Self-Assembled Nanostructures of Homo-Oligopeptide as a Potent Ice Growth Inhibitor.

This study reports the formation of self-assembled nanostructures with homo-oligopeptides consisting of amino acids (i.e., alanine, threonine, valine, and tyrosine), the resulting morphologies (i.

Wheat sprouts ( Linn.) cultured by a smart farm system ameliorate NAFLD through the AMPK-mediated SREBP signaling pathway.

Wheat is cultivated worldwide and is the most widely distributed food crop. Wheat is a staple crop in many countries. However, the effects of various cultivation methods on the efficacy of wheat sprouts have not been determined.

Action-driven contrastive representation for reinforcement learning.

In reinforcement learning, reward-driven feature learning directly from high-dimensional images faces two challenges: sample-efficiency for solving control tasks and generalization to unseen observations. In prior works, these issues have been addressed through learning representation from pixel inputs. However, their representation faced the limitations of being vulnerable to the high diversity inherent in environments or not taking the characteristics for solving control tasks.

Precise control over the silica shell thickness and finding the optimal thickness for the peak heat diffusion property of AuNR@SiO.

Silica-coated gold nanorods (AuNRs) exhibit significantly enhanced photothermal effects and photoacoustic (PA) signal intensities, which is beneficial for various nanophotonic applications in materials science. However, the silica shell thickness for optimum enhancement is not fully understood and is even controversial depending on the physical state of the silica shell. This is because of the lack of systematic investigations of the nanoscale silica shell thickness and the photothermal effect.

Solution-Based One-Step Preparation of Three-Dimensional Self-Assembled Octadecyl Silica Nanosquare Plate and Microlamella Structures for Superhydrophobic and Icephobic Surfaces.

Icephobic surfaces have gained immense attention owing to their significant roles in decreasing the energy consumption of refrigerators and in improving safety issues by preventing the formation of ice on them. Superhydrophobic surfaces incorporating micro- or nanoscale roughness and hydrophobic functional groups have been shown to prevent ice accumulation. Herein, we report a simple, low-cost, and solution-based one-step process for the production of superhydrophobic surfaces with three-dimensional (3D) self-assembled structures.

Real-time surface-enhanced Raman scattering-based live cell monitoring of the changes in mitochondrial membrane potential.

Obtaining molecular information on cells in real time has been a critical challenge in studying the interaction between molecules of interest and intracellular components. Fluorescence-based methods have long served as excellent tools to study such important interactions. In this paper, we introduce a Raman scattering-based method as a promising platform to achieve the real-time monitoring of subtle molecular changes occurring within cells.

Raman-Based in Situ Monitoring of Changes in Molecular Signatures during Mitochondrially Mediated Apoptosis.

Obtaining molecular information from inside cells is an important topic to understand the outcome of molecular interactions between potential drug molecules and biomolecules inside cells. To envision this goal, we investigated the surface-enhanced Raman scattering-based single-cell spectroscopic method to monitor changes in intracellular molecular signatures during mitochondrially mediated apoptosis in real time. Triphenylphosphine-modified gold nanoparticles were localized successfully to the mitochondria and greatly enhanced to obtain the intrinsic Raman scattering spectrum of mitochondria and cytochrome in the live cell.

Patients and Their Caregivers' Burdens for Parkinson's Disease in Korea.

Objective: Many patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) suffer from motor and non-motor symptoms. According to these variable symptoms of PD, patients or caregivers have a poorer quality of life than patients with other neurodegenerative diseases. Since the difficulties are varied for all patients, prioritizing their difficulties differs among all cases.

Erratum to: The KMDS-NATION Study: Korean Movement Disorders Society Multicenter Assessment of Non-Motor Symptoms and Quality of Life in Parkinson's Disease NATION Study Group.

This corrects the article on p. 393 in vol. 12, PMID: 27819413.

The KMDS-NATION Study: Korean Movement Disorders Society Multicenter Assessment of Non-Motor Symptoms and Quality of Life in Parkinson's Disease NATION Study Group.

Background And Purpose: Nonmotor symptoms (NMS) in Parkinson's disease (PD) have multisystem origins with heterogeneous manifestations that develop throughout the course of PD. NMS are increasingly recognized as having a significant impact on the health-related quality of life (HrQoL). We aimed to determine the NMS presentation according to PD status, and the associations of NMS with other clinical variables and the HrQoL of Korean PD patients.

Weight Change Is a Characteristic Non-Motor Symptom in Drug-Naïve Parkinson's Disease Patients with Non-Tremor Dominant Subtype: A Nation-Wide Observational Study.

Despite the clinical impact of non-motor symptoms (NMS) in Parkinson's disease (PD), the characteristic NMS in relation to the motor subtypes of PD is not well elucidated. In this study, we enrolled drug-naïve PD patients and compared NMS between PD subtypes. We enrolled 136 drug-naïve, early PD patients and 50 normal controls.

Brain perfusion alterations in depressed patients with Parkinson's disease.

Objective: Although Parkinson's disease (PD) is frequently accompanied by depression, brain perfusion deficits in PD with depression remain unclear. This study aimed to assess alterations in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in depressed PD patients using Tc hexamethyl-propylene-amine-oxime single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).

