Background
With improved short-term surgical outcomes, laparoscopic distal gastrectomy has rapidly gained popularity. However, the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic total gastrectomy (LTG) has ...not yet been proven due to the difficulty of the technique. This single-arm prospective multi-center study was conducted to evaluate the use of LTG for clinical stage I gastric cancer.
Methods
Between October 2012 and January 2014, 170 patients with pathologically proven, clinical stage I gastric adenocarcinoma located at the proximal stomach were enrolled. Twenty-two experienced surgeons from 19 institutions participated in this clinical trial. The primary end point was the incidence of postoperative morbidity and mortality at postoperative 30 days. The severity of postoperative complications was categorized according to Clavien–Dindo classification, and the incidence of postoperative morbidity and mortality was compared with that in a historical control.
Results
Of the enrolled patients, 160 met criteria for inclusion in the full analysis set. Postoperative morbidity and mortality rates reached 20.6% (33/160) and 0.6% (1/160), respectively. Fifteen patients (9.4%) had grade III or higher complications, and three reoperations (1.9%) were performed. The incidence of morbidity after LTG in this trial did not significantly differ from that reported in a previous study for open total gastrectomy (18%).
Conclusions
LTG performed by experienced surgeons showed acceptable postoperative morbidity and mortality for patients with clinical stage I gastric cancer.
The ability to print and pattern all the components that make up a tissue (cells and matrix materials) in three dimensions to generate structures similar to tissues is an exciting prospect of ...bioprinting. However, the majority of the matrix materials used so far for bioprinting cannot represent the complexity of natural extracellular matrix (ECM) and thus are unable to reconstitute the intrinsic cellular morphologies and functions. Here, we develop a method for the bioprinting of cell-laden constructs with novel decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) bioink capable of providing an optimized microenvironment conducive to the growth of three-dimensional structured tissue. We show the versatility and flexibility of the developed bioprinting process using tissue-specific dECM bioinks, including adipose, cartilage and heart tissues, capable of providing crucial cues for cells engraftment, survival and long-term function. We achieve high cell viability and functionality of the printed dECM structures using our bioprinting method.
Background and objectives
This study was conducted to determine the effect of nitrogen fertilization level during cultivation on physicochemical properties of two floury rice varieties (Shingil and ...Garumi 2) with different endosperm types under dry‐milling process.
Findings
In both varieties, the protein content was increased in proportion to the level of nitrogen fertilization, while the amylose content exhibited a slight decrease in the highest nitrogen fertilization level. Damaged starch and digestible starch fractions were decreased with increasing nitrogen fertilization for both varieties, maybe due to the reduction in total starch relative to the protein content. Nevertheless, the level of damaged starch increased in Shingil under the highest nitrogen fertilization of 270 kg/ha, suggesting that nitrogen fertilization level can affect the physicochemical characteristics of starch particles during dry milling. The proportion of short amylopectin chains (DP6‐12) decreased with increasing nitrogen fertilization. The difference was more prominent in Shingil than the other variety Garumi 2, indicating that Shingil could experience a greater increase in hardening and a faster retrogradation by increased nitrogen fertilization level than Garumi 2.
Conclusions
Nitrogen fertilization levels during rice growth affected the starch and protein contents in the endosperm, the chain length of amylopectin, which should, in turn, contribute to the processing properties of floury rice varieties.
Significance and novelty
This study will help develop fertilization strategies for the novel floury rice varieties and consequently provide helpful information to the rice‐processing food industry.
This article presents a bidirectional soft-switching push-pull resonant converter that is highly efficient over a wide range of battery voltages. It is derived by integrating a current-fed push-pull ...circuit and an active voltage doubler circuit with a bidirectional switch. The converter operates as a pulsewidth modulation (PWM) current-fed push-pull resonant-boost converter in the forward direction, but as a PWM half-bridge resonant converter in the backward direction. The most attractive feature of the proposed converter is that, by employing the bidirectional switch and corresponding switching modulation, it can achieve almost ZVS at turn- off instants under wide variations of battery voltages. Therefore, the proposed converter achieves high efficiency even during high-frequency operation. Moreover, no instantaneous reactive current flows through the circuit under wide variations of battery voltages and loads. Furthermore, the proposed bidirectional resonant converter has a high conversion ratio in both power flow directions without using a transformer that has high turns-ratio. The operating principles and characteristics of the proposed bidirectional resonant converter are presented in detail. Experimental results using a 1-kW prototype verified the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed converter.
