Social Hierarchy Materialized: Korean Vernacular Houses as a Medium to Transfer Confucian Ideology

Buildings reveal the social values of a society through their forms and configuration. During the Choseon dynasty, Confucianism was the national ideology and basis for governing principles. Consequently, houses for the ruling class were built to conform to the principle of separating domains for men, women, servants, and ancestors. This hierarchical social system persisted for hundreds of years, but from the 19th century, various social movements gradually delegitimized many inequalities between sexes and classes. Mysteriously, even after this series of radical political and social changes, vernacular houses still adhered to the same hierarchical spatial order until the mid-20th century. This paper analyzes the houses built from the 15th century to the mid-20th century to show how Confucian principles were translated into the design to control social interactions. The paper concludes with a discussion of how Confucianism has been passed on through the medium of housing until today and how they have influenced people’s perception of different gender roles in contemporary Korean society

Computed Tomographic Image Analysis Based on FEM Performance Comparison of Segmentation on Knee Joint Reconstruction

The demand for an accurate and accessible image segmentation to generate 3D models from CT scan data has been increasing as such models are required in many areas of orthopedics. In this paper, to find the optimal image segmentation to create a 3D model of the knee CT data, we compared and validated segmentation algorithms based on both objective comparisons and finite element (FE) analysis. For comparison purposes, we used 1 model reconstructed in accordance with the instructions of a clinical professional and 3 models reconstructed using image processing algorithms (Sobel operator, Laplacian of Gaussian operator, and Canny edge detection). Comparison was performed by inspecting intermodel morphological deviations with the iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm, and FE analysis was performed to examine the effects of the segmentation algorithm on the results of the knee joint movement analysis

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease with Sarcopenia and Carotid Plaque Progression Risk in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background We aimed to evaluate whether non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with or without sarcopenia is associated with progression of carotid atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods We investigated 852 T2DM patients who underwent abdominal ultrasonography, bioelectrical impedance analysis, and carotid artery ultrasonography at baseline and repeated carotid ultrasonography after 6 to 8 years. NAFLD was confirmed by abdominal ultrasonography, and sarcopenia was defined as a sex-specific skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) value <2 standard deviations below the mean for healthy young adults. SMI was calculated by dividing the sum of appendicular skeletal mass by body weight. We investigated the association between NAFLD with or without sarcopenia and the progression of carotid atherosclerosis. Results Of the 852 patients, 333 (39.1%) were classified as NAFLD without sarcopenia, 66 (7.7%) were classified as sarcopenia without NAFLD, and 123 (14.4%) had NAFLD with sarcopenia at baseline. After 6 to 8 years, patients with both NAFLD and sarcopenia had a higher risk of atherosclerosis progression (adjusted odds ratio, 2.20; P<0.009) than controls without NAFLD and sarcopenia. When a subgroup analysis was performed on only patients with NAFLD, female sex, absence of central obesity, and non-obesity were significant factors related to increased risk of plaque progression risk in sarcopenic patients. Conclusion NAFLD with sarcopenia was significantly associated with the progression of carotid atherosclerosis in T2DM patients

Comparison of anterior segment optical coherence tomography findings in acanthamoeba keratitis and herpetic epithelial keratitis

This study is to investigate the characteristic features of Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) that differentiating it from herpetic epithelial keratitis (HEK) using anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT). Medical records of three eyes of each AK and herpetic keratitis who had AS-OCT examination were reviewed in this study. Slit-lamp biomicroscopy and AS-OCT was performed on the initial visit and on every follow-up visits in all patients. In all three AK cases, reflective bands in the corneal stroma that correspond to the area of radial keratoneuritis were observed. The depth of the reflective bands varied in each case. After AK treatment, slit-lamp biomicroscopy confirmed that radial keratoneuritis had resolved and AS-OCT confirmed that reflective bands in the corneal stroma had also disappeared in all patients. Unlike the AS-OCT results found in AK, highly reflective HEK lesions were observed only in the subepithelial area, not in the stroma. AS-OCT seems to be helpful analyzing the specific depth of the lesion which enables to distinguish AK from HEK

