of 2.51E-04, and mean squared error (MSE) of 2.08E-06. This optimal log-normal model shows the better performance of the model adequacy than the exponential probability model suggested in the current fire PRA methodology, with a decrease of 17.3% in BIC, 85.3% in RSS, and 85.3% in MSE. The outcomes of this study are expected to contribute to the improvement and securement of fire PRA realism in the support of decision-making for RIPB fire protection programs.

Abstract Ion migration in inorganic and hybrid organic-inorganic metal halide perovskites causes unusual phenomena in photovoltaic devices, such as current-voltage hysteresis and photoinduced phase transformations. It is now well established that metal halide perovskites are mixed ionic-electronic conductors and halide ions are mobile at room temperature. The effect of various physical stimuli like light, heat, pressure, and applied bias can affect the distribution and movement of ions. However, the impact of each stimulus is not understood as the measured response includes a combination of factors. We explore, using first-principles density functional theory (DFT), halide migration mediated by vacancies in model cubic phases of CsPbX3 (X = Cl, Br, I) and systematically control the electronic, chemical, and mechanical conditions. We assess the potential energy landscape for ion migration and how device-relevant conditions and compositional engineering can influence the physical behaviour of halide perovskites.

Retinyl palmitate (RP) is a retinol ester with strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties as an antiwrinkle agent. However, it has poor aqueous solubility and easily degrades into inactive forms for topical applications. Therefore, we developed chitosan-coated nanocapsules (ChiNCs) to encapsulate RP using a simple nanoprecipitation method for protection against physiological conditions and to enable deep skin penetration. The as-prepared RP-loaded nanocapsules (RP@ChiNCs) loaded with approximately 5 wt.% RP exhibited a hydrodynamic diameter of 86 nm and surface charge of 24 mV. They had adequate stability to maintain their physicochemical properties after lyophilization in a biological buffer. Notably, ChiNCs provided RP with remarkable protection against degradation for 4 weeks at 37 °C. Thus, RP@ChiNCs exhibited good antioxidant activity in situ for sufficiently long periods without considerable changes in their efficacy. Furthermore, ChiNCs enhanced the skin penetration of lipophilic RP based on the inherent nature of chitosan. RP@ChiNCs exhibited good in vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects without causing any cytotoxicity in dermal fibroblasts. Accordingly, they promoted cell proliferation in a wound-scratch test and enhanced collagen synthesis. These results suggest that RP@ChiNCs are promising candidates for cosmetic and biomedical applications.

This paper proposes a neural 5G traffic generation model and a methodology for calculating the spectrum requirements of private 5G networks to provide various industrial communication services. To accurately calculate the spectral requirements, it is necessary to analyze the actual data volume and traffic type of industrial cases. However, because there is currently no suitable traffic model to test loads in private 5G networks, we have developed a generative adversarial network (GAN)-based traffic generator that can generate realistic traffic by learning actual traffic traces collected by mobile network operators. In addition, in the case of industrial applications, probability-based traffic models were used in parallel as there were not enough real data to be learned. The proposed 5G traffic generation model is combined with the proposed 5G spectrum calculation methodology, enabling more accurate spectrum requirements calculation through traffic simulation similar to a real-life environment. In this paper, the spectrum requirements are calculated differently according to two types of duplexing, namely frequency division duplexing (FDD) and time division duplexing (TDD). As a guide for companies aiming to provide advanced wireless connectivity for a wide variety of vertical industries using 5G networks, eight use cases defined in the 5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation (ACIA) white paper were simulated. The spectrum requirements were calculated under various simulation conditions considering varying traffic loads, deployment scenarios, and duplexing types. Various simulation results confirmed that a bandwidth of at least 22.0 MHz to a maximum of 397.8 MHz is required depending on the deployment scenario.

With the development of voice synthesis technology using deep learning, voice synthesis research that expresses the characteristics and emotions of speakers is actively being conducted. Current technology does not satisfactorily express various emotions and characteristics for speakers with very low or high vocal ranges and for speakers with dialects. In this paper, we propose mel-spectrogram image transfer (MIST)-Tacotron, a Tacotron 2-based speech synthesis model that adds a reference encoder with an image style transfer module. The proposed method is a technique that adds image style transfer to the existing Tacotron 2 model and extracts the speaker’s feature from the reference mel-spectrogram using a pre-trained deep learning model. Through the extracted feature, the style such as pitch, tone, and duration of the speaker are trained to express the style and emotion of the speaker more clearly. To extract the speaker’s style independently from the speaker’s timbre and emotion, the ID value for the speaker and the ID value for the emotional state were used as inputs. Performance is evaluated by F0 voiced error (FVE), F0 gross pitch error (F0 GPE), mel-cepstral distortion (MCD), band aperiodicity distortion (BAPD), voiced/unvoiced error (VUVE), false positive rate (FPR), and false negative rate (FNR). The performance of the proposed model was observed to have lower error values than the existing models, GST (Global Style Token) Tacotron and VAE (Variational Autoencoder) Tacotron. As a result of measuring mean opinion score (MOS), the sound quality of the proposed model received the highest score in terms of emotional expression and speaker style reflection.

