Nationwide evaluation of microplastic properties in municipal wastewater treatment plants in South Korea.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are considered a significant microplastic discharge source. To evaluate the amount and characteristics of microplastics discharged from WWTPs in South Korea, we selected 22 municipal WWTPs nationally and investigated microplastics at each treatment stage. The mean microplastic removal efficiency by WWTPs was >99%, and most of the microplastics were removed by sedimentation with the second clarifier during wastewater treatment.

Mechanically Robust Self-Organized Crack-Free Nanocellular Graphene with Outstanding Electrochemical Properties in Sodium Ion Battery.

Crack-free nanocellular graphenes are attractive materials with extraordinary mechanical and electrochemical properties, but their homogeneous synthesis on the centimeter scale is challenging. Here, a strong nanocellular graphene film achieved by the self-organization of carbon atoms using liquid metal dealloying and employing a defect-free amorphous precursor is reported. This study demonstrates that a Bi melt strongly catalyzes the self-structuring of graphene layers at low processing temperatures.

Seromucinous Hamartoma of the Sinonasal Cavity.

Benign tumors or malignant neoplasms must be evaluated in patients with unilateral nasal cavity mass lesions. The 3 most prevalent unilateral benign mass lesions in such individuals are nasal polyps (NPs) and inverted papillomas (IPs). Although rare, it should be kept in mind that sinonasal hamartomas can be occasionally diagnosed as well.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Social Distancing on Cognition of Alzheimer's Disease Patients.

Objective: The risk of rapid cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease (AD) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been recognized. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cognitive decline in such patients during the COVID-19 pandemic by evaluating changes in their cognitive measure parameters before and after the pandemic.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study conducted in AD patients during their first visit and one-year regular follow-up for testing cognitive function at the Geriatric Psychiatry Clinic of Seoul St.

Factors Associated With Dementia Knowledge and Dementia Worry in the South Korean Elderly Population.

Objective: South Korea is one of the countries with a very fast aging rate, and the prevalence of dementia is rapidly increasing. However, there are relatively few studies pertaining to sociodemographic and physical health-related factors associated with dementia knowledge and dementia worry.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey of a community in Seocho-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Cerebral Amyloid Positivity Prediction Models Using Clinical Data in Subjects With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia.

Objective: Due to high cost of amyloid imaging, its use of amyloid imaging to confirm amyloid pathology is limited in clinical practice. It is of importance to develop a model to predict cerebral amyloid positivity using clinical data obtained from a memory clinic.

Methods: A total of 410 participants who had symptom of subjective cognitive decline and underwent amyloid PET and apolipoprotein ε (APOE) genotyping were retrospectively enrolled from January 2016 to January 2019.

Surface Functionalization of Biomedical Ti-6Al-7Nb Alloy by Liquid Metal Dealloying.

Surface functionalization is an effective approach to change the surface properties of a material to achieve a specific goal such as improving the biocompatibility of the material. Here, the surface of the commercial biomedical Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy was functionalized through synthesizing of a porous surface layer by liquid metal dealloying (LMD). During LMD, the Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy is immersed in liquid magnesium (Mg) and both materials react with each other.

Korean Modification of the Nasal Provocation Test With House Dust Mite Antigen Following the EAACI Guidelines.

Objectives: We evaluated the usefulness of the standardized nasal provocation test (NPT) protocol recently published by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and compared the utility of several parameters for diagnosing allergic rhinitis (AR) caused by house dust mites (HDM). Subjective parameters were nasal and ocular symptoms measured using a visual analog scale (VAS), and objective parameters were peak nasal inspiratory flow (PNIF), minimal cross-sectional area (MCA), and total nasal volume (TNV).

Methods: Before and after spraying Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (DP) allergen (1,000 AU/mL, 100 μL) into both nostrils of 13 patients with AR (AR group) and 22 patients with non-AR (NAR group), we used VAS scores to measure nasal symptoms (nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, sneezing, and itching) and ocular symptoms and assessed PNIF, MCA, and TNV.

Beating Thermal Coarsening in Nanoporous Materials via High-Entropy Design.

Controlling the feature sizes of 3D bicontinuous nanoporous (3DNP) materials is essential for their advanced applications in catalysis, sensing, energy systems, etc., requiring high specific surface area. However, the intrinsic coarsening of nanoporous materials naturally reduces their surface energy leading to the deterioration of physical properties over time, even at ambient temperatures.

An Exploration of the Oryza sativa L. Cyanidin-3-glucoside on the Cognitive Function in Older Adults with Subjective Memory Impairment.

Objective: Cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3G), is a component of anthocyanin, have been considered to positively influence cognition and be beneficial for the prevention and treatment of dementia. We aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of cyanidin-3-glucoside-rich Oryza sativa L. (black rice) extract on cognitive function.

Differential Associations Between Volumes of Atrophic Cortical Brain Regions and Memory Performances in Early and Late Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Background: Early and late mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients have been reported to have a distinctive prognosis of converting to Alzheimer's disease.

Objective: To evaluate the difference in gray matter volume and assess the association between cognitive function evaluated by comprehensive cognitive function test, and cortical thickness across healthy controls (HCs) ( = 37), early ( = 30), and late MCI patients ( = 35).

Methods: Differences in gray matter volume were evaluated by whole brain voxel-based morphometry across the groups.

