Effect of a Mating Type Gene Editing in Using RNP/Nanoparticle Complex.

Gene editing using CRISPR/Cas9 is an innovative tool for developing new mushroom strains, offering a promising alternative to traditional breeding methods that are time-consuming and labor-intensive. However, plasmid-based gene editing presents several challenges, including the need for selecting appropriate promoters for Cas9 expression, optimizing codons for the Cas9 gene, the unintended insertion of fragmented plasmid DNA into genomic DNA (gDNA), and regulatory concerns related to genetically modified organisms (GMOs). To address these issues, we utilized a Ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex consisting of Cas9 and gRNA for gene editing to modify the A mating-type gene of .

Enhanced Ammonia Capture for Adsorption Heat Pumps Using a Salt-Embedded COF Aerogel Composite.

Adsorption heat pumps (AHPs) have garnered significant attention due to their efficient use of low-grade thermal energy, eco-friendly nature, and cost-effectiveness. However, a significant challenge lies in developing adsorbent materials that can achieve a high uptake capacity, rapid adsorption rates, and efficient reversible release of refrigerants, such as ammonia (NH). Herein, we developed and synthesized a novel salt-embedded covalent organic framework (COF) composite material designed for enhanced NH capture.

Non-Stop Parenting and Generational Reciprocity Gap: Exploring Elderly Poverty in South Korea Through an Intergenerational Sustainability Lens.

Later-life poverty is a complex issue, particularly in South Korea. This study investigates this puzzling phenomenon, focusing on continuing parental investment and its impact on economic hardship facing older people in the contemporary Korean context. Data were derived from critical document analysis and interviews with 26 participants, including older people experiencing poverty and professional experts.

Staged versus immediate complete revascularization for non-culprit arteries in acute myocardial infarction: a post-hoc analysis of FRAME-AMI.

Background And Objectives: The optimal timing for complete revascularization (CR) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and multivessel disease (MVD) remain uncertain.

Methods: This post-hoc analysis of the FRAME-AMI trial included AMI patients with MVD ( = 549). They were classified into immediate ( = 329) and staged CR ( = 220) groups.

A practical guide for diagnostic investigations and special considerations in patients with Huntington's disease in Korea.

The Korean Huntington's Disease Society (KHDS) has recently published a practical guide for clinical approach to patients with Huntington's disease (HD) in Korea in April issue of Journal of Movement Disorders this year.1 This article is the second practical guide particularly focused on 1) essential points of genetic counseling for families of HD covering issues of testing minors and prenatal/preimplantation testing; and 2) premanifest HD and useful laboratory investigations for assessing disease severity and progression. The latter part of this article deals with special issues of juvenile and very late-onset HD, and common comorbidities in HD patients.

Development of a web-based high-throughput marker design program: CAPS (cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence) Maker.

Background: Genetic markers are crucial for breeding crops with desired agronomic traits, and their development can be expedited using next-generation sequencing (NGS) and bioinformatics tools. Numerous tools have been developed to design molecular markers, enhancing the convenience, accuracy, and efficiency of molecular breeding. However, these tools primarily focus on genetic variants within short user-input sequences, despite the availability of extensive omics data for genomic variants.

Clinical Features of Impacted Common Bile Duct Stones at Duodenal Papilla.

Background/aims: Urgent endoscopic removal is required for gallstones impacted at the duodenal papilla. This study compared the clinical features of impacted papillary stones (IPS) with those of common bile duct stones without impaction.

Methods: This study analyzed a common bile duct stone database from 2017 to 2023, identifying patients with IPS.

Characteristics of Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis at Diagnosis in Korea: Results From a Multicenter, Registry-Based, Inception Cohort Study.

Background: We aimed to investigate the characteristics of pediatric ulcerative colitis (UC) at diagnosis in Korea.

Methods: This was a multicenter, registry-based, inception cohort study conducted in Korea between 2021 and 2023. Children and adolescents newly diagnosed with UC < 18 years were included.

Epigenetic Regulation of Nuclear Factor Erythroid-2-Related Factor 2 in Colorectal Cancer Cells Resistant to Ionizing Radiation.