Abstract Background CT‐P39 is being developed as a biosimilar of reference omalizumab. This study aimed to assess the pharmacokinetic equivalence of CT‐P39 to European Union‐approved and United States‐licensed reference omalizumab (EU‐ and US‐omalizumab, respectively). Methods This two‐part, randomised, parallel‐group, double‐blind Phase 1 trial (NCT04018313) was conducted in healthy individuals with a total immunoglobulin E (IgE) level ≤100 international units (IU)/ml at screening. In part 2, described herein, participants were randomised (1:1:1) to receive a single 150 mg subcutaneous dose of CT‐P39, EU‐omalizumab, or US‐omalizumab. The primary endpoint was pharmacokinetic equivalence in terms of area under the concentration–time curve (AUC) from time zero to the last quantifiable concentration (AUC0–last), AUC from time zero to infinity (AUC0‐inf), and maximum serum concentration (Cmax). Equivalence was concluded if 90% confidence intervals (CIs) of the geometric least‐squares means ratios were contained within the predefined 80%–125% equivalence margin. Additional pharmacokinetic parameters, pharmacodynamics, safety, and immunogenicity were also evaluated. Results Overall, 146 participants were randomised (CT‐P39, N = 47; EU‐omalizumab, N = 49; US‐omalizumab, N = 50). For all primary pharmacokinetic parameters, 90% CIs for pairwise treatment comparisons were within the 80%–125% equivalence margin, demonstrating pharmacokinetic equivalence. Decreases in free IgE and increases in total IgE serum concentrations were comparable across groups. CT‐P39 was well tolerated. Safety endpoints were comparable across groups: there were no treatment‐related serious adverse events, deaths, or discontinuations due to treatment‐emergent adverse events. Conclusions CT‐P39 was well tolerated and demonstrated pharmacokinetic equivalence with EU‐omalizumab and US‐omalizumab following administration of a single dose in healthy individuals.

The recent spread of novel and highly variant pathogenic viruses, including the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), has increased the demand for diagnostic testing for rapid confirmation. This has resulted in investigating the functional capability of each space, and preparing facility guidelines to secure the safety of medical technologists. During viral evaluations, there is a requirement of negative pressure facilities along with thread separation, during pre-treatment of samples and before nucleic acid amplification. Space composition therefore needs to be planned by considering unidirectional air flow. This classification of safety management facilities is designated as biosafety level 2, and personal protective equipment is placed accordingly. In case of handling dangerous materials, they need to be carried out of the biosafety cabinet, and sterilizers are required for suitable disposal of infectious agents. A common feature of domestic laboratories is maintenance of the sample pre-treatment space at a negative pressure of −2.5 Pa or less, and arranging separate pre-treatment and reagent preparation spaces during the test process. We believe that the data generated in this study is meaningful, and offers an efficient direction and detailed flow for separation of the inspection process and space functions. Moreover, this study introduces construction of the laboratory by applying the safety management standards.

Most red-green-blue and depth (RGB-D) motion-recognition technologies employ both depth and RGB cameras to recognize a user's body. However, motion-recognition solutions using a single RGB-D camera struggle with rotation recognition depending on the device-user distance and field-of-view. This paper proposes a near-real-time rotational-coordinate-correction method that rectifies a depth error unique Microsoft Kinect by using the symmetry of the depth coordinates of the human body. The proposed method is most effective within 2 m, a key range in which the unique depth error of Kinect occurs, and is anticipated to be utilized in applications requiring low cost and fast installation. It could also be useful in areas such as media art that involve unspecified users because it does not require a learning phase. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method has an accuracy of 85.38%, which is approximately 12% higher than that of the reference installation method.

Purpose Modulated electro-hyperthermia (mEHT) may enhance the tumor response, although the effectiveness of combined neoadjuvant therapy remains unclear. Therefore, we investigated the role of mEHT with neoadjuvant therapy for locally advanced rectal cancer. Materials and methods Clinical data were analyzed for 120 patients who received neoadjuvant treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer (T3/4 or N+, M0) from May 2012 to December 2017. Capecitabine or 5-fluorouracil was administered along with radiotherapy. Patients were categorized into mEHT group (62 patients) and non-mEHT group (58 patients) depending on whether mEHT was added. Surgery was performed 6–8 weeks after the end of radiotherapy. Results The median age was 59 years (range, 33–83). The median radiation dose was significantly less for mEHT group (40 Gy) than for non-mEHT group (50.4 Gy). In mEHT group, 80.7% showed down-staging compared with 67.2% in non-mEHT group. For large tumors of more than 65 cm³ (mean), improved tumor regression was observed in 31.6% of mEHT group compared with 0% of non-mEHT group (p = .024). The gastrointestinal toxicity rate of mEHT group was 64.5%, which was found to be statistically significantly less than 87.9% of non-mEHT group (p = .010). The 2-year disease-free survival was 96% for mEHT group and 79% for non-mEHT group (p = .054). Conclusion The overall mEHT group had a comparable response and survival using less radiation dosing compared with standard care; the subgroup with large tumors showed improved efficacy for tumor regression after mEHT.

