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Objective This study aimed to observe the changes in people’s depressive levels over 9 months since the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak as well as to identify the predictors of people’s depressive levels including COVID-19 infection fear in the context of South Korea in 2020.Methods For these purposes, four cross-sectional surveys were periodically implemented from March to December 2020. We randomly recruited 6,142 Korean adults (aged 19 to 70) by using a quota survey. Along with descriptive analysis, which included a one-way analysis of variance and correlations, multiple regression models were built to identify the predictors of people’s depressive levels during the pandemic. Results Overall, people’s depressive levels and fear of COVID-19 infection gradually increased since the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition to demographic variables (i.e., being a female, young age, unemployed, and living alone) and the duration of the pandemic, people’s COVID-19 infection fear was associated with their depressive levels.Conclusion To ameliorate these rising mental health issues, access to mental health services should be secured and expanded, particularly for individuals who present greater vulnerabilities due to socioeconomic characteristics that may affect their mental health.

Objective This study aimed to determine how prejudice and attitude toward people with severe mental illness, formed through exposure to the mass media, affect discriminatory behavior toward them.Methods Between September and November 2019, demographic data were collected using an online survey of 622 adults residing in South Korea. The scales used in this study were taken from the 2008 survey by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea. Structural equation modeling was performed for a comparative analysis of the direct and indirect effects.Results Virtual experience through mass media exposure had a statistically significant effect on prejudice against people with severe mental illness. Direct experience had a positive influence on reducing prejudice and discriminatory behavior. The direct effects of prejudice on discriminatory behavior were significant. In terms of indirect effects, the full mediating effect of prejudice was significant for the virtual experience through the mass media-prejudice-discriminatory behavior path, and the partial mediating effect of prejudice was significant on the direct experience-prejudice-discrimination behavior path.Conclusion This study recommends more careful reporting of mental illness in the media, promoting anti-stigmatization programs that provide opportunities for direct contact between the public and people with severe mental illness.

Intellectual disability (ID) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significantly impaired intellectual and adaptive functioning. X-linked ID (XLID) disorders, caused by defects in genes on the X chromosome, affect 1.7 out of 1,000 males. Employing exome sequencing, we identified three missense mutations (c.475C > G; p.H159D, c.1373C > A; p.T458N, and c.1585G > A; p.E529K) in the SRPK3 gene in seven XLID patients from three independent families. Clinical features common to the patients are intellectual disability, agenesis of the corpus callosum, abnormal smooth pursuit eye movement, and ataxia. SRPK proteins are known to be involved in mRNA processing and, recently, synaptic vesicle and neurotransmitter release. In order to validate SRPK3 as a novel XLID gene, we established a knockout (KO) model of the SRPK3 orthologue in zebrafish. In day 5 of larval stage, KO zebrafish showed significant defects in spontaneous eye movement and swim bladder inflation. In adult KO zebrafish, we found agenesis of cerebellar structures and impairments in social interaction. These results suggest an important role of SRPK3 in eye movements, which might reflect learning problems, intellectual disability, and other psychiatric disorders.

Purpose: This study intends to analyze the current status and characteristics of the hearing impaired by analyzing ‘actual survey data for the disabled’ from 2005 to recent, and to use them as basic data for establishing rehabilitation and welfare service policies for the hearing impaired.Methods: Among the items related to hearing impairment in the survey data, longitudinal, and meaningful areas such as general characteristics, hearing aid and communication, education and welfare services of the hearing impaired were mainly analyzed.Results: The prevalence of hearing impairment was 0.65% to 0.66% and the age distribution of the hearing impaired increased rapidly after the age of 50, and the proportion of over 65 years old increased by about 17.9% from 55.3% in 2008 to 73.2% in 2017. The rate of acquired factors (5.2% as of 2017) was higher than that of congenital factors as the cause of hearing impairment. The rate of people with hearing impairment who did not attend school increased as they went up from elementary school to high school, and the rate was the highest among the major areas of disability. Among the welfare needs of the hearing impaired, income security (40.4% as of 2017) was the highest.Conclusion: If research that reflects the various characteristics of hearing impairment is expanded in addition to periodic actual surveys for the disabled in the future, the current results is expected that it can be used as basic data for mid- to long-term welfare policies for the hearing impaired.

