Efficacy on symptoms and mortality day vs. night administration of EGFR-TKIs for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Purpose: This study has a purpose to investigate the side effects of three EGFR-TKIs targeted therapeutic agents (gefitinib, erlotinib, and afatinib) and all-cause mortality in patients with metastatic lung cancer.

Methods: We performed a prospective cohort study. We selected all patients with newly diagnosed metastatic lung cancer between January and November 2019.

Half-Bridge Silicon Strain Gauges with Arc-Shaped Piezoresistors.

Half-bridge silicon strain gauges are widely used in the fabrication of diaphragm-type high-pressure sensors, but in some applications, they suffer from low output sensitivity because of mounting position constraints. Through a special design and fabrication approach, a new half-bridge silicon strain gauge comprising one arc gauge responding to tangential strain and another linear gauge measuring radial strain was developed using Silicon-on-Glass (SiOG) substrate technology. The tangential gauge consists of grid patterns, such as the reciprocating arc of silicon piezoresistors on a thin glass substrate.

Reciprocating Arc Silicon Strain Gauges.

Currently, silicon-strain-gauge-based diaphragm pressure sensors use four single-gauge chips for high-output sensitivity. However, the four-single-gauge configuration increases the number of glass frit bonds and the number of aluminum wire bonds, reducing the long-term stability, reliability, and yield of the diaphragm pressure sensor. In this study, a new design of general-purpose silicon strain gauges was developed to improve the sensor output voltage while reducing the number of bonds.

Synergistic anti-biofilm effects of Brassicaceae plant extracts in combination with proteinase K against Escherichia coli O157:H7.

Bacteria can form biofilms, complex microbial communities protected from environmental stress, on food contact surfaces. Brassicaceae plant has been shown to contain bioactive compounds with antimicrobial activities. The objective of this study was to evaluate the synergistic effects of Brassicaceae species and proteinase K against E.

Functionalization of Molybdenum Disulfide via Plasma Treatment and 3-Mercaptopropionic Acid for Gas Sensors.

Monolayer and multilayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS) materials are semiconductors with direct/indirect bandgaps of 1.2-1.8 eV and are attractive due to their changes in response to electrical, physicochemical, biological, and mechanical factors.

Enhanced Stability and Amplified Signal Output of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotube-Based NH-Sensitive Electrode after Dual Plasma Treatment.

Pristine nanomaterials are normally prepared using finely controlled fabrication processes. Because no imperfect nanostructure remains, they cannot be used directly as electrode substrates of functional devices. This is because perfectly organized nanostructures or nanomaterials commonly require posttreatment to generate intentionally, the kinds of desirable defects inside or on their surfaces that enable effective functionalization.

Enhancement of Withstand Voltage in Silicon Strain Gauges Using a Thin Alkali-Free Glass.

We present a cost-effective approach to produce silicon strain gauges that can withstand very high voltage without using any complex package design and without sacrificing any sensor performance. This is achieved by a special silicon strain gauge structure created on an alkali-free glass substrate that has a high breakdown voltage. A half-bridge silicon strain gauge is designed, fabricated, and then tested to measure its output characteristics.

Plasmonic Janus Microspheres Created from Pickering Emulsion Drops.

Metal nanostructures have been created in a film format to develop unique plasmonic properties. Here, well-defined metal nanostructures are designed on the surface of microspheres to provide plasmonic microgranules. As conventional techniques are inadequate for nanofabrication on spherical surfaces, photocurable emulsion drops with a regular array of silica particles are employed at the interface to create periodic nanostructures.

Standardized Seed Extract of (HU-033) Attenuates Testosterone Propionate-Induced Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia α1-Adrenergic Receptors and Androgen/Estrogen Signaling.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is an age-related disease characterized by prostatic enlargement and is the most common urologic symptoms in elderly men 60 years of age and older. Previously, we documented that 70% ethanol (EtOH) seed extract of (QI) attenuates pathological condition of testosterone propionate (TP)-induced BPH rat model modulation of proliferation and apoptosis of prostate cells. Based on this potential of QI, we produced standardized seed extract of QI (HU-033) in order to prove further mechanisms.

