Robotic skin with human‐skin‐like sensing ability holds immense potential in various fields such as robotics, prosthetics, healthcare, and industries. To catch up with human skin, numerous studies ...are underway on pressure sensors integrated on robotic skin to improve the sensitivity and detection range. However, due to the trade‐off between them, existing pressure sensors have achieved only a single aspect, either high sensitivity or wide bandwidth. Here, an adaptive robotic skin is proposed that has both high sensitivity and broad bandwidth with an augmented pressure sensing ability beyond the human skin. A key for the adaptive robotic skin is a tunable pressure sensor built with uniform gallium microgranules embedded in an elastomer, which provides large tuning of the sensitivity and the bandwidth, excellent sensor‐to‐sensor uniformity, and high reliability. Through the mode conversion based on the solid–liquid phase transition of gallium microgranules, the sensor provides 97% higher sensitivity (16.97 kPa−1) in the soft mode and 262.5% wider bandwidth (≈1.45 MPa) in the rigid mode compared to the human skin. Successful demonstration of the adaptive robotic skin verifies its capabilities in sensing a wide spectrum of pressures ranging from subtle blood pulsation to body weight, suggesting broad use for various applications.
S. Lee, S.‐H. Byun, C. Y. Kim, S. Cho, S. Park, J. Y. Sim, J.‐W. Jeong
An adaptive robotic skin with augmented pressure sensing ability is introduced. Integrated tunable pressure sensors built with uniform gallium microgranules provide high sensitivity and bandwidth and excellent sensor‐to‐sensor uniformity, enabling a large‐scale robotic skin with sensing performance superior to human skin. Proof‐of‐concept demonstrations show its unique sensing capability and versatility covering a broad range of pressure.
Evidence for the associations between mental illness and the likelihood of a positive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) test result and the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 is ...scarce. We aimed to investigate these associations with data from a national register in South Korea.
A nationwide cohort study with propensity score matching was done in South Korea using data collected from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service of Korea. We defined mental illness as present if one of the relevant ICD-10 codes was recorded at least twice within 1 year for an outpatient or inpatient. Severe mental illness was considered as non-affective or affective disorders with psychotic features. We included all patients aged older than 20 years who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 through services facilitated by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service of Korea, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, South Korea. We investigated the primary outcome (SARS-CoV-2 test positivity) in the entire cohort and the secondary outcomes (severe clinical outcomes of COVID-19: death, admission to the intensive care unit, or invasive ventilation) among those who tested positive.
Between Jan 1 and May 15, 2020, 216 418 people were tested for SARS-CoV-2, of whom 7160 (3·3%) tested positive. In the entire cohort with propensity score matching, 1391 (3·0%) of 47 058 patients without a mental illness tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, compared with 1383 (2·9%) of 48 058 with a mental illness (adjusted odds ratio OR 1·00, 95% CI 0·93-1·08). Among the patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, after propensity score matching, 109 (8·3%) of 1320 patients without a mental illness had severe clinical outcomes of COVID-19 compared with 128 (9·7%) of 1320 with a mental illness (adjusted OR 1·27, 95% CI 1·01-1·66).
Diagnosis of a mental illness was not associated with increased likelihood of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. Patients with a severe mental illness had a slightly higher risk for severe clinical outcomes of COVID-19 than patients without a history of mental illness. Clinicians treating patients with COVID-19 should be aware of the risk associated with pre-existing mental illness.
National Research Foundation of Korea.
Readily commercializable and cost‐effective next‐generation CsPbBr3 perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) based X‐ray detectors are demonstrated. The PNCs‐based X‐ray detector exhibits higher spatial ...resolution (9.8 lp mm−1 at modulation transfer function (MTF) = 0.2 and 12.5–8.9 lp mm−1 for a linear line chart), faster response time (≈200 ns), and comparable stability (>40 Gyair s−1 of X‐ray exposure) compared with the commercialized terbium‐doped gadolinium oxysulfide (GOS)‐based detectors (spatial resolution = 6.2 lp mm−1 at MTF = 0.2 and 6.3 lp mm−1 for a linear line chart, response time = ≈1200 ns) because the PNCs‐based scintillator has ≈5.6‐fold faster average photoluminescence lifetime and stronger emission than the GOS‐based one.