In this work, we investigated the metal-free frustrated Lewis pair (FLP) catalyzed ring-opening polymerization of glycidol. It was observed that the type of Lewis bases influences on the polymer topologies and unique physical properties.

The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that applied herbal medicine to treat viral hepatitis B and C in order to determine the therapeutic efficacy of herbal medicine.EMBASE, Pubmed, NDSL, KMBASE, KISS, KISTI, Koreamed, Koreantk, and Oasis databases were searched to identify RCTs. The selected studies were assessed by the Cochrane group's risk of bias tool.A total of 15 RCTs were selected, and the hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA reduction was significantly higher in patients treated with herbal medicine combined with Western medicine than in patients treated with herbal medicine. Herbal medicine combined with Western medicine was also superior to Western medicine alone in achieving hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg) and alanine aminotransferase [ALT] reduction. Only herbal medicine alone was not superior to Western medicine treatments in achieving HBV DNA, HBeAg, and ALT reduction.

Objective The aims of this study were to explore the prevalence of and identify predictors of anxiety and depression related to coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) in South Korea.Methods The analysis is based on a quota survey design and a sampling frame that permitted recruitment of a national sample of 1,014 individuals between March 17–31, 2020. Several standardized measurements were used, including GAD-7, PHQ-9, COVID-19 related fear, restrictions in deaily life, as well as sociodemographic information and physical and psychosocial needs during the pandemic. Multiple logistic regression was conducted to analyze the influence of sociodemographic factors, fear, and physical/psychosocial needs on anxiety and depression.Results Significant numbers of the respondents were identifiable anxiety (19.0%) and depression group (17.5%), respectively. This indicates that the depression and anxiety prevalence rate after the COVID-19 is substantially high compared to the depression rate of 2.6% in 2020 and 2.8% in 2018 both reported in the Korea Community Health Survey and the anxiety rate of 5.7% reported in 2016 Survey of Mental Disorders in Korea. Multiple logistic regression results showed age, COVID-19 related fear, and the level of restrictions in daily as significant factors in understanding and predicting the anxiety group. Likfewise, the COVID-19 related fear, restrictions in daily life, and need for economic support were important predictors in predicting the depression group.Conclusion Findings on predictors for greater vulnerability to anxiety and depression has important implications for public mental health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a search for natural inflammatory inhibitors, 1-O-acetylbritannilactone (ABL), a sesquiterpene lactone, was isolated from the flowers of Inula britannica. ABL significantly inhibited human neutrophil elastase (HNE) with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 3.2 ± 0.3 µM, thus did so more effectively than the positive control material (epigallocatechin gallate) (IC50 7.2 ± 0.5 µM). An enzyme kinetic study was performed. ABL noncompetitively inhibited HNE with an inhibition constant Ki of 2.4 µM. ABL inhibited lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2 production by RAW 264.7 cells in a dose-dependent manner, as well as the protein-level expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2. The anti-inflammatory effect of ABL was confirmed using a transgenic Tg(mpx:EGFP) zebrafish larval model. The exposure of the larvae to ABL inhibited neutrophil recruitment to the site of injury after tail fin amputation.

ObjectivesThe prolonged coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused individuals to suffer economic losses, in particular due to the implementation of intensive quarantine policies. Economic loss can cause anxiety and has a negative psychological impact on individuals, worsening their mental health and satisfaction with life. We examined the protective and risk factors that can influence the relationship between economic loss and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsPanel data from 911 participants were collected in April and May 2020 and again 6 months later. We analyzed the relationship between economic loss and anxiety and investigated the moderating effects of knowledge about COVID-19, gratitude, and perceived stress. Moreover, we investigated whether there were any changes in moderating effects over time or in different demographic groups.ResultsIn the early stages of the spread of COVID-19, gratitude (B = –0.0211, F = 4.8130, p < 0.05) and perceived stress (B = 0.0278, F = 9.3139, p < 0.01) had moderating effects on the relationship between economic loss and anxiety. However, after 6 months, only perceived stress had a significant moderating effect (B = 0.0265, F = 7.8734, p < 0.01).ConclusionIn the early stages of COVID-19, lower levels of gratitude and higher perceived stress led to greater anxiety. In later stages of the prolonged pandemic, only perceived stress had a continued moderating effect on the relationship between economic loss and anxiety. This study suggests that psychological interventions to reduce perceived stress are needed to treat the possible adverse effects of the spread of infectious diseases on mental health.