A Micromachined Metal Oxide Composite Dual Gas Sensor System for Principal Component Analysis-Based Multi-Monitoring of Noxious Gas Mixtures.

Microelectronic gas-sensor devices were developed for the detection of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxides (NO), ammonia (NH) and formaldehyde (HCHO), and their gas-sensing characteristics in six different binary gas systems were examined using pattern-recognition methods. Four nanosized gas-sensing materials for these target gases, i.e.

Janus Microcarriers for Magnetic Field-controlled Combination Chemotherapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Combination chemotherapy administering multiple chemo-agents is widely exploited for the treatment of various cancers in the clinic. Specially for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the most common malignancies, a co-administration of combinational cytostatic multi-kinase inhibitors and cytotoxic chemo-agents has been suggested as a potential curative approach. Here, Janus microcarriers were developed for the controlled local combination chemotherapy of HCC.

Paradoxical relationship between body mass index and bone mineral density in patients with non-small cell lung cancer with brain metastasis.

Background And Purpose: Low body mass index (BMI) at presentation has been reported to be associated with higher incidence and mortality of lung cancer, but studies on the relationship between brain metastasis and BMI at presentation are lacking. This study aimed to evaluate the association between brain metastasis and BMI and bone mineral density (BMD) in NSCLC.

Methods: We retrospectively enrolled patients with non-small cell lung cancer who underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging with contrast within 3 months of diagnosis.

The effect of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in schizophrenia patients with sleep Disturbance: A non-randomized, assessor-blind trial.

This non-randomized, assessor blind study evaluated the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) delivered in a group format on insomnia symptoms as well as psychotic, depressive, and anxiety symptoms in schizophrenia patients (n = 63) recruited from residential or rehabilitative facilities in Seoul, South Korea. Thirty-one patients received four sessions of CBT-I in groups of 2-9 patients in addition to usual care, while the control group (n = 32) received no additional intervention. The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Psychotic Symptoms Rating Scale (PSYRATS), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were administered at baseline, week 4, and week 8.

Silibinin Ameliorates -GlcNAcylation and Inflammation in a Mouse Model of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis.

The mechanisms underlying the progression to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) remain to be elucidated. In the present study, we aimed to identify the proteins involved in the pathogenesis of liver tissue inflammation and to investigate the effects of silibinin, a natural polyphenolic flavonoid, on steatohepatitis. We performed comparative proteomic analysis using methionine and choline-deficient (MCD) diet-induced NASH model mice.

The Prevalence of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome in the Korean Military Compared with the General Population.

Background: Obesity and related metabolic disorders are growing health challenges worldwide and individuals at military service are not exceptions. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome (MS) in the Korean military and to compare with the general population.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 4,803 young military participants who underwent a corporal health-screening program between October 2013 and October 2014.

A Fully Integrated Paper-Microfluidic Electrochemical Device for Simultaneous Analysis of Physiologic Blood Ions.

A fully integrated paper microfluidic electrochemical device equipped with three different cation permeable films is developed to determine blood ions (Cl, Na⁺, K⁺, and Ca) at a time. These blood ions that are normally dissolved in the real human blood stream are essential for cell metabolisms and homeostasis in the human body. Abnormal concentration of blood ions causes many serious disorders.

Buckling Structured Stretchable Pseudocapacitor Yarn.

Cable-type stretchable electrochemical pseudocapacitors based on multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) sheets and two different metal oxide nanopowders (NP), i.e., MnO and RuO are developed using a newly-devised dry painting method to mechanically fix the NP to the elastic rubber-based MWCNT electrode substrate, resulting in a porous buckling structured pseudocapacitor yarn.

Highly luminescent silica-coated CdS/CdSe/CdS nanoparticles with strong chemical robustness and excellent thermal stability.

We present facile synthesis of bright CdS/CdSe/CdS@SiO nanoparticles with 72% of quantum yields (QYs) retaining ca 80% of the original QYs. The main innovative point is the utilization of the highly luminescent CdS/CdSe/CdS seed/spherical quantum well/shell (SQW) as silica coating seeds. The significance of inorganic semiconductor shell passivation and structure design of quantum dots (QDs) for obtaining bright QD@SiO is demonstrated by applying silica encapsulation via reverse microemulsion method to three kinds of QDs with different structure: CdSe core and 2 nm CdS shell (CdSe/CdS-thin); CdSe core and 6 nm CdS shell (CdSe/CdS-thick); and CdS core, CdSe intermediate shell and 5 nm CdS outer shell (CdS/CdSe/CdS-SQW).

