Fecal microbiota changes with fermented kimchi intake regulated either formation or advancement of colon adenoma.

Gut bacteria might contribute in early stage of colorectal cancer through the development and advancement of colon adenoma, by which exploring either beneficial bacteria, which are decreased in formation or advancement of colon adenoma and harmful bacteria, which are increased in advancement of colon adenoma may result in implementation of dietary interventions or probiotic therapies to functional means for prevention. Korean fermented kimchi is one of representative probiotic food providing beneficiary microbiota and exerting significant inhibitory outcomes in both APC/ polyposis model and colitis-associated cancer. Based on these backgrounds, we performed clinical trial to document the changes of fecal microbiota in 32 volunteers with normal colon, simple adenoma, and advanced colon adenoma with 10 weeks of fermented kimchi intake.

Functional Neural Correlates of the WAIS-IV Block Design Test in Older Adult with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease.

The Wechsler Adult intelligence scale-Revised (WAIS-R) Block design test (BDT) is a neuropsychological test widely used to assess cognitive declines in aging population. Previous studies suggest parietal lobe is the key region to influence the performance on the BDT; yet, it has not been clearly identified. The aim of the current study, therefore, is to identify the functional neural correlates of the BDT in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia patients.

A 9-Year Comparison of Dementia Prevalence in Korea: Results of NaSDEK 2008 and 2017.

Background: In many high-income Western countries, the prevalence of dementia had been reduced over the past decades.

Objective: We investigated whether the prevalence of all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) had changed in Korea from 2008 to 2017.

Methods: Nationwide Survey on Dementia Epidemiology of Korea (NaSDEK) in 2008 and 2017 was conducted on representative elderly populations that were randomly sampled across South Korea.

Dual Sensory Impairment and Cognitive Impairment in the Korean Longitudinal Elderly Cohort.

Objective: To investigate the effects of single sensory impairment (SSI; visual or auditory) or dual sensory impairment (DSI; visual and auditory) on dementia and longitudinal changes of neuropsychological test scores.

Methods: In this nationwide, prospective, community-based elderly cohort study, KLOSCAD (the Korean Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Aging and Dementia), 6,520 elderly individuals (58-101 years) representing the general population were included. We defined visual and auditory sensory impairment via self-report questionnaire: 932 had normal sensory function, 2,957 had an SSI, and 2,631 had a DSI.

A Framework (SOCRATex) for Hierarchical Annotation of Unstructured Electronic Health Records and Integration Into a Standardized Medical Database: Development and Usability Study.

Background: Although electronic health records (EHRs) have been widely used in secondary assessments, clinical documents are relatively less utilized owing to the lack of standardized clinical text frameworks across different institutions.

Objective: This study aimed to develop a framework for processing unstructured clinical documents of EHRs and integration with standardized structured data.

Methods: We developed a framework known as Staged Optimization of Curation, Regularization, and Annotation of clinical text (SOCRATex).

Association of Retinal Changes With Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Biomarkers in Cognitively Normal Individuals.

Importance: Retinal biomarkers reflecting in vivo brain Alzheimer disease (AD) pathologic abnormalities could be a useful tool for screening cognitively normal (CN) individuals at the preclinical stage of AD.

Objectives: To investigate the association of both functional and structural alterations of the retina with in vivo AD pathologic abnormalities in CN older adults and model a screening tool for detection of preclinical AD.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study included a total of 49 CN individuals, and all assessment was done at the Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea.

Synergistic Effect of Serum Homocysteine and Diabetes Mellitus on Brain Alterations.

Background: Both elevated blood homocysteine and diabetes mellitus (DM) are related to cognitive impairments or dementia. A previous study also demonstrated that the association between homocysteine and cognitive decline was much stronger in individuals with DM than in those without DM.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the interactive effect of blood homocysteine and DM on brain pathological changes including brain atrophy, amyloid-β and tau deposition, and small vessel disease (SVD) related to cognitive impairments.

Blood Hemoglobin, Alzheimer Pathologies, and Cognitive Impairment: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Despite known associations between low blood hemoglobin level and Alzheimer's disease (AD) or cognitive impairment, the underlying neuropathological links are poorly understood. We aimed to examine the relationships of blood hemoglobin levels with AD pathologies (i.e.

Tip-Induced Nano-Engineering of Strain, Bandgap, and Exciton Funneling in 2D Semiconductors.

The tunability of the bandgap, absorption and emission energies, photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield, exciton transport, and energy transfer in transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers provides a new class of functions for a wide range of ultrathin photonic devices. Recent strain-engineering approaches have enabled to tune some of these properties, yet dynamic control at the nanoscale with real-time and -space characterizations remains a challenge. Here, a dynamic nano-mechanical strain-engineering of naturally-formed wrinkles in a WSe monolayer, with real-time investigation of nano-spectroscopic properties is demonstrated using hyperspectral adaptive tip-enhanced PL (a-TEPL) spectroscopy.

Highly stretchable large area woven, knitted and robust braided textile based interconnection for stretchable electronics.

