Taxonomy of \u3ci\u3eEchinostoma revolutum\u3c/i\u3e and 37-Collar-Spined \u3ci\u3eEchinostoma\u3c/i\u3e spp.: A Historical Review

Echinostoma flukes armed with 37 collar spines on their head collar are called as 37-collar-spined Echinostoma spp. (group) or ‘Echinostoma revolutum group’. At least 56 nominal species have been described in this group. However, many of them were morphologically close to and difficult to distinguish from the other, thus synonymized with the others. However, some of the synonymies were disagreed by other researchers, and taxonomic debates have been continued. Fortunately, recent development of molecular techniques, in particular, sequencing of the mitochondrial (nad1 and cox1) and nuclear genes (ITS region; ITS1-5.8S-ITS2), has enabled us to obtain highly useful data on phylogenetic relationships of these 37-collar-spined Echinostoma spp. Thus, 16 different species are currently acknowledged to be valid worldwide, which include E. revolutum, E. bolschewense, E. caproni, E. cinetorchis, E. deserticum, E. lindoense, E. luisreyi, E. mekongi, E. miyagawai, E. nasincovae, E. novaezealandense, E. paraensei, E. paraulum, E. robustum, E. trivolvis, and Echinostoma sp. IG of Georgieva et al., 2013. The validity of the other 10 species is retained until further evaluation, including molecular analyses; E. acuticauda, E. barbosai, E. chloephagae, E. echinatum, E. jurini, E. nudicaudatum, E. parvocirrus, E. pinnicaudatum, E. ralli, and E. rodriguesi. In this review, the history of discovery and taxonomic debates on these 26 valid or validity-retained species are briefly reviewed

TimeKit: A Time-series Forecasting-based Upgrade Kit for Collaborative Filtering

Recommender systems are a long-standing research problem in data mining and machine learning. They are incremental in nature, as new user-item interaction logs arrive. In real-world applications, we need to periodically train a collaborative filtering algorithm to extract user/item embedding vectors and therefore, a time-series of embedding vectors can be naturally defined. We present a time-series forecasting-based upgrade kit (TimeKit), which works in the following way: it i) first decides a base collaborative filtering algorithm, ii) extracts user/item embedding vectors with the base algorithm from user-item interaction logs incrementally, e.g., every month, iii) trains our time-series forecasting model with the extracted time-series of embedding vectors, and then iv) forecasts the future embedding vectors and recommend with their dot-product scores owing to a recent breakthrough in processing complicated time-series data, i.e., neural controlled differential equations (NCDEs). Our experiments with four real-world benchmark datasets show that the proposed time-series forecasting-based upgrade kit can significantly enhance existing popular collaborative filtering algorithms.Comment: Accepted at IEEE BigData 202

Veganomics: Current Status and Challenges

Products introduced as vegan are recognized by consumers as ethical consumption that protects animals and the environment, so they are becoming a trend in recent marketing strategies. However, consumers are confused by the claim that veganism consumption is not environmentally friendly, contrary to consumers' perception of animal protection and environmental protection. Vegan leather, which appeared as an alternative to natural leather, emits harmful substances during the manufacturing and disposal process, is less durable than natural leather, and has a shorter lifespan, resulting in a problem of fast fashion. Substitute meat is emerging as a food of the future due to environmental problems caused by raising livestock. However, considerable carbon is generated during the production of substitute meat, and there is a problem in verifying the safety of fiber materials such as various additives used during the production process. In the case of vegan cosmetics, they use only eco-friendly ingredients derived from nature instead of animal ingredients and do not test on animals, so the impact on the environment is minimal. Overall, bigonomics products generate relatively less environmental pollutants and cause less environmental pollution, but there are still limitations to be overcome. It is thought that the limitations of bigonomics can be overcome through social collective practice such as education and investment in parallel with individual practice in daily life. Furthermore, I think that if there is a correct understanding of vegannomics and communication about its value, the vegan industry will be able to take its place as a major industry in society. In this review, the current status of bigonomics in the food, cosmetics, and fashion industries, which are being developed by consumers' ethical consumption, is reviewed and prospects are presented. This review will help set the direction in each industry pursuing vigenomics

The Relationship between Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy, Career Preparation Behaviour and Career Decision Difficulties among South Korean College Students

Few studies have continuously examined the relationship between career decision-making self-efficacy variables and career-related variables in South Korea’s specific cultural context. Accordingly, this study aims to analyse (using Pearson’s correlations and structural equation modelling) the relationships between South Korean college students’ career decision-making self-efficacy, career preparation behaviour, and career decision difficulties. There were positive and negative relationships between career decision-making self-efficacy and career preparation behaviour career decision difficulties, respectively. In addition, we found a positive effect between career preparation behaviour and career decision-making self-efficacy, while career decision difficulties negatively affected career decision-making self-efficacy. Considering the standardised coefficient of the specific direct effect, the effect on career decision-making self-efficacy of career preparation behaviour was larger than that of career decision difficulties. It is recommended that career programmes are developed that help college students to independently set their career goals, actively search for career information, and promote career preparation behaviour while considering their majors. It is also recommended career counselling programmes be designed that can help them establish their self-concept and identity. These findings could provide the necessary basic data for the construction of an effective college career guidance system and inform strategies for improving college students’ career decision-making self-efficacy

