Hydrogel system based on enzyme‐mediated mild crosslinking reaction has been a promising approach in tissue engineering. Inspired by skin melanin synthesis and marine mussel adhesion, ...tyrosinase‐mediated hydrogel crosslinking has been exploited as cell‐friendly reactions and explicit reaction mechanisms. Hydrogel prepared by tyrosinase exhibits appealing properties as a dynamic scaffold for cell delivery and as a bioink for 3D bioprinting. Recapitulating the structure of the native extracellular matrix (ECM), innovative tyrosinase‐mediated hydrogel crosslinking has now shifted to the field of translational medicine. Biomimetic hydrogel with in situ tyrosinase crosslinking can be efficiently and easily applicable to the disease model for therapeutic purposes. In this review, we will discuss a broad range of tyrosinase‐mediated tissue engineering from the specific mechanism of tyrosinase reaction and designing a strategy for tyrosinase‐mediated hydrogel crosslinking to dynamic applications in tissue engineering. In addition, we report the current challenges and future perspectives for the translational applications.
Inspired by skin melanin synthesis and marine mussel adhesion, tyrosinase‐mediated hydrogel crosslinking has been exploited as cell‐friendly reactions and explicit reaction mechanisms. In this review, we will discuss a broad range of tyrosinase‐mediated tissue engineering from the specific mechanism of tyrosinase reaction and designing a strategy for tyrosinase‐mediated hydrogel crosslinking to dynamic applications in tissue engineering.
Several studies have reported negative relations between allergic diseases and school performance but have not simultaneously considered various allergic diseases, including allergic rhinitis, ...asthma, and atopic dermatitis, and only examined a limited number of participants. The present study investigated the associations of allergic rhinitis, asthma, and atopic dermatitis with school performance in a large, representative Korean adolescent population. A total of 299,695 7th through 12th grade students participated in the Korea Youth Risk Behaviour Web-based Survey (KYRBWS) from 2009 to 2013. The subjects' history of allergic rhinitis, asthma, and atopic dermatitis and number of school absences due to these diseases in the previous 12 months were examined and compared. School performance was classified into 5 levels. The relations between allergic disorders and school performance were analyzed using multiple logistic regressions with complex sampling and adjusted for the subjects' durations of sleep, days of physical activity, body mass indexes (BMIs), regions of residence, economic levels, parents' education levels, stress levels, smoking status, and alcohol use. A subgroup analysis of the economic groups was performed. Allergic rhinitis was positively correlated with better school performance in a dose-dependent manner (adjusted odds ratios, AOR, 95% confidence interval, CI = 1.50 1.43-1.56 > 1.33 1.28-1.38 > 1.17 1.13-1.22 > 1.09 1.05-1.14 for grades A > B > C > D; P < 0.001). Asthma was negatively correlated with better school performance (AOR 95% CI = 0.74 0.66-0.83, 0.87 0.79-0.96, 0.83 0.75-0.91, 0.93 0.85-1.02 for performance A, B, C, and D, respectively; P < 0.001). Atopic dermatitis was not significantly correlated with school performance. The subgroup analysis of the students' economic levels revealed associations between allergic diseases and school performance. Compared to other allergic disorders, the asthma group had more school absences due to their symptoms (P < 0.001). School performance was positively correlated with allergic rhinitis and negatively correlated with asthma in Korean adolescents, even after adjusting for other variables. The asthma group had an increased number of school absence days, which presumably contributes to these students' poor school performance.
A novel algorithm to remove rain or snow streaks from a video sequence using temporal correlation and low-rank matrix completion is proposed in this paper. Based on the observation that rain streaks ...are too small and move too fast to affect the optical flow estimation between consecutive frames, we obtain an initial rain map by subtracting temporally warped frames from a current frame. Then, we decompose the initial rain map into basis vectors based on the sparse representation, and classify those basis vectors into rain streak ones and outliers with a support vector machine. We then refine the rain map by excluding the outliers. Finally, we remove the detected rain streaks by employing a low-rank matrix completion technique. Furthermore, we extend the proposed algorithm to stereo video deraining. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm detects and removes rain or snow streaks efficiently, outperforming conventional algorithms.
Battery separators are supposed to be electrical insulators to prevent internal short‐circuit failure between electrodes as well as having porous channels to allow ion transport. Here, as a ...multifunctional membrane strategy to dispel this stereotypical belief about battery separators, a new class of Janus‐faced, dual (ion/electron)‐conductive/chemically active battery separators (denoted as “Janus separators”) based on a heterolayered nanofiber mat architecture is demonstrated. The Janus separator, which is fabricated through in‐series, concurrent electrospraying/electrospinning processes, consists of an ion‐conductive/metal ion‐chelating support layer (a mat of densely packed, thiol‐functionalized silica particles spatially besieged by polyvinylpyrrolidone/polyacrylonitrile nanofibers) and a dual‐conductive top layer (a thin mat of polyetherimide nanofibers wrapped with multi‐walled carbon nanotubes). The support layer acts as a chemical trap that can capture heavy metal ions dissolved in liquid electrolytes and the top layer serves as an upper current collector for cathodes to boost the redox reaction kinetics. Notably, the unusual porous microstructure of the top layer is theoretically elucidated using molecular dynamics simulation. Benefiting from such material/structural uniqueness, the Janus separator enables significant improvements in fast‐rate charge/discharge reactions (even for high‐mass loading cathodes) and in the high‐temperature cycling performance, which lie far beyond those achievable with conventional polyethylene separators.
