Jae Won Lee

This article discusses the asymptotic behavior of likelihood ratio tests for nonzero variance components in the longitudinal mixed effects linear model described by Laird and Ware (1982, Biometrics 38, 963-974). Our discussion of the large-sample behavior of likelihood ratio tests for nonzero variance components is based on the results for nonstandard testing situations by Self and Liang (1987, Journal of the American Statistical Association 82, 605-610).

The timing and indications for surgical intervention to prevent systemic embolism in infective endocarditis remain controversial. We conducted a trial to compare clinical outcomes of early surgery and conventional treatment in patients with infective endocarditis.We randomly assigned patients with left-sided infective endocarditis, severe valve disease, and large vegetations to early surgery (37 patients) or conventional treatment (39). The primary end point was a composite of in-hospital death and embolic events that occurred within 6 weeks after randomization.All the patients assigned to the early-surgery group underwent valve surgery within 48 hours after randomization, whereas 30 patients (77%) in the conventional-treatment group underwent surgery during the initial hospitalization (27 patients) or during follow-up (3). The primary end point occurred in 1 patient (3%) in the early-surgery group as compared with 9 (23%) in the conventional-treatment group (hazard ratio, 0.10; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.01 to 0.82; P=0.03). There was no significant difference in all-cause mortality at 6 months in the early-surgery and conventional-treatment groups (3% and 5%, respectively; hazard ratio, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.05 to 5.66; P=0.59). The rate of the composite end point of death from any cause, embolic events, or recurrence of infective endocarditis at 6 months was 3% in the early-surgery group and 28% in the conventional-treatment group (hazard ratio, 0.08; 95% CI, 0.01 to 0.65; P=0.02).As compared with conventional treatment, early surgery in patients with infective endocarditis and large vegetations significantly reduced the composite end point of death from any cause and embolic events by effectively decreasing the risk of systemic embolism. (EASE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00750373.).

Gefitinib has shown high response rate and improved progression-free survival (PFS) in never-smokers with lung adenocarcinoma (NSLAs). We compared efficacy of gefitinib with gemcitabine and cisplatin (GP) chemotherapy in this group of patients as first-line therapy.In this randomized phase III trial, a total of 313 Korean never-smokers with stage IIIB or IV lung adenocarcinoma, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0 to 2, and adequate organ function were randomly assigned to receive either gefitinib (250 mg daily) or GP chemotherapy (gemcitabine 1,250 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8; cisplatin 80 mg/m(2) on day 1 every 3 weeks, for up to nine courses). The primary objective was to demonstrate better overall survival (OS) for gefitinib compared with GP in chemotherapy-naive NSLAs.Three hundred nine patients were analyzed per protocol (gefitinib arm, n = 159; GP arm, n = 150). Gefitinib did not show better OS compared with GP (hazard ratio [HR], 0.932; 95% CI, 0.716 to 1.213; P = .604; median OS, 22.3 v 22.9 months, respectively). The 1-year PFS rates were 16.7% with gefitinib and 2.8% with GP (HR, 1.198; 95% CI, 0.944 to 1.520). Response rates were 55% with gefitinib and 46% with GP (P = .101). Myelosuppression, renal insufficiency, and fatigue were more common in the GP arm, but skin toxicities and liver dysfunction were more common in the gefitinib arm. Two patients (1.3%) in the gefitinib arm developed interstitial lung disease and died.Gefitinib failed to demonstrate superior OS compared with GP as first-line therapy for NSLAs.

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is increasingly used to treat unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis, although coronary-artery bypass grafting (CABG) has been considered to be the treatment of choice.We randomly assigned patients with unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis to undergo CABG (300 patients) or PCI with sirolimus-eluting stents (300 patients). Using a wide margin for noninferiority, we compared the groups with respect to the primary composite end point of major adverse cardiac or cerebrovascular events (death from any cause, myocardial infarction, stroke, or ischemia-driven target-vessel revascularization) at 1 year. Event rates at 2 years were also compared between the two groups.The primary end point occurred in 26 patients assigned to PCI as compared with 20 patients assigned to CABG (cumulative event rate, 8.7% vs. 6.7%; absolute risk difference, 2.0 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -1.6 to 5.6; P=0.01 for noninferiority). By 2 years, the primary end point had occurred in 36 patients in the PCI group as compared with 24 in the CABG group (cumulative event rate, 12.2% vs. 8.1%; hazard ratio with PCI, 1.50; 95% CI, 0.90 to 2.52; P=0.12). The composite rate of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke at 2 years occurred in 13 and 14 patients in the two groups, respectively (cumulative event rate, 4.4% and 4.7%, respectively; hazard ratio, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.43 to 1.96; P=0.83). Ischemia-driven target-vessel revascularization occurred in 26 patients in the PCI group as compared with 12 patients in the CABG group (cumulative event rate, 9.0% vs. 4.2%; hazard ratio, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.10 to 4.32; P=0.02).In this randomized trial involving patients with unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis, PCI with sirolimus-eluting stents was shown to be noninferior to CABG with respect to major adverse cardiac or cerebrovascular events. However, the noninferiority margin was wide, and the results cannot be considered clinically directive. (Funded by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, Seoul, Korea, and others; PRECOMBAT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00422968.).

We have developed a simple approach for the large-scale synthesis of water-soluble green carbon nanodots (G-dots) from many kinds of large food waste-derived sources. About 120 g of G-dots per 100 kg of food waste can be synthesized using our simple and environmentally friendly synthesis approach. The G-dots exhibit a high degree of solubility in water because of the abundant oxygen-containing functional groups around their surface. The narrow band of photoluminescence emission (400–470 nm) confirms that the size of the G-dots (∼4 nm) is small because of a similar quantum effects and emission traps on the surfaces. The G-dots have excellent photostability; their photoluminescence intensity decreases slowly (∼8%) under continuous excitation with a Xe lamp for 10 days. We carried out cell viability assay to assess the effect of cytotoxicity by introducing G-dots in cells such as Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO-K1), mouse muscle cells (C2C12), and African green monkey kidney cells (COS-7), up to a concentration of 2 mg mL–1 for 24 h. Due to their high photostability and low cytotoxicity, these G-dots are excellent probes for in vitro bioimaging. Moreover, the byproducts (not including G-dots) of G-dot synthesis from large food-waste derived sources promoted the growth and development of seedlings germinated on 3DW-supplemented gauze. Because of the combined advantages of green synthesis, high aqueous stability, high photostability, and low cytotoxicity, the G-dots show considerable promise in various areas, including biomedical imaging, solution state optoelectronics, and plant seed germination and/or growth.

Most trials comparing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with coronary-artery bypass grafting (CABG) have not made use of second-generation drug-eluting stents.We conducted a randomized noninferiority trial at 27 centers in East Asia. We planned to randomly assign 1776 patients with multivessel coronary artery disease to PCI with everolimus-eluting stents or to CABG. The primary end point was a composite of death, myocardial infarction, or target-vessel revascularization at 2 years after randomization. Event rates during longer-term follow-up were also compared between groups.After the enrollment of 880 patients (438 patients randomly assigned to the PCI group and 442 randomly assigned to the CABG group), the study was terminated early owing to slow enrollment. At 2 years, the primary end point had occurred in 11.0% of the patients in the PCI group and in 7.9% of those in the CABG group (absolute risk difference, 3.1 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.8 to 6.9; P=0.32 for noninferiority). At longer-term follow-up (median, 4.6 years), the primary end point had occurred in 15.3% of the patients in the PCI group and in 10.6% of those in the CABG group (hazard ratio, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.01 to 2.13; P=0.04). No significant differences were seen between the two groups in the occurrence of a composite safety end point of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke. However, the rates of any repeat revascularization and spontaneous myocardial infarction were significantly higher after PCI than after CABG.Among patients with multivessel coronary artery disease, the rate of major adverse cardiovascular events was higher among those who had undergone PCI with the use of everolimus-eluting stents than among those who had undergone CABG. (Funded by CardioVascular Research Foundation and others; BEST ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00997828.).

No adjuvant therapy has been shown to extend the survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) receiving curative treatment. We investigated whether injections of activated cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells (CD3+/CD56+ and CD3+/CD56- T cells and CD3-/CD56+ natural killer cells) prolongs recurrence-free survival of patients after curative therapy for HCC.We performed a multicenter, randomized, open-label, phase 3 trial of the efficacy and safety of adjuvant immunotherapy with activated CIK cells (created by incubation of patients' peripheral blood mononuclear cells with interleukin 2 and an antibody against CD3). The study included 230 patients with HCC treated by surgical resection, radiofrequency ablation, or percutaneous ethanol injection at university-affiliated hospitals in Korea. Patients were assigned randomly to receive immunotherapy (injection of 6.4 × 10(9) autologous CIK cells, 16 times during 60 weeks) or no adjuvant therapy (controls). The primary end point was recurrence-free survival; secondary end points included overall survival, cancer-specific survival, and safety.The median time of recurrence-free survival was 44.0 months in the immunotherapy group and 30.0 months in the control group (hazard ratio with immunotherapy, 0.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.43-0.94; P = .010 by 1-sided log-rank test). Hazard ratios also were lower in the immunotherapy than in the control group for all-cause death (0.21; 95% CI, 0.06-0.75; P = .008) and cancer-related death (0.19; 95% CI, 0.04-0.87; P = .02). A significantly higher proportion of patients in the immunotherapy group than in the control group had an adverse event (62% vs 41%; P = .002), but the proportion of patients with serious adverse events did not differ significantly between groups (7.8% vs 3.5%; P = .15).In patients who underwent curative treatment for HCC, adjuvant immunotherapy with activated CIK cells increased recurrence-free and overall survival. ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT00699816.

Since most classification articles have applied a single technique to a single gene expression dataset, it is crucial to assess the performance of each method through a comprehensive comparative study. We evaluate by extensive comparison study extending Dudoit et al. (J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 97 (2002) 77) the performance of recently developed classification methods in microarray experiment, and provide the guidelines for finding the most appropriate classification tools in various situations. We extend their comparison in three directions: more classification methods (21 methods), more datasets (7 datasets) and more gene selection techniques (3 methods). Our comparison study shows several interesting facts and provides the biologists and the biostatisticians some insights into the classification tools in microarray data analysis. This study also shows that the more sophisticated classifiers give better performances than classical methods such as kNN, DLDA, DQDA and the choice of gene selection method has much effect on the performance of the classification methods, and thus the classification methods should be considered together with the gene selection criteria.

For existing triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), it is important to explore unique methods to further enhance the output power under realistic environments to speed up their commercialization. We report here a practical TENG composed of three layers, in which the key layer, an electric double layer, is inserted between a top layer, made of Al/polydimethylsiloxane, and a bottom layer, made of Al. The efficient charge separation in the middle layer, based on Volta's electrophorus, results from sequential contact configuration of the TENG and direct electrical connection of the middle layer to the earth. A sustainable and enhanced output performance of 1.22 mA and 46.8 mW cm-2 under low frequency of 3 Hz is produced, giving over 16-fold enhancement in output power and corresponding to energy conversion efficiency of 22.4%. Finally, a portable power-supplying system, which provides enough d.c. power for charging a smart watch or phone battery, is also successfully developed.

Timed sequencing of cycles of induction chemotherapy in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has been proposed as a way to achieve maximal leukemic cell kill through recruitment and synchronization of residual neoplastic cells. Furthermore, whether intensive induction therapy should be continued in the presence of profound myelosuppression is an important question. The Children's Cancer Group (CCG) conducted a prospective randomized trial in which 589 patients with AML were randomized at diagnosis to one of two induction approaches involving a 4-day cycle of five active chemotherapeutic agents, with the second cycle administered either 10 days after the first cycle, despite low or dropping blood counts (intensive timing), or 14 days or later from the beginning of the first cycle, depending on bone marrow status (standard timing). All patients achieving remission received a total of four cycles of induction therapy. They were then allocated to allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) if a compatible family donor was present or randomized to aggressive nonmyeloablative therapy or to myeloablative therapy with purged autologous BMT rescue. The three postremission arms remain coded. Induction success and median days to complete induction were similar for the 295 patients randomized to the intensive timing arm (75%, 99 days) compared with the 294 patients randomized to the standard timing arm (70%, 105 days; P = .18 for remission). However, a marked improvement in outcome was demonstrated in patients randomized to the intensive timing arm, with an actuarial event-free survival at 3 years of 42% +/- 7% (95% confidence interval [CI]) versus 27% +/- 6% for patients on the standard timing arm (P = .0005). Disease-free survival results at 3 years from the end of induction were superior for patients receiving intensively timed induction therapy (N = 211), 55% +/- 9% versus 37% +/- 9% for standard timing patients (N = 195, P = .0002), with a median follow-up from achieving remission of 28 months. Superior results were documented for patients receiving intensive timing irrespective of the postremission therapy to which they were allocated. Intensively timed induction therapy for patients with AML markedly improves event-free survival, even for patients undergoing myeloablative therapy with BMT rescue. Without controlling for the type of induction therapy received, results of various BMT studies in AML comparing different preparative regimens will be difficult to interpret.

The timing and indications for surgical intervention in asymptomatic patients with severe aortic stenosis remain controversial.

