Publications by authors named "S-G Kang"

An improved concrete structure health monitoring method based on G-S-G is proposed, which fully combines an optimized Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) with an improved Self-Organizing Map (SOM) neural network to achieve accurate and real-time concrete structure health monitoring. First of all, in order to obtain a dynamic image of the crack damage region of interest (ROI) with clear contrast and obvious target, the image acquisition system and image optimization method are used to process the damaged image. Moreover, in order to realize the accurate location of crack damage, crack damage identification research based on GLCM-SOM effectively eliminates the interference of honeycomb and pothole damage on crack damage.

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  • Immune checkpoint therapy (ICT) has changed the treatment landscape for malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), but nearly half of patients do not see benefits, emphasizing the need for predictive biomarkers.
  • This study evaluated the prognostic value of serum soluble mesothelin-related peptide (SMRP) and PD-L1 levels in 125 MPM patients undergoing ICT, using statistical analyses to determine their impact on overall survival (OS).
  • Results showed that higher pre-ICT SMRP levels are linked to poorer prognosis, with low levels indicating better survival outcomes, suggesting that SMRP could serve as a valuable biomarker for future MPM treatment studies.
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In this paper, a modification of g-CN was carried out by combining non-metal doping with the construction of heterojunctions, and a type II heterojunction composite, S/g-CN@β-BiO, was prepared. The phase structure, morphology, elemental composition, valence band structure, and light absorption performance of the photocatalyst were analyzed using characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS). The performance of the composite photocatalyst in the photocatalytic degradation of gaseous toluene, one of the typical volatile organic compounds (VOCs), under simulated solar light was studied.

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  • Steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists help patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction, but their effectiveness in those with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction is unclear, indicating a need for further research on finerenone.
  • In a double-blind study, patients with heart failure (ejection fraction 40% or greater) were assigned to receive either finerenone or a placebo to assess its impact on heart failure events and cardiovascular death.
  • Results showed that finerenone led to fewer worsening heart failure events and a lower overall rate of primary outcome events compared to placebo, although it also carried a higher risk of hyperkalemia.
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  • The study investigated the impact of strict blood pressure (BP) control on health outcomes in patients with diabetic kidney disease (DKD), focusing on whether targeting systolic BP (SBP) below 130 mmHg has benefits compared to below 140 mmHg.
  • A total of 341 DKD patients were split into standard and strict BP control groups, with cardiovascular and renal events being monitored over a follow-up period of 2.8 years.
  • Results showed that while strict BP control didn't significantly lower the risk of health events, maintaining achieved SBP levels between 130-139 mmHg was linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular and renal complications.
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Purpose: During endoscopic ear surgery (EES), it is important to maintain a clear view of the endoscopic camera to achieve a clean field. In this study, a self-expandable external auditory canal (EAC) retainer was developed to enable a more efficient and safer EES. This study aimed to evaluate the retainer's efficacy and safety in EES.

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  • A study was conducted to develop deep learning algorithms for the automatic segmentation of white matter hyperintensity (WMH) lesions in patients with cerebral infarction, involving a large dataset of 8,421 patients from multiple hospitals in Korea.
  • Two models, 2D UNet and SE-Unet, were trained and validated using FLAIR MRI images, with performance measured against a human-segmented gold standard using various statistical metrics.
  • Results showed that while both models had good performance, the SE-Unet outperformed the UNet with higher average Dice Similarity Coefficients (DSCs) in both internal and external validations, indicating it was more reliable for WMH segmentation.
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  • Duodenal mucosal resurfacing (DMR) is an innovative, minimally invasive procedure to manage metabolic syndrome, but traditional thermal ablation can lead to complications like deep mucosal injury.
  • Researchers have developed a non-thermal alternative using photodynamic therapy (PDT) with a specially designed metal stent to reduce the risks associated with thermal procedures while still effectively treating metabolic syndrome.
  • An animal study demonstrated that this new PDT approach, involving controlled release of reactive oxygen species, was safe and effective, showing no significant adverse effects while also decreasing the secretion of gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP), important in metabolic syndrome management.
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  • Scientists studied skin color in East Asians by looking at over 48,000 people and how it relates to the sun's rays.
  • They found 12 known genes and 11 new ones that help determine skin color, showing how genes work together with sun exposure.
  • The research revealed that East Asians have different genetic traits for skin color compared to Europeans, helping us learn more about how skin color evolves in different places.
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Background/aim: The alkylating agent trabectedin, which binds the minor groove of DNA, is second-line therapy for soft-tissue sarcoma but has only moderate efficacy. The aim of the present study was to determine the synergistic efficacy of recombinant methioninase (rMETase) and trabectedin on fibrosarcoma cells in vitro, compared with normal fibroblasts.

Materials And Methods: HT1080 human fibrosarcoma cells expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) in the nucleus and red fluorescent protein (RFP) in the cytoplasm and Hs27 normal human fibroblasts, were used.

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Background: The Murray law-based quantitative flow ratio (μFR) is an emerging technique that requires only 1 projection of coronary angiography with similar accuracy to quantitative flow ratio (QFR). However, it has not been validated for the evaluation of noninfarct-related artery (non-IRA) in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) settings. Therefore, our study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of μFR and the safety of deferring non-IRA lesions with μFR >0.

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  • Researchers analyzed genetic data from nearly 1 million individuals to create a comprehensive catalogue of human protein-coding variations, shedding light on gene function and the frequency of rare coding variants.
  • The study identified over 10 million missense and 1.1 million loss-of-function variants, discovering 1,751 novel genes with rare biallelic loss-of-function variants and 3,988 genes intolerant to these variants.
  • They estimate that 3% of people carry a clinically significant genetic variant and provide public access to their data to enhance genetic interpretation and support precision medicine.
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Low-efficacy mu opioid receptor (MOR) agonists may serve as novel candidate analgesics with improved safety relative to high-efficacy opioids. This study used a recently validated assay of pain-depressed behavior in mice to evaluate a novel series of MOR-selective C9-substituted phenylmorphan opioids with graded MOR efficacies. Intraperitoneal injection of dilute lactic acid (IP acid) served as a noxious stimulus to depress locomotor activity by mice in an activity chamber composed of two compartments connected by an obstructed door.

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Background: Suitable aortic neck is one of the essential components for thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) and endovascular aortic repair (EVAR). Advanced techniques were developed to adjust and compromise the aneurysm neck angulation but with adding additional devices and complexity to the procedure. We proposed a simple technique to modify severe neck angulation and/or iliac artery tortuosity by using the multiple stiff wire (MSW) technique.

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  • Existing antipsychotics do not effectively manage cognitive impairments in schizophrenia and can cause serious side effects.
  • Trace amine-associated receptor 1 (TAAR1) is identified as a promising target for new antipsychotic drugs that could potentially avoid these side effects.
  • A new series of TAAR1 agonists were developed, showing effectiveness in alleviating schizophrenia-like symptoms in rodent models without causing unwanted side effects, positioning them as potential candidates for future schizophrenia treatments.
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Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue specimens are routinely used in pathological diagnosis, but their large number of artifactual mutations complicate the evaluation of companion diagnostics and analysis of next-generation sequencing data. Identification of variants with low allele frequencies is challenging because existing FFPE filtering tools label all low-frequency variants as artifacts. To address this problem, we aimed to develop DEEPOMICS FFPE, an AI model that can classify a true variant from an artifact.

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Single-cell RNA sequencing and other profiling assays have helped interrogate cells at unprecedented resolution and scale, but are inherently destructive. Raman microscopy reports on the vibrational energy levels of proteins and metabolites in a label-free and nondestructive manner at subcellular spatial resolution, but it lacks genetic and molecular interpretability. Here we present Raman2RNA (R2R), a method to infer single-cell expression profiles in live cells through label-free hyperspectral Raman microscopy images and domain translation.

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INTRIGUE was an open-label, phase 3 study in adult patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor who had disease progression on or intolerance to imatinib and who were randomized to once-daily ripretinib 150 mg or sunitinib 50 mg. In the primary analysis, progression-free survival (PFS) with ripretinib was not superior to sunitinib. In clinical and nonclinical studies, ripretinib and sunitinib have demonstrated differential activity based on the exon location of KIT mutations.

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The lipid prostaglandin E (PGE) mediates inflammatory pain by activating G protein-coupled receptors, including the prostaglandin E2 receptor 4 (EP4R). Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) reduce nociception by inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis, however, the disruption of upstream prostanoid biosynthesis can lead to pleiotropic effects including gastrointestinal bleeding and cardiac complications. In contrast, by acting downstream, EP4R antagonists may act specifically as anti-inflammatory agents and, to date, no selective EP4R antagonists have been approved for human use.

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Background: There are limited data regarding the safety of deferral of percutaneous coronary intervention based on intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) findings. The current study sought to compare the prognosis between deferred lesions based on IVUS and fractional flow reserve (FFR)-guided treatment decision.

Methods: This study is a post hoc analysis of the FLAVOUR randomized trial (Fractional Flow Reserve and Intravascular Ultrasound for Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Intermediate Stenosis) that compared 2-year clinical outcomes between IVUS- and FFR-guided treatment decision on intermediate coronary artery lesions using predefined criteria.

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  • The study examines the effectiveness of fractional flow reserve (FFR)-guided versus angiography-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for non-infarct-related artery lesions in patients with acute myocardial infarction, focusing on severe stenosis.
  • Among 562 patients, those receiving FFR-guided PCI had significantly lower rates of adverse outcomes (death, myocardial infarction, or repeat revascularization) compared to those who had angiography-guided PCI, particularly in cases with severe stenosis (≥70%).
  • The findings suggest that FFR-guided PCI is superior in reducing complications for both severe (≥70%) and less severe (<70%) non-IRA stenosis, indicating its potential benefit for patients with acute myocardial infarction
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  • The Pharma Proteomics Project is a large-scale research initiative analyzing blood protein profiles from over 54,000 UK Biobank participants to understand links between genetics and health.
  • The project identifies significant genetic associations with proteins, revealing many novel interactions and highlighting ancestry-specific variations, along with insights into disease mechanisms and potential drug targets.
  • By making their findings publicly accessible, the consortium aims to advance research in biomarker development and therapeutic strategies, enhancing our understanding of how genetic factors influence health outcomes.
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Background And Purpose: Type 1 diabetes affects over 200,000 children in the United States and is associated with an increased risk of cognitive dysfunction. Prior single-site, single-voxel MRS case reports and studies have identified associations between reduced NAA/Cr, a marker of neuroaxonal loss, and type 1 diabetes. However, NAA/Cr differences among children with various disease complications or across different brain tissues remain unclear.

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Background: Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) provides valuable insights into human islet cell types and their corresponding stable gene expression profiles. However, this approach requires cell dissociation that complicates its utility in vivo. On the other hand, single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) has compatibility with frozen samples, elimination of dissociation-induced transcriptional stress responses, and affords enhanced information from intronic sequences that can be leveraged to identify pre-mRNA transcripts.

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