Integrating E-cadherin expression levels with TNM staging for enhanced prognostic prediction in colorectal cancer patients.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the clinical significance of E-cadherin expression levels in colorectal cancer tissues and explore the relationship between E-cadherin expression and tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage. The goal was to establish a more accurate prognostic prediction for colorectal cancer patients by analyzing E-cadherin expression levels alongside TNM staging.

Methods: The study examined colorectal cancer patients by dividing them into groups based on E-cadherin expression levels.

Evaluating the Safety of Thread-Embedding Acupuncture: Protocol for a Multi-Center, Prospective, Observational Study in Clinical Practice.

Medical therapies that apply biodegradable materials, such as polydioxanone, are widely used to treat various disorders. Thread-embedding acupuncture (TEA) is a unique form of acupuncture that exerts long-lasting therapeutic effects by inserting absorbable threads at specific acupuncture points, and is widely used to treat various diseases. However, there is currently a lack of research regarding the safety of TEA.

Interaction Effects of Tannic Acid and Gluten on Bread-Making and Its Starch Digestion.

In this study, we explored the binding mechanism between tannic acid (TA) and gluten to apply TA as an ingredient in bread-making to evaluate its baking performance and starch digestion. The interaction was systematically investigated by analyzing binding affinity, binding mode, and matrix structure of the TA-gluten complex using fluorescence quenching, molecular docking, and confocal laser scanning microscopy. TA strongly interacted with gluten via non-covalent interactions, mainly hydrogen bonds, and formed the major hydrogen bonds with six different glutamines (Q32, Q108, Q313, Q317, Q317, and Q349), which play a critical role in gluten network construction among amino acid residues of gluten.

Aetiology of chronic liver disease is a valuable factor for stratifying adverse outcomes of acute decompensation: prospective observational study.

Background/aims: Acute decompensation (AD) is defined as the development of complications related to portal hypertension and liver dysfunction that affect the progression of chronic liver disease (CLD) or liver cirrhosis (LC). Variations exist in patient demographics and prognostic outcomes of AD based on the aetiology of CLD, encompassing LC. However, limited research has been conducted to analyse these discrepancies across aetiologies.

Flexible Synaptic Memristors With Controlled Rigidity in Zirconium-Oxo Clusters for High-Precision Neuromorphic Computing.

Flexible memristors are promising candidates for multifunctional neuromorphic computing applications, overcoming the limitations of conventional computing devices. However, unpredictable switching behavior and poor mechanical stability in conventional memristors present significant challenges to achieving device reliability. Here, a reliable and flexible memristor using zirconium-oxo cluster (ZrOOH(OMc)) as the resistive switching layer is demonstrated.

Comprehensive Analysis of the Fourteen Complete Genome Sequences of Isolated from Species.

Endosymbionts are important for insect species as they provide essential substances to the host. Due to the technical advance of NGS technology and assemblers, many endosymbionts bacterial genomes are available now. Here, we analysed fourteen endosymbiont bacterial genomes of genius, one of notorious pest species.

[How to Achieve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in The Korean Society of Gastroenterology?].

With the increasing emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in organizations and institutions, academic societies in gastroenterology and hepatology are beginning to take actionable steps toward achieving DEI. The successful implementation of DEI initiatives leads to excellence in the field, improved patient outcomes, particularly in areas where health disparities are prevalent, and advances in the gastrointestinal discipline. Such implementation also results in a workforce that better reflects the growing diversity of the population.

Long-term outcome and predictors of vagus nerve stimulation for drug-resistant epilepsy: Real-world evidence from the Korean national hospital consortium.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the long-term outcome and prognostic factors of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) for drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) using real-world data.

Method: We included 189 DRE patients who underwent VNS implantation between 2005 and 2018 at nine national hospitals in Korea. Seizure-frequency data obtained quarterly one year before and after surgery and annually up to four years after surgery were collected from medical records.

Biofeedback control of photosynthetic lighting using real-time monitoring of leaf chlorophyll fluorescence.

Optimizing photosynthetic lighting is essential for maximizing crop production and minimizing electricity costs in controlled environment agriculture (CEA). Traditional lighting methods often neglect the impact of environmental factors, crop type, and light acclimation on photosynthetic efficiency. To address this, a chlorophyll fluorescence-based biofeedback system was developed to adjust light-emitting diode (LED) intensity based on real-time plant responses, rather than using a fixed photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD).

NKX6.3 modulation of mitotic dynamics and genomic stability in gastric carcinogenesis.

Background: Gastric cancer remains a significant global health challenge, characterized by poor prognosis and high mortality rates. Mitotic integrity and genomic stability are crucial in maintaining cellular homeostasis and preventing tumorigenesis. The transcription factor NKX6.

Methane trapping in permafrost soils: a biogeochemical dataset across Alaskan boreal-Arctic gradient.

Permafrost soils store vast amounts of organic carbon, and their thawing due to climate warming accelerates the release of carbon as methane and carbon dioxide, exacerbating global climate change. Understanding the distribution of greenhouse gases trapped in these soils and predicting their behavior upon thawing is essential for accurately modeling climate feedbacks. This study presents an integrated biogeochemical and microbial dataset from ~1.

Structure of the human autophagy factor EPG5 and the molecular basis of its conserved mode of interaction with Atg8-family proteins.

