Vitamin D deficiency affects >60% of the Korean population. Recent reports in Caucasian, African American, and Chinese populations indicate an association between vitamin D status and related single ...nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), but specific associations differ among study populations. We investigated the relationship between five SNPs involved in the vitamin D metabolic pathway (DHCR7 rs12785878, GC rs2282679, CYP2R1 rs12794714, CYP2R1 rs10741657, and CYP24A1 rs6013897) and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D 25(OH)D status in Koreans using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a nationwide database. Whether the association was modified by demographic and lifestyle factors, including sex, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, drinking status, physical activity, and sun exposure, were also investigated. The results showed the serum level of 25(OH)D was associated with rs12785878, rs2282679, and rs12794714 genotypes, but not with rs10741657 or rs6013897. The genetic risk score (GRS) calculated by summing the number of alleles of these 5 SNPs was associated with low circulating levels of 25(OH)D. However, the negative association between 25(OH)D and GRS was modified by obesity and sun exposure. Specifically, negative associations between 25(OH)D and GRS were present in adults with lower BMI (<25 kg/m2) and longer sun exposure time (≥2 h/day). In conclusion, common variants of vitamin D-related SNPs are associated with vitamin D status in Koreans, and this genetic effect was masked when BMI ≥25 kg/m2 or sun exposure <2 h/day. Additionally, seasonal variation must be considered in future studies among Koreans.
The objective of this study was to investigate the thromboelastography (TEG) variables and platelet count after Asian pit viper (Gloydius) envenomation in dogs compared with healthy control dogs. Ten ...dogs with snake envenomation and twenty healthy dogs were included. There was a significant decrease in G (P=0.017), maximum amplitude (MA) (P=0.012), angle value (P=0.041), platelet count (P<0.001, as well as an increase in K value (P=0.034) and R value (P=0.007) in dogs with snake envenomation. The results of this study revealed that dogs with Asian pit viper (Gloydius) envenomation showed a hypocoagulable state compared with healthy dogs. Our findings may support the use of TEG for diagnosing and monitoring coagulopathy after Asian pit viper (Gloydius) envenomation in dogs.
High‐quality and large‐area molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) thin film is highly desirable for applications in large‐area electronics. However, there remains a challenge in attaining MoS2 film of ...reasonable crystallinity due to the absence of appropriate choice and control of precursors, as well as choice of suitable growth substrates. Herein, a novel and facile route is reported for synthesizing few‐layered MoS2 film with new precursors via chemical vapor deposition. Prior to growth, an aqueous solution of sodium molybdate as the molybdenum precursor is spun onto the growth substrate and dimethyl disulfide as the liquid sulfur precursor is supplied with a bubbling system during growth. To supplement the limiting effect of Mo (sodium molybdate), a supplementary Mo is supplied by dissolving molybdenum hexacarbonyl (Mo(CO)6) in the liquid sulfur precursor delivered by the bubbler. By precisely controlling the amounts of precursors and hydrogen flow, full coverage of MoS2 film is readily achievable in 20 min. Large‐area MoS2 field effect transistors (FETs) fabricated with a conventional photolithography have a carrier mobility as high as 18.9 cm2 V−1 s−1, which is the highest reported for bottom‐gated MoS2‐FETs fabricated via photolithography with an on/off ratio of ≈105 at room temperature.
To synthesize large‐area MoS2 film, a growth substrate is coated with an aqueous solution of Na2MoO4 prior to synthesis. Growth begins with the supply of a liquid sulfur precursor via a bubbling system in an inert atmosphere. With adequate control of the concentration of Na2MoO4 and hydrogen flow, MoS2 film with controlled thickness is grown in 20 min.
Interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IFTA) is a well-recognized risk factor for poor renal outcome in patients with diabetic kidney disease (DKD). However, a noninvasive biomarker for IFTA is ...currently lacking. The purpose of this study was to identify urinary markers of IFTA and to determine their clinical relevance as predictors of renal prognosis.
Seventy patients with biopsy-proven isolated DKD were enrolled in this study. We measured multiple urinary inflammatory cytokines and chemokines by multiplex enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in these patients and evaluated their association with various pathologic features and renal outcomes.
Patients enrolled in this study exhibited advanced DKD at the time of renal biopsy, characterized by moderate to severe renal dysfunction mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 36.1 mL/min/1.73 m2 and heavy proteinuria (mean urinary protein:creatinine ratio 7.8 g/g creatinine). Clinicopathologic analysis revealed that higher IFTA scores were associated with worse baseline eGFR (P < 0.001) and poor renal outcome (P = 0.002), whereas glomerular injury scores were not. Among measured urinary inflammatory markers, C-X-C motif ligand 16 (CXCL16) and endostatin showed strong correlations with IFTA scores (P = 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively), and patients with higher levels of urinary CXCL16 and/or endostatin experienced significantly rapid renal progression compared with other patients (P < 0.001). Finally, increased urinary CXCL16 and endostatin were independent risk factors for poor renal outcome after multivariate adjustments (95% confidence interval 1.070-3.455, P = 0.029).
Urinary CXCL16 and endostatin could reflect the degree of IFTA and serve as biomarkers of renal outcome in patients with advanced DKD.
Abstract
Superconductivity in the vicinity of a competing electronic order often manifests itself with a superconducting dome, centered at a presumed quantum critical point in the phase diagram. This ...common feature, found in many unconventional superconductors, has supported a prevalent scenario in which fluctuations or partial melting of a parent order are essential for inducing or enhancing superconductivity. Here we present a contrary example, found in IrTe
2
nanoflakes of which the superconducting dome is identified well inside the parent stripe charge ordering phase in the thickness-dependent phase diagram. The coexisting stripe charge order in IrTe
2
nanoflakes significantly increases the out-of-plane coherence length and the coupling strength of superconductivity, in contrast to the doped bulk IrTe
2
. These findings clarify that the inherent instabilities of the parent stripe phase are sufficient to induce superconductivity in IrTe
2
without its complete or partial melting. Our study highlights the thickness control as an effective means to unveil intrinsic phase diagrams of correlated van der Waals materials.
Objectives
Counts of missing teeth or measures of incident tooth loss are gaining attention as a simple way to measure dental status in large population studies. We explore the meaning of these ...metrics and how missing teeth might influence other measures of dental status.
Methods
An observational study was performed in 2 contrasting adult populations. In total, 62 522 adult participants were available with clinically assessed caries and periodontal indices from the Swedish arm of the Gene‐Lifestyle Interactions and Dental Endpoints Study (GLIDE) and the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) in the Republic of Korea. Longitudinal measures of tooth loss were available for 28 244 participants in GLIDE with median follow‐up of 10.6 years.
Results
In longitudinal analysis, hazard for tooth loss was associated with baseline dental status (previous tooth loss, periodontal status and caries status) and socio‐demographic variables (age, smoking status and highest educational level). Analysis of cross‐sectional data suggested that indices of caries exposure were not independent of periodontal status. The strength and direction of association varied between groups, even for measures specifically intended to avoid measuring tooth loss. Individuals with impaired periodontal health (community periodontal index CPI 3 or higher in any sextant) had higher standardized decayed and filled surfaces (DFS; number of DFS divided by total number of tooth surfaces) in GLIDE (incidence risk ratio IRR 1.05 95% CI: 1.04, 1.07, but lower standardized DFS in KNHANES (IRR: 0.95 0.92, 0.98) than individuals with better periodontal health (CPI <3 in all sextants).
Conclusions
Incident tooth loss is a complex measure of dental disease, with multiple determinants. The relative importance of dental caries and periodontal disease as drivers of tooth loss differs between age groups. Measures of dental caries exposure are associated with periodontal status in the studied populations, and these associations can be population‐specific. Consideration of the study‐specific properties of these metrics may be required for valid inference in large population studies.
This study is the first report to characterize the Rhodus uyekii genome and study the development of microsatellite markers and their markers applied to the genetic structure of the wild population. ...Genome assembly was based on PacBio HiFi and Illumina HiSeq paired-end sequencing, resulting in a draft genome assembly of R. uyekii. The draft genome was assembled into 2652 contigs. The integrity assessment of the assemblies indicates that the quality of the draft assemblies is high, with 3259 complete BUSCOs (97.2%) in the database of Verbrata. A total of 31,166 predicted protein-coding genes were annotated in the protein database. The phylogenetic tree showed that R. uyekii is a close but distinct relative of Onychostoma macrolepis. Among the 10 fish genomes, there were significant gene family expansions (8–2387) and contractions (16–2886). The average number of alleles amplified by the 21 polymorphic markers ranged from 6 to 23, and the average PIC value was 0.753, which will be useful for evolutionary and genetic analysis. Using population genetic analysis, we analyzed genetic diversity and the genetic structures of 120 individuals from 6 populations. The average number of alleles per population ranged from 7.6 to 9.9, observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.496 to 0.642, and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.587 to 0.783. Discriminant analysis of principal components According to the analysis method, the population was divided into three populations (BS vs. DC vs. GG, GC, MS, DC). In conclusion, our study provides a useful resource for comparative genomics, phylogeny, and future population studies of R. uyekii.
Biofouling is a major operational problem in the reverse osmosis (RO) process, affecting the membrane performance. Although sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) is used to chemically clean the biofouled ...membranes, high concentrations of NaOCl cause morphological and chemical damage to the RO membrane. The objective of this study is to enhance chemical cleaning efficiency by combining with a dispersion agent (linoleic acid, LA) that does not harm the RO membrane, to overcome the disadvantages of NaOCl. Biofilm cells were initially dispersed with LA treatment and biofouled layers were subsequently cleaned using NaOCl at low concentration. The optimized combination resulted in 3.9–4.4 times higher flux recovery efficiency than that with individual treatments. Furthermore, the combination decreased the volume and thickness of the biofilm as well as the amount of extracellular polymeric substances. Taken together, the combined treatment of LA and NaOCl significantly improves RO biofouling control.
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•Biofouled layers dispersed by LA were chemically cleaned using NaOCl.•Optimum synergistic concentrations between LA and NaOCl were determined.•The combined treatment increased pure water permeability.•The combination of LA and NaOCl is a novel biofouling control approach.
Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) are considered a promising tool for resource recovery in wastewater treatment. Nevertheless, membrane fouling is an inevitable phenomenon that deteriorates the MBR ...performance. Although many studies have attempted to elucidate the effect of sludge characteristics on MBR fouling, they posed certain limitations. Most of the previous studies focused on the initial sludge or employ the results of short-term batch tests without long-term transmembrane pressure (TMP) profiles in the interpretation of fouling behaviors. This study was conducted considering these limitations to determine the sludge characteristics most closely related to long-term TMP profiles and to identify their role in fouling behaviors. In long-term TMP profiles, critical time (tc; time to TMP jump) and fouling rates (the increase in the TMP slope) were used as fouling indexes, which were used to correlate with average values of sludge characteristics before and after experiments. According to the results, the concentration of the total soluble microbial product (SMP) and extracted extracellular polymeric substance (eEPS) in sludge significantly increased by 1.9 times and up to 28 times after experiment. The increase in the SMP and eEPS caused early TMP jumps and resulted in low-fouling rates by increasing particle size. Owing to the increase in the SMP and eEPS concentration, the origin of fouling potential was shifted from suspended solids to colloids and soluble materials. Fouling resistance caused by soluble material increased by up to 11.38 times.
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•SMP and eEPS concentrations significantly increased during MBR operation.•SMP and eEPS regulated long-term TMP trends.•SMP and eEPS in the fouling layer were affected by those in the sludge.•SMP and eEPS were responsible for increasing the fouling potential.•Carbohydrates were more related to fouling than proteins.
The first intron of the petunia actin-depolymerizing factor 1 (PhADF1) gene was previously shown to induce strong and constitutive expression of that gene in vegetative tissues of transgenic ...Arabidopsis. To examine intron-mediated enhancement of PhADF1 gene expression in detail, the effects of splicing, deletion and promoter alteration on gene expression were analyzed in this study. Deletion of the 5' upstream region of the intron significantly reduced the level of enhancement, under the control of both the PhADF1 and the PhADF2 promoters. The ratio of pre-mRNA and mRNA does not correlate with the level of enhancement. To determine whether there is a promoter-intron interaction, the role of the intron was examined under the control of a heterogeneous promoter. The intron of PhADF1 induced GUS expression in vegetative tissues under the control of the reproductive tissue-specific Arabidopsis profilin 5 (PRF5) promoter. In transient assays, the presence of the intron increased GUS expression under control of the 35S minimal promoter. Our results suggest that the first intron of the PhADF1 gene alters tissue-specific expression by a post-transcriptional mechanism. In addition, we have also shown that intron-mediated enhancement is a conserved mechanism, which regulates the expression of the petunia and Arabidopsis ADF genes that are expressed in vegetative tissues.
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