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Achyranthes japonica Nakai (AJN) is a medicinal plant known to be beneficial for the joints. Since it takes at least two years from sowing to harvesting in an open field, new AJN cultivation strategies are needed to shorten the production period and improve quality. In this study, high-quality AJN is produced as microgreens in a vertical farm using a commercial ginseng soil mix (Myeongpum-Insamsangto, Shinsung Mineral Co., Ltd., Goesan, Republic of Korea) and controlled environmental conditions. The cultivation conditions included a temperature of 23 ± 2 °C, relative humidity of 50 ± 10%, and a photosynthetic photon flux density of 170 ± 15 µmol·m−2·s−1. Pre-harvest intermittent UV-B exposure, with an intensity of 1.0 ± 0.3 W/m−2, was applied for one day before harvest to evaluate its effects, using controlled environmental conditions in the vertical farm. Ultraviolet-B (UV-B) irradiation increases secondary metabolite levels in plants; however, the effect of UV-B on 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), an indicator of AJN, is unclear. Therefore, we aimed to investigate whether UV-B treatment of AJN microgreens affected growth and secondary metabolites. The treatment group was set to 12 h of continuous UV-B treatment during the day, two 6 h UV-B treatments, and four 3 h UV-B treatments to confirm the effectiveness of regular and intermittent treatment and recovery. Short-term UV-B treatment before harvesting increased phenols, flavonoids, antioxidant capacity, and 20E levels without affecting AJN biomass. The intermittent 6 h UV-B irradiation with a 6 h recovery time stimulated 20E content by approximately 1.4 times compared to the control. These study findings indicate that short-term UV-B treatment before harvesting, an appropriate recovery time, and intermittent UV-B exposure are more effective at increasing 20E content than continuous treatment. This approach provides a promising strategy for improving the nutritional and health benefits of AJN microgreens in vertical farming systems.

In this study, the primary (such as amino acids, fatty acids, and minerals) and secondary (including ginsenosides, phenolic acids, and flavonols) metabolites and antioxidant effects of Panax ginseng sprouts (PGSs) by different cultivation systems, such as soil–substrate cultivation (SSC) and deep-water cultivation (DWC), in a plant factory has been observed. There was no significant difference in the total fatty acid (FA) contents. Particularly, the major FAs of PGSs were palmitic acid (207.4 mg/100 g) of saturated FAs and linoleic acid (397.6 mg/100 g) and α-linolenic acid (222.6 mg/100 g) of unsaturated FAs in the SSC system. The values of total amino acids were all higher in SSC than in DWC. In the case of ginsenosides, the total protopanaxtriol product was 30.88 mg/g in SSC, while the total protopanaxdiol product was 34.83 mg/g in DWC. In particular, the values of total phenolic acids and total flavonols were 133.36 and 388.19 ug/g, respectively, and SSC had a higher content than DWC. In conclusion, the SSC system was shown to be higher in nutritional constituents and antioxidant activities in soil cultivation, suggesting that PGS with SSC has a positive effect on the quality of PGS in a plant factory.

Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is an antioxidant with oto-protective effects. In the present study, the safety and effectiveness of ALA therapy after noise-induced hearing loss was confirmed based on the administration method. The safety of intratympanic ALA (IT-ALA) was evaluated with oto-endoscopy and middle ear mucosa morphologic study. Perilymph ALA concentrations according to the administration routes were compared, and the efficacy of ALA was investigated through hearing tests and cochlear histological studies. The middle ear mucosa was swollen 1 week after IT-ALA but completely recovered within 3 weeks. ALA concentration in the perilymph was significantly higher in the IT-ALA group. Recovery of organ of Corti morphology and hearing levels were predominant in the IT-ALA group compared with the intraperitoneal injection group (IP-ALA) and showed similar rescue effects in the IT-dexamethasone group (IT-DEX). Interleukin-1 beta and nuclear factor-kappa B expression was significantly downregulated in the IT-ALA group. IT-ALA showed better cochlear recovery from acoustic trauma with higher inner ear penetration rate than IP-ALA. The rescue effect of IT-ALA after noise-induced hearing loss was similar to IT-DEX; however, the ALA and DEX mechanisms are different. IT-ALA appears to be another safe and effective treatment modality after acoustic trauma and comparable to IT-DEX.

With progressions in technology and high demand for value, business model designs based on cooperative systems are essential for innovative manufacturing servitization. Previous studies, which focused on product innovation or specific industries, either lacked standardized steps or promoted inconsistent processes and tools. Therefore, an integrated, holistic evaluation for designing and using service design methodologies was essential. Examining previous research, this study derived key factors categorized through focus group interviews with 13 experts. The analytic hierarchy process was used to derive weights for each factor to rank the level of importance. The results revealed the key factors of service design methodology: utility, systematicness, innovation, and convergence. Lower factors included the applicability to reality, ease of use, representation of needs, composition feasibility, customer value scalability, industrial convergence, flexibility, output clarity, collaboration support, and business improvement. The results of this study may be used as a basis for the development and selective adoption of service design methodologies in macroscopic terms. The study provides a direction for innovation and improving business models. It also serves as an academic foundation for industrial service innovation and ecosystem creation.

Antineoplastic medication compounding is conducted in most large hospitals and involves the repetitive task of extracting a specific quantity of medication from vials using syringes and transferring it into intravenous infusion bags. When a large syringe is used during medication compounding, manipulating the syringe plunger requires considerable force because of the negative pressure inside the vial as well as the viscosity of the drug solution. This repetitive and intense plunger manipulation can lead to musculoskeletal disorders of the arms, shoulders, and other areas. Implementing motorized syringe manipulation and automating the drug compounding process are beneficial approaches for enhancing pharmacist convenience and work efficiency. This study introduces the development of an automated assistance system for medication compounding designed to manipulate syringes and medication containers accurately and reliably. The developed equipment ensures compatibility with various syringes, vials, and intravenous (IV) infusion bags without the need for consumables. It is designed for the diversified, small-quantity production of personalized drugs, featuring a compact, affordable structure that can be easily accommodated within existing drug compounding facilities. The performance of the developed equipment is validated through simulations and experiments. The results prove the developed equipment has high dispensing accuracy (error range: ±0.09%) and high repeatability (standard deviation: 21 mg).