Background:
The epidemiology of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder and multiple sclerosis varies depending on the region and ethnicity.
Objective:
To estimate the prevalence and incidence of ...neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder and multiple sclerosis in Korea during 2010–2016.
Methods:
We analyzed the National Health Insurance research database, which contains single-payer health insurance data collected in Korea. Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder was defined based on the 2006 Wingerchuk criteria (for 2010–2015), and the 2015 International Panel for Neuromyelitis Optica Diagnosis criteria (for 2016). Multiple sclerosis was defined by the 2005 International Panel criteria for multiple sclerosis.
Results:
In 2016, the age-standardized prevalence per 100,000 persons was 2.56 (95% confidence interval: 2.43–2.7) for neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder and 3.23 (95% confidence interval: 3.08–3.39) for multiple sclerosis. The age-standardized incidence of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder and multiple sclerosis were 0.73 (95% confidence interval: 0.66–0.8) and 0.50 (95% confidence interval: 0.44–0.56) per 100,000 persons in 2016. The prevalence of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder and multiple sclerosis have increased over time during 2010–2016 (18.5% and 5.4% annually; both p-trend < 0.001). The incidence of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder increased annually (10.0%, p-trend < 0.001), while the incidence of multiple sclerosis remained stable.
Conclusion:
While the prevalence of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder and multiple sclerosis are comparable in Korea, the incidence of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder is higher than that of multiple sclerosis. Both the prevalence and incidence of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder are rapidly increasing in Korea.
Since the encapsulation layer of the neural electrode plays an important role in determining the reliability of the device, more studies on the long-term reliability of Parylene-C are required. In ...this paper, we described the long-term reliability of Parylene-C based neural electrodes through an accelerated lift test and proposed a method to improve the reliability using polyimide flexible cable (PFC) attached to the Parylene-C device. The accelerated lifetime test was performed in phosphate-buffered saline at 50 °C. The electrochemical characteristics were acquired and analyzed to evaluate the reliability of the Parylene-C coated neural electrode for up to 56 days, which is equivalent to 115 days as an accelerated time. The proposed PFC method showed improved long-term stability of the device, demonstrating an increased lifetime, showing that testing conditions and device setup affect overall results. This study will help make reliable Parylene-C based neural electrode systems with improved moisture protection.
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•Long-term reliability of the parylene-C neural electrode was evaluated through the accelerated life test.•Electrical characteristics of the device exhibited gradual degradation during the test.•Better reliability was achieved by the connection enhancement using the polyimide cable.
Obesity is a major health problem and is known to be closely associated with metabolic diseases. Abnormal hepatic accumulation of fat causes fatty liver or hepatic steatosis, and long-term ...consumption of a high-fat diet is known to be a key obesity-causing factor. Recent studies have demonstrated that probiotics such as Lactobacillus strains, exert an anti-obesity effect by regulating adipogenesis. However, it is still unknown how the consumption of probiotics can reduce abdominal fat volume by regulating the hepatic expression of lipogenic genes. Therefore, we evaluated the effect of long-term ingestion of L. plantarum LMT1-48 on the expression of lipogenic genes in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. We observed that treatment of 3T3-L1 adipocytes with L. plantarum LMT1-48 extract inhibited their differentiation and lipid accumulation by downregulating lipogenic genes, namely, PPARγ, C/EBPα, FAS, and FABP4. Interestingly, administration of L. plantarum LMT1-48 reduced liver weight and liver triglycerides concurrently with the downregulation of the lipogenic genes PPARγ, HSL, SCD-1, and FAT/CD36 in the liver, resulting in the reduction of body weight and fat volume in HFD-fed obese mice. Notably, we also observed that the administration of at least 10
CFU of L. plantarum LMT1-48 significantly lowered body weight and abdominal fat volume in modified diet-fed mouse models. Collectively, these data suggest that L. plantarum LMT1-48 is a potential healthy food for obese people.
The emergence of RAS/RAF mutant clone is the main feature of EGFR inhibitor resistance in KRAS wild-type colon cancer. However, its molecular mechanism is thought to be multifactorial, mainly due to ...cellular heterogeneity. In order to better understand the resistance mechanism in a single clone level, we successfully isolated nine cells with cetuximab-resistant (CR) clonality from in vitro system. All CR cells harbored either KRAS or BRAF mutations. Characteristically, these cells showed a higher EMT (Epithelial to mesenchymal transition) signature, showing increased EMT markers such as SNAI2. Moreover, the expression level of CXCL1/5, a secreted protein, was significantly higher in CR cells compared to the parental cells. In these CR cells, CXCL1/5 expression was coordinately regulated by SNAI2/NFKB and transactivated EGFR through CXCR/MMPI/EGF axis via autocrine singling. We also observed that combined cetuximab/MEK inhibitor not only showed growth inhibition but also reduced the secreted amounts of CXCL1/5. We further found that serum CXCL1/5 level was positively correlated with the presence of RAS/RAF mutation in colon cancer patients during cetuximab therapy, suggesting its role as a biomarker. These data indicated that the application of serum CXCL1/5 could be a potential serologic biomarker for predicting resistance to EGFR therapy in colorectal cancer.
•The metabolite profile of soybean sprouts during germination was investigated using GC–MS and LC–MS.•The profiles of primary derivatives and secondary metabolites were significantly changed.•Our ...data suggest that sprouting is a useful processing step to improve soybean nutritional quality.•The metabolomic pathway associated with energy production in soybean sprouts was proposed.
We investigated the metabolite profile of soybean sprouts at 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4days after germination using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and liquid chromatography–MS (LC–MS) to understand the relationship between germination and nutritional quality. Data were analyzed by partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), and sprout samples were separated successfully using their PLS-DA scores. Fifty-eight metabolites, including macromolecular derivatives related to energy production, amino acids, myo-inositol metabolites, phytosterols, antioxidants, isoflavones, and soyasaponins, contributed to the separation. Amino acids, myo-inositol metabolites, isoflavone aglycones, B soyasaponins, antioxidants, and phytosterols, associated with health benefits and/or taste quality, increased with germination time while isoflavone glycosides and DDMP soyasaponins decreased. Based on these metabolites, the metabolomic pathway associated with energy production in soybean sprouts is suggested. Our data suggest that sprouting is a useful processing step to improve soybean nutritional quality, and metabolomic analysis is useful in understanding nutritional change during sprouting.
Introduction
The effect of primary wound closure (PC) on alveolar ridge preservation (ARP) in periodontally damaged sockets has yet to be fully discovered.
Methods
Periodontally damaged sockets were ...allocated to one of the following groups: (1) ARP with PC (group PC), and (2) ARP without PC (group secondary wound closure SC). Following tooth extraction and flap elevation, granule‐type xenogeneic bone substitute material and a collagen barrier were applied. Ridge change was evaluated using cone‐beam computed tomographic (CBCT) scans immediately after ARP and at 4 months. Core biopsy specimens were examined histomorphometrically.
Results
A total of 28 patients were included in the analysis (13 in group PC, 15 in group SC). Histomorphometrically, the percentage of newly formed bone was 26.2 ± 17.7% and 24.6 ± 18.4% in groups PC and SC, respectively (independent t‐test, degree of freedom df = 25, p > 0.05). Horizontal ridge changes on CBCT were −4.9 ± 3.1 mm and − 4.2 ± 2.5 mm in groups PC and SC at the 1 mm level below the ridge crest, respectively (independent t‐test, df = 26, p > 0.05). Approximately half of the sites required additional bone augmentation at implant placement.
Conclusions
ARP with/without PC yielded similar new bone formation and radiographic ridge change.
This clinical trial was not registered prior to participant recruitment and randomization (https://cris.nih.go.kr/cris/search/detailSearch.do/19718).
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•Two sets of polycaprolactone (PCL)-based nanofibrous scaffolds are prepared; the wettable chitosan-incorporated PCL-chitosan scaffolds and the surface morphology-altered PCL ...scaffolds.•Incorporation of chitosan to PCL increases the wettability and dielectric property, whereas surface morphology makes no changes to the hydrophobic nature of neat PCL.•PCL-chitosan scaffolds show a statistically significant increase in fibroblast proliferation than the surface morphology-altered scaffolds after 3 days.•Increasing the wettability of a nanofibrous scaffold is more influential in directing cellular behaviors than the surface morphology modification in the scaffold.
Several cues, including wettability, surface morphology, and porosity, affect the cellular behaviors on nanofibrous scaffolds. However, a challenging task is determining the more influential parameter on cellular behaviors. Herein, we prepared two sets of polycaprolactone (PCL)-based electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds, viz. surface morphology-altered PCL (SMA PCL) scaffolds and hydrophilic PCL-chitosan scaffolds with different chitosan content. We further investigated the scaffolds' cell attachment and proliferation ability to determine which is a predominant factor, wettability, or surface morphology? Water contact angle and alternative current impedance analyses revealed that incorporating chitosan to PCL increased the wettability and dielectric properties. In contrast, alterations in surface morphology did not show any significant changes to the properties mentioned above of neat PCL. Different solvent compositions (CHCl3/DMSO) caused cylindrical and smooth PCL nanofiber to adopt porous, wristed, or flat fibrous structures. The fibroblasts cell studies revealed that both PCL-chitosan and SMA PCL scaffolds had similar cell proliferation profiles on day 1. However, the former scaffolds showed a statistically significant difference from the latter ones on days 3 and 5. In conclusion, we suggest that increasing the wettability of nanofibrous scaffolds is more influential in directing cellular behaviors than surface morphology modification.
Titanium (Ti) has been utilized as hard tissue replacement owing to its superior mechanical and bioinert property, however, lack in tissue compatibility and biofunctionality has limited its clinical ...use. Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) is one of the graphene derivatives that possess extraordinary biofunctionality and are known to induce osseointegration in vitro and in vivo. In this study, rGO was uniformly coated by meniscus-dragging deposition (MDD) technique to fabricate rGO-Ti substrate for orthopedic and dental implant application.
The physicochemical characteristics of rGO-coated Ti (rGO-Ti) substrates were evaluated by atomic force microscopy, water contact angle, and Raman spectroscopy. Furthermore, human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) were cultured on the rGO-Ti substrate, and then their cellular behaviors such as growth and osteogenic differentiation were determined by a cell counting kit-8 assay, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity assay, and alizarin red S staining.
rGO was coated uniformly on Ti substrates by MDD process, which allowed a decrease in the surface roughness and contact angle of Ti substrates. While rGO-Ti substrates significantly increased cell proliferation after 7 days of incubation, they significantly promoted ALP activity and matrix mineralization, which are early and late differentiation markers, respectively.
It is suggested that rGO-Ti substrates can be effectively utilized as dental and orthopedic bone substitutes since these graphene derivatives have potent effects on stimulating the osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs and showed superior bioactivity and osteogenic potential.
Elevation of total cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in patients with preeclampsia is well-known; however, whether this change precedes the onset of symptoms remains inconclusive. Here, we conducted a nested ...case-control study to determine the elevation of cfDNA levels in women who subsequently developed preeclampsia. Methylated HYP2 (m-HYP2) levels were determined in 68 blood samples collected from women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, along with 136 control samples, using real-time quantitative PCR. The measured m-HYP2 levels were converted to multiples of the median (MoM) values for correction of maternal characteristics. The m-HYP2 levels and MoM values in patients with preeclampsia were significantly higher than in controls during the third trimester (P < 0.001, both), whereas those for women who subsequently developed preeclampsia did not differ during the second trimester. However, when patients with preeclampsia were divided based on the onset-time of preeclampsia or 10th percentile birth weight, both values were significantly higher in women who subsequently developed early-onset preeclampsia (P < 0.05, both) and preeclampsia with small-for-gestational-age (SGA) neonate (P < 0.01, both) than controls. These results suggested that total cfDNA levels could be used to predict early-onset preeclampsia or preeclampsia with SGA neonate.
We present a Formula Omitted silicon optical phased array using electro-optic phase shifters to attain high-speed operation with low power consumption. The phase shifters are constructed using a ...Formula Omitted-Formula Omitted-Formula Omitted junction structure with the Formula Omitted- and Formula Omitted-doped regions formed on both sides of the Formula Omitted-region. The Formula Omitted-region width of the phase shifter is optimized considering the power consumption for phase-tuning and the propagation loss in the phase shifter. The fabricated Formula Omitted-Formula Omitted-Formula Omitted phase shifter exhibits a fast operating speed of 20 MHz and a low phase-tuning power of 1.7 mW/Formula Omitted. From a 1-D optical phased array integrated with 2-Formula Omitted-pitch grating radiators, a wide beam-steering range of 45° is attained along the transversal direction at a Formula Omitted wavelength. Average power consumption for the beam-forming operation of the Formula Omitted OPA is measured to be 39.6 mW and the average transition time to steer the beam is 24 ns.
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