The Effect of Special Medical Examination for Night Shift Workers and Follow-Up Management Against Hypertension

Background: Special health examination is a screening program introduced in 1973 in Korea to examine health problems of workers who are regularly exposed to 177 hazardous substances and physical environments specified by the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Shiftwork was added as a risk factor in 2013. The purpose of this study was to analyze changes of hypertension status after a special medical examination and subsequent follow-up management. Methods: We used the data based on the special medical examination outcomes for night shift workers, performed at seven different health examination centers under the Korea Medical Institute (KMI) between 2014 and 2016. Workers who received special medical examinations for two consecutive years (2014⁻2015 and 2015⁻2016) were selected. A final study population of 2070 was evaluated. Results: Compared with the first-year examination, 1503 subjects (72.6%) received hypertension medication or showed improvement in blood pressure in their second-year examination. Older age (≥40s), women, larger workplaces (≥300 full-time workers), long-term workers (≥12 years), improvement in smoking habits, improvements for diabetes or dyslipidemia, normal or reduced BMI, and normal waist circumference were associated with proper management of hypertension. Conclusions: An appropriate follow-up management program should be developed to provide health management for night shift workers that need to focus on the factors identified in this study

Ionic liquids grafted on carbon nanotubes as highly efficient heterogeneous catalysts for the synthesis of cyclic carbonates

A variety of multi-walled carbon nanotubes grafted with immidazolium-based ionic liquids (CNT-ILs) were synthesized and utilized as highly efficient heterogeneous catalysts for the production of cyclic carbonates via cylcoaddition reactions of epoxides and CO. In comparison with conventional heterogeneous catalysts that employ porous silica and polymer supports, CNT-ILs exhibited significantly enhanced catalytic reactivity towards the cycloaddition reactions. The effects of the IL molecular structure (alkyl chain length and counter anions) and the reaction parameters (temperature, CO pressure, and time) on the catalytic performance of the corresponding heterogeneous catalysts were also systematically investigated

Localized double phonon scattering and DOS induced thermoelectric enhancement of degenerate nonstoichiometric Li1-: XNbO2 compounds

We report the synthesis and thermoelectric properties of a new p-type oxide thermoelectric material (Li1−xNbO2, with x = 0–0.6), in which Li-vacancies play a significant role in the enhancement of the thermoelectric performance. The electrical conductivity drastically increases due to Li-vacancies, resulting in an increase in the hole carrier concentration. A remarkable enhancement in the power factor is observed, which is comparable to well-known oxide thermoelectrics. The carrier concentration was not significantly dependent on the temperature, while the Hall mobility shows negative temperature-dependence. The Seebeck coefficient is linearly proportional to temperature, and the density of the state effective mass Image ID:c7ra10557f-t1.gif was estimated by using the Pisarenko relation. The thermal conductivity was substantially reduced by Li-vacancies and Li-vacancy induced localized double phonon scattering. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the enhancement of the thermoelectric properties is mainly due to the increase in the electronic density of states (DOS) at the Fermi energy, which increases with hole concentration. All of the samples after high-temperature measurements are highly stable, which suggests that the well-synthesized nonstoichiometric Li1−xNbO2 could be a new promising candidate material for high temperature thermoelectric applications.This work was partially supported by the Industrial Technology Innovation Program (Industrial Materials Core Technology Development Program) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Republic of Korea (10052977). The coauthor, V. M. Garcia-Suarez, thanks the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad for funding (FIS2015-63918-R) and Banco Santander for a Mobility Excelence Grant.Peer Reviewe

Heat-inactivated Lactobacillus plantarum nF1 promotes intestinal health in Loperamide-induced constipation rats.

Constipation is a common condition that affects individuals of all ages, and prolonged constipation needs to be prevented to avoid potential complications and reduce the additional stress on individuals with pre-medical conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of heat-inactivated Lactobacillus plantarum (HLp-nF1) on loperamide-induced constipation in rats. Constipation-induced male rats were treated orally with low to high doses of HLp-nF1 and an anti-constipation medication Dulcolax for five weeks. Study has 8 groups, control group; loperamide-treated group; Dulcolax-treated group; treatment with 3.2 × 1010, 8 × 1010 and 1.6 × 1011, cells/mL HLp-nF1; Loperamide + Dulcolax treated group. HLp-nF1 treated rats showed improvements in fecal pellet number, weight, water content, intestinal transit length, and contractility compared to the constipation-induced rats. Also, an increase in the intestine mucosal layer thickness and the number of mucin-producing crypt epithelial cells were observed in HLp-nF1-treated groups. Further, the levels of inflammatory cytokines levels were significantly downregulated by treatment with HLp-nF1 and Dulcolax. Notably, the metagenomics sequencing analysis demonstrated a similar genus pattern to the pre-preparation group and control with HLp-nF1 treatment. In conclusion, the administration of >3.2 × 1010 cells/mL HLp-nF1 has a positive impact on the constipated rats overall health

Effects of Early Life Stress on Epigenetic Changes of the Glucocorticoid Receptor 17 Promoter during Adulthood

Growing evidence suggests that early life stress (ELS) has long-lasting effects on glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression and behavior via epigenetic changes of the GR exon 17 promoter. However, it remains unclear whether ELS regulates histone modifications of the GR exon 17 promoter across the life span. We investigated the effects of maternal separation (MS) on histone acetylation and methylation of GR exon 17 promoter in the hippocampus, according to the age of adults. Depression-like behavior and epigenetic regulation of GR expression were examined at young and middle adulthood in mice subjected to MS from postnatal day 1 to 21. In the forced swimming test, young adult MS mice showed no effect on immobility time, but middle-aged MS mice significantly increased immobility time. Young adult and middle-aged MS mice showed decreased GR expression. Their two ages showed decreased histone acetylation with increased histone deacetylases (HDAC5) levels, decreased permissive methylation, and increased repressive methylation at the GR exon 17 promoter. The extent of changes in gene expression and histone modification in middle adulthood was greater than in young adulthood. These results indicate that MS in early life causes long-term negative effects on behavior via histone modification of the GR gene across the life span

A Case of Biliary Obstruction Caused by Liver Cyst

Most cystic lesions of the liver are found incidentally in imaging studies because they are not symptomatic, and generally do not require treatment. Rarely, however, symptomatic hepatic cysts may develop complications and require treatment. Here, we describe a case of a 77-year-old woman who developed biliary obstruction with abdominal pain due to compression of the bile duct by a simple hepatic cyst. We confirmed the diagnosis based on symptoms and imaging studies. The patient’ssymptoms improved after simple cyst ablation by sclerotherapy. (Korean J Gastroenterol 2016;68:270-273

The role of porous graphite plate for high quality SiC crystal growth by PVT method

The present research is focused to investigate a role of the porous graphite (PG) plate that could improve the quality of 4H-SiC crystal. The grown crystal in PG inserted crucible showed the lower intensity of Al, B and Ti impurity concentration than SiC crystal grown in conventional crucible. The PG plate before and after the growth process has been investigated by a Raman spectroscopy and a photoluminescence spectrum (PL). According to the analysis result, it was confirmed that the porous graphite plate had the effect of suppressing impurities supplied to SiC single crystal during the growth process. © 2016 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland