A case of human pulmonary dirofilariasis in a 48-year-old Korean man.

Dirofilariasis is a rare disease in humans. We report here a case of a 48-year-old male who was diagnosed with pulmonary dirofilariasis in Korea. On chest radiographs, a coin lesion of 1 cm in diameter was shown.

Smart Nanoscale Drug Delivery Platforms from Stimuli-Responsive Polymers and Liposomes.

Since the 1960's, stimuli-responsive polymers have been utilized as functional soft materials for biological applications such as the triggered-release delivery of biologically active cargos. Over the same period, liposomes have been explored as an alternative drug delivery system with potentials to decrease the toxic side effects often associated with conventional small-molecule drugs. However, the lack of drug-release triggers and the instability of bare liposomes often limit their practical applications, causing short circulation time and low therapeutic efficacy.

The cold signaling attenuator HIGH EXPRESSION OF OSMOTICALLY RESPONSIVE GENE1 activates FLOWERING LOCUS C transcription via chromatin remodeling under short-term cold stress in Arabidopsis.

Exposure to short-term cold stress delays flowering by activating the floral repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) in Arabidopsis thaliana. The cold signaling attenuator HIGH EXPRESSION OF OSMOTICALLY RESPONSIVE GENE1 (HOS1) negatively regulates cold responses. Notably, HOS1-deficient mutants exhibit early flowering, and FLC expression is suppressed in the mutants.

Cough in the elderly population: relationships with multiple comorbidity.

Background: The epidemiology of cough in the elderly population has not been studied comprehensively. The present study aimed to investigate the epidemiology of cough in a community elderly population, particularly in relation with their comorbidity.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was performed using a baseline dataset from the Korean Longitudinal Study on Health and Aging, a community-based elderly population cohort study.

Diagnostic accuracy and turnaround time of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay in routine clinical practice.

The Xpert MTB/RIF assay was introduced for timely and accurate detection of tuberculosis (TB). The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy and turnaround time (TAT) of Xpert MTB/RIF assay in clinical practice in South Korea. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients in whom Xpert MTB/RIF assay using sputum were requested.

Fibrinogen recovery and changes in fibrin-based clot firmness after cryoprecipitate administration in patients undergoing aortic surgery involving deep hypothermic circulatory arrest.

Background: Cryoprecipitate may be used to treat bleeding in cardiac surgery. Its effects on plasma fibrinogen and fibrin clotting in this setting are poorly defined.

Study Design And Methods: Patients undergoing on-pump aortic surgery with deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) were recruited prospectively.

Experimental phasing using zinc and sulfur anomalous signals measured at the zinc absorption peak.

Iron is an essential transition metal required for bacterial growth and survival. Excess free iron can lead to the generation of reactive oxygen species that can cause severe damage to cellular functions. Cells have developed iron-sensing regulators to maintain iron homeostasis at the transcription level.

Ruptured mycotic aneurysm of the distal middle cerebral artery manifesting as subacute subdural hematoma.

Mycotic aneurysms are rare inflammatory neurovascular lesions. Ruptured mycotic aneurysm manifesting as subdural hematoma is extremely rare. A 72-year-old male patient was admitted to our hospital with headache and drowsiness.

A single-electrode based triboelectric nanogenerator as self-powered tracking system.

A newly designed triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is demonstrated based on a contact-separation process between an Al foil and a finite size polyamide (PA) film. The working mechanism is based on charge transfer between the Al foil and ground. A 4×4 matrix of TENG array can be used for tracking motion by recording the output voltages signals in real-time to form a pressure map.

Tumor-targeting transferrin nanoparticles for systemic polymerized siRNA delivery in tumor-bearing mice.

Transferrin (TF) is widely used as a tumor-targeting ligand for the delivery of anticancer drugs because the TF receptor is overexpressed on the surface of various fast-growing cancer cells. In this article, we report on TF nanoparticles as an siRNA delivery carrier for in vivo tumor-specific gene silencing. To produce siRNA carrying TF nanoparticles (NPs), both TF and siRNA were chemically modified with sulfhydryl groups that can build up self-cross-linked siRNA-TF NPs.

Effect of correction of the contractured flexed osteoarthritic knee on the sagittal alignment by total replacement.

Study Design: A prospective analysis of an adaptive change of the spinopelvic alignment after total knee arthroplasty.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of correction of the contractured knee in flexion on the spinopelvic alignment by total knee arthroplasty.

Overview Of Literature: Flexion contracture of the knee joint may affect the body posture and precipitate the symptoms in the lumbar spine, which is known as the 'knee-spine syndrome'.

Simplified clinical risk score to predict acute kidney injury after aortic surgery.

Objective: The authors identified risk factors for acute kidney injury (AKI) defined by risk, injury, failure, loss, end-stage (RIFLE) criteria after aortic surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass and constructed a simplified risk score for the prediction of AKI.

Design: Retrospective and observational.

Setting: Single large university hospital.

Metabolic tumor volume by positron emission tomography/computed tomography as a clinical parameter to determine therapeutic modality for early stage Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Recent studies have shown that metabolic tumor volume (MTV) by positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is an important prognostic parameter in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. However, it is unknown whether doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine (ABVD) alone in early stage Hodgkin's lymphoma would lead to similar disease control as combined modality therapy (CMT) using MTV by PET/CT. One hundred and twenty-seven patients with early stage Hodgkin's lymphoma who underwent PET/CT at diagnosis were enrolled.

Tuberculous tenosynovitis and ulnar bursitis of the wrist.

Tuberculous infection of the hand is a rare form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis that, left untreated, can cause serious joint and tendon damage. We report the case of a 65-year-old male patient who presented with an insidious flexor weakness of the fifth finger but without any history of trauma. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a partial tear of the fifth finger flexor tendon with a fluid collection in the tendon sheath and in the flexor compartment along the ulnar side.

In vivo fluorescence imaging for cancer diagnosis using receptor-targeted epidermal growth factor-based nanoprobe.

Receptor-targeted imaging is emerging as a promising strategy for diagnosis of human cancer. Herein, we developed an epidermal growth factor-based nanoprobe (EGF-NP) for in vivo optical imaging of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), an important target for cancer imaging. The self-quenched EGF-NP is fabricated by sequentially conjugating a near-infrared (NIR) fluorophore (Cy5.

Treatment response and adverse reactions in older tuberculosis patients with immunocompromising comorbidities.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to elucidate the effects of immunocompromising comorbidities on treatment response and adverse reactions in older tuberculosis (TB) patients.

Materials And Methods: The medical records of 182 patients older than 65 years with proven TB by positive culture of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and with available drug susceptibility tests were reviewed retrospectively. These patients were subsequently assigned to either the comorbidity group (n=78) or non-comorbidity group (n=104) depending on whether they had immunocompromising comorbidities.

The memristive properties of a single VO2 nanowire with switching controlled by self-heating.

A two-terminal memristor memory based on a single VO2 nanowire is reported that can not only provide switchable resistances in a large range of about four orders of magnitude but can also maintain the resistances by a low bias voltage. The phase transition of the single VO2 nanowire was driven by the bias voltage of 0.34 V without using any heat source.

Efficacy of levofloxacin versus cefuroxime in treating acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Antibiotic treatment is one of the major pharmacologic treatments for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). However, the choice of antibiotic depends on the local resistance pattern. A multicenter, randomized, controlled trial was done in patients with AECOPD to compare the efficacy of levofloxacin with that of cefuroxime axetil.

Current stimulator IC with adaptive supply regulator for visual prostheses.

The current stimulation method is preferred over the voltage stimulation method in the visual prostheses based on functional electrical stimulation (FES) due to its accurate charge control property. Previous current stimulators are generally implemented using a static high supply voltage, because current stimulations require high output voltage compliance. This high static supply voltage, however, may harm the tissues or damage the electrodes.

Integrated microfluidic system capable of size-specific droplet generation with size-dependent droplet separation.

Droplet-based microfluidics is receiving much attention in biomedical research area due to its advantage in uniform size droplet generation. Our previous results have reported that droplet size plays an important role in drug delivery actuated by flagellated bacteria. Recently, many research groups have been reported the size-dependent separation of emulsion droplets by a microfluidic system.

Longitudinal lung volume changes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: The progression of lung hyperinflation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has not been studied in a long-term prospective cohort. We explored the longitudinal changes in lung volume compartments with the aim of identifying predictors of a rapid decline of the inspiratory capacity to total lung capacity ratio (IC/TLC).

Methods: The study population comprised 324 patients with COPD who were recruited prospectively.

Axially twinned nanodumbbell with a Pt bar and two Rh@Pt balls designed for high catalytic activity.

A fail-proof synthetic strategy has been developed for a multiply twinned dumbbell-shaped Rh@Pt nanostructure, which exhibits a superior electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation reaction. The unusually high electrocatalytic activity has been attributed to the synergistic effects of crystal twinning and core-shell structure.

In-house zinc SAD phasing at Cu Kα edge.

De novo zinc single-wavelength anomalous dispersion (Zn-SAD) phasing has been demonstrated with the 1.9 Å resolution data of glucose isomerase and 2.6 Å resolution data of Staphylococcus aureus Fur (SaFur) collected using in-house Cu Kα X-ray source.

Surface-engineered nanomaterials as X-ray absorbing adjuvant agents for Auger-mediated chemo-radiation.

We report a prototype approach to formulate gold nanoparticle-based X-ray absorbing agents through surface-engineering of a cisplatin pharmacophore with modified polyacrylate. The resulting agents exhibit both chemo-therapeutic potency to cancer cells and Auger-mediated secondary electron emission, showing great potential to improve the therapeutic efficacy of chemo-radiation.