Exploring Cohesive Subgraphs in Hypergraphs: The (k,g)-core Approach

Identifying cohesive subgraphs in hypergraphs is a fundamental problem that has received recent attention in data mining and engineering fields. Existing approaches mainly focus on a strongly induced subhypergraph or edge cardinality, overlooking the importance of the frequency of co-occurrence. In this paper, we propose a new cohesive subgraph named (k,g)-core, which considers both neighbour and co-occurrence simultaneously. The $(k,g)$-core has various applications including recommendation system, network analysis, and fraud detection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to combine these factors. We extend an existing efficient algorithm to find solutions for $(k,g)$-core. Finally, we conduct extensive experimental studies that demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our proposed algorithm.Comment: 5 page

Evaluating the Feasibility of a Future Care Planning Program with Older Adults

Despite potential health care needs, many older adults do not make concrete plans about future care in late life. Prior community programs have not addressed this need via Cooperative Extension systems. To address these gaps, we developed and evaluated the pilot study program, Future Care Planning, designed to help older adults plan for their own personal, health, and environmental care. The Plan Ahead program (Plan Ahead) consists of two sessions implemented over two weeks to teach older adults to plan for their future care across multiple domains, including health communication, aging in place, and end-of-life discussion. Iowa State University Human Science Extension and Outreach specialists delivered the program to a sample of 161 community-residing older adults. We evaluated 1) the feasibility of the Plan Ahead program, 2) the acceptability of the program, and 3) participants’ intention to change their future care planning. Participants reported that the program was useful and relatively easy to implement. They also reported being satisfied with the content and willing to attend other relevant programs in the future. Overall, the findings suggest that Plan Ahead is feasible as an educational program to help older adults prepare for future care planning

Hydrogen peroxide-activatable antioxidant prodrug as a targeted therapeutic agent for ischemia-reperfusion injury

Overproduction of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) causes oxidative stress and is the main culprit in the pathogenesis of ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Suppression of oxidative stress is therefore critical in the treatment of I/R injury. Here, we report H2O2-activatable antioxidant prodrug (BRAP) that is capable of specifically targeting the site of oxidative stress and exerting anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic activities. BRAP with a self-immolative boronic ester protecting group was designed to scavenge H2O2 and release HBA (p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol) with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. BRAP exerted potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)- and H2O2-stimulated cells by suppressing the generation of ROS and pro-inflammatory cytokines. In mouse models of hepatic I/R and cardiac I/R, BRAP exerted potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic activities due to the synergistic effects of H2O2-scavenging boronic esters and therapeutic HBA. In addition, administration of high doses of BRAP daily for 7 days showed no renal or hepatic function abnormalities. Therefore BRAP has tremendous therapeutic potential as H2O2-activatable antioxidant prodrug for the treatment of I/R injuries

Liver-Specific Deletion of Mouse CTCF Leads to Hepatic Steatosis via Augmented PPARγ Signaling

Background & Aims: The liver is the major organ for metabolizing lipids, and malfunction of the liver leads to various diseases. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is rapidly becoming a major health concern worldwide and is characterized by abnormal retention of excess lipids in the liver. CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) is a highly conserved zinc finger protein that regulates higher-order chromatin organization and is involved in various gene regulation processes. Here, we sought to determine the physiological role of CTCF in hepatic lipid metabolism. Methods: We generated liver-specific, CTCF-ablated and/or CD36 whole-body knockout mice. Overexpression or knockdown of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ in the liver was achieved using adenovirus. Mice were examined for development of hepatic steatosis and inflammation. RNA sequencing was performed to identify genes affected by CTCF depletion. Genome-wide occupancy of H3K27 acetylation, PPARγ, and CTCF were analyzed by chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing. Genome-wide chromatin interactions were analyzed by in situ Hi-C. Results: Liver-specific, CTCF-deficient mice developed hepatic steatosis and inflammation when fed a standard chow diet. Global analysis of the transcriptome and enhancer landscape revealed that CTCF-depleted liver showed enhanced accumulation of PPARγ in the nucleus, which leads to increased expression of its downstream target genes, including fat storage-related gene CD36, which is involved in the lipid metabolic process. Hepatic steatosis developed in liver-specific, CTCF-deficient mice was ameliorated by repression of PPARγ via pharmacologic blockade or adenovirus-mediated knockdown, but hardly rescued by additional knockout of CD36. Conclusions: Our data indicate that liver-specific deletion of CTCF leads to hepatosteatosis through augmented PPARγ DNA-binding activity, which up-regulates its downstream target genes associated with the lipid metabolic process. © 2021 The Authors1

Improvement and Verification of Reliability in Conductive Liquid Metal based Soft Sensors