Wideband planar monopole antennas with dual band-notched characteristics are presented. The proposed antenna consists of a wideband planar monopole antenna and the multiple cup-, cap-, and inverted ...L-shaped slots, producing band-notched characteristics. In order to generate dual band-notched characteristic, we propose nine types of planar monopole antennas, which have two or three cap (cup or inverted L)-shaped slots in the radiator. This technique is suitable for creating ultra-wideband antenna with narrow frequency notches or for creating multiband antennas
High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment is a promising non-invasive method for killing or destroying the diseased tissues by locally delivering thermal and mechanical energy without ...damaging surrounding normal tissues. In HIFU, measuring the temperature at the site of delivery is important for improving therapeutic efficacy, controlling safety, and appropriately planning a treatment. Several researchers have proposed photoacoustic thermometry for monitoring HIFU treatment, but they had many limitations, including the inability to image while the HIFU is on, inability to provide two-dimensional monitoring, and the inability to be used clinically. In this paper, we propose a novel integrated real-time photoacoustic thermometry system for HIFU treatment monitoring. The system provides ultrasound B-mode imaging, photoacoustic structural imaging, and photoacoustic thermometry during HIFU treatment in real-time for both in vitro and in vivo environments, without any interference from the strong therapeutic HIFU waves. We have successfully tested the real-time photoacoustic thermometry by investigating the relationship between the photoacoustic amplitude and the measured temperature with in vitro phantoms and in vivo tumor-bearing mice. The results show the feasibility of a real-time photoacoustic thermometry system for safe and effective monitoring of HIFU treatment.
Seoul, the most populous city in South Korea, has been practicing social distancing to slow down the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and other air ...pollutants measured in Seoul over the two 30 day periods before and after the start of social distancing are analyzed to assess the change in air quality during the period of social distancing. The 30 day mean PM2.5 concentration decreased by 10.4% in 2020, which is contrasted with an average increase of 23.7% over the corresponding periods in the previous 5 years. The PM2.5 concentration decrease was city-wide and more prominent during daytime than at nighttime. The concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) decreased by 16.9% and 16.4%, respectively. These results show that social distancing, a weaker forcing toward reduced human activity than a strict lockdown, can help lower pollutant emissions. At the same time, synoptic conditions and the decrease in aerosol optical depth over the regions to the west of Seoul support that the change in Seoul’s air quality during the COVID-19 social distancing can be interpreted as having been affected by reductions in the long-range transport of air pollutants as well as local emission reductions.
Stem cell-based therapy is a promising approach to repair brain damage after stroke. This study was conducted to investigate changes in neuroimaging measures using stem cell-based therapy in patients ...with ischemic stroke.
In this prospective, open-label, randomized controlled trial with blinded outcome evaluation, patients with severe middle cerebral artery territory infarct were assigned to the autologous mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) treatment or control group. Of 54 patients who completed the intervention, 31 for the MSC and 13 for the control groups were included in this neuroimaging analysis. Motor function was assessed before the intervention and 90 days after randomization using the Fugl-Meyer assessment scale. Neuroimaging measures included fractional anisotropy values of the corticospinal tract and posterior limb of the internal capsule from diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging and strength of connectivity, efficiency, and density of the motor network from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging.
For motor function, the improvement ratio of the Fugl-Meyer assessment score was significantly higher in the MSC group compared with the control group. In neuroimaging, corticospinal tract and posterior limb of the internal capsule fractional anisotropy did not decrease in the MSC group but significantly decreased at 90 days after randomization in the control group. Interhemispheric connectivity and ipsilesional connectivity significantly increased in the MSC group. Change in interhemispheric connectivity showed a significant group difference.
Stem cell-based therapy can protect corticospinal tract against degeneration and enhance positive changes in network reorganization to facilitate motor recovery after stroke. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT01716481.
MnFe2O4@PDA-coated MWCNT coaxial nanocables are successfully designed via a simple one-pot process by utilizing the adhesion property of polydopamine (PDA) with cations in aqueous solutions and ...employing a modified co-precipitation synthesis at a low temperature. The incorporation of the PDA coating layer on the MWCNT leads to the well-dispersed state of the MWCNTs in the aqueous solution due to the hydrophilic functional group of the PDA coating layer. In addition, the catechol-based functional group of the PDA coating layer effectively anchors the Mn and Fe ions from the aqueous solution before the co-precipitation process, eventually resulting in the preferential and homogeneous formation of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles on the MWCNT. The final MnFe2O4@PDA-coated MWCNT electrode exhibits excellent power characteristics such as a high rate capacity of around of 367 mA h g−1 at a 5C-rate condition (= 4585 mA g−1). Cycling tests reveal that the stable performance of the MnFe2O4@PDA-coated MWCNT electrode persists even after 350 cycles.
Capture and release: The material‐independent surface chemistry of a poly(norepinephrine) (pNE) which exhibits perfect smoothness at the nanometer scale is controlled by ...3,4‐dihydroxybenzaldehyde‐norepinephrine (DHBA‐NE) conjugates. The pNE layer containing DHBA‐NE serves to store and release small therapeutics such as nitric oxide.
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