Bilateral Endophthalmitis as the Initial Presentation of Bacterial Meningitis

To report a case of bilateral endophthalmitis as the initial presentation of bacterial meningitis in a young, immunocompetent Korean patient. A 35-year-old female with a one day history of bilateral swollen eyes, visual disturbance, headache, petechial skin rash, and nausea visited our clinic. She was diagnosed as having endogenous endophthalmitis associated with bacterial meningitis. Intravenous broad spectrum antibiotic therapy was initiated with cefotaxime 3 g and ubacillin 3 g, four times daily. Intravitreal antibiotic (vancomycin 1 mg/0.1 mL and ceftazidime 2 mg/0.1 mL) injections were performed in both eyes. Two weeks post presentation, the best corrected visual acuity in both eyes improved to 0.7, and inflammation of the anterior chamber and vitreous cavity was decreased. We recommend that when endogenous endophthalmitis is suspected along with meningitis, or if it is known to be present, intravitreal and intravenous antibiotics should be promptly administered to preserve vision

YAF2 promotes TP53-mediated genotoxic stress response via stabilization of PDCD5

AbstractProgrammed cell death 5 (PDCD5) plays a crucial role in TP53-mediated apoptosis, but the regulatory mechanism of PDCD5 itself during apoptosis remains obscure. We identified YY1-associated factor 2 (YAF2) as a novel PDCD5-interacting protein in a yeast two-hybrid screen for PDCD5-interacting proteins. We found that YY1-associated factor 2 (YAF2) binds to and increases PDCD5 stability by inhibiting the ubiquitin-dependent proteosomal degradation pathway. However, knocking-down of YAF2 diminishes the levels of PDCD5 protein but not the levels of PDCD5 mRNA. Upon genotoxic stress response, YAF2 promotes TP53 activation via association with PDCD5. Strikingly, YAF2 failed to promote TP53 activation in the deletion of PDCD5, whereas restoration of wild-type PDCD5WT efficiently reversed the ineffectiveness of YAF2 on TP53 activation. Conversely, PDCD5 efficiently overcame the knockdown effect of YAF2 on ET-induced TP53 activation. Finally, impaired apoptosis upon PDCD5 ablation was substantially rescued by restoration of PDCD5WT but not YAF2-interacting defective PDCD5E4D nor TP53-interacting defective PDCD5E16D mutant. Our findings uncovered an apoptotic signaling cascade linking YAF2, PDCD5, and TP53 during genotoxic stress responses

Spontaneous Anterior Lens Capsular Dehiscence Causing Lens Particle Glaucoma

To report acute onset lens particle glaucoma associated with a spontaneous anterior capsular dehiscence. A 66-year-old man presented with spontaneous anterior lens capsule dehiscence with an acute onset of right eye pain that was associated with white particles in the anterior chamber angle and intraocular pressure (IOP) of 55 mmHg. No trauma or other inflammatory antecedents were reported. A hypermature cataract was observed at slit lamp exam. After medical treatment without IOP control, we performed extracapsular cataract extraction and anterior vitrectomy. Anterior chamber aspirate confirmed the presence of macrophages. The postoperative IOP at one month was 16 mmHg OD without medication. Spontaneous dehiscence of the anterior lens capsule in a patient with a hypermature cataract may release lens cortical material, resulting in lens particle glaucoma. Prompt surgical removal of the lens material usually controls the high IOP, and the need for additional glaucoma surgery is not common

Solubility enhancement of aggregation-prone heterologous proteins by fusion expression using stress-responsive Escherichia coli protein, RpoS

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The most efficient method for enhancing solubility of recombinant proteins appears to use the fusion expression partners. Although commercial fusion partners including maltose binding protein and glutathione-<it>S</it>-transferase have shown good performance in enhancing the solubility, they cannot be used for the proprietory production of commercially value-added proteins and likely cannot serve as universal helpers to solve all protein solubility and folding issues. Thus, novel fusion partners will continue to be developed through systematic investigations including proteome mining presented in this study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We analyzed the <it>Escherichia coli </it>proteome response to the exogenous stress of guanidine hydrochloride using 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and found that RpoS (RNA polymerase sigma factor) was significantly stress responsive. While under the stress condition the total number of soluble proteins decreased by about 7 %, but a 6-fold increase in the level of RpoS was observed, indicating that RpoS is a stress-induced protein. As an N-terminus fusion expression partner, RpoS increased significantly the solubility of many aggregation-prone heterologous proteins in <it>E. coli </it>cytoplasm, indicating that RpoS is a very effective solubility enhancer for the synthesis of many recombinant proteins. RpoS was also well suited for the production of a biologically active fusion mutant of <it>Pseudomonas putida </it>cutinase.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>RpoS is highly effective as a strong solubility enhancer for aggregation-prone heterologous proteins when it is used as a fusion expression partner in an <it>E. coli </it>expression system. The results of these findings may, therefore, be useful in the production of other biologically active industrial enzymes, as successfully demonstrated by cutinase.</p