Optimizing Stretchability and Electrical Stability in Bilayer-Structured Flexible Liquid Metal Composite Electrodes.

Gallium-based liquid metals remain in a liquid state at room temperature and exhibit excellent electrical and thermal conductivities, low viscosity, and low toxicity, making them ideal for creating highly stretchable and conductive composites suitable for flexible electronic devices. Despite these benefits, conventional single-layer liquid metal composites face challenges, such as liquid metal leakage during deformation (e.g.

Role of Mindfulness in the Effects of Organizational Culture on Depression in Korean Physical Therapists.

Objective: The study aimed to investigate whether mindfulness could mitigate the impact of job and interpersonal demands arising from stressful organizational cultures in predicting depression during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A total of 280 Korean physical therapists participated in this study. To verify the mediated moderation model, this study implemented an SPSS 26.

A systematic review of deep learning-based denoising for low-dose computed tomography from a perceptual quality perspective.

Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scans are essential in reducing radiation exposure but often suffer from significant image noise that can impair diagnostic accuracy. While deep learning approaches have enhanced LDCT denoising capabilities, the predominant reliance on objective metrics like PSNR and SSIM has resulted in over-smoothed images that lack critical detail. This paper explores advanced deep learning methods tailored specifically to improve perceptual quality in LDCT images, focusing on generating diagnostic-quality images preferred in clinical practice.

Anticancer effects of high-dose extracellular citrate treatment in pancreatic cancer cells under different glucose concentrations.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly aggressive solid tumor. Recently, the uptake of extracellular citrate by the sodium-dependent citrate transporter (NaCT), encoded by , has been demonstrated to exert profound effects on cancer cell metabolism. However, research on the function of extracellular citrate in PDAC pathogenesis and the relationship between NaCT expression and the tumor metabolic microenvironment is limited.

Effect of Pressure on Ce-Substituted Nd-Fe-B Hot-Deformed Magnets in the Hot-Pressing Process.

With the increasing demand for Nd-Fe-B magnets across various applications, the cost-effective substitution of Ce has garnered significant interest. Many studies have been conducted to achieve the high magnetic properties of Nd-Ce-Fe-B hot deformation magnets in which Nd is replaced with Ce. We propose a method to improve magnetic properties of the Ce-substituted Nd-Ce-Fe-B hot-deformed magnets by optimizing the hot-pressing process.

Fetal abdominal obesity in women with one value abnormality on diagnostic test for gestational diabetes mellitus.

Previous studies have shown that fetal abdominal obesity (FAO) was already observed at the time of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) diagnosis and persisted until delivery despite management in older and/or obese women. In this study, we investigated whether fetuses of women with milder hyperglycemia than GDM have accelerated abdominal growth, leading to adverse pregnancy outcomes. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 7,569 singleton pregnant women who were universally screened using a 50-g glucose challenge test (GCT) and underwent a 3-h 100-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) if GCT result was ≥140mg/dL.

DNA Hypermethylation Inhibits the Metastasis Suppressor Gene in Gastric Cancer.

Background/aim: Gastric cancer, with its high global incidence and mortality rates, poses a significant challenge due to the rapid decline in patient survival upon metastasis. Understanding and combating metastasis are crucial in improving outcomes. The metastasis suppressor gene CD82 has demonstrated efficacy in inhibiting metastasis across various carcinomas but is frequently down-regulated.

Engineered 3D liver-tissue model with minispheroids formed by a bioprinting process supported with electrical stimulation.

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting, an effective technique for building cell-laden structures providing native extracellular matrix environments, presents challenges, including inadequate cellular interactions. To address these issues, cell spheroids offer a promising solution for improving their biological functions. Particularly, minispheroids with 50-100 μm diameters exhibit enhanced cellular maturation.

Red fluorescent BODIPY-based nanoparticles for targeted cancer imaging-guided photodynamic therapy.

Imaging-guided diagnosis and treatment of cancer hold potential to significantly improve therapeutic accuracies and efficacies. Central to this theragnostic approach has been the use of multicomponent-based multimodal nanoparticles (NPs). Apart from this conventional approach, here we propose a design strategy for the simple and straightforward formulation of NPs based on boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) derivatives, LaB- ( = H, Et, and Br).

Impact of glucose metabolism on PD-L1 expression in sorafenib-resistant hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) is an immune checkpoint protein that binds to programmed cell death-1 (PD-1), which is expressed in activated T cells and other immune cells and has been employed in cancer therapy, including HCC. Recently, PD-L1 overexpression has been documented in treatment-resistant cancer cells.

Tumor-on-a-chip models combined with mini-tissues or organoids for engineering tumor tissues.

The integration of tumor-on-a-chip technology with mini-tissues or organoids has emerged as a powerful approach in cancer research and drug development. This review provides an extensive examination of the diverse biofabrication methods employed to create mini-tissues, including 3D bioprinting, spheroids, microfluidic systems, and self-assembly techniques using cell-laden hydrogels. Furthermore, it explores various approaches for fabricating organ-on-a-chip platforms.

Efficient Myogenic Activities Achieved through Blade-Casting-Assisted Bioprinting of Aligned Myoblasts Laden in Collagen Bioink.