We sought to demonstrate the long-term natural course of descending aorta dilation after acute aortic dissection (AD) and identify early predictors for late aneurysmal change.Aneurysmal dilation of the aorta is a critical late complication in AD patients.Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) was performed during the acute phase in 100 AD patients, comprising 51 type 1 who underwent ascending aorta surgery and 49 type 3 AD patients. Clinical observation was conducted for 53 +/- 26 months, and CT was repeated for 31 +/- 27 months.Aneurysm (diameter > or =60 mm) occurred in 14.4%, 8.2%, 4.1%, and 3.1% of patients at the upper descending thoracic aorta (UT), mid descending thoracic aorta (MT), lower descending thoracic aorta (LT) and abdominal aorta (AA), respectively. Of 53 patients in whom CT was repeated for > or =2 years, the rates of aorta diameter enlargement at the UT, MT, LT, and AA levels were 3.43 +/- 3.66 mm/year, 3.21 +/- 2.70 mm/year, 2.62 +/- 2.19 mm/year, and 1.93 +/- 3.13 mm/year, respectively (p < 0.01), and aneurysm developed in 15 (28%). The initial false lumen diameter at the UT, the aorta diameter at the MT, and Marfan syndrome were independent predictors of late aneurysm. A > or =22-mm initial false lumen diameter at the UT predicted late aneurysm with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 76%. The patients with initial UT false lumen diameter > or =22-mm (n = 42) showed higher event rate (aneurysm or death) than others (n = 58) (p < 0.001).The UT is the major site of late aneurysmal dilation. A large UT false lumen diameter on the initial CT portends late aneurysm and adverse outcome warranting early intervention.

Laparoendoscopic single-site surgery (LESS) has gained popularity in urology over the last few years. To report a large multi-institutional worldwide series of LESS in urology. Consecutive cases of LESS done between August 2007 and November 2010 at 18 participating institutions were included in this retrospective analysis. Each group performed a variety of LESS procedures according to its own protocols, entry criteria, and techniques. Demographic data, main perioperative outcome parameters, and information related to the surgical technique were gathered and analyzed. Conversions to reduced-port laparoscopy, conventional laparoscopy, or open surgery were evaluated, as were intraoperative and postoperative complications. Overall, 1076 patients were included in the analysis. The most common procedures were extirpative or ablative operations in the upper urinary tract. The da Vinci robot was used to operate on 143 patients (13%). A single-port technique was most commonly used and the umbilicus represented the most common access site. Overall, operative time was 160 ± 93 min and estimated blood loss was 148 ± 234 ml. Skin incision length at closure was 3.5 ± 1.5 cm. Mean hospital stay was 3.6 ± 2.7 d with a visual analog pain score at discharge of 1.5 ± 1.4. An additional port was used in 23% of cases. The overall conversion rate was 20.8%; 15.8% of patients were converted to reduced-port laparoscopy, 4% to conventional laparoscopy/robotic surgery, and 1% to open surgery. The intraoperative complication rate was 3.3%. Postoperative complications, mostly low grade, were encountered in 9.5% of cases. This study provides a global view of the evolution of LESS in the field of minimally invasive urologic surgery. A broad range of procedures have been effectively performed, primarily in the academic setting, within diverse health care systems around the world. Since LESS is performed by experienced laparoscopic surgeons, the risk of complications remains low when stringent patient-selection criteria are applied.

The optimal timing of surgical intervention remains controversial in asymptomatic patients with very severe aortic stenosis. We therefore compared the long-term results of early surgery and a conventional treatment strategy.From 1996 to 2006, we prospectively included a total of 197 consecutive asymptomatic patients (99 men; age, 63+/-12 years) with very severe aortic stenosis. Patients were excluded if they had angina, syncope, exertional dyspnea, ejection fraction <0.50, significant mitral valve disease, or age >85 years. Very severe aortic stenosis was defined as a critical stenosis in the aortic valve area < or =0.75 cm(2) accompanied by a peak aortic jet velocity > or =4.5 m/s or a mean transaortic pressure gradient > or =50 mm Hg on Doppler echocardiography. The primary end point was defined as the composite of operative mortality and cardiac death during follow-up. Early surgery was performed on 102 patients, and a conventional treatment strategy was used for 95 patients. There were no significant differences between the 2 groups in terms of age, gender, European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation score, or ejection fraction. During a median follow-up of 1501 days, the operated group had no operative mortalities, no cardiac deaths, and 3 noncardiac deaths; the conventional treatment group had 18 cardiac and 10 noncardiac deaths. The estimated actuarial 6-year cardiac and all-cause mortality rates were 0% and 2+/-1% in the operated group and 24+/-5% and 32+/-6% in the conventional treatment group, respectively (P<0.001), and for 57 propensity score-matched pairs, the risk of all-cause mortality was significantly lower in the operated group than in the conventional treatment group (hazard ratio, 0.135; 95% confidence interval, 0.030 to 0.597; P=0.008).Compared with the conventional treatment strategy, early surgery in patients with very severe aortic stenosis is associated with an improved long-term survival by decreasing cardiac mortality. Early surgery is therefore a therapeutic option to further improve clinical outcomes in asymptomatic patients with very severe aortic stenosis and low operative risk.

Dicarboxylic organic acids have properties that differ from those of sulfuric acid during hydrolysis of lignocellulose. To investigate the effects of different acid catalysts on the hydrolysis and degradation of biomass compounds over a range of thermochemical pretreatments, maleic, oxalic and sulfuric acids were each used at the same combined severity factor (CSF) values during hydrolysis. Xylose and glucose concentrations in hydrolysates were highest with maleic acid. Oxalic acid gave the next highest followed by sulfuric acid. This ranking was particularly true at low CSF values. The concentrations of glucose and xylose increased with oxalic and sulfuric acid pretreatments as the CSF increased, but they never attained the levels observed with maleic acid. Among sulfuric, oxalic and maleic acid treatments, the amount of xylose released as xylooligosaccharide was highest with sulfuric acid. The fraction of xylooligosaccharide was lowest with the maleic acid and the oligosaccharide fraction with oxalic acid fell in between. Furfural and hydroxymethyl furfural levels were also highest with maleic acid. In subsequent fermentations with pretreated biomass, the ethanol concentration was maximal at 19.2g/l at CSF 1.9 when maleic acid was used as the pretreatment catalyst. This corresponded to an ethanol volumetric production rate of 0.27 g ethanol/l per h. This was the same condition showing the highest xylose production in following pretreatment with various acid catalysts. These findings suggest that maleic and oxalic dicarboxylic acids degrade hemicelluloses more efficiently than does sulfuric acid.

A robust nanogenerator based on poly(tert-butyl acrylate) (PtBA)-grafted polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) copolymers via dielectric constant control through an atom-transfer radical polymerization technique, which can markedly increase the output power, is demonstrated. The copolymer is mainly composed of α phases with enhanced dipole moments due to the π-bonding and polar characteristics of the ester functional groups in the PtBA, resulting in the increase of dielectric constant values by approximately twice, supported by Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements. This increase in the dielectric constant significantly increased the density of the charges that can be accumulated on the copolymer during physical contact. The nanogenerator generates output signals of 105 V and 25 μA/cm2, a 20-fold enhancement in output power, compared to pristine PVDF-based nanogenerator after tuning the surface potential using a poling method. The markedly enhanced output performance is quite stable and reliable in harsh mechanical environments due to the high flexibility of the films. On the basis of these results, a much faster charging characteristic is demonstrated in this study.

Development of biomaterial-based bioinks is critical for replacement and/or regeneration of tissues and organs by three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques. However, the number of 3D-printable biomaterials in practical use remains limited despite the rapid development of 3D printing techniques. Controlling the flow properties of bioinks and mechanical properties of the resultant printed objects is key considerations in the design of biomaterial-based bioinks for practical applications. In this study, a printable hydrogel comprising biocompatible polysaccharides that has potential for cartilage regeneration via tissue engineering approaches was designed. Self-healing hydrogels were prepared from partially oxidized hyaluronate (OHA) and glycol chitosan (GC) in the presence of adipic acid dihydrazide (ADH). The self-healing ability of OHA/GC/ADH hydrogels was attributed to the combination of two dynamic bonds in the gels, including imine bonds obtained via a Schiff base reaction between OHA and GC, as well as acylhydrazone bonds formed by the reaction between OHA and ADH. The OHA/GC/ADH hydrogels did not require any postgelation or additional cross-linking processes for use in the fabrication of 3D constructs using an extrusion-based 3D printer. The concentrations and molecular weights of the constituent polymers were found to be critical parameters affecting the flow and mechanical properties of the self-healing hydrogels, which showed great potential as bioinks for fabricating cell-laden structures using a 3D printer. The expression of chondrogenic marker genes such as SOX-9 and collagen type II of ATDC5 cells encapsulated in the OHA/GC/ADH hydrogel was not significantly affected by the printing process. This self-healing hydrogel system may have the potential in tissue engineering applications, including cartilage regeneration.

Macrophages play an important role in the innate and adaptive immune responses of organ systems, including the lungs, to particles and pathogens. Cumulative results show that macrophages contribute to the development and progression of acute or chronic inflammatory responses through the secretion of inflammatory cytokines/chemokines and the activation of transcription factors in the pathogenesis of inflammatory lung diseases, such as acute lung injury (ALI), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), ARDS related to COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)), allergic asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). This review summarizes the functions of macrophages and their associated underlying mechanisms in the development of ALI, ARDS, COVID-19-related ARDS, allergic asthma, COPD, and IPF and briefly introduces the acute and chronic experimental animal models. Thus, this review suggests an effective therapeutic approach that focuses on the regulation of macrophage function in the context of inflammatory lung diseases.

Free-standing and film-type moisture-driven energy generators (MEGs) that harness the preferential interaction of ionized moisture with hydrophilic materials are interesting because of their wearability and portability without needing a water container. However, most such MEGs work in limited humidity conditions, which provide a substantial moisture gradient. Herein, we present a high-performance MEG with sustainable power-production capability in a wide range of environments. The bilayer-based device comprises a negatively surface-charged, hydrophilic MXene (Ti3C2Tx) aerogel and polyacrylamide (PAM) ionic hydrogel. The preferential selection on the MXene aerogel of positive charges supplied from the salts and water in the hydrogel is predicted by the first-principle simulation, which results in a high electric output in a wide relative humidity range from 20% to 95%. Furthermore, by replacing the hydrogel with an organohydrogel of PAM that has excellent water retention and structural stability, a device with long-term electricity generation is realized for more than 15 days in a broad temperature range (from −20 to 80 °C). Our MXene aerogel MEGs connected in series supply sufficient power for commercial electronic components in various outdoor environments. Moreover, an MXene aerogel MEG works as a self-powered sensor for recognizing finger bending and facial expression.

Abstract Purpose: One of the main challenges of lung cancer research is identifying patients at high risk for recurrence after surgical resection. Simple, accurate, and reproducible methods of evaluating individual risks of recurrence are needed. Experimental Design: Based on a combined analysis of time-to-recurrence data, censoring information, and microarray data from a set of 138 patients, we selected statistically significant genes thought to be predictive of disease recurrence. The number of genes was further reduced by eliminating those whose expression levels were not reproducible by real-time quantitative PCR. Within these variables, a recurrence prediction model was constructed using Cox proportional hazard regression and validated via two independent cohorts (n = 56 and n = 59). Results: After performing a log-rank test of the microarray data and successively selecting genes based on real-time quantitative PCR analysis, the most significant 18 genes had P values of &amp;lt;0.05. After subsequent stepwise variable selection based on gene expression information and clinical variables, the recurrence prediction model consisted of six genes (CALB1, MMP7, SLC1A7, GSTA1, CCL19, and IFI44). Two pathologic variables, pStage and cellular differentiation, were developed. Validation by two independent cohorts confirmed that the proposed model is significantly accurate (P = 0.0314 and 0.0305, respectively). The predicted median recurrence-free survival times for each patient correlated well with the actual data. Conclusions: We have developed an accurate, technically simple, and reproducible method for predicting individual recurrence risks. This model would potentially be useful in developing customized strategies for managing lung cancer.

This study investigated the biodegradability of PBS and bio-flour, which is a poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) bio-composite filled with rice-husk flour (RHF) reinforcing, in natural and aerobic compost soil. The percentage weight loss and the reduction in mechanical properties of PBS and the bio-composites in the compost soil burial test were significantly greater than those in the natural soil burial test. These results were supported by degraded surface of PBS and bio-composites observed through morphological study and the total colony count of natural soil was lower than that of compost soil. The biodegradability of the bio-composites was enhanced with increasing bio-flour content because the bio-flour is easily attacked by microorganisms. As the biodegradability test progressed over time up to 80 days, the molecular weight of PBS decreased in the soil burial test. We confirmed by attenuated total reflectance (FTIR–ATR) analyser that the chemical structures of PBS and the bio-composites were changed after the compost burial test. The glass transition temperature (Tg), melting temperature (Tm), crystallization temperature (Tc), heat of fusion (ΔHf) and heat of crystallization (ΔHc) of the natural and composted soil tested PBS were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). From the results, we concluded that use of these bio-composites will reduce the environmental problems associated with waste pollution and the study findings support the predicted application of bio-composites as “green-composites” or “eco-materials”.

Ohmic contact to p-type GaN with the lowest contact resistivity was developed by the surface treatment prior to Pd/Au metal deposition. The contact resistivity drastically decreased from 2.9×10−2 to 4.3×10−4 Ω cm2 by the surface treatment using aqua regia. The surface treatment plays a role in removing the surface oxide formed on p-type GaN during epitaxial growth, and subsequently in reducing the barrier height for holes at the interface of Pd/p-type GaN, resulting in the good ohmic contacts to p-type GaN.