This study investigates the association of the AFB stain with the cycle threshold (Ct) value of the Cobas TaqMan MTB test (CTM test, Roche Diagnostics, Basel, Switzerland), and it establishes the base data for semi-quantitative identification of M. tuberculosis by the Ct value. CTM test were simultaneously conducted on 8,389 specimens submitted to the Samsung Medical Center from January 2015 to December 2015, and the results were analyzed and compared retrospectively investigates the association of the AFB stain with the Ct value of the CTM test, and it establishes the base data for semi-quantitative identification of M. tuberculosis by the Ct value. The Ct values for 135 positive specimens of the CTM were inversely correlated with the AFB stain (rs=−0.545, P＜0.01). When the Ct value of the CTM test and the time to positivity (TTP) of the mycobacteria cultures were verified based on the AFB stain, they were found to have a positive correlation (rs=0.136, P＜0.01). The negative correlation between the CTM test and the AFB stain grade was demonstrated. The clinical significance was verified by applying these criteria to the clinical results. The semi- quantitative criteria of this study can be used to facilitate the rapid isolation of patients with active tuberculosis and infection control in the hospital.

Abstract The global burden of bone-related diseases is increasing in the aging society; thus, improved bone targeted imaging for their early identification and treatment are needed. In this study, we screened novel peptide ligands for hydroxyapatite, a major inorganic component of teeth and bones, and identified a peptide enabling in vivo bone targeting and real-time fluorescence bone detection. To isolate peptides highly specific for hydroxyapatite, we used negative and positive selection from a randomized 8-mer peptide phage library and identified hydroxyapatite-specific peptides (HA-pep2, HA-pep3, and HA-pep7). Among these three peptides, HA-pep3 showed the highest binding capacity and superior dissociation constant towards hydroxyapatite surfaces over time (~ 88.3% retained on hydroxyapatite after two weeks). Furthermore, HA-pep3 was highly specific for hydroxyapatite compared to other calcium salt-based materials. Using this superior specificity, HA-pep3 showed higher accumulation in skull, spine, and joints in comparison with scrambled control peptide during real-time whole-body imaging. Ex vivo analysis of the major organs and bone from mice demonstrated that the fluorescence intensity in bone was about 3.32 folds higher in the case of HA-pep3 than the one exhibited by the scrambled control peptide. Our study identified a novel approach for targeting ligands for bone specific imaging and can be useful for drug delivery applications.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium that causes infections in different parts of the body and causes skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI). The present study examined the antimicrobial resistance patterns and molecular epidemiological characteristics of MRSA isolated from nasal swabs in clinical patients. SCCmec type of MRSA isolates from clinical patients were analyzed: 24 cases were SCCmec type-II; two cases were type-II/IVa; one case was type-II/V; one case was type-IVa; 11 cases were not-typeable. The mec complex type of MRSA isolates from clinical patients were analyzed: 29 cases were mec complex type A, and 10 cases were not-typeable, but type B was not found in the present study. In conclusion, SCCmec type-II and mec complex type A were the most dominant MRSA subtypes among the MRSA isolates from a nasal swab of patients, and the results were similar to other studies on hospital-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA). These results can not only provide basic data for hospital infection management but also be a good guideline for MRSA infections in the Republic of Korea.

The present study aimed to clinically evaluate the effect of T-cell dysfunction in hemodialysis (HD) patients with latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI) who were false-negatives in the QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) test. Whole blood samples from a total of 20 active TB patients, 83 HD patients, and 52 healthy individuals were collected, and the QFT-GIT test was used for measuring Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB)-specific interferon gamma (IFN-γ) level. The positive rate of the IFN-γ release assays (IGRAs) in HD patients was lower than the negative rate. The mean value of MTB-specific IFN-γ level, which determines the positive rate of the IGRA test, was highest in active TB, followed by HD patients and healthy individuals. Among HD patients, phytohemagglutinin A (PHA)-stimulated IFN-γ levels of approximately 40% were 10.00 IU/mL or less. However, there was no low level of PHA-stimulated IFN-γ in the healthy individuals. This reveals that T-cell function in HD patients was reduced compared to healthy individuals, which leads to the possibility that QFT-GIT results in HD patients are false-negative. The clinical manifestations of TB in patients on HD are quite non-specific, making timely diagnosis difficult and delaying the initiation of curative treatment, delay being a major determinant of outcome.

Tuberculosis (TB), which is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), is a serious infectious disease with high infection and mortality rates and is a public health problem around the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report, one-third of the world's population is latently infected with MTB, and 5 to 10% of those with latent TB infection (LTBI) have the potential to develop active TB once in their lifetime. Therefore, TB management for promptly distinguishing LTBI from active TB and for proper treatment is important. LTBI is currently diagnosed using the tuberculin skin test (TST) and interferon gamma (IFN-γ) release assay (IGRA). However, this test is substantially limited by its inability to distinguish active TB from LTBI. It is necessary to discover indicators that can be used for effective TB management and to develop diagnostic methods. In the present study, we used IGRA and complete blood count (CBC) analysis for discrimination of active TB, LTBI, and healthy control groups. The results showed that the number of WBC was significantly increased in the group with active TB (p

