Favorable effect of corticosteroids in treating acute-on-chronic liver failure underlying chronic hepatitis B

Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) occurs in the presence of a chronic liver disease or cirrhosis, and often results from exacerbation of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). The efficacy of corticosteroid treatment in ACLF patients with underlying CHB remains unclear. We report the case of a 50-year-old woman who experienced ACLF due to CHB exacerbation and was treated with a combination of corticosteroids and nucleot(s)ide analogue (NUC). The patient showed rapid decompensation due to CHB exacerbation. Three months of antiviral therapy produced no improvement in liver function. Combination therapy with corticosteroids and NUC was started, which did result in improvement of liver function. This case shows that the combined therapy of corticosteroids and NUC can be effective in treating ACLF due to CHB exacerbation

Comparison of methods for proanthocyanidin extraction from pine (Pinus densiflora) needles and biological activities of the extracts

Flavonoids are known to be effective scavengers of free radicals. In particular, proanthocyanidins are flavonoids that possess cardiovascular protection, antioxidative activities, and immunomodulatory activities. Here, we evaluated proanthocyanidin contents in the total polyphenolic compounds of pine needle extracts prepared by hot water, ethanol, hexane, hot water-hexane (HWH), and hot water-ethanol (HWE). Analysis of each extract indicated that the ethanol extract contained the highest proanthocyanidin concentration. The HWH and hexane extracts also contained relatively high concentrations of proanthocyanidin. On the other hand, proanthocyanidin content analyses out of the total polyphenolic compounds indicated that the HWH extract contained the highest content. These results suggest that HWH extraction is a suitable method to obtain an extract with a high level of pure proanthocyanidins and a relatively high yield. The HWH extract possessed superior activity in diverse antioxidative analyses such as 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferrous ion chelating (FIC), and ferric-ion reducing power (FRAP) assays. In addition, upon assessing the effects of the pine needle extracts on macrophages (Raw 264.7 cell), the HWH extract exhibited the highest activity. In this study, we discerned an efficient extraction method to achieve relatively pure proanthocyanidins from pine needles and evaluated the biological functions of the resulting extract, which could potentially be used for its efficacious components in functional food products

블록체인 서비스의 신뢰에 영향을 미치는 요인

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Why drivers use or do not use adaptive cruise control?

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Understanding Human Factor Issues of the Shared Control System: a literature review

The aim of this study is to identify human factor issues related to the shared control system. With the rapid development of machine and robot technology, an enormous number of system introduces the human-machine cooperation to reduce physical and psychological workload. In the shared control system, which is one type of the human-machine cooperation, the machine agent senses the environment and then autonomously takes the initiative to choose its activity responding to the environment. There are many human factor issues in this kind of system. However, most of the research on the shared control system is focused on the performance improvement of the machine, not on human factor issues. Literature review was conducted to collect and understand the academic literature that containing information about the shared control system. The topic varies from defining the shared control system to evaluating the system. Collected problems and guidelines are classified from the perspective of the human agent. Control authority, trust, workload and performance are frequently appeared issues. In addition, it is found that there are relationships between issues. By considering the derived human factor issues in the system design step, it is possible to develop more effective the shared control system. The result of this study can be applied to other types of human-machine cooperation system.1

Factors Affecting User Satisfaction of Adaptive Cruise Control

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Recent Progress in Conducting Polymers for Hydrogen Storage and Fuel Cell Applications

Hydrogen is a clean fuel and an abundant renewable energy resource. In recent years, huge scientific attention has been invested to invent suitable materials for its safe storage. Conducting polymers has been extensively investigated as a potential hydrogen storage and fuel cell membrane due to the low cost, ease of synthesis and processability to achieve the desired morphological and microstructural architecture, ease of doping and composite formation, chemical stability and functional properties. The review presents the recent progress in the direction of material selection, modification to achieve appropriate morphology and adsorbent properties, chemical and thermal stabilities. Polyaniline is the most explored material for hydrogen storage. Polypyrrole and polythiophene has also been explored to some extent. Activated carbons derived from conducting polymers have shown the highest specific surface area and significant storage. This review also covers recent advances in the field of proton conducting solid polymer electrolyte membranes in fuel cells application. This review focuses on the basic structure, synthesis and working mechanisms of the polymer materials and critically discusses their relative merits

사용자경험의 개념과 범위 고찰을 위한 문헌연구

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블록체인의 사용자경험 요소 도출

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성공적인 블록체인 서비스를 위한 제안: 서비스 가치와 기능 및 문제점 분석

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