Sex-specific differences in the growth and population characteristics of Sand crab Ovalipes punctatus (De Haan, 1833) in coastal waters of Korea.

The sex-specific differences in the growth and population characteristics of the high-commercial-value sand crab Ovalipes punctatus were investigated in Korea. The estimated allometric growth between the sexes showed significant differences in all morphometric measurements. In the classification of growth types, carapace width-chela length exhibited positive and negative allometric growth in males and females, respectively.

Performance of a deep convolutional neural network to classify crystal structures using selected area electron beam diffraction patterns containing lattice defect information.

A deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) architecture ResNet has been tested to verify its ability to handle selected area electron diffraction pattern (SADP) datasets carrying information on lattice defects including strains, thermal lattice vibrations, point defects, dislocations, and twin boundaries. The disordered states of the crystal lattices in the presence of these defects were predicted by molecular dynamics simulations, first principles geometry optimizations, and lattice manipulation operations in an effort to establish a possible dataset augmentation strategy for the improvement of classification performance of the ResNet. Using the disordered lattice information originating from the defects, test dataset SADPs were generated by simulating electron diffraction in transmission electron microscopy.

NADH elevation during chronic hypoxia leads to VHL-mediated HIF-1α degradation via SIRT1 inhibition.

Background: Under conditions of hypoxia, cancer cells with hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) from heterogeneous tumor cells show greater aggression and progression in an effort to compensate for harsh environmental conditions. Extensive study on the stability of HIF-1α under conditions of acute hypoxia in cancer progression has been conducted, however, understanding of its involvement during the chronic phase is limited.

Methods: In this study, we investigated the effect of SIRT1 on HIF1 stability in a typical chronic hypoxic conditon that maintains cells for 24 h under hypoxia using Western blotting, co-IP, measurement of intracellular NAD + and NADH levels, semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis, invasion assay, gene knockdown.

Reliability and Validity of Emotrics in the Assessment of Facial Palsy.

The globally accepted evaluation method for facial palsy is the House-Brackmann facial grading system; however, it does not reflect minute changes. Several methods have been attempted, but there is no universally accepted evaluation method that is non-time-consuming and quantitative. Recently, Emotrics, a two-dimensional analysis that incorporates machine-learning techniques, has been used in various clinical fields.

Phase I Clinical Trial of Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen-Targeting Ga-NGUL PET/CT in Healthy Volunteers and Patients with Prostate Cancer.

Objective: Ga-NGUL is a novel prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeting tracer based on Glu-Urea-Lys derivatives conjugated to a 1,4,7-triazacyclononane-, ', ″-triacetic acid (NOTA) chelator via a thiourea-type short linker. This phase I clinical trial of Ga-NGUL was conducted to evaluate the safety and radiation dosimetry of Ga-NGUL in healthy volunteers and the lesion detection rate of Ga-NGUL in patients with prostate cancer.

Materials And Methods: We designed a prospective, open-label, single-arm clinical trial with two cohorts comprising six healthy adult men and six patients with metastatic prostate cancer.

KSNM60: The History of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences in Korea.

A number of researchers in Korea have tried to set-up the production of radionuclides and develop new radiopharmaceuticals for several decades. Thanks to their 60-year endeavor to advance the field of radiopharmaceutical sciences, now we have a lot of research units and facilities in Korea. Still, there are huge number of issues to be solved in radiopharmaceutical sciences; however, our efforts will be continued to develop new radiopharmaceuticals and to apply the new radiopharmaceuticals into nuclear medicine field.

Classification of crystal structures using electron diffraction patterns with a deep convolutional neural network.

Investigations have been made to explore the applicability of an off-the-shelf deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) architecture, residual neural network (ResNet), to the classification of the crystal structure of materials using electron diffraction patterns without prior knowledge of the material systems under consideration. The dataset required for training and validating the ResNet architectures was obtained by the computer simulation of the selected area electron diffraction (SAD) in transmission electron microscopy. Acceleration voltages, zone axes, and camera lengths were used as variables and crystal information format (CIF) files obtained from open crystal data repositories were used as inputs.

A Prospective Investigation of Tumor Hypoxia Imaging with Ga-Nitroimidazole PET/CT in Patients with Carcinoma of the Cervix Uteri and Comparison with F-FDG PET/CT: Correlation with Immunohistochemistry.

Hypoxia in cervical cancer has been associated with a poor prognosis. Over the years Ga labelled nitroimidazoles have been studied and have shown improved kinetics. We present our initial experience of hypoxia Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging in cervical cancer with Ga-Nitroimidazole derivative and the correlation with F-FDG PET/CT and immunohistochemistry.

Radionuclide imaging of hypoxia: Where are we now? Special attention to cancer of the cervix uteri.

Cancer of the cervix is the fourth commonest malignancy in women worldwide and it also ranks fourth as the cause of cancer related mortality in women. Hypoxia is a common characteristic of solid tumours and cervical cancer is no exception. Hypoxia is associated with increased aggressiveness, risk of invasion and metastasis.

Head-to-Head Comparison of Ga-NOTA (Ga-NGUL) and Ga-PSMA-11 in Patients with Metastatic Prostate Cancer: A Prospective Study.

