The Effects of Health and Unmet Dental Care Needs on the Health-Related Quality of Life in Korea Older Adults: A Nationwide Study.

Background: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to assess the relationship between oral health, unmet dental needs and health-related quality of life in South Korea older adults.

Methods: The present study used raw data from the 2019~2020 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and analyzed 4956 participants aged over 65 yr. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used for associations between oral health, unmet dental needs, and HRQoL.

Health Behaviors Before and After the Implementation of a Health Community Organization: Gangwon's Health-Plus Community Program.

Objectives: Community organization is a resident-led movement aimed at creating fundamental social changes in the community by resolving its problems through the organized power of its residents. This study evaluated the effectiveness of health community organization (HCO), Gangwon's Health-Plus community program, implemented from 2013 to 2019 on residents' health behaviors.

Methods: This study had a before-and-after design using 2011-2019 Korea Community Health Survey data.

Plasmonic quenching and enhancement: metal-quantum dot nanohybrids for fluorescence biosensing.

Plasmonic metal nanoparticles and semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are two of the most widely applied nanomaterials for optical biosensing and bioimaging. While their combination for fluorescence quenching nanosurface energy transfer (NSET) or Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) offers powerful ways of tuning and amplifying optical signals and is relatively common, metal-QD nanohybrids for plasmon-enhanced fluorescence (PEF) have been much less prevalent. A major reason is the competition between fluorescence quenching and enhancement, which poses important challenges for optimizing distances, orientations, and spectral overlap toward maximum PEF.

Nanoparticle-based computing architecture for nanoparticle neural networks.

The lack of a scalable nanoparticle-based computing architecture severely limits the potential and use of nanoparticles for manipulating and processing information with molecular computing schemes. Inspired by the von Neumann architecture (VNA), in which multiple programs can be operated without restructuring the computer, we realized the nanoparticle-based VNA (NVNA) on a lipid chip for multiple executions of arbitrary molecular logic operations in the single chip without refabrication. In this system, nanoparticles on a lipid chip function as the hardware that features memory, processors, and output units, and DNA strands are used as the software to provide molecular instructions for the facile programming of logic circuits.

Standardization of the Discrimination and Stigma Scale-Korean Version (DISC 12-K) in Patients with Depressive Disorders.

Objective: The Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC 12), which assesses behavioral and experienced stigma, has not been translated into Korean. We developed and standardized the Korean version of the DISC 12 (DISC 12-K) in patients with depressive disorders.

Methods: The study included 230 patients with depressive disorders who were assessed on the four subscales of the DISC 12-K: Unfair Treatment, Stopping Self, Overcoming Stigma, and Positive Treatment.

Plasmonic Nanoparticle-Interfaced Lipid Bilayer Membranes.

Plasmonic nanoparticles are widely exploited in diverse bioapplications ranging from therapeutics to biosensing and biocomputing because of their strong and tunable light-matter interactions, facile and versatile chemical/biological ligand modifications, and biocompatibility. With the rapid growth of nanobiotechnology, understanding dynamic interactions between nanoparticles and biological systems at the molecular or single-particle level is becoming increasingly important for interrogating biological systems with functional nanostructures and for developing nanoparticle-based biosensors and therapeutic agents. Therefore, significant efforts have been devoted to precisely design and create nano-bio interfaces by manipulating the nanoparticles' size, shape, and surface ligand interactions with complex biological systems to maximize their performance and avoid unwanted responses, such as their agglomeration and cytotoxicity.

A PDE1 inhibitor reduces adipogenesis in mice via regulation of lipolysis and adipogenic cell signaling.

Vinpocetine, a phosphodiesterase (PDE) type-1 inhibitor, increases cAMP and cGMP levels and is currently used for the management of cerebrovascular disorders, such as stroke, cerebral hemorrhage, and cognitive dysfunctions. In this study, we first determined that vinpocetine effectively suppressed adipogenesis and lipid accumulation. However, we questioned which molecular mechanism is involved because the role of PDE in adipogenesis is still controversial.