A high‐performance next‐generation perovskite nanocrystal (PNC) scintillator is used for nondestructive X‐ray imaging. The high‐performance cheap CsPbBr3 PNCs scintillators are based on indirect X‐ray detectors with high‐resolution, sensitivity, and stability.
A high visit-to-visit variability in cholesterol levels has been suggested to be an independent predictor of major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). ...Because whether this notion applies to general population is not known, we aimed to investigate the associations between total cholesterol (TC) variability and the risk of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction (MI), and stroke.
We identified 3 656 648 subjects without a history of MI and stroke who underwent ≥3 health examinations from 2002 to 2007 in the Korean National Health Insurance System cohort. Total cholesterol variability was measured using the coefficient of variation (CV), standard deviation (SD), and variability independent of the mean (VIM). There were 84 625 deaths (2.3%), 40 991 cases of MI (1.1%), and 42 861 cases of stroke (1.2%) during the median follow-up of 8.3 years. There was a linear association between higher TC variability and outcome measures. In the multivariable adjusted model, the hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals comparing the highest vs. lowest quartiles of CV of TC were 1.26 (1.24-1.28) for all-cause mortality, 1.08 (1.05-1.11) for MI, and 1.11 (1.08-1.14) for stroke, which was independent of mean TC levels and the use of lipid-lowering agents. The results were consistent when modelling variability of TC using SD and VIM, and in various sensitivity analyses.
High variability in lipid levels is associated with adverse health-related outcomes. These findings suggest that lipid variability is an important risk factor in the general population.
BACKGROUND:Variability in metabolic parameters, such as fasting blood glucose and cholesterol concentrations, blood pressure, and body weight can affect health outcomes. We investigated whether ...variability in these metabolic parameters has additive effects on the risk of mortality and cardiovascular outcomes in the general population.
METHODS:Using nationally representative data from the Korean National Health Insurance System, 6 748 773 people who were free of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and dyslipidemia and who underwent ≥3 health examinations from 2005 to 2012 were followed to the end of 2015. Variability in fasting blood glucose and total cholesterol concentrations, systolic blood pressure, and body mass index was measured using the coefficient of variation, SD, variability independent of the mean, and average real variability. High variability was defined as the highest quartile of variability. Participants were classified numerically according to the number of high-variability parameters (eg, a score of 4 indicated high variability in all 4 metabolic parameters). Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for age, sex, smoking, alcohol, regular exercise, income, and baseline levels of fasting blood glucose, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and body mass index were used.
RESULTS:There were 54 785 deaths (0.8%), 22 498 cases of stroke (0.3%), and 21 452 myocardial infarctions (0.3%) during a median follow-up of 5.5 years. High variability in each metabolic parameter was associated with a higher risk for all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, and stroke. Furthermore, the risk of outcomes increased significantly with the number of high-variability metabolic parameters. In the multivariable-adjusted model comparing a score of 0 versus 4, the hazard ratios (95% CIs) were 2.27 (2.13–2.42) for all-cause mortality, 1.43 (1.25–1.64) for myocardial infarction, and 1.41 (1.25–1.60) for stroke. Similar results were obtained when modeling the variability using the SD, variability independent of the mean, and average real variability, and in various sensitivity analyses.
CONCLUSIONS:High variability of fasting blood glucose and total cholesterol levels, systolic blood pressure, and body mass index was an independent predictor of mortality and cardiovascular events. There was a graded association between the number of high-variability parameters and cardiovascular outcomes.
