Investigation of Structural Changes in Rectus Abdominis Muscle According to Curl-Up Angle Using Ultrasound with an Extended Field of View

The rectus abdominis (RA) muscle is related to abdominal muscle contraction and is divided into three sub-sections. In this study, changes in each section according to the curl-up angles were measured using ultrasound with an extended field of view (EFOV) scan and compared with the conventional scan. The results showed that the locations of the measurement position center were consistently detected only with the EFOV scan and that the change ratios in thickness and length between sections at the same angles were not significantly different, suggesting that each section was selectively activated. Furthermore, the ratios of the thickness and length changes in each section were significantly different between the rest position and curl-up angles. Specifically, in the section 2 there was a significant difference in the thickness and length changes between different angles, reflecting the characteristics of RA during contraction, and their variations were less than in the section 3. Therefore, the results suggest that changes in only a section of RA cannot be representative of overall RA activation, EFOV scan method can be useful for investigating the structural characteristics of RA in detail, and the proposed method can obtain various information about muscle contraction for efficient muscle treatment and muscle strengthening

A Study on the Reliability of Mass, Density, and Fire Performance of Recycled Wastepaper Building Finishing Material Made with Large Wet Cellulose 3D Printers

The impact of non-face-to-face contact following the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a social problem and has increased the amount of wastepaper, mainly in home delivery boxes. The appropriate recycling of paper waste is an area where sustainable growth is required in terms of the net environment system and carbon neutrality practice. Therefore, in this study, a specimen of building finishing material using wastepaper was produced using a custom-made large wet cellulose (LWC) 3D printer, and the site applicability of the fire performance was evaluated. The specimen of the building finish material was a mixture of wastepaper and ceramic binder, and the molding of the specimen was uniformly produced by a cylinder injection-type LWC 3D printer. The production reliability of the 3D printer was analyzed by measuring the mass and density of the specimen. The uniformity of the mass and density of the manufactured building finishes were confirmed to have standard deviations of ±0.05 g and ±0.01 g/cm3, respectively. The uniformity of the fire performance of specimens was confirmed by checking the relative standard deviation (RSD) value of ±3% under the same ceramic addition conditions from ISO 5660-1. Through the mass and density analysis and fire performance analysis of the building finishing materials, it was confirmed that the same mass, density, and fire performance can be produced simultaneously, and manufacturing using LWC 3D printers has been confirmed to be effective in developing uniform semi-non-combustible and retardant building materials

Bee Venom Alleviated Edema and Pain in Monosodium Urate Crystals-Induced Gouty Arthritis in Rat by Inhibiting Inflammation

Bee venom (BV) acupuncture has anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects; therefore, it was used as a traditional Korean medicine for various musculoskeletal disorders, especially arthritis. In this study, we investigated the effect of BV on monosodium urate (MSU) crystal-induced acute gouty rats. An intra-articular injection of MSU crystal suspension (1.25 mg/site) was administered to the tibiotarsal joint of the hind paw of Sprague Dawley rats to induce MSU crystal-induced gouty arthritis. Colchicine (30 mg/kg) was orally administered 1 h before MSU crystal injection as a positive control, and BV (0.5 mg/kg) was injected into the tibiotarsal joint immediately after MSU crystal injection. The ankle thickness, mechanical allodynia, and expression of proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL6, COX2 and iNOS) and chemokines (MIP-1α, MIP-1β, MCP-1, GRO-α, MIP-2α) were then evaluated. BV reduced the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, which are important mediators of MSU crystal-induced inflammatory responses. This anti-inflammatory effect was also confirmed histologically to attenuate synovitis and neutrophil infiltration. We demonstrated that BV markedly ameliorated ankle edema and mechanical allodynia in gouty rats. These results suggest that BV acupuncture is a potential clinical therapy for acute gouty management

A Study on the Reliability of Mass, Density, and Fire Performance of Recycled Wastepaper Building Finishing Material Made with Large Wet Cellulose 3D Printers

The impact of non-face-to-face contact following the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a social problem and has increased the amount of wastepaper, mainly in home delivery boxes. The appropriate recycling of paper waste is an area where sustainable growth is required in terms of the net environment system and carbon neutrality practice. Therefore, in this study, a specimen of building finishing material using wastepaper was produced using a custom-made large wet cellulose (LWC) 3D printer, and the site applicability of the fire performance was evaluated. The specimen of the building finish material was a mixture of wastepaper and ceramic binder, and the molding of the specimen was uniformly produced by a cylinder injection-type LWC 3D printer. The production reliability of the 3D printer was analyzed by measuring the mass and density of the specimen. The uniformity of the mass and density of the manufactured building finishes were confirmed to have standard deviations of ±0.05 g and ±0.01 g/cm3, respectively. The uniformity of the fire performance of specimens was confirmed by checking the relative standard deviation (RSD) value of ±3% under the same ceramic addition conditions from ISO 5660-1. Through the mass and density analysis and fire performance analysis of the building finishing materials, it was confirmed that the same mass, density, and fire performance can be produced simultaneously, and manufacturing using LWC 3D printers has been confirmed to be effective in developing uniform semi-non-combustible and retardant building materials

Jmjd3 Mediates Neuropathic Pain by Inducing Macrophage Infiltration and Activation in Lumbar Spinal Stenosis Animal Model

Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is a major cause of chronic neuropathic back and/or leg pain. Recently, we demonstrated that a significant number of macrophages infiltrated into the cauda equina after compression injury, causing neuroinflammation, and consequently mediating neuropathic pain development and/or maintenance. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying macrophage infiltration and activation have not been elucidated. Here, we demonstrated the critical role of histone H3K27 demethylase Jmjd3 in blood-nerve barrier dysfunction following macrophage infiltration and activation in LSS rats. The LSS rat model was induced by cauda equina compression using a silicone block within the epidural spaces of the L5-L6 vertebrae with neuropathic pain developing 4 weeks after compression. We found that Jmjd3 was induced in the blood vessels and infiltrated macrophages in a rat model of neuropathic pain. The blood-nerve barrier permeability in the cauda equina was increased after compression and significantly attenuated by the Jmjd3 demethylase inhibitor, GSK-J4. GSK-J4 also inhibited the expression and activation of MMP-2 and MMP-9 and significantly alleviated the loss of tight junction proteins and macrophage infiltration. Furthermore, the activation of a macrophage cell line, RAW 264.7, by LPS was significantly alleviated by GSK-J4. Finally, GSK-J4 and a potential Jmjd3 inhibitor, gallic acid, significantly inhibited mechanical allodynia in LSS rats. Thus, our findings suggest that Jmjd3 mediates neuropathic pain development and maintenance by inducing macrophage infiltration and activation after cauda equina compression and thus may serve as a potential therapeutic target for LSS-induced neuropathic pain

Importance of Site Diversity and Connectivity in Electrochemical CO Reduction on Cu

Electrochemical CO2 reduction on Cu is a promising approach to produce value-added-chemicals using renewable feedstocks, yet various Cu preparations have led to differences in activity and selectivity towards single and multi-carbon products. Here, we find, surprisingly, that the effective catalytic activity towards ethylene improves when there is a larger fraction of less active sites acting as reservoirs of *CO on the surface of Cu nanoparticle electrocatalysts. In an adaptation of chemical transient kinetics to electrocatalysis, we measure the dynamic response of a gas diffusion electrode (GDE) cell when the feed gas is abruptly switched between Ar (inert) and CO. When switching from the Ar to CO, CO reduction (COR) begins promptly, but when switching from CO to Ar, COR can be maintained for several seconds (delay time), despite the absence of the CO reactant in the gas phase. A three-site microkinetic model captures the observed dynamic behavior and shows that Cu catalysts exhibiting delay times have a less active *CO reservoir that exhibits fast diffusion to active sites. The observed delay times and the estimated *CO reservoir sizes are affected by catalyst preparation, applied potential, and microenvironment (electrolyte cation identity, electrolyte pH, and CO partial pressure). Notably, we estimate that the *CO reservoir surface coverage can be as high as 88±7% on oxide-derived (OD-Cu) at high overpotentials (-1.52 V vs. SHE) and that increases in reservoir coverage coincide with increased turnover frequencies to ethylene. We also estimate that *CO can travel substantial distances (up to 10s of nm) prior to desorption or reaction. It appears that active C-C coupling sites, by themselves, do not control selectivity to C2+ products in electrochemical COR; the supply of CO to those sites is also a crucial factor. More generally, the overall activity of Cu electrocatalysts cannot be approximated from linear combinations of individual site activities. Future designs must consider the diversity of the catalyst network and account for inter-site transportation pathways

Data from: Importance of Site Diversity and Connectivity in Electrochemical CO reduction on Cu

<p><strong>Microkinetic Modeling</strong></p><ul><li>Contains raw ipynb files to generate graphs used in this work</li></ul><p><strong>EC-Lab Potentiosat Data</strong></p><ul><li>Contains potentiostat I-V data, organized in folder by date of acquisition</li></ul><p><strong>Mass flow and product quantification</strong></p><ul><li>Mass flow measurements, gas chromatography, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy</li></ul><p><strong>Overview of all experiments</strong></p><ul><li>Spreadsheets listing all experiments</li></ul><p><strong>Cell Design</strong></p><ul><li>Files for the 1 cm2 gas diffusion electrodes used in this work.</li></ul><p>This work was supported by the Clean Energy Manufacturing Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division, in under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Research on microkinetic modeling was supported as part of the Center for Closing the Carbon Cycle, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES), under Award Number DE-SC0023427. </p&gt

Amine-Functionalized Graphene/CdS Composite for Photocatalytic Reduction of CO₂

This study provides a significant enhancement in CO₂ photoconversion efficiency by the functionalization of a reduced graphene oxide/cadmium sulfide composite (rGO/CdS) with amine. The amine-functionalized graphene/CdS composite (AG/CdS) was obtained in two steps. First, graphene oxide (GO) was selectively deposited via electrostatic interaction with CdS nanoparticles modified with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane. Subsequently, ethylenediamine (NH₂C₂H₄NH₂) was grafted by an <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>′-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide coupling reaction between the amine group of ethylenediamine and the carboxylic group of GO. As a result, a few layers of amine-functionalized graphene wrapped CdS uniformly, forming a large interfacial area. Under visible light, the photocurrent through the AG/CdS significantly increased because of enhanced charge separation in CdS. The CO₂ adsorption capacity on AG/CdS was 4 times greater than that on rGO/CdS at 1 bar. These effects resulted in a methane formation rate of 2.84 μmol/(g h) under visible light and CO₂ at 1 bar, corresponding to 3.5 times that observed for rGO/CdS. Interestingly, a high methane formation rate (1.62 μmol/(g h)) was observed for AG/CdS under CO₂ at low pressure (0.1 bar), corresponding to a value 20 times greater than that observed for the rGO/CdS. Thus, the enhanced performance for photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ on the AG/CdS is due to the improved CO₂ adsorption related to the amine groups on amine-functionalized graphene, which sustains the strong absorption of visible light and superior charge-transfer properties in comparison with those of graphene

Enhanced Micro-Channeling System via Dissolving Microneedle to Improve Transdermal Serum Delivery for Various Clinical Skincare Treatments

Topical liquid formulations, dissolving microneedles (DMNs), and microscale needles composed of biodegradable materials have been widely used for the transdermal delivery of active compounds for skincare. However, transdermal active compound delivery by topical liquid formulation application is inhibited by skin barriers, and the skincare efficacy of DMNs is restricted by the low encapsulation capacity and incomplete insertion. In this study, topical serum application via a dissolvable micro-channeling system (DMCS) was used to enhance serum delivery through micro-channels embedded with DMNs. Transdermal serum delivery was evaluated after the topical-serum-only application and combinatorial serum application by assessing the intensity of allophycocyanin (APC) loaded with the serum in the porcine skin. APC intensity was significantly higher in the skin layer at a depth of 120&ndash;270 &mu;m upon combinatorial serum application as compared to topical-serum-only application. In addition, the combinatorial serum application showed significantly improved efficacy in the clinical assessment of skin hydration, depigmentation, improvement of wrinkles, elasticity, dermal density, skin pores, and skin soothing without any safety issues compared to the serum-only application. The results indicate that combinatorial serum application with DMCS is a promising candidate for improving skincare treatments with optimal transdermal delivery of active compounds