Ga-NOTA Glu-Urea-Lys (NGUL) is a novel prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeting tracer used for PET/CT imaging. This study aimed to compare performance in the detection of primary and metastatic lesions and to compare biodistribution between Ga-NGUL and Ga-PSMA-11 in the same patients with prostate cancer. Eleven patients with metastatic prostate cancer were prospectively recruited.

In vivo gamma-aminobutyric acid-A/benzodiazepine receptor availability and genetic liability in asymptomatic individuals with high genetic loading of schizophrenia: A [11C]flumazenil positron emission tomography study.

Objectives: Whilst reduced signalling and gene expression related to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) play a role in the presumed pathophysiology of schizophrenia, its origin is unclear. Studying asymptomatic individuals with high genetic liability to schizophrenia (AIs) would provide insights. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the role of genetic liability in GABAergic dysfunction of schizophrenia by exploring in vivo GABA-A/benzodiazepine receptor (GABAR) availability in AIs.

Non-oncological applications of RGD-based single-photon emission tomography and positron emission tomography agents.

Introduction: Non-invasive imaging techniques (especially single-photon emission tomography and positron emission tomography) apply several RGD-based imaging ligands developed during a vast number of preclinical and clinical investigations. The RGD (Arg-Gly-Asp) sequence is a binding moiety for a large selection of adhesive extracellular matrix and cell surface proteins. Since the first identification of this sequence as the shortest sequence required for recognition in fibronectin during the 1980s, fundamental research regarding the molecular mechanisms of integrin action have paved the way for development of several pharmaceuticals and radiopharmaceuticals with clinical applications.

Conjugation of arginylglycylaspartic acid to human serum albumin decreases the tumor-targeting effect of albumin by hindering its secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine-mediated accumulation in tumors.

Human serum albumin (HSA) accumulates in tumors by the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, which is a passive targeting effect in tumors. A recent study showed that secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC), an albumin-binding protein, mediates albumin accumulation in tumors. Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) is a peptide targeting integrin αβ, which is highly expressed during tumor angiogenesis.

Preparation of a multi-modal agent for sentinel lymph node mapping using Evans blue and Tc-labeled mannosylated human serum albumin conjugate.

Introduction: The identification of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) is important in deciding the resection range during surgery. Tc-labeled mannosylated human serum albumin ([Tc]Tc-MSA) is a radiopharmaceutical developed for SLN detection by targeting macrophages. Evans blue (EB) is a blue dye binding strongly to albumin and has been used for SLN detection.

Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine mediates active targeting of human serum albumin in U87MG xenograft mouse models.

Human serum albumin (HSA) is the most abundant plasma protein. The main reason for using HSA as a versatile tool for drug delivery is based on its ability to accumulate in tumors. However, the mechanism of albumin accumulation in tumors is not yet clear.

Imaging of the third gasotransmitter hydrogen sulfide using Tc-labeled alpha-hydroxy acids.

Introduction: Hydrogen sulfide (HS) defined as the third gasotransmitter after nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO) is an important mediator of various physiological functions. Although various HS-imaging techniques using fluorescence and luminescence have been developed, only one radionuclide imaging using Cu-labeled cyclen complex was reported. Thus, we tried to develop Tc-labeled HS imaging agents.

Assessment of Inflammation in Pulmonary Artery Hypertension by Ga-Mannosylated Human Serum Albumin.

Diagnosis and monitoring of patients with pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) is currently difficult. We aimed to develop a noninvasive imaging modality for PAH that tracks the infiltration of macrophages into the pulmonary vasculature, using a positron emission tomography (PET) agent, Ga-2-(-isothiocyanatobenzyl)-1,4,7-triazacyclononane-1,4,7-triacetic acid (NOTA) mannosylated human serum albumin (MSA), that targets the mannose receptor (MR). We induced PAH in rats by monocrotaline injection.

Versatile and Finely Tuned Albumin Nanoplatform based on Click Chemistry.

Albumin is one of the most attractive nanoplatforms for targeted imaging and drug delivery due to its biocompatibility and long circulation half-life. However, previously reported albumin-based nanoplatforms have shown inconsistent blood circulation half-life according to the modified methods, and the affecting factors were not well evaluated, which could hamper the clinical translation of albumin-based nanoplatforms. Herein, we developed a finely tuned click-chemistry based albumin nanoplatform (CAN) with a longer circulation half-life and an efficient tumor targeting ability.

Nonmotor and Dopamine Transporter Change in REM Sleep Behavior Disorder by Olfactory Impairment.

Objective: It is unclear whether the decline in dopamine transporters (DAT) differs among idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) patients with different levels of olfactory impairment. This study aimed to characterize DAT changes in relation to nonmotor features in iRBD patients by olfactory loss.

Methods: This prospective cohort study consisted of three age-matched groups: 30 polysomnography-confirmed iRBD patients, 30 drug-naïve Parkinson's disease patients, and 19 healthy controls without olfactory impairment.

Design and synthesis of enantiopure F-labelled [ F]trifluoromethyltryptophan from 2-halotryptophan derivatives via copper(I)-mediated [ F]trifluoromethylation and evaluation of its in vitro characterization for the serotonergic system imaging.

We synthesized [ F]trifluoromethyl-l-tryptophan ([ F]CF -l-Trp) using Cu(I)-mediated [ F]trifluoromethylation to image serotonergic system. Radiochemical yield was 6 ± 1.5% (n = 9), and radiochemical purity was over 99%.