Methods: Among 78 patients with PD, 35 patients were classified into the depressed PD group, while the rest (43 patients) was assigned to the nondepressed PD group based on the scores of the Geriatric Depressive Scale (GDS).

Differences in Depressive Patterns According to Disease Severityin Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease.

Background & Objective: Depression frequently combines with dementia, including early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD). We investigated differences in prevalence and characteristics of depressive symptoms according to dementia severity in EOAD patients.

Methods: The 15-item Korean version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) was administered to 412 EOAD patients.

Prevalence and treatment pattern of Parkinson's disease dementia in Korea.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate the point prevalence of dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: A total of 1200 patients with PD from 12 hospitals were included in the study. All patients were grouped into normal cognition, MCI and dementia subgroups.

White matter hyperintensities in mild cognitive impairment: clinical impact of location and interaction with lacunes and medial temporal atrophy.

This study was to evaluate the influence on cognition and activities of daily living (ADL) by white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) based on the severity and location, as well as the interactions among WMHs, lacunes, and medial temporal atrophy (MTA). In 150 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment, WMHs were quantified with the use of a semiautomated volumetric method. Lacune counting and MTA assessment were performed by visual rating.

A case of acute motor and sensory axonal neuropathy following hepatitis a infection.

Acute motor and sensory axonal neuropathy (AMSAN) are recently described subtypes of Guillain-Barre syndrome characterized by acute onset of distal weakness, loss of deep tendon reflexes, and sensory symptoms. A 21-yr-old male was transferred to our hospital due to respiration difficulties and progressive weakness. In laboratory findings, immunoglobulin M antibodies against hepatitis A were detected in blood and cerebrospinal fluid.

Pattern of voiding dysfunction after acute brainstem infarction.

Background: The purpose of this study is to compare the patterns of voiding dysfunction according to the locations of brainstem lesions.

Methods: Between November 2008 and December 2011, a total of 30 patients participated in this study. All 30 subjects, consisting of 16 men and 14 women, aged between 41 and 82 years (mean age, 63.

Interaction of white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotypes on cognition in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).

The clinical implications of WMHs in aMCI are inconclusive. Moreover, clinical interactions between APOE genotypes and WMHs remain unclear. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between WMHs and cognitive functions and how this relationship interacted with APOE genotype in people with aMCI.

Hemichorea caused by intracranial hemorrhage following contralateral herpes zoster ophthalmicus.

A healthy, 66-year-old, right-handed man was admitted to our university hospital and diagnosed with herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO). After 4 weeks, he complained of hemichorea on his left side. Brain MRI showed a focal hemorrhage in the right subthalamic area.

Correlation between instrumental activities of daily living and white matter hyperintensities in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: results of a cross-sectional study.

Although some studies have supported the association between white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and cognitive impairment, whether WMH are associated with the impairments in instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) remains unknown. This cross-sectional study investigated differences in basic ADLs and IADLs among different severity of WMH in a large, well-defined registry of patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). 1,514 patients with aMCI were divided into three groups according to the degree of WMH (1,026 mild, 393 moderate, and 95 severe).

A case of cerebellar infarction presenting as thunderclap headache.

Thunderclap headache (TCH) refers to a sudden-onset, severe headache that features in subarachnoid hemorrhage, unruptured intracranial aneurysm, cerebral venous thrombosis, pituitary apoplexy, cervical artery dissection, and hypertensive reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy. TCH is a rare manifestation in cerebral or cerebellar infarctions. Herein, we report on a 60-year-old woman with a thunderclap headache as the first symptom of cerebellar infarction, in the absence of abnormal findings in the brain computed tomography (CT), CT angiography, and lumbar puncture.

Which symptoms can distinguish between subjective cognitive impairment (SCI) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI)?

The SCI, the MCI, and the Alzheimer's disease (AD) are on a spectrum of disease progression; therefore, identification of the earliest signs of cognitive deterioration is becoming a crucial issue. The goal of this study was to examine symptom characteristics and distinguish predictive symptoms in patients with MCI compared with SCI, using caregiver questionnaires. We assessed the Korean Dementia Screening Questionnaire (KDSQ) and Seoul Instrumental activities of Daily Living (S-IADL) of 344 subjects with SCI and 697 with MCI.

Comparison of diffusion tensor imaging and voxel-based morphometry to detect white matter damage in Alzheimer's disease.

Regional atrophy of gray matter (GM) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is well known; however, the relationship between macroscopic and microscopic changes of cerebral white matter (WM) is uncertain. The aim of this study was to investigate the pattern of GM, WM atrophy, and microscopic WM changes in the same individuals with AD. All subjects (10AD and 15 healthy controls [HC]) underwent a MRI scanning at 1.

A case of cerebral erdheim-chester disease with progressive cerebellar syndrome.

Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a rare non-Langerhans form of histiocytosis. Cerebellar involvement is rare in this syndrome. We report a 37-year-old woman with slowly progressive cerebellar ataxia, dysmetria of limbs, nystagmus, and dysarthria, bilateral painful axillary masses, and generalized arthralgia.