Investigating the Impact of Superabsorbent Polymer Sizes on Absorption and Cement Paste Rheology.

This study aims to understand the water retention capabilities of Superabsorbent Polymers (SAPs) in different alkaline environments for internal curing and to assess their impact on the rheological properties of cement paste. Therefore, the focus of this paper is on the absorption capacities of two different sizes of polyacrylic-based Superabsorbent Polymers : SAP A, with an average size of 28 µm, and SAP B, with an average size of 80 µm, in various solutions, such as pH 7, pH 11, pH 13, and cement filtrate solution (pH 13.73).

An exploratory clinical trial of preoperative non-invasive localization before breast-conserving surgery using augmented reality technology.

Purpose: This single-center, randomized, prospective, exploratory clinical trial was conducted to assess the clinical efficacy of an augmented reality (AR)-based breast cancer localization imaging solution for patients with breast cancer.

Methods: This clinical trial enrolled 20 women who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between the ages of 19 and 80, had a single lesion with a diameter ≥ 5 mm but ≤ 30 mm, had no metastases to other organs, and had not received prior chemotherapy. All patients underwent mammography, ultrasound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging for preoperative assessment.

A prospective randomized controlled trial to determine the safety and efficacy of extracorporeal shock waves therapy for primary prevention of subclinical cardiotoxicity in breast cancer patients without a cardiovascular risk treated with doxorubicin.

Background: Doxorubicin is a highly effective anti-cancer drug that causes left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and induces late-onset cardiomyopathy. However, an effective and clinically applicable preventive treatment is yet to be discovered.

Objective: Cardiac-Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (C-ESWT) has been suggested to treat inflammatory and ischemic diseases and protect cardiomyocytes from doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy.

Variability of Transrectal Shear Wave Elastography in a Phantom Model.

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the variability of transrectal shear wave elastography (SWE) using a designed phantom.

Materials And Methods: In a phantom, the SWE values were examined by two radiologists using agarose and emulsion silicone of different sizes (1, 2, and 3 cm) and shapes (round, cubic) at three depths (1, 2, and 3 cm), two region of interest (ROI) and locations (central, peripheral) using two ultrasound machines (A, B from different vendors). Variability was evaluated using the coefficient of variation (CV).

Promoting Psychological Well-Being at Workplace through Protean Career Attitude: Dual Mediating Effect of Career Satisfaction and Career Commitment.

The management paradigm of SMEs is changing due to the recent Fourth Industrial Revolution and the changing COVID-19 environment. To respond to these changes, companies are focusing on protean career attitude (PCA) and psychological well-being (PWB) of employees to improve corporate performance. Under these circumstances, this study investigated the structural relationship of the dual mediation effects of career commitment and career satisfaction in the relationship between PCA and PWB.

Inhibition of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol synthesis by down-regulation of MGD1 leads to membrane lipid remodeling and enhanced triacylglycerol biosynthesis in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

Background: Membrane lipid remodeling involves regulating the physiochemical modification of cellular membranes against abiotic stress or senescence, and it could be a trigger to increase neutral lipid content. In algae and higher plants, monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) constitutes the highest proportion of total membrane lipids and is highly reduced as part of the membrane lipid remodeling response under several abiotic stresses. However, genetic regulation of MGDG synthesis and its influence on lipid synthesis has not been studied in microalgae.

Pulmonary rehabilitation in the intensive care unit using surface electromyography in a patient with diaphragmatic injury: A case report.

Diaphragmatic injury (DI) following blunt trauma can cause pulmonary complications and increased duration of ventilator-dependent intensive care unit stay. Herein, we present a 62-year-old female patient with severe trauma who was diagnosed with liver laceration and multiple rib fractures and underwent emergency laparotomy. Extubation was attempted; however, the patient had to be reintubated due to dyspnea.

Two-stage binary classifier for neuromuscular disorders using surface electromyography feature extraction and selection.

If surface electromyography (sEMG) can be used to determine neuromuscular disorders, it can diagnose conditions more easily than needle electromyography. In this study, sEMG during maximum voluntary isometric contraction and repetitive exercise was measured, and normal, myopathy, and neuropathy were classified with high accuracy using these signals. First, a two-stage binary classifier model was constructed to classify the patient group and the normal group and categorize the cases assigned to the patient group into myopathy and neuropathy groups.

Two-step microalgal (Coelastrella sp.) treatment of raw piggery wastewater resulting in higher lipid and triacylglycerol levels for possible production of higher-quality biodiesel.

Microalgal treatment of undiluted raw piggery wastewater is challenging due to ammonia toxicity and a deep dark color hampering photosynthesis. To overcome these problems, (1) a microalga (Coelastrella sp.) was isolated from an ammonia-rich environment, (2) the wastewater treatment was divided into two steps: a heterotrophic process followed by a mixotrophic process, and (3) a narrower transparent photobioreactor was employed with higher light intensity in the mixotrophic process.

Evaluation for Parkinsonian Bradykinesia by deep learning modeling of kinematic parameters.

A wearable sensor system is available for monitoring of bradykinesia in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), however, it remains unclear whether kinematic parameters would reflect clinical severity of PD, or would help clinical diagnosis of physicians. The present study investigated whether the classification model using kinematic parameters from the wearable sensor may show accordance with clinical rating and diagnosis in PD patients. Using the Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) sensor, we measured the movement of finger tapping (FT), hand movements (HM), and rapid alternating movements (RA) in 25 PD patients and 21 healthy controls.

