Magnetically-Controlled Graphite Alignment for Fast and Stable Anion Intercalation.

Dual-ion batteries (DIBs) are emerging as promising candidates for fast-charging electric vehicles owing to their ability to intercalate both cations and anions. However, increasing the energy density of DIBs, especially with thick graphite cathodes, remains a challenge due to structural instability during anion intercalation. In this study, a magnetically controlled method is introduced to vertically align graphite particles in thick electrodes, significantly improving the performance of DIBs.

GAIT-CKD (Gait Analysis using Artificial Intelligence for digital Therapeutics of patients with Chronic Kidney Disease): design and methods.

Background: Digital therapeutics are emerging as treatments for diseases and disabilities. In chronic kidney disease (CKD), gait is a potential biomarker for health status and intervention effectiveness. This study aims to analyze gait characteristics in CKD patients, providing baseline data for digital therapeutics development.

Layer-by-layer Assembly of Nanosheets with Matching Size and Shape for More Stable Membrane Structure than Nanosheet-Polymer Assembly.

Layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly of oppositely charged materials has been widely used as an approach to make two-dimensional (2D) nanosheet-based membranes, which often involves 2D nanosheets being alternately deposited with polymer-based polyelectrolytes to obtain an electrostabilized nanosheet-polymer structure. In this study, we hypothesized that using 2D nanosheets with matching physical properties as both polyanions and polycations may result in a more ordered nanostructure with better stability than a nanosheet-polymer structure. To compare the differences between nanosheet-nanosheet vs nanosheet-polymer structures, we assembled negatively charged molybdenum disulfide nanosheets (MoS) with either positively charged graphene oxide (PrGO) nanosheets or positively charged polymer (PDDA).

Non-contrast low-dose CT can be used for volumetry of ADPKD.

Background: Kidney volume provides important information for the diagnosis and prognosis of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), as well as for the evaluation of the effects of drugs such as tolvaptan. Non-contrast computed tomography (CT) is commonly used for volumetry, and this study examined the correspondence and correlation of kidney volume measured by standard-dose or low-dose CT.

Methods: Axial standard-dose and low-dose CT images with 1-mm slices were obtained from 24 ADPKD patients.

Clinical Practice Guidelines for Oropharyngeal Dysphagia.

Objective: Dysphagia is a common clinical condition characterized by difficulty in swallowing. It is sub-classified into oropharyngeal dysphagia, which refers to problems in the mouth and pharynx, and esophageal dysphagia, which refers to problems in the esophageal body and esophagogastric junction. Dysphagia can have a significant negative impact one's physical health and quality of life as its severity increases.

Theoretical Upper and Lower Limits for Normalized Bandwidth of Digital Phase-Locked Loop in GNSS Receivers.

Determining the loop noise bandwidth and the coherent integration time is essential and important for the design of a reliable digital phase-locked loop (DPLL) in global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers. In general, designers set such parameters approximately by utilizing the well-known fact that the DPLL is stable if the normalized bandwidth, which is the product of the integration time and the noise bandwidth, is much less than one. However, actual limit points are not fixed at exactly one, and they vary with the loop filter order and implementation method.

Table-Based Adaptive Digital Phase-Locked Loop for GNSS Receivers Operating in Moon Exploration Missions.

An adaptive digital phase-locked loop (DPLL) continually adjusts the noise bandwidth of the loop filter in global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers to track signals by measuring the signal-to-noise ratio and/or dynamic stress. Such DPLLs have a relatively large amount of computational complexity compared with the conventional DPLL. A table-based adaptive DPLL is proposed that adjusts the noise bandwidth value by extracting it from the pre-generated table without additional calculations.

Ultralong persistent luminescence from carbon dots.

Hour-level persistent luminescence is realized with carbon dots embedded in cyanuric acid, the composition of which is easily obtained by the microwave-assisted heating of carbon dots and urea. By forming donor-acceptor blends, the proposed composition yields intermediate states with long lifetimes, providing a rare-earth-metal-free route to ultralong persistent luminescence.

Systematic Review of Behavioral Therapy to Improve Swallowing Functions of Patients With Parkinson's Disease.

Decreased swallowing function is a common and main cause of malnutrition and aspiration pneumonia in patients with Parkinson's disease. The aims of this systematic review were to summarize and qualitatively analyze the studies that have been published on behavioral therapies for improving swallowing functions in patients with Parkinson's disease. Studies published from January 2000 to December 2015 were identified via electronic database searches using Ovid-MEDLINE, Ovid-EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and 8 Korean databases.

Dietary vitamin D intake and vitamin D related genetic polymorphisms are not associated with gastric cancer in a hospital-based case-control study in Korea.

There have been few studies on the association between vitamin D levels and gastric cancer in Asian populations, but no studies have been performed on the interactions between vitamin D intake and polymorphisms in the vitamin D pathway. The effects of vitamin D intake, vitamin D related genetic polymorphisms, and their association with the incidence of gastric cancer were investigated in a hospital case-control study, including 715 pairs of newly diagnosed gastric cancer patients and controls matched for age and sex. Correlations between vitamin D intake and plasma vitamin D concentrations were also assessed in a subset of subjects.

The Practice Patterns and Perceptions of Korean Surgeons Regarding Margin Status after Breast-Conserving Surgery.

Two consecutive surveys for breast surgeons in Korea were conducted to comprehend the practice patterns and perceptions on margin status after breast-conserving surgery. The surveys were conducted online in 2014 (initial) and 2016 (follow-up). A total of 126 and 88 responses were obtained in the initial and follow-up survey, respectively.

