Association between diastolic blood viscosity and functional outcomes after acute ischemic stroke.

Background: While blood viscosity is recognized as a contributing factor in cerebrovascular disease pathophysiology, the specific role of diastolic blood viscosity (DBV) in functional outcomes after acute ischemic stroke (AIS) remains unclear. This study investigates the relationship between admission DBV levels and 3-month functional outcomes in patients with AIS.

Methods: We analyzed 413 AIS patients admitted within 7 days of symptom onset.

Diabetes status, duration, and risk of dementia among ischemic stroke patients.

Background: The influence of duration of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on the likelihood of developing new-onset dementia in post-stroke population is not well understood. Therefore, we aimed to clarify the relationship between the duration of T2DM and the risk of developing dementia in the post-stroke population.

Methods: Leveraging the Korean National Health Insurance Database, this study included 118,790 individuals with a history of stroke but no previous dementia diagnosis.

Caregiving is associated with lower brain age in humans.

Middle-aged adults who are parents have better average cognitive performance and lower average brain age compared with middle-aged adults without children, raising the possibility that caregiving slows brain aging. Here, we investigate this hypothesis in two additional groups of caregivers: grandmothers and caregivers for people living with dementia (PLWD). Demographic, questionnaire, and structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data were acquired from n = 50 grandmothers, n = 24 caregivers of PLWD, and n = 37 non-caregiver controls, and BrainAGE was estimated.

Imipramine, an Acid Sphingomyelinase Inhibitor, Promotes Newborn Neuron Survival in the Hippocampus After Seizure.

Epilepsy, a chronic neurological disorder, is triggered by various insults, including traumatic brain injury and stroke. Acid sphingomyelinase (ASMase), an enzyme that hydrolyzes sphingomyelin into ceramides, is implicated in oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and neuronal apoptosis. Ceramides, which have pro-apoptotic properties, contribute to oxidative damage and lysosomal dysfunction, exacerbating neuronal injury.

Impact of hypertension on changes in peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in type 2 diabetes patients.

To determine longitudinal changes in the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with hypertension (HTN). Participants were divided into three groups: normal controls (Group 1), patients with T2DM (Group 2), and patients with both T2DM and HTN (Group 3). Following the initial examination, patients underwent three additional examinations at 1-year intervals.

Microtubule acetylation and PERK activation facilitate eribulin-induced mitochondrial calcium accumulation and cell death.

Over the past few decades, microtubules have been targeted by various anticancer drugs, including paclitaxel and eribulin. Despite their promising effects, the development of drug resistance remains a challenge. We aimed to define a novel cell death mechanism that targets microtubules using eribulin and to assess its potential in overcoming eribulin resistance.

Li-ion transport in two-dimensional nanofluidic membranes.

The growing demand for lithium, driven by its critical role in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and other applications, has intensified the need for efficient extraction methods from aqua-based resources such as seawater. Among various approaches, 2D channel membranes have emerged as promising candidates due to their tunable ion selectivity and scalability. While significant progress has been made in achieving high Li/Mg selectivity, enhancing Li ion selectivity over Na ion, the dominant monovalent cation in seawater, remains a challenge due to their similar properties.

Fokker-Planck dynamics of two coupled van der Pol oscillators subjected to stochastic forcing.

We present probabilistic solutions to a pair of mutually coupled Van der Pol oscillators subjected to stochastic forcing. We consider three different types of coupling: reactive, dissipative, and nonlinear coupling. Using stochastic averaging, we derive the stationary Fokker-Planck equation for each oscillator, yielding a probability density function for the fluctuation amplitude.

Multi-Center Fetal Brain Tissue Annotation (FeTA) Challenge 2022 Results.

Segmentation is a critical step in analyzing the developing human fetal brain. There have been vast improvements in automatic segmentation methods in the past several years, and the Fetal Brain Tissue Annotation (FeTA) Challenge 2021 helped to establish an excellent standard of fetal brain segmentation. However, FeTA 2021 was a single center study, limiting real-world clinical applicability and acceptance.

Depression and risk of stroke and mortality after percutaneous coronary intervention: A nationwide population study.

Background: Limited evidence exists on the role of depression in the risk of developing stroke and other cardiovascular outcomes in patients who have undergone percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). We investigated this relationship with data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database.

Methods: Our nationwide retrospective cohort study included 164,198 patients who had undergone PCI between 2010 and 2017.

Distorted time perception in patients with neurocognitive impairment.