Brain inflammation is one of hypotheses explaining complex pathomechanisms of depression. Angiotensin II (ANGII), which is associated with hypertension, also induces brain inflammation. However, ...there is no animal study showing the direct relationship between ANGII and depression. To address this issue, ANGII-containing osmotic pumps were implanted into adult male C57BL/6 mice subcutaneously for subacute (7 days) and chronic (at least 21 days) periods and behavioral and molecular analyses were conducted. Chronic infusion of ANGII into mice induced depressive-like behaviors, including the tail suspension test and forced swimming test, which were reversed by imipramine. Chronic infusion of ANGII also induced microglial activation in the hippocampus with increase of Il-1β mRNA and decrease of Arg1 mRNA. In addition, chronic ANGII infusion activated the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) and resulted in decreased hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor level. However, subacute ANGII infusion did not induce significant molecular and behavioral changes in mice compared to that of control. The molecular and behavioral changes by chronic ANGII infusion were reversed by co-treatment of minocycline or telmisartan. In addition, ANGII treatment also induced the pro-inflammatory changes in BV-2 microglial cells. Our results indicate that ANGII can induce depressive-like behaviors via microglial activation in the hippocampus and HPA axis hyperactivation in mice. These might suggest possible mechanism on depressive symptom in chronic hypertensive state.
Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites are emerging low-cost emitters with very high color purity, but their low luminescent efficiency is a critical drawback. We boosted the current efficiency (CE) of ...perovskite light-emitting diodes with a simple bilayer structure to 42.9 candela per ampere, similar to the CE of phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes, with two modifications: We prevented the formation of metallic lead (Pb) atoms that cause strong exciton quenching through a small increase in methylammonium bromide (MABr) molar proportion, and we spatially confined the exciton in uniform MAPbBr₃ nanograins (average diameter = 99.7 nanometers) formed by a nanocrystal pinning process and concomitant reduction of exciton diffusion length to 67 nanometers. These changes caused substantial increases in steady-state photoluminescence intensity and efficiency of MAPbBr₃ nanograin layers.
The Committee of Clinical Practice Guidelines of the Korean Diabetes Association revised and updated the 6th Clinical Practice Guidelines in 2019. Targets of glycemic, blood pressure, and lipid ...control in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were updated. The obese and overweight population is increasing steadily in Korea, and half of the Koreans with diabetes are obese. Evidence-based recommendations for weight-loss therapy for obesity management as treatment for hyperglycemia in T2DM were provided. In addition, evidence from large clinical studies assessing cardiovascular outcomes following the use of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists in patients with T2DM were incorporated into the recommendations.
This article presents the novel design techniques for terahertz (THz) antenna-in-package (AiP) to overcome issues resulting from multilayer printed circuit board (PCB)-based antenna array ...integration, fabrication, and measurement. We propose a wideband dual-polarized stub-loaded proximity-coupled stacked patch antenna and vertical power divider as design solutions. Circuit analysis is performed to provide the equivalent circuit model and its design validity. We designed, simulated, and measured a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">4 \times 1 </tex-math></inline-formula> subarray, which ultimately builds THz <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">8 \times 8 </tex-math></inline-formula> AiP for the next generation 6G communications system. The designed proximity-coupled stacked patch antenna employs open and short stubs in via transition of the antenna's feeding for bandwidth enhancement. The designed power divider is constructed vertically to minimize the size of the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">4 \times 1 </tex-math></inline-formula> subarray. This innovative power-splitting architecture significantly decreases the complexity of the feeding network because the divider is designed without conventional T-junctions and quarter wavelength impedance transformers (ITs); thus, the size of the dual-fed dual-polarized <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">4 \times 1 </tex-math></inline-formula> subarray, limited by two four-way power dividers can be shrunken considerably. Based on these proposed techniques, we fabricated and measured an <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">8 \times 8 </tex-math></inline-formula> antenna array package on our custom-built probe station. The measured boresight gain of the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">8 \times 8 </tex-math></inline-formula> antenna array package exceeds 17.1 dBi within the operating bandwidth of 136-148 GHz.
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