Clinical features of gastric emptying after distal gastrectomy.

Purpose: Gastric emptying may influence the quality of life of patients who undergo distal gastrectomy. Little is known, however, about gastric emptying after distal gastrectomy. The aim of our study was to investigate gastric emptying patterns after distal gastrectomy.

Additive interactions between PRKAA1 polymorphisms and Helicobacter pylori CagA infection associated with gastric cancer risk in Koreans.

Although several studies reported genetic polymorphisms in protein kinase AMP-activated alpha 1 catalytic subunit (PRKAA1) and their associations with gastric cancer risk, few have evaluated associations between Helicobacter pylori infection and PRKAA1 gene-environment interactions. Here, we evaluated the effects of interactions between H. pylori infection and PRKAA1 polymorphisms on gastric cancer risk in Koreans.

Novalis Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Spinal Dural Arteriovenous Fistula.

The spinal dural arteriovenous fistula (SDAVF) is rare, presenting with progressive, insidious symptoms, and inducing spinal cord ischemia and myelopathy, resulting in severe neurological deficits. If physicians have accurate and enough information about vascular anatomy and hemodynamics, they achieve the good results though the surgery or endovascular embolization. However, when selective spinal angiography is unsuccessful due to neurological deficits, surgery and endovascular embolization might be failed because of inadequate information.

The role of the addition of ovarian suppression to tamoxifen in young women with hormone-sensitive breast cancer who remain premenopausal or regain menstruation after chemotherapy (ASTRRA): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial and progress.

Background: Ovarian function suppression (OFS) has been shown to be effective as adjuvant endocrine therapy in premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. However, it is currently unclear if addition of OFS to standard tamoxifen therapy after completion of adjuvant chemotherapy results in a survival benefit. In 2008, the Korean Breast Cancer Society Study Group initiated the ASTRRA randomized phase III trial to evaluate the efficacy of OFS in addition to standard tamoxifen treatment in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer patients who remain or regain premenopausal status after chemotherapy.

Pleomorphic Adenoma with Sarcomatous Change in a Lacrimal Gland.

A 69-year-old man was referred with left exophthalmos. Computed tomographic (CT) findings detected a well-circumscribed mass in the left side of the intraorbital cavity. At that time, he refused the further evaluation and treatment.

Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor expression in breast cancer tissue and mammographic density.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) expression in breast cancer tissue and mammographic density and the clinical significance of IGF-1R overexpression. A total of 167 patients with primary invasive breast cancer were analyzed. Mammographic breast density and IGF-1R overexpression were correlated with clinicopathological parameters and analyzed by overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS).

New surgical approach for limbal dermoids in children: simple excision, corneal tattooing, and sutureless limboconjunctival autograft.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of combined surgery of simple excision, corneal tattooing, and a sutureless limboconjunctival autograft in pediatric patients with grade 1 limbal dermoids.

Methods: We treated 4 eyes of 4 patients with combined surgery of corneal tattooing and a sutureless limboconjunctival autograft with simple excision of limbal dermoids. Preoperative and postoperative visual acuity, postoperative recovery time, cosmetic improvements, patient compliance, and complication rates were reviewed.

CEACAM6 as detected by the AP11 antibody is a marker notable for mucin-producing adenocarcinomas.

A new monoclonal antibody recognizing CEACAM6, which we named AP11, was generated by immunizing BALB/c mice with phytohemagglutinin-activated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. This study aims to evaluate whether CEACAM6 can serve as a tumor marker using AP11. We examined the expression of CEACAM6 with AP11 in 11 human carcinoma cell lines by flow cytometry and 439 human tissues including 282 tumor tissues and 157 normal tissues by immunohistochemistry.

H2 Receptor-Mediated Relaxation of Circular Smooth Muscle in Human Gastric Corpus: the Role of Nitric Oxide (NO).

This study was designed to examine the effects of histamine on gastric motility and its specific receptor in the circular smooth muscle of the human gastric corpus. Histamine mainly produced tonic relaxation in a concentration-dependent and reversible manner, although histamine enhanced contractility in a minor portion of tissues tested. Histamine-induced tonic relaxation was nerve-insensitive because pretreatment with nerve blockers cocktail (NBC) did not inhibit relaxation.

Neurocutaneous melanosis in association with dandy-walker complex with extensive intracerebral and spinal cord involvement.

Neurocutaneous melanosis (NCM) is a rare congenital syndrome consisting of benign or malignant melanotic tumors of the central nervous system with large or numerous cutaneous melanocytic nevi. The Dandy-Walker complex (DWC) is characterized by an enlarged posterior fossa with high insertion of the tentorium, hypoplasia or aplasia of the cerebellar vermis, and cystic dilatation of the fourth ventricle. These each two conditions are rare, but NCM associated with DWC is even more rare.

Risk of gastric cancer is associated with PRKAA1 gene polymorphisms in Koreans.

Aim: To evaluate the association between genetic polymorphisms of the gene encoding AMP-activated protein kinase (PRKAA1) and the risk of gastric cancer.

Methods: The study subjects consisted of 477 age- and sex-matched case-control pairs. Genotyping was performed for 5 tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs): rs13361707, rs154268, rs3805486, rs6882903, and rs10074991.

Oculomotor nerve schwannoma: a case report.

Schwannomas account for about 8% of intracranial tumors and 90% are vestibular schwannomas. Oculomotor schwannoma without neurofibromatosis is extremely rare. A 41-year-old female presented with complaints of blurred vision, and the neurologic examination revealed afferent pupillary defect and decreased visual acuity of the left side.