Association Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Risk of Benign Vocal Fold Lesions: A Nationwide 9-Year Follow-Up Cohort Study

Since obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects various parts of the body, there has been little interest about the effect of OSA on voice. The objective of this study was to evaluate the risk of benign vocal fold lesions (BVFL) in OSA patients. This study used data from the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) database. The study group was defined as the group diagnosed with OSA between 2008 and 2011. Non-OSA groups were selected based on propensity score (PS) matching. Incidence of BVFL among participants during the follow-up was analyzed. Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were performed to evaluate the association between OSA and incident BVFL. The HR value of the OSA group calculated by considering 8 variables indicates that the risk of developing BVFL is 79% higher than that of the control group. Further, among OSA patients, patients with a history of OP had a 35% lower risk of developing BVFL. The relationships between BVFL and 7 individual variables considered were as follows: For age, HR for the 40 to 59 years group was 1.20 (95%CI, 1.09-1.32). For sex, the HR in the female group was 1.22 (95%CI, 1.10-1.35). For residential areas, the HR values for Seoul 1.39 (95%CI, 1.23-1.59). In the high economic status group, the HR was 1.10 (95%CI, 1.01-1.21). This observational study indicated that OSA is associated with an increased incidence of BVFL. The incidence of BVFL increased with older age, female sex, and high SES

THE BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF THE TAEKWONDO FRONT-LEG AXE-KICK

The purpose of the study was to analyze the biomechanics of taekwondo front-leg axekick. One force plates, two synchronized high-speed cameras were used to measure biomechanical parameters in each phase of the front-leg axe-kick. The results included: 1. The average reaction time and movement time were 0.423 sand 0.327 s, which respectively occupied about 56% and 44% of attack time. 2. The maximum velocity of hip, knee and ankle were 1.74 m/s, 5.25 m/s and 7.43 m/s respectively. When the kicking leg touched the target, the velocity of knee and ankle were 0.78m/s, 1.72m1s, and 4.64m1s respectively. 3. The peak vertical GRF and impulse were 0.96 SW and 77.57N-s. For decreasing the movement time, it's suggested that an athlete should increase the power and flexibility of lower extremities during the training section

Unleashing the full potential of Hsp90 inhibitors as cancer therapeutics through simultaneous inactivation of Hsp90, Grp94, and TRAP1

Cancer therapeutics: Extending a drug's reach A new drug that blocks heat shock proteins (HSPs), helper proteins that are co-opted by cancer cells to promote tumor growth, shows promise for cancer treatment. Several drugs have targeted HSPs, since cancer cells are known to hijack these helper proteins to shield themselves from destruction by the body. However, the drugs have had limited success. Hye-Kyung Park and Byoung Heon Kang at Ulsan National Institutes of Science and Technology in South Korea and coworkers noticed that the drugs were not absorbed into mitochondria, a key cellular compartment, and HSPs in this compartment were therefore not being blocked. They identified a new HSP inhibitor that can reach every cellular compartment and inhibit all HSPs. Testing in mice showed that this inhibitor effectively triggered death of tumor cells, and therefore shows promise for anti-cancer therapy. The Hsp90 family proteins Hsp90, Grp94, and TRAP1 are present in the cell cytoplasm, endoplasmic reticulum, and mitochondria, respectively; all play important roles in tumorigenesis by regulating protein homeostasis in response to stress. Thus, simultaneous inhibition of all Hsp90 paralogs is a reasonable strategy for cancer therapy. However, since the existing pan-Hsp90 inhibitor does not accumulate in mitochondria, the potential anticancer activity of pan-Hsp90 inhibition has not yet been fully examined in vivo. Analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas database revealed that all Hsp90 paralogs were upregulated in prostate cancer. Inactivation of all Hsp90 paralogs induced mitochondrial dysfunction, increased cytosolic calcium, and activated calcineurin. Active calcineurin blocked prosurvival heat shock responses upon Hsp90 inhibition by preventing nuclear translocation of HSF1. The purine scaffold derivative DN401 inhibited all Hsp90 paralogs simultaneously and showed stronger anticancer activity than other Hsp90 inhibitors. Pan-Hsp90 inhibition increased cytotoxicity and suppressed mechanisms that protect cancer cells, suggesting that it is a feasible strategy for the development of potent anticancer drugs. The mitochondria-permeable drug DN401 is a newly identified in vivo pan-Hsp90 inhibitor with potent anticancer activity

Optoelectronic properties of poly(fluorene) co‐polymer light‐emitting devices on a plastic substrate *

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92131/1/1.2150379.pd

Analysis of Initial Baseline Clinical Parameters and Treatment Strategy Associated with Medication Failure in the Treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia in Korea