Impact of Age at Childbirth on Maternal Mental Health among Premenopausal Women: The 2010-2012 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Objective: No reports have investigated the influence of age at first or last childbirth on maternal mental health. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is an association between age at first or last childbirth and the mental health of premenopausal women.

Methods: The data used in this study were collected from the 2010 to 2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys.

Alterations in Intra- and Interregional Intrinsic Brain Connectivity Are Differentially Associated with Memory Performance in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Background: Previous research has separated spatial patterns of intra- and interregional intrinsic brain connectivity, as evaluated by regional homogeneity (ReHo) and functional connectivity (FC), respectively, in prodromal Alzheimer's disease (AD). Moreover, the intra- and interregional intrinsic brain connectivities have been demonstrated to have a significant relationship with each other.

Objective: To explore FCs from brain regions which display a difference in ReHo between an amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) group and healthy controls (HC) and to examine the relationship of intra- and interregional intrinsic brain connectivity to cognitive function in both groups.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of High-Entropy Alloy CoCrFeMnNi Processed by High-Pressure Torsion at 77 K and 300 K.

In this work, the mechanical characteristics of high-entropy alloy CoCrFeMnNi with low-stacking fault energy processed by cryogenic and room temperature high-pressure torsion (HPT) were studied. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses were performed to identify the phase and microstructure variation and the mechanical properties characterized by Vickers hardness measurements and tensile testing. Cryogenic HPT was found to result in a lower mechanical strength of alloy CoCrFeMnNi than room temperature HPT.

Intragranular Dispersion of Carbon Nanotubes Comprehensively Improves Aluminum Alloys.

The room-temperature tensile strength, toughness, and high-temperature creep strength of 2000, 6000, and 7000 series aluminum alloys can be improved significantly by dispersing up to 1 wt% carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into the alloys without sacrificing tensile ductility, electrical conductivity, or thermal conductivity. CNTs act like forest dislocations, except mobile dislocations cannot annihilate with them. Dislocations cannot climb over 1D CNTs unlike 0D dispersoids/precipitates.

Body Mass Index in Mild Cognitive Impairment According to Age, Sex, Cognitive Intervention, and Hypertension and Risk of Progression to Alzheimer's Disease.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a prodromal stage of dementia. The association of body mass index (BMI) and progression to Alzheimer's disease (AD) in MCI subjects according to age, sex, and cognitive intervention remains unknown. We investigated the relationship between BMI and the risk of progression to AD in subjects with MCI, as well as the effect of BMI on progression to AD depending on age, sex, cognitive intervention, and chronic diseases.

The association between hippocampal subfield volumes and education in cognitively normal older adults and amnestic mild cognitive impairment patients.

Objective: Previous research has indicated that there are potential associations between education and total hippocampal volume in the trajectory of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the correlation between education and hippocampal subfield volumes in the progression of AD has yet to be understood. This study examined the relationship between education, which is a standard proxy for cognitive reserve, and hippocampal subfield volumes in healthy and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) groups.

Feasibility of Psychosocial Distress Screening and Management Program for Hospitalized Cancer Patients.

Objective: Although the diagnosis and treatment of cancer is associated with psychosocial distress, routine distress screening is difficult in hospitalized oncology settings. We developed a consecutive screening program for psychosocial distress to promote psychiatric treatment of cancer patients and evaluated the feasibility of our program by Distress Thermometer (DT) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).

Methods: Among 777 cancer inpatients recruited from the Catholic Comprehensive Institute of Seoul St.

Association between mental health status and bone mineral density: Analysis of the 2008-2010 Korea national health and nutrition examination survey.

The current study aimed to investigate the association between mental health status and bone mineral density (BMD) using data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2008-2010. We enrolled 15,876 South Korean participants (4,010 postmenopausal females, 4,836 premenopausal females, and 7,016 males, all aged 20 years or older). BMD was measured using dual-energy radiography absorptiometry at the femoral neck (NK), lumbar spine (LSP), and total femur (TFM).

Apathy and intrinsic functional connectivity networks in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Background: Although several prior works reported that apathy is associated with conversion to Alzheimer's disease in individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), effects of apathy on the functional connectivity (FC) of the brain remain unclear. In this study, we assessed the pattern of association between apathy and default mode network (DMN), salience network and central executive network (CEN) in aMCI subjects.

Methods: Fifty subjects with aMCI and 50 controls (CONs) participated in this study.

Thalamic Shape and Cognitive Performance in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate thalamic shape alterations and their relationships with various episodic memory impairments in subjects with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).

Methods: We compared volumes and morphological alterations of the thalamus between aMCI subjects and healthy controls. In addition, we investigated the correlation between thalamic deformations and various memory impairments in aMCI subjects using a comprehensive neuropsychological battery.

Three Large-Scale Functional Brain Networks from Resting-State Functional MRI in Subjects with Different Levels of Cognitive Impairment.

Normal aging and to a greater degree degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), cause changes in the brain's structure and function. Degenerative changes in brain structure and decline in its function are associated with declines in cognitive ability. Early detection of AD is a key priority in dementia services and research.

Work-hardening induced tensile ductility of bulk metallic glasses via high-pressure torsion.

The mechanical properties of engineering materials are key for ensuring safety and reliability. However, the plastic deformation of BMGs is confined to narrow regions in shear bands, which usually result in limited ductilities and catastrophic failures at low homologous temperatures. The quasi-brittle failure and lack of tensile ductility undercut the potential applications of BMGs.