Tuberculosis (TB) management is important for prompt discrimination of latent TB infection (LTBI) from active TB and proper treatment. Whole blood Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) release assay (IGRA) is used to diagnose LTBI based on the secretion of IFN-γ by T-cells in the whole blood by using a specific antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, the ability of IGRA to distinguish active TB from LTBI is considerably limited. Distinguishing active TB from LTBI is necessary to identify indicators that can be used to effectively manage TB and develop diagnostic methods. In the present study, we used a Luminex multiplex bead array (a bead-based antibody–antigen sandwich method). The whole blood level of acute phase proteins (APPs), such as endoglin (ENG), procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), and α1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), in active TB, LTBI, and healthy individuals were analyzed and quantified. The APP test results for the serum and whole blood samples showed that the levels of PCT, CRP, and AGP were significantly increased (p < 0.0500; area under curve = 0.955) in active TB. The level of these markers in the whole blood of active TB, LTBI, and healthy individuals could provide data for effective diagnosis and treatment of TB.

Nitric oxide (NO) linked to glutamate receptors in the caudate and putamen (CPu) regulates neuroadaptation after drug exposure. Matrix-metalloproteinase (MMP), a Ca2+-dependent zinc-containing endopeptidase, increases mature brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) synthesis after drug exposure in the brain. The present study determined that NO synthesis linked to metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 5 (mGluR5) stimulation after challenge exposure to nicotine activates MMP, which upregulates BDNF synthesis in the CPu. Subcutaneous injection of challenge nicotine (1.0 mg/kg) after repeated injections of nicotine (1.0 mg/kg/day) for 14 days and 7 days of nicotine withdrawal increased MMP2 activity and BDNF expression in the CPu of rats. These increases were prevented by the bilateral intra-CPu infusion of the mGluR5 antagonist, MPEP (0.1 nmol/side), the IP3 receptor antagonist, xestospongin C (0.004 nmol/side) or the neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and NO inhibitor, Nω-propyl (0.1 nmol/side) prior to the challenge nicotine. Furthermore, bilateral intra-CPu infusion of the MMP2 inhibitor, OA-Hy (1 nmol/side) prevented the challenge nicotine-induced increase in the expression of BDNF. These findings suggest that elevation of NO synthesis linked to mGluR5 potentiates BDNF synthesis via activation of MMP2 after challenge exposure to nicotine in the CPu of rats.

The efficiency of Hematite (α-Fe2O3) photo-anodes is thought to be limited by ultrafast lattice distortions or polarons. Here, we use an optical-control method with photocurrent detection to track small polarons in real time and demonstrate that they impact photoelectrochemical cell activity

Abstract Background Birds of prey (raptors) are dominant apex predators in terrestrial communities, with hawks (Accipitriformes) and falcons (Falconiformes) hunting by day and owls (Strigiformes) hunting by night. Results Here, we report new genomes and transcriptomes for 20 species of birds, including 16 species of birds of prey, and high-quality reference genomes for the Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo), oriental scops owl (Otus sunia), eastern buzzard (Buteo japonicus), and common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). Our extensive genomic analysis and comparisons with non-raptor genomes identify common molecular signatures that underpin anatomical structure and sensory, muscle, circulatory, and respiratory systems related to a predatory lifestyle. Compared with diurnal birds, owls exhibit striking adaptations to the nocturnal environment, including functional trade-offs in the sensory systems, such as loss of color vision genes and selection for enhancement of nocturnal vision and other sensory systems that are convergent with other nocturnal avian orders. Additionally, we find that a suite of genes associated with vision and circadian rhythm are differentially expressed in blood tissue between nocturnal and diurnal raptors, possibly indicating adaptive expression change during the transition to nocturnality. Conclusions Overall, raptor genomes show genomic signatures associated with the origin and maintenance of several specialized physiological and morphological features essential to be apex predators.

Abstract Background One-third of cervical cancer patients are still diagnosed at advanced stages. The five-year survival rate is decreased in about 50% of advanced stage cervical cancer patients worldwide, and the clinical outcomes are remarkably varied and difficult to predict. One of the miRNAs known to be associated with cancer tumorigenesis is miR-944. However, the prognostic value of miR-944 in cervical cancer has not been fully investigated. The aim of this study was to analyze clinical significance and prognostic value of miR-944 in cervical cancer. Methods The expression levels of miR-944 were detected using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in five types of cervical cancer cell lines and 116 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) cervical tissues. The association between the expression levels of miR-944 and prognostic value was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards model. Results The expression levels of miR-944 in cervical cancer tissues were significantly higher compared with those in normal tissues (P

To facilitate the rapid development of van der Waals materials and heterostructures, scanning probe methods capable of nondestructively visualizing atomic lattices and moiré superlattices are highly desirable. Lateral force microscopy (LFM), which measures nanoscale friction based on the commonly available atomic force microscopy (AFM), can be used for imaging a wide range of two-dimensional (2D) materials, but imaging atomic lattices using this technique is difficult. Here, we examined a number of the common challenges encountered in LFM experiments and presented a universal protocol for obtaining reliable atomic-scale images of 2D materials under ambient environment. By studying a series of LFM images of graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), we have found that the accuracy and the contrast of atomic-scale images critically depended on several scanning parameters including the scan size and the scan rate. We applied this protocol to investigate the atomic structure of the ripped and self-folded edges of graphene and have found that these edges were mostly in the armchair direction. This finding is consistent with the results of several simulations results. Our study will guide the extensive effort on assembly and characterization of new 2D materials and heterostructures.