Janus‐faced, dual (ion/electron)‐conductive/chemically active battery separators based on heterolayered nanofiber mat architecture are presented as a new multifunctional membrane strategy to dispel the stereotypical belief about battery separators. Owing to the material/structural uniqueness, the Janus separator enables significant improvements in the fast‐rate charge/discharge reaction and in the high‐temperature cycling performance far beyond those achievable with conventional battery separators.
Porous crystalline materials such as covalent organic frameworks and metal–organic frameworks have garnered considerable attention as promising ion conducting media. However, most of them ...additionally incorporate lithium salts and/or solvents inside the pores of frameworks, thus failing to realize solid-state single lithium-ion conduction behavior. Herein, we demonstrate a lithium sulfonated covalent organic framework (denoted as TpPa-SO 3 Li) as a new class of solvent-free, single lithium-ion conductors. Benefiting from well-designed directional ion channels, a high number density of lithium-ions, and covalently tethered anion groups, TpPa-SO 3 Li exhibits an ionic conductivity of 2.7 × 10–5 S cm–1 with a lithium-ion transference number of 0.9 at room temperature and an activation energy of 0.18 eV without additionally incorporating lithium salts and organic solvents. Such unusual ion transport phenomena of TpPa-SO 3 Li allow reversible and stable lithium plating/stripping on lithium metal electrodes, demonstrating its potential use for lithium metal electrodes.
The objective of this study was to compare the incidence of post-operative depression in breast cancer patients who have undergone mastectomy with the incidence of post-operative depression in ...non-breast cancer participants (controls).
Using data from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), we selected 2,130 patients with breast cancer who have undergone mastectomy for this national cohort study and matched these patients 1:4 with 8,520 control participants according to age, sex, income, region, and pre-operative depression. The incidence of post-operative depression was measured from mastectomy year to post-op year 10. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for data analysis, and the false-discovery rate was applied to determine statistical significance (P < 0.05).
The incidence of depression was higher in the breast cancer with mastectomy group than in the control group up to 3 years after mastectomy). However, there was no difference in the incidence of depression between the breast cancer with mastectomy group and the control group after post-op 4 years. The incidence of depression was higher in the breast cancer with mastectomy group than in the control group up to 2 years after mastectomy, and there was no difference in the incidence of depression between the two groups after post-op 3 years in middle-aged and older adults (≥ 40 years old). In young adults (≤ 39 years old), the incidence of depression was significantly higher in the breast cancer with mastectomy group than in the control group in mastectomy year.
Patients undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer experience depression more frequently than healthy people. However, patients overcome their depressive mood symptoms during the postoperative period. Young adults overcome their symptoms more quickly than middle-aged and older adults.
Although overuse of the internet has been suggested to be related to poor academic performance, the effects of internet use for education on academic performance showed conflict results in previous ...studies. Accordingly, the associations of school performance with internet use for study and for general purpose were explored in a large population of Korean adolescents. Cross-sectional data from the 2013 Korean Youth Risk Behaviour Web-based Survey (KYRBWS) were retrieved for 59,105 12- to 18-year-old adolescents. The associations between school performance and internet use were analysed using multinomial logistic regression with complex sampling. Days of physical activity, sex, obesity, region of residence, income level, parental education level, stress, sleep time, smoking, alcohol consumption, drug use, and total study time were recorded and adjusted for as confounders. Higher school performance was positively associated with longer internet use for study (adjusted odds ratio, AOR, of 2+ h 95% confidence interval = 2.43 2.10-2.82, 2.02 1.78-2.30, 1.66 1.46-1.89, and 1.30 1.15-1.47 for performance groups A, B, C, and D, respectively, P < 0.001) but negatively associated with longer internet use for general purpose (AOR of 3+ h 95% confidence interval = 0.68 0.60-0.78, 0.85 0.76-0.94, 0.83 0.75-0.92, and 0.98 0.89-1.08 for performance groups A, B, C, and D, respectively, P < 0.001). Higher school performance significantly positively correlated with internet use for study but negatively correlated with internet use for general purpose. Academic use of the internet could be a means of achieving good school performance.
The purpose of this study was to examine the difference between self-reported hearing status and hearing impairment assessed using conventional audiometry. The associated factors were examined when a ...concordance between self-reported hearing and audiometric measures was lacking.