Department of Mechanical Engineeringclos

Performance Verification of Highly Stretchable Soft Sensors

Soft sensors have attracted much attention due to its inherent characteristics such as stretchability and softness. However, stretchability of the soft sensor might be limited by the mechanical properties of silicone material, elongation break, shore hardness, tensile strength, and so on. In this study, we validate the effect of the material on the sensor performance, comparing silicone materials with different mechanical properties. Pull-to-failure tests and cyclic loading tests were conducted to validate sensor performance in terms of stretchability, sensitivity, and durability. For the experiments, soft sensors were made by three different materials (Ecoflex 0030, Dragon Skin 30 and Material A) through a direct ink writing (DIW) method. In experimental results, a soft sensor made by Ecoflex 0030, which had large stretchability, was easily broken by local external pressure because of its extremely low hardness. Also, a soft sensor made of Dragon Skin 30 had strain range less than 100 % due to the limited elongation at break and high stiffness. The soft sensor made by Material A with high elongation at break, low stiffness, and moderate hardness had 300 % strain range with gauge factor of 5.7 which is twice larger than the other sensors

Recent Advances in Anti-Metastatic Approaches of Herbal Medicines in 5 Major Cancers: From Traditional Medicine to Modern Drug Discovery

Metastasis is the main cause of cancer-related death. Despite its high fatality, a comprehensive study that covers anti-metastasis of herbal medicines has not yet been conducted. The aim of this study is to investigate and assess the anti-metastatic efficacies of herbal medicines in the five major cancers, including lung, colorectal, gastric, liver, and breast cancers. We collected articles published within five years using PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science with “cancer metastasis” and “herbal medicine” as keywords. Correspondingly, 16 lung cancer, 23 colorectal cancer, 10 gastric cancer, 10 liver cancer, and 18 breast cancer studies were systematically reviewed. The herbal medicines attenuated metastatic potential targeting various mechanisms such as epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and angiogenesis. Specifically, the drugs regulated metastasis related factors such as matrix metalloproteinase (MMP), serine-threonine protein kinase/extracellular regulated protein kinase (AKT/ERK), angiogenic factors, and chemokines. Overall, the present study is the first review, comprehensively investigating the anti-metastasis effect of herbal medicines on five major cancers, providing the experimental models, doses and durations, and mechanisms. Herbal medicines could be a potent candidate for anti-metastatic drugs

Direct Wiring of Eutectic Gallium-Indium to a Metal Electrode for Soft Sensor Systems

For wider applications of the liquid metal-based stretchable electronics, an electrical interface has remained as a crucial issue, due to its fragile electromechanical stability and complex fabrication steps. In this study, a direct writing-based technique is introduced to form the writing paths of conductive liquid metal (eutectic Gallium-Indium, eGaIn) and electrical connections to off-the-shelf metal electrodes in a single process. Specifically, by extending eGaIn wires written on a silicone substrate, the eGaIn wires were physically connected to the five different metal electrodes, of which stability as an electrical connection was investigated. Among the five different surface materials, the metal electrode finished by electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) had reproducible and low contact resistance without time-dependent variation. In our experiments, it was verified that the electrode part made by an ENIG-finished flexible flat cable (FFC) were mechanically (strain???100 %, pressure???600 kPa) and thermally (temperature???180 Celsius) durable. By modifying trajectories of eGaIn wires, soft sensor systems were fabricated and tested to measure finger joint angles and ground reaction forces, composed with 10 sensing units, respectively. The proposed method enables the eGaIn-based soft sensors or circuits to be connected to the typical electronic components through a FFC or weldable surfaces, using only off-the-shelf materials without additional mechanical or chemical treatments

Direct Writing-based Wiring of Liquid Metal to a Metal Electrode for Soft Sensor Systems

As demands for stretchable electronics have increased in the field of wearable devices, liquid metal, such as eutectic Gallium-Indium (eGaIn), has gained much attention due to its metallic conductivity with liquid reconfigurability. Although various applications have been suggested using eGaIn, an electrical connection has remained as a technical challenge. Wires have been directly inserted into the microfluidic channel filled with eGaIn, resulting in electromechanically unstable connection, bulky size, and time consuming fabrication steps for the electrode part. In this study, a novel solution for the electrode is proposed, connecting eGaIn wires directly to the metal electrode based on direct writing of eGaIn. The two electrode materials were considered as candidates, including electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) and immersion tin (Im-Sn) plated surfaces. Among them, only the ENIG-finished surface had stable electrical connection with eGaIn, allowing sufficiently low contact resistance. The suggested electrode part was mechanically durable under strain up to 100 %. As an application, a sensing skin embedding 10 sensing units was fabricated based on direct ink writing, using a flexible flat cable finished by ENIG plating