Clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric obesity: recommendations from the Committee on Pediatric Obesity of the Korean Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition

The Committee on Pediatric Obesity of the Korean Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition newly developed the first Korean Guideline on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Obesity in Children and Adolescents to deliver an evidence-based systematic approach to childhood obesity in South Korea. The following areas were systematically reviewed, especially on the basis of all available references published in South Korea and worldwide, and new guidelines were established in each area with the strength of recommendations based on the levels of evidence: (1) definition and diagnosis of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents; (2) principles of treatment of pediatric obesity; (3) behavioral interventions for children and adolescents with obesity, including diet, exercise, lifestyle, and mental health; (4) pharmacotherapy; and (5) bariatric surgery

SoccerNet 2023 Challenges Results

peer reviewedThe SoccerNet 2023 challenges were the third annual video understanding challenges organized by the SoccerNet team. For this third edition, the challenges were composed of seven vision-based tasks split into three main themes. The first theme, broadcast video understanding, is composed of three high-level tasks related to describing events occurring in the video broadcasts: (1) action spotting, focusing on retrieving all timestamps related to global actions in soccer, (2) ball action spotting, focusing on retrieving all timestamps related to the soccer ball change of state, and (3) dense video captioning, focusing on describing the broadcast with natural language and anchored timestamps. The second theme, field understanding, relates to the single task of (4) camera calibration, focusing on retrieving the intrinsic and extrinsic camera parameters from images. The third and last theme, player understanding, is composed of three low-level tasks related to extracting information about the players: (5) re-identification, focusing on retrieving the same players across multiple views, (6) multiple object tracking, focusing on tracking players and the ball through unedited video streams, and (7) jersey number recognition, focusing on recognizing the jersey number of players from tracklets. Compared to the previous editions of the SoccerNet challenges, tasks (2-3-7) are novel, including new annotations and data, task (4) was enhanced with more data and annotations, and task (6) now focuses on end-to-end approaches. More information on the tasks, challenges, and leaderboards are available on https://www.soccer-net.org. Baselines and development kits can be found on https://github.com/SoccerNet

Metabolome and transcriptome analyses of plants grown in naturally attenuated soil after hydrogen fluoride exposure

© 2022 The AuthorsAccidental chemical leaks and illegal chemical discharges are a global environmental issue. In 2012, a hydrogen fluoride leak in Gumi, South Korea, killed several people and contaminated the environment. This leak also led to a significant decline in crop yield, even after the soil concentration of hydrogen fluoride decreased to below the standard level following natural attenuation. To determine the cause of this decreased plant productivity, we designed direct and indirect exposure tests by evaluating the metabolome, transcriptome, and phenome of the plants. In an indirect exposure test, soil metabolomics revealed downregulation of metabolites in vitamin B6, lipopolysaccharide, osmolyte, and exopolysaccharide metabolism. Next-generation sequencing of the plants showed that ABR1 and DREB1A were overexpressed in response to stress. Plant metabolomics demonstrated upregulation of folate biosynthesis and nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism associated with detoxification of reactive oxygen species. These results demonstrate impaired metabolism of soil microbes and plants even after natural attenuation of hydrogen fluoride in soil. The novel chemical exposure testing used in this study can be applied to identify hidden damage to organisms after natural attenuation of chemicals in soil, as well as biomarkers for explaining the decline in yield of plants grown in soil near pollutant-emitting industrial facilities.N

Non-Targeted Metabolomics Approach Revealed Significant Changes in Metabolic Pathways in Patients with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease that is frequently found in athletes and those who have experienced repetitive head traumas. CTE is associated with a variety of neuropathologies, which cause cognitive and behavioral impairments in CTE patients. However, currently, CTE can only be diagnosed after death via brain autopsy, and it is challenging to distinguish it from other neurodegenerative diseases with similar clinical features. To better understand this multifaceted disease and identify metabolic differences in the postmortem brain tissues of CTE patients and control subjects, we performed ultra-high performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS)-based non-targeted metabolomics. Through multivariate and pathway analysis, we found that the brains of CTE patients had significant changes in the metabolites involved in astrocyte activation, phenylalanine, and tyrosine metabolism. The unique metabolic characteristics of CTE identified in this study were associated with cognitive dysfunction, amyloid-beta deposition, and neuroinflammation. Altogether, this study provided new insights into the pathogenesis of CTE and suggested appealing targets for both diagnosis and treatment for the disease

Synthesis and Library Construction of Privileged Tetra-Substituted Δ⁵‑2-Oxopiperazine as β‑Turn Structure Mimetics