Evaluation of Surface Cleaning Procedures in Terms of Gas Sensing Properties of Spray-Deposited CNT Film: Thermal- and O₂ Plasma Treatments.

The effect of cleaning the surface of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) networks by thermal and the O₂ plasma treatments is presented in terms of NH₃ gas sensing characteristics. The goal of this work is to determine the relationship between the physicochemical properties of the cleaned surface (including the chemical composition, crystal structure, hydrophilicity, and impurity content) and the sensitivity of the SWNT network films to NH₃ gas. The SWNT networks are spray-deposited on pre-patterned Pt electrodes, and are further functionalized by heating on a programmable hot plate or by O₂ plasma treatment in a laboratory-prepared plasma chamber.

PolyHIPE Derived Freestanding 3D Carbon Foam for Cobalt Hydroxide Nanorods Based High Performance Supercapacitor.

The current paper describes enhanced electrochemical capacitive performance of chemically grown Cobalt hydroxide (Co(OH)) nanorods (NRs) decorated porous three dimensional graphitic carbon foam (Co(OH)/3D GCF) as a supercapacitor electrode. Freestanding 3D porous GCF is prepared by carbonizing, high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) polymerized styrene and divinylbenzene. The PolyHIPE was sulfonated and carbonized at temperature up to 850 °C to obtain graphitic 3D carbon foam with high surface area (389 m g) having open voids (14 μm) interconnected by windows (4 μm) in monolithic form.

Association between IRS1 Gene Polymorphism and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Case-Control Study in Korean Males.

The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) pathway is thought to play an important role in brain development. Altered levels of IGFs and their signaling regulators have been shown in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients. In this study, we investigated whether coding region single-nucleotide polymorphisms (cSNPs) of the insulin receptor substrates (IRS1 and IRS2), key mediators of the IGF pathway, were associated with ASD in Korean males.

Dissociation of quantifiers and object nouns in speech in focal neurodegenerative disease.

Quantifiers such as many and some are thought to depend in part on the conceptual representation of number knowledge, while object nouns such as cookie and boy appear to depend in part on visual feature knowledge associated with object concepts. Further, number knowledge is associated with a frontal-parietal network while object knowledge is related in part to anterior and ventral portions of the temporal lobe. We examined the cognitive and anatomic basis for the spontaneous speech production of quantifiers and object nouns in non-aphasic patients with focal neurodegenerative disease associated with corticobasal syndrome (CBS, n=33), behavioral variant frontotemporal degeneration (bvFTD, n=54), and semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA, n=19).

Tension assisted metal transfer of graphene for Schottky diodes onto wafer scale substrates.

We developed an effective graphene transfer method for graphene/silicon Schottky diodes on a wafer as large as 6 inches. Graphene grown on a large scale substrate was passivated and sealed with a gold layer, protecting graphene from any possible contaminant and keeping good electrical contact. The Au/graphene was transferred by the tension-assisted transfer process without polymer residues.

Acoustic richness modulates the neural networks supporting intelligible speech processing.

The information contained in a sensory signal plays a critical role in determining what neural processes are engaged. Here we used interleaved silent steady-state (ISSS) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore how human listeners cope with different degrees of acoustic richness during auditory sentence comprehension. Twenty-six healthy young adults underwent scanning while hearing sentences that varied in acoustic richness (high vs.

Tailoring and recycling of deep eutectic solvents as sustainable and efficient extraction media.

The present study demonstrates that deep eutectic solvents (DESs) with the highest extractability can be designed by combining effective DES components from screening diverse DESs. The extraction of polar ginseng saponins from white ginseng was used as a way to demonstrate the tuneability as well as recyclability of DESs. A newly designed ternary DES (GPS-5) composed of glycerol, l-proline, and sucrose at 9:4:1 was used as a sustainable and efficient extraction medium.