Purpose This trial was conducted to determine the optimal duration of chemotherapy in Korean patients with advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients and Methods Patients with stages IIIB to IV NSCLC who had not progressed after two cycles of chemotherapy were randomly assigned to receive either four (arm A) or two (arm B) more cycles of third-generation, platinum-doublet treatment. Results Of the 452 enrolled patients, 314 were randomly assigned to the groups. One-year survival rates were 59.0% in arm A and 62.4% in arm B, and the difference of 3.4% (95% CI, −8.0 to 4.8) met the predefined criteria for noninferiority. The median time to progression (TTP), however, was 6.2 months (95% CI, 5.7 to 6.7 months) in arm A and 4.6 months (95% CI, 4.4 to 4.8 months) in arm B, the difference of which is statistically significant (P = .001). The frequencies of hematologic and nonhematologic toxicities were similar in the two arms. Conclusion This study confirms the noninferiority of overall survival with four cycles compared with six cycles of chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of advanced NSCLC and supports the current American Society of Clinical Oncology guidelines. Notably, patients receiving six cycles of chemotherapy compared with four cycles showed a favorable TTP, suggesting that further investigation of the new strategies of maintenance therapy with less toxic agents after three to four cycles of induction chemotherapy might be warranted to improve survival, with consideration of both ethnicity and pharmacogenomic signatures.

The proper treatment option for patients with type A intramural hematoma (IMH), a variant form of classic aortic dissection (AD), remains controversial. We assessed the outcome of our institutional policy of urgent surgery for unstable patients and initial medical treatment for stable patients with surgery in cases with complications.Among 357 consecutive patients with type A acute aortic syndrome, 101 (28.3%) had IMH and 256 had AD. Urgent operations were performed in 224 patients with AD (87.5%) and 16 with unstable IMH (15.8%; P<0.001). The remaining 85 stable IMH patients received initial medical treatment, and adverse clinical events developed in 31 patients (36.5%) within 6 months, which included development of AD (n=25), delayed surgery (n=25), or death (n=6). Initial aorta diameter and hematoma thickness were independent predictors for development of these events, and the best cutoff values were 55 and 16 mm, respectively. The overall hospital mortality was lower in IMH patients than in AD patients (7.9% [8/101] versus 17.2% [44/256]; P=0.0296) and was comparable to that of surgically treated AD patients (7.9% versus 10.7% [24/224]; P=0.56). The 1-, 2-, and 3-year survival rates of IMH patients were 87.6+/-3.6%, 84.9+/-3.7%, and 83.1+/-4.1%, respectively. There was no statistical difference of overall survival rates between patients with IMH and surgically treated AD patients (P=0.787).The clinical outcome of IMH patients receiving treatment by our policy was comparable to that of surgically treated AD patients. However, adverse clinical events were not uncommon with medical treatment alone, and initial aorta diameter and hematoma thickness may identify patients who might benefit from urgent surgery.

In this paper, we propose a method of content-based image classification using a neural network. The images for classification are object images that can be divided into foreground and background. To deal with the object images efficiently, in the preprocessing step we extract the object region using a region segmentation technique. Features for the classification are shape-based texture features extracted from wavelet-transformed images. The neural network classifier is constructed for the features using the back-propagation learning algorithm. Among the various texture features, the diagonal moment was the most effective. A test with 300 training data and 300 test data composed of 10 images from each of 30 classes shows classification rates of 81.7% and 76.7% correct, respectively.

The prognostic implications and surgical benefit of isolated significant tricuspid regurgitation (TR) and prognostic factors in patients with TR were investigated.In 870 consecutive patients with significant isolated TR, all-cause mortality was analyzed over 4.9+/-2.9 years. It was found that the survival rate tended to be higher in the 57 patients who underwent tricuspid valve (TV) surgery than the 813 patients who did not by using propensity-score matching (P=0.068), although it was not significant. Of the 813 patients that did not undergo TV surgery, the 5-year survival rate was 74%. According to the Cox proportional hazards model, the initial TR jet area (hazard ratio [HR], 1.044; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.016-1.073), pulmonary artery systolic pressure (HR, 1.024; 95%CI, 1.017-1.032) and presence of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction (HR, 2.256; 95% CI, 1.329-3.828) were predictors of mortality independent of patient age and presence of diabetes mellitus and renal failure in medically managed patients.In patients with isolated significant TR, there was a tendency, although not significant, towards a higher survival rate after TV surgery. The severity of TR and pulmonary hypertension, and the presence of RV dysfunction are independent prognostic factors in medically managed patients. Further prospective randomized studies are necessary to demonstrate the benefit of TV surgery in these poor prognostic populations.

The development of nontoxic and biocompatible imaging agents will create new opportunities for potential applications in clinical MRI diagnosis. Synthetic melanin-like nanoparticles (MelNPs), analogous to natural sepia melanin (a major component of the cuttlefish ink), can be used as contrast agent for MRI. MelNPs complexed with paramagnetic Fe(3+) ions show much higher relaxivity values than existing MRI T1 contrast agents based on gadolinium (Gd) or manganese (Mn); MelNP values at 3T were r1 = 17 and r2 = 18 mM(-1) s(-1) (r2/r1 value of 1.1). With significant enhancement to MRI contrast, this biomimetic approach using MelNPs functionalized with paramagnetic Fe(3+) ions and surface-modified with biocompatible poly(ethylene glycol) units, could provide new insight into how melanin-based bioresponsive and therapeutic imaging probes integrate with their various biological functions.

Extranodal natural killer (NK)/T cell lymphoma, nasal type, is a recently recognized distinct entity and the most common type of non–B cell extranodal lymphoma in Asia. This retrospective analysis studied the potential survival benefits of hematopoeitic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) compared with a historical control group. A total of 47 patients from 3 previously published series of HSCT were matched according to NK/T cell lymphoma International Prognostic Index (NKIPI) risk groups and disease status at transplantation with 107 patients from a historical control group for analysis. After a median follow-up of 116.5 months, the median survival time was not determined for the HSCT group, but it was 43.5 months for the control group (95% confidence interval [CI] = 6.7 to 80.3 months; P = .127, log-rank test). In patients who were in complete remission (CR) at the time of HSCT or at surveillance after remission, disease-specific survival rates were significantly higher in the HSCT group compared with the control group (disease-specific 5-year survival rate, 87.3% for HSCT vs 67.8% for non-HSCT; P = .027). In contrast, in subgroup analysis on non-CR patients at the time of HSCT or non-HSCT treatment, disease-specific survival rates were not significantly prolonged in the HSCT group compared with the control group (1-year survival rate, 66.7% for HSCT vs 28.6% for non-HSCT; P = .141). The impact of HSCT on the survival of all patients was significantly retained at the multivariate level with a 2.1-fold (95% CI =1.2- to 3.7-fold) reduced risk of death (P = .006). HSCT seems to confer a survival benefit in patients who attained CR on postremission consolidation therapy. These findings suggest that, in particular, patients in CR with high NKIPI risk scores at diagnosis should receive full consideration for HSCT.

Objective: In acute DeBakey type I aortic dissection, it is still controversial whether to perform extended aortic replacement to improve long-term outcome or to use a conservative strategy with ascending aortic and hemiarch replacement to palliate a life-threatening condition. Methods: Between 1999 and 2009, 188 consecutive patients (93 women; mean age, 57.4 ± 11.7 years) with acute DeBakey type I aortic dissection underwent hemiarch (Hemiarch group; n = 144) or total arch replacement (Total arch group; n = 44) in conjunction with ascending aorta replacement. Clinical outcomes were compared after adjustment for baseline characteristics using inverse-probability-of-treatment weighting. Results: Median follow-up was 47.5 months (range 0–130.4 months) and was 92.0% (n = 173) complete. Five-year unadjusted survival and permanent-neurologic-injury-free survival rates were 65.8 ± 8.3% and 43.1 ± 9.7% in the Total arch group, and 83.2 ± 3.3% and 75.2 ± 4.0% in the Hemiarch group, respectively (P = 0.013 and ≪0.001). After adjustment, the Total arch group patients were at greater risks of death (hazard ratio (HR) 2.38, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.21–4.67; P = 0.012), and permanent neurologic injury (HR 3.25, 95% CI 1.31–8.04; P = 0.011) compared to the Hemiarch group patients. The risks of the re-operation for aortic pathology or distal aortic dilatation (>55 mm) were similar for both groups (HR 0.33, 95% CI 0.08–1.43; P = 0.14). Conclusions: Total arch repair was associated with greater morbidity and mortality compared with hemiarch repair in acute DeBakey type I aortic dissection. Rates of aortic re-operation or aortic dilatation were not significantly different between the two surgical strategies. These findings support a conservative surgical approach to circumvent this life-threatening situation.

Biomass pretreatment is essential to overcome recalcitrance of lignocellulose for ethanol production. In the present study we pretreated giant reed (Arundo donax L.), a perennial, rhizomatous lignocellulosic grass with dilute oxalic acid. The effects of temperature (170–190 °C), acid loading (2–10% w/w) and reaction time (15–40 min) were handled as a single parameter, combined severity. We explored the change in hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin composition following pretreatment and glucan conversion after enzymatic hydrolysis of the solid residue. Two different yeast strains, Scheffersomyces (Pichia) stipitis CBS 6054, which is a native xylose and cellobiose fermenter, and Saccharomyces carlsbergensis FPL-450, which does not ferment xylose or cellobiose, were used along with commercial cellulolytic enzymes in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). S. carlsbergensis attained a maximum ethanol concentration of 15.9 g/l after 48 h at pH 5.0, while S. stipitis, at the same condition, took 96 h to reach a similar ethanol value; increasing the pH to 6.0 reduced the S. stipitis lag phase and attained 18.0 g/l of ethanol within 72 h.

Background Capecitabine plus oxaliplatin (CapeOX) is one of the reference doublet cytotoxic chemotherapy treatments for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. We aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of CapeOX with that of S-1 plus oxaliplatin (SOX), a promising alternative treatment for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Methods In this open-label, multicentre, randomised phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned patients (1:1) from 11 institutions in South Korea to receive either CapeOX (capecitabine 1000 mg/m2 twice daily on days 1–14 and oxaliplatin 130 mg/m2 on day 1) or SOX (S-1 40 mg/m2 twice daily on days 1–14 and oxaliplatin 130 mg/m2 on day 1). Treatment was repeated every 3 weeks and continued for as many as nine cycles of oxaliplatin-containing chemotherapy, except in instances of disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, or a patient's refusal. Maintenance chemotherapy with S-1 or capecitabine was allowed after discontinuation of oxaliplatin. Randomisation was done with a computer-generated sequence (stratified by primary sites, previous adjuvant or neoadjuvant treatment, and the presence of measurable lesions). The primary endpoint was to show non-inferiority of SOX relative to CapeOX in terms of progression-free survival (PFS). The primary analysis was by intention to treat. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00677443. Findings Between May 14, 2008, and Sept 23, 2009, we randomly assigned 168 patients to receive SOX and 172 to receive CapeOX. Median PFS was 8·5 months (95% CI 7·6–9·3) in the SOX group and 6·7 months (6·2–7·1) in the CapeOX group (hazard ratio, 0·79 [95% CI 0·60–1·04]; pnon-inferiority<0·0001, plog-rank=0·09). The upper limit of the CI was below the predefined margin of 1·43, showing the non-inferiority of SOX to CapeOX. We recorded a higher incidence of grade 3–4 neutropenia (49 [29%] vs 24 [15%]), thrombocytopenia (37 [22%] vs 11 [7%]), and diarrhoea (16 [10%] vs seven [4%]) in the SOX group than in the CapeOX group. The frequency of any grade of hand-foot syndrome was greater in the CapeOX group than it was in the SOX group (51 [31%] vs 23 [14%]). Interpretation The SOX regimen could be an alternative first-line doublet chemotherapy strategy for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Further investigation is needed to explore its potential when used together with other targeted agents or as adjuvant chemotherapy. Funding Korea Healthcare Technology Research and Development Project, Ministry of Health and Welfare, South Korea.

This review describes the usefulness of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) for the metabolic profiling of lipids. First, non-targeted lipid profiling by SFC/MS is described. The use of SFC/MS allows for high-throughput, exhaustive analysis of diverse lipids, and hence, this technique finds potential applications in lipidomics. Development of a polar lipid profiling method with trimethylsilyl (TMS) derivatization widens the scope of applicability of SFC/MS. SFC is a high-resolution technique that is suitable for non-targeted profiling aimed at the simultaneous analysis of many components. Next, targeted lipid profiling by SFC/MS is described. SFC is useful for the separation of lipids, such as carotenoids and triacylglycerols, which have numerous analogs with similar structures. In addition, SFC/MS shows the maximum efficiency for the target analysis of lipids in a biological sample that includes many matrices. Finally, a high-resolution, high-throughput analytical system based on SFC/MS is stated to be suitable for lipidomics because it is useful not only for the screening of lipid mixtures (as a fingerprint method) but also for the detailed profiling of individual components.