Purpose To analyze the baseline clinical factors and medication treatment strategy used in cases with medication treatment failure of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Methods From January 2006 to December 2009, 677 BPH patients with at least 3 months of treatment with medication were enrolled. We analyzed clinical factors by medication failure (n=161) versus maintenance (n=516), by prostate size (less than 30 g, n=231; 30 to 50 g, n=244; greater than 50 g, n=202), and by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels (less than 1.4 ng/mL, n=324; more than 1.4 ng/mL, n=353). Results Age, combination medication rate, PSA, and prostate volume were statistically different between the medication treatment failure and maintenance groups. By prostate size, the PSA and medication failure rates were relatively higher and the medication period was shorter in patients with a prostate size of more than 30 g. The combination medication rate was higher in patients with a prostate size of more than 50 g. The medication failure rate and prostate volume were higher in patients with a PSA level of more than 1.4 ng/mL. However, the combination treatment rate was not significantly different in patients with a PSA level lower than 1.4 ng/mL. Suggestive cutoffs for combination medication are a prostate volume of 34 g and PSA level of 1.9 ng/mL. Conclusions The clinical factors associated with medication failure were age, treatment type, and prostate volume. Combination therapy should be considered more in Korea in patients with a PSA level higher than 1.4 ng/mL and a prostate volume of between 30 and 50 g to prevent medication failure

Physical properties of transparent perovskite oxides (Ba,La)SnO3 with high electrical mobility at room temperature

Transparent electronic materials are increasingly in demand for a variety of optoelectronic applications. BaSnO3 is a semiconducting oxide with a large band gap of more than 3.1 eV. Recently, we discovered that La doped BaSnO3 exhibits unusually high electrical mobility of 320 cm^2(Vs)^-1 at room temperature and superior thermal stability at high temperatures [H. J. Kim et al. Appl. Phys. Express. 5, 061102 (2012)]. Following that work, we report various physical properties of (Ba,La)SnO3 single crystals and films including temperature-dependent transport and phonon properties, optical properties and first-principles calculations. We find that almost doping-independent mobility of 200-300 cm^2(Vs)^-1 is realized in the single crystals in a broad doping range from 1.0x10^19 to 4.0x10^20 cm^-3. Moreover, the conductivity of ~10^4 ohm^-1cm^-1 reached at the latter carrier density is comparable to the highest value. We attribute the high mobility to several physical properties of (Ba,La)SnO3: a small effective mass coming from the ideal Sn-O-Sn bonding, small disorder effects due to the doping away from the SnO2 conduction channel, and reduced carrier scattering due to the high dielectric constant. The observation of a reduced mobility of ~70 cm^2(Vs)^-1 in the film is mainly attributed to additional carrier-scatterings which are presumably created by the lattice mismatch between the substrate SrTiO3 and (Ba,La)SnO3. The main optical gap of (Ba,La)SnO3 single crystals remained at about 3.33 eV and the in-gap states only slightly increased, thus maintaining optical transparency in the visible region. Based on these, we suggest that the doped BaSnO3 system holds great potential for realizing all perovskite-based, transparent high-frequency high-power functional devices as well as highly mobile two-dimensional electron gas via interface control of heterostructured films.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figure

Effects of heat stress on performance, physiological parameters, and blood profiles of early-fattening Hanwoo steers in climate chambers

Objective This study was conducted to assess effects of heat stress on growth performance, physiological parameters, and blood profiles of Hanwoo steers during early-fattening period in climate chambers. Methods Four Hanwoo steers (body weight, 454.3±10.9 kg; age, 14±0.1 month) were allocated into four levels of temperature-humidity index (THI) in a 4×4 Latin square design for 21 days (pre-adaptation, 7 d; heat stress, 7 d; post-adaptation, 7 d) per period. Experimental treatments were assigned according to THI chart based on National Institute Animal Science (NIAS, 2022): Comfort (25.5°C to 26.5°C, 60%; THI 73 to 75), Mild (28°C to 29°C, 60%; THI 77 to 79), Moderate (29.5°C to 30.5°C, 80%; THI 82 to 84), and Severe (31°C to 32°C, 80%; THI 85 to 86) in separate climatic controlled chambers. Results The dry matter intake (DMI) of the formula feed was lower in Severe compared to Mild and Comfort (p<0.05). The DMI of rice straw was the lowest in Severe and lower in Moderate than Comfort and Mild (p<0.05). Both average daily gain and feed conversion ratio of Severe and Moderate were lower than those of Mild and Comfort (p<0.05). Water intake was the highest in Severe and lower in Moderate compared with Comfort and Mild (p<0.05). Heart rate and rectal temperature increased as THI level increased (p<0.05). Glucose was the lowest in Severe and lower in Moderate compared to Comfort (p<0.05). On the contrary, non-esterified fatty acid was the highest in Severe and lower in Moderate compared with Comfort (p<0.05). Blood urea nitrogen of Moderate and Severe were higher than those of Comfort and Mild (p<0.05). Cortisol increased as THI increased (p<0.05). Conclusion This study demonstrated the negative effects of heat stress on the performance and physiological responses of Hanwoo steers during the early-fattening period. In addition, it is judged that the THI chart for Hanwoo steers of National Institute of Animal Science (2022) was properly calculated