Development of a species-specific transformation system using the novel endogenous promoter calreticulin from oleaginous microalgae Ettlia sp.

Microalgae not only serve as raw materials for biofuel but also have uses in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. However, regulated gene expression in microalgae has only been achieved in a few strains due to the lack of genome information and unstable transformation. This study developed a species-specific transformation system for an oleaginous microalga, Ettlia sp.

Enhanced pyruvate metabolism in plastids by overexpression of putative plastidial pyruvate transporter in .

Background: The development of microalgal strains for enhanced biomass and biofuel production has received increased attention. Moreover, strain development via metabolic engineering for commercial production is being considered as the most efficient strategy. Pyruvate is an essential metabolite in the cells and plays an essential role in amino acid biosynthesis and de novo fatty acid biosynthesis in plastids.

Serum Levels and Glycosylation Changes of Alpha-1-Acid Glycoprotein According to Severity of Breast Cancer in Korean Women.

Elevated serum levels of alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) are known to be associated with several types of cancer. In addition, some reports have indicated that changes in glycosylation of AGP are associated with cancer progression. However, changes in AGP levels of serum and changes in glycosylation of AGPs in breast cancer have not been specifically studied.

Colonic hypoperfusion following ligation of the inferior mesenteric artery in rectosigmoid colon cancer patients.

Purpose: Colon perfusion status is one of the most important factors for the determination of postoperative anastomotic complications. Colonic hypoperfusion can be induced by inferior mesenteric artery (IMA) ligation in some patients. This study aimed to evaluate atherosclerotic risk assessment and vascular parameters of CT angiography as predictors of colonic hypoperfusion.

Routine low-dose calcium supplementation after thyroidectomy does not reduce the rate of symptomatic hypocalcemia: a prospective randomized trial.

Purpose: Routine supplementation of high-dose calcium significantly decreased the risk of postoperative symptomatic hypocalcemia after thyroidectomy. However, there is an ongoing debate about whether the same results can be achieved with low-dose calcium supplementation.

Methods: Patients (n = 138) who underwent total thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer were 1:1 randomly assigned to receive oral supplements of 1,500 mg/day elemental calcium and 1,000 IU/day cholecalciferol for 2 weeks or no supplementation.

Circulating Plasmacytoid and Myeloid Dendritic Cells in Breast Cancer Patients: A Pilot Study.

Purpose: Dendritic cells (DC) are a class of bone marrow-derived cells found in the blood, epithelia, and lymphoid tissues, and are the most efficient antigen presenting cells. The number and function of DC can change dramatically in cancer patients. The aim of this study is to correlate the levels of circulating DC subsets with clinical characteristics in breast cancer patients.

Correction to: 33rd Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2018).

After publication of this supplement [1, 2], it was brought to our attention that due to an error authors were missing in the following abstracts. This has now been included in this correction.

Validity and Reliability of the Newly Developed Surface Electromyography Device for Measuring Muscle Activity during Voluntary Isometric Contraction.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to establish the validity and reliability of the newly developed surface electromyography (sEMG) device (PSL-EMG-Tr1) compared with a conventional sEMG device (BTS-FREEEMG1000).

Methods: In total, 20 healthy participants (10 males, age 30.3 ± 2.

Use of CA15‑3 for screening breast cancer: An antibody‑lectin sandwich assay for detecting glycosylation of CA15‑3 in sera.

Elevated serum CA15‑3 assessed by enzyme‑linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been considered a diagnostic marker of breast cancer. However, accumulating data indicate that the current ELISA system for detecting CA15‑3, which targets the peptide backbone of CA15‑3, is not sufficiently sensitive to detect early or localized breast cancer. In the present study, we designed an antibody‑lectin sandwich assay detecting glycosylation of CA15‑3 in patients with breast cancer.

Pinus densiflora bark extract ameliorates 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene-induced atopic dermatitis in NC/Nga mice by regulating Th1/Th2 balance and skin barrier function.

Korean red pine (Pinus densiflora) bark has been traditionally used in Korea and other parts of East Asia to relieve inflammatory diseases. Although many studies using P. densiflora bark have been reported, its effect on atopic dermatitis (AD) has not been elucidated.

Blastomonas fulva sp. nov., aerobic photosynthetic bacteria isolated from a Microcystis culture.

Two Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile, non-spore-forming and rod-shaped bacteria, designated strains T2T and T5, were isolated from a culture of Microcystis from Daejeon, Republic of Korea. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence studies placed the new isolates in the class Alphaproteobacteria and, notably, most closely related to Blastomonasaquatica PE 4-5T, Blastomonas natatoria DSM 3183T and Blastomonas ursincola KR-99T showing 99.4 %, 98.

Clinical usefulness of controlled attenuation parameter to screen hepatic steatosis for potential donor of living donor liver transplant.

Objective: Hepatic steatosis is associated with an increased risk of graft loss. Although the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP), a process based on transient elastography, has been suggested as a noninvasive method of assessing hepatic steatosis, to date, there is no study on the usefulness of CAP as a single screening tool for detecting hepatic steatosis in potential living donor liver. We evaluated the accuracy of CAP for detecting hepatic steatosis in potential liver donors.