ObjectiveFew studies have investigated the outcomes after surgical correction of severe isolated tricuspid regurgitation.MethodsThe medical records of 51 consecutive patients (aged 55.8 ± 12.9 years, 25 male) who underwent tricuspid valve surgery at the Asan Medical Center between September 1996 and July 2010 were evaluated retrospectively. All patients had severe isolated tricuspid regurgitation but no significant left-sided cardiac disease or history of heart surgery.ResultsTricuspid valve repair (n = 37, 72.5%) or replacement (n = 14, 27.5%) was performed. Replacement involved mechanical (n = 4) or bioprosthetic valves (n = 10). One early death occurred (2.0%). During a median follow-up period of 47.4 months (interquartile range, 10.4-61.4 months), 9 late deaths, 3 readmissions for congestive heart failure, 2 heart transplantations, and 1 tricuspid valve reoperation occurred. Overall and event-free survivals at 5 years were 83.5% ± 5.4% and 77.3% ± 6.1%, respectively. In the multivariable Cox regression analysis, preoperative hemoglobin (P = .045), serum bilirubin (P = .008), estimated glomerular filtration rate (P = .045), and systolic right ventricular dimension (P = .047) were significant and independent determinants of clinical outcome. On serial echocardiographic evaluations (median follow-up period, 28.5 months; interquartile range, 18.9-68.7 months), moderate-to-severe tricuspid regurgitation was detected in 21 patients (41%). Severe tricuspid regurgitation after tricuspid valve repair or bioprosthetic valve replacement was a significant predictor of poor event-free survival, even after adjustment for preoperative risk factors (P = .036).ConclusionsIn the present cohort, preoperative anemia, renal/hepatic dysfunction, right ventricular dilatation, and significant postoperative tricuspid regurgitation were associated with poor outcomes. Timely surgery is advisable in patients with severe isolated tricuspid regurgitation before the development of anemia, organ dysfunction, or right ventricular dilatation. Few studies have investigated the outcomes after surgical correction of severe isolated tricuspid regurgitation. The medical records of 51 consecutive patients (aged 55.8 ± 12.9 years, 25 male) who underwent tricuspid valve surgery at the Asan Medical Center between September 1996 and July 2010 were evaluated retrospectively. All patients had severe isolated tricuspid regurgitation but no significant left-sided cardiac disease or history of heart surgery. Tricuspid valve repair (n = 37, 72.5%) or replacement (n = 14, 27.5%) was performed. Replacement involved mechanical (n = 4) or bioprosthetic valves (n = 10). One early death occurred (2.0%). During a median follow-up period of 47.4 months (interquartile range, 10.4-61.4 months), 9 late deaths, 3 readmissions for congestive heart failure, 2 heart transplantations, and 1 tricuspid valve reoperation occurred. Overall and event-free survivals at 5 years were 83.5% ± 5.4% and 77.3% ± 6.1%, respectively. In the multivariable Cox regression analysis, preoperative hemoglobin (P = .045), serum bilirubin (P = .008), estimated glomerular filtration rate (P = .045), and systolic right ventricular dimension (P = .047) were significant and independent determinants of clinical outcome. On serial echocardiographic evaluations (median follow-up period, 28.5 months; interquartile range, 18.9-68.7 months), moderate-to-severe tricuspid regurgitation was detected in 21 patients (41%). Severe tricuspid regurgitation after tricuspid valve repair or bioprosthetic valve replacement was a significant predictor of poor event-free survival, even after adjustment for preoperative risk factors (P = .036). In the present cohort, preoperative anemia, renal/hepatic dysfunction, right ventricular dilatation, and significant postoperative tricuspid regurgitation were associated with poor outcomes. Timely surgery is advisable in patients with severe isolated tricuspid regurgitation before the development of anemia, organ dysfunction, or right ventricular dilatation.

Robotic total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer has rapidly increased and has shown short-term outcomes comparable to conventional laparoscopic total mesorectal excision. However, data for long-term oncologic outcomes are limited.The aim of this study is to evaluate long-term oncologic outcomes of robotic total mesorectal excision compared with laparoscopic total mesorectal excision.This was a retrospective study.This study was conducted in a tertiary referral hospital.A total of 732 patients who underwent totally robotic (n = 272) and laparoscopic (n = 460) total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer were included in this study.We compared clinicopathologic outcomes of patients. In addition, short- and long-term outcomes and prognostic factors for survival were evaluated in the matched robotic and laparoscopic total mesorectal excision groups (224 matched pairs by propensity score).Before case matching, patients in the robotic group were younger, more likely to have undergone preoperative chemoradiation, and had a lower tumor location than those in the laparoscopic group. After case matching most clinicopathologic outcomes were similar between the groups, but operative time was longer and postoperative ileus was more frequent in the robotic group. In the matched patients excluding stage IV, the overall survival, cancer-specific survival, and disease-free survival were better in the robotic group, but did not reach statistical significance. The 5-year survival rates for robotic and laparoscopic total mesorectal excision were 90.5% and 78.0% for overall survival, 90.5% and 79.5% for cancer-specific survival, and 72.6% and 68.0% for disease-free survival. In multivariate analysis, robotic surgery was a significant prognostic factor for overall survival and cancer-specific survival (p = 0.0040, HR = 0.333; p = 0.0161, HR = 0.367).This study has the potential for selection bias and limited generalizability.Robotic total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer showed long-term survival comparable to laparoscopic total mesorectal excision in this study. Robotic surgery was a good prognostic factor for overall survival and cancer-specific survival, suggesting potential oncologic benefits.

A series of pH-responsive polymeric micelles is developed to act as intelligent carriers to deliver iron oxide (Fe(3)O(4)) nanoparticles and respond rapidly to an acidic stimuli environment for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The polymeric micelle can be self-assembled at physiological pH by a block copolymer, consisting of a hydrophilic methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and a pH-responsive poly(β-amino ester)/(amido amine) block. Consequently, the Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles can be well encapsulated into polymeric micelles due to the hydrophobic interaction, shielded by a PEG coronal shell. In an acidic environment, however, the pH-responsive component, which has ionizable tert-amino groups on its backbone, can become protonated to be soluble and release the hydrophobic Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles. The Fe(3)O(4)-loaded polymeric micelle was measured by dynamic light scattering (DLS), superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) and a 3.0T MRI scanner. To assess the ability of this MRI probe as a pH-triggered agent, we utilize a disease rat model of cerebral ischemia that produces acidic tissue due to its pathologic condition. We found gradual accumulation of Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles in the brain ischemic area, indicating that the pH-triggered MRI probe may be effective for targeting the acidic environment and diagnostic imaging of pathologic tissue.

Using a simple method of mass production of green carbon nanotags (G-tags) from harmful cyanobacteria, we developed an advanced and efficient imaging platform for the purpose of anticancer therapy. Approximately 100 grams of G-tags per 100 kilograms of harmful cyanobacteria were prepared using our eco-friendly approach. The G-tags possess high solubility, excellent photostability, and low cytotoxicity (<1.5 mg/mL for 24 h). Moreover, doxorubicin-conjugated G-tags (T-tags; >0.1 mg/mL) induced death in cancer cells (HepG2 and MCF-7) in-vitro at a higher rate than that of only G-tags while in-vivo mice experiment showed enhanced anticancer efficacy by T-tags at 0.01 mg/mL, indicating that the loaded doxorubicin retains its pharmaceutical activity. The cancer cell uptake and intracellular location of the G- and T-tags were observed. The results indicate that these multifunctional T-tags can deliver doxorubicin to the targeted cancer cells and sense the delivery of doxorubicin by activating the fluorescence of G-tags.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the production of ethanol by Scheffersomyces (Pichia) stipitis CBS6054, a native xylose fermenting yeast, from sugars contained in the giant reed (Arundo donax L.) hemicellulosic hydrolysate. A response surface methodology with two input parameters, severity factor and oxalic acid concentration ranging from 2.87 to 4.05 and from 2 to 8 (% w oxalic acid/w solid dry matter), respectively, was employed to minimize degradation products and maximize sugar release. However, at the optimum condition for sugar release (43.8 g l−1), levels of toxic degradation products (acetic acid, furfural, HMF and phenolic compounds) were considered too high for yeast fermentation. The condition to minimize degradation products and maximize sugar yields was judged to be 2.87 severity factor and 5.0% oxalic acid concentration. At this condition 26.0 g l−1 xylose, 5.0 g l−1 glucose and 2.4 g l−1 arabinose were recovered in giant reed hydrolysate fraction. Adjustment of pH to 5.0 with Ca(OH)2 decreased xylose, glucose and acetic acid, 22%, 8% and 27% respectively. Increasing the initial pH from 5.0 to 5.5, 6.0 and 6.5, respectively, significantly improved the fermentability of the giant reed hemicelluloses hydrolysate; no fermentation was observed at pH 5.0 after 96 h, while 8.20 g l−1 of ethanol was obtained at pH 6.0 after 48 h, with an ethanol yield of 0.33 (ge/gs) and a productivity of 0.17 g l−1 h−1. The optimum pH of acid hydrolysate fermentation for ethanol production was 6.0–6.5.

In this investigation, a nano-sized protein-encapsulated polymeric micelle was prepared by self-assembling human serum albumin (HSA) as a model protein and degradable block copolymer methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(β-amino ester) (PEG-PAE) with piperidine and imidazole rings. From the zeta potential measurement, the protein-encapsulated polymeric micelle showed a pH-tuning charge conversion from neutral to positive when pH decreases from 7.8 to 6.2. It was envisioned that the pH-tunable positively charged polymeric micelle could enhance the protein delivery efficiency and, simultaneously, target to the pH-stimuli tissue, such as cancerous tissue or ischemia. The pH-dependent particle size and scattering intensity were also measured and showed 50-70 nm particle size. Consequently, the circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy confirmed that the secondary structure of albumin was unaffected during the pH changing process. The in vitro cytotoxicity for the polymeric micelle was evaluated on MDA-MB-435 cell lines and no obvious toxicity could be observed when the polymer concentration was below 200 μg/mL. To assess the ability of this pH-tunable positively charged polymeric micelle as a vehicle for protein delivery to in vivo acidic tissues, we utilized a disease rat model of cerebral ischemia that produced an acidic tissue due to its pathologic condition. The rat was intravenously injected with the Cy5.5-labled albumin-encapsulated polymeric micelle. We found a gradual increase in fluorescence signals of the brain ischemic area, indicating that the pH-tuning positively charged protein-encapsulated polymeric micelle could be effective for targeting the acidic environment and diagnostic imaging.

Pyroprocessing technology has been actively developed at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) to meet the necessity of addressing spent fuel management issue. This technology has advantages over aqueous process such as less proliferation risk, treatment of spent fuel with relatively high heat and radioactivity, and compact equipments. This paper describes the pyroprocessing technology development at KAERI from head-end process to waste treatment. The unit process with various scales has been tested to produce the design data associated with scale-up. Pyroprocess integrated inactive demonstration facility (PRIDE) was constructed at KAERI and it began test operation in 2012. The purpose of PRIDE is to test the process regarding unit process performance, remote operation of equipments, integration of unit processes, scale-up of process, process monitoring, argon environment system operation, and safeguards-related activities. The test of PRIDE will be promising for further pyroprocessing technology development.

The objectives of this study were to explore the feasibility of applying sequential dilute acid and alkali pretreatment into the hydrolysis of corn stover and to elucidate the effects of structural changes in the biomass on its enzymatic digestibility. H2SO4 used in the first step selectively hydrolyzed 74.6-77.3% of xylan and NaOH used in the second step removed 85.9-89.4% of lignin, from the raw corn stover. Compared to single dilute acid pretreatment, the proposed combined pretreatment minimized the generation of byproducts such as acetic acid, furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural in the hydrolysates, and enhanced the enzymatic hydrolysis of the solid residue. The changes in the structural features (porosity, morphology, and crystallinity) of the solid residue were strongly correlated with the enhancement of enzymatic digestibility. The overall glucose and xylose yields finally obtained after enzymatic hydrolysis reached 89.1-97.9% and 71.0-75.9%, respectively.

Supercritical fluid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (SFC/MS/MS) with methylation was used for the simultaneous profiling of diverse polar lipids in a mixture. A high throughput, high resolution analysis of nineteen classes of polar lipids including phospholipids, lysophospholipids, and sphingolipids was performed in 6 min. Methylation by trimethylsilyl-diazomethane suppressed peak tailing and improved detection sensitivity of phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidic acid (PA), lysophosphatidylserine (LPS), lysophosphatidylinositol (LPI), lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), ceramide-1-phosphate (Cer1P), sphingosine-1-phosphate (So1P), and sphinganine-1-phosphate (Sa1P). The limits of detection for PS, PA, LPS, LPI, LPA, Cer1P, So1P, and Sa1P were enhanced 7.5-, 26.7-, 600-, 116.7-, 500-, 75-, 3000-, and 4500-fold, respectively. Global qualitative and quantitative analysis of not only the high-abundance species but also the low-abundance species in the polar lipids was achieved. When the method was applied to mouse liver, 4 PSs, 24 PAs, 3 lysophosphatidylethanolamines, 11 LPSs, 6 lysophosphatidylglycerols, 4 LPIs, 13 LPAs, 7 sphingomyelins, 11 Cer1Ps, So1P, and Sa1P were additionally analyzed. Furthermore, the quantification of various molecular species in each polar lipid was carried out.

Abstract Ovarian cancer shows high mortality due to development of resistance to chemotherapy and relapse. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been suggested to be a major contributor in developing drug resistance and relapse in ovarian cancer. In this study, we isolated CSCs through sphere culture of A2780, SKOV3, OVCAR3 epithelial ovarian cancer cells and primary ovarian cancer cells from patients. We identified heat-stable factors secreted from ovarian CSCs stimulated migration and proliferation of CSCs. Mass spectrometry and ELISA analysis revealed that lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) was significantly elevated in CSC culture media compared with non-CSC culture media. Treatment of CSCs with LPA resulted in augmented CSC characteristics such as sphere-forming ability, resistance to anticancer drugs, tumorigenic potential in xenograft transplantation, and high expression of CSC-associated genes, including OCT4, SOX2, and aldehyde dehydrogenase 1. Treatment of CSCs with LPA receptor 1-specific inhibitors or silencing of LPA receptor 1 expression abrogated the LPA-stimulated CSC properties. Autotaxin, an LPA-producing enzyme, is highly secreted from ovarian CSCs, and pharmacological inhibition or knockdown of autotaxin markedly attenuated the LPA-producing, tumorigenic, and drug resistance potentials of CSCs. Clinicopathological analysis showed a significant survival disadvantage of patients with positive staining of autotaxin. In addition, we further identified that AKT1 activity was upregulated in ovarian CSCs through an LPA-dependent mechanism and silencing of AKT1 expression led to suppression of CSC characteristics. These results suggest that autotaxin-LPA-LPA receptor 1-AKT1 signaling axis is critical for maintaining CSC characteristics through an autocrine loop and provide a novel therapeutic target for ovarian CSCs.

