The strong optical scattering of biological tissue confounds our ability to focus light deeply into the brain beyond depths of a few hundred microns. This challenge can be potentially overcome by ...exploiting wavefront shaping techniques which allow light to be focused through or inside scattering media. However, these techniques require the scattering medium to be static, as changes in the arrangement of the scatterers between the wavefront recording and playback steps reduce the fidelity of the focus that is formed. Furthermore, as the thickness of the scattering medium increases, the influence of the dynamic nature becomes more severe due to the growing number of scattering events experienced by each photon. In this paper, by examining the scattering dynamics in the mouse brain
via multispeckle diffusing wave spectroscopy (MSDWS) using a custom fiber probe that simulates a point-like source within the brain, we investigate the relationship between this decorrelation time and the depth of the point-like light source inside the living mouse brain at depths up to 3.2 mm.
The incidences of various esophageal diseases (e.g., congenital esophageal stenosis, tracheoesophageal fistula, esophageal atresia, esophageal cancer) are increasing, but esophageal tissue is ...difficult to be recovered because of its weak regenerative capability. There are no commercialized off-the-shelf alternatives to current esophageal reconstruction and regeneration methods. Surgeons usually use ectopic conduit tissues including stomach and intestine, presumably inducing donor site morbidity and severe complications. To date, polymer-based esophageal substitutes have been studied as an alternative. However, the fabrication techniques are nearly limited to creating only cylindrical outer shapes with the help of additional apparatus (e.g., mandrels for electrospinning) and are unable to recapitulate multi-layered characteristic or complex-shaped inner architectures. 3D bioprinting is known as a suitable method to fabricate complex free-form tubular structures with desired pore characteristic. In this study, we developed a extrusion-based 3D printing technique to control the size and the shape of the pore in a single extrusion process, so that the fabricated structure has a higher flexibility than that fabricated in the conventional process. Based on this suggested technique, we developed a bioprinted 3D esophageal structure with multi-layered features and converged with biochemical microenvironmental cues of esophageal tissue by using decellularizedbioinks from mucosal and muscular layers of native esophageal tissues. The two types of esophageal tissue derived-decellularized extracellular matrix bioinks can mimic the inherent components and composition of original tissues with layer specificity. This structure can be applied to full-thickness circumferential esophageal defects and esophageal regeneration.
To assess the psychometric properties of the Brief PREPARED (B-PREPARED) and the Care Transitions Measure (CTM) in patients discharged from hospitals in Korea, and examine their relationships with ...health literacy.
A cross-sectional study with a follow-up telephone survey 4 weeks post-discharge.
Six medical and surgical wards in a tertiary hospital in Seoul.
293 patients discharged from general wards.
Psychometric properties of the Korean versions of the B-PREPARED and the 15- and 3-item CTM (CTM-15 and CTM-3), and the 3-item Brief Screening Questionnaire for health literacy.
All instruments discriminated well between patients who were satisfied with hospital care and the discharge process, and those who were not. One month post-discharge, the CTM-15 score was significantly higher in patients with good health status than the others, and the CTM-3 score was significantly higher in patients who used outpatient care than the others. However, no significant difference was found in the scores for all instruments by emergency department visits, rehospitalization, and medication adherence. Cronbach's alpha values were 0.69 for B-PREPARED, 0.91 for CTM-15 and 0.67 for CTM-3. Intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.64, 0.75 and 0.66, respectively. Approximately 33% of the participants had limited health literacy. After adjusting for other patient variables, those with inadequate health literacy had lower scores on all instruments.
Although the three instruments had acceptable validity and reliability, they showed limited criterion validity. Patients with limited health literacy should be supported to ensure the quality of transitional care.
Intestinal epithelial cells are adapted in mucosal hypoxia and hypoxia-inducible factors in these cells can fortify barrier integrity to support mucosal tissue healing. Here we investigated whether ...hypoxia-related pathways could be proposed as potential therapeutic targets for inflammatory bowel disease. We developed a novel hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor, CG-598 which stabilized HIF-1α in the gut tissue. Treatment of CG-598 did not affect extra-intestinal organs or cause any significant adverse effects such as erythropoiesis. In the experimental murine colitis model, CG-598 ameliorated intestinal inflammation with reduction of inflammatory lesions and pro-inflammatory cytokines. CG-598 treatment fortified barrier function by increasing the expression of intestinal trefoil factor, CD73, E-cadherin and mucin. Also, IL-10 and IL-22 were induced from lamina propria CD4
T-cells. The effectiveness of CG-598 was comparable to other immunosuppressive therapeutics such as TNF-blockers or JAK inhibitors. These results suggest that CG-598 could be a promising therapeutic candidate to treat inflammatory bowel disease.