Excessive body fat and the related dysmetabolic diseases affect both developed and developing countries. The aim of this study was to investigate the beneficial role of a bacterial culture supernatant (hereafter: BS) of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium and their potential mechanisms of action on white-fat browning and lipolysis. For selection of four candidates among 55 Lactic acid producing bacteria (LAB) from human infant faeces, we evaluated by Oil Red O staining and Ucp1 mRNA quantitation in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. The expression of browning and lipolysis markers was examined along with in vitro assays. The possible mechanism was revealed by molecular and biological experiments including inhibitor and small interfering RNA (siRNA) assays. In a mouse model, physiological, histological, and biochemical parameters and expression of some thermogenesis-related genes were compared among six experimental groups fed a high-fat diet and one normal-diet control group. The results allow us to speculate that BS treatment promotes browning and lipolysis both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, the BS may activate thermogenic programs via a mechanism involving PKA-CREB signaling in 3T3-L1 cells. According to our data, we can propose that two LAB strains, Bifidobacterium longum DS0956 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus DS0508, may be good candidates for a dietary supplement against obesity and metabolic diseases; however, further research is required for the development as dietary supplements or drugs.

Intellectual disability (ID) is a heterogeneous clinical entity and includes an excess of males who harbor variants on the X-chromosome (XLID). We report rare FAM50A missense variants in the original Armfield XLID syndrome family localized in Xq28 and four additional unrelated males with overlapping features. Our fam50a knockout (KO) zebrafish model exhibits abnormal neurogenesis and craniofacial patterning, and in vivo complementation assays indicate that the patient-derived variants are hypomorphic. RNA sequencing analysis from fam50a KO zebrafish show dysregulation of the transcriptome, with augmented spliceosome mRNAs and depletion of transcripts involved in neurodevelopment. Zebrafish RNA-seq datasets show a preponderance of 3′ alternative splicing events in fam50a KO, suggesting a role in the spliceosome C complex. These data are supported with transcriptomic signatures from cell lines derived from affected individuals and FAM50A protein-protein interaction data. In sum, Armfield XLID syndrome is a spliceosomopathy associated with aberrant mRNA processing during development., Armfield X-linked disability (XLID) disorder has previously been linked to a locus in Xq28. Here, the authors report rare missense variants in FAM50A at Xq28, show that FAM50A interacts with the spliceosome, and that mis-splicing is enriched in knockout zebrafish suggesting it is a spliceosomopathy.

As the aging proceeds rapidly, the proportion of elderly people aged 65 or older reaches 15 percent, which results in an aging society. Thus, as the movement to improve the physical environment, economic and social policies for the aged society gets more active, there is also a growing number of cities joining the WHO"s aging-friendly cities. This study aims to provide the guidelines by revealing the characteristics of emotional UX design of the elderly welfare facilities as a space where the elderly can escape from depression and alienation and stimulate emotions. This paper analyzed theoretical considerations and previous studies to reveal the characteristics of emotional UX design, and summarized the evaluation index by deriving common key words with commonness and contents through FGI. In this paper, evaluation indicators are divided into three areas: physical environment, aesthetics, emotional atmosphere, and social value. The indicators by area are categorized into 3 areas, 14 elements such as Visceral, Behavioral, and Reflective. The actual sensation degree showed the highest level of ego identity, followed by belonging, extraordinary, self-respect, convenient usability, attractiveness, intimacy, comfort, experience of sense, accessibility and barrier free. The recognition level of importance had the highest level of ego identity, followed by belonging, self-esteem, intimacy, comfort, extraordinary, attractiveness, usability, safe structure, convenient usability, accessibility, sensory experience, and barrier free. based on all the things that have higher importance than the sensation, all the information on the assessment items can be seen as necessary can all be considered necessary to apply to the elderly welfare facilities, and a guide line was presented based on the analyzed results. Assessment indicators and guide lines of emotional UX design characteristics can be used as basic data for studies on senior citizens. The studies of emotional UX design can be used to free the elderly from the depression and alienation of the elderly in question in an aged society, and to establish effective directions in creating spaces of sensitivity, communication and exchange and design.