The reduction of in the emissions of CO2, which is the representative greenhouse gas, is actively investigated worldwide because of its contribution to global warming. Energy generation processes involving the gasification of fossil fuels separate the constituent gases before combustion occurs, rendering the capture of CO2 more attainable. Generally, CO2 is captured through an absorption method by using a liquid absorbent in large scale gasification systems. According to Henry’s solubility law, the absorption and regeneration processes should be operated at low and high temperatures respectively, and these require high energy consumption. As a solution, nanoparticles are added to the absorbent (methanol) to reduce energy consumption required in the absorption and regeneration processes. In this study, the absorption/regeneration performance was evaluated through a lab-scale combined CO2-absorption/regeneration system. The nanoparticles used are SiO2 and Al2O3, which are added at a 0.01 vol% concentration. In the case of the Al2O3/methanol nanoabsorbent, the performance decreases as the number of cycle increases, whereas the performance is improved steadily in the case of the SiO2/methanol nanoabsorbent. Thus, the SiO2 nanoparticles are more suitable for the combined CO2 absorption/regeneration process. Furthermore, the mass transfer enhancement mechanisms of the absorption/regeneration process according to the addition of nanoparticles are presented.

The effective production and usage of ginsenosides, given their distinct pharmacological effects, are receiving increasing amounts of attention. As the ginsenosides content differs in different parts of Panax ginseng, we wanted to assess and compare the ginsenosides content in the ginseng roots, leave, stems, and berries. To extract the ginsenosides, 70% (v/v) methanol was used. The optimal ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF/MS) method was used to profile various ginsenosides from the different parts of P. ginseng. The datasets were then subjected to multivariate analysis including principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA). A UPLC-QTOF/MS method with an in-house library was constructed to profile 58 ginsenosides. With this method, a total of 39 ginsenosides were successfully identified and quantified in the ginseng roots, leave, stem, and berries. PCA and HCA characterized the different ginsenosides compositions from the different parts. The quantitative ginsenoside contents were also characterized from each plant part. The results of this study indicate that the UPLC-QTOF/MS method can be an effective tool to characterize various ginsenosides from the different parts of P. ginseng.

Abstract High‐output triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are demonstrated based on polyimide (PI)‐based polymers by introducing functionalities (e.g., electron‐withdrawing and electron‐donating groups) into the backbone. The TENG based on 6FDA‐APS PI, possessing the most negative electrostatic potential and the low‐lying lowest unoccupied molecular orbital level, produces the highest effective charge density of about 860 µC m −2 in practical working conditions with the ion injection process. This may be ascribed to the excellent charge‐retention characteristics as well as the enhanced charge transfer capability, which increases the output power by 7 times compared to the commercially available Kapton film‐based TENG. Finally, a 6FDA‐APS‐driven sensor network system is demonstrated, providing the identity of three gases (H 2 , CO, and NO 2 ) by illuminating the light‐emitting diodes within several seconds.

We provide a method for obtaining graphitic porous carbon, with commercially viable specific capacitance and high specific surface area, from pitch pine (Pinus rigida) biomass. Chemically treated biomass was used to prepare porous carbon with a partially graphitic structure and high surface area via KOH activation. Biomass immersed in NH4OH solution was structurally separated due to swelling phenomena. It allowed for the separation of representative components comprising biomass; cellulose and hemicellulose contribute to its porous structure, while lignin contributes to the partially graphitic structure after activation. The partially graphitic porous carbon simultaneously provides electron pathway and energy storage capabilities. The biomass-derived partially graphitic porous carbon exhibited a high specific capacitance (150 F g−1) and high rate capability (91% at 50 mA cm−2), both ideal qualities for ultracapacitor materials. Effective utilization of abandoned biomass is beneficial in terms of economic, environmental, and energy saving concerns. Thus, abandoned biomass-derived partially graphitic porous carbon obtained from structurally separated components with different properties from one biomass represents a promising solution for obtaining energy efficient materials for storage devices.

Rice husk is proven to be a good carbon source for Li–S batteries.

Linalool is a natural product present in fruits and aromatic plants with biological activities. Researchers have reported that the inhalation of linalool exerts anti-inflammatory activities. In this study, we examined the therapeutic effects of linalool on airway inflammation and mucus overproduction in mice with allergic asthma. Oral administration of linalool significantly inhibited the levels of eosinophil numbers, Th2 cytokines and immunoglobulin E (IgE) caused by ovalbumin (OVA) exposure. Linalool exerted preventive effects against the influx of inflammatory cells and mucus hypersecretion in the lung tissues. Linalool also dose-dependently decreased the levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression and protein kinase B (AKT) activation in the lung tissues. Linalool effectively downregulated the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) caused by OVA exposure. Furthermore, linalool exerted inhibitory effect on OVA-induced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). In the in vitro study, the increased secretion of MCP-1 was attenuated with linalool treatment in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated H292 airway epithelial cells. In conclusion, linalool effectively exerts a protective role in OVA-induced airway inflammation and mucus hypersecretion, and its protective effects are closely related to the downregulation of inflammatory mediators and MAPKs/NF-κB signaling.

Hyaluronate has attracted great attention in tissue engineering as a scaffolding material. However, hyaluronate typically requires chemical cross-linking molecules to form hydrogels, which may induce undesirable side effects in the body. In this study, hyaluronate was partially oxidized with sodium periodate to generate aldehyde groups in the backbone, and simply mixed with glycol chitosan to form gels via Schiff base formation. The effects of the degree of oxidization, polymer concentration, and polymer composition on the mechanical properties of oxidized hyaluronate/glycol chitosan hydrogels were investigated in vitro. Degradation behavior and biocompatibility of oxidized hyaluronate/glycol chitosan gels were also evaluated in vitro. This system may be potentially useful as an injectable system in many tissue engineering applications, including cartilage regeneration.

There has been remarkable progress with regard to the fabrication of yarns based on high-performance carbon nanotubes (CNTs). However, the theoretically predicted tensile strength of CNTs has yet to be realized in practical CNT yarns or CNT-reinforced composites. Having considered that there are few systematic guidelines for preparing high-strength CNT yarns, we attempted to revisit the-state-of-the-art progress in the theories and yarn formation processes of CNT yarns and then draw possible correlations between the intrinsic and extrinsic structural parameters of elementary CNTs, yarn formation processes and the tensile strength of the resulting CNT yarns. On the basis of these considerations and discussions of advanced technologies and theoretical approaches, possible routes to improve the strength of CNT yarns further are suggested.

Contamination by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) is of great concern in global environments. Due to strong regulation of legacy PFASs, emerging PFASs including alternatives and precursors have been introduced to the industrial market. In this study, legacy and emerging PFASs were measured in seawater, sediment, and bivalves collected along the Korean coast to investigate the occurrence, distribution, contamination sources, and bioaccumulation potential of PFASs. Wide concentration ranges of legacy PFASs were detected in multiple environmental samples, indicating widespread contamination. C8-based PFASs (e.g., PFOA and PFOS) were still major contaminants in all of the environmental samples. Some precursors, such as 8:2 fluorotelomer sulfonate (8:2 FTS) and N-ethyl-perfluorooctane sulfonamidoacetic acid (N-EtFOSAA), and perfluoro-2-propoxypropanoic potassium 9-chlorohexadecafluoro-3-oxanonane-1-sulfonate (F–53B), an alternative to PFOS, were detected in sediment or bivalve samples, implying a shift in consumption patterns from legacy to emerging PFASs. The highest concentrations of PFASs in environmental samples were found at the locations near industrial complexes, such as those for the semi-conductor, paper mill, automobile, and metal-plating industry. This result indicates that PFAS contamination is associated with intensive industrial activities in the coastal environment. Matrix-dependent contamination and profiles of PFASs were observed. Seawater was dominated by short-chained PFASs as a prompt reflection of regulation, while the sediment and bivalves were dominated by long-chained PFASs. Carbon-chain length was a major factor governing environmental behavior and bioaccumulation of PFASs. This was the first nation-wide survey on legacy and emerging PFASs in the coastal environment of Korea.

A key requirement for wearable electronics is an adequate and sustainable power source. Accordingly, a self-powering unit that replaces rechargeable secondary batteries is a promising solution. However, to realize permanent, maintenance-free, and highly durable wearable electronics, stretchable self-powering units that can harvest and store energy should be developed. In this study, we developed a fully stretchable self-charging power unit that integrates a micro-supercapacitor and triboelectric nanogenerator using oxidized single-walled carbon nanotube/polymer electrodes. The fully stretchable micro-supercapacitor with oxidized single-walled carbon nanotube/polyvinylalcohol electrodes exhibited a double layer capacitance of 20 mF cm−2 at 0.1 mA cm−2 and improved mechanical flexibility and stretchability over 10,000 cycles of stretching tests. A stretchable, polydimethylsiloxane-based current collector employing silver nanoparticles embedded with oxidized single-walled carbon nanotubes enabled the fully stretchable, freestanding-triboelectric-layer based nanogenerators to produce a maximum instantaneous power density of 84.4 mW m−2 under periodic and round-trip sliding of a Nylon fabric while stretching up to 40% without significant performance degradation. Furthermore, a micro-supercapacitor of fully stretchable self-charging power unit could be successfully charged by the nanogenerator from 0 to 2.2 V in 1200 s and powered commercial digital clock for approximately 10 s. These results demonstrate that stretchable polymer composites with oxidized single-walled carbon nanotubes are suitable electrodes and active materials for fully stretchable and self-powered wearable electronics.

The jumping motion is adapted by Earth’s creatures to achieve rapid maneuverability and energy-efficient hurdling over uneven terrains or large obstacles. Herein, the continuous photomechanical jumping of polymer monoliths with on-demand height and angle programmability is reported. Upon exposure to actinic light, self-assembled spring-like molecular geometry of azobenzene-functionalized liquid crystalline polymers provide on-demand jumping via snap-through of non-isometric structures. The finite element method simulation quantitatively describes stress–strain responsivity of the experimental jumping. Remarkably, the maximum jumping height reaches 15.5 body length (BL) with the maximum instantaneous velocity of 880 BL s−1. We demonstrate programmable jumping height and angle by varying macroscopic geometry and light intensity profile. Finally, four continuous and directional jumping sequences are demonstrated within 5 s to overcome an obstacle.

A sustainable highly charged C₆₀-functionalized polyimide is introduced as the dielectric of a TENG, which generates higher output power and a superior charge density with slower charge decay rate, compared with a perfluoroalkoxy alkane film-based TENG.

Solar hydrogen production is one of the ultimate technologies needed to realize a carbon-neutral, sustainable society. However, an energy-intensive water oxidation half-reaction together with the poor performance of conventional inorganic photocatalysts have been big hurdles for practical solar hydrogen production. Here we present a photoelectrochemical cell with a record high photocurrent density of 19.8 mA cm-2 for hydrogen production by utilizing a high-performance organic-inorganic halide perovskite as a panchromatic absorber and lignocellulosic biomass as an alternative source of electrons working at lower potentials. In addition, value-added chemicals such as vanillin and acetovanillone are produced via the selective depolymerization of lignin in lignocellulosic biomass while cellulose remains close to intact for further utilization. This study paves the way to improve solar hydrogen productivity and simultaneously realize the effective use of lignocellulosic biomass.

The inspection of sewing defects is an essential step in the quality assurance of garment manufacturing. Although traditional automated defect detection applications have shown good performance, these methods are usually configured with handcrafted features designed by a human operator. Recently, deep learning methods that include Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have demonstrated excellent performance in a wide variety of computer-vision applications. To take advantage of the CNN's feature representation, the direct utilization of feature maps from the convolutional layers as universal feature descriptors has been studied. In this paper, we propose a sewing defect detection method using a CNN feature map extracted from the initial layers of a pre-trained VGG-16 to detect a broken stitch from a captured image of a sewing operation. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed method, experiments were conducted on a set of sewing images, including normal images, their synthetic defects, and rotated images. As a result, the proposed method detected true defects with 92.3% accuracy. Moreover, additional conditions for computing devices and deep learning libraries were investigated to reduce the computing time required for real-time computation. Using a general and cheap single-board computer with resizing the image and utilizing a lightweight deep learning library, the computing time was 0.22 s. The results confirm the feasibility of the proposed method's performance as an appropriate manufacturing technology for garment production.

In this study, hemicellulose was mostly removed from biomass (larch and oak) using a sulfuric acid pretreatment. Biochar was then prepared from raw and pretreated biomass using a carbonization process. Biochar derived from pretreated biomass had an aromatic and graphitized structure, and functional groups were observed on the surface. The specific surface area was higher for biochar obtained from pretreated biomass than biochar derived from raw biomass. The biochar obtained from pretreated biomass contained a greater number of micropores than biochar derived from raw biomass. The diazinon removal rate was the highest for biochar that was obtained from pretreated biomass when 10% of the biochar was added to the soil. As a result of the adsorption of diazinon onto the biochar obtained from pretreated biomass, the R2 value of the Langmuir isotherm was higher than that of the Freundlich's R2.

Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is a promising way to produce green hydrogen utilizing intermittent renewable energy. While Ir is the only catalyst with good activity and durability for PEMWE, Ir is the rarest material on earth. Ir minimization is crucial to expand the application of PEMWE. Previously, we reported ultrathin IrO2 nanoneedles (NN) for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in PEMWE. Although IrO2 NN showed good electrical conductivity, its activity should be improved. Here, the OER activity of the NNs is further improved by depositing amorphous Ir atomic clusters (AC) on the one-dimensional NNs. The amorphous Ir ACs are highly active for the OER and the crystalline NN backbone aids facile electron transfers to the surface ACs. The heterostructure of the Ir AC/NN catalysts decouple a trade-off relation between the OER activity and durability. PEMWE with the Ir AC/NN catalysts achieves a current density of 3 A cm−2 at only 1.82 V and operates stably for more than 90 h, whereas pristine IrO2 NN and IrO2 particles synthesized by Adams-fusion method require higher potentials of 1.92 V and 1.97 V, respectively, at 3 A cm−2.