In total, 19,642 individuals ≥20 years of age who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys conducted from 2009 through 2012 were enrolled. Pure-tone hearing threshold audiometry (PTA) was measured and classified into three levels: <25 dB (normal hearing); ≥25 dB <40 dB (mild hearing impairment); and ≥40 dB (moderate-to-severe hearing impairment). The self-reported hearing loss was categorized into 3 categories. The participants were categorized into three groups: the concordance (matched between self-reported hearing loss and audiometric PTA), overestimation (higher self-reported hearing loss compared to audiometric PTA), and underestimation groups (lower self-reported hearing loss compared to audiometric PTA). The associations of age, sex, education level, stress level, anxiety/depression, tympanic membrane (TM) status, hearing aid use, and tinnitus with the discrepancy between the hearing self-reported hearing loss and audiometric pure tone threshold results were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression analysis with complex sampling.
Overall, 80.1%, 7.1%, and 12.8% of the participants were assigned to the concordance, overestimation, and underestimation groups, respectively. Older age (adjusted odds ratios AORs = 1.28 95% confidence interval = 1.19-1.37 and 2.80 2.62-2.99 for the overestimation and the underestimation groups, respectively), abnormal TM (2.17 1.46-3.23 and 1.59 1.17-2.15), and tinnitus (2.44 2.10-2.83 and 1.61 1.38-1.87) were positively correlated with both the overestimation and underestimation groups. Compared with specialized workers, service workers, manual workers, and the unemployed were more likely to be in the overestimation group (1.48 1.11-1.98, 1.39 1.04-1.86, and 1.50 1.18-1.90, respectively), and service workers were more likely to be in the underestimation group (AOR = 1.42 1.01-1.99). Higher education level (0.77 0.59-1.01 and 0.43 0.33-0.57) and hearing aid use (0.36 0.17-0.77 and 0.23 0.13-0.43) were negatively associated with being in the underestimation group (0.43 0.37-0.50). Compared with males, females were less likely to be assigned to the underestimation group (0.43 0.37-0.50). Stress (1.98 1.32-2.98) and anxiety/depression (1.30 1.06-1.59) were associated with overestimation group.
Older age, lower education level, occupation, abnormal TM, non-hearing aid use, and tinnitus were related to both overestimation and underestimation groups. Male gender was related to underestimation, and stress and anxiety/depression were correlated with overestimation group. An understanding of these factors associated with the self-reported hearing loss will be instrumental to identifying and managing hearing-impaired individuals.
Commensal bacteria are critically involved in the establishment of tolerance against inflammatory challenges, the molecular mechanisms of which are just being uncovered. All kingdoms of life produce ...aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs). Thus far, the non-translational roles of ARSs have largely been reported in eukaryotes. Here, we report that the threonyl-tRNA synthetase (AmTARS) of the gut-associated bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila is secreted and functions to monitor and modulate immune homeostasis. Secreted AmTARS triggers M2 macrophage polarization and orchestrates the production of anti-inflammatory IL-10 via its unique, evolutionary-acquired regions, which mediates specific interactions with TLR2. This interaction activates the MAPK and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways, which converge on CREB, leading to an efficient production of IL-10 and suppression of the central inflammatory mediator NF-κB. AmTARS restores IL-10-positive macrophages, increases IL-10 levels in the serum, and attenuates the pathological effects in colitis mice. Thus, commensal tRNA synthetases can act as intrinsic mediators that maintain homeostasis.
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•Gut-associated Akkermansia muciniphila secretes threonyl-tRNA synthetase (AmTARS)•Secreted AmTARS targets macrophages and activates the anti-inflammatory TLR2-CREB axis•An evolutionarily acquired region in AmTARS mediates specific interactions with TLR2•AmTARS restores macrophage homeostasis, increases IL-10, and attenuates colitis in mice
Kim et al. report that the gut-associated bacterium A. muciniphila secretes threonyl-tRNA synthetase (AmTARS) to monitor and modulate host immune homeostasis. Secreted AmTARS activates anti-inflammatory signaling, restores macrophage homeostasis, increases IL-10, and attenuates colitis in mice. Commensal tRNA synthetases may act as intrinsic mediators that maintain homeostasis.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative joint disease and is characterized by breakdown of joint cartilage. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) exerts diverse biological effects on bone and cartilage; ...observational studies have suggested that CoQ10 may slow OA progression and inflammation. However, any effect of CoQ10 on OA remains unclear. Here, we investigated the therapeutic utility of CoQ10-micelles. Seven-week-old male Wistar rats were injected with monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) to induce OA. CoQ10-micelles were administered orally to MIA-induced OA rats; celecoxib served as the positive control. Pain, tissue destruction, and inflammation were measured. The expression levels of catabolic and inflammatory cell death markers were assayed in CoQ10-micelle-treated chondrocytes. Oral supplementation with CoQ10-micelles attenuated OA symptoms remarkably, including pain, tissue destruction, and inflammation. The expression levels of the inflammatory cytokines IL-1beta, IL-6, and MMP-13, and of the inflammatory cell death markers RIP1, RIP3, and pMLKL in synovial tissues were significantly reduced by CoQ10-micelle supplementation, suggesting that CoQ10-micelles might attenuate the synovitis of OA. CoQ10-micelle addition to cultured OA chondrocytes reduced the expression levels of catabolic and inflammatory cell death markers. CoQ10-micelles might usefully treat OA.
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