This study investigated mechanical stimulation combined with three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting as a new approach for introducing biophysical and biological cues for tissue regeneration. A blade-casting method in conjunction with bioprinting was employed to fabricate bioengineered skeletal muscle constructs using a bioink composed of C2C12 myoblasts and collagen type-I. Various printing process parameters were selected and optimized to achieve a highly organized cell alignment within the constructs.

Piezoresistive Effect of Conductive and Non-Conductive Fillers in Bi-Layer Hybrid CNT Composites under Extreme Strain.

Polymers mixed with conductive fillers hold significant potential for use in stretchable and wearable sensor devices. Enhancing the piezoresistive effect and mechanical stability is critical for these devices. To explore the changes in the electrical resistance under high strains, typically unachievable in single-layer composites, bi-layer structures were fabricated from carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and EcoFlex composites to see unobservable strain regions.

Fetal abdominal obesity and the ensuing adverse perinatal outcomes in older obese pregnant women with or without obesity and with normal glucose tolerance.

To investigate whether the increased risk of fetal abdominal obesity (FAO) is present in the older (≥ 35 years) and/or obese (≥ body mass index 25 kg/m) women with normal glucose tolerance, we reviewed medical record of 6721 singleton pregnancy. At 24-28 gestational weeks (GW), fetal abdominal overgrowth was assessed by the fetal abdominal overgrowth ratios (FAORs) of the ultrasonographically estimated gestational age (GA) of abdominal circumference per actual GA by the last menstruation period, estimated GA of biparietal diameter or femur length, respectively. FAO was defined as FAOR ≥ 90th percentile.

Coordinated recruitment of conserved defense-signaling pathways in PVY-Infected .

Potato virus Y (PVY) is an aphid-transmitted potyvirus that affects economically important solanaceous species. In this study, the phenomena and mechanisms following infection with PVY were investigated in tobacco (). In tobacco plants, infection with a mild strain of PVY (PVY) induced stunted growth in the first two leaves at the shoot apex starting 7 days post-infection (dpi), and mosaic symptoms began to appear on newly developing young leaves at 14 dpi.

An unsupervised two-step training framework for low-dose computed tomography denoising.

Background: Although low-dose computed tomography (CT) imaging has been more widely adopted in clinical practice to reduce radiation exposure to patients, the reconstructed CT images tend to have more noise, which impedes accurate diagnosis. Recently, deep neural networks using convolutional neural networks to reduce noise in the reconstructed low-dose CT images have shown considerable improvement. However, they need a large number of paired normal- and low-dose CT images to fully train the network via supervised learning methods.

Association between Sleep Duration and Incident Diabetes Mellitus in Healthy Subjects: A 14-Year Longitudinal Cohort Study.

Background: This study aimed to investigate whether sleep duration and/or quality are associated with incident diabetes mellitus (DM).

Methods: A total of 8816 of 10,030 healthy participants were enrolled in a prospective cohort study. Sleep duration and quality questionnaires were completed.

Shape-memory collagen scaffold combined with hyaluronic acid for repairing intervertebral disc.

Background: Intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) is a common cause of chronic low back pain (LBP) and a socioeconomic burden worldwide. Conservative therapies and surgical treatments provide only symptomatic pain relief without promoting intervertebral disc (IVD) regeneration. Therefore, the clinical demand for disc regenerative therapies for disc repair is high.

Hybrid cell constructs consisting of bioprinted cell-spheroids.

Bioprinted cell constructs have been investigated for regeneration of various tissues. However, poor cell-cell interactions have limited their utility. Although cell-spheroids offer an alternative for efficient cell-cell interactions, they complicate bioprinting.

Wavelet subband-specific learning for low-dose computed tomography denoising.

Deep neural networks have shown great improvements in low-dose computed tomography (CT) denoising. Early algorithms were primarily optimized to obtain an accurate image with low distortion between the denoised image and reference full-dose image at the cost of yielding an overly smoothed unrealistic CT image. Recent research has sought to preserve the fine details of denoised images with high perceptual quality, which has been accompanied by a decrease in objective quality due to a trade-off between perceptual quality and distortion.

Bone tissue engineering supported by bioprinted cell constructs with endothelial cell spheroids.

In bone tissue engineering, efficient formation of vascularized bone tissue is a challenging issue. Here, we introduce a new strategy for effectively using multiple cells laden in a hybrid structure, such as endothelial cell (EC) spheroids and homogeneously distributed human adipose stem cells (hASCs) for bone regeneration. To fabricate the EC spheroids, cell-mixed mineral oil was used, and microscale droplets of the cell mixture were interlayered between the bioprinted hASC-laden struts.

Impact of Exogenous Treatment with Histidine on Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Sorafenib, a multi-kinase inhibitor, is the first-line therapy for advanced HCC. However, long-term exposure to sorafenib often results in reduced sensitivity and the development of resistance.

Fetal abdominal overgrowth is already present at 20-24 gestational weeks prior to diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus.

Fetal abdominal obesity (FAO) was detected at the time of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) diagnosis at 24-28 gestational weeks (GW) in older (≥ 35 years) and/or obese (≥ body mass index 25 kg/m) women and persisted until delivery. We investigated whether FAO is already present at 20-24 GW. Medical records of 7820 singleton pregnancy including 384 GDM were reviewed.