Self-powered user-interactive displays that facilitate the visualization of human information acquired by sensors are of great interest in emerging human–machine interface technology with efficient energy consumption. Herein, a self-powered motion-sensing display capable of simultaneously detecting and visualizing finger motions is presented. Our device is based on a one-dimensional photonic crystal of an interpenetrated hydrogel network block copolymer (IHN-BCP) consisting of alternating water-absorbable and non-absorbable lamellae. Triboelectrification is achieved as a function of relative humidity from 30% to 80%. The direct visualization of the humidity is also achieved through the humidity-dependent structural color of the photonic crystal in the full visible range. Furthermore, the humidity-responsive triboelectrification and structural color of our IHN-BCP photonic crystal facilitates the development of a self-powered finger motion-sensing display where diverse gestures of a finger with natural humidity are quantitatively recognized, such as vertical and sliding motion of the finger with simultaneous visualization of the motions in both contact and non-contact modes.

A deformable complementary energy harvester combining moisture-induced and triboelectric energy in a single cell is developed, offering mechanical resilience, high energy output, rapid capacitor charging, and potential in emergency guidance systems.

In this paper, a new stabilizing receding horizon control, based on a finite input and state horizon cost with a finite terminal weighting matrix, is proposed for time-varying discrete linear systems with constraints. We propose matrix inequality conditions on the terminal weighting matrix under which closed-loop stability is guaranteed for both cases of unconstrained and constrained systems with input and state constraints. We show that such a terminal weighting matrix can be obtained by solving a linear matrix inequality (LMI). In the case of constrained time-invariant systems, an artificial invariant ellipsoid constraint is introduced in order to relax the conventional terminal equality constraint and to handle constraints. Using the invariant ellipsoid constraints, a feasibility condition of the optimization problem is presented and a region of attraction is characterized for constrained systems with the proposed receding horizon control.

To describe features of patients with acute myeloid leukemia presenting with extramedullary leukemic tumors (EML).Among 1,832 patients entered on Children's Cancer Group's chemotherapy trials with acute myeloid leukemia, 199 patients had EML, defined as any leukemic collection outside the bone marrow cavity. Three patient groups were denoted: group 1 (n=109) with EML involving skin (with or without other sites of EML), group 2 (n=90) with EML in sites other than skin, and group 3 (n=1,633) without EML.The incidence of EML was 10.9%. Group 1 patients tended to be younger, had higher white blood cell counts, were more often CNS positive, had FAB M4 or M5 subtypes, and possessed more abnormalities of chromosome 11 than group 3 patients. Group 2 patients were younger, more often had the FAB M2 subtype, and had a higher incidence of t(8;21)(q22;q22) abnormality than group 3, but had similar white blood cell counts and incidence of CNS positivity at diagnosis. For group 1 the 5-year event-free survival was 26%, significantly worse than for group 3 at 29%. Event-free survival was better for group 2 patients (5-year estimate 46%), which remained a favorable prognostic factor by multivariate analysis. The authors retrospectively determined whether 118 (59%) of the EML patients received localized radiotherapy to the site of EML: 42 did and 76 did not. There were no differences in estimated event-free survival between patients who did and did not receive radiotherapy.Non-skin (group 2) EML appeared to be an independent favorable prognostic factor. Localized radiotherapy to the site of EML at the end of induction chemotherapy did not improve outcome.

A national survey of newspaper editors examined how editors view the importance of different criteria in selecting foreign news to run. Results show that editors considered these factors important in making choices: threat to the United States and world peace, anticipated reader interest, timeliness, and U.S. involvement. Editors also regarded loss of lives and property as important but less so than other factors. Most editors appear to focus more on factors having significant impact or consequences, especially when American security and national interest are involved. Canonical correlational analysis indicates that editors' perceptions of foreign news factors are determined by individual differences and organizational constraints in the newsroom.

Batch tests and column tests were performed to determine the design factors for permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) against the contaminated groundwater by ammonium and heavy metals. Clinoptilolite, one of the natural zeolites having excellent cation exchange capacity (CEC), was chosen as the reactive material. In the batch tests, the reactivity of clinoptilolite to ammonium, lead, and copper was examined by varying the concentration of cations and the particle size of clinoptilolite. One gram of clinoptilolite showed removal efficiencies of more than 80% against those contaminants in all cases except in very high initial concentrations of ammonium (80 ppm) and copper (40 ppm). The effect of particle size of clinoptilolite was not noticeable. In the column tests, permeability was examined using a flexible-wall permeameter by varying particle sizes of clinoptilolite. When the washed clinoptilolite having the diameter of 0.42-0.85 mm was mixed with Jumunjin sands in 20:80 ratio (w/w), the highest permeability of 2 x 10(-3) to 7 x 10(-4)cm/s was achieved. The reactivity and the strength property of the mixed material were investigated using a fixed-wall column, having eight sampling ports on the wall, and the direct shear test, respectively. Clinoptilolite was found to be a suitable material for PRBs against the contaminated groundwater with ammonium and/or heavy metals.

For patients with ischemic mitral regurgitation (MR), it is not clear whether adjunctive mitral valve (MV) repair at the time of coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) is beneficial. We sought to test the hypothesis that MV repair with CABG is superior to CABG alone in improving MR without increasing operative or long-term mortality.A total of 107 consecutive patients with moderate or severe ischemic MR, as determined by preoperative echocardiography, underwent CABG with concomitant MV repair (repair group, n=50) or CABG only (CABG group, n=57). Degree of MR was graded as none, mild, moderate, or severe by the proximal isovelocity surface area method. The groups were similar with respect to age, gender, baseline New York Heart Association class, ejection fraction, and number of bypass grafts. The repair group had a higher percentage of patients with atrial fibrillation or severe MR than the CABG group. The operative mortality was significantly higher for the repair group (12%) than the CABG group (2%), whereas the 5-year actuarial survival rate of the 2 groups was similar (88%+/-5% versus 87%+/-6%). On multivariate logistic regression analysis, older age, higher New York Heart Association class, and atrial fibrillation were independent predictors of operative mortality (P<0.05). Among patients with severe MR, ischemic MR was improved in all patients of the repair group and in 67% of patients in the CABG group (P<0.001), whereas improvement rates in patients with moderate MR were similar in the 2 groups (75% versus 67%, P=NS).Although MV repair appears to be more effective at reducing ischemic functional MR, CABG alone may be a preferable treatment option for patients with moderate MR and high operative risk factors such as old age or atrial fibrillation.

We investigated new potential materials, such as hydrogen storage and lithium rechargeable batteries, for application in the field of advanced energy conversion and storage. We were able to synthesize Li4Ti5O12 nanotubes using heat treatment and an alkali-hydrothermal reaction through a simple structural rearrangement, and we examined their H2 storage characteristics and suitability as electrode materials for application in lithium-ion batteries. The Li4Ti5O12 nanotubes could store up to 0.7 wt % H2 at ambient temperature and their reversible capacity was approximately 156 mAh/g at a rate of 0.1C.

Background— Although previous studies have compared the treatment effects of percutaneous coronary intervention and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), the long-term outcomes beyond 1 year among patients with multivessel coronary artery disease who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stents (DES) or CABG have not been evaluated. Methods and Results— Between January 2003 and December 2005, 3042 patients with multivessel disease underwent coronary implantation of DES (n=1547) or CABG (n=1495). The primary end point was all-cause mortality. In a crude analysis, the rate of long-term mortality was significantly higher in patients who underwent CABG than in those who underwent DES implantation (3-year unadjusted mortality rate, 7.0% for CABG versus 4.4% for percutaneous coronary intervention; P =0.01). However, after adjustment for baseline differences, the overall risks of death were similar among all patients (hazard ratio, 0.85; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.56 to 1.30; P =0.45), diabetic patients (hazard ratio, 1.76; 95% CI, 0.82 to 3.78; P =0.15), and patients with compromised ventricular function (hazard ratio, 1.39; 95% CI, 0.41 to 4.65; P =0.60). In the anatomic subgroups, mortality benefit with DES implantation was noted in patients with 2-vessel disease with involvement of the nonproximal left anterior descending artery (hazard ratio, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.01 to 0.78; P =0.016). The rate of revascularization was significantly higher in the DES than in the CABG group (hazard ratio, 2.81; 95% CI, 2.11 to 3.75; P &lt;0.001). Conclusions— For the treatment of multivessel coronary artery disease, percutaneous coronary intervention with DES implantation showed equivalent long-term mortality as CABG.

A facile and powerful pH-responsive polymeric micelle encapsulates Fe3O4 nanoparticles as an acid-targeting MRI contrast agent for pathologic diagnosis. This MRI probe remains in a micellar state in the physiological environment whereas it can be dissolved in acidic pathological areas. More biomedical applications will be possible owing to its unique ability to target an acidic pathologic environment.

An ultraperformance liquid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-Tof MS)-based metabolomic technique was applied for metabolite profiling of 60 Panax ginseng samples aged from 1 to 6 years. Multivariate statistical methods such as principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis were used to compare the derived patterns among the samples. The data set was subsequently applied to various metabolite selection methods for sophisticated classification with the optimal number of metabolites. The results showed variations in accuracy among the classification methods for the samples of different ages, especially for those aged 4, 5, and 6 years. This proposed analytical method coupled with multivariate analysis is fast, accurate, and reliable for discriminating the cultivation ages of P. ginseng samples and is a potential tool to standardize quality control in the P. ginseng industry.

In this study, the nanoparticles (i.e. SiO2 and Al2O3 nanoparticles) and methanol are combined into SiO2/methanol and Al2O3/methanol nanofluids to enhance the CO2 absorption rate of the base fluid (methanol). The absorption experiments are performed in the bubble type absorber system equipped with mass flow controller (MFC), mass flow meter (MFM) and silica gel (which can remove the methanol vapor existing in the outlet gases). The parametric analysis on the effects of the particle species and concentrations on CO2 bubble absorption rate is carried out. The particle concentration ranges from 0.005 to 0.5 vol%. It is found that the CO2 absorption rate is enhanced up to 4.5% at 0.01 vol% of Al2O3/methanol nanofluids at 20 °C, and 5.6% at 0.01 vol% of SiO2/methanol nanofluids at −20 °C, respectively.

The portfolio management for trading in the stock market poses a challenging stochastic control problem of significant commercial interests to finance industry. To date, many researchers have proposed various methods to build an intelligent portfolio management system that can recommend financial decisions for daily stock trading. Many promising results have been reported from the supervised learning community on the possibility of building a profitable trading system. More recently, several studies have shown that even the problem of integrating stock price prediction results with trading strategies can be successfully addressed by applying reinforcement learning algorithms. Motivated by this, we present a new stock trading framework that attempts to further enhance the performance of reinforcement learning-based systems. The proposed approach incorporates multiple Q-learning agents, allowing them to effectively divide and conquer the stock trading problem by defining necessary roles for cooperatively carrying out stock pricing and selection decisions. Furthermore, in an attempt to address the complexity issue when considering a large amount of data to obtain long-term dependence among the stock prices, we present a representation scheme that can succinctly summarize the history of price changes. Experimental results on a Korean stock market show that the proposed trading framework outperforms those trained by other alternative approaches both in terms of profit and risk management.

The decision to repair mild-to-moderate functional tricuspid regurgitation (TR) during left-side heart surgery remains controversial. Objectives To avoid heterogeneity in patient population, patients with TR undergoing isolated mechanical mitral valve (MV) replacement for rheumatic mitral diseases were evaluated.Between 1997 and 2009, 236 patients with mild-to-moderate functional TR underwent first-time isolated mechanical MV replacement for rheumatic mitral diseases with (n=123; repair group) or without (n=113; non-repair group) tricuspid valve (TV) repair. Survival, valve-related complications, and TV function in these two groups were compared after adjustment for baseline characteristics using inverse-probability-of-treatment weighting.Follow-up was complete in 225 patients (95.3%) with a median follow-up of 48.7 months (IQR 20.2-89.5 months), during which time 991 echocardiographic assessments were done. Freedom from moderate-to-severe TR at 5 years was 92.9±2.9% in the repair group and 60.8±6.9% in the non-repair group (p<0.001 and 0.048 in crude and adjusted analyses, respectively). After adjustment, both groups had similar risks of death (HR=0.57, p=0.43), tricuspid reoperation (HR=0.10, p=0.080) and congestive heart failure (HR=1.12, p=0.87). Postoperative moderate-to-severe TR was an independent predictor of poorer event-free survival (HR=2.90, p=0.038).These findings support the strategy of correcting mild-to-moderate functional TR at the time of MV replacement to maintain TV function and improve clinical outcomes.

The optimal conditions for the torrefaction of mixed softwood were investigated by response surface methodology. This showed that the chemical composition of torrefied biomass was influenced by the severity factor of torrefaction. The lignin content in the torrefied biomass increased with the SF, while holocellulose content decreased. Similarly, the carbon content energy value of torrefied biomass ranged from 19.31 to 22.12 MJ/kg increased from 50.79 to 57.36%, while the hydrogen and oxygen contents decreased. The energy value of torrefied biomass ranged from 19.31 to 22.12 MJ/kg. This implied that the energy contained in the torrefied biomass increased by 4-19%, when compared with the untreated biomass. The energy value and weight loss in biomass slowly increased as the SF increased up until 6.12; and then dramatically increased as the SF increased further from 6.12 to 7.0. However, the energy yield started decreasing at SF value higher than 6.12; and the highest energy yield was obtained at low SF.