The multi-step macroautophagy/autophagy process ends with the cargo-laden autophagosome fusing with the lysosome to deliver the materials to be degraded. The metazoan-specific autophagy factor EPG5 plays a crucial role in this step by enforcing fusion specificity and preventing mistargeting. How EPG5 exerts its critical function and how its deficiency leads to diverse phenotypes of the rare multi-system disorder Vici syndrome are not fully understood.

Synthesis of zirconium-based metal-organic framework/gelatin aerogel for removing phosphate and fluoride from aqueous solutions.

This study describes the preparation of novel hybrid aerogels derived from gelatin (Gel), incorporating Br-functionalized zirconium-based metal-organic framework (UiO-66-Br; MOF) as modifying agent to effectively eliminate phosphate and fluoride ions from aqueous environments. The adsorption performance of MOF decorated Gel (Gel-xMOF) hybrid aerogels was investigated under different conditions, including agitation time, adsorbent dosage, solution pH, initial phosphate and fluoride concentrations, coexisting ions, and temperature. The functional groups of the gelatin network, coupled with UiO-66-Br, enhanced the adsorption performance of phosphate and fluoride ions from aqueous solutions.

Predictive Mortality and Gastric Cancer Risk Using Clinical and Socio-Economic Data: A Nationwide Multicenter Cohort Study.

Gastric cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality, particularly in East Asia, with a notable burden in Republic of Korea. This study aimed to construct and develop machine learning models for the prediction of gastric cancer mortality and the identification of risk factors. All data were acquired from the Korean Clinical Data Utilization for Research Excellence by multiple medical centers in South Korea.

Induction of SUSD2 by STAT3 Activation Is Associated with Tumor Recurrence in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer.

Sushi domain-containing protein 2 (SUSD2), a transmembrane protein containing a sushi motif, has been reported to have tumor-promoting functions in various types of cancer, including breast cancer. However, the regulatory mechanism of SUSD2 and its function in HER2-positive (HER2+) breast cancer have not been fully identified as yet. In this study, we explored the potential of targeting SUSD2 to overcome trastuzumab (TRZ) resistance in HER2+ breast cancer.

Biochemical and structural characterization of Rab3GAP reveals insights into Rab18 nucleotide exchange activity.

The heterodimeric Rab3GAP complex is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for the Rab18 GTPase that regulates lipid droplet metabolism, ER-to-Golgi trafficking, secretion, and autophagy. Why both subunits of Rab3GAP are required for Rab18 GEF activity and the molecular basis of how Rab3GAP engages and activates its cognate substrate are unknown. Here we show that human Rab3GAP is conformationally flexible and potentially autoinhibited by the C-terminal domain of its Rab3GAP2 subunit.

Sybil Attack-Resistant Blockchain-Based Proof-of-Location Mechanism with Privacy Protection in VANET.

In this paper, we propose a Proof-of-Location (PoL)-based location verification scheme for mitigating Sybil attacks in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). For this purpose, we employ smart contracts for storing the location information of the vehicles. This smart contract is maintained by Road Side Units (RSUs) and acts as a ground truth for verifying the position information of the neighboring vehicles.

Identification of Bioactive Compounds from the Roots of and Their In Silico and In Vitro AMPK Activation Potential.

Libosch., which belongs to the Orobanchaceae family, is a perennial herb found in China, Japan, and Korea. In traditional medicine, it is used to cool the body, improve water metabolism in the kidney, and provide protection from metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity.

Characterization of Incident Hepatitis C Virus Infection among People Living with HIV in a HIV Clinic in Korea.

Background: Coinfection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) can cause more rapid progression to cirrhosis than HCV-monoinfection. In this study, incident HCV case (IHCV)s were investigated in a HIV clinic in Korea.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective HIV cohort was constructed who visited National Medical Center in Korea from 2013 to 2022 and performed ≥ 1 anti-HCV antibody tests (anti-HCV) during the study period.

Contact-Engineered Oxide Memtransistors for Homeostasis-Based High-Linearity and Precision Neuromorphic Computing.

Homeostasis is essential in biological neural networks, optimizing information processing and experience-dependent learning by maintaining the balance of neuronal activity. However, conventional two-terminal memristors have limitations in implementing homeostatic functions due to the absence of global regulation ability. Here, three-terminal oxide memtransistor-based homeostatic synapses are demonstrated to perform highly linear synaptic weight update and enhanced accuracy in neuromorphic computing.

Strained two-dimensional tungsten diselenide for mechanically tunable exciton transport.

Tightly bound electron-hole pairs (excitons) hosted in atomically-thin semiconductors have emerged as prospective elements in optoelectronic devices for ultrafast and secured information transfer. The controlled exciton transport in such excitonic devices requires manipulating potential energy gradient of charge-neutral excitons, while electrical gating or nanoscale straining have shown limited efficiency of exciton transport at room temperature. Here, we report strain gradient induced exciton transport in monolayer tungsten diselenide (WSe) across microns at room temperature via steady-state pump-probe measurement.

Discovery of Spirosnuolides A-D, Type I/III Hybrid Polyketide Spiro-Macrolides for a Chemotherapeutic Lead against Lung Cancer.

Four new macrolides, spirosnuolides A-D (-, respectively), were discovered from the termite nest-derived sp. INHA29. Spirosnuolides A-D are 18-membered macrolides sharing an embedded [6,6]-spiroketal functionality inside the macrocycle and are conjugated with structurally uncommon side chains featuring cyclopentenone, 1,4-benzoquinone, hydroxyfuroic acid, or butenolide moieties.