Summary
This study was performed to examine whether capsaicin, the main pungent ingredient of red peppers, exerts protective effects against testicular injuries induced by transient scrotal ...hyperthermia. Capsaicin (0.33 mg kg−1) was administered subcutaneously to mice one hour before heat stress (HS) in a 43°C water bath for 20 min. After 7 days, mice exposed to HS showed low testicular weight, severe vacuolisation of seminiferous tubules followed by loss of spermatogenic cells, and appearance of multinucleated giant cells and remarkable TUNEL‐positive apoptotic cells, as well as weak immunoreactivity of phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (PHGPx) in spermatogenic cells. Levels of lipid peroxidation and heat shock 70‐kDa protein 1 (Hsp72) and BCL2‐associated X protein (Bax) mRNA were greatly increased, but PHGPx, manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), and B‐cell lymphoma‐extra large (Bcl‐xL) mRNAs were significantly diminished in the testes by HS. However, capsaicin pre‐treatment significantly suppressed the spermatogenic cell death, oxidative stress (levels of MDA, PHGPx immunoreactivity, and Hsp72, PHGPx, and MnSOD mRNA) and apoptosis (levels of TUNEL‐positive cells, and Bcl‐xL and Bax mRNA) in testes by HS. These suggest that capsaicin has a protective effect against spermatogenic cell death induced by scrotal hyperthermia through its antioxidative and anti‐apoptotic activities.
The recent manufacturing trend toward mass customization and further personalization of products requires factories to be smarter than ever before in order to: (1) quickly respond to customer ...requirements, (2) resiliently retool machinery and adjust operational parameters for unforeseen system failures and product quality problems, and (3) retrofit old systems with upcoming new technologies. Furthermore, product lifecycles are becoming shorter due to unbounded and unpredictable customer requirements, thereby requiring reconfigurable and versatile manufacturing systems that underpin the basic building blocks of smart factories. This study introduces a modular factory testbed, emphasizing transformability and modularity under a distributed shop-floor control architecture. The main technologies and methods, being developed and verified through the testbed, are presented from the four aspects of rapid factory transformation: self-layout recognition, rapid workstation and robot reprogramming, inter-layer information sharing, and configurable software for shop-floor monitoring.
The long scan time of MR imaging is a major drawback limiting its clinical use in neuroimaging; therefore, we aimed to investigate the clinical feasibility of a 1-minute full-brain MR imaging using a ...multicontrast EPI sequence on a different MR imaging scanner than the ones previously reported.
We retrospectively reviewed the records of 146 patients who underwent a multicontrast EPI sequence, including T1-FLAIR, T2-FLAIR, T2WI, DWI, and T2*WI sequences. Two attending neuroradiologists assessed the image quality of each sequence to compare the multicontrast EPI sequence with routine MR imaging protocols. We used the Wilcoxon signed rank test and McNemar test to compare the 2 MR imaging protocols.
The multicontrast EPI sequence generally showed sufficient image quality of >2 points using a 4-point assessment scale. Regarding image quality and susceptibility artifacts, there was no significant difference between the multicontrast EPI sequence DWI and routine DWI (
> .05), attesting to noninferiority of the multicontrast EPI, whereas there were significant differences in the other 4 sequences between the 2 MR imaging protocols.
The multicontrast EPI sequence showed sufficient image quality for clinical use with a shorter scan time; however, it was limited by inferior image quality and frequent susceptibility artifacts compared with routine brain MR imaging. Therefore, the multicontrast EPI sequence cannot completely replace the routine MR imaging protocol at present; however, it may be a feasible option in specific clinical situations such as screening, time-critical diseases or for use with patients prone to motion.
Background
Despite the invention of various non‐invasive bioengineering tools, skin‐type analysis has largely been based on subjective assessments. However, advancements in the functional cosmetic ...industry and artificial intelligence‐assisted dermatology are creating a greater demand for an objective skin‐type classification system.
Objectives
To propose an objective skin‐type classification system solely based on non‐invasive, bioengineering devices; provide reference values applicable to the Korean population; and compare our reference values with those of published studies.
Methods
Biophysical parameter measurements were obtained from the 2018 International Skin Characteristics Data Bank Project conducted by the Foundation of Korea Cosmetic Industry Institute. The participants were 434 healthy South Korean adults. Each participant was assessed using eight bioengineering devices (Tewameter®, pH‐meter®, Corneometer®, Sebumeter®, Cutometer®, Spectrophotometer®, PRIMOS® lite, and Janus®). The measurements were divided into tertiles to determine reference points.
Results
Our objective skin‐type classification consists of five main categories (sensitivity, hydration, oiliness, elasticity, and skin tone) and five corresponding subcategories (erythema, roughness, pores, wrinkles, and pigmentation, respectively). Each skin type was assigned based on the reference point of the biophysical parameter, which was established as the tertile value associated with ‘unfavourable’ skin characteristics. Individuals were categorized as having sensitive skin when the TEWL scores were over 18.0 g/m2/h or the pH was over 5.45; dehydrated skin when the corneometric value measured below 47.17 A.U.; oily skin when the sebumetric value exceeded 70 μg/cm2; and loose skin when the cutometric R2 value was below 0.68 E/mm.
Conclusions
This study is the first to provide a comprehensive skin‐type classification system based solely on non‐invasive biophysical parameters. As measurement data accumulate, the reference points will progress to become more accurate, and they will be subdivided according to gender, age, and ethnic group. Therefore, our classification system serves as a basis for artificial intelligence‐based skin‐type analysis.