SiO2/TiO2 core-shell particles with controlled shell thickness were prepared by a multistep coating process. The thickness of the titania coating layer was varied from 9 to 57 nm depending on the number of coating steps, from 1 to 5 times. The titania coating resulted in a rough and textured surface of the core-shell particles, increasing the specific surface areas 5–25 times depending on the coating thickness with respect to those of silica particles. FT-IR and XPS results confirmed the existence of TiOSi chemical bonding at the interface between the titania coating layer and silica particle surface. The apparent surface coverage was estimated using isoelectric point data.

We investigated the characteristics of torrefied yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) depending on reaction time (30 min) and temperature (240–280 °C). The thermogravimetric, grindability and calorific value of torrefied biomass were analyzed. As the torrefaction temperature increased, the carbon content of torrefied biomass increased from 49.50% to 54.42%, while the hydrogen and oxygen contents decreased from 6.09% to 5.65% and 28.71% to 26.61%, respectively. The highest calorific value was 1233 kJ/kg when torrefaction was performed at 280 °C for 30 min. An overall increase in energy density and decrease in mass and energy yield was observed with the increase in torrefaction temperature. The analysis of thermal decomposition demonstrated that the hemicelluloses contained in torrefied biomass decreased with increasing torrefaction temperature, whereas cellulose and lignin were only slightly affected. The grindability of torrefied biomass was significantly improved when torrefaction was performed at high temperature. Torrefaction of yellow poplar improved the chemical and physical fuel properties of the biomass.

A metabolomics technology for lipid profiling based on supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) was applied to analyze lipids of soybean. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to discriminate twelve soybean cultivars according to their suitability for different processed foods such as natto, tofu, edamame, and nimame. By PCA assay, triacylglycerol (TAG) was found as the main variable for discrimination of soybean cultivars. Therefore, a high-throughput and high-resolution TAG profiling method by SFC/MS was developed to more effective discrimination. By investigating several columns, three Chromolith Performance RP-18e columns connected in series were chosen as the most effective column for TAG profiling. Diverse TAGs were separated effectively for 8 min without purification. Additionally, each TAG was identified successfully by the programmed cone voltage fragmentation even without MS/MS analysis and any standard sample.

High yields of hemicellulosic and cellulosic sugars are critical in obtaining economical conversion of agricultural residues to ethanol. To optimize pretreatment conditions, we evaluated oxalic acid loading rates, treatment temperatures and times in a 23 full factorial design. Response-surface analysis revealed an optimal oxalic acid pretreatment condition to release sugar from the cob of Zea mays L. ssp. and for Pichia stipitis CBS 6054. To ferment the residual cellulosic sugars to ethanol following enzymatic hydrolysis, highest saccharification and fermentation yields were obtained following pretreatment at 180 °C for 50 min with 0.024 g oxalic acid/g substrate. Under these conditions, only 7.5% hemicellulose remained in the pretreated substrate. The rate of cellulose degradation was significantly less than that of hemicellulose and its hydrolysis was not as extensive. Subsequent enzymatic saccharification of the residual cellulose was strongly affected by the pretreatment condition with cellulose hydrolysis ranging between 26.0% and 76.2%. The residual xylan/lignin ratio ranged from 0.31 to 1.85 depending on the pretreatment condition. Fermentable sugar and ethanol were maximal at the lowest ratio of xylan/lignin and at high glucan contents. The model predicts optimal condition of oxalic acid pretreatment at 168 °C, 74 min and 0.027 g/g of oxalic acid. From these findings, we surmised that low residual xylan was critical in obtaining maximal glucose yields from saccharification.

Response surface methodology was used to evaluate optimal time, temperature and oxalic acid concentration for simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of corncob particles by Pichia stipitis CBS 6054. Fifteen different conditions for pretreatment were examined in a 23 full factorial design with six axial points. Temperatures ranged from 132 to 180 °C, time from 10 to 90 min and oxalic acid loadings from 0.01 to 0.038 g/g solids. Separate maxima were found for enzymatic saccharification and hemicellulose fermentation, respectively, with the condition for maximum saccharification being significantly more severe. Ethanol production was affected by reaction temperature more than by oxalic acid and reaction time over the ranges examined. The effect of reaction temperature was significant at a 95% confidence level in its effect on ethanol production. Oxalic acid and reaction time were statistically significant at the 90% level. The highest ethanol concentration (20 g/l) was obtained after 48 h with an ethanol volumetric production rate of 0.42 g ethanol l−1 h−1. The ethanol yield after SSF with P. stipitis was significantly higher than predicted by sequential saccharification and fermentation of substrate pretreated under the same condition. This was attributed to the secretion of β-glucosidase by P. stipitis. During SSF, free extracellular β-glucosidase activity was 1.30 pNPG U/g with P. stipitis, while saccharification without the yeast was 0.66 pNPG U/g.

Survival analysis is useful in clinical research because it focuses on comparing the survival distributions and the identification of risk factors. Our aim in this study was to investigate the survival characteristics and risk factors of orthodontic mini-implants with survival analyses.One hundred forty-one orthodontic patients (treated from October 1, 2000, to November 29, 2007) were included in this survival study. A total of 260 orthodontic mini-implants that had sandblasted (large grit) and acid-etched screw parts were placed between the maxillary second premolar and the first molar. Failures of the implants were recorded as event data, whereas implants that were removed because treatment ended and those that were not removed during the study period were recorded as censored data. A nonparametric life table method was used to visualize the hazard function, and Kaplan-Meier survival curves were generated to identify the variables associated with implant failure. Prognostic variables associated with implant failure were identified with the Cox proportional hazard model.Of the 260 implants, 22 failed. The hazard function for implant failure showed that the risk is highest immediately after placement. The survival function showed that the median survival time of orthodontic mini-implants is sufficient for relatively long orthodontic treatments. The Cox proportional hazard model identified that increasing age is a decisive factor for implant survival.The decreasing pattern of the hazard function suggested gradual osseointegration of orthodontic mini-implants. When implants are placed in a young patient, special caution is needed to lessen the increased probability of failure, especially immediately after placement.

Surgical indications to prevent systemic embolism in infective endocarditis (IE) remain controversial. We sought to compare clinical outcomes of early surgery with conventional treatment in IE patients with embolic indications only.From 1998 to 2006, we prospectively enrolled 132 consecutive patients (86 men; age, 49±17 years) with definite IE. Patients were included if they had a left-sided native valve endocarditis with vegetation. The choice of early surgery or conventional treatment was at the discretion of attending physician. Early surgery was performed on 64 patients (OP group) within 7 days of diagnosis, and conventional management was chosen for 68 patients (CONV group). The OP group had larger vegetations and a higher percentage of patients with severe valvular disease (88% versus 62%, P=0.001). During initial hospitalization, there were no embolic events and 2 in-hospital deaths in the OP group and 14 embolic events and 2 in-hospital deaths in the CONV group. During a median follow-up of 1402 days, there were 2 cardiovascular deaths, 2 embolic events, and 1 recurrence of IE in the CONV group, and 1 cardiovascular death and 2 embolic events in the OP group. The 5-year event-free survival rate was significantly higher in the OP group (93±3%) than in the CONV group (73±5%, P=0.0016). For 44 propensity score-matched pairs, the OP group had a lower event rate (hazard ratio, 0.18; P=0.007).Compared with conventional treatment, an early surgery strategy is associated with improved clinical outcomes by effectively decreasing systemic embolism in patients with IE.

Gefitinib was compared with pemetrexed as second-line therapy in a clinically selected population previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy.A phase 3 trial of gefitinib (250 mg/day) versus pemetrexed (500 mg/m(2) on day 1, every 3 weeks) was conducted in patients who had never smoked and who had advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma treated with 1 previous platinum-based regimen. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS).A total of 135 patients were analyzed. The gefitinib group had significantly longer PFS compared with the pemetrexed group, with a median PFS time of 9.0 versus 3.0 months (P = .0006). The objective response rates were 58.8% and 22.4% for gefitinib and pemetrexed, respectively (P < .001). However, there was no statistically significant difference in overall survival between the 2 groups (22.2 vs 18.9 months; P = .37). The difference of PFS was increased in a subgroup analysis of 33 patients with activating epidermal growth factor receptor mutation (15.7 vs 2.9 months; hazard ratio, 0.3; 95% confidence interval, 0.13-0.72; P = .005), with numerical superiority of gefitinib in the 38 patients testing negative for epidermal growth factor receptor mutation (5.9 vs 2.7 months; P = .099). Both regimens were well tolerated. There were no significantly different changes in quality of life between the 2 groups, except that symptom scores for dyspnea and diarrhea favored the gefitinib and pemetrexed arms, respectively.Gefitinib showed superior efficacy to pemetrexed as second-line therapy in Korean never-smokers with pulmonary adenocarcinoma.

We aimed to define the relationship between cerebral atherosclerosis and stroke after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).Although cerebral atherosclerosis may play a crucial role in the advent of post-CABG stroke, only extracranial carotid artery disease has been extensively studied, and the effects of atherosclerosis on the mechanisms underlying post-CABG stroke remain unclear.Pre-operative magnetic resonance angiography was performed on 1,367 consecutive CABG patients to assess intracranial and extracranial cerebral atherosclerosis. Disease severity was evaluated by atherosclerosis score, as determined by the number of steno-occlusions of cerebral arteries and the degree thereof. Post-CABG strokes (within 14 days) were classified as atherosclerotic (strokes attributable to pre-defined atherosclerosis) or other (strokes caused by other mechanisms). Associations between post-CABG stroke and each type of atherosclerotic disease (extracranial carotid artery disease, intracranial, extracranial, or extracranial and/or intracranial cerebral atherosclerosis), differentiated according to the involved arteries, were analyzed.Stroke occurred in 33 patients, and the atherosclerosis score was independently associated with stroke development (odds ratio: 1.35; 95% confidence interval: 1.16 to 1.56). Atherosclerotic stroke was defined in 15 (45%), and constituted >40% of both immediate (within 24 h) and delayed strokes. Intracranial, extracranial, and extracranial and/or intracranial cerebral atherosclerosis were significantly associated with stroke.Cerebral atherosclerosis was closely related to the occurrence of post-CABG stroke, being both an independent risk factor for and the cause of a significant proportion of strokes. Pre-operative evaluation of intracranial and extracranial cerebral arteries, apart from the extracranial carotid artery, may be useful to predict the likelihood of post-CABG stroke.

The integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) is getting much more attention due to the rich reserves of coal around the world. In general, the absorption rate of a physical method such as the IGCC system is weaker than that of a chemical method, but it needs much less energy during the regeneration process. In this study, the main objective is to estimate the performance enhancement for CO2 gas absorption and regeneration by using SiO2/DI water and Al2O3/DI water nanofluids. The key parameters are the concentrations of SiO2 and Al2O3 nanoparticles and the system pressure during the regeneration process. It is found that the maximum CO2 absorption and regeneration performance enhancements are 23.5% and 11.8% at 0.01 vol% of SiO2 nanoparticles, respectively. However, in the case of Al2O3 nanoparticles, the CO2 absorption performance increases 23.5% at 0.01 vol%, but the regeneration performance decreases 11.2% at 0.01 vol%, respectively. The enhancement mechanisms for CO2 absorption and regeneration by nanoparticles are summarized and proposed in this study.

Purpose: Adoptive cell immunotherapy involves an ex vivo expansion of autologous cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells before their reinfusion into the host.We evaluated the efficacy and safety of CIK cell immunotherapy with radiotherapytemozolomide (TMZ) for the treatment of newly diagnosed glioblastomas.Experimental design: In this multi-center, open-label, phase 3 study, we randomly assigned patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma to receive CIK cell immunotherapy combined with standard TMZ chemoradiotherapy (CIK immunotherapy group) or standard TMZ chemoradiotherapy alone (control group).The efficacy endpoints were analyzed in the intention-to-treat set and in the per protocol set.Results: Between December 2008 and October 2012, a total of 180 patients were randomly assigned to the CIK immunotherapy (n = 91) or control group (n = 89).In the intention-to-treat analysis set, median PFS was 8.1 months (95% confidence interval (CI), 5.8 to 8.5 months) in the CIK immunotherapy group, as compared to 5.4 months (95% CI, 3.3 to 7.9 months) in the control group (one-sided log-rank, p = 0.0401).Overall survival did not differ significantly between two groups.Grade 3 or higher adverse events, health-related quality of life and performance status between two groups did not show a significant difference.Conclusions: The addition of CIK cells immunotherapy to standard chemoradiotherapy with TMZ improved PFS.However, the CIK immunotherapy group did not show evidence of a beneficial effect on overall survival.

This study sought to compare long-term survival after off- and on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).Although several large-scale clinical trials have compared the surgical outcomes between off- and on-pump CABG, the long-term survival has not been compared between the 2 surgical strategies in a reasonably sized cohort.We evaluated long-term survival data in 5,203 patients (age 62.9 ± 9.1 years, 1,340 females) who underwent elective isolated CABG (off-pump: n = 2,333; on-pump: n = 2,870) from 1989 through 2012. Vital statuses were validated using the Korean National Registry of Vital Statistics. Long-term survival was compared with the use of propensity scores and inverse probability weighting to adjust selection bias.Patients undergoing on-pump CABG had a higher number of distal anastomoses than those undergoing off-pump CABG (3.7 ± 1.2 vs. 3.0 ± 1.1; p < 0.001). Survival data were complete in 5,167 patients (99.3%), with a median follow-up duration of 6.4 years (interquartile range: 3.7 to 10.5 years; maximum 23.1 years). During follow-up, 1,181 patients (22.7%) died. After adjustment, both groups of patients showed a similar risk of death at 30 days (odds ratio: 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.35 to 1.40; p = 0.31) and up to 1 year (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.11; 95% CI: 0.74 to 1.65; p = 0.62). For overall mortality, however, patients undergoing off-pump CABG were at a significantly higher risk of death (HR: 1.43; 95% CI: 1.19 to 1.71; p < 0.0001) compared with those undergoing on-pump CABG. In subgroup analyses, on-pump CABG conferred survival benefits in most demographic, clinical, and anatomic subgroups compared with off-pump CABG.In patients undergoing elective isolated CABG, on-pump strategy conferred a long-term survival advantage compared with off-pump strategy.