The LAMMER kinase in eukaryotes is a well-conserved dual-specificity kinase. Aspergillus species cause a wide spectrum of diseases called aspergillosis in humans, depending on the underlying immune status of the host, such as allergy, aspergilloma, and invasive aspergillosis. Aspergillus fumigatus is the most common opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes invasive aspergillosis. Although LAMMER kinase has various functions in morphology, development, and cell cycle regulation in yeast and filamentous fungi, its function in A. fumigatus is not known. We performed molecular studies on the function of the A. fumigatus LAMMER kinase, AfLkhA, and reported its involvement in multiple cellular processes, including development and virulence. Deletion of AflkhA resulted in defects in colonial growth, production of conidia, and sexual development. Transcription and genetic analyses indicated that AfLkhA modulates the expression of key developmental regulatory genes. The AflkhA-deletion strain showed increased production of gliotoxins and protease activity. When conidia were challenged with alveolar macrophages, enodocytosis of conidia by macrophages was increased in the AflkhA-deletion strain, resulting from changes in expression of the cell wall genes and thus content of cell wall pathogen-associated molecular patterns, including β-1,3-glucan and GM. While T cell-deficient zebrafish larvae were significantly susceptible to wild-type A. fumigatus infection, AflkhA-deletion conidia infection reduced host mortality. A. fumigatus AfLkhA is required for the establishment of virulence factors, including conidial production, mycotoxin synthesis, protease activity, and interaction with macrophages, which ultimately affect pathogenicity at the organismal level.

This study compared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related stress, fear of infection, loneliness, and depression between patients with schizophrenia and the general population. A face-to-face survey was administered to 1340 patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder and online survey of the general population (n = 2000) was conducted. The information gathered included the level of COVID-19-related stress, fear of infection, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score, and the three-item UCLA Loneliness Scale score. Structural equation modeling revealed a significant effect of fear of COVID-19 infection on depression among the general population and on loneliness among patients with schizophrenia. Loneliness experienced during COVID-19 exacerbated depression in both groups. In the COVID-19-related stress–loneliness–depression pathway, the partial mediating effect of loneliness was significant in both groups. Conversely, in the COVID-19-related fear–loneliness–depression pathway, the full mediating effect of loneliness was only significant in patients with schizophrenia. In conclusion, the loneliness associated with COVID-19-related stress and fear of infection was an important factor influencing depression, and the impact was greater in patients with schizophrenia compared with the general population. Thus, different mental health intervention plans are needed for patients with schizophrenia during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the long-lasting COVID-19 pandemic, social support and provision of mental health services to prevent loneliness and consequent depression are required in patients with schizophrenia.

Isomaltooligosaccharides (IMOs) have good prebiotic effects, and long IMOs (LIMOs) with a degree of polymerization (DP) of 7 or above show improved effects. However, they are not yet commercially available, and require costly enzymes and processes for production. The Nterminal region of the thermostable Thermoanaerobacter thermocopriae cycloisomaltooligosaccharide glucanotransferase (TtCITase) shows cyclic isomaltooligosaccharide (CI)-producing activity owing to a catalytic domain of glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 66 and carbohydrate-binding module (CBM) 35. In the present study, we elucidated the activity of the C-terminal region of TtCITase (TtCITase-C; Met740-Phe1,559), including a CBM35-like region and the GH family 15 domain. The domain was successfully cloned, expressed, and purified as a single protein with a molecular mass of 115 kDa. TtCITase-C exhibited optimal activity at 40°C and pH 5.5, and retained 100% activity at pH 5.5 after 18-h incubation. TtCITase-C synthesized α-1,6 glucosyl products with over seven degrees of polymerization (DP) by an α-1,6 glucosyl transfer reaction from maltopentaose, isomaltopentaose, or commercialized maltodextrins as substrates. These results indicate that TtCITase-C could be used for the production of α-1,6 glucosyl oligosaccharides with over DP7 (LIMOs) in a more cost-effective manner, without requiring cyclodextran.

We report the enhanced pinning properties of Sm-doped GdBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ (GdBCO) coated conductors (CCs) compared with those of GdBCO CCs by the reactive co-evaporation deposition and reaction process. For this paper, Sm-doped GdBCO CCs could be fabricated successfully using the same processing parameters with GdBCO CCs. While the GdBCO CCs exhibited higher critical temperature (T c ) and larger self-field critical current (I c ) at 77 K, Sm-doped GdBCO CCs possessed higher infield minimum critical current density (J c ) values in the field region of 1-5 T at 77 K most probably due to a refinement of (Gd,Sm) 2 O 3 nanoparticles trapped in the (Gd,Sm)BCO superconducting matrix.