Abstract Background As a result of its simplicity and high efficiency, the CRISPR-Cas system has been widely used as a genome editing tool. Recently, CRISPR base editors, which consist of deactivated Cas9 (dCas9) or Cas9 nickase (nCas9) linked with a cytidine or a guanine deaminase, have been developed. Base editing tools will be very useful for gene correction because they can produce highly specific DNA substitutions without the introduction of any donor DNA, but dedicated web-based tools to facilitate the use of such tools have not yet been developed. Results We present two web tools for base editors, named BE-Designer and BE-Analyzer. BE-Designer provides all possible base editor target sequences in a given input DNA sequence with useful information including potential off-target sites. BE-Analyzer, a tool for assessing base editing outcomes from next generation sequencing (NGS) data, provides information about mutations in a table and interactive graphs. Furthermore, because the tool runs client-side, large amounts of targeted deep sequencing data (

SFTSV is an emerging virus discovered in China in 2009; it has since spread to other countries in East Asia. Although the fatality rates of SFTSV infection range from 5.3% to as high as 27%, the mechanisms underlying clinical manifestations are largely unknown.

We evaluated the effect of 13.56 MHz modulated electro-hyperthermia (mEHT) boost in neoadjuvant treatment for cT3-4- or cN-positive rectal cancer. Sixty patients who completed the mEHT feasibility trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02546596) were analyzed. Whole pelvis radiotherapy of 40 Gy, mEHT boost twice a week during radiotherapy, and surgical resection 6–8 weeks following radiotherapy were performed. The median age was 59. The median follow-up period was 58 (6–85) months. Total/near total tumor regression was observed in 20 patients (33.3%), including nine cases of complete response. T- and N-downstaging was identified in 40 (66.6%) and 53 (88.3%) patients, respectively. The 5-year overall and disease-free survival were 94.0% and 77.1%, respectively. mEHT energy of ≥3800 kJ potentially increased the overall survival (p = 0.039). The ypN-stage and perineural invasion were possible significant factors in disease-free (p = 0.003 and p = 0.005, respectively) and distant metastasis-free (p = 0.011 and p = 0.034, respectively) survival. Tumor regression, resection margin status, and other molecular genetic factors showed no correlation with survival. Although a limited analysis of a small number of patients, mEHT was feasible considering long-term survival. A relatively low dose irradiation (40 Gy) plus mEHT setting could ensure comparable clinical outcomes with possible mEHT-related prognostic features.

Early diagnosis increases the treatment success rate for active tuberculosis (ATB) and decreases mortality. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been studied as blood-based markers of several infectious diseases. We performed miRNA profiling to identify differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs using whole blood samples from 10 healthy controls (HCs), 15 subjects with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), and 12 patients with ATB, and investigated the expression of the top six miRNAs at diagnosis and over the treatment period in addition to performing miRNA-target gene network and gene ontology analyses. miRNA profiling identified 84 DE miRNAs in patients with ATB, including 80 upregulated and four downregulated miRNAs. Receiver operating characteristic curves of the top six miRNAs exhibited excellent distinguishing efficiency with an area under curve (AUC) value > 0.85. Among them, miR-199a-3p and miR-6886-3p can differentiate between ATB and LTBI. Anti-TB treatment restored the levels of miR-199b-3p, miR-199a-3p, miR-16-5p, and miR-374c-5p to HC levels. Furthermore, 108 predicted target genes were related to the regulation of cellular amide metabolism, intrinsic apoptotic signaling, translation, transforming growth factor beta receptor signaling, and cysteine-type endopeptidase activity. The DE miRNAs identified herein are potential biomarkers for diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring in ATB.

Peatlands recovering from acidification release dissolved organic carbon (DOC), but no biological role has yet been identified in this process. Here, the authors show that pH increases enhance phenol oxidase activity, pore-water DOC concentrations and lead to greater abundances in Actinobacteria and fungi.

Transepidermal drug delivery achieves high drug concentrations at the action site and ensures continuous drug delivery and better patient compliance with fewer adverse effects. However, drug delivery through topical application is still limited in terms of drug penetration. Chitosan is a promising enhancer to overcome this constraint, as it can enhance drug diffusion by opening the tight junctions of the stratum corneum. Therefore, here, we developed a novel chitosan nanosponge (CNS) with an optimal ratio and molecular weight of chitosan to improve drug penetration through skin. To prepare the CNS, two types of chitosan (3 and 10 kDa) were each conjugated with poloxamer 407 using para-nitrophenyl chloroformate, and the products were mixed with poloxamer 407 at ratios of 5:5, 8:2, and 10:0. The resulting mixtures were molded to produce flexible soft nanosponges by simple nanoprecipitation. The CNSs were highly stable in biological buffer for four weeks and showed no toxicity in human dermal fibroblasts. The CNSs increased drug permeability through human cadaver skin in a Franz-type diffusion cell, with substantially higher permeability with 3 kDa chitosan at a ratio of 8:2. This suggests the applicability of the novel CNS as a promising carrier for efficient transepidermal drug delivery.