In this study, we developed an efficient and practical procedure for the synthesis of tetra-substituted Δ⁵-2-oxopiperazine that mimics the bioactive β-turn structural motif of proteins. This synthetic route is robust and modular enough to accommodate four different substituents to obtain a high level of molecular diversity without any deterioration in stereochemical enrichment of the natural and unnatural amino acids. Through the <i>in silico</i> studies, including a distance calculation of side chains and a conformational overlapping of our model compound with a native β-turn structure, we successfully demonstrated the conformational similarity of tetra-substituted Δ⁵-2-oxopiperazine to the β-turn motif. For the library construction in a high-throughput manner, the fluorous tag technology was adopted with the use of a solution-phase parallel synthesis platform. A 140-membered pilot library of tetra-substituted Δ⁵-2-oxopiperazines was achieved with an average purity of 90% without further purification

Maternal Malnutrition Affects Hepatic Metabolism through Decreased Hepatic Taurine Levels and Changes in HNF4A Methylation

Fetal programming implies that the maternal diet during pregnancy affects the long-term health of offspring. Although maternal diet influences metabolic disorders and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in offspring, the hepatic mechanisms related to metabolites are still unknown. Here, we investigated the maternal diet-related alterations in metabolites and the biological pathway in male offspring at three months of age. Pregnant rats were exposed to 50% food restriction during the prenatal period or a 45% high-fat diet during the prenatal and postnatal periods. The male offspring exposed to food restriction and high-fat diets had lower birth weights than controls, but had a catch-up growth spurt at three months of age. Hepatic taurine levels decreased in both groups compared to controls. The decreased hepatic taurine levels in offspring affected excessive lipid accumulation through changes in hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 A methylation. Moreover, the alteration of gluconeogenesis in offspring exposed to food restriction was observed to a similar extent as that of offspring exposed to a high fat diet. These results indicate that maternal diet affects the dysregulation in hepatic metabolism through changes in taurine levels and HNF4A methylation, and predisposes the offspring to Type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in later life

Assessment of Soil Contamination by Gas Cloud Generated from Chemical Fire Using Metabolic Profiling and Associated Bacterial Communities

Chemical accidents have frequently occurred in South Korea as a result of the huge amount of chemicals being used in various industries. Even though fire accidents accounted for 71.9% of chemical accidents during 2008–2018 in South Korea, most ecological research and investigation has focused on leakage accidents since most fire or explosion gases are diffused out and disappear into the atmosphere. In this study, the possibility of soil contamination by toluene combustion is proposed. A fire simulation batch test was performed and identified the combustion by-products such as methylbenzene, ethylbenzene, ethynylbenzene, benzaldehyde, 1-phenyl-1-propyne, naphthalene, 2-methylindene using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Naphthyl-2-methyl-succinic acid, a metabolic intermediate of naphthalene metabolism derived from the combustion product of toluene, was also discovered in field soil and the secondary metabolites such as streptomycin 6-phosphate, 3-Nitroacrylate, oxaloacetate using LC–MS. Moreover, Streptomyces scabiei, participating in naphthalene metabolism, was also discovered in filed soil (contaminated soil) using 16s rRNA sequencing. As a result, bacterial stress responses in field soil (contaminated soil) affected by gas cloud were identified by discovering metabolites relating to bacterial self-defense action such as fatty biosynthesis. This study draws a conclusion that soil can be polluted enough to affect bacteria by gas cloud and soil bacteria and can encounter stress for a long term even though toluene and its combustion products had already decomposed in soil

Major Sensory Attributes and Volatile Compounds of Korean Rice Liquor (yakju) Affecting Overall Acceptance by Young Consumers

The sensory characteristics and volatile compounds that affect consumers&rsquo; acceptance of rice liquors were investigated. A total of 80 consumers evaluated 12 yakju samples and descriptive analysis by 11 trained panelists was conducted. Solvent-assisted flavor evaporation-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis also was conducted revealing 120 volatile compounds in the yakju samples. Sensory attributes (n = 31) except appearance attributes were used for principal component analysis (PCA). As results, fruit odor (apple, hawthorn, omija, and pineapple odor) and flower odor (chrysanthemum, pine, and peppermint odor) were placed on the positive side of PC1 whereas persimmon vinegar odor, bitter taste, alcohol flavor, stinging and coating mouthfeel were located on the negative side of PC1. The yakju samples were mainly characterized by their alcohol content and supplementary ingredients. Sensory descriptors (n = 31; except appearance attributes and p &gt; 0.05) and volatile compounds (n = 30; p &gt; 0.5 correlation coefficient with overall acceptance) were chosen for multiple factor analysis (MFA). The MFA correlation map showed that ethyl propanoate, ethyl-2-hydroxy-2-methylbutanoate, methyl 2-furoate, &gamma;-butyrolactone, 4-ethoxycarbonyl-&gamma;-butyrolactone, hawthorn odor, apple flavor, grape flavor, and sweet taste were positively correlated with young consumers&rsquo; overall acceptance. Additionally, negative correlation with overall acceptance was found in 1,3-butanediol, 2,3-butanediol, and 1,1-diethoxy-3-methylbutane