Mucus hyperproduction and hypersecretion are observed often in respiratory diseases. MUC8 is a glycoprotein synthesized by epithelial cells and generally expressed in the respiratory track. However, ...the physiological mechanism by which extracellular nucleotides induce
gene expression in human airway epithelial cells is unclear. Here, we show that UTP could induce
gene expression through P2Y2-PLCβ3-Ca
activation. Because the full-length cDNA sequence of
has not been identified, a specific siRNA-
was designed based on the partial cDNA sequence of
. siRNA-
significantly increased TNF-α production and decreased IL-1Ra production, suggesting that MUC8 may downregulate UTP/P2Y2-induced airway inflammation. Interestingly, the PDZ peptide of ZO-1 protein strongly abolished UTP-induced TNF-α production and increased IL-1Ra production and
gene expression. In addition, the PDZ peptide dramatically increased the levels of UTP-induced ZO proteins and TEER (trans-epithelial electrical resistance). These results show that the anti-inflammatory mucin MUC8 may contribute to homeostasis, and the PDZ peptide can be a novel therapeutic candidate for UTP-induced airway inflammation.
In this letter, we propose a self-refresh multi-level memory-in-pixel circuit for reflective low-power liquid crystal displays comprising oxide thin film transistors. In the absence of image update, ...dynamic power consumption can be minimized by integrating memory cell. The memory cell comprises only two transistors and one capacitor, which are suitable for high-resolution displays. Measurement results verify that the proposed circuit achieves 3-bit grayscale display operating at 1 Hz. Moreover, the proposed circuit consumes only 1.72 % of dynamic power compared to the conventional one. Thus, the proposed circuit is expected to simultaneously achieve high performance and low power consumption.
•The impact of vancomycin resistance in enterococcal bacteremia is controversial.•Monomicrobial Enterococcus faecium bacteremia was collected through multicenter surveillance.•Vancomycin resistance ...was independently associated with all-cause mortality.•Pitt score and inappropriate definitive antibiotics were associated with mortality.•Further efforts must be made to mitigate the spread of vancomycin-resistant enterococci and to improve therapy.
It is unclear whether the poor outcome of patients with severe vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) infection is attributable to vancomycin resistance or to Enterococcus faecium (Efm), which predominates among VRE.
Retrospective study of a prospectively identified cohort from nationwide surveillance. A cohort of consecutive, nonduplicate episodes of monomicrobial bloodstream infections (BSIs) caused by Efm in 2016 was selected. The primary outcome was all-cause, 30-day, in-hospital mortality. Inverse probability weighting was applied using the propensity score for vancomycin-resistant Efm (VREfm) BSI.
A total of 241 Efm BSI episodes were included, of which 59 (24.5%) were VREfm. Patients with VREfm BSI were younger but had similar comorbidities to those with vancomycin-sensitive Efm (VSEfm) BSI. Multivariable logistic regression revealed that younger age, previous piperacillin-tazobactam use, and steroid use were significant risk factors for VREfm BSI, but 30-day in-hospital mortality did not differ significantly between groups (35.6% and 23.6% for VREfm and VSEfm, respectively; odds ratio, 1.79; 95% confidence interval, 0.95-3.37; P = 0.101). However, Cox regression with inverse probability weighting revealed that vancomycin resistance was independently associated with an increased risk of mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.18; 95% confidence interval, 1.03-4.62; P = 0.041).
In patients with Efm BSI, vancomycin resistance was independently associated with mortality.
In 2015, a large outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) occurred in the Republic of Korea. Half of the cases were associated with a tertiary care university hospital.
To document the ...outbreak and successful control measures.
Descriptive study.
A 1950-bed tertiary care university hospital.
92 patients with laboratory-confirmed MERS and 9793 exposed persons.
Description of the outbreak, including a timeline, and evaluation of the effectiveness of the control measures.