An ionic liquid (IL), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ([C4mim]+[Br]−) was entrapped within the cavities of the robust metal-organic framework (MOF) UiO-66 via a ship-in-a-bottle technique. To this end, 1-methylimidazole and 1-bromobutane were introduced sequentially to diffuse through the pores of UiO-66 to form the IL species [C4mim]+[Br]− inside the MOF structure (C4mim@UiO-66). It was characterized by XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, elemental analysis, SEM, and FTIR spectroscopy. [C4mim]+[Br]− remained entrapped within the cavities of UiO-66 by its bulky size and interaction with UiO-66 framework as confirmed by FTIR, TGA, and density functional theory calculations. The material was subsequently applied for Gd3+ adsorption in water. A pseudo-second-order kinetic behavior was observed and a practical adsorption equilibrium was attained after 3 h of contact time at 25 °C. The maximum adsorption capacity of pristine UiO-66 for Gd3+ in water (17 mg/g) was greatly increased in C4mim@UiO-66 (85 mg/g) because of the strong interaction between Gd3+ ions and the N-sites of the imidazole rings of the entrapped [C4mim]+[Br]− molecules. The thermodynamic analysis indicated endothermic adsorption for Gd3+ ions on C4mim@UiO-66 with ΔHo of 24.4 kJ/mol. C4mim@UiO-66 showed a high selectivity of 82% for Gd3+ against other metal ions (Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Al3+, and Fe3+) present in the solution. Further, C4mim@UiO-66 could be used for five repeated runs without any significant drop in the adsorption capacity.

Objective To investigate associations between stress, resilience, and burnout in three emotional job sectors. Methods We conducted a multi-group comparative study using structural equation modeling and latent mean analysis. In total, 806 participants (403 call center consultants, 270 mental health workers, and 133 school counselors) completed self-administered questionnaires including the Perceived Stress Scale, Korean version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and Maslach Burnout InventoryGeneral Survey. Results Stress had significant direct effects on resilience and burnout, and resilience had significant direct effects on burnout in all groups. Resilience partially mediated these relationships among call center consultants and school counselors. Stress and burnout were highest in call center consultants, followed, in order, by mental health workers and school counselors. Resilience was highest in school counselors, followed, in order, by mental health workers and call center consultants. The effect size of the latent mean difference was highest for burnout, followed, in order, by resilience and stress. Psychiatry Investig. Conclusion Our findings suggest that stress caused by emotional labor can contribute to burnout. Interventions targeted at different sectors are needed to reduce burnout.

In electronic warfare systems, the pulse amplitude (PA) of the received signals, which are emitted by enemies, has been used as one of the essential quantities for separating the mixed source signals. The PA is affected by time of arrival (TOA) and time of departure (TOD) estimation performance. Among methods of estimating TOA and TOD, there is a method of processing a signal in sample units in the time domain. This method has a disadvantage that it is completely affected by noise. This disadvantage can be overcome by using denoising techniques as in previous studies. However, conventional studies applying denoising are limited to the subject of signal detection, and there is no discussion on the problem of PA estimation due to the TOA and TOD estimation errors that occur after denoising. Therefore, we propose a power estimation-based PA estimation method using shrinked PW to be robust for TOA and TOD errors in sample units after wavelet packet denoising with high-order statistics. Simulation results show that the proposed PA estimation method has a smaller error at the same SNR when an unmodulated signal is received. Moreover, the proposed method can provide good performance even when a frequency modulated signal is received.

A supernatant solution of the silicate species extracted after alkali fusion of the acid-treated power plant fly ash was used to prepare mesoporous silica foams (MSFS) in acidic condition, where Pluronic P123 and trimethylbenzene (TMB) were used as the structure directing agent and swelling agent, respectively. The MSF was impregnated with polyethyleneimine (PEI) up to 63.2 wt.%, which exhibited CO2 adsorption capacity of 4.7 mmol/g adsorbent at 75 °C, 1 bar. Additionally, the MSF after ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) functionalization showed the Nd3+ adsorption capacity of 117 mg/g at the optimal pH of 6, with sufficiently fast kinetics and good recyclability.