Publications by authors named "Kun Kim"
Preparing water-resistant films using partially debranched potato starch and oleic acid.
Int J Biol Macromol
December 2024
Improvement in film-forming properties of starch is critical for the wide application of environmentally friendly starch film. To enhance moisture barrier and mechanical properties of starch films, the formation of starch-lipid inclusion complex was promoted by partial debranching of starch and reaction at various temperature. The partially debranched potato starch was initially prepared with pullulanase, and the starch-lipid inclusion complex was subsequently produced with oleic acid at various reaction temperatures of 30, 50, and 70 °C.
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- * Analyzing data from a regional trauma center, the researchers found that only 6.1% of TRF patients were referred for acupuncture, and among those referred, 72.1% went through with it, with female patients being more likely to accept the treatment.
- * The findings suggest that those with polytrauma were less likely to be referred for acupuncture, indicating a potential bias in referral practices, and highlight the need for more research on the effectiveness of acupuncture in recovery from TRF.
Article Synopsis
- - Chronic opioid use (COU) following traumatic injuries is a health issue globally, impacting recovery and heightening the risk of long-term dependence, with a specific study conducted in South Korea highlighting the prevalence and associated factors.
- - In analyzing data from over 1 million individuals, the study found that 13.5% of trauma patients and 12.6% of non-trauma patients were chronic opioid users, indicating a slightly higher risk should one experience a traumatic injury.
- - Significant risk factors for COU included older age (especially those aged 65 and older) and prior opioid use, suggesting a need for further research to minimize risks related to opioid prescriptions in South Korea.
Article Synopsis
- * GSK3 inhibition alone or combined with aerobic exercise leads to improvements in muscle strength, endurance, insulin sensitivity, and overall metabolism in mdx mice.
- * This strategy also enhances bone health, suggesting that targeting GSK3 may offer a new treatment approach for DMD patients, contrasting with current glucocorticoid treatments that pose additional health risks.
The geometric characteristics of Bloch wavefunctions play crucial roles in the properties of electronic transport. Within the Boltzmann equation framework, we demonstrate that the thermoelectric performance of materials is significantly influenced by the Hilbert-Schmidt distance of Bloch wavefunctions. The connection between the distribution of quantum distance on the Fermi surface and the electronic transport scattering rate is established in the presence of magnetic and nonmagnetic impurities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFactors related to acute kidney injury after AngioJet rheolytic thrombectomy.
Acta Radiol
November 2024
Background: AngioJet rheolytic thrombectomy is associated with a higher risk of acute kidney injury due to its potential for inducing mechanical harm and intravascular hemolysis. However, previous studies have focused on a single disease entity.
Purpose: To identify predictors associated with acute kidney injury after AngioJet rheolytic thrombectomy across a range of disease entities.
Mammalian retrotransposons constitute 40% of the genome. During tissue regeneration, adult stem cells coordinately repress retrotransposons and activate lineage genes, but how this coordination is controlled is poorly understood. Here, we observed that dynamic expression of histone methyltransferase SETDB1 (a retrotransposon repressor) closely mirrors stem cell activities in murine skin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate the impact of intraprocedural cone-beam CT (CBCT) aortography on culprit artery identification and clinical outcomes in patients undergoing bronchial artery embolization (BAE).
Materials And Methods: Two hundred eighty-two patients with 317 BAE procedures were retrospectively reviewed. Patients who underwent preprocedural chest CT angiography (CTA) without intraprocedural CBCT aortography were categorized as Group A (n = 177).
Article Synopsis
- - Thermogenic brown adipocytes (BAs) help combat obesity by burning lipids to produce heat, and a protein called LETMD1 is crucial for their mitochondrial function but its mechanisms are not fully understood.
- - Researchers used various methods to show that LETMD1 is important for maintaining mitochondrial health; lack of LETMD1 leads to protein buildup, oxidative stress, and problems with mitochondrial recycling in brown adipocytes.
- - By identifying proteins that interact with LETMD1, the study found that it helps regulate the import and translation of proteins necessary for mitochondrial function, suggesting LETMD1 plays a key role in keeping mitochondria stable in brown fat cells.
Article Synopsis
- * CPT1A is found to be most active in quiescent SCs and decreases as these cells become active, with overexpression of CPT1A in muscle cells leading to reduced muscle strength and regeneration capabilities.
- * Increased levels of acyl-carnitine, resulting from elevated CPT1A, negatively impact SC proliferation and function, suggesting a critical balance of fatty acid metabolism is essential for SC maintenance and muscle repair.
Purpose: Although favorable results have been reported on catheter-directed sclerotherapy (CDS) for ovarian endometrioma, a thorough evaluation of its long-term efficacy is lacking. This study evaluates the long-term efficacy and safety of CDS with 99% ethanol for treatment of ovarian endometrioma.
Methods: Between January 2020 and February 2022, data from 33 consecutive patients with symptomatic ovarian endometriomas who underwent CDS were retrospectively evaluated.
Article Synopsis
- The review aimed to explore how gamification influences academic motivation and confidence among undergraduate nursing students, identifying which game design elements are effective.
- A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted, analyzing data from various studies to assess the impact of gamification, with significant findings on motivation and confidence levels (moderate-to-large effects).
- The results indicated that the effectiveness of gamification varies by academic year, measurement scales, study quality, and specific game design elements, with evidence rated as moderate for motivation and low for confidence.