Enhanced Therapeutic Treatment of Colorectal Cancer Using Surface-Modified Nanoporous Acupuncture Needles.

Acupuncture originated within the auspices of Oriental medicine, and today is used as an alternative method for treating various diseases and symptoms. The physiological mechanisms of acupuncture appear to involve the release of endogenous opiates and neurotransmitters, with the signals mediating through electrical stimulation of the central nervous system (CNS). Earlier we reported a nanoporous stainless steel acupuncture needle with enhanced therapeutic properties, evaluated by electrophysiological and behavioral responses in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats.

Kahweol inhibits lipid accumulation and induces Glucose-uptake through activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK).

Weight loss ≥ 5 percent is sufficient to significantly reduce health risks for obese people; therefore, development of novel weight loss compounds with reduced toxicity is urgently required. After screening of natural compounds with antiadipogenesis properties in 3T3-L1 cells, we determined that kahweol, a coffee-specific diterpene, inhibited adipogenesis. Kahweol reduced lipid accumulation and expression levels of adipogenesis and lipid accumulation-related factors.

Characterization of transient noise in Advanced LIGO relevant to gravitational wave signal GW150914.

On September 14, 2015, a gravitational wave signal from a coalescing black hole binary system was observed by the Advanced LIGO detectors. This paper describes the transient noise backgrounds used to determine the significance of the event (designated GW150914) and presents the results of investigations into potential correlated or uncorrelated sources of transient noise in the detectors around the time of the event. The detectors were operating nominally at the time of GW150914.

Properties of the Binary Black Hole Merger GW150914.

On September 14, 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected a gravitational-wave transient (GW150914); we characterize the properties of the source and its parameters. The data around the time of the event were analyzed coherently across the LIGO network using a suite of accurate waveform models that describe gravitational waves from a compact binary system in general relativity. GW150914 was produced by a nearly equal mass binary black hole of masses 36_{-4}^{+5}M_{⊙} and 29_{-4}^{+4}M_{⊙}; for each parameter we report the median value and the range of the 90% credible interval.

Tests of General Relativity with GW150914.

The LIGO detection of GW150914 provides an unprecedented opportunity to study the two-body motion of a compact-object binary in the large-velocity, highly nonlinear regime, and to witness the final merger of the binary and the excitation of uniquely relativistic modes of the gravitational field. We carry out several investigations to determine whether GW150914 is consistent with a binary black-hole merger in general relativity. We find that the final remnant's mass and spin, as determined from the low-frequency (inspiral) and high-frequency (postinspiral) phases of the signal, are mutually consistent with the binary black-hole solution in general relativity.

GW150914: First results from the search for binary black hole coalescence with Advanced LIGO.

On September 14, 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC the two detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) simultaneously observed the binary black hole merger GW150914. We report the results of a matched-filter search using relativistic models of compact-object binaries that recovered GW150914 as the most significant event during the coincident observations between the two LIGO detectors from September 12 to October 20, 2015. GW150914 was observed with a matched filter signal-to-noise ratio of 24 and a false alarm rate estimated to be less than 1 event per 203000 years, equivalent to a significance greater than 5.

GW150914: The Advanced LIGO Detectors in the Era of First Discoveries.

Following a major upgrade, the two advanced detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) held their first observation run between September 2015 and January 2016. With a strain sensitivity of 10^{-23}/sqrt[Hz] at 100 Hz, the product of observable volume and measurement time exceeded that of all previous runs within the first 16 days of coincident observation. On September 14, 2015, the Advanced LIGO detectors observed a transient gravitational-wave signal determined to be the coalescence of two black holes [B.

GW150914: Implications for the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Binary Black Holes.

The LIGO detection of the gravitational wave transient GW150914, from the inspiral and merger of two black holes with masses ≳30M_{⊙}, suggests a population of binary black holes with relatively high mass. This observation implies that the stochastic gravitational-wave background from binary black holes, created from the incoherent superposition of all the merging binaries in the Universe, could be higher than previously expected. Using the properties of GW150914, we estimate the energy density of such a background from binary black holes.

Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger.

On September 14, 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC the two detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory simultaneously observed a transient gravitational-wave signal. The signal sweeps upwards in frequency from 35 to 250 Hz with a peak gravitational-wave strain of 1.0×10(-21).

Tunable plasticity in amorphous silicon carbide films.

Plasticity plays a crucial role in the mechanical behavior of engineering materials. For instance, energy dissipation during plastic deformation is vital to the sufficient fracture resistance of engineering materials. Thus, the lack of plasticity in brittle hybrid organic-inorganic glasses (hybrid glasses) often results in a low fracture resistance and has been a significant challenge for their integration and applications.

A case of swallow syncope associated with cold beverage ingestion.

Swallow syncope (also known as deglutition syncope) is a relatively rare type of syncope that is treatable if diagnosed correctly. We report a case of a 39-year-old man with recurrent swallow syncope. The patient did not have structural heart disease.

Temperature calibration for high-temperature MAS NMR to 913 K: 63Cu MAS NMR of CuBr and CuI, and 23Na MAS NMR of NaNbO3.

The solid-state phase transitions of CuBr, CuI and NaNbO(3) can be readily observed using (63)Cu and (23)Na high-temperature magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Temperature has large, linear effects on the peak maximum of (63)Cu in each solid phase of CuBr and CuI, and there is large jump in shift across each phase transition. The (23)Na MAS NMR peak intensities and the line widths in NaNbO(3) also clearly show its high-temperature transition to the cubic phase.

Crystal chemistry and stability of "Li7La3Zr2O12" garnet: a fast lithium-ion conductor.

Recent research has shown that certain Li-oxide garnets with high mechanical, thermal, chemical, and electrochemical stability are excellent fast Li-ion conductors. However, the detailed crystal chemistry of Li-oxide garnets is not well understood, nor is the relationship between crystal chemistry and conduction behavior. An investigation was undertaken to understand the crystal chemical and structural properties, as well as the stability relations, of Li(7)La(3)Zr(2)O(12) garnet, which is the best conducting Li-oxide garnet discovered to date.

Detection of Brønsted acid sites in zeolite HY with high-field 17O-MAS-NMR techniques.

The acidity and unique porous structures of zeolites play an important role in controlling the activity and selectivity of many zeolite-based catalysts. Although (27)Al, (29)Si and (1)H NMR spectroscopy represent standard analytical tools with which to study these materials, (17)O-NMR investigations are much less routine, owing to the very low natural abundance of (17)O (0.037%), its relatively low resonant frequency and its large quadrupole moment.

Solid-state NMR study of the anionic conductor Ca-doped Y(2)Ti(2)O(7).

Doping the pyrochlore (Y(2)Ti(2)O(7)) with the Ca(2+) has been reported to improve the oxygen ionic conductivity. (17)O and (89)Y solid-state NMR has been used in work reported here to probe the local environment of the oxygen and yttrium sites in these materials. Although the conductivity of these materials is only moderate, variable-temperature, one-dimensional (17)O NMR experiments and two-dimensional (17)O magnetization exchange spectroscopy show that oxygen-ion jumps occur between the oxygen sites nearby titanium.

17O MQMAS NMR studies of Na-A and Ca-A.

We report, for the first time, 17O MQMAS and 17O/23Na double resonance NMR studies on calcium-exchanged zeolite sodium-A; the results show that the isotropic shifts of the framework sites are strongly affected by factors including the hydration level and nature of the charge-balancing cations.

Probing oxygen motion in disordered anionic conductors with 17O and 51V MAS NMR spectroscopy.

Identification of the local environments of the ions in a solid-state electrolyte that contribute to the ionic conductivity or remain trapped in the lattice represents a challenge for many experimental probes of structure. We show that high-resolution 17O magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS NMR) spectra may be obtained even from the highly disordered, layered materials alpha-Bi4V2O11 and gamma-Bi4V1.7Ti0.