Expression of Functional Recombinant Mussel Adhesive Protein Mgfp-5 in Escherichia coli

Mussel adhesive proteins have been suggested as a basis for environmentally friendly adhesives for use in aqueous conditions and in medicine. However, attempts to produce functional and economical recombinant mussel adhesive proteins (mainly foot protein type 1) in several systems have failed. Here, the cDNA coding for Mytilus galloprovincialis foot protein type 5 (Mgfp-5) was isolated for the first time. Using this cDNA, we produced a recombinant Mgfp-5 fused with a hexahistidine affinity ligand, which was expressed in a soluble form in Escherichia coli and was highly purified using affinity chromatography. The adhesive properties of purified recombinant Mgfp-5 were compared with the commercial extracted mussel adhesive Cell-Tak by investigating adhesion force using atomic force microscopy, material surface coating, and quartz crystal microbalance. Even though further macroscale assays are needed, these microscale assays showed that recombinant Mgfp-5 has significant adhesive ability and may be useful as a bioadhesive in medical or underwater environments.X119196sciescopu

Error Estimates on Hybridizable Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Parabolic Equations with Nonlinear Coefficients

HDG method has been widely used as an effective numerical technique to obtain physically relevant solutions for PDE. In a practical setting, PDE comes with nonlinear coefficients. Hence, it is inevitable to consider how to obtain an approximate solution for PDE with nonlinear coefficients. Research on using HDG method for PDE with nonlinear coefficients has been conducted along with results obtained from computer simulations. However, error analysis on HDG method for such settings has been limited. In this research, we give error estimations of the hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) method for parabolic equations with nonlinear coefficients. We first review the classical HDG method and define notions that will be used throughout the paper. Then, we will give bounds for our estimates when nonlinear coefficients obey “Lipschitz” condition. We will then prove our main result that the errors for our estimations are bounded

Elevation of serum lactate dehydrogenase in patients with pectus excavatum

INTRODUCTION: Pectus excavatum is the most common congenital chest wall deformity and the depression of the anterior chest wall, which compresses the internal organs. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of pectus excavatum on blood laboratory findings. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From March 2011 to December 2011, 71 patients with pectus excavatum who visited Seoul Saint Mary Hospital for Nuss procedure were reviewed and analyzed. The blood samples were routinely taken at the day before surgery and pectus bar removal was usually performed in 2 to 3 years after Nuss procedure. To investigate the effects on blood laboratory findings, preoperative routine blood laboratory data and postoperative changes of abnormal laboratory data were analyzed. RESULTS: Only lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), one of 26 separate routine laboratory tests, was abnormal and significantly elevated than normal value (age <10, p = 0.008; age ≥10, p < 0.001). However, there was no significant correlation between LDH levels and severities of pectus excavatum. The symmetric subgroup had significantly higher LDH level than the asymmetric subgroup (p <0.001) and there was a significant decrease of LDH level after correction of deformity (p = 0.017). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, only LDH, one of the routine laboratory tests, was significantly elevated than normal value, which was thought to be caused by etiologies of pectus excavatum and the compression of the internal organs. Further studies on LDH including isoenzyme studies in patients with pectus excavatum will be needed, and these studies will provide a deeper and wider comprehension of pectus excavatum

A Study on Group Key Agreement in Sensor Network Environments Using Two-Dimensional Arrays

These days, with the emergence of the concept of ubiquitous computing, sensor networks that collect, analyze and process all the information through the sensors have become of huge interest. However, sensor network technology fundamentally has wireless communication infrastructure as its foundation and thus has security weakness and limitations such as low computing capacity, power supply limitations and price. In this paper, and considering the characteristics of the sensor network environment, we propose a group key agreement method using a keyset pre-distribution of two-dimension arrays that should minimize the exposure of key and personal information. The key collision problems are resolved by utilizing a polygonal shape’s center of gravity. The method shows that calculating a polygonal shape’s center of gravity only requires a very small amount of calculations from the users. The simple calculation not only increases the group key generation efficiency, but also enhances the sense of security by protecting information between nodes

Impacts of Heavy Rain and Typhoon on Allergic Disease

AbstractObjectivesAllergic disease may be increased by climate change. Recent reports have shown that typhoon and heavy rain increase allergic disease locally by concentration of airborne allergens of pollen, ozone, and fungus, which are causes of allergic disease. The objective of this study was to determine whether typhoon and heavy rain increase allergic disease in Korea.MethodsThis study included allergic disease patients of the area declared as a special disaster zone due to storms and heavy rains from 2003 to 2009. The study used information from the Korea Meteorological Administration, and from the National Health Insurance Service for allergic diseases (asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis).ResultsDuring a storm period, the numbers of allergy rhinitis and atopic dermatitis outpatients increased [rate ratio (RR) = 1.191; range, 1.150–1.232] on the sixth lag day. However, the number of asthma outpatients decreased (RR = 0.900; range, 0.862–0.937) on the sixth lag day after a disaster period. During a storm period, the numbers of allergic rhinitis outpatients (RR = 1.075; range, 1.018–1.132) and atopy outpatients increased (RR = 1.134; range, 1.113–1.155) on the seventh lag day. However, the number of asthma outpatients decreased to RR value of 0.968 (range, 0.902–1.035) on the fifth lag day.ConclusionThis study suggests that typhoon and heavy rain increase allergic disease apart from asthma. More study is needed to explain the decrease in asthma

Unusual Primary Peritonitis due to Streptococcus pyogenes in a Young Healthy Woman