Rectal carcinoids are low-grade malignancies that are usually treated by endoscopic resection. However, on pathologic examination, resection margins that are positive for carcinoid cells are ...frequently found. Patient outcomes were reviewed after endoscopic resection of rectal carcinoids and the clinical significance of possible residual disease, as defined by pathologic and endoscopic examination, was evaluated.
The medical records and endoscopic findings of 347 patients presenting with rectal carcinoids to 14 university hospitals in Korea between January 1999 and June 2007 were retrospectively analyzed.
A total of 304 patients were treated with endoscopic resection, and 43 patents were treated with surgery. In the endoscopic resection group, the complete resection rate was 88.2% based on endoscopic appearance (CR-E) and 60.2% based on pathologic evaluation (CR-P). The agreement between CR-E and CR-P was low (κ=0.192). No residual tumors were found in 77 of 85 patients (90.6%) who were CR-E but not CR-P and who had endoscopic biopsy taken at 24-month follow-up. The receiver-operating characteristic curve identified an optimal cut-off value of 10.5 mm, at which the sensitivity and the specificity for metastasis were 100% and 89%, respectively. The risk factors for metastasis by multivariate analysis were tumor size, increased mitotic rate, and lymphovascular invasion.
Endoscopic resection is a safe and effective modality for treating well-differentiated rectal carcinoids smaller than 10 mm in diameter. Discrepancies were observed between CR-E and CR-P. The risk factors for metastasis were tumor size, increased mitotic rate, and lymphovascular invasion.
Conventional MR imaging techniques cannot produce optimal images of bone structures because bone has little water and a very short T2 life span. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical ...feasibility of skull MR imaging using the zero TE sequence in patients with head trauma by assessing its diagnostic image quality and quantitative measurement compared with CT images.
Thirteen enrolled patients with head trauma were assessed using brain CT and skull MR imaging. Image quality was graded on a 5-point Likert scale to compare the 2 modalities. To evaluate quantitative analyses between the 2 imaging modalities, we measured skull thickness and normalized bone tissue signal. Interobserver reliability was assessed using weighted κ statistics and the intraclass correlation coefficient.
Both imaging techniques clearly depicted skull fractures in all 13 patients. The mean scores for skull MR imaging and CT were 4.65 ± 0.56 and 4.73 ± 0.45 (
= .157), respectively, with substantial interobserver agreement (
< .05). The 2 imaging modalities showed no difference in skull thickness (
= .092) and had good correlation (
= 0.997). The mean value of normalized bone tissue signal among the 3 layers of the skull was relatively consistent (
= .401) with high interobserver agreement (
< .001).
Zero TE skull MR imaging has diagnostic image quality comparable with that of CT images. It also provides consistent results on the quantitative measurement of cortical bone with CT images.
Summary
Length‐weight relationships of 18 freshwater fish species from the Nakdong River in South Korea are presented. Length‐weight relationship data for 10 of these species were not available ...previously.
To evaluate the clinical efficacy of adding temozolomide (TMZ) to preoperative capecitabine (CAP)-based chemoradiotherapy in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) and validate O
...-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) methylation status as a predictive marker for TMZ combined regimens.
LARC patients with clinical stage II (cT3-4N0) or III (cT
N+) disease were enrolled. They were stratified into unmethylated MGMT (uMGMT) and methylated MGMT (mMGMT) groups by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction before randomisation and were then randomly assigned (1:1) to one of four treatment arms: uMGMT/CAP (arm A), uMGMT/TMZ + CAP (arm B), mMGMT/CAP (arm C) and mMGMT/TMZ + CAP (arm D). The primary end point was the pathological complete response (pCR) rate.
Between November 2017 and July 2020, 64 patients were randomised. Slow accrual caused early study termination. After excluding four ineligible patients, 60 were included in the full analysis set. The pCR rate was 15.0% (9/60), 0%, 14.3%, 18.8% and 26.7% for the entire cohort, arms A, B, C and D, respectively (P = 0.0498 between arms A and D). The pCR rate was 9.7% in the CAP group (arms A + C), 20.7% in the TMZ + CAP group (arms B + D), 6.9% in the uMGMT group (arms A + B) and 22.6% in the mMGMT group (arms C + D). Grade 1-2 nausea or vomiting was significantly more frequent in the TMZ + CAP treatment groups (arms B + D) than in the CAP treatment groups (arms A + C, P < 0.001) with no difference in grade 3 adverse events. There were no grade 4 or 5 adverse events.
The addition of TMZ to CAP-based chemoradiotherapy tended to improve pCR rates, particularly in those with mMGMT LARC. MGMT status may warrant further investigation as a predictive biomarker for chemotherapeutic agents and radiotherapy.
Amyloid proteins, implicated in numerous aging-related diseases, possess remarkable mechanical properties. Polymorphism leads to different arrangements of β sheets in amyloid fibrils, which changes ...the characteristics of the hydrogen bond network that determines their mechanical properties and structural characteristics. We performed bending simulations using molecular dynamics methods under constant-velocity conditions in different bending directions. Two different fibril structures, parallel/homo and parallel/hetero, of hIAPP amyloids were considered. Though the bending configuration influences the toughness of the material, our results indicate that the basic material behavior is affected by the β-sheet arrangement that is determined by the type of polymorphism in amyloid fibrils.
Amyloid proteins, implicated in numerous aging-related diseases possess remarkable mechanical properties and various material responses.
In this paper, in order to apply the concept of IVI-octahedron sets to MCDGM problems, we define some aggregation operators via IVI-octahedron sets and obtain some their properties. We define some ...aggregation operators via IVI-octahedron sets and obtain some their properties. We present a MCGDM method with linguistic variables in IVI-octahedron set environment. Finally, we give a numerical examples for MCGDM problems.
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