GAIT ANALYSIS OF THE NORMAL AND ACL DEFICIENT PATIENTS AFTER LIGAMENT RECONSTRUCTION SURGERY

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury of the knee is common in sports. A serious ACL injury leads to ligament reconstruction surgery. In order to evaluate result of surgery or optimize the rehabilitation process, a knee condition must be objectively identified. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to numerically indicate and classify knee condition of patients via the chaos analysis. Lyapunov exponents (LyEs) were used for the comparison of the normal and the patients

Assessment of Soil Washing for Simultaneous Removal of Heavy Metals and Low-Level Petroleum Hydrocarbons Using Various Washing Solutions

Bench-scale soil washing experiments were conducted for simultaneous removal of heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Zn) and low-level petroleum hydrocarbon contaminants from soils. Various washing solutions including hydrochloric acid (HCl), nitric acid (HNO3), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), tartaric acid (C4H6O6) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (C10H16N2O8, EDTA) were used. The concentration of the washing solutions ranged from 0.1 to 3M with a liquid-to-solid ratio of 10. The soil washing results showed that hydrochloric acid (HCl) was the best washing solution at 3M for heavy metal removal. Other washing solutions also showed a significant removal of heavy metals, except for sulfuric acid (H2SO4). Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) exhibited the worst performance among all washing solutions used with respect to Pb removal. 1M HCl and HNO3were sufficient for effective Pb and Cu removal, and all of the tested washing solutions at a concentration of 0.1M produced results compliant with the Korean warning standard for Zn removal. In the case of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), tartaric acid (C4H6O6) produced the highest removals at all concentration levels compared with other washing solutions. More specifically, TPH removal efficiencies exceeded 33 and 82 % at the lowest (0.1M) and highest (3M) tartaric acid (TA) concentrations, respectively. Overall, TA could be a viable washing solution for the removal of both heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Zn) and TPH from contaminated soils

Possible link between Arctic Sea ice and January PM10 concentrations in South Korea

In this study, we investigated the possible teleconnection between PM10 concentrations in South Korea and Arctic Sea ice concentrations at inter-annual time scales using observed PM10 data from South Korea, NCEP R2 data, and NOAA Sea Ice Concentration (SIC) data from 2001 to 2018. From the empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, we found that the first mode (TC1) was a large-scale mode for PM10 in South Korea and explained about 27.4% of the total variability. Interestingly, the TC1 is more dominantly influenced by the horizontal ventilation effect than the vertical atmospheric stability effect. The pollution potential index (PPI), which is defined by the weighted average of the two ventilation effects, is highly correlated with the TC1 of PM10 at a correlation coefficient of 0.75, indicating that the PPI is a good measure for PM10 in South Korea at inter-annual time scales. Regression maps show that the decrease of SIC over the Barents Sea is significantly correlated with weakening of high pressure over the Ural mountain range region, the anomalous high pressure at 500 hPa over the Korean peninsula, and the weakening of the Siberian High and Aleutian low. Moreover, these patterns are similar to the correlation pattern with the PPI, suggesting that the variability of SIC over the Barents Sea may play an important role in modulating the variability of PM10 in South Korea through teleconnection from the Barents Sea to the Korean peninsula via Eurasia

Tidal Effects on Intermediate Waters: A Case Study in the East/Japan Sea

Although tides are believed to be the most important source for diapycnal mixing in the ocean, few studies have directly simulated open-ocean circulation including tides. Because the East/Japan Sea (EJS) has been considered to be a “miniature ocean,” tidal effects on the intermediate water of the EJS are investigated by using an eddy-resolving ocean general circulation model that can take account of M2 and K1 tides as well as oceanic flows. The simulated temperature and salinity in the intermediate layer are significantly improved by including tides. The improvement results from the combined effect of two internal tides. The M2 internal tide, propagating into the interior of the EJS, enhances vertical mixing and brings watermass characteristics closer to those observed. The K1 internal tide, trapped along the coast, induces southwestward flow along the Russian coast in the upper layer and thereby enhances the so-called Liman Current, which transports fresh waters with density conducive to the ventilation of intermediate waters in the EJS

Persistent Pemphigus Vulgaris Showing Features of Tufted Hair Folliculitis

Pemphigus vulgaris is an autoimmune blistering disease that commonly involves the scalp. Lesions of pemphigus vulgaris that persist on the scalp for a long period may be accompanied by tufted hair folliculitis. Only two previous accounts of tufted hair folliculitis developing in a lesion of pemphigus vulgaris have been reported. We report a 51-year-old-man with erosions and clusters of hair on the scalp. The scalp lesion had persisted for about 20 years. A histopathological examination of the skin lesion on the scalp revealed separation of the epidermis and clusters of several adjacent hair follicles. The patient was diagnosed with persistent pemphigus vulgaris of the scalp showing features of tufted hair folliculitis

PowerCore: a program applying the advanced M strategy with a heuristic search for establishing core sets

AbstractMotivation: Core sets are necessary to ensure that access to useful alleles or characteristics retained in genebanks is guaranteed. We have successfully developed a computational tool named 'PowerCore' that aims to support the development of core sets by reducing the redundancy of useful alleles and thus enhancing their richness.Results: The program, using a new approach completely different from any other previous methodologies, selects entries of core sets by the advanced M (maximization) strategy implemented through a modified heuristic algorithm. The developed core set has been validated to retain all characteristics for qualitative traits and all classes for quantitative ones. PowerCore effectively selected the accessions with higher diversity representing the entire coverage of variables and gave a 100% reproducible list of entries whenever repeated.Availability: PowerCore software uses the .NET Framework Version 1.1 environment which is freely available for the MS Windows platform. The files can be downloaded from http://genebank.rda.go.kr/powercore/. The distribution of the package includes executable programs, sample data and a user manual.Contact: [email protected]

Salinomycin enhances doxorubicin-induced cytotoxicity in multidrug resistant MCF-7/MDR human breast cancer cells via decreased efflux of doxorubicin

Salinomycin is a monocarboxylic polyether antibiotic, which is widely used as an anticoccidial agent. The anticancer property of salinomycin has been recognized and is based on its ability to induce apoptosis in human multidrug resistance (MDR). The present study investigated whether salinomycin reverses MDR towards chemotherapeutic agents in doxorubicin-resistant MCF-7/MDR human breast cancer cells. The results demonstrated that doxorubicin-mediated cytotoxicity was significantly enhanced by salinomycin in the MCF-7/MDR cells, and this occurred in a dose-dependent manner. This finding was consistent with subsequent observations made under a confocal microscope, in which the doxorubicin fluorescence signals of the salinomycin-treated cells were higher compared with the cells treated with doxorubicin alone. In addition, flow cytometric analysis revealed that salinomycin significantly increased the net cellular uptake and decreased the efflux of doxorubicin. The expression levels of MDR-1 and MRP-1 were not altered at either the mRNA or protein levels in the cells treated with salinomycin. These results indicated that salinomycin was mediated by its ability to increase the uptake and decrease the efflux of doxorubicin in MCF-7/MDR cells. Salinomycin reversed the resistance of doxorubicin, suggesting that chemotherapy in combination with salinomycin may benefit MDR cancer therapyopen