The relationship of ovarian endometrioma and its size to the preoperative serum anti-Mullerian hormone level

Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of ovarian endometrioma according to its size on the serumanti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) levels compared to that of other benign ovarian cysts.Material and methods: The current study retrospectively evaluated preoperative serum AMH level and its association to presentingovarian cyst size which were measured in clinical setting. Women with surgically diagnosed endometrioma or other benignovarian cysts were included. All patients underwent transvaginal or transrectal ultrasonography to determine the size of theovarian cysts. Preoperative serum AMH level was checked and evaluated according to histologic type of the cyst, which wereendometrioma or other benign ovarian cysts, respectively. Both groups were classified into ≤ 4 cm, > 4 cm and ≤ 8 cm, > 8 cmand ≤ 12 cm, > 12 cm according to the diameter of cyst and analyzed the difference of mean AMH levels in both groups.Results: There was no significant difference in preoperative serum AMH level between the two groups (3.36 ± 2.3 versus3.76 ± 2.64, p = 0.331). The difference of preoperative AMH levels according to categorized cyst size also was not statisticallysignificant in both groups.Conclusions: Preoperative serum AMH levels were not statistically different between endometrioma and other benignovarian cyst groups and were not related to the size of endometrioma

Risk factors related to the recurrence of endometrioma in patients with long-term postoperative medical therapy

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify clinical risk factors for the recurrence of ovarian endometrioma after ovarian cystectomy in Korean women with long-term postoperative medical therapy.Material and Methods: A total of 134 patients who were surgically treated for endometriotic cysts at Pusan National University Hospital were included in this retrospective study. All patients received long-term postoperative medical treatment for at least 12 months after the first-line conservative surgery. Several epidemiologic variables were analyzed as possible risk factors for recurrence. Endometrioma recurrence was considered when a cystic mass was observed on transvaginal or transrectal sonography. Statistical analysis was performed using independent t-tests for parametric continuous variables.Results: The mean follow-up period for the 134 patients was 56.5 ± 14.3 months (range, 36–120 months) and the mean duration of the medical therapy was 17.9 ± 17.3 months (range, 12–120 months). The overall recurrence rate was 35/134 (26.12%). Our univariate analysis showed statistically significant differences between the recurrent and non-recurrent groups in terms of weight (P = 0.013), body mass index (P = 0.007), age at the time of surgery (P = 0.013), the diameter of the largest cyst (P = 0.001), the presence of dysmenorrhea (P < 0.0001), and postoperative pregnancy (P = 0.016). Multivariate analysis showed that body mass index (OR 1.153, 95% CI 1.003–1.326, P = 0.046), age at the time of surgery (OR 0.924, 95% CI 0.860–0.992, P = 0.029), and presence of dysmenorrhea (OR 12.226, 95% CI 3.543–42.188, P < 0.0001) were significantly correlated with the recurrence of endometrioma.Conclusions: We found that patients with dysmenorrhea after surgery, and a younger age of the patient at the time of surgery were the highest risk factors associated with the recurrence of endometrioma, despite long-term postoperative medication

Quasi-graphitic carbon shell-induced Cu confinement promotes electrocatalytic CO2 reduction toward C2+ products

For steady electroconversion to value-added chemical products with high efficiency, electrocatalyst reconstruction during electrochemical reactions is a critical issue in catalyst design strategies. Here, we report a reconstruction-immunized catalyst system in which Cu nanoparticles are protected by a quasi-graphitic C shell. This C shell epitaxially grew on Cu with quasi-graphitic bonding via a gas–solid reaction governed by the CO (g) - CO2 (g) - C (s) equilibrium. The quasi-graphitic C shell-coated Cu was stable during the CO2 reduction reaction and provided a platform for rational material design. C2+ product selectivity could be additionally improved by doping p-block elements. These elements modulated the electronic structure of the Cu surface and its binding properties, which can affect the intermediate binding and CO dimerization barrier. B-modified Cu attained a 68.1% Faradaic efficiency for C2H4 at −0.55 V (vs RHE) and a C2H4 cathodic power conversion efficiency of 44.0%. In the case of N-modified Cu, an improved C2+ selectivity of 82.3% at a partial current density of 329.2 mA/cm2 was acquired. Quasi-graphitic C shells, which enable surface stabilization and inner element doping, can realize stable CO2-to-C2H4 conversion over 180 h and allow practical application of electrocatalysts for renewable energy conversion. © 2021, The Author(s).1