Background: Time perception is known to be distorted in patients with neuropsychiatric disorders. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the correlation between cognitive decline and time distortion by examining time perception in participants with neurocognitive impairment (Alzheimer's disease [AD], vascular dementia [VD], and Parkinson's disease dementia [PDD]) compared to those with subjective cognitive impairment (SCI).

Methods: Overall, 569 participants with cognitive decline complaints between 2013 and 2022 were investigated.

Impact of systemic hypertension on inner retinal layer thickness and macular microvasculature in patients with diabetic retinopathy.

Aim: To investigate the effects of hypertension (HTN) on inner retinal thickness and macular microvasculature in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Methods: Subjects were classified into three groups: patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) (T2DM group), patients with DR (DR-HTN group), and patients with DR and HTN (DR + HTN group). The ganglion cell complex (GCC) thicknesses and the macular vessel density (VD) were compared.

Lifestyle risk behavior and atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk: An analysis using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Background: Clustering lifestyle risk behaviors is important for predicting cardiovascular disease risk. However, it is unclear which behavior mediates other ones to influence cardiovascular disease risk. We aimed to assess the causal inference of each lifestyle risk behavior for the atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk of the general population.

Scanning Probe Microscopy of Halide Perovskite Solar Cells.

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) has enabled significant new insights into the nanoscale and microscale properties of solar cell materials and underlying working principles of photovoltaic and optoelectronic technology. Various SPM modes, including atomic force microscopy, Kelvin probe force microscopy, conductive atomic force microscopy, piezoresponse force microscopy, and scanning near-field optical microscopy, can be used for the investigation of electrical, optical and chemical properties of associated functional materials. A large body of work has improved the understanding of solar cell device processing and synthesis in close synergy with SPM investigations in recent years.

Fokker-Planck modeling of the stochastic dynamics of a Rijke tube.

We derive and numerically validate a low-order oscillator model to capture the stochastic dynamics of a prototypical thermoacoustic system (a Rijke tube) undergoing a subcritical Hopf bifurcation in the presence of additive noise. We find that on the fixed-point branch before the bifurcation, the system is dominated by the first duct mode, and the Fokker-Planck solution for the first Galerkin mode can adequately predict the stochastic dynamics of the overall system. We also find that this analytical framework predicts well the dominant mode on the limit-cycle branch, but underperforms in the hysteretic bistable zone where the role of nonlinearities is more pronounced.

Design and Implementation of a Two-Wheeled Vehicle Safe Driving Evaluation System.

The delivery market in Republic of Korea has experienced significant growth, leading to a surge in motorcycle-related accidents. However, there is a lack of comprehensive data collection systems for motorcycle safety management. This study focused on designing and implementing a foundational data collection system to monitor and evaluate motorcycle driving behavior.

Architecture and anatomy of executive processes: evidence from verbal fluency and Trail Making Test in 2009 stroke patients.

Objectives: The few voxel-wise lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) studies aimed at identifying the anatomy of executive function are limited by the absence of a model and by small populations. Using Trail Making Test (TMT) and verbal fluency and a model of their architectures, our objective was to identify the key structures underlying two major executive processes, set-shifting and strategic word search.

Methods: We applied a validated VLSM analysis to harmonized cognitive and imaging data from 2009 ischemic stroke patients as a part of the Meta VCI Map consortium.

SUPERFICIAL AND DEEP VASCULAR COMPLEXES DAMAGED TO DIFFERENT EXTENTS IN ADVANCED STAGES OF DIABETIC RETINOPATHY.

Purpose: To identify the extent of damage to the superficial vascular complex and deep vascular complex as the stage of diabetic retinopathy (DR) increases.

Methods: Subjects were divided into four groups: patients with type 2 diabetes without DR (Group 1), those with mild-to-moderate nonproliferative DR (Group 2), those with severe-to-very severe nonproliferative DR (Group 3), and those with proliferative DR (Group 4). The vessel densities of the superficial vascular complex (superficial vessel density, SVD) and deep vascular complex (deep vessel density, DVD) and their ratios were compared.

Grandmotherhood is associated with reduced OXTR DNA methylation.

In mammals, both parental and alloparental care are associated with increased brain oxytocin signaling. Grandmothers are important alloparents in many human families. Based on animal model research showing that peripheral Oxtr methylation is associated with Oxtr expression in the nucleus accumbens, we investigated whether grandmaternal caregiving is associated with lower peripheral OXTR methylation.