Background: In economic evaluations of novel therapies, assessing lifetime effects based on trial data often necessitates survival extrapolation, with the choice of model affecting outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess accuracy and variability between alternative approaches to survival extrapolation.
Methods: Data on HER2-positive breast cancer patients from the Swedish National Breast Cancer Register were used to fit standard parametric distribution (SPD) models and excess hazard (EH) models adjusting the survival projections based on general population mortality (GPM).
Purpose: We aimed to identify the genetic causes of hypospadias in children using targeted gene panel sequencing for disorders of sex development (DSD).
Materials And Methods: This study included 18 twin boys with hypospadias: seven and two pairs were monozygotic and dizygotic twins, respectively, and six were discordant and three were concordant twins. Targeted gene panel sequencing for 67 known DSD genes was performed.
Article Synopsis
- Traditional medicine (TM) is important in healthcare and this study aimed to analyze systematic reviews (SRs) of TM modalities to identify gaps in existing research and inform future studies.
- The researchers conducted a comprehensive search across 17 databases from January 2018 to December 2022, ultimately screening over 181,000 records to include 2,719 relevant SRs focusing mainly on adults and specific health conditions.
- The study found that most TM research concentrated on herbal medicine and acupuncture for conditions related to the digestive, circulatory, and genitourinary systems, while highlighting low methodological quality of the included SRs as a concern for future TM research efforts.
The equitable allocation of resources has long been a central concern for humanity, prompting extensive research into various motivations that drive the pursuit of distributive justice. In contrast to one of the most fundamental motives, inequality aversion, a conflicting motive has been proposed: rank-reversal aversion. However, it remains unclear whether this rank-reversal aversion persists in the presence of self-rank.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultiple factors in the design of a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) influence CAR T-cell activity, with costimulatory signals being a key component. Yet, the impact of costimulatory domains on the downstream signaling and subsequent functionality of CAR-engineered natural killer (NK) cells remains largely unexplored. Here, we evaluated the impact of various costimulatory domains on CAR-NK cell activity, using a CD70-targeting CAR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objective: Chronic respiratory diseases in children deteriorate their daily life due to dyspnea and reduced lung function. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility of home-based pulmonary rehabilitation in pediatric chronic respiratory diseases.
Methods: This prospective, single-arm, cohort study included children with chronic lung disease.
Objectives: This study aimed to compare the safety and effectiveness of percutaneous endobiliary radiofrequency ablation with stent placement (RFA group) versus stent placement alone (stent group) in patients with type IV hilar cholangiocarcinoma.
Methods: This prospective nonrandomized study was conducted between October 2021 and April 2023. The study included 56 participants (33 men and 23 women, median age 73 years) who underwent percutaneous endobiliary RFA with stent placement (n = 25) or stent placement alone (n = 31) for type IV hilar cholangiocarcinoma.
The SUV is a measure of FDG uptake and is related with tumor aggressiveness in thyroid cancer, however, its association with molecular pathways is unclear. Here, we investigated the relationship between SUV and gene expression profiles in 80 papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) patients. We conducted an analysis of DEGs and enriched pathways in relation to SUV and tumor size.
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- The study assessed the safety and effectiveness of superselective ablative chemo-ethanol embolization (SACE) in treating recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (rHCC) in 22 patients.
- SACE was completed successfully in 95.2% of patients, with tumor response rates of 100% at one month and 83.3% at six months; however, some patients experienced local progression or metastasis.
- Overall, SACE yielded favorable results with minimal adverse effects, but the authors suggest that further studies are necessary to confirm these outcomes.
Purpose: This study aimed to develop a rabbit iliac stenosis model and evaluate the effects of different mechanical injury techniques on the degree of arterial stenosis.
Materials And Methods: Eighteen rabbits were divided into three groups: cholesterol-fed with pullover balloon injury (group A; = 6), cholesterol-fed with localized balloon dilatation (group B; = 6), and chow-diet with pullover balloon injury (group C; = 6). After baseline angiography, the left iliac arteries of all rabbits were injured with a 3 × 10 mm noncompliant balloon using either a wide pullover technique (groups A and C) or a localized balloon dilatation technique (group B).
Article Synopsis
- Metastasis-directed spine SBRT has been shown to improve local control and overall survival in selected patients, with a focus on clinical and dosimetric factors influencing local failure rates.
- A study analyzed 522 treatments, highlighting that a minimum dose of 15.3 Gy in single-fraction deliveries significantly improves local control, with local failure rates being lower when this dose is achieved.
- Epidural and soft tissue involvement are significant predictors of local failure, emphasizing the importance of targeting and dosing in SBRT for better treatment outcomes.
Background: The prognosis of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is associated with liver fibrosis. We investigated the associations between changes in liver stiffness measurement (LSM) over 3-year period and the development of cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with MASLD.
Methods: This study involved patients with MASLD who underwent transient elastography at baseline and 3 years after baseline from 2012 to 2020.
Purpose: Pharmacopuncture therapy (PPT) combines medicinal extracts with acupuncture and is widely used as an adjunct in clinical practice. This study assessed the safety and feasibility of PPT in addition to conventional Korean Medicine treatment (CKMT), including electroacupuncture, cupping and infra-red, for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS).
Patients And Methods: Forty patients diagnosed with LSS were randomly assigned to undergo PPT with CKMT (experimental group) or CKMT alone (control group) at a 1:1 ratio, receiving 10 sessions of each intervention over five weeks.