Ever since a new energy harvesting technology, known as a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), was reported in 2012, the rapid development of device fabrication techniques and mechanical system designs have considerably made the instantaneous output power increase up to several tens of mW/cm2. With this innovative technology, a lot of researchers experimentally demonstrated that various portable/wearable devices could be operated without any external power. This article provides a comprehensive review of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-based polymers as effective dielectrics in TENGs for further increase of the output power to speed up commercialization of the TENGs, as well as the fundamental issues regarding the materials. In the end, we will also review PVDF-based sensors based on the triboelectric and piezoelectric effects of the PVDF polymers.

Our earlier multicenter randomized controlled trial showed that adjuvant immunotherapy with cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells resulted in longer recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) as well in patients who received curative treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In the present study, we determined if the efficacy of CIK cell therapy continued after end of repeated CIK cell injections. We performed a follow-up study of our preceding trial. We included 226 patients: 114 patients in the immunotherapy group (injection of 6.4 × 109 CIK cells, 16 times during 60 weeks) and 112 patients in the control group (no treatment) after potentially curative treatment for HCC. In total, 162 patients (89 of the immunotherapy group and 73 of controls) underwent an extended follow-up for 60 months after randomization of the last patient. The primary endpoint was RFS, and secondary endpoints included OS. During follow-up time of median 68.5 months (interquartile range 45.0–82.2 months), the immunotherapy group continued to show a significantly lower risk of recurrence or death [hazard ratio (HR) 0.67; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.48–0.94; P = 0.009 by one-sided log-rank test]. At 5 years, RFS rate was 44.8% in the immunotherapy group and 33.1% in the control group. The risk of all-cause death was also lower in the immunotherapy group compared to the control group (HR 0.33; 95% CI 0.15–0.76; P = 0.006). In patients who received curative treatment for HCC, the significant improvement in RFS and OS as a result of adjuvant CIK cell immunotherapy lasted over 5 years without boosting.

The pathophysiology of ischemic acute kidney injury (AKI) is thought to include a complex interplay between vascular endothelial cell dysfunction, inflammation, and tubular cell damage. Several lines of evidence suggest a potential anti-inflammatory effect of vitamin D in various kidney injury models. In this study, we investigated the effect of paricalcitol, a synthetic vitamin D analog, on renal inflammation in a mouse model of ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) induced acute kidney injury (AKI). Paricalcitol was administered via intraperitoneal (IP) injection at 24 h before ischemia, and then I/R was performed through bilateral clamping of the renal pedicles. Twenty-four hours after I/R, mice were sacrificed for the evaluation of injury and inflammation. Additionally, an in vitro experiment using HK-2 cells was also performed to examine the direct effect of paricalcitol on tubular cells. Pre-treatment with paricalcitol attenuated functional deterioration and histological damage in I/R induced AKI, and significantly decreased tissue neutrophil and macrophage infiltration and the levels of chemokines, the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1). It also decreased IR-induced upregulation of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), and nuclear translocation of p65 subunit of NF-κB. Results from the in vitro study showed pre-treatment with paricalcitol suppressed the TNF-α-induced depletion of cytosolic IκB in HK-2 cells. These results demonstrate that pre-treatment with paricalcitol has a renoprotective effect in ischemic AKI, possibly by suppressing TLR4-NF-κB mediated inflammation.

To determine the impact of noise on heart rate variability (HRV) in men, with a focus on the noise type rather than on noise intensity.Forty college-going male volunteers were enrolled in this study and were randomly divided into four groups according to the type of noise they were exposed to: background, traffic, speech, or mixed (traffic and speech) noise. All groups except the background group (35 dB) were exposed to 45 dB sound pressure levels. We collected data on age, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and disease status from responses to self-reported questionnaires and medical examinations. We also measured HRV parameters and blood pressure levels before and after exposure to noise. The HRV parameters were evaluated while patients remained seated for 5 minutes, and frequency and time domain analyses were then performed.After noise exposure, only the speech noise group showed a reduced low frequency (LF) value, reflecting the activity of both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The low-to-high frequency (LF/HF) ratio, which reflected the activity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), became more stable, decreasing from 5.21 to 1.37; however, this change was not statistically significant.These results indicate that 45 dB(A) of noise, 10 dB(A) higher than background noise, affects the ANS. Additionally, the impact on HRV activity might differ according to the noise quality. Further studies will be required to ascertain the role of noise type.

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid that is essential in brain development and has structural and signaling roles. Acute DHA administration is neuroprotective and promotes functional recovery in animal models of adult spinal cord injury (SCI). However, the mechanisms underlying this recovery have not been fully characterized. Here we investigated the effects of an acute intravenous bolus of DHA delivered after SCI and characterized DHA-induced neuroplasticity within the adult injured spinal cord. We found robust sprouting of uninjured corticospinal and serotonergic fibers in a rat cervical hemisection SCI model. A mouse pyramidotomy model was used to confirm that this robust sprouting was not species or injury model specific. Furthermore, we demonstrated that corticospinal fibers sprouting to the denervated side of the cord following pyramidotomy contact V2a interneurons. We also demonstrated increased serotonin fibers and synaptophysin in direct contact with motor neurons. DHA also increased synaptophysin in rat cortical cell cultures. A reduction in phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) has been shown to be involved in axonal regeneration and synaptic plasticity. We showed that DHA significantly upregulates miR-21 and downregulates PTEN in corticospinal neurons. Downregulation of PTEN and upregulation of phosphorylated AKT by DHA were also seen in primary cortical neuron cultures and were accompanied by increased neurite outgrowth. In summary, acute DHA induces anatomical and synaptic plasticity in adult injured spinal cord. This study shows that DHA has therapeutic potential in cervical SCI and provides evidence that DHA could exert its beneficial effects in SCI via enhancement of neuroplasticity.In this study, we show that an acute intravenous injection of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) 30 min after spinal cord injury induces neuroplasticity. We found robust sprouting of uninjured corticospinal and serotonergic fibers in a rat hemisection spinal cord injury model. A mouse pyramidotomy model was used to confirm that the robust sprouting involved V2a interneurons. We show that DHA significantly upregulates miR-21 and phosphorylated AKT, and downregulates phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), which is involved in suppressing anatomical plasticity, in corticospinal neurons and in primary cortical neuron cultures. We conclude that acute DHA can induce anatomical and synaptic plasticity. This provides direct evidence that DHA could exert its beneficial effects in spinal cord injury via neuroplasticity enhancement.

Chemical treatments were used to synthesize high-purity silica from rice husk. A comparative study was carried out by using four chemicals: sulfuric acid, hydrogen chloride, oxalic acid, and ionic liquid (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate). The ash content significantly increased in sulfuric-acid and the ionic liquid treatments with the removal of both cellulose and hemicellulose. Drastic increases of silica purity were observed in samples treated with sulfuric acid and the ionic liquid at 99.6% and 99.5%, respectively. Furthermore, the ionic liquid treatment increased the surface area and pore volume by 1.9 times and 2.4 times, respectively, with respect to the sample not subjected to chemical treatment.

The establishment of reliable markers to monitor adequate tissue perfusion during extracorporeal life support is clinically important to improve outcomes.We evaluated 115 consecutive adult patients (aged 61.7 ± 13.4 years, 59 female patients) undergoing extracorporeal life support to manage low cardiac output syndrome after major cardiac surgery. The blood lactate levels serially measured during extracorporeal life support (at 6, 12, and 24 hours) were analyzed.Forty-seven patients (40.8%) were weaned off extracorporeal life support successfully, and 32 patients (27.8%) survived to discharge. On logistic regression analysis, a high blood lactate level before extracorporeal life support (relative risk [RR], 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06-1.34) and cardiopulmonary bypass weaning failure after surgery (RR, 4.39; 95% CI, 1.44-13.35) emerged as baseline risk factors of mortality. After adjustment with these factors, blood lactate levels at 6 hours (RR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.06-1.46), 12 hours (RR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.10-1.67), and 24 hours (RR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.10-1.93) were predictive of mortality. When the predictive values of serial blood lactate levels for mortality were assessed using the receiver operating characteristic method, the greatest accuracy was obtained at cutoff values of 7.05 mmol/L at 6 hours (sensitivity, 75.5%; specificity, 75.0%), 4.95 mmol/L at 12 hours (sensitivity, 70.4%; specificity, 76%), and 4.15 mmol/L at 24 hours (sensitivity, 62%; specificity, 93.1%).Blood lactate measurement can be used as a reliable tool for monitoring adequate tissue perfusion during extracorporeal life support and was strongly predictive of mortality. Therefore, in patients without adequate decrement in lactate levels during extracorporeal life support, potential factors responsible for inadequate perfusion should be identified and corrected.

In this study, supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry was applied to the profiling of several regioisomeric triacylglycerols (TAGs). SFC conditions (column, flow rate, modifier) were optimized for the effective separation of TAGs. In the column test, a triacontyl (C30) silica gel reversed-phase column was selected to separate TAG regioisomers. Multiple reaction monitoring was used to selectively quantify each TAG. Then, the method was used to perform detailed characterization of a diverse array of TAGs in palm and canola oils. Seventy TAGs (C46:0–C60:2) of these oils were successfully analyzed as a result, and twenty isomeric TAG pairs were separated well. In particular, this method provided the fast and high resolution separation of six regioisomeric TAG pairs (PPLn/PLnP, PPL/PLP, PPO/POP, SPLn/SLnP, SPO/SOP, SSO/SOS–stearic acid (S, 18:0), oleic acid (O, 18:1), linoleic acid (L, 18:2), linolenic acid (Ln, 18:3), palmitic acid (P, 16:0)) in a short time (50 min) as compared to high performance liquid chromatography. We were able to demonstrate the utility of this method for the analysis of regioisomeric TAGs in edible oils.

A new energy generating device, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), was discovered in 2012 and thereafter, many applications such as portable power sources and self-powered, appropriate for portable electronic devices. So far, rapid development of device fabrication technologies and mechanical system designs significantly increased the instantaneous output power up to several tens of mW/cm2. This article provides a comprehensive review of effective dielectrics used so far in TENGs for further enhancement in output power, as well as the fundamental issues regarding the materials. Finally, we show some strategies for obtaining the properties that the materials should have as effective dielectrics.

Asiatic acid (AA) is one of the major components of Titrated extract of Centella asiatica (TECA), which has been reported to possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective effect of AA on pulmonary inflammation induced by cigarette smoke (CS). AA significantly attenuated the infiltration of inflammatory cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of CS exposure mice. AA also decreased ROS production and NE activity, and inhibited the release of proinflammatory cytokines in BALF. AA reduced the recruitment of inflammatory cells and MCP-1 expression in lung tissue of CS exposure mice. AA also attenuated mucus overproduction, and decreased the activation of MAPKs and NF-kB in lung tissue. Furthermore, AA increased HO-1 expression and inhibited the reduced expression of SOD3 in lung tissue. These findings indicate that AA effectively inhibits pulmonary inflammatory response, which is an important process in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) via suppression of inflammatory mediators and induction of HO-1. Therefore, we suggest that AA has the potential to treat inflammatory disease such as COPD.

Abstract Lithium‐metal anode has fundamental problems concerning formation and growth of lithium dendrites, which prevents practical applications of next generation of high‐capacity lithium‐metal batteries. The synergistic combination of solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) crosslinked with naturally occurring terpenes and lithium‐powder anode is promising solution to resolve the dendrite issues by substituting conventional liquid electrolyte/separator and lithium‐foil anode system. A series of SPEs based on polysiloxane crosslinked with natural terpenes are prepared by facile thiol–ene click reaction under mild condition and the structural effect of terpene crosslinkers on electrochemical properties is studied. Lithium powder with large surface area is prepared by droplet emulsion technique (DET) and used as anode material. The effect of the physical state of electrolyte (solid/liquid) and morphology of lithium‐metal anode (powder/foil) on dendrite growth behavior is systematically studied. The synergistic combination of SPE and lithium‐powder anode suggests an effective solution to suppress the dendrite growth owing to the formation of a stable solid–electrolyte interface (SEI) layer and delocalized current density.

In this study, sequential leaching (60 °C, 5 min) and wet torrefaction (200 °C, 5 min) of biomass were carried out to improve the fuel properties of waste biomass, made up of empty fruit bunches (EFB), rice straws (RS), or sugarcane bagasses (SB). Most of the hemicellulose was removed during wet torrefaction. The ash removal efficiency by sequential leaching and wet torrefaction differed depending on the biomass. After leaching and wet torrefaction, the ash removal efficiency of the EFB was the highest (67.99%). Most of the potassium and chloride in the biomass were removed. In particular, the removal efficiencies for the EFB were the highest (98.62% and 99.27%, respectively). The heating values increased by 4.42% in the EFB, 4.68% in the RS, and 5.30% in the SB. Pellet production was successfully carried out with the leaching and wet-torrefied biomass (EFB). The hydrophobicity of the pellets was considerably higher than that of the raw material.