Nitrogen-Doped Titanium Carbide (Ti3C2Tx) MXene Nanosheet Stack For Long-Term Stability and Efficacy in Au and Ag Recovery

The development of efficient adsorbents for the practical recovery of precious metals from electronic waste is vital to advanced energy/environment industries. Ti3C2Tx MXene-based materials are promising adsorbents for aqueous environments; however, the highly defective and super hydrophilic nature of the MXene surface hinders its practical applications. Here, we report that nitrogen-doped MXene (N-MXene) nanosheet stacks, prepared via high-energy planetary ball milling under N-2 purging, exhibited a long-term stable and excellent recovery capability for Au and Ag ions via the nitrogenation of defective vacancies. Notably, these microscale nanosheets could facilitate the sustainable production of Au and Ag from secondary sources, exhibiting a high recovery rate and capability (1198 mg g(-1) for Au and 1528 mg g(-1) for Ag), long-term stable storability (21 d), and high selectivity (K-d of 1.67 x 10(6) for Au and 2.07 x 10(7) for Ag). Furthermore, the reversible redox chemistry of N-MXene facilitated its repeated use in adsorption/desorption cycles

International Price Comparisons of Anticancer Drugs: A Scheme for Improving Patient Accessibility

Background: The demand for implementing a new listing scheme to expedite patient access to novel oncology drugs has increased in South Korea. This study was conducted to compare the prices of anticancer drugs between eight countries and to explore the feasibility of a ‘pre-listing and post-evaluation’ scheme to expedite patient access to oncology drugs. Methods: This study included 34 anticancer drugs, which were reimbursed between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2017. The unit price and sales volume of the study drugs were collected from eight countries and IQVIA data, respectively. The prices were adjusted to estimate the ex-factory prices using the discount/rebate rate suggested by the Health Insurance Review Agency (HIRA). The four price indices of Laspeyres, Paasche, Fisher, and the unweighted index were calculated using the price in each country, the average price, and lowest price among the study countries. Each currency was converted using the currency exchange rate and purchasing power parity (PPP). The budget impact of implementing the proposed pre-listing and post-evaluation scheme on payers was calculated. Results: Based on the currency exchange rate, anticancer drug prices were higher in other countries (index range: 1.05–2.78) compared to Korea. The prices in Korea were similar to countries with the lowest prices. When the PPP was applied, prices were higher in the US, Germany, Italy, and Japan than in Korea (range: 1.10–2.13); however, the prices were lower in the UK, France, and Switzerland than in Korea (range: 0.72–0.99). The financial burden of implementing the pre-listing and post-evaluation scheme was calculated at 0.83% of the total anticancer drug sales value in Korea from 2013–2017. Conclusions: The prices of anticancer drugs in Korea were similar to the lowest prices among the seven other study countries. A pre-listing and post-evaluation scheme should be considered to improve patient access to novel anticancer drugs by reducing the reimbursement review time and uncertainties

Molecular Diagnosis of Cause of Anisakiasis in Humans, South Korea

Anisakiasis in humans in South Korea has been considered to be caused exclusively by the larvae of Anisakis simplex sensu stricto and Pseudoterranova decipiens. Recently, however, DNA sequencing of larvae from 15 of 16 anisakiasis patients confirmed the cause to be Anisakis pegreffii infection. Molecular analysis should be performed for all extracted larvae

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Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular protozoan that can modulate the environment of the infected host. An unfavorable environment modulated by T. gondii in the brain includes tumor microenvironment. Literature has suggested that T. gondii infection is associated with development of brain tumors. However, in Korea, epidemiological data regarding this correlation have been scarce. In this study, in order to investigate the relationship between T. gondii infection and brain tumor development, we investigated the seroprevalence of T. gondii among 93 confirmed brain tumor patients (various histological types, including meningioma and astrocytoma) in Korea using ELISA. The results revealed that T. gondii seropositivity among brain tumor patients (18.3%) was significantly (P < 0.05) higher compared with that of healthy controls (8.6%). The seropositivity of brain tumor patients showed a significant age-tendency, i.e., higher in younger age group, compared with age-matched healthy controls (P < 0.05). In conclusion, this study supports the close relationship between T. gondii infection and incidence of brain tumors.OAIID:RECH_ACHV_DSTSH_NO:220160000003804002RECH_ACHV_FG:RR00200001ADJUST_YN:EMP_ID:A079489CITE_RATE:1.027FILENAME:12) kjp 16-052-공동저자.pdfDEPT_NM:의학과EMAIL:[email protected]_YN:YFILEURL:https://srnd.snu.ac.kr/eXrepEIR/fws/file/80810349-0a01-4cdd-8b24-9842066792db/linkCONFIRM: