Spin-orbit coupling results in technologically-crucial phenomena underlying magnetic devices like magnetic memories and energy-efficient motors. In heavy element materials, the strength of spin-orbit ...coupling becomes large to affect the overall electronic nature and induces novel states such as topological insulators and spin-orbit-integrated Mott states. Here we report an unprecedented charge-ordering cascade in IrTe2 without the loss of metallicity, which involves localized spin-orbit Mott states with diamagnetic Ir(4+)-Ir(4+) dimers. The cascade in cooling, uncompensated in heating, consists of first order-type consecutive transitions from a pure Ir(3+) phase to Ir(3+)-Ir(4+) charge-ordered phases, which originate from Ir 5d to Te 5p charge transfer involving anionic polymeric bond breaking. Considering that the system exhibits superconductivity with suppression of the charge order by doping, analogously to cuprates, these results provide a new electronic paradigm of localized charge-ordered states interacting with itinerant electrons through large spin-orbit coupling.
AIMS: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Bifidobacterium lactis HY8101 on insulin resistance induced using tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) in rat L6 skeletal muscle cells and on ...the KK‐AY mouse noninsulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) model. METHODS AND RESULTS: The treatment using HY8101 improved the insulin‐stimulated glucose uptake and translocation of GLUT4 via the insulin signalling pathways AKT and IRS‐1(Tyr) in TNF‐α‐treated L6 cells. HY8101 increased the mRNA levels of GLUT4 and several insulin sensitivity‐related genes (PPAR‐γ) in TNF‐α‐treated L6 cells. In KK‐AY mice, HY8101 decreased fasting insulin and blood glucose and significantly improved insulin tolerance. HY8101 improved diabetes‐induced plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride (TG) levels and increased the muscle glycogen content. We observed concurrent transcriptional changes in the skeletal muscle tissue and the liver. In the skeletal muscle tissue, the glycogen synthesis‐related gene pp‐1 and GLUT4 were up‐regulated in mice receiving HY8101 treatment. In the liver, the hepatic gluconeogenesis‐regulated genes (PCK1 and G6PC) were down‐regulated in mice receiving HY8101 treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Bifidobacterium lactis HY8101 can be used to moderate glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism and insulin sensitivity in mice and in cells. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Bifidobacterium lactis HY8101 might have potential as a probiotic candidate for alleviating metabolic syndromes such as diabetes.
Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging tick-borne disease in Korea and China. Although there is previous evidence of person-to-person transmission via direct contact with ...body fluids, the role of environmental contamination by SFTS virus (SFTSV) in healthcare settings has not been established. We therefore investigated the contamination of the healthcare environment by SFTSV.
We investigated the possible contamination of hospital air and surfaces with SFTSV transmission by collecting air and swabbing environmental surface samples in two hospitals treating six SFTS patients between March and September 2017. The samples were tested using real-time RT-PCR for SFTS M and S segments.
Of the six SFTS patients, four received mechanical ventilation and three died. Five rooms were occupied by those using mechanical ventilation or total plasma exchange therapy in isolation rooms without negative pressure and one room was occupied by a patient bedridden due to SFTS. SFTSV was detected in 14 (21%) of 67 swab samples. Five of 24 swab samples were obtained from fomites including stethoscopes, and 9 of 43 were obtained from fixed structures including doorknobs and bed guardrails. Some samples from fixed structures such as television monitors and sink tables were obtained in areas remote from the patients. SFTSV RNA was not detected in five air samples from three patients' rooms.
Our data suggest that SFTSV contamination was extensive in surrounding environments in SFTS patients' rooms. Therefore, more strict isolation methods and disinfecting procedures should be considered when managing SFTS patients.
Summary Background For all countries, information on pathogens causing healthcare-associated infections is important in order to develop proper strategies for preventing and treating nosocomial ...infections. Aim To assess the change in frequencies and antimicrobial resistance of pathogens causing device-associated infections (DAIs) in intensive care units (ICUs) in South Korea between July 2006 and June 2014. Methods Data from the Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS) were analysed, including three major DAI types in ICUs. Findings The frequency of Gram-negative bacteria gradually increased for central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) (from 24.6% to 32.6% and from 52.8% to 73.5%, respectively). By contrast, the frequency of Gram-positive bacteria decreased from 58.6% to 49.2% for CLABSI, and from 44.3% to 23.8% for VAP ( P < 0.001). Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequent causative pathogen in CLABSI throughout the surveillance period, but for VAP was replaced as the most frequent pathogen by Acinetobacter baumannii as of 2010. Candida albicans was the most frequent pathogen for catheter-associated urinary tract infection. The meticillin resistance rate in S. aureus decreased from 95% to 90.2% ( P < 0.001); amikacin resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli decreased from 43.8% to 14.7% and from 15.0% to 1.8%, respectively ( P < 0.001); imipenem resistance in A. baumannii increased from 52.9% to 89.8% ( P < 0.001). Conclusion The proportion of Gram-negative bacteria as nosocomial pathogens for CLABSI and VAP has increased. The prevalence of A. baumannii causing DAIs in Korean ICUs has increased rapidly, as has the rate of carbapenem resistance in these bacteria.
Causes of benign positional vertigo (BPV) are mostly unknown. The aim of this study was to elucidate an association of osteoporosis with idiopathic BPV.
Two hundred nine consecutive patients with a ...confirmed diagnosis of idiopathic BPV underwent bone mineral densitometry of anterior-posterior lumbar spine and femur. The T scores were compared with those of 202 controls without a history of dizziness. Recurrence was defined when the patients reported two or more previous episodes of positional vertigo similar to those experienced at the time of diagnosis.
In both women and men, the lowest T scores were decreased in patients with BPV compared with those in controls. Furthermore, the prevalences of osteopenia (-2.5 < T score < -1.0) and osteoporosis (T score < or =-2.5) were higher in both women and men with BPV than in controls. Multiple logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, alcohol, smoking, and hyperphosphatemia showed that only the existence of osteopenia/osteoporosis was associated with an increased risk of BPV (adjusted odds ratio of osteopenia = 2.0, 95% confidence interval 1.2-3.4, p = 0.011; adjusted odds ratio of osteoporosis = 3.1, 95% confidence interval 1.4-7.2, p = 0.007). In women aged > or =45 years, the lowest T scores were also decreased in the recurrent group, compared with those in the de novo group.
Osteopenia/osteoporosis may be associated with idiopathic benign positional vertigo (BPV). The effectiveness of measuring bone mineral densitometry and restoring normal calcium metabolism for preventing recurrences of BPV requires further validation.
A
bstract
The Reactor Experiment for Neutrino Oscillation (RENO) experiment has been taking data using two identical liquid scintillator detectors since August 2011. The experiment has observed the ...disappearance of reactor neutrinos in their interactions with free protons, followed by neutron capture on hydrogen (n-H). Based on 1500 live days of data taken with 16.8 GW
th
reactors at the Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant in Korea, the near (far) detector observes 567690 (90747) electron antineutrino candidate events with the n-H data. This provides an independent measurement of neutrino mixing angle
θ
13
and a consistency check on the validity of the result obtained from the data with neutron capture on Gadolinium (n-Gd). Furthermore, it provides an important cross-check on the systematic uncertainties of the n-Gd measurement. Based on a rate-only analysis, we obtain sin
2
2
θ
13
= 0
.
086 ± 0
.
008(stat
.
) ± 0
.
014(syst
.
). The combination of this result with that of n-Gd is also reported.
Objectives
This study aimed to examine the association between statin exposure and dementia risk in individuals with hypercholesterolaemia using data from the NHIS‐HEALS database between 2002 and ...2015.
Methods
Subjects were classified into statin exposure and statin nonexposure groups according to medication possession ratio. Dementia was defined as those with primary diagnostic dementia codes such as F00‐F03, G30, G31.1, G31.9 or G31.82. Cox proportional hazards regression models were adopted after stepwise adjustment for confounders to investigate the prospective association between statin exposure and dementia risk.
Results
During the follow‐up period (median follow‐up 11.7 years), 711 cases of dementia occurred, accounting for 11.5% of the total study population (statin exposure group, 8.2%; statin nonexposure group, 12.9%). Compared to the statin nonexposure group, fully adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) (95% confidence intervals CIs) for overall dementia in the statin exposure group were 0.63 (0.43–0.91) and 0.62 (0.50–0.78) in men and women, respectively. Compared to the statin nonexposure group, the HRs (95% CIs) for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, vascular dementia and other types of dementia in the statin exposure group were 0.54 (0.32–0.91), 2.45 (0.69–8.68) and 0.59 (0.32–1.07), respectively, in men and 0.53 (0.38–0.73), 1.29 (0.42–3.96) and 0.70 (0.51–0.96), respectively, in women.
Conclusions
Hypercholesterolaemic individuals exposed to statin had a lower risk of overall dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia in both sexes, and a lower risk of other types of dementia in women, than subjects who were not exposed to statins.
Sweet potato leaf curl virus (SPLCV) infects sweet potato and is a member of the family Geminiviridae (genus Begomovirus). SPLCV transmission occurs from plant to plant mostly via vegetative ...propagation as well as by the insect vector Bemisia tabaci. When sweet potato seeds were planted and cultivated in a whitefly‐free greenhouse, some sweet potato plants started to show SPLCV‐specific symptoms. SPLCV was detected by PCR from all leaves and floral tissues that showed leaf curl disease symptoms. More than 70% of the seeds harvested from SPLCV‐infected sweet potato plants tested positive for SPLCV. SPLCV was also identified from dissected endosperm and embryos. The transmission level of SPLCV from seeds to seedlings was up to 15%. Southern blot hybridization showed SPLCV‐specific single‐ and double‐stranded DNAs in seedlings germinated from SPLCV‐infected seeds. Taken altogether, the results show that SPLCV in plants of the tested sweet potato cultivars can be transmitted via seeds and SPLCV DNA can replicate in developing seedlings. This is the first seed transmission report of SPLCV in sweet potato plants and also, to the authors' knowledge, the first report of seed transmission for any geminivirus.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are reported to cause adverse effects on pulmonary function in occupationally exposed workers. However, evidence is lacking on the effect in the general population. ...We hypothesised that VOCs impair pulmonary function through enhancing oxidative stress, especially in the elderly population. A longitudinal panel study of 154 elderly people was performed in South Korea. Repeated spirometric tests were performed up to eight times on different days for each subject. We also measured urinary concentrations of metabolites of the VOC and markers of oxidative stress (malondialdehyde and 8-oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine) on the same day of spirometric tests. A mixed linear regression model was used to evaluate the association among the VOC metabolites, oxidative stress markers and spirometric tests. We found that the urinary levels of hippuric acid and methylhippuric acid, which are metabolites of toluene and xylene, respectively, were significantly associated with reduction of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV₁), FEV₁/forced vital capacity (FVC), and forced expiratory flow at 25-75% of FVC. We also found significant associations between the metabolites of VOCs and the markers of oxidative stress. In addition, the oxidative stress markers were associated with pulmonary function parameters. This study suggests that exposure to toluene and xylene exert a harmful effect on pulmonary function by exacerbating oxidative stress in elderly people.
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