We describe the first case of primary peritonitis in Korea of a healthy person due to Streptococcus pyogenes. In the absence of comorbid conditions, such as liver cirrhosis, immunosuppression, or nephrotic syndrome, primary peritonitis is uncommon in a young healthy woman. Abdomen computed tomography revealed ascites in the lower abdomen and peritoneal enhancement suggesting peritonitis. In diagnostic laparoscopy, purulent ascites was found in the pelvic cavity but both ovaries and fallopian tubes were intact. There were no intra-abdominal abnormalities such as bowel perforation, appendicitis, or necrosis. The reports of blood culture, ascites culture, and cervical swab culture confirmed S. pyogenes. After use of antibiotics, the patient was cured and discharged without sequelae

The erythropoietin-derived peptide MK-X and erythropoietin have neuroprotective effects against ischemic brain damage

Erythropoietin (EPO) has been well known as a hematopoietic cytokine over the past decades. However, recent reports have demonstrated that EPO plays a neuroprotective role in the central nervous system, and EPO has been considered as a therapeutic target in neurodegenerative diseases such as ischemic stroke. Despite the neuroprotective effect of EPO, clinical trials have shown its unexpected side effects, including undesirable proliferative effects such as erythropoiesis and tumor growth. Therefore, the development of EPO analogs that would confer neuroprotection without adverse effects has been attempted. In this study, we examined the potential of a novel EPO-based short peptide, MK-X, as a novel drug for stroke treatment in comparison with EPO. We found that MK-X administration with reperfusion dramatically reduced brain injury in an in vivo mouse model of ischemic stroke induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion, whereas EPO had little effect. Similar to EPO, MK-X efficiently ameliorated mitochondrial dysfunction followed by neuronal death caused by glutamate-induced oxidative stress in cultured neurons. Consistent with this effect, MK-X significantly decreased caspase-3 cleavage and nuclear translocation of apoptosis-inducing factor induced by glutamate. MK-X completely mimicked the effect of EPO on multiple activation of JAK2 and its downstream PI3K/AKT and ERK1/2 signaling pathways, and this signaling process was involved in the neuroprotective effect of MK-X. Furthermore, MK-X and EPO induced similar changes in the gene expression patterns under glutamate-induced excitotoxicity. Interestingly, the most significant difference between MK-X and EPO was that MK-X better penetrated into the brain across the brain-blood barrier than did EPO. In conclusion, we suggest that MK-X might be used as a novel drug for protection from brain injury caused by ischemic stroke, which penetrates into the brain faster in comparison with EPO, even though MK-X and EPO have similar protective effects against excitotoxicity.1

Development of IoT-Based Sensor Tag for Smart Factory

To reduce the rate of defective products and ensure the health of employees, it has become increasingly necessary to improve air quality in factories. To do so, it is important to accurately determine the air quality in the factory first. However, currently available industry-grade sensors require complex and often separate construction processes, making them difficult to use in complicated industrial sites. In order to solve such an issue, this study developed an IoT-based sensor that can collect data such as factory temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, dust, and stench. This study has also developed software to manage the IoT-based sensors, which can transmit the data via RF communication. Sensor tags were tested for basic environmental durability, including waterproof, dustproof, and vibration standards. The sensors can be connected via USB to a computer to configure its settings and access the stored data within the sensors. Unlike other existing environmental sensors, these can be easily installed anywhere as they transmit data via wireless communication. These sensors can also be installed in the factory to check the factory’s internal pollution level in real time. The application of this sensor will enable the real-time monitoring of air pollution in factories. By locating the polluted areas accurately, it will be possible to exercise distributed control over ventilation devices to prevent further spread of pollutants, while also pushing out the polluted air to maintain an optimal working environment. Future studies should develop a simulation model for determining the ideal installation location for the sensors. There also needs to be further studies in developing a distributed-controlled air-conditioning system to run empirical tests

Point-of-care lactate: a predictor of emergency medicine resource use and outcomes in infants with diarrhea

Purpose Fluid therapy for diarrhea-induced dehydration inadvertently increases emergency department length of stay (EDLOS). To prevent this delay, we investigated the usefulness of triage using point-of-care (POC) lactate in infants with diarrhea. Methods This study was performed on infants with diarrhea who visited the emergency department from January 2019 through December 2020. According to the POC lactate concentration and the Korean Triage and Acuity Scale (KTAS) level, the infants were separately divided into the low (< 2 mmol/L), moderate (2-3.9), and high (≥ 4) lactate groups and the mild (KTAS 4-5) and severe (1-3) groups, respectively. Using these 2 group designations, we compared variables regarding the emergency medicine resource use and outcomes. To predict the prolonged EDLOS (≥ median value) we performed logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic analyses. Results A total of 540 infants were included. The median of EDLOS was 169 minutes (interquartile range, 103-220). Fluid therapy was more frequently performed in the high lactate group than in the low-moderate lactate groups (85.0% vs. 60.4%-73.6%; P = 0.025). The high lactate and severe groups respectively showed higher rates of hospitalization (40.0% vs. 3.8%-7.6% [P < 0.001] and 10.9% vs. 1.4% [P = 0.015]), and longer median EDLOS (259 minutes vs. 147-178 [P < 0.001] and 185 vs. 131 [P = 0.001]) compared to the low-moderate lactate and mild groups. Compared to the KTAS, lactate is more strongly associated with the prolonged EDLOS (lactate, adjusted odds ratio, 4.80 [95% confidence interval, 1.87-15.34] vs. KTAS, 3.52 [1.90-6.54]). The areas under curve for lactate and for the KTAS were 0.66 (0.60-0.73) and 0.62 (0.55-0.69), respectively (P = 0.058). Conclusion In infants with diarrhea, POC lactate can be a predictor of emergency medicine resource use and outcomes