The purpose of this report was to present successful cases and technical notes of the patients with up migrated cervical disc herniation to the upper level who were successfully treated using ...anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF), describing the evaluation of treatment outcomes and perioperative complications. The cases of two patients who had ACDF in symptomatic up migrated cervical disc herniation to the upper level in February 2021 and November 2021 were reviewed. Two patients presented with a six-week history of posterior neck pain and radiating pain. Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) confirmed a diagnosis of up migrated cervical disc extrusion. The patients were admitted to Daegu Wooridul Spine Hospital in Daegu, Korea. ACDF was performed under general anesthesia. Treatment outcomes were examined by comparing pre and postoperative Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), and MRI. Treatment outcomes were favorable: posterior neck pain and radiating pain showed a significant reduction in NRS. Postoperative MRI showed that the up migrated discs were successfully removed in both cases. Neither patient developed perioperative complications. Anterior cervical discectomy can be feasible in patients with symptomatic up migrated cervical disc herniation to the upper level.
Biodegradable poly-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate-
-(R)-3-hydroxyhexanoates (PHBHx) have been widely studied for their applications in potentially replacing petroleum-based thermoplastics. In this study, the ...effect of the high molecular weight (
n = 3400) poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) blended in the films of PHBHx with different ratios of PEG was investigated using chemical FTIR imaging. Chemical IR images and FTIR spectra measured with increasing temperature revealed that PEG plays an important role in changing the kinetics of PHBHx crystallization. In addition, two-dimensional correlation spectra clearly showed that thermal properties of PHBHx/PEG blend film changed when the blending ratio of PHBHx/PEG were 60/40 and 50/50. Consequently, PEG leads to changes in the thermal behavior of PHBHx copolymers.
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Computing connected components is a core operation on graph data. Since billion-scale graphs cannot be resident in memory of a single server, several approaches based on distributed machines have ...recently been proposed. The representative methods are Hash-To-Min and PowerGraph. Hash-To-Min is the state-of-the art disk-based distributed method which minimizes the number of MapReduce rounds. PowerGraph is the-state-of-the-art in-memory distributed system, which is typically faster than the diskbased distributed one, however, requires a lot of machines for handling billion-scale graphs. In this paper, we propose an I/O efficient parallel algorithm for billion-scale graphs in a single PC. We first propose the Disk-based Sequential access-oriented Parallel processing (DSP) model that exploits sequential disk access in terms of disk I/Os and parallel processing in terms of computation. We then propose an ultra-fast disk-based parallel algorithm for computing connected components, DSP-CC, which largely improves the performance through sequential disk scan and page-level cache-conscious parallel processing. Extensive experimental results show that DSP-CC 1) computes connected components in billion-scale graphs using the limited memory size whereas in-memory algorithms can only support medium-sized graphs with the same memory size, and 2) significantly outperforms all distributed competitors as well as a representative disk-based parallel method.
It has been reported that a multiphase microstructure with bainite, martensite, and retained austenite obtained by austempering, or quenching and tempering of spring steel containing Si, Mn, and Cr ...exhibits high strength and ductility. However, little research has been conducted on the bainite formation and impact fracture behavior of next-generation spring steel from the perspective of engineering and industrial applications. The microstructural transformation characteristics of bainite and martensite related to the heat treatment cycle on the maker side were quantitatively analyzed using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses. Moreover, the effects and mechanical properties of bainite and martensite formation in response to changes in lath length and width were studied and analyzed. That is, to obtain the mechanical properties of spring steel with the highest quality, tensile and impact specimens, whose microstructure and notch shape change according to the heat-treatment cycle, were prepared and studied.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of age at onset of the first major depressive episode on the clinical features of individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) in a large ...cohort of Korean depressed patients.
We recruited 419 MDD patients of age over 18 years from the Clinical Research Center for Depression study in South Korea. At the start of the study, the onset age of the first major depressive episode was self-reported by the subjects. The subjects were divided into four age-at-onset subgroups: childhood and adolescent onset (ages <18), early adult onset (ages 18-44), middle adult onset (ages 45-59), and late onset (ages 60+). Using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and ordinal logistic regression analysis with adjusting the effect of age, the relationships between clinical features and age at onset of MDD were evaluated.
There was an apparent, but inconsistent correlation between clinical features and age at onset. Earlier onset MDD was significantly associated with higher proportion of female gender adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=0.570, p=0.022, more previous suicide attempts (AOR=0.635, p=0.038), greater number of previous depressive episodes (F=3.475, p=0.016) and higher scores on the brief psychiatric rating scale (F=3.254, p=0.022), its negative symptom subscale (F=6.082, p<0.0001), and the alcohol use disorder identification test (F=7.061, p<0.0001).
Early age at onset may increase the likelihood of distinguishable MDD subtype, and age at onset of the first major depressive episode is a promising clinical indicator for the clinical presentation, course, and outcome of MDD.
We hypothesized that most of the atypical femoral fractures (AFFs) associated with bisphosphonate treatment for breast cancer (BC) could be found before the fracture event in another radiological ...examination already performed by breast surgeons, rather than on simple radiographs (SRs).
We thoroughly inspected the clinical charts of BC patients treated at our institute between 2008 and 2017. In total, 228 patients were categorized into three groups based on SRs: complete AFF on at least one side (group 1); incomplete fracture on at least one side, but not any complete fracture (group 2); and no suspicious lesion (group X) on either femur. Then, we inspected whole-body scintigraphy (WBS) and positron emission tomography (PET)-computed tomography (CT) images in all groups. For group X, patients with radiological clues from at least one femur were categorized, ultimately, into final group 3 and the rest made up the normal group.
