Low Cardiorespiratory Fitness is an Independent Predictor of Metabolic Syndrome in Young Korean Adults

Objective: To investigate the relationship between cardio/respiratory fitness (CRF) and metabolic syndrome (MS) in young Korean men. Design: In a cross-sectional study, we examined 909 young Korean men (mean±SD age, 24.0±2 years) who were healthy and not taking any medications affecting blood pressure, glucose, or lipids concentrations. Body fatness, resting blood pressures, and fasting blood levels of lipids, glucose, and insulin were measured with our standardized laboratory protocols. CRF was quantified as the maximum volume of minute oxygen consumption measured during a graded treadmill test. Metabolic syndrome was defined with the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria and a modified cut-off value of waist circumference from the Asia-Pacific Perspective: Redefining Obesity and its Treatment. Results: Group analyses showed significant and inverse dose-response trends between the metabolic syndrome markers and CRF levels such that men with high and moderate CRF levels had more favorable profiles in body fatness, resting blood pressures, mean values in fasting lipids, glucose, and insulin, and homeostasis model of assessment-insulin resistance than men with low CRF level. After adjusting for several potential confounders such as age, smoking, and body fatness variables, the low and moderate CRF groups had odds of 4.64 (95% CI, 2.00 to 10.79) and 2.57 (95% CI, 1.04 to 6.34) for having metabolic syndrome than the high CRF group. Conclusion: These findings suggest that low CRF is a significant and independent risk factor for metabolic syndrome in young Korean men

Outage-based ergodic link adaptation for fading channels with delayed CSIT

Link adaptation in which the transmission data rate is dynamically adjusted according to channel variation is often used to deal with time-varying nature of wireless channel. When channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) is delayed by more than channel coherence time due to feedback delay, however, the effect of link adaptation can possibly be taken away if this delay is not taken into account. One way to deal with such delay is to predict current channel quality given available observation, but this would inevitably result in prediction error. In this paper, an algorithm with different view point is proposed. By using conditional cdf of current channel given observation, outage probability can be computed for each value of transmission rate $R$. By assuming that the transmission block error rate (BLER) is dominated by outage probability, the expected throughput can also be computed, and $R$ can be determined to maximize it. The proposed scheme is designed to be optimal if channel has ergodicity, and it is shown to considerably outperform conventional schemes in certain Rayleigh fading channel model

SCALES FOR MEASURING AGEISM AS EXPERIENCED BY OLDER ADULTS: LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODOLOGICAL CRITIQUE

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Innovation in Aging following peer review. The version of record Kang H. (2019). SCALES FOR MEASURING AGEISM AS EXPERIENCED BY OLDER ADULTS: LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODOLOGICAL CRITIQUE. Innovation in Aging, 3(Suppl 1), S245. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.921 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.921 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.A growing body of research shows that ageism negatively affects older adults’ psychological well-being and even physical functioning. However, the tools to measure ageism as experienced by older adults are not well developed. This study reviewed the literature on ageism scale with an emphasis on the methodological issues. Most standardized ageism scales have focused on younger people’s attitudes and beliefs toward older adults. We found only one standardized scale that examined how older adults felt and thought about their experiences being treated as a stereotype. However, the scale is incomplete because it does not fully measure ageism and it has received far less rigorous analysis. Many studies have adopted and revised ageism scales that were developed specifically to measure younger people’s attitudes toward older adults, meaning that the scales’ validity has been problematic when administered to older adults. Furthermore, many studies that discussed older adults’ experience of ageism used uni-dimensional or simple measures. Although significant efforts have been made to outline ageism’s various dimensions and constructs, these efforts have not led to a common consensus on ageism and its characteristics. Lack of consensus, in turn, makes it harder to develop a standardized scale. Finally, existing scales are more suitable for Western societies. Socio-cultural uniqueness has not been considered when developing scales, nor has the scales’ cross-cultural reliability and validity been tested. Our findings suggest that a new scale that applies only to measuring ageism as perceived by older adults and corresponds to the significant dimensions of ageism must be developed

Anti-inflammatory mechanism of Isodon japonicas (Burm) Hara on lipopolysaccharide-induced neuroinflammation

Purpose: To investigate the anti-neuroinflammatory effects of Isodon japonicus (Burm.) Hara extract (IJE) on BV2 microglial cells. .Methods: Cell viability was evaluated by MTT method. BV2 microglial cells were stimulated with lipopolyscarride (LPS, 1 μg/ml) and the effect of IJE on nitric oxide (NO) levels were measured using Griess assay. Immunoblot analysis was used to assess the effect of IJE on protein expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) expression. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) cytokine production was evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results: Pretreatment of 100 mg/ml of IJE (p < 0.001) was inhibited nitric oxide (NO) by 1 ug/ml LPStreated BV-2 cells. iNOS and TNF-α expression were attenuated by IJE concentration-dependently (p < 0.001 at 100 mg/ml). IJE scavenged 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals in a dosedependently with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 46.5 μg/ml.Conclusion: Data from this study indicate that IJE attenuates neuroinflammatory responses. The strong anti-oxidant effect of IJE modulates expression of inflammatory molecules at the transcription level, and TNF-α at post-transcription level.Keywords: Isodon japonicas, Anti-oxidant, Neuroinflammation, BV-2 microglia, Nitric oxid

Side-View Operando Optical Microscopy Analysis of a Graphite Anode to Study Its Kinetic Hysteresis

Operando analyses have provided several breakthroughs in the construction of high-performance materials and devices, including energy storage systems. However, despite the advances in electrode engineering, the formidable issues of lithium intercalation and deintercalation kinetics cannot be investigated by using planar observations. This study concerns side-view operando observation by optical microscopy of a graphite anode based on its color changes during electrochemical lithiation. Since the graphite color varies according to the optical energy gap during lithiation and delithiation, this technique can be used to study the corresponding charge-discharge kinetics. In addition, the cell configuration uses liquid electrolytes similar to commercial cells, allowing practical application. Furthermore, this side-view observation has shown that microscale spatial variations in rate and composition control the insertion and deinsertion, revealing the kinetics throughout the whole electrode. The results of this study could enhance the fundamental understanding of the kinetics of battery materials