Comparison of Monthly Ibandronate Versus Weekly Risedronate in Preference, Convenience, and Bone Turnover Markers in Korean Postmenopausal Osteoporotic Women

Patient preferences, convenience, and bone turnover markers were evaluated for the monthly ibandronate over the weekly risedronate regimen in Korean postmenopausal osteoporotic women. This was a 6-month, prospective, randomized, open-label, multicenter study with a two-period and two-sequence crossover treatment design. After a 30-day screening period, eligible participants with postmenopausal osteoporosis were randomized to receive either monthly oral ibandronate 150 mg for 3 months followed by weekly oral risedronate 35 mg for 12 weeks (sequence A) or the same regimen in reverse order (sequence B). Patient preference and convenience were evaluated by questionnaire. The changes in serum C-telopeptide after 3 months of treatment were analyzed. A total of 365 patients were enrolled in this study (sequence A 182, sequence B 183). Of patients expressing a preference (83.4%), 74.8% preferred the monthly ibandronate regimen over the weekly regimen (25.2%). More women stated that the monthly ibandronate regimen was more convenient (84.2%) than the weekly regimen (15.8%). There was no significant difference in the change in bone turnover marker between the two treatments. The two regimens were similarly tolerable. There were fewer adverse events in the monthly ibandronate group compared to the weekly risedronate group in terms of gastrointestinal side effects (nausea and abdominal distension). This study revealed a strong preference and convenience for monthly ibandronate over weekly risedronate in Korean postmenopausal osteoporotic women. There was no significant difference in change of bone turnover marker and safety profile between the two regimens

A secretome profile indicative of oleate-induced proliferation of HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Increased fatty acid (FA) is often observed in highly proliferative tumors. FAs have been shown to modulate the secretion of proteins from tumor cells, contributing to tumor survival. However, the secreted factors affected by FA have not been systematically explored. Here, we found that treatment of oleate, a monounsaturated omega-9 FA, promoted the proliferation of HepG2 cells. To examine the secreted factors associated with oleate-induced cell proliferation, we performed a comprehensive secretome profiling of oleate-treated and untreated HepG2 cells. A comparison of the secretomes identified 349 differentially secreted proteins (DSPs; 145 upregulated and 192 downregulated) in oleate-treated samples, compared to untreated samples. The functional enrichment and network analyses of the DSPs revealed that the 145 upregulated secreted proteins by oleate treatment were mainly associated with cell proliferation-related processes, such as lipid metabolism, inflammatory response, and ER stress. Based on the network models of the DSPs, we selected six DSPs (MIF, THBS1, PDIA3, APOA1, FASN, and EEF2) that can represent such processes related to cell proliferation. Thus, our results provided a secretome profile indicative of an oleate-induced proliferation of HepG2 cell

MONITOR SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF SUSPENDED SEDIMENTS IN THE EAST CHINA AND YELLOW SEAS USING SEAWIFS DATA

Striking patterns of suspended sediments created by a complex interplay of physical, chemical, biological and geological processes in the East China Sea (ECS) and Yellow Sea (YS) have been investigated using SeaWiFS ocean color imagery. The structure of these patterns can reveal a great deal about the processes underlying their formation. Sea surface temperature (SST) analyzed from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) thermal infrared data and in-situ were used to elucidate the physical factors responsible for the evolution of such patterns in the inner and outer selves areas, whilst concomitant patterns of suspended sediment were tracked from the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) ocean color imagery. A careful analysis of these patterns in conjugation with other data gave birth to the definition of the evolution of suspended sediments (SS) into four stages: (1) Infant Stage, (2) Younger Stage, (3) Mature Stage and (4) Old Stage. Each of these stages experiences the different characteristics of waters and numerous physical mechanisms that control pattern formation during the winter monsoon. Vertical and horizontal profiles of suspended sediments appear to be useful in predicting the evolution of these stages, of these, the younger stage is identified as important candidate to represent the intrusion of Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC) to the northwest of the Jeju-Islan

ATMOSPHERIC CORRECTION OF THE LANDSAT SATELLITE IMAGERY FOR TURBID WATERS

This paper describes methods for the correction of the atmospheric effects in the Landsat VIS/NIR imagery in relation to the retrieval of meaningful information about the ocean color, especially from Case-2 waters around Korean peninsula. Three atmospheric correction (AC) methods implemented and examined, using the TOA radiance or reflectance data, are 6S radiative transfer model, spectral shape matching (SSMM) and path-extraction methods. The results show that overall shape and magnitude of radiance or reflectance spectra of the atmospherically corrected Landsat VIS/NIR imagery by SSMM appears to have very good agreement with the in-situ spectra collected for clear and turbid waters, while path-extraction over turbid waters though often reproduces in-situ spectra, but yields significant errors for clear waters due to the invalid assumption of zero values for the black ocean pixels of the Landsat VIS/NIR bands. Because of the standard atmosphere with constant aerosols and models adopted in 6S model, a large error is possible between the retrieved and in-situ spectra. Validation suggests that accurate the retrieval of water-leaving radiance is not feasible with the invalid assumption of classical AC algorithms, but is feasible with SSMM