About 35% of the patients showed AFFs (complete or incomplete) or suspicious lesions as AFFs, associated with the side effect of Bisphosphonate. In group 1, bilateral lesions (complete or incomplete fractures) were more frequently seen on SRs than unilateral lesions (
= 0.008). The initially identified findings in WBS and PET-CT for the respective complete and incomplete fractures on SRs of groups 1 and 2 were seen at a mean of 7 months previously. SRs did not reveal the lesions in group 3 until 5 months after the initial identification of the lesions in WBS and PET-CT.
Even before incomplete AFFs were detectable on SRs, they could be found at check-ups using WBS and PET-CT that had been previously examined by breast surgeons and radiologists for metastasis surveillance. Awareness of the lesions creates an opportunity for prophylactic surgery before complete fractures occur.
In this study, an oxide reduction process and a reduction-sintering process were employed to synthesize a thermoelectric alloy from three thermoelectric composite oxide powders, and the ...thermoelectric properties were investigated as a function of the milling duration. Fine grain sizes were analyzed by via X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, to investigate the influence of the milling duration on the synthesized samples. It was found that microstructural changes, the Seebeck coefficient, and the electrical resistivity of the compounds were highly dependent on the sample milling duration. Additionally, the carrier concentration considerably increased in the samples milled for 6 h; this was attributed to the formation of antisite defects introduced by the accumulated thermal energy. Moreover, the highest value of ZT (=1.05) was achieved at 373K by the 6-h milled samples. The temperature at which the ZT value maximized varied according to the milling duration, which implies that the milling duration of the three thermoelectric composite oxide powders should be carefully optimized for their effective application.
Corresponding to the principles of biological synapses, an essential prerequisite for hardware neural networks using electronics devices is the continuous regulation of conductance. We implemented ...artificial synaptic characteristics in a (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM with a superlattice structure under optimized identical pulse trains. By atomically controlling the Ge switch in the phase transition that appears in the GeTe/Sb2Te3 superlattice structure, multiple conductance states were implemented by applying the appropriate electrical pulses. Furthermore, we found that the bidirectional switching behavior of a (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM can achieve a desired resistance level by using the pulse width. Therefore, we fabricated a Ge2Sb2Te5 PCM and designed a pulse scheme, which was based on the phase transition mechanism, to compare to the (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM. We also designed an identical pulse scheme that implements both linear and symmetrical LTP and LTD, based on the iPCM mechanism. As a result, the (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM showed relatively excellent synaptic characteristics by implementing a gradual conductance modulation, a nonlinearity value of 0.32, and 40 LTP/LTD conductance states by using identical pulse trains. Our results demonstrate the general applicability of the artificial synaptic device for potential use in neuro-inspired computing and next-generation, non-volatile memory.
•Solubility of cilostazol in aqueous polymer solution (PEG, PVP, PVPV/VA) was determined.•PVP/VA was the most effective polymer to solubilize cilostazol.•Calculation of thermodynamic properties of ...the solution process.
The solubilities of cilostazol in aqueous solutions containing polyethylene glycol 4000 (PEG 4000), polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG 6000), polyvinylpyrrolidone K30 (PVP K30), and poly(1-vinylpyrrolidone-co-vinyl acetate) (PVP/VA) are measured at temperatures ranging from 298.15 to 318.15K. It increased with the increase in the hydrophilic carrier concentration and temperature. PVP/VA was the most effective polymer to solubilize cilostazol. The transfer Gibbs free energy (ΔtrG°) and enthalpy (ΔtrH°) values were negative, indicating that the transfer of cilostazol from only water to an aqueous hydrophilic polymer solution is spontaneous and energetically favorable. Furthermore, the ΔtrG° and ΔtrH° values decreased with the increase in the hydrophilic polymer concentration, indicating that solubilization is more favorable with the increase in the hydrophilic polymer concentrations. In particular, the ΔtrG° values considerably decreased for PVP/VA compared to PEG 4000, PEG 6000, and PVP K30. This result indicated that PVP/VA is an effective solubilizing additive for developing oral solid formulations of cilostazol.
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Background: The conventional concept of positive association between general obesity and bone health was challenged in recent studies reporting the different effects of specific fat deposition on ...bone health. In the present study, we investigated the association between epicardial fat and bone health. Methods: We measured echocardiographic epicardial fat thickness (EFT) and bone mineral content (BMC) in a twin-family cohort of Koreans (n = 1,198; 525 men, 460 pre- and 213 post-menopausal women). A total 121 pairs of monozygotic twin (MZ) and 404 pairs of dizygotic twin and sibling pairs (DZ/Sib) were included. Results: EFT was positively associated with BMC in total, as well as in three subgroups (β = 0.107, 0.076, and 0.058 for men, pre-, and post-menopausal women, respectively). The positive association between EFT and BMC remained for DZ/Sib difference analysis, but was absent for MZ comparisons. The positive association between BMI and BMC was consistent for DZ/Sib and MZ difference analysis. After adjusting for the effect of general obesity via BMI, the association between BMC and EFT was statistically non-significant (β = 0.020, 0.000, and −0.009 for men, pre-, and post-menopausal women, respectively). Conclusion: Our findings do not support epicardial fat’s beneficial effects on bone health, whereas general adiposity has an osteotropic effect. The association between EFT and BMC is through common genetic component factors.
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