Abstract Background Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of death among female patients with cancer in the world. High risk human papillomavirus has causal roles in cervical cancer initiation and progression by deregulating several cellular processes. However, HPV infection is not sufficient for cervical carcinoma development. Therefore, other genetic and epigenetic factors may be involved in this complex disease, and the identification of which may lead to better diagnosis and treatment. Our aim was to analyze the expression of microRNAs in cervical cancer cases positive or negative for HPV E6/E7 mRNA, and to assess their diagnostic usefulness and relevance. Methods The expression of three different microRNAs (miR-9, miR-21, and miR-155) in 52 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) primary cervical cancer tissue samples and 50 FFPE normal cervical tissue samples were evaluated. Results MiR-9, miR-21, and miR-155 were significantly overexpressed in cervical cancer tissues compared to normal tissues (P

Abstract Based on the first-principles evolutionary materials design, we report a stable boron Kagome lattice composed of triangles in triangles on a two-dimensional sheet. The Kagome lattice can be synthesized on a silver substrate, with selecting Mg atoms as guest atoms. While the isolated Kagome lattice is slightly twisted without strain, it turns into an ideal triangular Kagome lattice under tensile strain. In the triangular Kagome lattice, we find the exotic electronic properties, such as topologically non-trivial flat band near the Fermi energy and half-metallic ferromagnetism, and predict the quantum anomalous Hall effect in the presence of spin-orbit coupling.

After breast and colon cancer, cervical cancer is the third most common cancer of women worldwide. Since human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is known to be the predominant cause of cervical cancer, molecular HPV screening is currently used along with cytological and histological examination methods for precancer diagnosis. Nevertheless, the sensitivity of the current HPV test is less than 80%; thus, many cervical cancer cases are not able to be diagnosed by HPV screening alone, and likewise, patients with cervical cancer are often determined to be HPV-negative by the current screening methods. Therefore, human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) and Ki67 previously identified as cancer markers were attempted. And cervical exfoliated cells of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), the most severe precancerous lesion of cancer, were used in the study. However, it takes a long time to collect enough specimens to conduct statistical analysis. Therefore, in the present study, microscope slides, cervical exfoliated cells on glass slides, were attempted. The results of the analysis demonstrated that hTERT and Ki67 expression levels were useful in distinguishing between cancerous and normal specimens, exhibiting a higher sensitivity and specificity than conventional HPV E6/E7 testing. And the study suggests clinical slide cell samples could be effectively used in the context of retrospective studies to identify novel biomarkers.

There have been few reports on the kinetics of hemodialyzed (HD) patients’ immune responses in latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Therefore, in the present study, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression levels of nine immune markers were analyzed to discriminate between HD patients with LTBI and healthy individuals. Nine cytokines and chemokines were screened through relative mRNA expression levels in whole blood samples after stimulation with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB)-specific antigens from HD patients with LTBI (HD/LTBI), HD patients without LTBI, and healthy individuals, and results were compared with the QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) test. We confirmed that the C-C motif chemokine 11 (CCL11) mRNA expression level of the HD/LTBI group was significantly higher than the other two groups. Especially, the CCL11 mRNA expression level of the >0.7 IU/mL group in the QFT-GIT test was significantly higher than the p = 0.0043). The present study reveals that the relative mRNA expression of CCL11 was statistically different in LTBI based on the current cut-off value (i.e., ≥0.35 IU/mL) and in the >0.7 IU/mL group. These results suggest that CCL11 mRNA expression might be an alternative biomarker for LTBI diagnosis in HD patients.

It is important to operate devices with control panels and touch screens assisted by haptic feedback in mobile environments such as driving automobiles and electric power wheelchairs. A lot of consideration is needed to give accurate haptic feedback, especially, presenting clear touch feedback to the elderly and people with reduced sensation is a very critical issue from healthcare and safety perspectives. In this study, we aimed to identify the perceptual characteristics for the frequency and direction of haptic vibration on the touch screen with vehicle-driving vibration and to propose an efficient haptic system based on these characteristics. As a result, we demonstrated that the detection threshold shift decreased at frequencies above 210 Hz due to the contact pressure during active touch, but the detection threshold shift increased at below 210 Hz. We found that the detection thresholds were 0.30–0.45 gpeak with similar sensitivity in the 80–270 Hz range. The haptic system implemented by reflecting the experimental results achieved characteristics suitable for use scenarios in automobiles. Ultimately, it could provide practical guidelines for the development of touch screens to give accurate touch feedback in the real-world environment.

Antimicrobial air filters are required to protect humans from the risk of secondary bioaerosol pollution as well as airborne particles. Three plant extracts (tea-tree oil, rosemary, and garlic) were selected to replace antimicrobial chemicals in air filters. The antimicrobial activity of plant extracts was investigated using Micrococcus luteus and Escherichia coli. Phytochemicals present in the three plant extracts were identified using a gas chromatograph coupled with a mass spectrometer. The extracts were spray-coated on polyethylene terephthalate filter surfaces using silicate polymeric coating and evaluated via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and a scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectroscopy. After coating, an increase of 9.1% in the pressure drop was observed. The strain Micrococcus luteus was used to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the air filter. After bioaerosol exposure, the tea-tree oil-coated filters immediately induced M. luteus cell inactivation (40–55%), whereas the rosemary and garlic coated filters did not. However, 48 h after exposure, a significant M. luteus inactivation of 99.99%, 99.0%, and 99.9% was recorded for concentrations of 2.89, 6.73, and 11.51 mg/cm2 for the tea-tree, rosemary, and garlic extracts, respectively. The coated filters exhibited high antimicrobial activity, thereby indicating significant potential for application as self-cleaning air filters.

Cigarette smoke is a highly complex mixture of nicotine and non-nicotine constituents. Exposure to cigarette smoke enhances tobacco dependence by potentiating glutamatergic neurotransmission via stimulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). We investigated the effects of nicotine and non-nicotine alkaloids in the cigarette smoke condensates extracted from two commercial cigarette brands in South Korea (KCSC A and KCSC B) on psychomotor behaviors and glutamate levels in the dorsal striatum. Repeated and challenge administration of KCSCs (nicotine content: 0.4 mg/kg, subcutaneous) increased psychomotor behaviors (ambulatory, rearing, and rotational activities) and time spent in psychoactive behavioral states compared to exposure to nicotine (0.4 mg/kg) alone. The increase in psychomotor behaviors lasted longer when exposed to repeated and challenge administration of KCSCs compared to nicotine alone. In parallel with sustained increase in psychomotor behaviors, repeated administration of KCSCs also caused long-lasting glutamate release in the dorsal striatum compared to nicotine alone. KCSC-induced changes in psychomotor behaviors and glutamate levels in the dorsal striatum were found to be strongly correlated. These findings suggest that non-nicotine alkaloids in commercial cigarette smoke synergistically act with nicotine on nAChRs, thereby upregulating glutamatergic response in the dorsal striatum, which contributes to the hypersensitization of psychomotor behaviors.

This study was conducted to evaluate seasonal groundwater quality due to groundwater pumping and hydrochemical characteristics with groundwater level fluctuations in an agricultural area in Korea. Groundwater levels were observed for about one year using automatic monitoring sensors, and groundwater uses were estimated based on the monitoring data. Groundwater use in the area is closely related to irrigation for rice farming, and rising groundwater levels occur during the pumping, which may be caused by the irrigation water of rice paddies. Hydrochemical analysis results for two separate times (17 July and 1 October 2019) show that the dissolved components in groundwater decreased overall due to dilution, especially at wells in the alluvial aquifer and shallow depth. More than 50% of the samples were classified as CaHCO3 water type, and changes in water type occurred depending on the well location. Water quality changes were small at most wells, but changes at some wells were evident. In addition, the groundwater quality was confirmed to have the effect of saltwater supplied during the 2018 drought by comparison with seawater. According to principal component analysis (PCA), the water quality from July to October was confirmed to have changed due to dilution, and the effect was strong at shallow wells. In the study areas where rice paddy farming is active in summer, irrigation water may be one of the important factors changing the groundwater quality. These results provide a qualitative and quantitative basis for groundwater quality change in agricultural areas, particularly rice paddies areas, along with groundwater level and usage.

Suppression of pathogenic bacterial growth to increase food and agricultural productivity is important. We previously developed novel hexapeptides (KCM12 and KCM21) with antimicrobial activities against various phytopathogenic bacteria and N2 plasma-treated buffer (NPB) as an alternative method for bacterial inactivation and as an antibiofilm agent of crops. Here, we developed an enhanced antibiofilm method based on antimicrobial hexapeptides with N2 plasma-treated buffer against plant pathogens. Our results demonstrated that hexapeptides effectively inhibited the growth of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (Pst DC3000) and the biofilm it formed. Potent biofilm formation-inhibiting effects of hexapeptides were observed at concentrations of above 20 µM, and samples treated with hexapeptide above 100 µM reduced the ability of the bacteria to produce biofilm by 80%. 3D confocal laser scanning microscopy imaging data revealed that the antimicrobial activity of hexapeptides was enough to affect the cells embedded inside the biofilm. Finally, combination treatment with NPB and antimicrobial hexapeptides increased the antibiofilm effect compared with the effect of single processing against multilayered plant pathogen biofilms. These findings show that the combination of hexapeptides and NPB can be potentially applied for improving crop production.

Category: Trauma Introduction/Purpose: To introduce reliable and newly developed radiographic measures based on a lateral ankle radiograph to assess a syndesmotic reduction after screw fixation and to compare with the radiographic measures based on the anteroposterior (AP) and mortise radiographs. Methods: The postoperative ankle radiographs of 34 ankle fracture cases after screw fixation for concurrent syndesmosis injury were reviewed. Two radiographic parameters were measured on each AP and mortise radiograph; tibiofibular clear space (TFCS) and tibiofibular overlap (TFO). Five radiographic parameters were measured on the true lateral radiographs; the anteroposterior tibiofibular (APTF) ratio, anterior tibiofibular ratio (ATFR), posterior tibiofibular ratio (PTFR), distances of intersection of the anterior fibular border and the tibial plafond to anterior cortex of the tibia (AA’), and the intersection of posterior fibular border and tibial plafond to the tip of the posterior malleolus (BB’). In addition, the distance (XP) between the fibular posterior margin (X) crossing tibial plafond or the posterior malleolus and posterior articular margin (P) of the tibial plafond was measured on the lateral view. Results: Using TFCS and TFO in the AP and mortise radiographs, malreductions of syndesmosis were estimated in 17 of 34 cases (50.0%). Using the introduced and developed radiographic measures in the lateral radiographs, syndesmotic malreductions were estimated in 16 out of 34 cases (47.1%). Seventeen cases (50.0%) showed no evidence of postoperative diastasis using the radiographic criteria on the AP and mortise view, 10 cases (58.8%) of whom showed evidence of a malreduction on the lateral radiograph. The newly developed measurements, XP, were measured 0 in 11 out of 34 cases (32.4%). Conclusion: The reduction of syndemosis after screw fixation can be accurately assessed intraoperatively with a combination of several reliable radiographic measurements of lateral radiograph and traditional radiographic measurements of AP and mortise radiograph. Using various radiographic parameters selectively, malreduction could be prevented even when some parameters are difficult to measure because of implants or when posterior malleolar fracture is accompanied.

Category: Midfoot/Forefoot Introduction/Purpose: To compare the outcomes of fixation methods for osteosynthesis of a type II symptomatic accessory navicular between screw and tension band wiring. Methods: Forty-four patients (mean age, 29.2 years; range, 13–54 years; 21 males and 23 females) who had undergone operative treatment after failed conservative treatment were chosen for the study between 2007 and 2014. The patients were divided into two groups by the method of osteosynthesis: group 1 (screw) and group 2 (tension band wiring). Pre and postoperative evaluations were performed, using the midfoot scale from the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS), a visual analog scale, time to return to social activities, and plain radiography. Results: The AOFAS midfoot and visual analog scale scores of both groups were improved at the last postoperative follow-up. The time to return to social activities was 12.3 weeks in the screw group and 11.9 weeks in the tension band wiring group (p = 0.394). A broken screw was observed in one case in the screw group and a broken k-wire was detected in two cases in the tension band wiring group. Nonunion was observed in two cases in each group. Conclusion: The tension band wiring technique could be another treatment choice of osteosynthesis for fixation of the accessory navicular bone.

Objectives: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a major cause of premalignant dysplasia and cervical cancer. There are no data on the prevalence of genotype-specific HPV infection assessed by HPV E6/E7 mRNA in women representative of the Korean population across a broad age range. Methods: A total of 630 women aged 17–90 years were enrolled in this study. ThinPrep liquid-based cytology samples were evaluated using the CervicGen HPV RT-qDx assay, which detects 16 high-risk (HR) HPV genotypes (set 1: HPV 16, 31, 33, 35, 52, and 58; set 2: HPV 18, 39, 45, 51, 59, and 68; and set 3: HPV 53, 56, 66, and 69). Results: The overall prevalence of HPV infection was 33.2% (n = 209), and oncogenic high-risk HPV was detected in 75.9% (n = 107) of 141 women with high-grade cervical lesions. HPV 16 was the most common HPV genotype among women with high-grade cervical lesions and histologically confirmed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 and above (CIN2+) in the Republic of Korea (41.6%). Among women aged over 30 years, 182/329 (55%) had invasive cervical cancer and 135 (74%) of these were infected with oncogenic HR-HPV types (in particular 25% with HPV 16). Among patients diagnosed with CIN2+, the positivity rate of HR-HPV was the highest in women aged 40–49 years. Conclusions: These results suggest that the determination of specific HPV genotypes is very important for evaluating the potential impact of preventive measures, including the use of prophylactic vaccines, on reducing the burden of cervical cancer.

This paper uses a 53-country 15-industry computable general equilibrium model of trade to analyze the effects of the Korea-China free trade agreement on the Korean economy, the manufacturing sector in particular. The model is based on Yaylaci and Shikher (2014) which uses the Eaton-Kortum methodology to explain intra-industry trade. The model predicts that the Korea-China FTA will increase Korea-China manufacturing trade by 56%, manufacturing employment in Korea by 5.7% and China by 0.55%. The model also predicts significant reallocation of employment across industries with the Food industry in Korea losing jobs and other industries there gaining jobs, with the Medical equipment industry gaining the most. There will be some trade diversion from the ASEAN countries, as well as Japan and the United States.

Nicotine causes tobacco dependence, which may result in fatal respiratory diseases. The striatum is a key structure of forebrain basal nuclei associated with nicotine dependence. In the striatum, glutamate release is increased when α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors expressed in the glutamatergic terminals are exposed to nicotine, and over-stimulates glutamate receptors in gamma amino-butyric acid (GABA)ergic neurons. These receptor over-stimulations in turn potentiate GABAergic outputs to forebrain basal nuclei and contribute to the increase in psychomotor behaviors associated with nicotine dependence. In parallel with glutamate increases, nicotine exposure elevates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) release through anterograde and retrograde targeting of the synapses of glutamatergic terminals and GABAergic neurons. This article reviews nicotine-exposure induced elevations of glutamatergic neurotransmission, the bidirectional targeting of BDNF in the striatum, and the potential regulatory role played by BDNF in behavioral responses to nicotine exposure.