ANALYSIS OF LAND SAT-5 TM IMAGERY FOR EXTRACTING AQUACULTURE FARMS INFORMATION IN THE KOREAN COASTAL WATERS

The objective of the present study is to compare certain conventional satellite image processing techniques with the recently evolved linear spectral unmixing method and to ascertain the best possible technique that can identify and position of aquaculture farms accurately in and around the Younggwang coastal region of Korea. Various conventional techniques existed to extract such information are spectral enhancement and classification. However, these techniques performed on the Landsat-TM imagery do not seem to yield accurate information about the aquaculture farms, and instead lead to misinterpretation and misclassification. A large discrepancy between the actual and extracted information results from spectral confusion and inadequate spatial resolution of the sensor, which leads to occurrence of mixture pixels or "mixels", which are known to be the source of errors in the classified image. To over come this problem, more recently evolved methods such as step-by-step iterative partial spectral end-member extraction linear spectral unmixing methods are attempted. Large errors in extraction of aquaculture farms information through the conventional classification techniques are significantly minimized with the step-by-step iterative partial spectral end-member extraction approach and the accuracy of classification is further improved with linear spectral unmixing approach. The aquaculture fraction derived from unmxing of TM image data was validated using NDVI values in absence of field data. NDVI and aquaculture fraction are positively correlated (R² = 0.91), indicating the reliability of the sub-pixel classificatio

Prodigiosin Blocks T Cell Activation by Inhibiting Interleukin- 2R␣ Expression and Delays Progression of Autoimmune Diabetes and Collagen-Induced Arthritis

ABSTRACT Prodigiosin (PDG) was previously reported to be a T cell-specific immunosuppressant. Here we describe the mechanism of action of PDG in T cells and the effect of PDG on autoimmune diseases. PDG selectively suppresses concanavalin A (Con A)-induced T cell proliferation, but has little effect on lipopolysaccharide-induced proliferation of B cells and nitric oxide production of macrophages. Although PDG does not block interleukin (IL)-2 production, it efficiently inhibits interleukin-2 receptor ␣-chain (IL-2R␣) expression, and this results in a disruption of the IL-2/IL-2R signaling pathway, on which a great part of the regulation of T cell activation depends. PDG blocks T cell differentiation into effector helper T cells secreting interferon-␥ and IL-4 as well as into effector cytotoxic T lymphocytes expressing perforin, which is at least in part resulting from inhibition of the IL-2/IL-2R signaling. PDG indirectly blocks signal transducer and activator of transcription activation by inhibiting cytokine signalings in Con A-activated T cells, although it does not inhibit the activation of nuclear factor-B, nuclear factor of activated T cells, and activator protein-1. As direct evidence of immunosuppression in vivo, we show that PDG markedly reduced blood glucose levels and cellular infiltration into the pancreatic islets in nonobese diabetic mice, and that it also delays the onset of collagen-induced arthritis in DBA/1 mice. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that PDG has a unique mode of action, namely, that it blocks T cell activation by inhibiting primarily IL-2R␣ expression in the IL-2/ IL-2R signaling, and show that this compound represents a promising immunosuppressant candidate for the treatment of autoimmune diseases

Novel gas target for laser wakefield accelerators

A novel gas target for interactions between high power lasers and gaseous medium, especially for laser wakefield accelerators, has been designed, manufactured, and characterized. The gas target has been designed to provide a uniform density profile along the central gas cell axis by combining a gas cell and slit nozzle. The gas density has been tuned from ∼1017 atoms/cm3 to ∼1019 atoms/cm3 and the gas target length can be varied from 0 to 10 cm; both changes can be made simultaneously while keeping the uniform gas profile. The gas density profile inside the gas cell has been measured using interferometry and validated using computational fluid dynamics. © 2018 Author(s

Single-shot table-top coherent X-ray imaging with diffraction-limited resolution by nonlinear phase variations

© 2020 IOP Publishing Ltd. We demonstrated single-shot high-numerical-aperture coherent diffraction imaging (CDI) with a diffraction-limited resolution using table-top X-ray laser at 13.9 nm. In order to achieve the diffraction-limited resolution, a nonlinear phase variation was introduced in a sample so that an asymmetric diffraction pattern with clear visibility could be extended to high spatial frequencies. From the diffraction signal, the sample image was successfully reconstructed with a resolution of 22 nm, which is close to the diffraction-limited resolution of 21 nm, using the phase retrieval procedure. The model calculation and simulations, performed to verify the experimental results, showed that the implementation of the nonlinear phase variation in the sample enhanced the resolution by a factor of about two, as compared to the case of a pure absorption sample. In addition, we examined the CDI with phase controllers introducing nonlinear phase variation illuminated by a table-top femtosecond Kr X-ray laser pulse at 32.8 nm that produced an asymmetric diffraction pattern extended to high spatial frequencies11sci