During the outbreak, 92 laboratory-confirmed MERS cases were associated with a large tertiary care hospital, 82 of which originated from unprotected exposure to 1 secondary patient. Contact tracing and monitoring exposed patients and assigned health care workers were at the core of the control measures in the outbreak. Nontargeted screening measures, including body temperature screening among employees and visitors at hospital gates, monitoring patients for MERS-related symptoms, chest radiographic screening, and employee symptom monitoring, did not detect additional patients with MERS without existing transmission links. All in-hospital transmissions originated from 3 patients with MERS who also had pneumonia and productive cough.
This was a retrospective single-center study. Statistical analysis could not be done. Because this MERS outbreak originated from a superspreader, effective control measures could differ in endemic areas or in other settings.
Control strategies for MERS outbreaks should focus on tracing contacts of persons with epidemiologic links. Adjusting levels of quarantine and personal protective equipment according to the assumed infectivity of each patient with MERS may be appropriate.
Samsung Biomedical Research Institute.
Dry eye syndrome is one of the most common ocular diseases, and meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) is the leading cause of evaporative dry eye syndrome. When the tear film lipid layer becomes thin due ...to obstructive or hyposecretory meibomian gland dysfunction, the excessive evaporation of the aqueous layer can occur, and this causes evaporative dry eye syndrome. Thus, measuring the lipid layer thickness (LLT) is essential for accurate diagnosis and proper treatment of evaporative dry eye syndrome.
We used a white LED panel with a slit lamp microscope to obtain videos of the lipid layer interference patterns on the cornea. To quantitatively analyze the LLT from interference colors, we developed a novel algorithm that can automatically perform the following processes on an image frame: determining the radius of the iris, locating the center of the pupil, defining region of interest (ROI), tracking the ROI, compensating for the color of iris and illumination, and producing comprehensive analysis output. A group of dry eye syndrome patients with hyposecretory MGD, dry eye syndrome without MGD, hypersecretory MGD, and healthy volunteers were recruited. Their LLTs were analyzed and statistical information-mean and standard deviation, the relative frequency of LLT at each time point, and graphical LLT visualization-were produced.
Using our algorithm, we processed the lipid layer interference pattern and automatically analyzed the LLT distribution of images from patients. The LLT of hyposecretory MGD was thinner (45.2 ± 11.6 nm) than that of dry eye syndrome without MGD (69.0 ± 9.4 nm) and healthy volunteers (68.3 ± 13.7 nm) while the LLT of hypersecretory MGD was thicker (93.5 ± 12.6 nm) than that of dry eye syndrome without MGD. Patients' LLTs were statistically analyzed over time, visualized with 3D surface plots, and displayed using 3D scatter plots of image pixel data for comprehensive assessment.
We developed an image-based algorithm for quantitative measurement as well as statistical analysis of the LLT despite fluctuation and eye movement. This pilot study demonstrates that the quantitative LLT analysis of patients is consistent with the functions of meibomian glands clinically evaluated by an ophthalmologist. This approach is a significant step forward in developing a fully automated instrument for evaluating dry eye syndrome and for providing proper guidance of treatment.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) fruit accumulate high levels of anthocyanins during ripening, which might be controlled by abscisic acid (ABA), a signal molecule in non-climacteric fruits. ...For an integrated view of the ripening process from ABA to anthocyanin biosynthesis, we analyzed the transcriptomes of 'Bluecrop' highbush blueberry fruit using RNA-Seq at three ripening stages, categorized based on fruit skin coloration: pale green at ca. 30 days after full bloom (DAFB), reddish purple at ca. 40 DAFB, and dark purple at ca. 50 DAFB. Mapping the trimmed reads against the reference sequences yielded 25,766 transcripts. Of these, 143 transcripts were annotated to encode five ABA biosynthesis enzymes, four ABA signal transduction regulators, four ABA-responsive transcription factors, and 12 anthocyanin biosynthesis enzymes. The analysis of differentially expressed genes between the ripening stages revealed that 11 transcripts, including those encoding nine-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase, SQUAMOSA-class MADS box transcription factor, and flavonoid 3',5'-hydroxylase, were significantly up-regulated throughout the entire ripening stages. In fruit treated with 1 g L-1 ABA, at least nine transcripts of these 11 transcripts as well as one transcript encoding flavonoid 3'-hydroxylase were up-regulated, presumably promoting anthocyanin accumulation and fruit skin coloration. These results will provide fundamental information demonstrating that ABA biosynthesis and signal transduction, and anthocyanin biosynthesis are closely associated with anthocyanin accumulation and skin coloration in highbush blueberry fruit during ripening.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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