With the rapid development of stretchable and wearable technologies, stretchable interconnection technology also demanded along it. Stretchable interconnections should have high stretchability and stable conductivity for use as an electrode. In addition, to develop to commercialization scale from research scale, a simple fabrication process that can be scaled up, and the stretchable interconnection should be able to be electrically connected to devices or modules directly.

Calcifying characteristics of peripheral vascular smooth muscle cells of chronic kidney disease patients with critical limb ischemia.

The role of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in vascular calcification, which is related to chronic kidney disease (CKD), has been studied in greater detail in the major arteries relative to the peripheral arteries. We compared the calcifying characteristics of peripheral VSMCs relative to non-pathologic major VSMCs in patients with severe peripheral artery disease (PAD). We isolated peripheral VSMCs from the posterior tibial artery of 10 patients with CKD who underwent below-knee amputation for critical limb ischemia (CLI).

Implantable Biosupercapacitor Inspired by the Cellular Redox System.

The carbon nanotube (CNT) yarn supercapacitor has high potential for in vivo energy storage because it can be used in aqueous environments and stitched to inner parts of the body, such as blood vessels. The biocompatibility issue for frequently used pseudocapacitive materials, such as metal oxides, is controversial in the human body. Here, we report an implantable CNT yarn supercapacitor inspired by the cellular redox system.

Self-Cleaning Polyester Fabric Prepared with TiOF and Hexadecyltrimethoxysilane.

In this study, self-cleaning polyester (PET) fabrics were prepared using TiOF and hexadecyltrimethoxysilane(HDS) treatment. TiOF was synthesized via direct fluorination of a precursor TiO at various reaction temperatures. The prepared PET fabrics had superior photocatalytic self-cleaning properties compared with anatase TiO/HDS-treated PET fabrics under UV and sunlight with 98% decomposition of methylene blue.

Usefulness of Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT to localize the culprit tumor inducing osteomalacia.

Tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO) is an uncommon paraneoplastic syndrome presenting with sustained hypophosphatemia. Treatment of choice is removal of the tumor causing the TIO, but identification of the culprit tumor by routine imaging is challenging. This study aimed to assess the usefulness of somatostatin receptor imaging, called Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT, in the management of patients with TIO.

Aberrant role of ALK in tau proteinopathy through autophagosomal dysregulation.

Proteinopathy in neurodegenerative diseases is typically characterized by deteriorating activity of specific protein aggregates. In tauopathies, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), tau protein abnormally accumulates and induces dysfunction of the affected neurons. Despite active identification of tau modifications responsible for tau aggregation, a critical modulator inducing tau proteinopathy by affecting its protein degradation flux is not known.

A logical network-based drug-screening platform for Alzheimer's disease representing pathological features of human brain organoids.

Developing effective drugs for Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, has been difficult because of complicated pathogenesis. Here, we report an efficient, network-based drug-screening platform developed by integrating mathematical modeling and the pathological features of AD with human iPSC-derived cerebral organoids (iCOs), including CRISPR-Cas9-edited isogenic lines. We use 1300 organoids from 11 participants to build a high-content screening (HCS) system and test blood-brain barrier-permeable FDA-approved drugs.

Performance of the QPLEX™ Alz plus assay, a novel multiplex kit for screening cerebral amyloid deposition.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an irreversible neurodegenerative disease characterized by the hallmark finding of cerebral amyloid deposition. Many researchers have tried to predict the existence of cerebral amyloid deposition by using easily accessible blood plasma samples, but the effectiveness of such strategies remains controversial.

Methods: We developed a new multiplex kit, the QPLEX™ Alz plus assay kit, which uses proteomics-based blood biomarkers to prescreen for cerebral amyloid deposition.

Prediction of Major Depressive Disorder Following Beta-Blocker Therapy in Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases.

Incident depression has been reported to be associated with poor prognosis in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), which might be associated with beta-blocker therapy. Because early detection and intervention can alleviate the severity of depression, we aimed to develop a machine learning (ML) model predicting the onset of major depressive disorder (MDD). A model based on 1 regularized logistic regression was trained against the South Korean nationwide administrative claims database to identify risk factors for the incident MDD after beta-blocker therapy in patients with CVD.

Plasma Endocan as a Predictor of Cardiovascular Event in Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease on Hemodialysis.

Endocan, a potential biomarker of endothelial dysfunction, is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. We investigated the utility of plasma endocan for predicting cardiovascular risk in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients undergoing hemodialysis. Of the 452 patients in the K-cohort, 354 with available plasma endocan levels were enrolled.

Influences of Absorbed Dose Rate on the Mechanical Properties and Fiber-Matrix Interaction of High-Density Polyethylene-Based Carbon Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Irradiated by Electron-Beam.

In this study, a high-density polyethylene (HDPE)-based carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) was irradiated by an electron-beam. To assess the absorbed dose rate influence on its mechanical properties, the beam energy and absorbed dose were fixed, while the absorbed dose rates were varied. The tensile strength (TS) and Young's modulus (YM) were evaluated.