South Korea’s COVID-19 Infection Status: From the Perspective of Reconfirmation after Complete Recovery

COVID-19 started to occur in South Korea by an inflow of the virus from abroad, when a traveler from Wuhan, China, was first confirmed on January 19th, 2020. Although South Korea reduced the number of newly confirmed cases and is on the way to stabilizing the situation with its disease prevention policies, problems remain. The main issue is the reconfirmation of the virus after recovery. South Korean experts believe the reconfirmed cases are caused by reactivation of the virus inside the patients’ body, rather than by virus reinfection after recovery. When considering reconfirmed COVID-19 cases, it is important to keep social distancing even after treating the infection. Despite no cases of reconfirmed patients infecting others having been reported yet, reexamination of patients after recovery is thought to be pivotal to prevent reactivation

COVID-19 Infection in South Korea: Focusing on Age Distribution of Confirmed Cases

A new kind of respiratory infectious disease, COVID-19, which first occurred in Wuhan, China, on December 31st, 2019, has affected all over China. After that, the first case of COVID-19 in South Korea was confirmed on January 20th, 2020. Currently, on April 7th, the accumulated number of confirmed cases is 10,331, with 6,694 among them released from quarantine. Age distributions among the confirmed cases shows that patients between 20-29 occupy the most portion with 27%. The younger generations occupies the highest portion of the confirmed cases. Additionally, as their high infection rate can serve as a risk factor of spreading the disease to their family members, they should actively participate in the prevention of the disease by thorough practice of social distancing. Their participation is expected to serve an important role in ending COVID-19

A flexible multimodal tactile display for delivering shape and material information

The growing complexity of telemanipulation tasks calls for increased realism and intuitiveness of the interaction between the user and the master control. Humans perceive multiple haptic features of an object such as its stiffness, temperature, and shape, and rely on this multimodal information to achieve dexterous manipulation. However, to date, remote manipulators rarely provide haptic information to the operator. Moreover, current multimodal displays are often too rigid and bulky to be integrated into the manipulator. Thus, to improve the quality of teleoperation, there is a high demand for flexible devices that are capable of matching the skin's curvature while delivering multimodal haptic information to the operator. In this paper, we present a flexible tactile display delivering tactile and thermal stimuli to the user's skin. We propose a hybrid electromagnetic-pneumatic actuation to operate a 2 x 2 array of tactile cells. Each cell provides a repetitive stimulation with a force and an indentation that are above the human perception threshold for the finger, palm, and forearm. In addition, the temperature of the display's surface is controlled using a Peltier element attached to an air-cooled heatsink. By providing a reproducible cooling gradient, our display simulates common materials encountered in the daily environment. User study results show that (1) the tactile stimulation is perceived well and (2) the identification rates of objects simulated with the display were comparable to those obtained with real objects. Unlike previous devices, the thermal stimulation is delivered while the display is in constant contact with the user's skin, a necessary requirement for teleoperation. These results demonstrate the potential of our device as a promising tactile display for providing haptic feedback in teleoperation. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Neural Probes for Chronic Applications

Developed over approximately half a century, neural probe technology is now a mature technology in terms of its fabrication technology and serves as a practical alternative to the traditional microwires for extracellular recording. Through extensive exploration of fabrication methods, structural shapes, materials, and stimulation functionalities, neural probes are now denser, more functional and reliable. Thus, applications of neural probes are not limited to extracellular recording, brain-machine interface, and deep brain stimulation, but also include a wide range of new applications such as brain mapping, restoration of neuronal functions, and investigation of brain disorders. However, the biggest limitation of the current neural probe technology is chronic reliability; neural probes that record with high fidelity in acute settings often fail to function reliably in chronic settings. While chronic viability is imperative for both clinical uses and animal experiments, achieving one is a major technological challenge due to the chronic foreign body response to the implant. Thus, this review aims to outline the factors that potentially affect chronic recording in chronological order of implantation, summarize the methods proposed to minimize each factor, and provide a performance comparison of the neural probes developed for chronic applications