γ-Radiation resistance is a major obstacle to the success of radiotherapy in colorectal cancer. Antioxidant-related factors contribute to resistance to radiation therapy and, therefore, are targets for improving the therapeutic response. In this study, we evaluated the molecular mechanisms underlying γ-radiation resistance using the colorectal cancer cell line SNUC5 and γ-radiation-resistant variant SNUC5/RR, including analyses of the role of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2), a transcription factor that regulates antioxidant enzymes, and related epigenetic regulators.

Dorsolateral pontine lesions produce distinct ocular motor abnormalities with anatomical correlations.

Background And Purpose: The dorsolateral portion of the caudal pons contains the vestibular nucleus (VN) and inferior cerebellar peduncle (ICP) that play important roles in conveying and processing vestibular and ocular motor signals. This study aimed to characterize ocular motor abnormalities along with their anatomical correlations in dorsolateral pons (DLP) lesions.

Methods: We analyzed clinical features, and results of neuro-otological evaluations and neuroimaging of 18 patients with unilateral DLP lesions (17 with DLP infarction and 1 with cavernous malformation) from among 506 patients with pontine infarction in a stroke registry.

Quality of life outcomes in terminal cancer patients attending regional cancer centers in South Korea: protocol for a prospective cohort study.

Introduction: Patients with cancer experience physical, mental, and social pain that affects themselves and their families. The increasing cancer incidence and advances in treatment have increased the number of cancer survivors in Korea, and there is an influx of patients in Seoul and other metropolitan areas, leading to shortages of continuous care and comprehensive life support facilities. Patients must travel long distances for treatment, which poses logistical and quality-of-life challenges.

Assessment of potential ecological risk for microplastics in freshwater ecosystems.

Microplastics (MPs) are one of the most widespread environmental pollutants, but their risk assessment to freshwater ecosystems has not been clearly investigated. Risk assessment has been constrained by the absence of MP concentration in some environment, the diverse types and shapes of MPs, and limitations of polystyrene (PS)-biased toxicity studies. This study examined exposure to MPs in rivers and lakes worldwide, including China (the Three Gorges Dam & Yangtze River (TGD & YR) and the lakes of Wuhan city (WL)), Vietnam (seven lakes of Da Nang city (7UL)), Europe (the Rhine River (RR)), Finland (Kallavesi Lake (KL)), Argentina (nine lakes in the Patagonia region (9LP)), Brazil (Guaiba Lake (GL)), and South Korea (Nakdong River (NR), Han River (HR), and Anyang Stream (AS)), and assessed the risks to aquatic ecosystems based on the toxicity information and morphology of MPs.

Alternative assessment of machine learning to polynomial regression in response surface methodology for predicting decolorization efficiency in textile wastewater treatment.

This study investigated the potential of machine learning (ML) as a substitute for polynomial regression in conventional response surface methodology (RSM) for decolorizing textile wastewater via a UV/HO process. While polynomial regression offers limited adaptability, ML models provide superior flexibility in capturing nonlinear responses but are prone to overfitting, particularly with constrained RSM datasets. In this study, we evaluated decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), multilayer perceptron (MLP), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) models with respect to a quadratic regression model.

Total gastrectomy patients had a lower diet volume and greater diet frequency than distal gastrectomy patients after 6 months.

There are no reports comparing diet recovery between patients who underwent distal gastrectomy (DG) and those who underwent total gastrectomy (TG). The aim of the present study was to compare dietary habits and nutritional status after curative treatment with DG and TG in patients with gastric cancer. We retrospectively collected clinical data from 263 consecutive patients who underwent gastrectomy for gastric cancer without recurrence at a single-center between January 2016 and December 2022.

Low-cost high performance piezoelectric fabrics based on Nylon-6 nanofibers.

To fully harness the potential of smart textiles, it is cruical to develop energy harvesters which can function both as fabric and energy generator. In this work, we present a high performance low-cost piezoelectric nano-fabric using even-number Nylon ( Nylon-6). Nylon-6 was chosen for optimal mechanical properties such as mechanical strength and stiffness.

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.

Unintentional medication discrepancies at care transitions: prevalence and their impact on post-discharge emergency visits in critically ill older adults.

Background: Unintentional medication discrepancies during care transitions pose a significant risk for medication errors, particularly in critically ill older patients. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of such discrepancies during care transitions and their impact on post-discharge emergency department (ED) visits in this patient population.

Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study included patients aged 65 and older who were on chronic medications and admitted to the intensive care units of emergency departments (ED-ICUs) between 2019 and 2020.

Educational needs for nursing manager competency in Korean hospitals: multi-center cross-sectional study.

Background: Nursing managers have a critical responsibility for high-quality care, nursing staff support, and business operations for hospital outcomes. As the healthcare environment has changed, the role of nursing managers and the competencies required have evolved. This study aims to assess the educational needs for nursing management competency among 155 nursing managers in one tertiary and six general hospitals in South Korea.

Enhancing vaccine effectiveness in the elderly to counter antibiotic resistance: The potential of adjuvants via pattern recognition receptors.

Vaccines are an effective way to prevent the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance by preventing diseases and establishing herd immunity. However, the reduced effectiveness of vaccines in the elderly due to immunosenescence is one of the significant contributors to the increasing antibiotic resistance. To counteract this decline and enhance vaccine effectiveness in the elderly, adjuvants play a pivotal role.

Effects of an extra-high slaughter weight and a low-lysine diet on growth and meat quality of finishing gilts.

The present study aimed to find out the feasibility of increasing the meat quality of finishing gilts by increasing their slaughter weight (SW) to an extra-high (XH) level and also by using a low-lysine (lys) diet in XH-weight pig production. Twenty-four gilts and eights barrows were divided into four treatments (T) by gender, SW, and diet: T1 (barrow; 116-kg SW; Medium [Med]-lys [0.80%] diet), T2 (gilt; 116-kg SW; Med-lys), T3 (gilt; XH [150 kg] SW; Med-lys), and T4 (gilt; XH SW, Low-lys [0.

Enhancing animal breeding through quality control in genomic data - a review.

High-throughput genotyping and sequencing has revolutionized animal breeding by providing access to vast amounts of genomic data to facilitate precise selection for desirable traits. This shift from traditional methods to genomic selection provides dense marker information for predicting genetic variants. However, the success of genomic selection heavily depends on the accuracy and quality of the genomic data.

Hidden face of Parkinson's disease: is it a new autoimmune disease?

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder marked by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons and clinical symptoms such as tremors, rigidity, and slowed movements. A key feature of Parkinson's disease is the accumulation of misfolded α-synuclein, forming insoluble Lewy bodies in the substantia nigra pars compacta, which contributes to neurodegeneration. These α-synuclein aggregates may act as autoantigens, leading to T-cell-mediated neuroinflammation and contributing to dopaminergic cell death.

Management of Multiple Perianal Apocrine Hamartomas in a Poodle Dog Using Carbon Dioxide Laser.

Hamartoma is characterized by the abnormal proliferation of cells and tissues within the originating organ. Apocrine hamartoma (AH) affecting the skin, especially in the perianal area, has not yet been reported in dogs. A 7-year-old neutered male Poodle presented with multiple perianal papules and pruritus.

A streamlined algorithm for two-dimensional bandgaps and defect-state energy variations in InGaN-based micro-LEDs.

Bandgaps and defect-state energies are key electrical characteristics of semiconductor materials and devices, thereby necessitating nanoscale analysis with a heightened detection threshold. An example of such a device is an InGaN-based light-emitting diode (LED), which is used to create fine pixels in augmented-reality micro-LED glasses. This process requires an in-depth understanding of the spatial variations of the bandgap and its defect states in the implanted area, especially for small-sized pixelation requiring electroluminescence.

An Efficient Acoustic Camera Simulator for Robotic Applications: Design, Implementation, and Validation.

As forward-looking imaging sonar, also called an acoustic camera, has emerged as an important sensor for marine robotics applications, its simulators have attracted considerable research attention within the field. This paper presents an acoustic camera simulator that efficiently generates acoustic images using only the depth information of the scene. The simulator approximates the acoustic beam of a real acoustic camera as a set of acoustic rays originating from the center of the acoustic camera.